Ralph Pallotta, known to family and friends as "Rip" Pallotta is the long time Chairman of the Board of Directors. Ralph has been a local banker in the Fitchburg-Leominster area for the past 35 years and currently is the Branch Manager of the Sovereign Bank in Sterling, Massachusets. For 25 of those years, he also worked as a Staff Announcer on WEIM Radio in Fitchburg, mostly as a sports announcer, but also did some Economic Reporting, a bit of music DJ'ing and election coverage.
A Baseball efficionado, he is the author of the book One Day in Mudville. Besides his service to the Arc, Ralph has been a member of the Exchange Club of Fitchburg since 1979, is a three term president of that club and also served as the New England District President of Exchange for the year 1999-2000. Ralph has also been involved with the Knights of Columbus, Sons of Italy, and is a member SABR, the Society of American Baseball Research.
Ralph has been married to his wife Melanie for 34 years, and they have 3 children and one grand-daughter. One of their children is severly autistic, and is Ralph's inspiration to serve people with special needs. In his spare time, "Rip" is a musician, and loves to jam with his son, and also loves to write baseball stories for Wikipedia.