Board of Trustees set to vote on chairperson-elect

At the June 28 Board of Trustees’ meeting, the Governing and Nominating Committee will recommend the election of Thomas E. Richards as chairperson-elect.

The University’s bylaws allow for the election of a chairperson-elect during the last year the current chair is eligible to serve. Current chair Eva Tansky Blum has served since 2015 and can serve no more than five consecutive full one-year terms. The board also will vote on her re-election on Friday. Blum, a former vice president at PNC Bank, is the first woman to serve as chair on Pitt’s Board of Trustees.

Richards, who was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2011, is the retired CEO and current executive chairman of the board of directors for CDW, a company based in Illinois that provides technology solutions to businesses and other organizations. Prior to joining CDW in 2009, Richards worked in the technology industry for 33 years at companies like Qwest Communications, Ameritech and Bell Atlantic.

In 1976, he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Pitt, where he also was a four-year starter on the men’s basketball team — finishing 11th on Pitt’s all-time scoring list. He also has a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Sloan Fellows Program.

The board also will vote on the nomination of five new trustees:

  • Robert O. Agbede, vice chairman, Hatch USA, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mining engineering from the Swanson School of Engineering
  • SaLisa L. Berrien, founder and chief executive, COI Energy, mechanical engineering degree from Pitt.
  • Sundaa Bridgett-Jones, senior associate director, Rockefeller Foundation, master’s in Public and International Affairs from Pitt
  • Wen-Ta Chiu, neurosurgeon and co-chief executive officer, AHMC Healthcare in California, master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from the Pitt Graduate School of Public Health
  • Adam C. Walker, CEO, Summit Packaging Solutions, bachelor’s degree in economics from Pitt

— Susan Jones