USG names its incoming executive board

Undergraduate Student Government President-elect Monish Tyagi and Vice President-elect Logan Lachman announced their 2010-11 executive officers at Tuesday’s Senate meeting.

Current sitting Performing Arts Director Nikki Anas will be chief of staff; sitting Public Relations Director Sabena Suri will be director of communication; sitting Philanthropy Director Elton Kwok will be treasurer; sitting Trojan Pride Director Danielle Espinoza will be Program Board’s executive director; and sitting Production Director and former vice presidential candidate Andy Greos will be Program Board’s finance director.

Tyagi and Lachman interviewed applicants the week before spring break and finalized their list March 13. They received about 20 applications for the five positions.

“It was very competitive; we had a lot of great applicants, and it was a really tough decision to make,” Lachman said.

Tyagi said they considered a number of qualities when picking their cabinet.

“For each of the positions we wanted to consider how prepared, experienced and ready they were for that position,” Tyagi said. “The second thing we considered was the personalities and how the team would work together. We really wanted to see how their leadership style would work together as a team.”

Tyagi said his platform, which primarily focused on USG improving its programs and retaining its structure, was not the primary motivator in choosing the members of the executive board.

“We knew what our goals were for each of the positions and we knew what we were expecting,” Tyagi said. “We asked them if there was something they’d like to change about the position or USG in general, but it didn’t necessarily play a factor in the process.”

Current President Chris Cheng has been giving Tyagi and Lachman advice on choosing the officers as part of the general transition process. Lachman said he told them to aim for a “good office morale.”

“You want people who are hard workers and people who are going to work well together because you spend a significant amount of time together,” Cheng said. “Individually, you want people to have their own merits, but it’s all about the team dynamic. That’s what we focused on this year and it worked out really well for us.”

The executive board will start interviewing and selecting committee leaders for USG, though the executive board will not take office April 1.

“Everyone is getting along very well and doing what they are supposed to be doing; we’re very happy with who we chose,” Lachman said.