Dean College Senior Leadership

Meet The Team

With close to 100 years in higher education and over 50 years of service at Dean College, the administrative council owns a rich history of spreading The Dean Difference to thousands of students.

Sandra Cain | Adam Keyes |  Darrell Kulesza | Kathleen McGuire | Thomas Pistorino | Dr. Scott P. Sibley | Paul Vaccaro| Jennifer Kelly

Sandra Cain, Executive Vice President and Secretary to the Board 

Sandra joined Dean College in 2003. In her current role she provides leadership, assistance, and operational oversight to the Office of the President in support of the College’s strategic initiatives and priorities, while also managing the Office of Human Resources. Sandra serves as Secretary and liaison to the College’s Board of Trustees collaboratively managing program support activities and matters of institutional significance for the Board on behalf of, and in concert with, the President and the Board Chair.

Sandra is a lifelong resident in the Franklin Community and has an affinity for her alma maters, College of the Holy Cross and Framingham State University.

Adam Keyes, Vice President, Student Success and Campus Life

Adam oversees the areas of campus life, student leadership, counseling, residential life, athletics, and campus police and safety. Within this role, he is responsible for programming and student support services aimed at providing a parallel learning experience to the academic curriculum. He joined Dean from Clark University, where he most recently served as director of strategic initiatives. He held residential life positions at Endicott College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University before arriving at Clark in 2014. At Clark, Adam progressed from the director of residential life & housing to senior associate dean of students and deputy Title IX coordinator. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he also took on the role of director of COVID testing and operations, establishing and running Clark's testing center and operations.

Adam has over 15 years of experience in student life, enrollment, operations and project management. He holds a bachelor's degree from Fitchburg State College and a master's degree from the University of New Haven.

Darrell Kulesza, Vice President, Information Technology and CIO

Prior to joining Dean College, Darrell worked at Perot Systems for nineteen years as a business analyst in data center operations, technical support and help desk services, then progressed through a variety of leadership positions from team lead, Global Applications Director Deputy CIO and Client Executive.

His roles with Perot Systems included Global Applications Director for Parsons Corporation, a $2.5 billion per year engineering and Construction Company headquartered in Pasadena, California and, prior to this, serving as Deputy CIO for Parsons Infrastructure and Technology, a $1.0 billion per year global business unit of the Parsons Corporation. He was also Senior Applications Manager for Volkswagen of America's Legacy applications leading a number of key initiatives including a major migration from mainframe-based systems to client server-based systems with an object-oriented architecture. His first major assignment with Perot Systems, was part of a small team of key business analysts who were on-site with Codex Motorola during the implementation of an enterprise critical order management system.    

Prior to his career in information technology, he had a successful career in retail management, working for the Lodge at Harvard Square and Filenes in a variety of positions starting as a trainee and eventually holding District Manager and Operations Manager positions.

Kathleen McGuire, Vice President, Financial Services 

Kathy began her career at Ernst & Young as an auditor in New Jersey. She transitioned to higher education as an internal auditor at Harvard University and as Controller at Radcliffe College. Kathy has held various financial positions at Dean College over the past 30 years.

Kathy is currently responsible for all accounting and budgeting functions including accounts payable, payroll and general ledger. In addition, she oversees Student Financial Services (Financial Aid and Student Billing) and Institutional Research.

She graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and from Rutgers University with a master’s degree in business administration in accountancy. She is a Certified Public Accountant and has served on various not-for-profit boards in the area.

Thomas Pistorino, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Thomas oversees all financial operations and strategies for Dean College.

With over 30 years of experience in financial leadership roles in both the nonprofit and corporate sectors, Thomas has deep knowledge of all aspects of higher education finance and administration. He joined Dean in January 2024 from CBIZ & MHM, LLC, where he created an advisory practice dedicated to improving financial operations of higher education clients throughout the northeast. Previously, Thomas held chief financial officer positions with Lesley University and Regis College. In those roles, he led innovative processes to both diversify revenue and reduce operating expenses.

Thomas began his career as an accountant for a small computer company where he was responsible for implementing accounting applications for clients. This work led to a move to Canam Steel Corporation in 1988, where he rose from regional controller to vice president and general manager for the northeast to vice president of business development for North America. Thomas left Canam in 1995 and provided management consultant services through the Gerard Group.

While at Gerard, he created growth strategies and technology solutions for clients across diverse industries. In 1997, Thomas made the shift to higher education, joining Fisher College as its comptroller. While at Fisher, he helped drive the transformation of the school from a two-year women's college to a four-year co-educational university. In 2001, Thomas joined Regis College and created a five-part strategy to move Regis from an undergraduate women's college to a co-educational university. Thomas became CFO of Lesley University in 2019, focusing on process reengineering and system integration. In early 2020, he successfully pivoted to ensure the college could overcome the challenges of the pandemic.
Thomas holds a bachelor’s from Anna Maria College and a MBA from Babson College.

Dr. Scott P. Sibley, Vice President, Academic Affairs

Dr. Scott Sibley earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry from Williams College and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy in Physical Chemistry from the University of Michigan.

Scott joins us after spending 26 years at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland as a faculty member and administrator. His primary teaching activities have been in the areas of Physical, Analytical, and General Chemistry. Scott has mentored many undergraduate students in scientific research, has been an advisor to a student club, and led students on an intensive course abroad.

Scott has served in numerous leadership positions including Department Chair for Chemistry, Division Chair for Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and Chair of the Faculty. He served as Goucher's Interim Provost, working with the faculty to develop new, innovative undergraduate majors, as well as growing their graduate and professional course and program offerings. While in the roles of Faculty Chair and Interim Provost, Scott guided the faculty in the development and implementation of a new, interdisciplinary general education curriculum. Most recently, Scott served as Interim Associate Provost of the Welch Center for Graduate and Professional Studies.

Paul Vaccaro, Vice President, Enrollment Services

With over 25 years of experience in enrollment management, Paul returns to Dean as vice president for enrollment services and marketing. He previously served as assistant vice president of enrollment services and dean of admissions at Dean College from 2004 to 2009, before moving on to vice president roles at Regis College and Newbury College. Most recently, Paul was the associate vice president for enrollment at Anna Maria College.

With a focus on achieving enrollment goals, in his current role Paul oversees areas related to admissions, enrollment operations and admissions information systems as well as strategic marketing for the college.

Paul is also a past recipient of the prestigious New England College Board Distinguished Service Award for leadership, innovation and advocacy in higher education. He is an alumnus of Suffolk University, where he earned both a bachelor's degree in journalism and an MBA.

Jennifer Kelly, Vice President, Marketing and Communications

Jennifer Kelly joined Dean College in 2023 and is responsible for enhancing and promoting the college’s brand, reputation and overall market position. Jennifer is a seasoned expert in driving performance-driven integrated marketing and communication strategies that yield results.

With a career spanning more than two decades, Jennifer has expertise in a wide range of industries, encompassing entertainment, healthcare, biomedical research and higher education. Prior to joining Dean, Jennifer served as the Vice President of Communication at Forsyth Institute, where she developed and implemented the marketing strategy to support philanthropy, business development and the Institute’s external positioning. Most recently, Jennifer was the inaugural Chief Marketing Office at New England Law | Boston, where her tenure marked a turning point in the institution's marketing and internal communication efforts. Her innovative approach played a pivotal role in revitalizing the school's outreach and engagement.

Jennifer earned her B.S. in Communication Studies from Boston University.