Penn State has 38 people on its board of trustees. How often do they attend meetings?

More than a handful of Penn State trustees have missed 25% or more of meetings during their terms between 2021 and present day, a review by the Centre Daily Times found.

The Penn State board of trustees is the university’s governing body and is made up of 38 people. It meets multiple times a year with in-person and virtual options.

A review of meeting minutes between Jan. 6, 2021 and May 3, 2024 showed that nine trustees have missed 25% or more of meetings throughout this time frame.

A few special meetings are included in the count, like those held on Oct. 13, June 29 and Jan. 20 in 2022, because the meeting opened as a board meeting and went into a committee meeting.

Terrence Pegula, a trustee appointed by the governor and CEO of the Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres and JKLM Energy, LLC, has attended five out of 25 board meetings included in this review. Pegula had the lowest attendance record for voting trustees during this time frame, at 20%.

Penn State Trustee Ali Krieger, a professional soccer player for Gotham FC, began her term on the board July 1, 2023 after alumni voted her onto the board. She has attended two out of six meetings.

Governor Josh Shapiro, a non-voting trustee by ex officio has never attended a meeting, but he appointed Evan Myers as his representative. Myers has attended every meeting since he was appointed in April 2023.

Others, like David M. Kleppinger, a trustee appointed by the governor and chairman emeritus of McNees Wallace and Nurick LLC, has attended 100% of the meetings throughout this time frame. Trustees Alvin F. de Levie, Donald W. Cairns, Robert E. Fenza and Nicholas J. Rowland also had perfect attendance, to name a few. (De Levie recently lost reelection to the board. His term will end June 30).

It’s important to take into consideration the trustee’s term while comparing the percentage of meetings attended. In some cases, it’s not completely fair to compare the percentage. For example, alumni elected Trustee Jay V. Paterno Jr., president of Blue Line 409 LLC, has attended 88% of meetings — 22 out of 25. Trustee Robert F. Beard, COO at UGI Corporation and elected by the board representing business and industry, has attended 100% of meetings, but there have only been six meetings since he was elected to the board.

Some other trustees who haven’t been on the board as long have also attended all of the meetings they were eligible to attend as trustees, like Tracy A. Riegel, former project manager at The Vanguard Group and an at-large trustee elected by the board.

Penn State’s board of trustees is broken down into nine distinct groups: nine members elected by alumni, six members appointed by the governor, six members elected by agricultural societies, six members elected by the board representing business and industry, three at-large trustees, one student trustee, one academic trustee and the immediate past president of the Penn State Alumni Association. Five members are also ex-officio by right of their office, including Shapiro, Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi, Secretary of Agriculture Russell C. Redding, Secretary of Education Khalid N. Mumin and Secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources Cynthia A. Dunn.

Shapiro and Bendapudi are non-voting members of the board.

Below is a table with all of the current Penn State trustees, terms, and which meetings they did and did not attend.