Four join Pacific board

July 30--STOCKTON -- Four new regents have been added to the governing body of University of the Pacific, the university announced Tuesday.

Elected July 17, the four regents will serve three-year terms that run through June 30, 2017. They are: Norman E. Allen, a senior vice president and partner at Woodruff-Sawyer & Co., a San Francisco-based insurance firm; Charles Berolzheimer, president and CEO of California Cedar Products Co. in Stockton; Virginia Chan, a pharmacist and president of Covina Pharmacy in Southern California; and Janet Y. Spears, the interim president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the East Bay Community Foundation, a philanthropic group.

Regents are entrusted with the final responsibility for the quality and integrity of the education at the university, similar to the role elected trustees take on in public school districts.

"We have been so very fortunate over the years to draw the top leaders in their fields willing to give of their time and expertise to shape the university's long-range strategic direction," Kathleen Lagorio-Janssen, chairwoman of the Board of Regents, said in a statement. "I look forward to working with the new regents as we continue to forge together a bright future for the University. We welcome their leadership experience as we strive to make the University even stronger and find new ways to best serve our students."

All are either graduates of Pacific or are related to a graduate, and all four have shown a commitment to the university.

Norman E. Allen

Allen, 48, earned a bachelor's in communication and political science from the College of the Pacific in 1988 and a law degree from Pacific's McGeorge School of Law in 1994. In Stockton, Allen was the student body president and a residence hall assistant. He was a founding member of the campus fraternity Phi Delta Theta, and a member of the Order of Omega, a leadership honor society for fraternity and sorority members.

Allen was also a comment editor and staff writer for the Pacific Law Review at McGeorge.

His strong ties with Pacific didn't end at graduation. Allen served for seven years on the Pacific Alumni Association board of directors and its executive committee, also serving as president. He has also served on the Pacific Fund Advisory Board and the Student Life Panel of the National Commission, was vice president for Student Life Search Committee twice and was a founding member of the PRIDE Pacific Alumni Club.

In his professional life, Allen advises high-profile companies on risk management and solutions. He is a member of the State Bar of California, the Bar Association of San Francisco and the Professional Liability Underwriting Society.

Charles Berolzheimer

Berolzheimer, 53, president and CEO of California Cedar Products Co. in Stockton, has made Pacific a central part of his family's life.

The new regent's sons, Philip and Thomas, earned degrees from Pacific's Eberhardt School of Business -- Philip in 2009 and Thomas in 2011, and again in 2012 in completing his MBA. Both sons were student athletes and married Pacific graduates.

Charles Berolzheimer's brother, Parke, graduated from Pacific in 1985. His parents, Philip and Anne, and sister, Caroline Guenther, have all been friends of Pacific. His grandfather, Charles Philip Berolzheimer, received an honorary degree of letters from Pacific in 1995.

Charles Berolzheimer holds a bachelor's degree in management science from the University of California, San Diego, and a master's degree in management as a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He serves on both the Eberhardt School of Business Advisory Board and the Athletics Leadership Council. In the past, he has served on the Baseball Advisory Board and the Athletic Campaign Committee.

Berolzheimer and his wife, Ginger, established the Blackwing Foundation to support and strengthen elementary and high school music and arts programs. That foundation has partnered with Pacific's Brubeck Institute, Little Kids Rock and others creating the Ignite the Arts Program. He is also a director of The Mark Catesby Commemorative Trust, which focuses on natural history research and education, and also is a past trustee of The Cate School in Carpinteria.

Virginia Chan

Chan, 60, graduated from the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 1977 and is married to fellow pharmacy graduate Tony Chan, a Pacific regent from 2005 to June.

The Chan family, for whom the Chan Family Health Sciences Learning Center and Clinics facility on the Stockton campus is named, has been generous to Pacific over the years. Tony and Virginia Chan were inducted into Pacific's Gallery of Benefactors in 2007 and are part of the 1851 Society, which acknowledges the university's most generous donors.

Their son, Jonathan, earned his degree from the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 2009, and their daughter, Megan, in 2013. Many of the Chans' siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins and spouses are also Pacific graduates.

Virginia Chan has participated in the Women's Leadership Council.

Janet Y. Spears

Spears, 51, is the university's 2012 Distinguished Alumna for the School of Engineering and Computer Science.

She is also interim president, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the East Bay Community Foundation, an East Bay philanthropic organization.

Before joining the foundation in 2008, Spears spent more than two decades at AT&T and became the executive director of marketing and vice president of strategic sales, engineering and operations.

Spears earned a bachelor's of science degree with honors in electrical engineering from Pacific's School of Engineering and Computer Science in 1986. She was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers while at Pacific.

She also earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University in 1988 and an Executive Advanced Management Certificate from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000.

As a community member, Spears served on the Alumni Association Board in 2012-14, the School of Engineering and Computer Science Dean's Council in 2006-14 and other panels. She was a member of the university's Industrial Council. As interim chief executive at the East Bay Community Foundation, which has its headquarters in Oakland, she leads an organization that administers more than $400 million in charitable assets for about 500 individuals, families, corporations and other organizations.

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