Board of Trustees

Robert J. Bellafiore Delmar, New York

Robert J. Bellafiore is  Senior  Partner and  Director of  Public Affairs for the Albany, NY office of Eric Mower and Associates, an East Coast strategic communications and advertising firm. He is also a member of the firm's Board of Directors.

He formerly served as Press Secretary and Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Planning for Governor George E. Pataki, as well as President of the State University's Charter Schools Institute. Prior to government service, he was a journalist with The Associated Press and United Press International, and Communications Director for the Business Council of New York State.

Appointed to the SUNY Board in June 2005, Mr. Bellafiore received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University at Albany in 1982. He has served his alma mater as a member of advisory boards on intercollegiate athletics and development of its journalism program. He is also a member of the National Education Advisory Council for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and a founding board member of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

He is also a Henry Toll Fellow (1997), a program of the Council of State Government for future leaders in state government, and former president of the Legislative Correspondents Association, the organization of journalists who cover New York State government. Mr. Bellafiore is a frequent speaker on communications strategy, government and politics.

Mr. Bellafiore is a 1978 graduate of St. Francis Prep in Queens, NY, and now lives in Delmar, NY, with his wife, Marilyn, and sons Sam and Robert Jr.