Distributed December 2, 1999
For Immediate Release
News Service Contact: Mark Nickel



Raiola named vice president for alumni relations at Brown University

Lisa J. Raiola, currently director of the medical ethics program and director of strategic planning for southern New England at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, has been named vice president for alumni relations at Brown University. Raiola is a 1984 graduate of Brown.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Lisa J. Raiola, currently director of the medical ethics program and director of strategic planning for southern New England at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, has been named vice president for alumni relations at Brown University. Raiola, a 1984 graduate of Brown, will begin her duties Jan. 1, 2000.

“Lisa has excelled in connecting people to institutions, and she has shown that she knows how to strategically move forward an agenda, often under challenging circumstances,” said Brown President E. Gordon Gee. “Her work in human resources and program development has prepared her well for the important duties Brown has asked her to undertake – extending and enhancing the dedication and enthusiasm she and her fellow alumni have always had for this institution.”

As vice president for alumni relations, Raiola will have overall responsibility for alumni educational opportunities, developing effective alumni programs, enlarging alumni networks, coordinating activities between Alumni Relations and the College Admission Office, and advancing alumni information and communications for more than 74,000 graduates of the University.

Raiola’s selection concludes a four-month national effort led by Jerome Vascellaro, president of the Brown Alumni Association. More than 130 members of the alumni body either applied for the position or forwarded a nomination to the committee.

“I would like to thank my partners Peter Bernstein and Javette Laremont, Russell Carey of the President’s staff, and all the Brown alumni who helped identify and screen candidates,” Vascellaro said. “The selection process demonstrated once again that Brown alumni have a special feeling for their alma mater. I believe our alumni volunteers and the alumni relations staff are ready and eager to help our new vice president sustain and expand an excellent alumni program.”

Raiola, a biomedical ethics concentrator, received a bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude in 1984, earning academic honors for her work. After graduation, she served as assistant to U.S. District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro for a year, then joined Human Resources Inc. of Providence, where she built up the health care practice, providing consultation to clients at the senior executive and board level.

In 1991, Raiola received a master of public health degree from the Boston University School of Medicine and joined what is now Harvard Pilgrim Health Care as director of administration. She was responsible for key business functions after Harvard’s acquisition of the Rhode Island Group Health Association (RIGHA). She became director of human resources development in 1992 and was project leader for integrating the newly merged care delivery systems of Harvard and Pilgrim health care organizations. In 1995, she became director of strategic planning for southern New England, a position she also held at the time of her appointment to Brown.

Her work as director of the corporate ethics program began in April 1996. The program she developed featured a cross-functional ethics advisory group, a training curriculum focused on ethical analysis and case review, and an educational effort to raise awareness of ethical issues on the part of staff, care providers and the community. Harvard Pilgrim’s ethics program has become a national model for supporting ethical decision-making in the health care setting.

“It is my hope,” Raiola said, “that we can make being an alumnus of Brown as meaningful and rewarding an experience as being a graduate.”

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