Board Members

JAMES F. GAUGHRAN
PATRICK G. HALPIN
JANE R.DEVINE
FRANK J. PELLEGRINO
ERROL D. TOULON, Jr.

JAMES F. GAUGHRAN, Chairman, term as Member expires in March 2013. Mr. Gaughran is an attorney in private practice, having begun his practice in 1984. He is admitted to practice in the New York State and U.S Eastern District of NY Courts. He has held a number of public sector appointments over the years including service as counsel to the Huntington Community Development Agency, Village of Northport, Town of Babylon and staff service to Congressman Gary Ackerman and the New York State Senate. From 1984-1987 he was an elected member of the Huntington Town Board, which included service as a Commissioner of the Dix Hills Water District. From 1988–1993 he was an elected member of the Suffolk County Legislature, representing the 17th District, during which time the Legislature aggressively supported and funded the Suffolk County Drinking Water Protection Program. Mr. Gaughran received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a Juris Doctor degree from Hofstra University School of Law

PATRICK G. HALPIN, Secretary, term as member expires in March 2011. Mr. Halpin is Executive Vice President for External Affairs for the Institute for Student Achievement. Mr. Halpin has been with ISA since 1994. Prior to joining the ISA, Mr. Halpin had an extensive career in local and state politics, which began in 1979 when he was elected to the Suffolk County Legislature. In 1982 he was elected to the New York State Assembly and served three terms in that office. In 1988, Mr. Halpin was elected to the office of Suffolk County Executive. He served in that role until 1992. Mr. Halpin serves as a trustee of the Long Island Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and is a director with the Long Island Housing Partnership, Vision Long Island and the advisory board of the Long Island Index. Mr. Halpin received a bachelor of arts degree in Political Science and Economics from Old Dominion University.

JANE R.DEVINE, term as member expires June 2012. Ms. Devine has held a variety of positions in public service both on the town and county level. Most recently, she has served on the Town of Huntington Planning Board and from 1988-1991, she served as Commissioner of Consumer Affairs for Suffolk County. From 1978-1987 she represented the former 17th Legislative District as an elected Suffolk County Legislator and, for a portion of that tenure, was the first female leader of the minority caucus.

Ms. Devine’s professional career spans a wide range of posts dedicated to education and protection of consumers, including Director of Consumer Education and a member of the Consumer Protection Board for the Town of Huntington, and consultant to the New York State Consumer Protection Board. She was a founding partner of a small public relations company and served for a time as pastoral consultant to a Long Island AIDS- care organization. In addition to graduate work at the Fordham University School of Law, studies in sociology and a Certificate in Clinical Pastoral Education from the Nassau County Medical Center, Ms. Devine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of New Rochelle and a Master of Arts degree from the C.W. Post - Long Island University College of Management.

FRANK J. PELLEGRINO, term as Member expires in March 2014. Mr. Pellegrino, a Hauppauge resident, currently serves as the Business Manager of Plumbers Union Local 200, with jurisdiction in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. He oversees a staff of field representatives covering all construction sites in both counties, and negotiates both special and general labor agreements with the Plumbing Contractors Association and with a variety of large development companies and agencies. He is conversant with all aspects of state and federal labor law, collective bargaining, benefit fund administration and the oversight of consultants retained for the furtherance of legal, accounting, investment and insurance services related to the conduct of union business. Mr. Pellegrino has experience as both Chair of the apprenticeship training committee and as an Instructor in the Apprenticeship Training Program.

ERROL D. TOULON, Jr., term as member expires June 2015. Mr. Toulon is a Lake Grove resident and a retired NYC Correction Captain. During his twenty-two year career with the NYC Department of Correction, Mr. Toulon was assigned as a captain to the Emergency Service Unit and the Firearms & Tactics Unit. During the final year of his career, Mr. Toulon was assigned to an independent unit that reported directly to a federal court judge monitoring environmental issues in the city’s jails.

Mr. Toulon is certified through the Department of Homeland Security in Emergency Planning, Radiological Emergency Management, Incident Response to Terrorist Bombing, WMD Threat and Risk Assessment and State Disaster Management. In addition, Mr. Toulon is certified to teach Weapons of Mass Destruction Awareness, NIMS, Domestic Terrorism and Hate Crimes.

Mr. Toulon received his Master’s degree in Business Administration from Dowling College, an Advanced Certificate in Homeland Security Management from Long Island University and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Educational Administration.