Fresno State president blocks last-ditch effort to keep chair on troubled foundation board
Fresno State Foundation chairperson Vinci Ricchiuti presided over a final meeting of the board of governors on Tuesday, her latest term coming to an end after 32 years on the board and the last 10 as chair.
But before an emotional final statement from Ricchiuti, board members fumbled over their own bylaws regarding the circumstances where an immediate past chair can remain on the board’s executive committee. There also was a moment when a board member asked whether they wanted to amend foundation bylaws to allow Ricchiuti to maintain a place on the foundation on that executive committee.
It was quickly shot down by university president Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval.
“I don’t feel comfortable with that,” he 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.”
Jiménez-Sandoval is the only university employee that serves on the board.
The Fresno State president exercised authority granted by the foundation to allow five board members who were at the end of four-year terms, including Ricchiuti, to roll off the board. Claude Laval III, Richard Spencer, Kyle Stephenson and Nat DiBuduo also termed out and will not return. All served on the board for more than 15 years, well past accepted industry best practices, according to experts interviewed by The Bee.
Jiménez-Sandoval made the move as the philanthropic auxiliary, which oversees $315 million in donations and grants, tries to dig out from under a mess of governance and financial control issues that were detailed in a highly-critical report by the California State University chancellor’s office.
Past chairs like Ricchiuti usually serve on the executive committee, which includes the chair of the board, the immediate past chair, the vice chair, treasurer, secretary, and one other member named by the board chair and approved by the full board. But foundation bylaws state that each member of the executive committee shall concurrently be a member of the board, and Ricchiuti is not.
At the final board meeting of the year on Tuesday, Christopher Morse was nominated from the floor and elected board chair. He has served on the foundation board for nine years and is on its audit committee.
At the request of Jiménez-Sandoval, the CSU Audit and Advisory Services, part of the CSU chancellor’s office, reviewed foundation operations over fiscal year 2024. The resulting report highlighted 46 areas in need of reform, including the lack of board term limits and faculty and student representation. For comparison, the chancellor’s office reviewed bylaws of seven philanthropic boards within the CSU system, and all seven spelled out a maximum number of years or terms allowed. Six of the seven foundation bylaws reviewed set a maximum of three, three-year terms per board member.
In 2022, as part of a deal to remove term limits, the Fresno State Foundation agreed to give the university president power to determine which members returned at the end of their terms.
This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 4:40 PM.