Executive Profiles
Name: Max Wendkos
Chapter: Theta Delta Chi
Hometown: Upper Dublin, PA
Majors: Marketing & Psychology - Business Option
Anticipated Graduation: December 2010
Since joining Theta Delta Chi in spring 2007, Max has made it a point to capitalize on the many opportunities presented to him. Though only the Athletics Chairman for his first year, he tried to positively contribute to the fraternity's success in all areas of operation - from THON to recruitment to overall involvement in the Greek community. His hard work was rewarded heading into his junior year, when he was elected to the positions of Treasurer and THON Chairman. After successful terms in both of these offices, Max's brothers showed their confidence in him and elected him Chapter President. He served in this role for his fraternity for the 2009 year, while simultaneously staying active in the larger Greek community through his involvement with the IFC/PHC THON AVP Protection Committee and as the Interfraternity Council Representative for UPUA. For his hard work, Max was the runner-up for the 2008 Greek Man of the Year, was awarded the Penn State “Living the Ritual” Award, and was named the 2009 Undergraduate of the Year by his international fraternity. He also serves on the five-man Theta Delta Chi Board of Directors, is a student in the Smeal College of Business' Sapphire Program and the Schreyer Honors College, where he is writing a thesis on the psychological factors that influence fan avidity in sports, and has worked as a marketing associate for Penn State Athletics.
In the coming year, Max hopes to reinvigorate Penn State Greeks by placing a renewed emphasis on representation of community interests and streamlining communication across all levels of the Interfraternity Council and to its member Chapters. He would also like to increase Greek service and programming participation by collaborating with the Panhellenic Council to improve upon the current incentive system and introduce new dynamics into fraternity and sorority relations. In order to respond most effectively to the changing demands for membership recruitment and development, Max plans to work with his Executive Board to develop resources that will strengthen Chapter practices and facilitate the advancement of Penn State fraternities across the board. Through hard work and a proactive approach to solving the community's problems, Max hopes to rectify some of the troubles facing the Greek community while ensuring that its members continue to receive an experience that they will always cherish.
In his spare time, Max pretty much eats, breaths, and sleeps sports. He's an avid soccer player and is generally game for any pick-up sport. Though he is from suburban Philadelphia, Max is a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan. He also roots for the Sixers and Phillies and admittedly bandwagoned the Pittsburgh Penguins during their Stanley Cup run in order to get a girl. (Yes, he is very ashamed.) Outside of athletics, Max also enjoys stand-up comedy, pretty much all movies, and traveling to new places.
Name: Daniel Florencio
Chapter: Zeta Psi
Hometown: State College, PA
Major: Philosophy
Anticipated Graduation: December 2011
Since joining Zeta Psi in the spring of 2008, Dan has made the most of his opportunities within his fraternity. By displaying his motivation, work ethic, and dedication was elected President of the Zeta Psi, Pi Sigma chapter just one semester after being initiated. During his term, he stressed personal responsibility, scholarship, and service. He also took an active role in the Interfraternity Council and his international fraternity. For the Interfraternity Council, Dan actively served on the THON AVP Protection Committee. For Zeta Psi International, Dan served as an undergraduate leader of Zeta Psi’s Government Relation’s program. In the spring of 2009, Dan was selected as a student lobbyist for the North-American Interfraternity Conference’s Capitol Hill visit that annually lobbies for the passing of pro-Greek legislation. Dan is a summer 2009 graduate of the prestigious Washington Scholars Fellowship program, through which he interned at the U.S. Department of State. He also won an award for “Outstanding Undergraduate” at Zeta Psi’s international convention in Cleveland. On campus Dan has served as a THON Committee member for three years and also as HOMECOMING Security Captain in 2009.
Dan hopes to use his extensive experience and dedication to benefit the entire Greek community. He encourages increased Greek involvement on campus and within the community. By having Greeks in a wide variety of campus organizations can help bring the Penn State community together. Dan also hopes to promote unity within the Executive Board to ensure that every officer is working to their best ability with the support of the rest of the team. By working alongside the officers, Dan hopes a proactive attitude and dedication to Greek values can continue to improve Penn State’s Greek life and the university as a whole.
Dan has lived in State College for his entire life. He enjoys spending time with his family and watching sports. He is fluent in Portuguese and carries a dual-citizenship with the U.S. and Brazil. Being Brazilian, he is a religious Brazilian soccer fan and always believes they will win the next World Cup.
