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Dustin Luca
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SALEM, MASS – Dino Di Palma, of Swampscott, has been appointed to serve on Salem State University’s Board of Trustees. Di Palma is a managing partner with TrueNorth Advisory and a member of G-20 Ventures, which provides early traction capital for East Coast startups and provides expertise from 20 of the Northeast’s most accomplished entrepreneurs. Di Palma’s career spans decades in varying management and executive positions in the global business world. He was appointed by Governor Maura Healey to join the Salem State Board of Trustees on July 1.
“I’m delighted to join the board of trustees,” Di Palma said. “My hope is that with my entrepreneurial approach and connections to area business leaders, I can help guide Salem State University to become an even stronger institution of higher education in the Northeast. I firmly believe that by elevating experiential learning opportunities and mentorships, and placing our students in paid internships where they live and study, we will help grow and strengthen the regional workforce.”
In his professional life, Di Palma has excelled in growing businesses in several fields. This experience includes taking a team within a Caribbean subsidiary from generating little revenue to bringing in $30 million within two years. He has also held a variety of executive positions, from serving as a chief operating officer and founding team member for Acme Packet and helping to drive its acquisition by Oracle for more than $2 billion, to serving as global wireless infrastructure builder Benu Networks’ chief executive officer.
Di Palma has also served as chief revenue officer for BroadSoft, where he was responsible for the company’s entire global sales and business development efforts. BroadSoft was acquired by Cisco for $1.9 billion. He left to become president of the Americas and Strategic Accounts at Avaya, which specializes in cloud communications and workstream collaboration tools.
Di Palma currently serves as chair of the university’s Bertolon School of Business Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Meet the Moment campaign steering committee along with his wife, Annalisa C. Di Palma, who is also the chair of the Salem State University Alumni Association and Foundation, Inc. The couple have been loyal friends of the university for many years and strongly believe in supporting experiential learning opportunities for Salem State students. In honor of Annalisa’s mother, Carol A. Ouellette, a 1960 and 1966G graduate, they created the Ouellette-Di Palma Family Internship Scholarship to benefit students in paid internships. “Internships and apprenticeships are all about student success,” said Di Palma. “We need to make sure our students are ready to meet their moment when they graduate.”
Di Palma received a bachelor’s of arts in economics and political science at McGill University, Montreal, in 1990, and he further earned a master’s in public policy and administration in 1995. He also completed Harvard University’s international negotiations program in 1999.