Joseph is a life-long resident of WNY, who resides in Williamsville with his wife of 43 years, Susan Wells. He graduated St. Mary’s High School, Lancaster, N.Y. He earned a BA in Sociology and was a ROTC cadet there for two years. Thereafter, he was drafted and then served 30 months in the U.S. Army, have been stationed with 5th Corps HQ in Frankfurt, Germany.
Returning home, he earned a MBA in Finance at Canisius College at night and then began a career in banking. During his 43 year career in banking, he developed new products for commercial real estate lending and investing, managing clients for both JPMorganChase and Citibank. He retired from KeyBank, after 14 years with Key in the field of affordable housing finance.
His keen interest in the charter school movement began right after NYS passed a law allowing charter schools in 1998. He saw charters as the best way for low income minority kids to learn to read. He spent time as a board member with Chameleon Community Schools Project, which provided expertise for new grant funding for charter schools before he joined the board of Maritime around 2010. Since then, he has served as both Secretary and Treasurer and as a member of the Real Estate Committee. His other interests include tai chi and skeet shooting.