HARRISBURG, PA—March 20, 2024—The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Foundation, today announced its incoming Executive Committee and new board appointments.

2024 Officers/Executive Committee

• Chair: David Kerr—President of External Affairs of AT&T Pennsylvania where he develops and implements AT&T’s public policy and philanthropic initiatives in the Commonwealth. Kerr was previously the PASSHE Foundation Treasurer.  

• Vice-Chair: Matt Steck—Owner and Partner at Greenlee Partners, LLC, a Harrisburg public affairs and lobbying firm. Steck was previously PASSHE Foundation vice chair.

• Treasurer: Gail D’Angelo—Senior Vice President, Regional CRA Manager for M&T Bank where she is responsible for compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act and directing more than $3.5 million in charitable contributions and tax credit payments throughout the bank’s seven Pennsylvania regions. 

• Assistant Treasurer: Crystal Skotedis—Chief Financial Officer of Lane Enterprises Holdings, Inc., is responsible for overseeing the accounting, human resources, and information technology functions of the company, which operates 17 manufacturing plants in the United States.  

• Secretary: Ashley Cook—Senior Vice President and Senior Philanthropic Specialist for Wells Fargo Philanthropic Services which helps individuals and families define and achieve their charitable objectives as part of their overall wealth plans. 

New Board Member

• Board Member: Linda Topoleski—A strategic communications consultant with expertise in workforce development, higher education and stakeholder engagement in Pittsburgh. She was previously Vice President of Talent Strategy at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development where she was instrumental in the development of the landmark Inflection Point report which drove workforce strategy for the southwestern Pennsylvania region.

“I am honored to be selected by my peers to lead the PASSHE Foundation Board, and grateful to our past Chair, Lynn Miller, for her extraordinary contribution to deepening our partnership with the State System”, said David Kerr, incoming Board Chair. “This is an exciting time for the Foundation, and the State System, to work with the business community to address Pennsylvania’s talent gap. I look forward to lending my support to those efforts.” 

About The PASSHE Foundation
The PASSHE Foundation works as a trusted partner to advance the goals of the Board of Governors and PASSHE with initiatives that include directly supporting students with scholarships and emergency grants and collaborating with the PASSHE Chancellor’s Office on innovations that advance student success and support university excellence. Building on the State System’s transformational investments to meet Pennsylvania’s workforce shortages, the PASSHE Foundation is raising funds and building employer partnerships to support a wide range of initiatives that serve learners of all ages and connect learners to jobs. In 2024, one of the PASSHE Foundation priorities is supporting a system-wide pilot to integrate work-based learning into students’ college experience and academic program.
 
More than 80,000 students are enrolled in PASSHE universities across the Commonwealth—Cheyney, Commonwealth (Bloomsburg, Lock Haven Mansfield), East Stroudsburg, Indiana, Kutztown, Millersville, PennWest (California, Clarion, Edinboro), Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester.