CEIA Academy – LAUNCH Presenter BIOs

Kelly Harper is the Director of the Career Center and a tenured faculty member at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. With more than 20 years of experience in Cooperative Education and career development, she has dedicated her career to strengthening the connection between higher education and workforce development.

Kelly has worked in the field of Cooperative Education at both Cincinnati State and Northern Kentucky University, where she has focused on building sustainable employer partnerships and creating meaningful experiential learning opportunities for students. Her areas of expertise include career development strategy, employer recruiting, and the hiring of student talent for co-ops, internships, and full-time and part-time employment. She is deeply committed to helping students translate their education into purposeful and rewarding careers.

A longstanding leader in the profession, Kelly has served on the Cooperative Education & Internship Association (CEIA) Board since 2011. Throughout her tenure, she has held several national leadership roles including President, Conference Chair, and Vice President of Marketing and Membership. Her leadership extends regionally as well, having served as President of both the Ohio Cooperative Education Association (OCEA) and the Midwest Cooperative Education and Internship Association (MCEIA).

Kelly’s career reflects a sustained commitment to advancing experiential education, supporting employer engagement, and elevating professional standards within work-integrated learning.

Dr. Kristen Gallo

CEIA Past President

Dr. Kristen Gallo is the Executive Director for Career Services at Temple University, where she provides strategic vision for the university Career Center, leads a central team of 12, and partners with colleges and schools to advance career development, experiential learning, outcomes assessment, and workforce alignment. Previously, she spent seven years with the cooperative education program at Drexel University, including five years as Assistant Director overseeing advisors across five colleges and supporting approximately 2,000 students and 500 employers annually.

Kristen proudly serves as President of the Cooperative Education and Internship Association, facilitator of both the LAUNCH and ASCEND programs, and is a past Region 2 Vice President. Additionally, Kristen is an active committee member within National Association of Colleges and Employers and volunteer with the Eastern Association of Colleges and Employers. Kristen has presented at numerous national conferences and trainings focusing on the future of work, career readiness, and experiential learning. Kristen holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Management from Drexel University, an M.S. in College Student Development and Counseling from Northeastern University, and a B.A. in Psychology from Stony Brook University. 

Dr. David Caffo

CEIA President Elect and Vice President of External Relations

Serving as Director of Experiential Learning at Wilmington University, Dr. Caffo has 14+ years of experience in higher education. In 2010, he was charged with the task of developing a new cooperative education (co-op) department for the university. While building this new program, he took pride in advising students, working with employers to develop opportunities, and worked diligently to incorporate real world experiences into the academic curriculum utilizing co-op as a course modality. In 2016, the Cooperative Education Department he developed was reformed into the Office of Work-Integrated Learning and is now the university’s one-stop shop for internships, cooperative education, and service-learning experiences. In 2018, the Office of Work-Integrated Learning was again reformed becoming the Office of Experiential Learning, wherein his responsibilities evolved to include Credit for Prior Learning as well as Work-Integrated Learning. The Office of Experiential Learning adopted Dr. Caffo’s vision wherein it takes a 360-degree approach to experiential learning. Whether a student goes to Wilmington University with a vast amount of professional experience and is awarded Credit for Prior Learning (CPL), or they participate in a Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) opportunity (Internships or Cooperative Education) embedded in their curriculum for credit, they create an experiential pathway to graduation.

Prior to his tenure at Wilmington University, Dr. Caffo served as a Regional Vice President with Pacific Life where his major responsibilities were establishing relationships with financial advisors, cultivating business development programs, and providing extensive marketing support to producing financial brokers, including: seminars, client appreciation events, case development support, and the implementation of various sales ideas.

Dr. Caffo’s education history consists of earning a Bachelor’s degree in Consumer Economics from University of Delaware, a Master’s degree in Marketing Management from Wilmington University, and completion of a Doctoral degree at Wilmington University in Organizational Leadership and Innovation. 

