Page 6 - BusinessWest August 3, 2020

Mission: Accepted
Paul Belsito Eyes ‘Impact Philanthropy’ as He Takes Helm at Davis Foundation
PBy George O’Brien
aul Belsito admits he’s strug- gling somewhat with Zoom and conference calls — not the tech- nology, but the nature of those forms of communication.
He’s a people person, and he likes meeting them face to face — and not on
screen or over the phone.
“I enjoy going to events and networking —
that’s how I meet people,” he said, noting that there haven’t been any opportunities like that since he’s arrived, and he’s looking to the day when they return. “Zoom is OK, and I’m getting good at it, but it’s not the same.”
But it is reality in the summer of 2020, and this is how Belsito, chosen late this spring to
fill the rather large shoes of Mary Walachy as executive director of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, has been going about what will remain his primary assignment for the fore- seeable future.
And that is to ‘meet’ as many people as pos- sible and come to fully understand the many issues and challenges facing the Western Mass. community.
Paul Belsito
“This is a world built on relation- ships, and you have to understand peo- ple’s perspectives and listen actively so you can help build on the foundation that’s been laid,” he explained, adding that, since arriving in early June, he’s been doing a lot of listen- ing, with the inten- tion of acting — and collaborating with others — on what he’s hearing.
“This is a
world built on relationships,
and you have to understand people’s perspectives and listen actively so you can help build on the foundation that’s been laid.”
It’s an assign-
ment he accepts with
considerable enthu-
siasm, and one to
which he brings an
intriguing background, blending work in finan- cial services, government (he was district direc- tor for state Sen. Edward Augustus), higher edu- cation (he was executive assistant to the presi- dent at Assumption College in Worcester, his alma mater), and philanthropy; most recently
6 AUGUST 3, 2020
FEATURE
BusinessWest