Purdue Board of Trustees elects officers, welcomes member
July 19, 2013
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University's Board of Trustees on Friday (July 19) elected Thomas Spurgeon as chairman and Michael Berghoff as vice chairman and welcomed a new member.
Spurgeon is an entrepreneur who has built companies throughout the United States. Most recently, he was president and CEO of Lincoln Office in Peoria, Ill., one of the country's largest distributors of Steelcase furniture. He sold the company in 2001 and remained with Lincoln as a consultant. Spurgeon, who has served on the Board of Trustees since 2005, received a bachelor's degree in industrial management from Purdue in 1961. Following military service, he earned an MBA from Indiana University.
Berghoff, of Indianapolis, is founder and president of the Lenex Steel Corp., which designs, fabricates and installs structural steel throughout the Midwest. A 1985 graduate of Purdue with a bachelor's degree in industrial management, Berghoff was appointed to the Board of Trustees on July 11, 2009. While a Purdue student, he served as chairman of the Purdue Student Publishing Foundation and president of Theta Chi fraternity, and he also is a former president of the Purdue Theta Chi alumni corporation.
The board also welcomed Kelsey Quin, who was appointed by Gov. Mike Pence, as a new student trustee.
Quin, who will serve a two-year term, is from Peru, Ind., and is majoring in health sciences with minors in organizational leadership and supervision, biology, and psychology. She will be entering into her junior year in the fall. She has participated in the President's Leadership Class as both a class member and an adviser and also is a member of Purdue Student Government and Purdue Caduceus Club. In 2011 Quin was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Indiana.
Lawrence "Sonny" Beck, president of Beck's Superior Hybrids in Atlanta, Ind., also has been appointed by Pence to a three-year term as trustee, which will begin at the conclusion of the board's July meeting. Beck will replace Keith Krach, of San Francisco, who announced his retirement from the board after serving two full terms and as the board's most recent chair.
Beck graduated from Purdue with a bachelor's degree in agronomy and a master's degree in agricultural economics. During his undergraduate career, he received the G.A. Ross Award as the university's top male student. Under his direction, Beck's Superior Hybrids has grown to become the largest family owned seed company in the United States. Beck also has held a variety of leadership positions within the agriculture industry.
The trustees also elected the following:
* Corporate secretary - Janice A. Indrutz.
* Treasurer - Al Diaz, Purdue executive vice president for business and finance, treasurer.
* Assistant treasurer and assistant secretary - James S. Almond, Purdue senior vice president for business services and assistant treasurer.
* Legal counsel - Steven R. Schultz, Purdue legal counsel.
* Assistant legal counsel - Tom Parent, a partner at the firm of Stuart & Branigin.
