UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Board of Trustees voted to elect David Kleppinger as chair and Rick Sokolov as vice chair during its regular meeting today (Nov. 8) on the University Park campus.
Kleppinger has served as vice-chair of the Board of Trustees since 2021. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Penn State in 1977, followed by a juris doctorate degree from Temple University School of Law in 1980. He was first appointed to the board by former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf in January 2017.
Kleppinger currently holds the position of chairman emeritus at McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC, a law firm in Harrisburg. He is a member of both the American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and has served as chair of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Team Pennsylvania Foundation, the Foundation for Enhancing Communities and United Way of the Capital Region.
His service to Penn State also includes his membership with the Department of Political Science’s board of visitors, which he also has chaired, and the Penn State Health board of directors, which he has been a member of since 2022. Kleppinger and his wife, Joanne, have supported Penn State’s liberal arts programming, including an endowment fund to provide paid internships to political science students.
Sokolov earned a bachelor of arts degree from Penn State in 1971 and holds a doctoral degree from Georgetown University. He was elected to join the Board of Trustees in 2022 to represent business and industry.
Currently, Sokolov serves as vice chair of Simon Property Group, where he previously served more than 20 years as president and chief operating officer. As a member of the Penn State Board of Trustees, he acts as chair of the Facilities Planning Subcommittee and is a member of the Committee on Finance and Investment.
His work with Penn State also includes a history of philanthropy. Sokolov served as chairman of the Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence until it concluded in 2022, and has been a member of the Next Gen Penn State Advisory Group and the Advisory Council on Philanthropy. He has worked with multiple philanthropic campaigns, including the Inter-collegiate Athletics Campaign Committee for the Future.
Both Kleppinger and Sokolov ran unopposed.