Illinois Wesleyan Elects New Board Chair, Officers and Trustees

May 29, 2019

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Timothy J. Szerlong, a 1974 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, has been elected Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees.

Szerlong, who lives in Lake Forest, Illinois, has served as a member of the Board of Trustees since 2011. He succeeds George A. Vinyard ’71, who has served Illinois Wesleyan as a trustee for 42 years, including 14 years as Board Chair. Vinyard, an attorney in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, will remain on the Board of Trustees. The elections were held during the Board of Trustees meeting on May 21.

Szerlong graduated from Illinois Wesleyan with a bachelor's degree in business administration and later completed the advanced management program at the Wharton School of business at the University of Pennsylvania. He began his insurance career with the Chubb Corporation where he held various positions over 35 years. He retired from CNA Financial Corporation where he served as President, Worldwide Field Operations.

In other trustee elections, Nancy J. Hutson ’71 (senior vice president of global research and development and director of Groton/New London Laboratories (retired); DeLand, Florida) was elected as vice chair, replacing Willie G. Brown (executive vice president of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (retired); Bloomington, Illinois) who is stepping down as an officer but will remain on the Board. Robert K. Zimmermann ’71 (vice president of Energizer Holdings (retired); St. Louis) was elected as treasurer, replacing Robert E. Field ’67 (attorney at Field Law Firm; New Lenox, Illinois) who is stepping down as an officer but will remain on the Board. Former secretary Ann Marquis Fisher ’82 (personal banking officer at Wells Fargo Bank (retired); Pleasanton, California) was elected as vice chair, replacing Herbert A. Getz ’77 (president of Aspen Creek Partners Inc.; Naperville, Illinois) who was elected as secretary. W. Thomas Lawrence ’80 (tax managing partner at Ernst & Young LLP, Chicago) was re-elected to vice chair.

In addition, two new trustees were elected to three-year terms on the board:

• Danielle Kays ’01 of Bloomington, Illinois, a commercial litigation attorney in the Labor & Employment Department at the international law firm Seyfarth Shaw based out of Chicago. Kays joins the Board as a representative of the Alumni Association.

• Sundeep V. Mullangi ’97 of Chicago, Managing Director of PPM America, an investment management firm, in Chicago. Mullangi was elected as a trustee following a three-year term as a representative of the Alumni Association.

Kays majored in business administration at Illinois Wesleyan and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Illinois College of Law in 2004. She advises and represents employers in a broad range of employment law matters arising under federal and state laws. Kays is experienced in litigating federal and state court cases involving the defense of employment discrimination claims, wrongful discharge, and retaliation matters.

Mullangi was a double major in accounting and economics at Illinois Wesleyan. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Heller Financial, before joining PPM America in 2003. Mullangi also served the University on the Transforming Lives fundraising campaign steering committee as the Wesleyan Fund representative.

Trustees who were re-elected at the meeting included: Ceasar Douglas ’75, Vaughn Hoffman, John Horton ’82, Nancy J. Hutson ’71, Daniel E. Jameson ’80, W. Thomas Lawrence ’80, Kathy Larey Lewton ’70, Ann Marquis Fisher ’82, Thomas J. Neis ’70, Edward B. Rust, Jr. ’72, H ’94 and Robert K. Zimmermann ’71.

By John Twork