Trustees elect Dambly, Schuyler to lead Penn State board

Mark Dambly and Matthew Schuyler will be the new leadership of the Penn State board of trustees.

The two won the election that started Friday’s board meeting.

Schuyler, an at-large trustee, is the chief human resources officer for Hilton Worldwide. He was unopposed for the vice chairmanship.

The chairman’s seat was more contentious.

Dambly, a Philadelphia-area real estate developer, has been on the board since 2010. He was the previous vice chairman. He faced off against Robert Capretto, who was appointed to the board by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2015.

Alumni-elected trustee Anthony Lubrano asked Dambly to answer questions about recent online speculation on his background.

Ralph Cipriano at BigTrial.net has published information on Dambly’s criminal record and allegations he is or has been involved in other questionable activities. Cipriano pointed to a 1979 jail stay in Centre County for disorderly conduct during college and other allegations of later activity involving cocaine, as well as an FBI investigation of the Allentown Parking Authority that subpoenaed Dambly and his company, Pennrose Management.

Dambly addressed some of the issues.

“I’ve been looking for a forum to respond,” he said. “When I was young, I made some mistakes. I deeply regret those actions. I’ve learned from those mistakes, and I’ve moved on.”

That referred only to the Centre County charges. Dambly denied the other allegations from the Cipriano article, calling them inaccurate.

“It is my hope that based on my experience and your experience with me ... that I’ve earned your support,” Dambly said.

He has earned the support of a number of the members. In nominating Dambly, at-large trustee Julia Ann Potts said, “I know Mark to be a gentleman of excellent character.”

In 2016, Dambly received 20 votes for vice chairman compared to 14 for Allison Goldstein.

The vote was not conducted by a public voice but submitted on a paper ballot.

Dambly received 21 of the 33 votes cast. Capretto received 12. There was one abstention.

Lubrano commented on the results of the election, citing earlier leadership that started with promises of more transparency.

“Those promises were largely unfulfilled,” he said.

This story was originally published July 21, 2017 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Trustees elect Dambly, Schuyler to lead Penn State board."