Dr. Jeanine Belcastro Went became Vice President of Membership & Programs in 2026. She brings nearly 30 years of public and private higher education experience to The Registry. Most recently, she served as Executive Director of the bi-national Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC), where she worked closely with presidents and senior leaders to advance strategy and increase member engagement. In this role, and her prior consortium role as co-founder of the Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts(HECCMA), she demonstrated a distinctive ability to lead membership-based organizations and multi-institutional consortia, facilitating cross-institutional collaboration and strengthening organizational impact.

Known for her ability to build programs and services from concept to execution, Went has used her creativity and innovation to build departments, programs, and nonprofits from the ground up. Beyond her professional work, Went co-founded One Health for Kids, a volunteer-driven after-school program in Rwanda that delivers hands-on lessons about the One Health concept for school children, fostering an interest in STEM fields and improving community health outcomes in African schools and communities.

Went’s scholarly interests lie at the intersection of higher education leadership and organizational culture. She received her PhD in Education and Human Resource Studies with a specialization in Higher Education Leadership and a concentration in Ethnographic research from Colorado State University. Her earlier academic training reflects a deep commitment to the arts, holding a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Boston University and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam.