Mark Bilotta, Chief Executive Officer

Mark P. Bilotta, chief executive officer of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, Inc. since 2006, has 22 years of progressive higher education administration experience, 12 of those years at the senior management level. Since his appointment as CEO, Bilotta has led a strategic and aggressive campaign to position Greater Worcester as a premier destination for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for college and university faculty and staff.

His work supporting teaching and learning has included

• the expansion of faculty development opportunities through workshops, conferences and a growing Certificate in College Teaching program,
• the launch of an online internship database  now used by more than 2,000 Consortium students and almost 400 employers, and
• the coordination of student engagement in Greater Worcester.

During his tenure, the Consortium has increased its contributions toward strengthening regional education and workforce pipeline efforts through collaborative partnerships with government, corporate and nonprofit organizations. To support the Consortium’s expansion of higher education access services for low-income, first-generation students, he has secured additional funding from state agencies, numerous local foundations and key corporate partners who have a history of supporting K-12 and higher education programs.

His work to galvanize both the higher education and Greater Worcester communities around the shared vision of Greater Worcester as a destination has been supported through numerous initiatives, including:

• the production of   "Worcester Rocks," a web-based video promoting Greater Worcester  as a vibrant college destination, funded through a  grant from the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism;
• support for the Woo Card which promotes the city's charged cultural scene, and is  disseminated to students through a partnership with the Worcester Cultural Coalition; and
• establishment of the Woo Bus, a Friday and Saturday evening shuttle bus service  launched as a means of transporting students to off-campus destinations throughout the city.

In addition, the Consortium has been building a menu of annual special events that have quickly become student traditions, including the Taste of Shrewsbury Street College Shuffle, in partnership with the Shrewsbury Street Area Merchants Association, and programs hosted at the beautifully restored Hanover Theatre.

Prior to his appointment at the Consortium, Bilotta served as the executive assistant to the president at Assumption College, a cabinet-level position he held for eight years. At Assumption, his primary responsibilities included overseeing the college's marketing and communication efforts, government and community relations and serving as secretary to the Board of Trustees. Prior to Assumption, Bilotta held administrative positions at Worcester State University and the College of the Holy Cross.

A dedicated community advocate, Bilotta gives extensively of his time and talent to local and state organizations. He is currently chair of the Board of Directors for Spectrum Health Systems, past chair of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Central Massachusetts, and a member of the Board of Directors for Destination Worcester, the Worcester Education Collaborative and the Worcester Regional Research Bureau. He is also a corporator for the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and Worcester Five Cents Savings Bank. He recently served on the Worcester Public Schools’ Comprehensive Accountability Task Force, the Mayor’s Task Force on Job Growth and Retention and currently sits on the Mayor’s Commission on Latino Education Excellence. At the state level, Bilotta is a founding member of the Massachusetts Internship Collaborative and the former vice chair of the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority.

He is a 1980 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross and received an MBA in 1991 from Clark University.

About the Consortium:

Founded in 1968, the Colleges of Worcester Consortium, Inc. is a not-for-profit association of public and private accredited colleges and universities located in Greater Worcester. The Consortium is committed to working cooperatively both to further the missions of its member institutions individually and to advance higher education regionally.

Consortium member institutions are: Anna Maria College, Assumption College, Becker College, Clark University, College of the Holy Cross, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Nichols College, Quinsigamond Community College, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Worcester State University.