Candidates Advanced for the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees

PITTSBURGH—The Governance and Nominating Committee of the University of Pittsburgh Board of Trustees today advanced Edward J. Grefenstette, Patricia D. Horoho (NURS ’92G), and S. Jeffrey Kondis (ENGR ’77, KGSB ’82) as new candidates for membership on the board.

The full Pitt Board of Trustees will act on their nominations at its June 24 meeting. 

Brief biographical information for the new trustee candidates follows:

Edward J. Grefenstette is president and chief investment officer for The Dietrich Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based charitable trust established by former Pitt board chairperson William S. Dietrich II, who passed away in 2011. For the foundation, Grefenstette oversees all facets of the organization’s operations, with his primary focus directed toward managing its global investment portfolio. 

Prior to joining The Dietrich Foundation in 2010, Grefenstette served as treasurer and chief investment officer of Carnegie Mellon University. In that role, he was responsible for managing Carnegie Mellon’s endowment and tax-exempt debt program. He is a co-founder of the small-cap private equity fund Commonwealth Capital Group, L.P. Grefenstette has a professional history in investment banking and practiced law in Phoenix and Pittsburgh. He is a frequent speaker in the United States and Asia on matters pertaining to private equity and portfolio management.

Grefenstette is a trustee and investment committee member of Carnegie Mellon, an investment committee member of UPMC, an advisory board member of Commonfund Capital, a trustee of the Hillman Family Foundations, and a director of The Hillman Company. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University as well as a Master of Business Administration degree in finance and strategy from Carnegie Mellon.

Retired Lieutenant General Patricia D. Horoho was the first woman and nurse to serve as the Surgeon General of the United States Army. She served as the 43rd U.S. Army Surgeon General and commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command from 2011 to 2015. Following her military retirement in December 2015, Horoho became managing director and client account lead for Accenture Federal Services, where she heads that organization’s defense health practice and oversees business operations. 

Horoho has been the commanding officer for some of the nation’s most prominent military health systems. As commanding officer of the Walter Reed Health Care System, she coordinated services for more than 150,000 individuals and oversaw operations for 10 military facilities, including the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Horoho also was the deputy surgeon general in the Office of the Surgeon General and the 23rd Chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps.

Horoho delivered the keynote address at Pitt’s 2012 commencement convocation, where she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree. That same year, Pitt’s Alumni Association honored her as a Distinguished Alumni Fellow, and she was named a University of Pittsburgh Legacy Laureate in 2007. At Pitt, Horoho earned a Master of Science degree as a clinical trauma nurse specialist. She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Science degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. 

S. Jeffrey Kondis is the manager of corporate marketing for the L.B. Foster Company, a Pittsburgh-based manufacturer and distributor of products and services for the global rail, construction, and energy industries. He has previously served as the director of corporate development for the Watson Standard Company and has held prominent positions within the multinational professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP as well as the paints and glass manufacturer PPG Industries. In addition, Kondis has served as an adjunct faculty member in Pitt’s College of Business Administration since 1998.

For nearly 40 years, Kondis has remained active with Pitt as an alumnus. He is the current president and a life member of the Pitt Alumni Association. He has served on the alumni association’s Board of Directors in the positions of secretary and treasurer. Kondis sits on the Board of Directors for both Pitt’s Varsity Letter Club and Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business and College of Business Administration and has served as president of both boards.

Kondis is a recipient of the Pitt Alumni Association’s 2006 Volunteer of Excellence Award, Varsity Letter Club’s 2005 Award of Distinction, and Katz School’s 2003 Distinguished Service Award and 1998 H.J. Zoffer Award for Meritorious Service. At Pitt, Kondis earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree.

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