Dr. Carissa Forde

CEIA Vice President- Region 2

Dr. Carissa Forde serves as the Director of Career and Experiential Learning at the College of Education and Human Development at Temple University. In this role, she provides strategic leadership in advancing experiential learning, teacher education, and career readiness, initiatives that connect students’ academic experiences to meaningful professional pathways. She collaborates with faculty, staff, and community partners to expand access to high-impact learning opportunities, ensuring that students are well-prepared to thrive in their chosen fields.

Before assuming her current role, Dr. Forde served as the Associate Director of Student Professional Development at the Joyce K. Salzberg Center for Professional Development, where she oversaw the college’s internship program, taught the internship course, and managed the Pathways to Professions summer internship stipend program supporting students in unpaid experiences. She led employer relations efforts, curated professional development programming, and partnered with organizations across the region to create equitable access to experiential learning. Dr. Forde’s career in higher education spans more than a decade.

She is an active leader within the Cooperative Education and Internship Association (CEIA), currently serving as Vice President of Region 2, where she collaborates with colleagues across the Mid-Atlantic to advance best practices in cooperative education and experiential learning.

A sought-after presenter and facilitator, Dr. Forde has co-hosted educational webinars, co-presented at national conferences, including CEIA’s 2023 conference in San Diego and led numerous workshops focused on career exploration, leadership development, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Forde holds a Doctorate in Education and a Master’s in Public Health with a concentration in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Temple University, as well as a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resource Management from the Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business.

Through her leadership, scholarship, and mentorship, she continues to shape pathways that prepare future educators, leaders, and changemakers to make meaningful contributions in their careers, communities and beyond.

Zach Fiore

Director, Talent Pipeline Management
Metro Atlanta Chamber

Zach Fiore is the Talent Pipeline Management Director for the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC). Since launching the ATL Talent Collaborative in 2023, he has worked with chief human resource officers and talent acquisition executives from dozens of MAC’s investor companies to help develop innovative talent-sourcing strategies for their most critical roles. By partnering with talent-producing organizations and supporting programs like ATL Interns After 5, he has helped connect MAC’s investors with much-needed talent in the region.

Zach grew up in northeastern Ohio, but has lived all over the country. He graduated from Hiram College with a bachelor’s in creative writing and communications. Zach is an avid reader, film nerd, and a published poet, author, and essayist who listens to music whenever he can. He lives in Marietta with his husband, Chris, and their golden retriever, Beignet.

Justin holds a Master of Management Information Systems and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Georgia College & State University and resides in Marietta, Georgia, with his wife and son.

Peggy Harrier, M.Ed.

CEIA Executive Director

At Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Peggy Harrier is a former Dean of Business where she supervised a mandatory co-op component for 20 majors. She also had management responsibilities for 50 fulltime faculty and 200 adjunct instructors. Peggy was also a Chair of the Business Technologies Division, where she had management responsibilities for the Management, Marketing and Real Estate programs and coordinated a mandatory co-op component for students. Cincinnati State College maintained the largest co-op program among two-year schools in the US and remained in the top ten of all co-op programs in the country for over 25 years. Having worked as a co-op coordinator early in her career at the college, she was a tenured faculty member teaching Business Law, Ethics, Co-op Seminar and Professional Practices. As a licensed Real Estate Broker, Peggy had experience in both industry and education. She earned a BA degree from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, Indiana, as well as a Master of Education degree from Xavier University. She retired from Cincinnati State College in 2013 and was associated the college for over 30 years.

Peggy joined the CEIA Board in 2000 where she has served the Association as a board member for the past 25 years. Accomplishments to note include, preparing and distributing national state of the profession surveys, leading the reorganization efforts for the Journal of Cooperative Education and Internships, serving as President 2004-05 and chairing two conferences, including co-chairing the 2006 centennial celebration. She was instrumental in securing a collaborative agreement for the production of the Journal of Cooperative Education and Internships with WACE, NCCE and CAFCE. She also initiated strategic partnerships with WACE and NCCE for projects being conducted in the field and has assisted CEIA with the development of an interactive website. Peggy is a CEIA Academy trainer, specializing in quality improvement processes. CEIA honored Peggy with the Dean Herman Schneider Award in 2009.