Board Members
  • Lucille M. Nickerson
    WELFund Chair
    is President of Nickerson-Zegarelli Consultants, LLC, specializing in strategic planning, leadership, governance and board-related issues for non-profits and small businesses. Over a number of years, she served successively as legal counsel, corporate secretary and senior business executive at a Fortune 100 company. Lucille’s education credentials include a J.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Law, a Master’s degree from the University of Connecticut, and a Bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College. In addition to being Chair of the WELFund Board, she is a University Regent and a trustee of Hartford College for Women.

  • Peter Arakas
    WELFund Vice Chair
    is General Counsel-Americas for LEGO Systems, Inc. of Enfield, Connecticut. LSI, the U.S. affiliate of the Danish LEGO Group, distributes LEGO® brand toys for the Americas market. For the past fifteen years, Mr. Arakas has been responsible for all of LSI’s legal affairs, ranging from employment and immigration law to intellectual property rights and product liability.

    Mr. Arakas received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Masters in Social Work from the University of Connecticut. After eight years of practice as a social worker, he received his law degree with highest honors from the University of Connecticut School of Law.

    Following law school, Mr. Arakas clerked for the Honorable Ellen B. Burns of the U.S. District Court. Before joining LSI, he was employed in the law department of Aetna Life and Casualty.

    Peter is a volunteer with a number of non-profit legal service providers, a Regent of the University of Hartford, and an active board member of a number of Boards of Directors. Peter is also Chairman of the James W. Cooper Fellows of the Connecticut Bar Foundation.

  • Patricia M. Salner
    WELFund Secretary
    (Pat) is the Executive Director of the Hartford Education Foundation (HEF), non-profit organization dedicated to promoting excellence in the Hartford Public Schools. It supports innovative programs, partnerships and collaborations to improve the quality of education for all children in the Hartford Public Schools. She has been an active participant in the development of the redesign of HEF so it can act as a catalyst for education reform and community involvement.

    Earlier in her career, Pat was a municipal bond analyst at Aetna and MBIA.

    Pat has been a board member for a number of non-profit organizations in Hartford. Currently she is an Honorary Docent at the Wadsworth and serves on the Elector Council. She is a member of the Board of Governors at the Hill-Stead Museum and is on the Board of Overseers at the Bushnell.

    Pat received her undergraduate degree from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and earned a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Hartford where she was awarded a Woodruff Fellowship.

  • Dr. Elizabeth Ivey
    WELFund Treasurer
    is a Physicist who was a faculty member for 34 years, followed by serving as the Provost at two institutions of higher education, including the University of Hartford. Her research expertise is in the area of indoor and outdoor noise and vibration reduction. Gender equity for women students and women faculty has been the focus of her service efforts for over 35 years. She serves on several college Boards of Trustees, has testified before Congress on gender equity in the sciences and engineering, developed the first engineering program solely for women (at Smith College) and recently completed a two-year term as the president of the national Association for Women in Science (AWIS). She remains on the AWIS board as chair of their Endowment Committee and co-chair of their Grants Committee.

  • Dr. Susan Coleman is the Ansley Chair of Finance at the University of Hartford’s Barney School of Business. She teaches courses in entrepreneurial and corporate finance at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her research interests include financial literacy and small business and entrepreneurial finance. She has published extensively in academic journals and is frequently quoted in the business press. Most recently, Dr. Coleman was named as the Barney School’s first Ellsworth Faculty Fellow. In that capacity she organized a program for students on the topic of “green investing”.

    Dr. Coleman received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and holds Masters degrees from Penn State University and the University of Connecticut. She did her doctoral work at Pace University where she was named the Outstanding Doctoral Student in 1989. In addition to her work in higher education, Dr. Coleman has held a variety of positions in business and industry. She is an active member and past President of the Hartford Area Business Economists. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Smith-Whiley & Company, a women- and minority-owned investment firm located in Hartford, Connecticut. Finally, Dr. Coleman is the Educational Advisor to the “Playbook for Life”, a program to developed by the Hartford Financial Services Group to promote financial literacy in college students.

  • Eunice Groark is a dedicated politician who served as Connecticut’s first female lieutenant governor from 1991 to 1995. A graduate of Westover School in Middlebury, Bryn Mawr College, and the University of Connecticut School of Law, Eunice was associate director of the Commission on the Reorganization of State Government, executive director of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, and also worked in private practice. Adding to her accomplishments in politics and law, Eunice was a Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a visiting professor in the government department at Wesleyan University, and an adjunct professor at Hartford College for Women. Eunice has served on numerous non-profit boards, with a special focus on the environment and education. For both her professional and philanthropic contributions, she has been the recipient of honorary Doctorates from Berkeley Divinity School and the University of Hartford. Eunice was also named Woman of the Year in 2003 at the Celebration of Women Leaders event hosted by then Hartford College for Women.

    Eunice and her husband, Tom Groark, live in Bloomfield.

  • Joan Sittard is an implementation and training manager for McCracken Financial Solutions Corp. She is responsible for client software installation and training. Her background includes over 17 years of commercial loan servicing experience.

    Joan is a 1981 graduate of Hillyer College and a 1983 graduate of ENHP at the University of Hartford. She has served on the board of the University of Hartford Alumni Association. Joan and her husband, Paul, reside in the Boston Area.

  • Diane Smith is the Community & Program Development Officer at the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority and is responsible for the facilitation and development of new programs and products for the Authority. Diane has been with the Authority for three years.

    Prior to her joining the Authority Diane worked at the Department of Economic and Community Development where she held the position of Executive Director over the divisions responsible for urban development and housing development. During her tenure she was responsible for administering both state and federal programs associated with business, community and housing development.

    During her 19 years of public service she has worked in the disciplines of planning and public policy, business recruitment, urban and regional development, program development and administration, housing development and marketing. She is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, serves on the Board of Regents for the University of Hartford, is a Steering Committee Member of the Hartford Studies Project for Trinity College and is listed in the Who’s Who Among African Americans.

  • Dr. Diane Ullman is the Superintendent of Schools in Simsbury, CT. The Simsbury school district has 5,000 students in five elementary schools, one middle school and one high school and is nationally recognized as a top performing school district. Prior to Dr. Ullman’s appointment as Superintendent in 2004, she served as the Assistant Executive Director of the Capitol Region Education Council (CREC). Dr. Ullman also served for seven years as the Assistant Superintendent of the Farmington, CT school district. Dr. Ullman earned a Ph. D. in Educational Administration from the University of Colorado in Boulder, a Master’s degree from Northeastern University in Boston, and an undergraduate degree from Regis College in Weston, MA. She is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Ullman and her family reside in Simsbury.

  • Arnold West is a senior vice president at ING Investment Management, where he is responsible for new business development. He began his career in 1990 at Aetna, where he served as an attorney supporting various Aetna Financial Service businesses and also served as counsel to Aetna Foundation, Inc. He received a B.A. in organizational behavior and management from Brown University, a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Arnold was a participant in Leadership Greater Hartford and has been involved in organizations focusing on education and mentoring. He also served as a trustee on the City of Hartford Municipal Employees' Retirement Fund.

    Arnold and his wife, Nadine Francis West, live in Hartford.