Cheng, Ogbevoen name new USG executive officers
Undergraduate President-elect Chris Cheng and Vice President-elect Nehi Ogbevoen announced their 2010-2011 executive officers at Tuesday’s Senate meeting, marking their first official decision since winning the election.
Taking office · President-elect Chris Cheng announced the newly appointed members of his executive office at the Undergraduate Student Government meeting. Tuesday. - Courtney Sandlin | Daily Trojan
The executive officers for 2010-2011: Maya Babla, a junior and a 2009 vice presidential candidate, will be the chief of staff; Brian Anderson, a junior and the current director of alumni affairs, will be the treasurer; Elizabeth Trower, a junior and the current director of the leadership fund, will be the senior director of communications; Richard Pizano, a junior and a member of Program Board’s concert committee, will be the executive director of Program Board; Chris McAbrey, a junior and Program Board’s current production manager, will be Program Board’s finance director.
The executive officers will work directly with the president and vice president on a variety of issues throughout the year. They are heavily involved in executive decisions and in the functions of USG as a whole.
Cheng said choosing the executive officers was a lengthy process. Cheng and Ogbevoen received about 25 applications for the five positions.
“We spent over 25 hours reviewing and deliberating,” junior Chris Cheng, the president-elect, said. “We checked their listed sources on their résumés as well as their unlisted sources.”
Cheng said he and Ogbevoen considered a number of factors in selecting their officers.
“We looked for team leaders and hard workers, people who are going to do their job well and contribute to the team,” Cheng said. “It’s an incredible combination of different personalities and yet everyone has something in common.”
Ogbevoen stressed that they chose people who could bring different skills and experiences to the table.
“We didn’t want everyone to be the same,” Ogbevoen said. “We wanted everyone to have a special input through our organization and through the decisions that the seven of us will be making.”
McAbrey said he applied for the position because he wanted to be more involved with USG after spending two years with Program Board. He said he has had a lot of prior experience, and the position of Program Board finance director is well suited to his interests and skills.
“It’s a big undertaking. I’ll be managing a very large budget, and, as a member of the executive committee of USG, there are a lot of responsibilities,” McAbrey said. “I’m a little nervous, but I’m mostly excited for next year.”