Human Resources
Tye A. Deines
Chief Human Resources Officer
(518) 388-6426
Tye is responsible for leading the HR department. He is responsible for benefits and compensation strategy, employee communication, decision making concerning employee relations matters, and employment policy development. Tye also develops and implements HR programs and procedures and fosters an environment of diversity, equity and inclusion.
Jennifer L. Blessing
Director of Benefits and hr systems
(518) 388-6133
Jennifer handles benefit plan documentation and information, position descriptions and classifications, compensation, reporting and analysis of employee information, and support for various HR/College systems.
Brittany E. I. Rapp
Assistant Director Of Benefits
(518) 388-6435
Brittany handles all active employee and retiree benefit enrollments, coverages, and claims. Brittany is also in charge of pay issues related to benefits, COBRA, the HR website, the HR newsletter, the tuition benefit program, the financial wellness program, the Employee Assistance program and Employee Scholarship Program.
Kyle T. Parker
Assistant Director of Leave Management & Benefits
(518) 388-6436
Kyle handles all worker's compensation, disability benefits, FMLA, Paid Family Leave, Faculty Parental Leave and Unemployment. Kyle is also in charge of employee recognition programs sponsored or managed by HR.
Francesca C. Mesiti, MBA
Director of Talent Acquisition
(518) 388-7043
Francesca handles the end-to-end candidate experience, starting with sourcing diverse talent to the interview and selection process through offers and onboarding. She oversees our talent acquisition technology, Page Up, and collaboratively partners with College leaders and hiring managers to guide them through the recruiting process to build their teams. She also oversees our onboarding and orientation experiences for new hires.
Shirley A. Agosta
Office Coordinator
(518) 388-6666
Shirley handles the status of applications, job postings, requests for information about a current vacancy, pre-employment paperwork (staff and students), and triaging of all other calls and visitors to the appropriate HR team member.
Gwen F. Pulvirent, PHR, SHRM-CP
director of employee relations
(518) 388-7135
Gwen handles special projects, monitors emocha badges, monitors testing results by working with other team members to make employee outreaches related to badges and/or testing, assists with employee relations issues, performance reviews, and reviewing unemployment claims.