Name: Daniel Cartwright
Chapter: Theta Chi
Hometown: Avondale, PA
Major: Energy, Business and Finance
Anticipated Graduation: May 2011
As a Penn State Student, Daniel has been a FRESH Start Team Leader, a member of the Penn State Lion Scouts, and the Co-Director of Greek Life for the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Committee. Within Greek Life itself Daniel has served as his chapter’s President, Recruitment Chair, and Social Chair. Elected to the position of President as only a sophomore, under Daniel’s leadership Theta Chi experienced its two largest recruitment classes in recent memory. Along with this, he led his fraternity to Chapter of Excellence honors and an Outstanding New Member Education Program. Theta Chi has also experienced an increase in service, the creation of a second philanthropy, and a doubling of the money raised for THON during Daniel’s term.
As your new Vice President of Communications, Daniel hopes to bring an increased level of communication between the IFC Executive Board and all chapter Presidents. By sending out weekly emails alerting Presidents to any new developments in the Greek Community and a reminder every Sunday of information to relay to all Greeks at Chapter meetings, Daniel plans to keep every fraternity brother up to date. Participating in and leading the proposed President’s Caucuses will be a valuable resource for Chapter Presidents that the VP of Communications position can contribute to. He also plans to search out open leadership positions across campus and make the applications for these positions readily available for all Greeks. Working closely with the webmaster, Daniel is going to be available to all Chapters to smooth the transition to Greek Valley. Through this new system, Daniel hopes to improve all communication by showing minutes and all changes in policy on Greek Valley and the PennStateIFC.com website.
Born in England, and currently residing in Southern Chester County outside of Philadelphia, Daniel is an avid soccer player and sports fan. Traveling as much as possible and skiing are two hobbies of his. Daniel also enjoys participating in service at Penn State and giving tours to prospective students through the Lion Scout program. He balances these activities out with his study in Energy, Business and Finance and minors in History and Economics.
Name: Mark Howell Mixon
Chapter: Sigma Nu
Hometown: State College, PA
Major: Energy, Business and Finance
Anticipated Graduation: December 2010
Mark Mixon is finishing his fourth year at Penn State and expects to graduate with a degree in Energy Business and Finance in December of 2010. He is a member of the Sigma Nu Fraternity, and at one point or another, has served his chapter as President, Alumni Relations Chairman, Leadership Development Chairman, Academics Chairman, and Risk Reduction Chairman. During this past summer, Mark had the privilege of attending the Undergraduate Interfraternity Institute, a Greek leadership development seminar focused on council leadership. Additionally, he has attended his National Convocation, as well as two other leadership conferences hosted by his Fraternity. In April, Mark was recognized as an Outstanding New Member of Penn State Greek Life, and was also inducted into a Greek Honors’ Society, the Order of Omega.
Mark’s priorities as the Vice President for Membership include increasing the Interfraternity Council’s membership by providing resources and hands-on attention to individual chapters’ recruitment and new member education efforts, working to increase the quality of membership of all IFC chapters, and lastly, establishing more effective leadership development opportunities for new members and members alike. Efforts to improve recruitment will continue to include enhanced marketing and research, but will also be focused on chapters that have struggled recently to keep their numbers up. And by working to better add value to the lives of this Council’s members through more opportunities for involvement and better leadership development, the ability for the Council as a whole to recruit new members will improve as well. Mark is confident that 2010 will be the beginning of a new age for Greek Life at Penn State.
Outside of Greek Life, Mark has found many other ways to keep himself busy. Last summer, he trained to become a volunteer for Make-A-Wish, and is honored to be able to give back to such a generous organization. He also is proud to have been a THON 2009 Family Relations Captain. When not at Penn State, Mark spends as much time traveling as possible. Before his senior year, he visited St. Augustine, Florida, where he saw his favorite band, the Counting Crows, live in concert, two nights in a row! In addition to his love for 90’s alternative rock, Mark is, according to some, a movie snob. And when he’s not hating on your favorite movie or listening to Adam Duritz’s whiney tracks, he’s either reading the most recent Orson Scott Card novel, or taking his Jeep off-road.
Name: Christian “Stoney” Van Horn Jr.
Chapter: Tau Kappa Epsilon
Hometown: Dalton, PA
Major: Labor Studies and Employment Relations
Anticipated Graduation: May 2011
Christian, better known as “Stoney,” is a brother at Tau Kappa Epsilon. In the last year, Stoney has been Vice President, THON chair, and Community Service Chairman. As Vice President he oversaw all internal chairs of the house, ran and organized all philanthropic events, and sat on the Pi Chapter House Corporation Board. During his one year term he was able to create an incentive-based program to motivate brothers in his house to get involved no matter what the event may be. With this incentive based program in place, Tau Kappa Epsilon received national recognition for their efforts in giving back to the community. They registered the highest total community service hours in the Northeast Region of Tau Kappa Epsilon and were awarded the highest philanthropic contribution in the country.
