Employee recognition is an important part of an inclusive workplace. The President's Office Employee Recognition Program includes service awards for years of service at the University and a performance recognition award provided in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Process Overview

Each year, we honor our colleagues who achieve an employment milestone. It is an opportunity to recognize our employees for their service and continued contribution to our mission. 

The annual Performance Recognition Program is an opportunity to formally recognize state employees for their extraordinary contributions to public service. An email is sent out by Human Resources each year when the nomination window opens. Anyone can nominate a colleague for an individual award or a team for a group award. 

There are five awards given by the Commonwealth each year:

  • Manuel Carballo Governor’s Award for Excellence in Public Service
  • Governor Paul Cellucci Award for Leadership and Mentoring
  • Eugene H. Rooney, Jr., Public Service Award
  • Commonwealth Equity in Governance Award
  • Commonwealth Citation for Outstanding Performance

For more information on the Commonwealth awards, visit the Mass.gov Performance Recognition Program page.

2022 Commonwealth PRP Recipients

Nominator

Yara Hentz, Program Manager 

Recipients

•    Jim Barbieri, Principal Software Administrator 
•    Kristina Bissonette, Senior Applications Specialist 
•    Mounika Bonam, Dev Ops Engineer III
•    Frank Butler, Principal Portfolio Manager 
•    Sue Cerrato, Principal Applications Specialist 
•    Dee Cogliandro, Director, Release Management & QA
•    Pete Connell, Principal Cloud Architect
•    Rick Cote, Chief Technology Officer 
•    Maria Dahod, Quality Assurance Dev Ops Engineer III
•    Carol Dugard, Director, HR Operations 
•    Damien Esposito, Senior Software Administrator 
•    Marius Farcas, Principal Applications Specialist 
•    Joe Fontecchio, Director, Dev Ops and Networking  
•    Rebecca Forest, Principal Applications Specialist
•    Connie Gilroy, Senior Applications Specialist  
•    John Kelly, Director, Identity Management
•    Karen LeBlanc, Lead Principal Applications Specialist 
•    Jules Lipke, Principal Applications Developer 
•    Kristen Luiz, Senior Applications Specialist 
•    Susan McHugh, Director, Student Technology Operations 
•    Megan Momtaheni, Applications Manager 
•    Bryan Moss, Principal Applications Specialist 
•    Jim Muchata, Senior Applications Developer
•    James Pearson, Senior Applications Specialist 
•    Maria Ravanis, Senior Applications Developer 
•    Kathy Sawyer, Applications Manager
•    Kanhai Shah, Applications Specialist II
•    Euclides Velazco, Dev Ops Engineer IV

Nominator

Christine Packard, Director, Enterprise Risk Management

Recipients

•    John Chayrigues, Senior Counsel 
•    Alyssa Cherubino, Assistant Counsel 
•    David Cho, Chief Procurement Officer 
•    Claudia Cortes, Training & Communications Manager
•    Mike Durkin, Director, Strategic Procurement  
•    Brian Girard, Director, Procurement Operations 
•    Kelly Gregory, Associate University Controller  
•    Patrick Hitchcock, Assistant VP & University Controller  
•    Ashley Hunter, Training & Communications Specialist 
•    Rob Hyde, Commercial Card Program Manager 
•    David Nero, Assistant VP, Innovation & Operational Services  
•    Amanda Onwuka, Director, Service and Quality 
•    Jacob Sturtz, Business Analyst 
 

Nominator

Michael Milligan, VP and Chief Information Officer

Recipients

•    Jeannie Beaulieu, Senior Applications Developer 
•    Patrick Brandon, Senior Applications Specialist 
•    Karen LeBlanc, Lead Principal Applications Specialist   
•    Jules Lipke, Principal Applications Developer 
•    Shahriar Panahi, Director, EDA   
•    Kanhai Shah, Applications Specialist II 
•    Brad Smith, Chief Information Security Officer 
•    Kate Targett, Associate CIO 
•    Pam Theodore, Principal Data Warehouse Specialist  
•    Joe Zawalich, Program Manager  
 

Nominator

Mike Durkin, Director, Strategic Procurement

Recipients

•    Elisha Alt, Contracts Specialist  
•    John Chayrigues, Senior Counsel 
•    Sue Cone, Senior Contracts Specialist  
•    Claudia Cortes, Training & Communications Manager
•    Carol Dugard, Director, HR Operations 
•    Pam Giordano, Contracts Specialist 
•    Ashley Hunter, Training & Communications Specialist 
•    Allie Lepper, Amherst Chief Associate Counsel 
•    Jason MacFadyen, Manager, Business Applications  
•    LeeAnn Pasquini, Assistant VP, Budget & Planning  
•    Mike Rizk, Procurement Systems Specialist  
•    Shawn Skelly, Director, Software Development & Digital Experience 
•    Brad Smith, Chief Information Security Officer  
•    Josh Tucker, Insurance Risk Analyst 
 

Individual Awards - Commonwealth Citation for Outstanding Performance

  •  Carol Dugard, Director, HR Operations, Nominator-Michael Milligan, VP and Chief Information Officer
  •  Kelly Gregory, Associate University Controller, Nominator-Patrick Hitchcock, Assistant VP and University  Controller  
  •  Molly Lynch, Financial Reporting Analyst, Nominator-Sean Curry, Assistant Treasurer, Operations 
  •  Joe Skrzek, Assistant Director, Nominator-LeeAnn Pasquini, Assistant VP, Budget & Planning 
  •  Holly Wang, Principal Business Analyst, Nominator-LeeAnn Pasquini, Assistant VP, Budget & Planning and  David Nero, Assistant VP, Innovation and Operational Services