Marc Palombo took the helm of the Buccaneer women's lacrosse program in 2017. Overall he has served in a coaching capacity with the team since 2013, the team's second year of existence. A resident of Sandwich, Mass, Palombo is the third head coach and winningest coach in program history.
“Marc has symbolized excellence in lacrosse both as a student-athlete and as a coach, and we are very pleased that he will be leading our women’s program in the years to come. He is greatly respected in both the lacrosse and Academy communities, and we look forward to watching him take this team to a higher level of success."
Palombo is no stranger to the Massachusetts Maritime lacrosse community, as he ranks as one of the top players in the history of the Academy’s men’s program en route to induction into the Buccaneer Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001. A three-sport athlete at Massachusetts Maritime, the Nahant, Mass native graduated in 1978 after leading the Colonial League in scoring on three occasions and earning all-conference accolades in each of his four seasons of play. Selected to play in the East-West Senior All-Star Game as a senior, Marc graduated as the school record-holder for goals in a season (33) and career (150) while also serving as team captain in both 1977 and 1978. His lacrosse jersey #28 was officially retired by the Academy in 1988.
Palombo excelled on the gridiron as well for fellow Hall of Famer Don Ruggeri, as he served as a captain on the Buccaneers’ first New England Football Conference championship squad as a senior and collected all-league honors along the way. Marc was also a two-year ice hockey captain and copped a pair of all-conference accolades during the winters of 1976-77 and 1977-78, and he was tabbed as Massachusetts Maritime’s Athlete of the Year following his senior year.
In three seasons, Coach Palombo has coached two second-team All-MASCAC players (Kianna Carpenter (2017) & Stephanie Hunt (2018)) and one MASCAC Rookie of the Year (Casey Sullivan (2018)).
Melissa Karam Panchley graduated from BMC Durfee High School in 1991 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Human Development from Boston College in 1995.
After graduating from college, Melissa went to work at the Fall River Housing Authority for six years where she was a Youth Outreach Worker, and then the Elderly Services Coordinator. When she decided to start a family, she went to work for the family business at Karam Financial Group, where she could do bookkeeping work from home while she raised her children.
In 2009, Melissa received a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
In 2011, Melissa transitioned into the role of Senior Property Manager for the adult communities managed by Karam Financial Group. In this role she is responsible for overseeing the management and physical plant of 304 apartment units on the Southcoast and Cape Cod, as well as 44 condominium units.
Melissa served on the Fall River School Committee from 2014-2017. During that time, she chaired the Finance Sub-Committee, as well as the Instructional Sub-Committee. She also served on the Superintendent search committee in 2016. After serving on the Fall River School Committee, she was the Treasurer for the New Durfee Ballot Action Committee, a ballot question committee in support of funding for a new Durfee High School.
Melissa has been involved in numerous organizations as a volunteer, such as the President of the Board of the Ninth Street Day Nursery and Vice President and Treasurer for the Friends of Saint Anne’s Hospital. She currently serves on the Fall River Area Chamber of Commerce’s Sub-Committee on Education, the Board of the Greater Fall River United Way, and Treasurer of the Durfee Hilltopper Athletic Foundation.
Melissa was born and raised in Fall River and currently resides in the city with her husband, Josh and two sons, Thomas and Christopher.
Greg Perry came to Buzzards Bay as the head men's soccer coach in 1993 and has been a fixture on the sidelines ever since, as he has shattered the school record for career wins along the way. Perry led Massachusetts Maritime to a 4-2-1 league slate in 2014 before falling to eventual conference tournament champion Fitchburg State in the semifinals, as the Buccaneers followed up another highly successful 2013 campaign that saw the program earn its first post-season victory with a MASCAC quarterfinal round triumph over Salem State.
Perry has garnered MASCAC Coach of the Year honors on three occasions, the last coming in 2013 when the Buccaneers recorded eight overall wins and knocked off rivals Bridgewater State and Coast Guard along the way.
A 1989 graduate of Westfield State, Perry was a four-year letterwinner for the Owls after a stellar high school career at Bridgewater-Raynham Regional. He has coached numerous all-conference and all-New England players over the past two-plus decades as well as NSCAA All-America and Buccaneer Hall of Famer Brendan Duggan ’06.
Perry, who resides in Marshfield, Mass., also serves as Massachusetts Maritime’s Assistant Baseball Coach and directs all athletics facilities operations for the Camps & Conferences Department.
Mike Rainnie joined the Buccaneer football staff in 2003. Rainnie came to Buzzards Bay after an 18-year standout career at Falmouth High, where he served for 15 years as an assistant and three years as a head coach. After graduating from Colgate, Rainnie coached in the collegiate ranks at Hamilton and also served as an assistant at both Bourne and Middleboro High Schools. During his tenure, Mike has mentored several all-conference performers for the Buccaneers, including all-conference and all-regional pick John Moriarty ’14.
Daniel L. Shores grew up in nearby Carver, Massachusetts and attended public school there. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH. At UNH, Dan was the team leader of an award-winning senior project in which his team budgeted, designed, and built a launch and recovery system for a human-powered submarine with funding assistance from the Sea Grant Program.
After working in the private sector, Dan went on to attend law school and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington, DC. At Georgetown, Dan served on the Senior Editorial Board of The Georgetown Law Journal, Georgetown’s prestigious law review and concentrated his studies on intellectual property law. Dan worked during the entire time he attended law school and personally financed both his undergraduate and law school educations.
Upon graduation from law school, Dan worked as an attorney at the intellectual property boutique firm Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, PC and at the global law firm Latham & Watkins, LLP, both in Washington, DC. He also served as an executive officer of the esteemed Giles S. Rich American Inn of Court, the nation's flagship Intellectual Property Inn of Court located at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, DC. Dan has served on panels to discuss IP issues and was selected as a “Super Lawyers” “Rising Star" for IP in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
After nearly 13 years in Washington, DC, Dan decided it was time to come home. He returned in 2013 and formed his own law practice. Later that year he ran for the United States Congress, in the Massachusetts 9th Congressional District, on a platform based on securing the future for the next generation.
Dan continues to build his law practice that specializes in patent law, including patent prosecution, due diligence, litigation, opinions and other complex IP counseling. He also continues to seek to be of service to his community and is honored to serve Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the capacity of Trustee.
Dan currently lives in Sandwich with his fiancée Lindsay and their two English Bulldogs Jarves and Rosie. In addition to practicing law and serving his community, Dan enjoys cooking, gardening, traveling, and fishing.
