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08/07/2022 11:47 AMThe 35th annual East Haven High School (EHHS) Alumni Association Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place on Sunday, Oct. 23 at Seasons on 990 Foxon Road. Slated for induction in the Class of 2022 are William Demetriades, Renee Forte Dominquez, Bobby Leonzo, Megan Rea, Timothy Shaw, Kevin Sheehan, and Edmund “Ted” Sullivan. Tickets are $55 and will go on sale on Thursday, Sept. 1. Tickets may be purchased by sending a check payable to the EHHS Alumni Association, 103 Leigh Dr., East Haven CT, 06512. No tickets will be sold at the door.
William Demetriades (Class of 1995)
William Demetriades was a two-sport athlete during his years at EHHS before graduating in 1995. Demetriades started for the East Haven ice hockey team for four seasons, playing a total of 77 games. He was also a three-year varsity starter on the baseball diamond.
During his high school hockey career, Demetriades scored 61 goals to go with 76 assists for a total of 137 points. Demetriades received All-Housatonic Honorable Mention in his sophomore year and then earned All-Housatonic First Team and All-Area Second Team honors as a junior. In his senior year, Demetriades served as a captain for the Yellowjackets and was the team’s leading scorer. Demetriades garnered All-State First Team and All-SCC First Team accolades as a senior, in addition to earning Athlete of the Week honors and the Yellowjackets’ Most Valuable Player Award.
Sports continued to be a big part of Demetriades’s life after high school. Demetriades played college hockey at Sacred Heart University and went on to serve as a hockey referee at the youth, high school, and prep levels from 2004 to 2015. Demetriades has been an assistant coach with the EHHS ice hockey team since 2016 and was named the 2022 Coach of the Year for the Elite Hockey Association.
Demetriades has been an employee of the State of Connecticut since 2005, starting as a judicial marshal from 2005 to 2007. He currently works as a support enforcement officer. Demetriades and his wife Erika live in East Haven and have two children.
Renee Forte Dominguez (Class of 1997)
Renee Forte Dominguez has worked hard to reach the upper echelon of professional law enforcement over the past 21 years. After graduating from EHHS in 1997, Forte Dominguez entered the University of New Haven and earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in 2001. Forte Dominguez then served as a certified police officer in Newtown from 2000 to 2002, after which she joined the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) as a patrol officer.
Forte Dominguez rose steadily through the ranks of the NHPD. She has served as K9 handler, sergeant/lieutenant, and officer in charge of the K9 unit, in addition to the sergeant/district manager of Patrol Operations, lieutenant/officer in charge of the Family Services Division, and Assistant Chief of Police of the Patrol Operations Division. She was named the NHPD’s interim Chief of Police in 2021.
Forte Dominguez received a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Southern Connecticut State University in 2008 and then earned her master’s degree in criminal justice from UNH in 2020. She also became a state-certified law enforcement instructor in 2010. In that capacity, Forte Dominguez teaches new recruits at the New Haven Police Academy and also conducts in-service training for the NHPD and South Central Criminal Justice Administration, which provides management support services to 22 area municipalities and universities.
Forte Dominguez is a fellow of the Tow Youth Justice Institute, is affiliated with the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences at UNH, and is also a leadership fellow in the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. She is a two-time recipient of the New Haven Independent’s Cop of the Week recognition and additionally received the annual Detective Andrew Faggio Service Award in 2016. Forte Dominguez has received multiple commendations from the NHPD. She is committed to community policing as she partners innovative thinking with creative problem-solving and staff mentorship.
Bobby Leonzo (Class of 2005)
Bobby Leonzo was a standout athlete for the Easties on both the basketball and tennis courts. A 2005 graduate, Leonzo averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds per game during his senior season with the East Haven boys’ basketball team. Leonzo was named to both the All-SCC Oronoque Team and the New Haven Register All-Area Team as a senior, in addition to playing in the Connecticut High School Coaches Association’s Senior All-Star Game and receiving the Stephen D. Vuolo Scholarship Award.
Leonzo also played tennis for the Yellowjackets during his junior and senior years. Leonzo served as a team captain in his senior season and also achieved an All-SCC ranking in doubles matches.
Upon his high school graduation, Leonzo attended Albertus Magnus College (AMC) and continued his two-sport athletic career at the school. Leonzo was a four-year starter in tennis, playing both singles and doubles and also captaining the team as a senior. Leonzo also played for the AMC men’s basketball team, scoring 1,294 career points and shooting 42.1 percent from 3-point range. Leonzo earned All-Conference Third Team honors and is ranked ninth all-time in scoring for the men’s basketball program.
After graduating from AMC with a bachelor’s degree in sports management in 2009, Leonzo joined CDW Corporation, a technology seller located in Shelton. Leonzo works with K-12 schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and his current role with the company is executive account manager.
Megan Rea (Class of 2011)
Megan Rea is a 2011 graduate of EHHS, where she excelled as a member of the Yellowjackets’ girls’ soccer team. Rea started playing youth soccer in East Haven as a six-year-old and went on to compete in the South Central Premier League, as well as the Olympic Development Program from ages 12 to 18, in addition to making the U.S. Regional team from ages 12 to 17.
Rea was a four-year starter for the girls’ soccer squad at EHHS, earning All-Divisional honors in the SCC every year to go along with All-State accolades in her sophomore and senior campaigns. Rea also served as a captain of the team as a senior. For her high school career, Rea scored 30 goals, collected 30 assists, and received the Greater New Haven Soccer Officials’ Whitey Piurek Award for Outstanding Female Athlete.
