The Rider University Board of Trustees has elected five prominent business leaders, four of them graduates of the University, to three-year terms on the board.

They are James Busterud, first vice president at Morgan Stanley in New York; Thomas J. Lynch, Class of 1975, chief executive officer of Tyco Electronics of Princeton; Terry McEwen, MBA Class of 1998, senior vice president of retail banking at First Washington State Bank of East Windsor; Alfonse Mattia, Class of 1964, senior and founding officer of Amper, Politziner & Mattia, PC of Edison and Howard Stoeckel, Class of 1967, president and CEO of Wawa, Inc. of Wawa, PA.

"I am delighted to have such a distinguished group of business leaders join the board," said Rider President Mordechai Rozanski. "Each brings exceptional qualities, a record of outstanding success and great insight into the importance of higher education. I look forward to working with them and having them bring their counsel and leadership to Rider's renewal."

James Busterud, a resident of New York City, has an impressive background in music and business. A member of the National Leadership Council of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, he received his master's degree in music and a performer's certificate in opera from the Eastman School of Music in 1981. Highlights of his operatic career included an invitation to sing a duet with Laura Brooks Rice at President Reagan's State Dinner for Queen Elizabeth, and debuts with the Metropolitan, San Francisco, Santa Fe, and New York City Operas. His European debut occurred in Rome on a Deutsche Grammophon recording of "La Boheme," conducted by Leonard Bernstein. He now performs regularly with the Blue Hill Troupe, Ltd. In 1998 he began his financial career with Merrill Lynch where he was a certified financial planner and senior wealth management advisor. He is currently first vice president at Morgan Stanley in New York, a position he has held since the summer of 2004.

Thomas J. Lynch, who received a BSC degree in accounting from Rider, is the chief executive officer of Tyco Electronics. Lynch is responsible for operations of the world's largest passive electronics components manufacturer. With 2005 revenue of $12 billion, Tyco Electronics has more than 92,000 employees in 54 countries. Lynch joined Tyco in September 2004 as president of Tyco Engineered Products & Services (TEPS), a business segment of Tyco International. He was promoted to CEO of Tyco Electronics in January 2006. Lynch joined Tyco from Motorola, where he served as executive vice president of Motorola, and president and chief executive officer of Motorola's Personal Communications sector, a $12 billion leading supplier of cellular handsets. Prior to this role, he served as president of the Integrated Electronics Systems sector, of which automotive was the largest market segment. Prior to Motorola, Lynch was senior vice president and general manager of the Satellite and Broadcast Network Systems segment for General Instrument Corporation. A resident of Newtown, PA, Lynch has two children currently attending Rider.

Terry McEwen of Lawrenceville received an MBA from Rider in 1998 and a BS degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh. He currently serves as chair of Rider's Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) Community Advisory Board. He has also served as a member of Rider's "Minding our Business" Advisory Board and of the Foundation Board of Mercer County Community College. He has been senior vice president of retail banking at First Washington State Bank since 2002. In his current position, he oversees a 16-branch network with almost 140 employees and $450 million in assets. He manages the mortgage originators, consumer lending area, branch administration functions, and community reinvestment act functions for the bank.

Howard Stoeckel received a BSC degree in business administration from Rider in 1967. He is president and CEO of Wawa, Inc. Wawa is the dominant convenience store in the Philadelphia area, with annual revenues of more than $2 billion. He has served on advisory boards for Pierce College, Delaware Valley Community College, St. Joseph's University, Cornell's School of Hospitality Management and Wharton (Industry Advisory Board). A native of Hamilton Township, NJ, he now resides in North Wales, PA.

Alfonse M. Mattia, a resident of Edison, earned a BS degree in accounting from Rider in 1964. He also completed a three year Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School. He is a senior and founding officer of Amper, Politziner & Mattia, P.C., a 35 year old regional public accounting firm - one of the 30 largest in the country. He was a founding member of the Rutgers University Family Business Forum, and serves on the board of directors of several public and private companies, including Sun Bancorp. He was instrumental in developing the "More Than Just Numbers" statewide program created to educate young children regarding career opportunities in the accounting profession. He also served as a member of "The Group of 100," a prestigious national group formed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to protect the public interest and to position the accounting profession in the future.