United Spinal Association: Meet Our New CEO

 

Meet Matt Castelluccio: United Spinal Association's New CEO

"We exist because of our chapters and members, and I don’t ever want to lose sight of that,” says says United Spinal CEO Matt Castelluccio. United Spinal Association has named Matt Castelluccio as its CEO. Castelluccio has been a staff member of United Spinal since 2022 and has been serving as the interim CEO since September 2025, succeeding Vincenzo Piscopo. Castelluccio previously served as vice president of community support. For Castelluccio, the opportunity to lead United Spinal is a full-circle moment. He is a manual wheelchair user with a cervical-level spinal cord injury, the result of a motorcycle accident in 2003. When he got out of rehab, he found himself struggling to adapt to his new reality.

“It’s difficult to navigate by yourself,” he says. “I was surrounded by friends and family, and as great as they were, they just weren’t able to understand what I was going through. When I got into outpatient rehab, someone told me he had connected with an organization called United Spinal and that I should look into it for support. That was really the starting point of my recovery.   “A couple of wheelchair users who visited me helped connect me with different resources and encouraged me to try adaptive sports. That is when my real healing began and  I was able to start moving forward with my life. They showed me the potential to live a full life and the importance of having a community of peers.’

He decided to redirect his career toward disability support services and advocacy, taking a position at Helen Hayes Rehabilitation Hospital near his home in New York’s Hudson Valley. There, he managed the adaptive sports and peer mentoring program. During his time at Helen Hayes, he met his future wife, Elaine. Recognizing a gap between rehabilitation centers and community-based support, they founded a Hudson Valley chapter of United Spinal in 2014. “We wanted to offer events and support groups, different ways for creating community in our area.  We’re not a metropolitan area, so people are spread out. We wanted to give people a reason to get out of the house and be around other people who get it. I left a lot of those meetings with more information and knowledge than I brought to that group. That was the whole point, just having that opportunity for us all to grow.”  Castelluccio visiting the pumpkin patch with his wife Elaine and their two sons, RJ and Dom.

“We wanted to offer events and support groups, different ways for creating community in our area.  We’re not a metropolitan area, so people are spread out. We wanted to give people a reason to get out of the house and be around other people who get it. I left a lot of those meetings with more information and knowledge than I brought to that group. That was the whole point, just having that opportunity for us all to grow.”  After working at Helen Hayes Hospital in a variety of roles, Castelluccio wanted to better understand community-based support systems, so he accepted a position with BRIDGES – Rockland Independent Living Center as Director of Independent Living Services, overseeing all independent living programs. When a position opened for Director of Independent Living Services at United Spinal Association, he says, “I jumped at the opportunity to work for an organization with a national impact.”  Since joining United Spinal, Castelluccio has risen through the community support department, leading the resource center, peer support program, disaster relief, VetsFirst, chapter network and hospital membership program.  As Castelluccio takes on the CEO role, he remembers what it was like as someone struggling to adjust to a new injury. “There was a huge disconnect when I left rehab and a feeling of loss. I want to take all I’ve learned in my career and take it back to that young person sitting in that bed, so they can know they’re not alone,” he says. “You may feel disconnected, but you’re not. You have access to great resources like United Spinal Association and Centers for Independent Living. You have a community. You have peer support. You have New Mobility magazine. These are tools to make that transition smoother, and they are underutilized. I want to make sure everyone knows about the support they have available.”

Castelluccio says adaptive sports served as an important tool to help him adapt to life as a wheelchair user.

Castelluccio used his blend of personal experience and organizational leadership to steer United Spinal through the transition after Piscopo departed. His interim tenure showed the Board of Directors why he was the right choice to assume the role permanently.  "Before taking the reins as interim CEO, Matt was already integral to how United Spinal Association operated. Once in that role, he grew our membership, expanded our chapter network, increased revenue, reduced costs and reinforced the sense of community that defines United Spinal," says board chairman Tom Aiello. "The board's decision to make his appointment permanent reflects both what he has already built and our confidence in what he can lead this organization to accomplish in the years to come."  As he rolls into the permanent CEO role, Castelluccio says the strength of United Spinal has always been its community of members and chapters and that community is where the organization will focus.  “I don’t care what’s at the end of my signature line — my role is to bring everybody to the table to be able to voice their opinions about our organization and to make sure those voices inform the growth and development of United Spinal. We exist because of our chapters and members, and I don’t ever want to lose sight of that.”