July 09, 2013

Guido M. Pichini elected to third term as chair of Board of Governors

Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu

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 about 115,000 students. The Board establishes broad fiscal, personnel and educational policies under which the 14 PASSHE universities operate.

Mr. Pichini is president of WSK and Associates Consulting Group and its subsidiaries of Wyomissing. A 1974 graduate of Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, he 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 earned a bachelor’s 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. Mr. Pichini serves on the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board and was a member of the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Post-Secondary Education.

Ms. Ellsworth is partner-in-charge of the Pittsburgh office of the international law firm Jones Day. She has experience across a wide range of complex litigation matters on both the state and federal levels. She has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America, was recognized as a leader in the legal field by Chambers USA and was acknowledged as one of Pennsylvania's top female litigators by Pennsylvania Law Weekly.

She was appointed to the Board of Governors in October 2012 and is a member of the Finance, Administration and Facilities and Executive committees.

Mr. 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. He also 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.

He was appointed to the Board of Governors in May 2011 and is chair of the Finance, Administration and Facilities Committee and a member of the Human Resources and Executive committees.

The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth, with about 115,000 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 and the Philadelphia Multi University Center in Philadelphia.