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Our Team

CASDA's staff is made up of a diverse team of former educators and professionals who are dedicated to providing quality services to New York State school districts.

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Michael Piccirillo, Ed.D

Executive Director

mpiccirillo@casdany.org

Dr. Michael Piccirillo joins CASDA as Executive Director after serving  six school districts throughout the Capital Region over the last 31 years.  Most notably, Dr. Piccirillo spent the last five years of his career in the Saratoga Springs City School District as the Superintendent of Schools, and in the five years previous to that held the position of Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education at Saratoga Springs. During his tenure in Saratoga Springs, the school district consistently ranked in the top ten in the region for student achievement and made significant improvement in graduation rates for economically disadvantaged and special education students.

Dr. Piccirillo earned a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Sage College, his master’s degree in Social Studies Teaching from Binghamton University, and a bachelor degree in Sociology from Binghamton University.  His research interests focus on the impact of the belief systems of individual leaders on their school systems, with a special emphasis on intentionality of leadership decision-making  as grounded in core values and beliefs.

Dr. Piccirillo has been heavily involved in his local community serving on several not-for-profit boards including the Saratoga Regional YMCA, Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar, Saratoga Foundation for Innovative Learning, and the Saratoga Springs Rotary Educational Foundation. 

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Adrienne Talbot

Director of Finance

atalbot@casdany.org

Adrienne joins CASDA after 10 years in public accounting. She brings her experiences as an accountant in a fast-paced deadline-driven workforce to the table. Adrienne started her accounting career in the private sector and is excited to be a part of a team whose goals are to provide services that benefit school districts. She is responsible for CASDA’s accounts payable and receivable, purchasing, contract management, third party vendor management, and business operations reporting. 

 

Adrienne earned her Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Fredonia University in 2001 and completed her accounting courses at SUNY Adirondack. She volunteers her time to non profit organizations, including the PTA, the Local Little League, and Literacy Volunteers of America.

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Ciara Hassenpflug

Director of Communications 

chassenpflug@casdany.org

Ciara brings a keen eye for design, a creative approach and a collaborative mindset to her role as the Director of Communications for CASDA. She oversees the creation and design of all communications and marketing materials, maintenance of CASDA’s website, social media channels and more.

Ciara previously worked as the Communications Coordinator for the New York State Association of REALTORS. She earned a BA in Public Communications from The College of Saint Rose in 2008.

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Jerome A. Steele

Assistant Director of Research and Program Development 

jasteele@casdany.org

Jerome brings an interdisciplinary approach to identifying and integrating peer-reviewed research into CASDA's programming. He develops or supports many of CASDA's professional development offerings in collaboration with both CASDA faculty members and partners from other organizations.

Jerome collaborates to produce CASDA's podcasts and frequently contributes to the monthly newsletter. 

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