Syracuse University is pleased to announce the election of two new members to the University’s Board of Trustees, Clifford Ensley ’69,’70, G’71 and Mark Verone ’95. Ensley and Verone were elected at the May Board meeting.
“We welcome Cliff and Mark to the Board and look forward to working with them as we move forward with a new academic strategic plan and the advancement of other important priorities for the University,” says Chairman Steven W. Barnes.
Clifford Ensley
Ensley is the founder and CEO of Leisure Merchandising Corp., the luggage and accessories manufacturing business he began in 1978. The private company produces and distributes value-priced luggage to major department stores and off-price retailers under the Leisure and American Trunk & Case brands and has been a licensee for such brands as London Fog, Nautica and Adolfo. Ensley just completed his second term as chairman of the board of the Travel Goods Association, an industry membership organization with 350 members.
A three-sport letter winner while at Syracuse, Ensley was a football honorable mention All-American and co-captain of the ’69 lacrosse team. He holds two undergraduate degrees from Syracuse, from the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering and Computer Science, and earned an M.B.A from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management. In recent years, he has supported a number of athletics projects, including the Ensley Athletic Center, a new athletics indoor practice facility that bears his name. He and his company, Leisure Merchandising, support various philanthropic initiatives.
For Syracuse Athletics, Ensley created and endowed the Orange Forever Memorial Fund, which provides “Block S” blankets as keepsakes to the families of deceased varsity student-athletes. He has also worked with others to recognize and celebrate the legacy of his former football coach, Ben Schwartzwalder, with a statue outside the Ensley Athletics Center.
Mark Verone
Verone is vice president of global marketing and product operations and services at Gogo, a leading provider of in-flight connectivity and a pioneer in wireless in-flight entertainment solutions for the commercial and business aviation markets. Previously, he was with Internet travel giant Orbitz Worldwide as director of partner marketing operations. A native of Syracuse and a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Verone has held a range of marketing and sales operations leadership roles in travel, eCommerce, interactive and traditional media with posts from his native Syracuse to New York City and Chicago.
Verone has been an active member of the Syracuse University Alumni Association Board since 2009, serving as vice president and currently as president-elect. He will serve as the Syracuse University Alumni Association Board president on July 1 and as an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees. He’s been involved with both the Chicago Regional Council and the Chicago Alumni Association, often hosting send-off events for Syracuse students, along with his wife, Dr. Rachelle Hardy ’95 (College of Engineering and Computer Science). A booster of the WJPZ Alumni Association, Verone participated in the recent Chicago immersion program with the School of Information Studies. He has also served on the Chicago Board of Prevent Child Abuse America.
Verone received an M.B.A. from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in Lake Forest, Ill.
In addition to the two new trustees, Chancellor Syverud has named a new dean representative, and the University Senate Academic Affairs Committee, in consultation with the provost and the chairperson of the University Senate Agenda Committee, has selected a new faculty representative. Each will serve a two-year term.
Bethaida “Bea” González
Bethaida “Bea” González is the dean representative to the Board.
As dean of University College, González supervises quality programming for continuing and part-time education, including credit and non-credit undergraduate and graduate studies, the English Language Institute, the Veterans Resource Center and Summer@Syracuse programs. As special assistant to Chancellor Syverud, González focuses on student retention and success, strategic planning, day-to-day services, and policies and procedures focused on student learning, success and support.
González has more than 38 years of experience in higher education; 30 of which have been in continuing education. She also has a long and distinguished record of public service. She has been elected to public office three times. In 2001, she became the first Latina to be elected president of the City of Syracuse Common Council and served two terms. She also served on the Syracuse City School District’s Board of Education. González received a bachelor of political science degree from SUNY Binghamton and a certificate in public administration and a master of arts degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Mary Lovely
Mary E. Lovely is the new faculty representative to the Board. The Melvin A. Eggers Economics Faculty Scholar and Professor of Economics at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Lovely also serves as chair of the International Relations Program.
Lovely is a senior associate of the Moynihan Institute for Global Affairs and a research network fellow of CESifo, Munich, Germany. Her current research programs investigate the consequences of changing ownership structures in Chinese domestic enterprises, the role of foreign ownership and processing trade in the pollution intensity of Chinese industries, and the link between wages and access to domestic and foreign markets. Her recent papers focus on innovation in the Chinese solar equipment industry, the pollution intensity of Chinese exports, differences in China’s integration into American and Japanese production networks, and the influence of market access on the geographic dispersion of manufacturing wages. She has recently completed work on the role of provincial differences in environmental policy and labor conditions in directing foreign direct investment flows to Chinese provinces. Her courses for Syracuse University focus on international economics and the supervision of graduate and undergraduate research projects. She earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan and an M.C.R.P. degree from Harvard University.
Three student representatives to the Board have also been named. The undergraduate representatives were elected by the Student Association and the graduate student representative is the incoming Graduate Student Organization (GSO) president.
Can Aslan
Can Aslan is the new graduate student representative. A second-year international doctoral student in the bioengineering Ph.D. program in the Department of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Aslan received a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from the University of Nottingham in England. He received a master’s degree in pharmacology from Istanbul University in Turkey. Aslan has worked in the pharmaceutical industry and volunteered with nonprofit organizations as a search and rescue personnel member. He is also an animal rescue volunteer. Aslan has served on various committees alongside the GSO Senate and the University Senate, and recently formed the Engineering and Computer Science GSO (ECS-GSO) that will bring together and serve the 1,200 College of Engineering and Computer Science graduate students.
Nedda Sarshar
Nedda Sarshar is one of two new undergraduate representatives. A junior international student from Toronto, Canada, Sarshar is a dual major in writing and rhetoric and citizenship and civic engagement, pursuing a minor in English and textual studies. Sarshar currently serves as the president of the Residence Hall Association and is a member of the community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega. Previously she served as director of civic engagement for the Residence Hall Association and as an assembly representative for the Student Association.
Aysha Seedat
Aysha Seedat is the newly elected Student Association president. A policy studies major in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Maxwell School, she has a particular interest in education policy. She recently participated as a panelist at the seventh annual Conference on Equity and Social Justice. Born in Manhattan, Seedat was raised in Bergen County, N.J. Prior to being elected Student Association president, she was the director of student life for the Student Association. Seedat is a sister of Sigma Delta Tau sorority and a member of OrangeSeeds, a leadership empowerment program in which upperclass students work with first-year students to help them get involved on campus.
Chancellor Kent Syverud says, “I know the collective passion of this group, and their shared love for our University, is going to propel us forward. I am eager to work with the entire Board of Trustees and to especially hear from the new voices at the table. This is an exciting time to be involved with the University.”