As the newly appointed Vice President for Programming, Stoney really would like to see the Penn State Greek Community improve relations with the borough, the community, and the university. In order to accomplish this, he plans to work closely with the Panhellenic Council. Their goal is to come up with a way to combine FRASP and Pimp My Suite into one system. With a firm and clear rewards system in place, he intends to help fraternities stay motivated and work hard in achieving a common goal. Stoney plans on having monthly newsletters sent to all chapter presidents to inform them about different speakers, community service opportunities, and philanthropic events. By doing this, it will help support any chapter who is looking for involvement from IFC and other chapters. Finally, he will be available to help chapters work on improving new member education programs. With the right drive and effort Stoney feels that this calendar year could show the State College area what it is like to be actively involved in Penn State’s Greek life!
In Stoney’s free time he really like just hanging out with the good friends that he has made at Penn State, playing in a variety of sports, and an occasional NCAA football game on XBox. Like many students at Penn State, Stoney is an avid football fan and he can’t wait for the next season to begin. Finally, Stoney is really excited to be a part of the Interfraternity Council and can’t wait to work with all the different chapters.
Name: Nick Rodriguez
Chapter: Alpha Kappa Lambda
Hometown: Yorktown, NY
Majors: Crime, Law and Justice, Spanish & International Studies
Anticipated Graduation: December 2011
After coming to Penn State, Nick immediately took a role in his fraternity by becoming president of his pledge class. Once initiated, he assumed the role of Assistant Brotherhood Events Chairman for the spring semester. During this time he scheduled many events for his brotherhood, which created better bonds within his fraternity. Starting this fall Nick took on two executive board positions within his fraternity by becoming the Sergeant at Arms and Rush Chairman. As Sergeant at Arms he was responsible for both upholding the fraternity by-laws and in charge of risk management for his house. He also created a new penalty system for his house, designed to create a fair and more efficient way of determining fines. Outside of his fraternity, Nick has been an active member in THON, as well as Homecoming and Greek Week.
As part of the Executive Board, Nick hopes to remove the negative connotation that has been instilled on fraternities, especially with in the last year. His main goal as Vice President for Standards is to keep judiciary powers in the hands of Greeks. Nick believes that, by creating a new judicial policy and enforcing it properly, we can prove to the University that we can be responsible for ourselves. Right now the judicial policy has many gray areas and must be restructured. Nick plans to create a better and more efficient policy in the best interest of fraternities. He will get rid of ambiguities and strive to create a more specific policy. By doing so, Nick believes that this will eliminate any issues of doubt of what can and cannot be done. Throughout his term as Vice President for Standards he will make it his duty to listen to every fraternity who is issued a sanction or fine and to allow them to defend themselves because he believes that everyone deserves to be able to prove their innocence. Nick also looks forward to easing the transition of the new GMTs. With this being a major concern for most fraternities, Nick plans to hold a meeting between the risk management chairs of each house and the GMTs to go over what is in the new social policy as well as the new judicial policy if passed.
Nick is a triple major pursuing a career in law enforcement. He is a huge Yankees and Giants fan and his hobbies include playing and watching football, baseball and basketball. He is also an active member of the Penn State snowboard club and an active scuba diver. Nick loves The Office and Family Guy, owns every Rocky movie, and enjoys playing poker. He can also quote almost every line in The Hangover.
Name: Tom Piarulli
Chapter: Phi Kappa Tau
Hometown: Cherry Hill, NJ
Majors: Security and Risk Analysis & International Politics
Anticipated Graduation: May 2011
Tom joined Phi Kappa Tau in the fall of his freshman year and has been committed to improving Greek Life ever since. He has served his fraternity in nine different officer positions: President, Secretary, Risk Management Executive, Communications Chair, Greek Week Chair, Greek Sing Chair, Homecoming Chair, Social Chair, and Membership Orientation Officer. He also participated in the IFC THON AVP Protection Committee and was a runner up for the 2008 "Greek Man of the Year". Tom helped transform Phi Kappa Tau from a fraternity that was ready to close its doors in 2006 to a thriving brotherhood of nearly 60 members. During his term as president Phi Kappa Tau increased its THON fundraising total from less than $5,000 to over $50,000 in its pair, became financially stable, saw its best recruitment in over a decade, and reformed its risk management practices. After four years of aiding his fraternity Tom is prepared to serve the entire Greek community as the new Vice President for Risk Management.
