Meet the ICI

Executive Director

Joseph E. Fritz
Joseph E. Fritz has been the Executive Director of the Investment Casting Institute (ICI) and its wholly owned subsidiary, INCAST Magazine (the world’s only monthly publication dedicated to Investment Casting), since 2013.   Under his leadership, the ICI has focused its initiatives on member services, educational resources, technological collaboration, industry sustainability and growth.
With over 30 years’ experience in the Aerospace and Power Generation industries, Mr. Fritz has worked in a variety of capacities with a number of Fortune 100 as well as privately held companies.   During this time, he has contributed to a number of programs, including the Navy’s Trident II, Phalanx and Aegis programs, the Air Force’s Joint Strike Fighter program and Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program. 
Mr. Fritz holds degrees in Engineering from the University of Connecticut and an MBA with a concentration in Strategic Marketing from Union College. 
 He continually strives to better the organization and all those associated with the ICI. 
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​Investment Casting Institute Staff

Jennifer Cioffoletti
Staff Associate
In her role as Staff Associate, Jenn’s key responsibilities are to support the ICI Accountant, database management, event support and other office support tasks. 
Jenn’s prior experience is a natural for Institute with her accounting and manufacturing background.  She worked for over 5 years as the office manager for EJC Systems where she handled accounting, purchasing and payroll duties for the engineering firm. Her prior experience also includes time spent at Mercedes-Benz USA optimizing processes for deliveries to over 300 retail locations and managing vendor relationships.
While at Volvo Finance NA, she performed contract audits, general ledger reconciliations and maintained retailer promotional rebates. Jenn was certified as a Six-Sigma Greenbelt for her IT project improving the contract auditing system ensuring payment allocation accuracy.
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Nora D'Ambra
Business Administrator
In her role as Business Administrator for the Investment Casting Institute, Nora D’Ambra manages the administrative responsibilities for the ICI, including insurance, human resource reporting, lease and contract management and new Member administration. She provides oversight of the Institute’s Association Management System, its website and social media activities.
Nora is responsible for coordination and support of Member activities and communications.  She plays a critical role at the Spring Management Meeting and Technical Conferences, where she oversees speaker logistics, presentations, and consolidation and distribution of event proceedings.  At these events, she also serves as on-site liaison between speakers and the audio/visual technicians.
 Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. D’Ambra worked as an Administrative Assistant to the VP of Operations at Bryant Staffing, which involved applicant screening, development and maintenance of recruiting and client reports, client pre-employment screening procedures and payroll related activities. 
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Barbara Tiseo
Meeting and Event Planner
Barbara Tiseo joined the Investment Casting Institute in 2015. Having strong interpersonal skills, she was a natural fit to support the Institute’s industry promotion efforts and is the Meeting & Event Planner for the Institute.  Barbara is responsible for the Institute’s Spring Management Meeting, Technical Conference and Expo, the Certification Course, the Process Control Seminar and all regional meetings. Additionally, she handles arrangements for the quarterly Meeting of the Board of Directors, and often supports meetings for our Ad Hoc committees.
Ms. Tiseo’s breadth of professional experiences combined with her helpful and supportive nature, makes her a strong team player. Prior to joining the Institute, Barbara was a Senior Payroll Specialist at Paychex, providing oversight for over 300 clients.  She had administrative responsibility for a family owned business, addressing purchasing, Accounts Payables & Receivables.  Ms. Tiseo has also worked for Prudential, where she supported the rollout of a new database system to the company’s nationwide locations, running seminars in system diagnostics and problem resolution.
[email protected]

Margureta Watson
Accounting Manager
Margureta Watson is the Accounting Manager for the Institute.  Her responsibilities include all financial analysis, reporting and tax preparation for the ICI and INCAST Corporation.
Margureta joined the Investment Casting Institute in 2015 in the role of Bookkeeper and is the newest member of the team.  She is a detail oriented individual and thorough in fulfilling her responsibilities.  With nearly 20 years’ experience in office administration and accounting, Ms. Watson is the ideal complement to the ICI staff.
Prior to joining the Institute, she worked in accounting and office administration, for a combined period of 12 years, with WinSystems of America and Nissei Electric USA in the electronics industry.  Ms. Watson’s experiences also include directing the startup of an entrepreneurial venture.  She has successfully setup an accountancy system for business operations, performed software installations, and supervised accounting functions in accounts payable, accounts receivable and invoicing.   
Ms. Watson completed her studies at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting, Masters of Public Administration and Masters of Accountancy.  
[email protected]

INCAST Magazine

Erin Almaleh
Editor-In-Chief
Having more than 20 years of experience in graphic design, layout print production and trade magazine publishing, Erin Almaleh began her career in advertising with a strong focus in the healthcare and microwave electronic industries. 
For the last 13 years prior to joining the ICI in 2014, she was employed at Octagon Communications in Englewood Cliffs, NJ, where she was responsible for the monthly production of two Radio Frequency and Microwave trade magazines and various marketing collateral material.  Her work experience also includes several social media platforms.
She graduated with a B.A. in English and a minor in journalism from Montclair State University in Montclair, NJ.  She studied graphic design at Bloomfield College in Bloomfield, NJ, and Noble Desktop, an Adobe® authorized training center in New York, NY.  She has also received certification in Adobe InDesign.
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