Executive Team

Joseph Goncalves
Executive Director

Joseph Goncalves is a member of the original team that formed NYSIR in 1989, serving first as the reciprocal’s underwriting manager and then as president of the NYSIR Division of Wright Risk Management. For the past seven years he has been NYSIR’s executive director, implementing policy and long-range planning, and advising and carrying out the directives of the Board of Governors. Goncalves works closely with the management company and other service providers for NYSIR.

After receiving an MBA from Adelphi University, Goncalves began his insurance career with a focus on underwriting, majoring in the area of large multi-national captives. He joined Wright Risk Management in 1984 as a consultant after receiving his designation as a Charter Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). Goncalves has lectured extensively on insurance and risk management, and has been an instructor for courses in the CPCU program and a member of the grading panel for CPCU exams.

Tom Gleason
NYSIR General Counsel

Thomas F. Gleason is general counsel for the New York Schools Insurance Reciprocal and a founding member of the law firm Gleason, Dunn, Walsh & O’Shea, in Albany, NY. He is engaged in the full-time practice of law in Albany, with emphasis on insurance-related issues. He is admitted to the New York Bar, as well as the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.

He is an adjunct professor at Albany Law School, where he has taught insurance law for more than 20 years. He also has served for more than 20 years as a member of the New York Office of Court Administration Advisory Committee on Civil Practice, which advises the Chief Judge and the Administrative Board on proposals for changes to the rules governing civil litigation. Gleason also chairs the Advisory Committee’s Subcommittee on Technology, and was actively involved in drafting the user’s manual and rules associated with a program for the filing of court papers by electronic means.

He is the author of the 1999 Special Supplementary Practice Commentary to New York’s Civil Practice Laws and Rules on Electronic Filing (see, McKinney’s Consolidated Laws of the State of New York CPLR 2101 and 2103). Gleason also has written numerous articles and given presentations on electronic filing and computer evidence issues.

He also wrote the Practice Commentary for New York State statutes that govern structured settlements of tort and malpractice legal claims (CPLR Articles 50-A and 50-B). Gleason was a member of the Chief Judge’s Commission on Public Access to Court Records (2004), as well as the Chief Judge’s Committee to Improve Availability of Legal Services (1989), and is a contributing columnist for the New York Law Journal.

Paul H. Donovan
Assistant to the Executive Director

Paul Donovan works with the executive director on programs and projects for the NYSIR Board of Governors. One such project is the Continuous Improvement Program, which involves conducting interviews designed to measure the effectiveness of NYSIR’s programs while seeking ways to improve services. In addition to several other projects, Donovan managed the development and implementation of a new website offering subscribers more information, faster communication and delivery of additional services.

After attending St. John Fisher College for accounting, Donovan began his insurance career in 1969. Over the past 40 years he has been involved in sales, underwriting, management and marketing. As a licensed insurance broker, Donovan offers NYSIR subscribers a unique blend of insurance knowledge and experience.

Prior to his current position, Donovan was NYSIR’s Western New York Regional Manager, responsible for coordination and administration of the company’s services in that area of the state. He is a member of ASBO, and spends most of his spare time volunteering in his community.

Teresa A. Wilkerson
Administrative Assistant to the Board