Tom has a great deal of experience with risk management both inside and outside the classroom. Tom is a Security and Risk Analysis Major and worked as an intelligence intern for the New Jersey State Police. He has also worked diligently to research and employ better risk management practices in his own chapter. Tom is focused on reform over restriction and hopes to work extensively with chapters to create a risk management program that provides chapters with both the freedom and responsibility they desire. Tom is also committed to creating a strong relationship between fraternities and the community.
Tom enjoys nights out in Philadelphia and spending time at his shore house in Ocean City, NJ. He has an older brother that graduated with a degree in film from the University of Notre Dame and is currently working for a film production company in Los Angeles. His mother graduated from Penn State and attended the Penn School of Medicine before becoming a horse veterinarian. His father is a Notre Dame graduate and a now retired horse trainer. Tom danced in THON in 2008 and considers joining his fraternity to be one of the best decisions he has ever made.
Name: Carter Satterfield
Chapter: Phi Gamma Delta
Hometown: Duxbury, MA
Major: Energy, Business and Finance
Anticipated Graduation: December 2010
Carter Satterfield’s involvement since arriving at Penn State has stretched campus-wide. His PSU career began with membership in the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, as a member of the pledge class of Fall 2006. He quickly became the IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon Chairman freshman year and held the Recording Secretary position on cabinet during his junior year. Carter also became a Penn State Lion Scout his freshman year, where he eventually served on the Executive Board as the Telecommunications chair and the Tour Advisor. However, Carter claims the pinnacle of his involvement at Penn State has been the recreation of the fan behavior initiative at Penn State, PRIDE. Lastly, his most recent involvement has been within Penn State Homecoming, as a University Relations captain this past year. Carter helped plan and put together the Past To Present Celebration for Homecoming Week, which was a huge success and provided him the experience necessary to be successful as the Associate Vice President for the Interfraternity Council.
As one of the older members of the Board, we hope that Carter will add a lot with the experience and knowledge that he has gained throughout his Penn State career. It can easily be seen that Carter’s involvement within the different facets of Penn State life has really helped broaden his view of this University, learning invaluable skills when it comes to solving problems. Specifically, when dealing with Homecoming, Carter hopes to provide an unwavering line of communication between the two organizations while being transparent in his judgments and decisions so that he properly represents the ideals and opinions of the Interfraternity Council. Through hard work and an increased level of accountability on Homecoming chairs, he intends to make Homecoming 2010 the best yet when it comes to Greek participation and competition.
Carter is originally from Duxbury, Massachusetts where he was a State Champion basketball player. As a first generation Penn Stater, Carter has bled blue and white from the moment he stepped foot on this campus and loves the fact that almost every other person at Penn State does as well. Carter spends his Thursday nights at the Café playing the drums for the band “Rubber Band” and spends his Friday nights working at Indigo! Carter defines his Penn State career with his Greek affiliation and loves that he has the opportunity to take the AVP position for Homecoming to the next level, For the Glory!
Name: Andrew Askew
Chapter: Sigma Pi
Hometown: Westborough, MA
Major: Accounting
Anticipated Graduation: May 2012
Within the Greek community, Andrew was a Rules and Regulations captain for Greek Sing 2009. In this role, he also served as the assistant to the Rules and Regulations Overall Chair. At Sigma Pi, he participated in Greek Sing and the fraternity achieved first place overall. He has also served as Sigma Pi’s Philanthropy Chairman – a role in which he had to set up and organize many different events. In other university affiliated organizations he has participated with the Smeal Student Society and The Accounting Society. However , he is currently an inactive member of both of these organizations.
Andrew plans on bringing a lot to his position. He wants to make sure that there is enthusiasm for both Greek Sing and Greek Week. Both of these events are great forms of competition for Greeks, as well as a good opportunity for the community to see different ways that Greeks can give back. He plans to make both of these events more organized and fun. He sees it as his mission to ensure that these events enjoy the same success that they have experienced in past years.
Andrew is from the small town of Westborough in the great state of Massachusetts. In his free time he enjoys playing sports, especially lacrosse. He is also a big fan of the Patriots and the Celtics and enjoys watching their games (even though the Eagles and Steelers are usually covered over them).