Manhattan College Selects Two New Members for its Board of Trustees

Brother Dennis Lee, FSC, and Brother Thomas Zoppo ’85 (M.S.), FSC, have been selected as the two newest members of the Manhattan College Board of Trustees. 

Brother Dennis is currently the project director for the establishment of La Salle College of Education, Science and Technology in Nairobi, Kenya. He has dedicated more than  40 years to education, serving as an elementary school teacher, high school religion teacher, campus minister and missionary. 

He was a high school religion teacher at Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School in Brooklyn and served as a campus minister both at Bishop Loughlin and at Manhattan College. Since 2002, Brother Dennis has alternated as a missionary at Christ the Teacher Institute in Nairobi and in provincial leadership with LINE District (Long Island, New England) and DENA (District of Eastern North America). DENA is a community of De La Salle Christian Brothers and Lasallian Partners operating schools and ministries to provide a Lasallian education from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River, from Maine to Florida and Ontario. At the 2021 Undergraduate Commencement, Brother Dennis was  presented with an honorary doctorate in humane letters and delivered the commencement address.

He has received honorary doctorates from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota in 2020 and from Manhattan College in 2021. Brother Dennis received an honorary doctorate of humane letter and delivered the commencement address to the class of 2021.  From 1998 to 2002, he was the director of campus ministry/social action at Manhattan College. At the 2021 Undergraduate Commencement, 

A native of Queens, New York, Brother Dennis holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in education from Fordham University and a master’s in catechetical ministry from St. John’s University in Queens.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as a member of the Manhattan College Board of Trustees,” said Brother Dennis. “I have a special place in my heart for the College and look forward to helping to shape its legacy in the future.” 

Brother Thomas has been a De La Salle Christian Brother since 1979 and has dedicated more than  40 years to education as a school administrator and mentor. From 2013 to 2019, he was principal and head of school at Bishop Fenwick High School in Peabody, Massachusetts, a 600-student diocesan preparatory school, just north of Boston. Most recently, as president of Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida, he oversaw a 27% increase in enrollment and raised more than  $10.5 million for capital improvements. For six years, he was an academic adviser in the School of Engineering at Manhattan College. 

In 2015, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Boston, presented Brother Thomas with the Cheverus Medal for his distinguished service to the Church. Before his departure from Cardinal Newman High School, he was awarded a Legacy Honorary Alumni Award. He has also served on and been part of many professional organizations, boards, councils and advisory groups. 

Originally from Massachusetts, Brother Thomas earned his undergraduate degree from Villanova University in business administration and two graduate degrees from Manhattan College in school administration and supervision and educational leadership. Additional advanced studies were completed at Boston College and the University of Notre Dame. 

“I am honored to join Manhattan College’s dedicated and committed Board of Trustees," said Brother Thomas. “It is a particular privilege to contribute to a mission and vision that I believe in so strongly.”