Paul J. Tortolani

Paul Tortolani has spent portions of his professional life in three distinct arena; politics and government, higher education and business. He initially operated political campaigns specializing in polling and operating call centers to stimulate voter turnout. After several years of service in Local, and Federal Governments, Paul served, from 1984 -1988, as the State Commissioner of Commerce and Development in Massachusetts under Governor Michael S. Dukakis.

He transitioned to higher education, teaching at several universities, serving in several administrative capacities before becoming as Dean of Graduate and Professional Programs at Endicott College and as Vice President of Academic Affairs at Nichols College. He transitioned again to the business of education in 2002, as Vice President of Education for Prism Associates a venture backed operator of certificate and associate degree training schools in the mid-Atlantic states. He was particularly successful in starting and scaling nursing programs in affiliation with nursing home operators where students would intern and be assured of employment upon graduation.

Paul joined Wilson Language Training in 2007 as Vice President of Education. In this position he led the introduction of the COMPASS system of developing literacy training plans for schools and districts and bringing it to national scale. In 2019, He became Wilson’s Senor Vice President for Higher Education, Research and Policy, enabling him to combine various elements of his background to document Wilson effectiveness, coordinate the use of Wilson Reading System as part of the curriculum at several graduate institutions and help contribute to Wilson’s policy positions and activities.

He also chairs the Professional Standards Committee of the Global Implementation Society and is the President-elect of the Alliance for Accreditation and Certification of MSLE programs.

He earned a B.A. and an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Connecticut, and an MPA and Ph.D. in Public Administration from New York University.