June 01, 2011
State Senate confirms new Board of Governors members
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – The state Senate has confirmed Ronald G. Henry of Bryn Mawr and Robert S. Taylor
of New Hope as the newest members of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s
Board of Governors.
Henry is a senior consultant with Capitol Strategies Group, LLC, of Harrisburg, and
is an independent consultant in the areas of public finance, organization and management.
He served as chairman of the Corbett-Cawley Budget, Revenue and Pensions Transition
Committee.
Taylor is chairman and chief executive officer of Cameron Companies, LLC, a diversified
holding company specializing in business and government affairs consulting, real estate
investment and acquisition, legal affairs and turnaround management. He is a 1978
graduate of Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and a member of the university’s
Council of Trustees, having previously served as Council Chair.
The 20-member Board of Governors is responsible for planning and coordinating development
and operation of PASSHE. The Board establishes broad educational, fiscal and personnel
policies. Among other tasks, the Board appoints the chancellor and university presidents,
approves new academic programs, sets tuition and coordinates and approves PASSHE’s
annual operating budget.
The Board comprises 11 members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate;
four state legislators, two each from the House and Senate; the governor; the secretary
of education; and three students selected from among the student government leaders
at the 14 PASSHE universities.
Henry is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center.
He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Visitors Council of Philadelphia,
having served as the organization’s chairman from 1997 to 2001. He has served on a
variety of other boards and advisory committees, including the Planned Giving Advisory
Council for California State University Monterey Bay and the “Philadelphia CitiState
Project” of the Center for Greater Philadelphia.
He is a member of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations and
the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. He is a former assistant attorney
general and counsel to the state Department of Commerce and was special counsel and
assistant to Lieutenant Governor Ernest P. Kline.
Taylor is a graduate of Temple University School of Law and is admitted to the United
States Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States District Court of Eastern
Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He has been a White House appointee
to the Environmental Protection Agency, a trustee in bankruptcy in the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania and a staff attorney to the Pennsylvania Worker's Compensation Appeal
Board.
He coordinated the 1980 George Bush for President campaign in Pennsylvania and was
state director of the Reagan-Bush 1984 re-election campaign. He also has served on
the boards of several Pennsylvania companies and charitable organizations, as well
as the Slippery Rock Foundation Inc., and the Regional Learning Alliance Inc.
The other members of the Board of Governors are Kenneth M. Jarin, chairman; C.R. “Chuck”
Pennoni and Aaron A. Walton, vice chairmen; Leonard Altieri III, Representative Matthew
Baker, Marie Conley, Governor Tom Corbett, Representative Michael Hanna, Senator Vincent
Hughes, Jonathan Mack, Joseph F. McGinn, Senator Jeffrey E. Piccola, Guido Pichini,
Harold C. Shields, Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis and Christine Toretti. There
are two vacancies.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher
education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 120,000 students. The 14 PASSHE universities
offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. About 500,000
PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.
The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg,
Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery
Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses
in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including
the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.