SU Foundation, Inc. Welcomes Nine Board Members

SALISBURY, MD---The Salisbury University Foundation, Inc. has welcomed nine new members to its board of directors: Cindy Bounds, Gary Desjardins, James Otway and Dr. Julius Zant of Salisbury; Alexis Dashield of Fruitland; Chris Mason of Ocean City; and Delaware residents Bill Church of Greenville, Richard A. Givens II of Dover and John Willey of Milton.

Bounds, a 1986 graduate of the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, is a partner at the accounting firm Twilley, Rommel and Stephens, P.A. She has been involved with the Salisbury Wicomico Arts Council and the American Cancer Society’s leadership council and Relay For Life. 

Desjardins, a 1988 Perdue School graduate and a former SU football player, is a partner at Strategic Wealth Management Group, LLC. He is the past president of Eastern Shore Habitat for Humanity, and has served on boards for the Salvation Army and Peninsula Regional Medical Center. 

Otway is a principal of the law firm of Otway, Russo and Rommel in Salisbury. He earned his J.D. from Potomac School of Law.  An avid fly fisherman, he also serves on the Wicomico Public Libraries board of trustees.  

Zant is a neurosurgeon at Peninsula Regional Medical Center.  He earned his degree from the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine. He also serves on the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore board of directors.

Dashield, a retired SU staff member, is a longtime proponent of the Fruitland Community Center and its at-risk youth programs.  She has been honored for volunteerism by The Daily Record (Maryland’s Top 100 Women) and by the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.

Mason is a 1990 graduate of the Fulton School of Liberal Arts and a former SU football player.  He is a partner at the law firm of Webb, Burnett, Cornbrooks, Wilber, Vorhis, Douse and Mason, LLP. He earned his J.D. from the University of Baltimore.  

Church was the co-founder of Brown & Church Ltd., a neckwear manufacturing company, with his partner, the late Samuel R. Brown. Both have been significant benefactors to SU, with Church recently naming the carillon of the Patricia R. Guerrieri Academic Commons in memory of Brown.      

Givens, a two-time SU graduate and Sea Gull Society member, formerly chaired the SU Foundation board and is returning to serve again. A retired senior fiscal administrative officer for the Delaware Treasurer’s Office, he also is an avid supporter of the arts.  

Willey is a two-time graduate of SU earning a B.S. in 1993 and M.B.A. in 1999 from the Perdue School.  He is the owner of Peninsula Oil and Propane in Delaware and is vice president of the Autism Delaware Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to add this latest class of board members,” said Jason E. Curtin ’98, the foundation’s deputy director. “They offer a wide range of expertise and broad interests in the University.  We look forward to their counsel and strategic vision in leading the SU Foundation in our mission to support Salisbury University.”

Guided by a 35-member board, the SU Foundation was created in 1973 to accumulate funds by gift and investment to enhance the University. Since then, it has enriched the academic growth and physical expansion of SU through the support of student scholarships, faculty research, new facilities and community outreach.

For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.