PBN 40 Under Forty Awards 2025
JOHN OLERIO | 37
Executive director of summer sessions, winter J term and strategic initiatives, University of Rhode Island
What is the biggest challenge currently facing your industry and how are you responding to it? The higher education enrollment cliff, the idea that fewer traditional-aged college students will enroll at places such as URI due to lower birthrates and worries about the value of a bachelor’s degree, is here. In response, through summer and winter enrollment, we are making the path to URI credentials as flexible as possible and innovative as possible. Also, distilling our academic courses and degrees into programs that can effectively upskill and reskill the Rhode Island workforce is an extremely exciting way for the university to hedge against the enrollment cliff.
What was your first job? In high school, I worked at Blockbuster Video in East Greenwich.
What is your greatest attribute that you bring to your job? I strongly believe in servant leadership and I try to lead with positive energy.
What was your last streaming or cable binge watch? “The Studio” with Seth Rogen.
What is your favorite personal activity/pastime away from the office? Our family goes skiing at Okemo Mountain Resort in Vermont almost every weekend in the winter.
