Purdue Approves Board Chairman, Health Plan
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMembers of the Purdue University Board of Trustees have selected Thomas Spurgeon the panel's new chairman. The trustees have also approved changes to the university's medical plan. July 19, 2013
News Release
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University's Board of Trustees on Friday (July 19) elected Thomas Spurgeon as chairman and Michael Berghoff as vice chairman and welcomed a new member.
Spurgeon is an entrepreneur who has built companies throughout the United States. Most recently, he was president and CEO of Lincoln Office in Peoria, Ill., one of the country's largest distributors of Steelcase furniture. He sold the company in 2001 and remained with Lincoln as a consultant. Spurgeon, who has served on the Board of Trustees since 2005, received a bachelor's degree in industrial management from Purdue in 1961. Following military service, he earned an MBA from Indiana University.
Berghoff, of Indianapolis, is founder and president of the Lenex Steel Corp., which designs, fabricates and installs structural steel throughout the Midwest. A 1985 graduate of Purdue with a bachelor's degree in industrial management, Berghoff was appointed to the Board of Trustees on July 11, 2009. While a Purdue student, he served as chairman of the Purdue Student Publishing Foundation and president of Theta Chi fraternity, and he also is a former president of the Purdue Theta Chi alumni corporation.
The board also welcomed Kelsey Quin, who was appointed by Gov. Mike Pence, as a new student trustee.
Quin, who will serve a two-year term, is from Peru, Ind., and is majoring in health sciences with minors in organizational leadership and supervision, biology, and psychology. She will be entering into her junior year in the fall. She has participated in the President's Leadership Class as both a class member and an adviser and also is a member of Purdue Student Government and Purdue Caduceus Club. In 2011 Quin was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Indiana.
Lawrence “Sonny” Beck, president of Beck's Superior Hybrids in Atlanta, Ind., also has been appointed by Pence to a three-year term as trustee, which will begin at the conclusion of the board's July meeting. Beck will replace Keith Krach, of San Francisco, who announced his retirement from the board after serving two full terms and as the board's most recent chair.
Beck graduated from Purdue with a bachelor's degree in agronomy and a master's degree in agricultural economics. During his undergraduate career, he received the G.A. Ross Award as the university's top male student. Under his direction, Beck's Superior Hybrids has grown to become the largest family owned seed company in the United States. Beck also has held a variety of leadership positions within the agriculture industry.
The trustees also elected the following:
-Corporate secretary – Janice A. Indrutz.
-Treasurer – Al Diaz, Purdue executive vice president for business and finance, treasurer.
-Assistant treasurer and assistant secretary – James S. Almond, Purdue senior vice president for business services and assistant treasurer.
-Legal counsel – Steven R. Schultz, Purdue legal counsel.
-Assistant legal counsel – Tom Parent, a partner at the firm of Stuart & Branigin.
July 22, 2013
News Release
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue Board of Trustees on Friday (July 19) approved the university's 2014 medical plans and premiums.
Trustees approved recommendations provided by Purdue Human Resources to replace the university's current plans with three new options: two high-deductible plans that qualify for a tax-free health savings account (HSA) and one lower-deductible plan that does not include an HSA.
Human Resources developed the medical plan recommendations in consultation with Purdue's Health Care Strategy Committee, a group of faculty and staff charged with bringing forward short-term and long-term solutions for rising health-care costs.
“The plans for next year have been designed to provide high-quality, affordable medical insurance, while encouraging employees to be better health-care consumers,” said Luis E. Lewin, vice president for human resources. “Being better consumers will help reduce or curb expenses to the medical plans, which is important to all of us. Purdue is self-insured, so we foot the bill for all of our own medical claims.”
Human Resources worked with Mercer, a human resource consulting firm, to develop its premium recommendations. The premiums are based on projected 2014 claims and the need to meet the trustees' prescribed 80/20 premium split between the university and its faculty and staff.
Under the approved premiums, many employees who enroll in one of the high-deductible plans will see a decrease in premiums in 2014. All employees enrolling in the highest-deductible plan will have lower premiums next year.
Individuals covering just themselves, regardless of earnings, will not pay a premium under the new Purdue Health Plan Plus HSA 2.
Employees who cover a spouse/same-sex domestic partner or family and enroll in the lower-deductible choice without an HSA will see an increase in their premiums.
Purdue will continue its two-tier medical premium arrangement, which offers lower premiums for employees earning under $44,000 a year.
“Purdue will continue to work with our faculty and staff to find ways to keep medical plan costs affordable,” Lewin said. “We're having discussions with employee groups, providing tools to help us be better consumers, such as the Castlight health shopping service, and working to get the best pricing and best discounts for our plans.”
Source: Purdue University