LANSING, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Feb. 3, 2023) – Although voters have the choice for determining who governs the state’s three major public universities – Michigan, Michigan State and Wayne State – the Governor has the say on the other four-year public institutions of higher learning and other statewide governing bodies.
On Thursday, Gretchen Whitmer’s office announced two new members of the Grand Valley State University Board of Trustees, pending approval by her Democratic party-controlled state Senate. Ronald Hall of the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Township has no ties to Allendale, but is the President and CEO of the auto interior manufacturing firm Bridgewater Interiors, and will replace Victor Cardenas, the Novi assistant city manager who is a GVSU grad.
The other appointment is Shelley Padnos of Fennville, the Executive Vice President of Holland-based metal specialist PADNOS. She returns to the Grand Valley State Board, where she was the chair for a time during her tenure from 2007-2014, and received an honorary doctorate from GVSU in 2017 as she helped establish the Padnos/Sarosik Center for Civil Discourse. Padnos replaces Megan Sall, who was the youngest-ever GVSU Trustee when Governor Rick Snyder appointed her at the age of 32 in 2014.
Both Hall and Padnos, if approved by the Senate, will serve an eight-year term through the end of 2030.
