Tom Callahan

Tom Callahan is an award-winning reporter with over 20 years experience writing for THE NEW YORK TIMES and numerous national magazines. He has been an adjunct professor of Mass Communications at Iona College since 1996 and has almost three decades experience as a teacher on both the high school and college level.

As a free-lance journalist, Callahan worked for both the business and regional section of THE TIMES, writing over 120 articles for the Westchester section. Before THE TIMES, he worked as a free-lance reporter for the Westchester Gannett newspapers, specifically for the Sunday supplement. He also has extensive experience as a writer for national publications. Since 1989, he has been a contributor to PARADE MAGAZINE, the largest circulation publication in the United States with a readership of 71 million. He worked for 16 years as a contributing editor of a lifestyle magazine. He has written over 250 articles for national publications, including AMERICAN HERITAGE, BETTER HOMES, McCALL'S and THE WRITER.

In addition, Callahan is the co-author of two history books published by READER'S DIGEST GENERAL BOOKS. He did numerous writing assignments for THE DIGEST over a ten year period. His agent is currently trying to sell a non-fiction book proposal which would become a major work of investigative reporting, as well as a novel.

In 1987, Callahan received the Catholic Press Association Award for Best Feature Reporting. In 1997, he was nominated for a Robert F. Kennedy Award for a feature article he published in PARADE.

As a reporter, Callahan has covered a wide variety of subject areas, from politics to business to music to sports. He has also done every kind of reporting, from news to features to Internet work. He has also done corporate and nonprofit writing for organizations including IBM, ITT, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation.

At Iona, Callahan has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in journalism. The courses he has taught include news reporting and writing, feature writing, on-line journalism and advanced news reporting. He earned his masters degree in communications from Fordham University and his undergraduate degree from Manhattan College. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.

Laura Esposito

Laura Esposito returned to Iona College in the spring of 2009 as an Adjunct Professor in the Mass Communications Department teaching Account Planning and Advertising Research. This fall she has begun teaching Introduction to Advertising, in addition to Marketing Fundamentals in the Hagen School of Business. Laura graduated from Iona College, receiving a Bachelor's degree in Advertising. She also has an MBA in Marketing from NYU's Stern School of Business.

Laura's career has spanned both the Advertising and Marketing fields. She began her Advertising career at Young & Rubicam working in Media Planning. At Y&R, she began her love of and commitment to the consumer. "What makes advertising exciting is the consumer. In this business, it is important to have a true passion for understanding people." Her clients at Y&R included Advil, TWA, and Jell-O.

After graduate school, Laura joined the Marketing Department at Playtex Products. At Playtex, she learned the basics of brand management and then began to specialize in new products. She was instrumental in the launch of key Infant feeding products, including the Spill-Proof Cup and the ComfortFlow Bottle. Most recently, she has acted as a Consultant to launch several new products for Playtex.

Laura lives in Bedford, NY, with her husband and two children.

 

Deborah Kiley Torres

Deborah is Marketing Communications Manager, for Bayer Diabetes Care. In this role, Deborah develops and implements pull-through campaigns for the company’s managed care accounts. She joined Bayer in 2006 and is based in the Tarrytown, NY office. Prior to joining Bayer, Deborah worked for the Altria Family of Companies for nearly 10 years. During that time Deborah worked in the Media Affairs department at Philip Morris USA. She then took on a Public Affairs role managing all grassroots communications in support of state government affairs efforts. Deborah was then given the opportunity to hone her managerial skills in the Issues Management and Corporate Responsibility departments at Philip Morris Companies (now known as Altria Group). Deborah spent the last year of her time at the Altria family of Companies managing the Community Relations department at Kraft Foods International.

Deborah received her undergraduate degree in Public Relations from SUNY Oswego and her graduate degree in Marketing Communications from New York University. She is a member of the Direct Marketing Association, the HealthCare Marketing Communications Association, and is a graduate of the Women Unlimited TEAM program.

Deborah has taught in the Mass Communications department at Iona since Fall 2005. She lives in Hartsdale, NY with her husband and two sons.

Danielle Mastromarino

Danielle Mastromarino joined the Dept. of Mass Communication spring 2009 as an adjunct instructor. Mastromarino started teaching MCO 200 Introduction to Advertising, and now teaches MCO 335 The Creative Process in Advertising and MCO 403 Advertising Campaigns.  Mastromarino graduated from the Department of Mass Communication in December of 2004.  After graduation she continued her education in graduate school at Pratt Institute in NYC. Danielle graduated in May of 2008 with a Master's degree in Communication Design.  Mastromarino is currently the Director of Marketing at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY as a graphic designer.  In addition, Mastromarino does freelance graphic design.

