Trustee Profile Joseph S Sheetz - Chairman of the Board

Growing up within the Sheetz family has meant being a part of something larger and giving back to the community. The newly elected Chairman of the Board, Joseph S. Sheetz was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania where he grew up working with his father, Joseph M. Sheetz, at the family-owned Harshbarger Dairy. Once the dairy was sold, the elder Joe began working for the other family business, Sheetz, Inc. founded by his brother. The younger Joe worked for Sheetz, Inc. in various accounting and operations functions for seven consecutive summers during high school and college. Sheetz, Inc. is a familyowned business with approximately 10,000 employees. Known for its award-winning proprietary food service program, the Sheetz, Inc. organization was recently ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 87th largest private company in the United States. Joseph S. Sheetz is proud to continue the Sheetz family tradition of giving back to the community. With more than 320 convenience stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, the entire Sheetz family is busy giving back to the communities it serves.

Among those communities is Cresson and Mount Aloysius. Joseph S. Sheetz was first asked by fellow trustee and close friend Phil Devorris to serve as a Board of Trustees member in 1999. Through his dedication to the Mount Aloysius Board, Sheetz has gone on to serve as the Board's treasurer and vice chairman. At the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, Sheetz was elected Chairman of the Board. When asked what his goals as Chairman were, he replied, "Mount Aloysius is so well run and has grown tremendously over the last few years. It is important that we continue to push forward with the Campus Master Plan while managing through the issues that come along with rapid growth. As more and more students live on campus, we need to continue to develop programs and services geared toward the resident students while not forgetting about students that live at home or the adult student population."

Sheetz currently resides in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania with wife Wendy, daughter Delaney, and son Casey. A graduate of The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in economics in 1989, Sheetz was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. His business concentration at Wharton was entrepreneurial management, preparing him for an eventual return to the family business. After graduation, Sheetz worked as an employee benefits consultant for CGI Consulting in the suburban Philadelphia area for more than six years, specializing in designing benefit and retirement plans for major corporations. In August of 1995, Sheetz returned to Sheetz, Inc. as Director of Personnel where he concentrated on the retirement, benefit, and compensation plans. Sheetz became Executive Vice President of Finance in June of 1996. In this position, he currently oversees all finance, technology, and accounting functions and is an active member of the executive committee. "In the back of my mind, I always hoped that I would have an opportunity to work for the family business. However, I believe it is important for family members to spend some time working outside of the business before they assume any type of leadership role. While in Philadelphia, I was fortunate enough to work with many different types of companies, both family and non-family businesses. That experience has helped me tremendously over the last eleven years at Sheetz, Inc.," he recalled. In addition to his duties at Sheetz, Inc. and at Mount Aloysius, Sheetz is currently President of the Board of Directors of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce and Vice Chairman for the Altoona Blair County Development Corporation. He serves as an advisory board member for the Southern Pennsylvania Region of M&T Bank. Sheetz said, "As a graduate of Leadership Blair County, I understand the importance of servant leadership in making our community a better place to live and work. Mount Aloysius provides an opportunity for a different type of leadership experience. It involves working with young people, which is something I enjoy tremendously."

So what motivates this family man to give so much back to the community? Sheetz states, "My family has always been deeply involved with the community and I try to follow the example set by my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and the entire family. We focus a lot of our attention on children's charities and activities such as Special Olympics, Sheetz Family Christmas for underprivileged children, and youth sports leagues. After all, the future of our communities is in the hands of our children."