Seacoast’s Young Professional Group Adds New Board Members

Catapult, a Seacoast young professionals networking group that aims to provide young professionals with opportunities to enhance personal and professional development, announced the addition of four Board members; Matt Romano, Liza Dube, Giuseppe Bellavita and Lexi Manus.

Matt Romano joined the board as the group’s new Secretary. Romano graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and has an Accredited Associates degree in Business Management. He has more than six years of experience in the banking industry and is currently Market Manager at Ocean Bank. He recently graduated with the Leadership Seacoast Class of 2009 and is an Exeter Chamber of Commerce children fundraising participant.

Liza Dube joins the board to assist Catapult as the Development Chair. Liza will be putting her public relations and community affairs skills to work when she starts with a Seacoast company in July. She was formerly Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for United Way of the Greater Seacoast and prior to that, the Communications Director for Senator Martha Fuller Clark’s 2006 campaign. She was also a lobbyist and political director for NARAL Pro-Choice NH for 3 years. Dube is a 2008 graduate of Leadership Seacoast and on the programming committee.

As an Associate with Pierce Atwood in Portsmouth, Giuseppe Bellavita brings legal guidance to the Catapult Board. Bellavita was formerly an associate in the Corporate Department at Bingham McCutchen, LLP in Boston and at Devine Millimet & Branch, P.A., in Manchester, before that. His practice has involved general corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, securities, licensing and financing matters. Giuseppe is Vice President of New Hampshire Southeast Habitat for Humanity and a member of its Board of Directors.

Lexi Manus helped co-found Catapult in 2006 but stepped away for a short time to concentrate on her graduate school studies. Lexi recently received her Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership from Southern New Hampshire, and now has more time to contribute to the Catapult team again. Manus is still pursuing her second Masters in Business Administration and was recently promoted to the Director of Manager Relations for the Corporate Planet Fitness Operations Team where she oversees the ten corporate clubs.

“We have invested time in building a solid and highly motivated board of directors,” said Co-Founder and Board Chair Helen Donington. “This team will lead Catapult down a sustainable path where we can not only realize our goal to help young professionals grow within their communities, but eventually expand our network and range of services as a YPN organization.”

Catapult Seacoast currently has over 1100 members and is headed towards its third anniversary this November. More information about the group can be found at www.catapultseacoast.org