New Members Elected to College Board of Trustees

Michael Serventi ’72 and David Stewart ’67 have been elected to four-year terms on the Ithaca College Board of Trustees. Serventi is new to the board, while Stewart previously served as an alumni trustee.

Serventi is the former president and chief executive officer of Lew-Mark Baking Company, based in Perry, New York. Founded by his father in 1953, the company produced cookies, crackers, candy, and baked ingredients for the food industry. Last year Lew-Mark was acquired by Specialty Food Corporation, the owners of Archway Cookies and third largest cookie company in the country.

A member of student government, the President’s Host Committee, and the Interfraternity Council while at the College, Serventi earned a degree in business administration. He also holds an M.B.A. from Suffolk University. This past spring he taught a course on entrepreneurship in the Ithaca College School of Business, and in 1999 he participated in the inaugural season of the school’s distinguished alumni lecture series. Serventi is a local area representative for the Office of Admission and was class agent for his 25th reunion in 1997. He and his wife, Gail Weir Serventi ’72, cochaired the President’s Associates giving club from 1992 to 1997. Gail has been a member of the Ithaca College Alumni Association Board of Directors since 1999.

Stewart rejoined the board after completing a five-year term as an alumni trustee in May. His committee memberships have included educational policy, institutional advancement, audit, buildings and grounds, and compensation and benefits. A phonathon volunteer while studying for his degree in television-radio, he continued his involvement in admissions and fund-raising activities on behalf of the College following his graduation. From 1985 until this past June he served on the alumni association’s board of directors.

Prior to his retirement last fall, Stewart had served since 1986 as Cornell University’s first full-time director of community relations. He had previously held posts as associate director of university relations and director of the news and feature service at Cornell, and as assistant to the president of Tompkins Cortland Community College. Before beginning his higher education career he had been a radio and television news reporter, and he remains active as a consultant in the broadcasting industry. Stewart has held leadership roles with a number of community organizations, including the Tompkins County Chamber of Commerce, Ithaca Downtown Partnership, Collegetown Neighborhood Council, and Tompkins County Economic Advisory Board. He has given presentations at the Association of Collegiate Licensing Administrators and the Eastern Association of College and University Business Officers.