After graduating from EHHS, Rea earned a scholarship to play Division I soccer at Stony Brook University in New York. She was a member of Stony Brook’s America East championship team in 2012 and graduated from the school with a degree in U.S. History in 2015. Rea went on to teach in the New Haven public school system for six years and is currently an educator in Clinton.
Timothy Shaw (Class of 1984)
Timothy Shaw is a 34-year law enforcement professional who currently oversees 350 sworn and civilian personnel as the Chief of the Stamford Police Department (SPD). A 1984 graduate of EHHS, Shaw’s post-secondary education has seen him earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1990, graduate from the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia in 2006, complete the Senior Management Institute Police Executive Research Forum at Boston University in 2014, and participate in the New England Law Enforcement Executive Development Association on behalf of the FBI in 2015.
Shaw first joined the SPD as an officer in 1988. He rose to sergeant in 1996, patrol lieutenant/neighborhood impact unit commander in 2005, patrol lieutenant/division east side commander in 2007, lieutenant-commander of the Bureau of Criminal Investigations in 2008, lieutenant-commander of the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit and Assistant Chief of Investigations and Administration in 2010, and Assistant Chief of Investigations and Administration in 2013.
Shaw served as Chief of the Easton Police Department from 2015 until his retirement in 2020. He then was named Stamford’s Chief of Police in 2020. In that capacity, he directly oversees all SPD patrol and investigative units, including major crimes, youth bureau, special victims, and narcotics and organized crimes, while managing a $50 million budget. Shaw feels especially proud of his success in developing programs that foster collaboration between the department and community.
Shaw’s many accomplishments include awards and citations from the SPD, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Customs, as well as Stamford Public Schools and Police Commission and the Connecticut State Police. He also received the New York City Police World Trade Center Commendation and the Sandy Hook Service Medal.
Kevin Sheehan (Class of 1968)
Kevin Sheehan played baseball and basketball at EHHS and went on to enjoy a great baseball career at the University of New Haven (UNH). Graduating from EHHS in 1968, Sheehan then attended UNH and obtained a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He later moved to Boston and received additional professional training at Boston Architectural College.
Sheehan enjoyed a long and successful career as a consulting engineer, working for three companies over a period of 40 years. He worked for Shooshanian Engineering Associates as a consulting engineer, BR+W Consulting Engineers as a lead design principal, and RW Sullivan Engineering as a principal. Sheehan retired in 2014, but continues his consulting on a part-time basis. He has lectured extensively at a variety of conferences and conventions, particularly about HVAC design and the use of filtrations relative to health care, medical research facilities, and peak demand management.
Raised in an active athletic family, Sheehan played baseball and basketball for the Yellowjackets for all four years of high school. Sheehan earned All-Housatonic Honorable Mention for the baseball team in his junior year and then received All-Housatonic recognition as a senior, serving as a captain for the Easties in that season. In his senior year, Sheehan helped East Haven advance to the Class L state championship game.
Sheehan went on to attend UNH on a baseball scholarship, amassing a career record of 18-1 on the pitcher’s mound. Sheehan recorded a four-year ERA of 2.03 that included a mark of 1.21 for the 1972 season. He also had 5 career saves and 3 career shutouts. Sheehan pitched for UNH in the NAAI Baseball World Series in Phoenix in 1970 and also pitched in the NCAA Atlantic Regional in Chesapeake, Virginia in 1972.
Edmund “Ted” Sullivan (Class of 1955)
Edmund “Ted” Sullivan played basketball and baseball at EHHS until he graduated in 1955. On the basketball court, Sullivan helped the Yellowjackets go undefeated in the Housatonic League during the regular season to win the title for three-straight years, totaling a record of 78-1 during that span. Sullivan also helped East Haven claim state and New England championships as a senior, after which he guided the Yellowjackets to another state title in his senior season.
Sullivan was named to the All-Tournament Second Team and received All-State Honorable Mention in basketball as a junior. In his senior campaign, he was named to the All-State First Team and was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the State Tournament, in addition to receiving the Savitt Outstanding Sportsmanship Award, the Warren Sampson Trophy, and team MVP honors.
Sullivan started his baseball career as a pitcher and an outfielder, later moving to the infield. Along with competing for the EHHS baseball team, Sullivan played American Legion baseball from 1951 to 1954.
Sullivan went on to attend Harvard University and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1959. He played for the freshman and JV basketball teams at the school. Sullivan went on to receive a master of business administration from the University of Connecticut in 1969, where he was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma and an honor society member for top business school students. Sullivan’s professional education includes fellowships with the Life Office Management Association in 1965, the American College Charter Life Underwriter in 1976, and the American College Charter Financial Planner.
Sullivan’s career in insurance spanned nearly two decades each at Travelers Insurance in Hartford, where he was an underwriter and corporate officer from 1959 to 1977; and at Unity Mutual Life Insurance in Syracuse, New York, where he was vice president, senior vice president, and president of various divisions between 1977 and 1996. Sullivan, a current resident of Fayetteville, New York, later served on the First Amaritas Board of Directors from 2000 to 2010, was senior employment counselor at Messenger Associates from 1996 to 2006, and was a senior consultant at POMCO from 1996 through his retirement in 2006.