Christina Sullivan, '91

Tocar in Spanish means “to touch” or “to influence.” The creations of Christina Sullivan, ’91, co-founder and vice president of Tocar Interior Design of New York City, do both.

As a fashion design major (clothing and textiles) at FSC, Sullivan spent many nights completing projects in Professor Arlene Handschuch’s sewing lab. While still a student living in Linsley Hall, she designed medieval clothing for the Children’s Collection of the Higgins Armory Museum. She also participated in a program with the Paris Fashion Institute. After graduating, she studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York.

She began her design career in the store design department of Polo Ralph Lauren, where she arranged the national launch of the Double RL Collection shops. She then oversaw the interior design of freestanding Tommy Hilfiger retail shops and showrooms. In 1996, she founded Sullivan Design, an interior design firm with such clients as Donna Karan, Takashimaya and Polo Ralph Lauren.

Two years later, she and Susan Bednar Long, a colleague from Polo Ralph Lauren, founded Tocar Interior Design. TID creates high-end residential and commercial interiors and offers not only interior design but also interior architectural design and renovation, custom furniture and accessories design, and artwork consultation. Christina’s recent projects have included a family townhouse in Manhattan, a mountain residence in Park City, Utah, and a Ferretti yacht in Naples, Florida.

Christina belongs to the New York Junior League and Fashion Group International, and is a Young Fellow of the Frick Museum. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Thomas.

She still thinks fondly of her alma mater. “FSC gave me the foundation for my work in the design industry,” she says.

Joseph "Joe" Tosches, ’77

“I can't tell you how rewarding it is,” says Joseph “Joe” Tosches, “to see the face of a person with developmental disabilities when they move out of a state institution into a new home in the community.”

It’s a sight that has rewarded Joe, FSC class of 1977, many times during his tenure as chief operating officer of the Seven Hills Foundation in Worcester. Seven Hills and its affiliate organizations provide training and services to some 21,000 individuals with disabilities and life challenges at 140 Massachusetts locations. These services include vocational training, training in individual living, rehabilitation therapy, substance abuse counseling, rights advocacy, and day care.

Joe has been the COO at Seven Hills since 2000, and was its chief financial officer for fifteen years before that. During that time, Seven Hills has grown from a $5 million organization with 250 employees to a $120 million organization with almost 2,000 employees. In 2005 and 2006, it was voted the “#1 Fastest Growing Non-profit in Central Massachusetts” by the Worcester Business Journal…and it’s up to bat for the award again this year.

At Seven Hills, “our core mission is to empower people with significant challenges so that they may pursue their highest level of independence,” Joe says. He cites as proud accomplishments the opening of a new Corporate College for adult professional education, and a new wing of the Pediatric Nursing Home, an extended-care center for children at Seven Hills at Groton. Seven Hills is now preparing to break ground for a neurological rehabilitation center in Worcester for returning veterans with traumatic brain injuries.

Joe gives plenty of credit for his success, and that of Seven Hills, to his FSC education. After graduating and working as an accountant for the Commonwealth, he landed his first CFO job with the Center for Mental Health & Retardation Services in Watertown at the age of 26.

“FSC gave me the educational background and the credibility to be able to get these types of job offers at such a young age,” he says. “The friendships I made during that time helped me develop the ability to communicate well with staff, colleagues, and peers.”

Joe’s affinity for FSC began early. His father served the college as bursar and director of fiscal affairs. In high school, Joe worked with the FSC grounds crew and “developed a real comfort level” with the college.

While a student at FSC, Joe took advantage of his aptitude for math and business and majored in Economics/Business and Finance. His favorite professor was Martha Meaney, who taught quantitative economics analysis but, he says, “had a way of trying to make it fun and get us all through. We were able to have some laughs in her class and it actually helped to keep our interest at a higher level.”

More important to Joe, though, were the lifelong friendships he formed with schoolmates like Kevin Maines, Bob Viola, Peter Wilson, and above all, Melanie Ames, who has been his wife for 27 years now. “Whether we were playing sports or just hanging out,” Joe says of his FSC friends, “we always seemed to be having some laughs!”

While rising through the ranks of health care and rehabilitation management, Joe acquired an MBA from FSC and a doctorate in business administration from Southern California. He serves on the board of directors of Arrow Mutual Insurance (a worker’s compensation insurer) and is treasurer of the board at Sheraton’s Vistana Resort in Orlando. His hobbies include coaching golf and baseball, playing golf, and spending time at his home in West Palm Beach. He and Melanie have a grown daughter who works for a major accounting firm and a son on the golf team at the University of Connecticut.

Joe remains a proud advocate of the state college system that includes FSC — and he has the record of personal and professional achievement to back up his views. “I firmly believe,” he says, “that just because you pay $40,000 a year at a private school doesn't make you a successful person. Hard work, dedication, good friends, and solid teaching from the state schools are my recipe for success. I received an excellent education and wouldn't have what I have today without it!”