Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo
Vice President of Admissions, Chapel Haven Inc.
Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo is vice president of admissions and marketing. She oversees the admissions process for all three of Chapel Haven’s core residential programs – REACH, the Asperger Syndrome Adult Transition (both in New Haven, Conn., where Chapel Haven was founded) and Chapel Haven West (Tucson, AZ).
She also coordinates Chapel Haven’s communications and marketing components, including social media, conferences, presentations and media coverage.
Previously, Catherine served for 10 years as director of communications for New Haven Public Schools, the state’s second largest school district. She directed the media campaign for John DeStefano, Jr., who was elected Mayor of New Haven in 1994. Catherine then served as Mayor DeStefano’s director of communications from 1994 to 1999. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Southern Connecticut State University, where she teaches as an adjunct professor part-time, and a master’s of science in communications management from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University.
Catherine is on the board of the Greater CT Public Relations Society of America (https://www.prsact.org/.
Catherine also is a board member of the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance (WVRA), where she enjoys advocating for Chapel Haven and the entire business district of Westville, where Chapel Haven is located. Catherine won the Seton Elm Ivy Award, Yale University, for positive collaborations between Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools. In 2007, she was honored by the New Haven Business Times as one of 20 noteworthy women in New Haven.
She is married to Dr. John DeCarlo, chair of the criminal justice program at the University of New Haven. They have one son, Evan DeCarlo. In her spare time, Catherine enjoys playing banjo with the Guilford Ramblers and she is working hard to improve her golf game!