July 11, 2012

Pichini re-elected chair of PASSHE Board of Governors

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

Pichini is president of Security Guards Inc. and its subsidiaries, WSK and Associates Consulting Group and Vigilant Security Services, all of Wyomissing. He is a 1974 graduate of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

The Board also elected as its vice chairs, Marie Conley of Harrisburg, who serves as executive director of the recently formed Paterno Foundation, and Aaron A. Walton of Allison Park, a retired senior vice president for Highmark Inc. Both also are PASSHE university graduates.

The 20-member Board of Governors has overall responsibility for planning and coordinating the development and operation of PASSHE, which is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, enrolling nearly 120,000 students. The Board establishes broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the 14 PASSHE universities operate.

Mr. Pichini is in his second term on the Board of Governors. He first served from June 2005 to October 2009 and was reappointed in October 2010. He also is a member and former chair of the Council of Trustees at Kutztown University and is former chair of the Pennsylvania Association of Councils of Trustees (PACT), the statewide organization that comprises the trustees from all 14 PASSHE universities.

Mr. Pichini graduated from Kutztown University in 1974 with a degree in education/political science, and completed graduate studies in public administration at Kutztown. He also graduated from Wilson College with certification in the minor judiciary, attaining the highest grade in the history of Pennsylvania.

He served two terms as a councilman in the Borough of Wyomissing Hills and four terms as mayor. Earlier this year, Mr. Pichini was appointed by Governor Tom Corbett to both the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board and the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Post-Secondary Education.

As director of the Paterno Foundation, Ms. Conley oversees the organization that was established by the family of former Pennsylvania State University football Coach Joe Paterno to fund a variety of initiatives whose purpose is to “improve lives though education.” She previously was director of the Children’s Miracle Network at Penn State University’s Children's Hospital in Hershey. Under her leadership, the organization increased its revenues and broke its record for highest revenue raised in both 2010 and 2011. Additionally, in 2009, 2010 and 2011 the PSU Hershey chapter received national recognition for highest fundraising total and highest amount raised per capita, based on national peer comparison and market population.

Ms. Conley also has been a fundraising and political consultant, having served on numerous statewide campaigns. She also served as the director for the Pennsylvania delegation to the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Republican National Conventions.

She is a 1994 graduate of Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, with Bachelor of Arts degrees in speech communications and political science, and served for a number of years on the university’s Council of Trustees. She has been a member of the Board of Governors since 2002 and also chairs the Board’s Human Resources Committee.

Mr. Walton was responsible for administering Highmark’s public policy and social mission strategy and overseeing the departments of Community Affairs, Community Health and Strategic Health Initiatives, the Highmark Foundation and Gateway Health Plan.

He serves on the Council of Trustees at California University of Pennsylvania and previously served as its chair from 1999 to 2003. He holds a bachelor’s degree in speech pathology and audiology from California University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. Walton was first appointed to the Board of Governors in 2005, and has served as a vice chair since 2006. He also chairs the Board’s Academic and Student Affairs Committee.

Other members of the Board of Governors are Rep. Matthew E. Baker of Wellsboro; Governor Tom Corbett; Rep. Michael K. Hanna, Lock Haven; Ronald G. Henry, Bryn Mawr; Kenneth M. Jarin, Newtown; Bonnie L. Keener, Edinboro, a student at California University of Pennsylvania; Jonathan B. Mack, Indiana; Joseph F. McGinn, Linwood; C.R. “Chuck” Pennoni, Bryn Mawr; Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola, Harrisburg; Harold C. Shields, Allison Park; Robert S. Taylor, New Hope; Secretary of Education Ronald J. Tomalis; and Sen. John T. Yudichak, Nanticoke. There currently are three 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.