Foundation Board Installs New Members

The Fairmont State Foundation, Inc. announces the installation of six new Board of Directors members and the election of a new slate of officers to begin the new fiscal year. The Foundation successfully exceeded its charter capital campaign of $10 million and launched a bridge campaign of $5 million that will extend over the next two years.

Gary K. Bennett, of Bennett and Dobbins accounting firm and a retired Fairmont State University professor and assistant dean of the School of Business, will return to the board after a year off. Bennett will serve again as the Foundation’s treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee. He is a 1972 graduate of Fairmont State.

James R. Kettering, Jr. will also return to the board and will chair the Bylaws Committee. Kettering recently retired from Edward Jones in Fairmont. He also serves as the director and vice chair of West Virginia Rescue Ministries of the Union Mission.

Charlotte Ann Meade is a retired educator from Marion County and will be joining the board for the first time. In addition to her involvement in several civic groups, Meade is a writer and is a bi-weekly columnist for the Times West Virginian. Meade was the commencement speaker for Fairmont State’s 2007 winter commencement.

Rebecca Ford Phillips will also begin a term of service with the Foundation. She retired this year as media specialist at East Fairmont High School, where she has actively participated in the East Fairmont High School Foundation. Phillips is a 1965 graduate of Fairmont State.

Gerry Schmidt, chief operations officer of Valley Healthcare System in Morgantown, has more than 35 years of experience in the mental health and addictions treatment field. Schmidt has actively served on many community boards in Marion County and will begin his first term with the Foundation board. Schmidt completed his undergraduate work at Fairmont State in 1971.

Mary Jo Thomas will also return to the board and will chair the Board Governance Committee. After more than 40 years in the social services field in West Virginia, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Thomas recently retired from the Division of Child Care and Development in the Virginia Department of Social Services, where she served as director. She remains active in a number of civic organizations at the local, state and national levels. Thomas is a 1966 graduate of Fairmont State and returned to the area earlier this year.

New officers were also elected at the annual meeting. Gina Fantasia will serve a two-year term as president of the board. Kim Pellillo was elected as vice president. Bennett will again serve as treasurer. Aaron Hawkins will continue his term as secretary.

Also at the annual meeting, eight board members whose terms expired this year were honored for their service on the Foundation Board: Joseph F. “Bud” Ford III, who served as chair of the Scholarship Committee; James Hamilton; James Hunt; Lois Muto Laughlin, who most recently served as chair of the Bylaws Committee and the Ad-Hoc Committee for the Memorandum of Understanding and served as president of the board from 2004-2006; Patrick Martin, who served as co-chair of the Capital Campaign/Development Committee; Leah Stern; Diane Urchak; and John Zacharias.

According to the Foundation’s bylaws, directors are elected to three-year terms and can serve two consecutive terms. Directors can be elected to serve again after sitting off the board for one year.

Brent Skidmore ended his two-year term as the board’s president at this meeting. He highlighted the success of many fundraising initiatives including the Foundation’s participation in the Neighborhood Investment Program, the raising of over $100,000 for general scholarships through the Student Calling Campaign, and the continued success of the Barn Raising Campaign for the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center.

Skidmore stated that these and other successes culminated in the overall success of the Foundation’s charter capital campaign.

The Fairmont State Foundation, Inc. is the fundraising arm of the institution, whose mission is to support, through ethical stewardship, the missions of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College. The Foundation identifies, establishes and cultivates meaningful relationships with Fairmont State alumni and potential and existing funding constituencies to meet contributor needs while securing funds and supporters for priority objectives identified by the Board of Governors.

For information about philanthropic opportunities at the Fairmont State, contact the Fairmont State Foundation, Inc.