Fred Romero

Fred Romero began his career in the field of developmental disabilities as a Direct Support Professional in 1993, while attending college full-time. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Queens College in 1997 and began working as a supervisor in the Bronx and eventually helped to develop group day habilitation programs for Queens and Brooklyn, Medicaid Service Coordination for the five boroughs, community habilitation and family support services. Mr. Romero ran several programs during his career working collaboratively with agencies and state operated facilities to improve the person-centered planning experience for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

In 2000, he obtained his Masters degree from Columbia University’s School of Social Work. Having spent most of his early career focusing on direct support care and the development of new services, he turned the focus of his career towards making systemic improvements to service quality and internal controls. He worked with Board members and executive management to achieve higher standards in person-centered care. Once achieved, he turned his focus on fiscal management.

In 2006, wanting a better understanding of fiscal demands, Mr. Romero enrolled in Baruch’s Executive MBA program, having had no prior knowledge or background in either accounting or finance. He became the interim fiscal director while attending the Executive MBA program. In 2008, he obtained an MBA degree from Baruch’s Zicklin School of Business and became the Chief Financial Officer shortly thereafter. He was appointed acting Chief Executive Officer in 2013, and named Gateway’s Chief Executive Officer in late 2014. Mr. Romero also served, for many years, as a member of the Board of Visitors of the Long Island Developmental Disabilities Services Office.

He also served one year as Corresponding Secretary and downstate delegate for the New York State Association of Boards of Visitors.