Four candidates, including two incumbents, will be up for election by alumni to the Penn State Board of Trustees this spring.
The board’s Nominating Subcommittee on Monday approved Joseph Derenzo, Karen Keller, Ali Krieger and Jay Paterno to appear on the ballot. Each candidate received the required 50 or more nominations from alumni and no objections from the subcommittee.
Krieger, a 2007 Penn State grad and former soccer star at the collegiate and professional levels, is seeking her second three-year term on the board. Paterno, a 1991 grad and former assistant football coach, is running for his fourth term.
The third seat up for election this year, currently held by Anthony Lubrano, will be filled by a newcomer to the board.
Derenzo earned his bachelor’s degree from Penn State in 1998 and medical degree from the university’s College of Medicine in 2001. He is chief anesthesiologist at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital.
Keller graduated from Penn State in 2000 with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology. She is the cofounder and managing partner of Shaw Keller, an intellectual property and commercial litigation law firm.
Both Derenzo and Keller were on the ballot for election by alumni in 2025.
This is the second year that alumni candidates require approval from a nominating subcommittee of sitting trustees, following a bylaw change in 2024.
Candidates who receive the necessary nominations and submit required materials are then reviewed for eligibility and evaluated using a screening matrix. The matrix includes materials submitted by the candidate, a skills matrix, past experience, commitment and service to Penn State, and background check and code of conduct alignment.
If one member of the nominating subcommittee objects to a candidate, a two-thirds vote is needed to disqualify them from the ballot.
The only candidate to date to be disqualified is former trustee Barry Fenchak, who was kept off the ballot in 2025. Subcommittee members cited “failures to abide by board standards of conduct” during his first and only term, including an incident in which he made an inappropriate remark to a university staff member after a board meeting in 2024.
His disqualification came amid a contentious relationship with board leadership in which he sued for, and ultimately gained access to by agreement, documents related to management of the university’s endowment and an athletic department deal with a ticketing and fan engagement firm.
Fenchak sued over his disqualification from the ballot, but a Centre County judge denied his request for a preliminary injunction. Just before the end of his term in June, trustees voted 30-4 to remove him from the board, barring him from running in the future.
Ballots for the 2026 election will be sent to alumni on April 20 and must be returned by May 7. Election results will be announced at the board’s meeting on May 8.
