Fresno State Foundation adds five new members, addressing turnover issue, as it rebuilds

The Fresno State Foundation bolstered its board of governors on Tuesday, adding five new members while voting to implement term limits and include appropriate university representation in addressing recommendations from a highly-critical advisory review of its governance and operations by the California State University chancellor’s office.

The five all have deep ties to the university, or San Joaquin Valley: John Amendola, CEO of Valley Wide Beverage; Ed Dunkel Jr., president of Precision Civil Engineering; Tracy Kashian, senior vice president with Lance-Kashian & Company; Tim Rios, head of strategic relationships and specialized programs for Wells Fargo; and Frank Roque, owner of Panoche Creek Packing.

“I think it’s important to get new board members, to get new ideas, get new energy, new circles of influence,” Foundation board chairman Christopher Morse said. “We all know different people in town, and the five people that we brought on, though they have some commonality and some crossover, they also hit different industries, different sectors of our community.

“We only want people who are energized by being part of Fresno State, that it’s meaningful to them. They want to give back to our community, not just Fresno State, but the whole Central Valley and this engine we call Fresno State, which drives the economics of the valley.”

The Foundation was under fire since January, when CSU Audit and Advisory Services released a 32-page report on its review, which was conducted at the request of university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval.

The board, led by long-time member and chair Vinci Ricchiuti, fought several of the recommendations, including term limits and changes to board composition. But Ricchiuti and four other long-time board members termed out at the end of the fiscal year and were not invited back by Jiménez-Sandoval, who was granted that authority in 2022 when the board voted to eliminate term limits that had been only loosely enforced.

The Fresno State president at the final meeting of 2025-26 also shot down a question from a board member, who asked whether Foundation bylaws should be amended to allow Ricchiuti to maintain a place on the board on its executive committee. The immediate past chair of the board of governors is allowed a place on the executive committee, but must concurrently be a member of the board and Ricchiuti had termed out.

“I don’t feel comfortable with that,” Jiménez-Sandoval said, before a board member could respond to the question. “I think we need to move on, and I feel that there is enough leadership and knowledge in this group to move on.”

Ricchiuti served on the board for 32 years. The other four board members that rotated off the board at the end of June — Claude Laval III, Richard Spencer, Nat DiBuduo and Kyle Stephenson — all had served for more than 15 years.

Three other board members — George Soares, Carol Chandler and Dr. Eric Hanson — resigned after that final and emotional board meeting in June, when Morse was nominated from the floor and elected as chairman.

Jiménez-Sandoval was on business in Mexico with state legislators this week and not available to comment on the new board members. He attended the Foundation board meeting on Tuesday remotely.

The Foundation board, according to its bylaws, will have between 15 and 38 members including the university president. Dennis Parnagian, chairman of the Fowler Packing Co, stepped away on Tuesday after fulfilling a 9-year commitment to former university president Joseph I. Castro, who had recruited him to the board. But with the addition of Amendola, Dunkel, Kashian, Rios and Roque, there are now 19 members of the board of governors.

“They’re all excited about being on this board,” Morse said. “They’re all excited about giving back. They all have fundraising experience, and friend-raising experience, and will add energy to the board.”

The Foundation will add university representation to the board with one student and at least one faculty member to align with regulatory requirements, Morse said.