Administration

Board officer, executive committee elections to see timing shift

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Today (Jan. 17) marked the last time the Board of Trustees will hold elections for officers and executive committee members in January.

Elections for the one-year terms typically have been held in January because it was designated as the official annual meeting. However, in November the board voted to change the annual meeting to July, which is the first meeting any newly elected board members would attend.

To address the unique timing circumstance of having one-year terms end before the next annual meeting is held, the trustees held elections for those expired terms. To align the election cycle with the annual meeting, election of officers will be held again in July, at the annual meeting. Elections of at-large executive committee members will be held again in September.

During today's elections, Keith E. Masser was re-elected as chairman. Don Cotner, Kathleen Casey and Richard Dandrea were elected as at-large members of the executive committee.

Masser serves as the chairman and CEO of Sterman Masser Inc., a family-owned and operated, 5,000-acre potato growing, packing and shipping company based in central Pennsylvania. He was elected to the board by delegates from agricultural societies in 2008 and became vice chairman in 2012. He was first elected chairman on Jan. 18, 2013, replacing Karen B. Peetz, who did not seek re-election.

Masser graduated from Penn State with distinction in 1973 with a bachelor of science degree in agricultural engineering and has more than 30 years of experience leading and serving on nonprofit boards.

Cotner, a graduate of Penn State with a bachelor's degree in education, is president of Cotner Farms Inc.; managing partner in Don Cotner Farms; and a partner in Boyd Station LLC, all family-owned and managed facilities located in Danville, Pa. He was elected to the Board of Trustees for a three-year term beginning July 1, 2012, by delegates from agricultural societies.

Casey, who earned her bachelor's degree in international politics from Penn State and her law degree from George Mason University School of Law, is senior advisor with Patomak Global Partners LLC. She has more than two decades of experience in senior government regulatory and policy roles, including a five-year term as a Commissioner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Dandrea, who graduated magna cum laude from Penn State in 1977 and earned his law degree from George Washington University Law School in 1980, is an attorney with Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. In addition to serving on the Board of Trustees, he is a member of the advisory board of the University’s Schreyer Honors College.

In addition, Thomas G. Poole, secretary; Janine S. Andrews, associate secretary; Carmella Mulroy-Degenhart, Donna J. Newburg and Wendy L. Peck, assistant secretaries; David J. Gray, treasurer; and Deborah M. Meder and Susan J. Wiedemer, assistant treasurers; all were re-elected to their posts.

The executive committee, under the direction of and subject to the approval of the Board of Trustees, is able to transact all necessary business that may arise in the intervals between the regular meetings of the board. Executive Committee membership includes the current chair (Masser), vice chair (Paul Silvis) and immediate past chair of the board (Karen Peetz); the chairs of the seven standing committees; the chair of the Hershey Board of Directors (Edward Hintz); as well as the three at-large members, recommended for election by the Committee on Governance and Long-Range Planning.

Last Updated January 30, 2014