June 3, 2020

Elms College appoints Richard Meelia to board of trustees

REGIONAL
Staff report

Richard Meelia (iObserve photo/courtesy of Elms College)

CHICOPEE — The College of Our Lady of the Elms Board of Trustees has appointed Richard J. Meelia, principal of Meelia Ventures LLC, as a new member of the board.

“I am delighted that Richard Meelia has accepted our invitation to serve on our board,” said Elms College president Harry E. Dumay. “I look forward to working with him and seeing how his business experience will contribute to our strategic thinking.”

From July 2007 until his retirement in July 2011, Meelia served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of Covidien plc, an $11 billion global healthcare products company, following its separation from Tyco International in June 2007. Prior to that separation, Meelia served in a variety of senior leadership roles, including CEO and president of Tyco Healthcare.

“I look forward to serving on the Elms College Board of Trustees, and working with board chair Cynthia Lyons and the entire board,” said Meelia.

In addition to his business experience, Meelia has “a true passion for student experiential learning.” He funded the Meelia Center for Student Engagement and Volunteerism at Saint Anselm College and has provided the support to establish the Sisters Kathleen Keating and Maxyne Schneider Experiential Learning Fund at Elms College.

Meelia is the chairman of the board of Haemonetics, a global provider of blood and plasma supplies and services located in Braintree, Mass. He also is a member of the board of directors of several organizations, including St. Francis House in Boston, which is the largest day shelter in Massachusetts; Por Cristo, a Brighton, Mass., nonprofit dedicated to improving the health of poor children and their families in Ecuador; and Conformis, a knee replacement manufacturer in Billerica, Mass. He has served on the board of trustees of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H.