University Times

The Board of Trustees at its June 24 meeting will consider a statement that outlines collective and individual trustee commitments and responsibilities.

The document, approved by the board’s governance and nominating committee June 1, collects in a single statement Pitt board members’ responsibilities.

It states that, in addition to overseeing the University’s affairs, the board promotes Pitt’s charitable, scientific and educational purposes and upholds the core principles of institutional autonomy, academic freedom and shared governance. The expectations for individual trustees center on dutifully serving, actively supporting the University’s values and mission, and upholding the board’s integrity.

Cynthia C. Moore, deputy secretary and senior associate general counsel, told the University Times that trustees’ fiduciary duties are set by state law. “These responsibilities, along with other expectations of board members, have been incorporated in a number of the board’s operating procedures and practices over the years,” explained Moore.

“The governance and nominating committee, as part of its mission statement approved by the board in February 2015, is responsible for developing and recommending to the board governance guidelines,” she stated.

“The committee recently reviewed the University bylaws and is continuing its efforts to periodically review and update other documents pertinent to the board and its operations. As part of this process, the committee is recommending that the board adopt a single ‘Statement of Trustee Commitment and Responsibilities,’ based on best practices outlined by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges’ Survey of Higher Education Governance,” Moore said.

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In other business, the governance and nominating committee recommended three new candidates for board membership and nine trustees for re-election.

New candidates are Edward J. Grefenstette, Patricia D. Horoho and S. Jeffrey Kondis.

• Grefenstette is president and chief investment officer for The Dietrich Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based charitable trust established by former Pitt board chairperson William S. Dietrich II, who died in 2011. Grefenstette oversees the foundation’s operations with a primary focus on managing its global investment portfolio. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a JD degree from Georgetown and an MBA in finance and strategy from Carnegie Mellon.

• Horoho, former U.S. Army Surgeon General and commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command, retired from the military as a lieutenant general last December and now heads the defense health practice and oversees business operations as managing director and client account lead at Accenture Federal Services.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, a master’s degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and a master’s degree in nursing from Pitt.

Horoho delivered the keynote address at Pitt’s 2012 commencement convocation, where she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree. She was named a University of Pittsburgh Legacy Laureate in 2007 and was honored by the Pitt Alumni Association as a Distinguished Alumni Fellow in 2012.

• Kondis is the manager of corporate marketing for the L.B. Foster Company, a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer and distributor of products and services for the global rail, construction and energy industries. He has been an adjunct faculty member in Pitt’s College of Business Administration since 1998.

Kondis, who earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and an MBA at Pitt, is president of the Pitt Alumni Association.

He sits on the board of directors for both Pitt’s Varsity Letter Club and the Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration and has served as president of both boards.

He received the Pitt Alumni Association’s 2006 Volunteer of Excellence Award, the Varsity Letter Club’s 2005 Award of Distinction, the Katz school’s 2003 Distinguished Service Award and the 1998 H.J. Zoffer Award for Meritorious Service.

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Recommended for re-election are: term trustees John A. Barbour, Eva Tansky Blum and John H. Pelusi Jr.; special trustees Douglas M. Browning, David C. Chavern, Brian Generalovich, Marlee S. Myers and Robert P. Randall; and alumni trustee Jack D. Smith.

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The committee also recommended:

—Re-electing Blum for a one-year term as chair of the Board of Trustees.
—Re-electing Michael A. Bryson and Robert M. Hernandez as trustees of the University of Pittsburgh Trust board.
—Electing John J. Verbanac and re-electing Mark A. Nordenberg as University directors of the UPMC board of directors.

The full Board of Trustees will act on the committee’s recommendations at its June 24 meeting.

—Kimberly K. Barlow