Mustian to Lead UK Alumni Association Board
LEXINGTON, Ky. (June 28, 2017) — The University of Kentucky Alumni Association recently announced its 2017-2018 Board of Directors' officers during its annual summer workshop. This year’s officers are Susan Van Buren Mustian, president; J. Fritz Skeen, president-elect; and Taunya A. Phillips, treasurer. The new slate will officially take office July 1, 2017, and will serve until June 30, 2018.
Susan Van Buren Mustian of Hebron, Kentucky, is serving her third three-year term on the UK Alumni Association Board of Directors. She has served as president-elect in the 2016-2017 year and served as treasurer in the 2015-2016 year. Mustian has held several committee leadership positions with the association including, chairwoman of Membership, Club Development, and Budget, Finance and Investments, and vice-chairwoman of Diversity and Group Development. Mustian also chaired the Strategic Plan Governance Focus Group. A former president of the Student Activities Board, she also led the Student Alumni Association as an undergraduate. She continued her involvement with the association serving as president-elect of the Northern KY/Greater Cincinnati UK Alumni Club and also as vice president and secretary. She helped develop alumni clubs in South Bend, Indiana, and Hong Kong, where she was appointed to the Strategic Plan Accreditation Leadership Team with the Hong Kong International School.
Mustian is currently president of the Southwest Ohio Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Board of Directors and served as the Cincinnatian of the Year Gala co-chairwoman in 2015 and 2016. In 2014, she received the Greater Cincinnati Planned Giving Council Voices of Giving Award and in 2015 she received the Lead's Cincinnati Women of Influence Award. She is a 2013 recipient of the prestigious UK Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award. She received a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1984 from the UK Gatton College of Business and Economics. Mustian is a life member of the UK Alumni Association. She is married to Scott J. Mustian (’85 BE), a UK Fellow and also a life member of the association. They are the parents of Sam, Nathan and Sarah.
J. Fritz Skeen of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, is serving his second three-year term on the UK Alumni Association Board of Directors. He served as treasurer in the 2016-2017 year. He has held committee leadership positions with the association, including chairman of Budget, Finance and Investments and Scholarship/Great Teacher Awards, and vice-chairman of Alumni Service Awards and Budget, Finance and Investments. Skeen has also served on the Membership Committee. Skeen and two fellow UK alumni restarted the Jacksonville (Florida) UK Alumni Club where he continues to serve on the board. During his 30-year career with the IBM Corporation, he held a variety of sales, marketing and executive positions, including regional manager, director mid-range systems, product marketing, group director of telecommunications product marketing, and general manager in greater Chicago.
As general manager of the Chicago area for all divisions of IBM, he hosted two receptions for the deans of the Gatton College of Business and Economics. Skeen is a life member of the UK Alumni Association, a Wildcat Society member, a UK Fellow, a member of the K Fund and returns to campus to play tuba in the UK Alumni Band. Skeen is a member of Phi Sigma Kappa, and was president of the UK chapter when he was a student. He is the treasurer on the Sawgrass Country Club Board of Governors, president of the Northgate Homeowners Association and a past member of the board of directors of the Sawgrass Association. Skeen received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1972 and his MBA in 1973 from the University of Kentucky. He is married to Helen Morse Skeen.
Taunya A. Phillips of Lexington, Kentucky, is serving her second three-year term on the UK Alumni Association Board of Directors. She has held committee leadership positions with the association including chairwoman and vice-chairwoman of Nominating for Board and Diversity and Group Development committees. Phillips has also served on the Club Development and Budget, Finance and Investments committees. She was a 2015 recipient of the Alumni Service Award, is a life member of the UK Alumni Association and a UK Fellow. Phillips earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the UK College of Engineering in 1987 and her MBA from Gatton College in 2004. She is the associate director of strategic alliances in the Office of Technology Commercialization at UK, where she cultivates and maintains campus and industry relationships that support the technology commercialization and entrepreneurial endeavors of the faculty, staff and students. She has been a UK employee for 18 years.
Previous positions at UK include CFO for Kentucky Technology Inc., a for-profit subsidiary of the UK Research Foundation, UK College of Engineering lecturer and Minority Engineering Program director. Prior to UK, Phillips worked at Milliken and Co., a chemical and textile manufacturer. Positions there included production manager, process engineer, technical salesperson and marketing analyst and planner. Phillips is the vice-chairwoman of the Downtown Lexington Management District board, and she has been the board chairwoman of Opportunity for Work and Learning Inc. She is a past president of the UK College of Engineering Alumni Association board, and currently serves on the College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Council. Phillips is a native of Danville, Kentucky.
The position of secretary is historically filled by the executive director of the UK Alumni Association. Until that position is filled, the role of secretary will be temporarily filled by Jill Smith, associate executive director of the UK Alumni Association.
The UK Alumni Association is a membership-supported organization committed to fostering lifelong engagement among alumni, friends, the association and the university. For more information about the UK Alumni Association or to become a member, visit www.ukalumni.net or call 1-800-269-2586.