Michael G. Meaney

Michael G. Meaney, a longtime Westchester reporter and editor, is assistant metro editor/central Westchester for The Journal News, the Gannett Co. Inc.’s daily newspaper for Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties. He directs coverage of municipal and community news in 18 cities, towns and villages, including White Plains, Port Chester, Tarrytown, Scarsdale and Greenburgh. He also occasionally reports for the newspaper.
Gannett is the nation's largest newspaper company, with 101 daily papers, including USA Today.

An adjunct assistant professor, Mike has taught News Reporting and Writing in Iona’s graduate journalism program and Journalism in the undergraduate program.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in English from Fordham University, Master of Arts in Communication from Iona.

Native of: Brooklyn, N.Y. Now lives in Westchester County.

Jeanne M. Salvatore

As Vice President of Consumer Affairs for the Insurance Information Institute (I.I.I), Jeanne Salvatore plays a highly public role in representing the Institute and the insurance industry.
Ms. Salvatore works closely with national and local media, appearing often on radio, TV and in print as a spokesperson for insurance-related issues that directly affect the consumer, both individual and commercial. She also serves as the industry liaison to numerous consumer, education, safety and community-based organizations, including the Consumer Federation of America, the National Consumers League and Neighborhood Housing Services of New York City and the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.

Ms. Salvatore has fulfilled a variety of roles since joining I.I.I. in 1988. Among her earlier achievements, she became an expert on the issue of insurance fraud and was instrumental in the development of a national agenda to combat it, and co-authored Fighting the Hidden Crime: A National Agenda to Combat Insurance Fraud. She also has served as I.I.I.’s director of crisis communications, and produced a series of state-specific auto-safety conferences that culminated in a national conference. She also directed communications programs on insurance topics such as claim filing, disaster preparedness and home safety.

Before joining I.I.I., Jeanne was an account executive with Creative Programming, Inc., a New York-based film and video company, where she organized production activities for two cable TV series and produced infomercials and corporate videos. She was also sales and marketing representative in photographic services for Color by Pergament, Inc.

Ms. Salvatore is an active member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and served a president of the New York chapter in 2000. She holds a BA in English from Villanova University and an MA in Communications from Columbia University. She continues to be fascinated by the academic aspects of mass media, has created a series of seminars on media relations for PRSA-NY, and is an adjunct professor in the graduate school of Mass Communications at Iona College.

Joe Staluppi

Joe Staluppi started his own company, Boom Advertising Inc. in 2007 and has been an adjunct instructor teaching Advertising Writing at Iona College since 2005.

Joe has been in the advertising business for over 25 years. He has worked at some of the top ad agencies in the New York area like Young & Rubicam, DMB&B, McCann Erickson, Bozell, J Walter Thompson and Brushfire. At these agencies he has created many brand building campaigns for clients such as Crest, Norelco, Pampers, Black & Decker, Mass Mutual, New Jersey Tourism and Lottery.

Joe is the recipient of over 50 creative awards including The One Show, The Clio, The ANDY, The ADDY, and The International Advertising Festival of NY Gold Medal. His advertising has appeared in the Communications Arts Advertising Annual and Adweeks Best Spots.

A 1977 graduate of Pratt Institute, Joe resides in Dobbs Ferry with his wife Ginny and their two sons, Joey and Frankie.

Michael Witsch

Mr. Witsch is a veteran teacher of video production. He developed the video program and directed the Television Center at Mamaroneck High School for 30 years; he also taught at New York University, Mercy College, and Teachers College. He is co-President of the New York State Media Arts Teachers Association and has served on several boards of educational non-profits as well as local municipal and community organizations.

A graduate of Essex Catholic H.S. (1965), Rutgers University (B.A., 1969), and The New School University (M.A. Media Studies, 1977), Mr. Witsch also studied at Indiana University, Hebrew University (Jerusalem), and The Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, ME.

He began teaching English and Communication Media at Essex Catholic H.S. (a Christian Brothers school), then joined the faculty of Mamaroneck H.S.. In 1983, Mr. Witsch helped form Larchmont-Mamaroneck Community Television and was named to the Board of the National Federation of Local Cable Programmers (now the Alliance for Community Media). Mr. Witsch also helped develop Mamaroneck High School’s nationally recognized Performing Arts Curriculum Experience (PACE), a 4-year elective program of theater, dance, music, and video.

“Media & Methods” magazine, and his accomplishments at Mamaroneck H.S. are subjects in two books: The Student Journalist by Carl R. Levine (Richards Rosen Press, NY, 1982) and The Children of Telstar by Kate Moody, Ed.D. (Center for Understanding Media and Vantage Press, NY, 1999).