Fresno State president ousts longtime board members of embattled $315M foundation

Five longstanding board members of the embattled Fresno State Foundation, including chairperson Vinci Ricchiuti, will reach the end of four-year terms on Tuesday and won’t be returning to the board..

That determination was made by university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, using powers granted to him by the board in 2022 when it voted to eliminate terms limits for board members.

The foundation’s governance committee at a meeting Monday acknowledged that Jiménez-Sandoval has the discretion to not invite board members back at the end of terms, but said it did not agree with his decision.

“It’s hard for me to get my mind around the notion, especially when you review any number of factors, why would we be eliminating people on the board who have a wealth of knowledge, when in fact we should be focused on filling vacant board seats with new people, a variety of thinking, and what have you, and allow the longer serving board members some period of time, so a transition can be made,” said George Soares, chair of governance committee.

The final full board meeting of the year is Tuesday, when the four-year terms of multiple board members end.

The foundation manages more than $315 million in university endowments and post-award grants, and redistributes the money to pay for research, student scholarships, employee salary support and other important initiatives.

The board has been under fire since January after the release of a scathing review of its operations by the CSU chancellor’s office. The review was requested by Jiménez-Sandoval, the only university employee on the board.

Among other criticisms about operations and financial controls, the review noted the lack of general turnover of board members and those serving in leadership positions as against industry best practices.

An investigation published by The Fresno Bee showed that in the CSU system only Fresno State and Cal Poly had not rotated their foundation chairs over the past decade. Most of the 16 foundations reviewed by The Bee rotated board chairs every two years.

Ricchiuiti, the current Fresno Foundation chair, will complete a 32nd year as a member of the board of governors. She has served as its chairperson since 2016-17, well beyond industry best practices.

In addition to Ricchiuiti, other board members not invited back include: Claude Laval III, Kyle Stephenson, Richard Spencer and Nat DiBuduo. They are also at the end of terms and will not return to the board. Laval has served for 29 years, Spencer for 22 and DiBuduo for 15. Stephenson, the board treasurer, has served for 18 years.

Ricchiuti went on record at the meeting that she did not concur with the decision by the Fresno State president to not extend terms for her and four other board members, and made a motion for her position to be on the record in meeting minutes.

“We need action to note this, that the president, Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, made a sole decision to not reappoint those members whose terms end June 30,” Ricchiuti said.

“Board chair does not concur, but respectfully knows that is his prerogative, and the governance committee can either concur or not concur. There should be a motion, or something to that effect.”

Laval later chimed in: “As somebody who is one of the ones who’s getting kicked out, I will make that motion.”

Prior to the elimination of term limits in 2022, foundation board members were supposed to be restricted to two consecutive, four-year terms with an option to serve again after a one-year absence, though that was very loosely enforced.

The foundation’s bylaws now state: “Upon the expiration of a governor’s term, the president of California State University Fresno in consultation with the board chair and governance committee, will determine whether it’s in the best interest of the corporation to recommend reelection of such governor to the board.

“In the course of making such determination, the following shall be considered: The governor’s performance during the past term, the governor’s satisfaction during the past term of his/her fiduciary responsibilities as well as the requirements of the partnership agreement, the governor’s ability to continue to satisfy such responsibilities and requirements, and any other matters deemed relevant by the president of California State University Fresno, the board chair, and the governance committee.

Despite the protestations and claims of a loss of institutional knowledge from the governance committee, the foundation has developed a number of governance and financial control issues during the time Ricchiuti has served as its chairperson.

A review of key processes by the CSU chancellor’s office that was released in January found significant weaknesses in its governance and financial control environment that heightened its exposure to financial misstatements, fraud and operational inefficiencies, according to a CSU report.

The CSU identified 46 governance and operational deficiencies in its advisory review, and the foundation and university is working on a remediation plan. The CSU did not find any evidence of malfeasance in the review, which examined foundation operations over the 2024 fiscal year.