News Releases

Provost '76 Chosen to Chair Board of Trustees

David Provost '76
David Provost of Birmingham has been elected to chair the Alma College Board of Trustees during the 2005-06 fiscal year that began July 1. Candace Croucher Dugan of Holland was elected vice-chair and Gary Fenchuk of Midlothian, Va., was chosen as secretary. David Larsen of Northville joins the board as a trustee.

Outgoing chair David Chapoton of Rochester, who served for three years, will remain on the Board as a trustee. Elected to the Board in 1998, he is a 1957 graduate of Alma College and retired chief executive officer of Tastee-Freez International.

Provost, a 1976 Alma graduate, is chairman and CEO of The Private Bank, Bloomfield Hills. He co-founded Bloomfield Hills Bancorp., Inc., and its subsidiary, The Private Bank. He served as president and CEO of Bloomfield Hills Bancorp, and chairman of The Private Bank. With offices in Bloomfield Hills, Grosse Pointe and Rochester, they were acquired by PrivateBancorp, Inc., in June 2005. PrivateBancorp has banking offices in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Elected to Alma's Board in 1994, Provost also serves on the Finance Committee for The Academy of the Sacred Heart in Bloomfield Hills; The Detroit Medical Center Investment Committee, and the Community Foundation of Southeastern Michigan's Legal/Financial Advisory Committee. He served as director and president of the Korea Scholarship Fund and was a member of the Building Committee for The First United Methodist Church of Birmingham. Provost is a past president of the Birmingham Country Club.

Besides his bachelor's degree from Alma College, Provost earned an MBA from Eastern Michigan University and graduated from the University of Wisconsin School of Banking. Prior to co-founding Bloomfield Hills Bancorp, Provost served 13 years in various capacities at Manufacturers National Bank of Detroit and Manufacturers National Bank of Novi, now Comerica Bank.

Dugan, elected to Alma's Board in 2003, is a shareholder and attorney with Butzel Long in Holland. A 1973 graduate of Oberlin College, she received a master's degree from Central Michigan University and her law degree from the University of Michigan.

Fenchuk, a 1968 graduate of Alma and a trustee since 1990, is president of East West Partners in Midlothian, Va. He earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Larsen, an attorney and partner in the Bodman law firm in Detroit, graduated from Alma in 1984 and received his law degree from Wake Forest University. Recently he co-chaired the Wright Hall Campaign Cabinet that successfully raised funds to build the Alma College residence hall.

The election of officers and selection of new trustees takes place annually at the May board meeting. Officers serve for one year, and trustees must be re-elected every three years.

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Posted: Wed, July 27th, 2005 at 3:38PM

 

Alma College was born on Oct. 14, 1886. George F. Hunting was appointed the College’s first president and professor of moral and mental science. The College’s founding was made possible by Ammi W. Wright, a lumberman, businessman and civic leader who gave 30 acres of land and more than $300,000 to found and sustain the institution in its early years.

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Student Profile

Lauren Engels

Lauren Engels
Graduation: 2015
Major: POE: Foreign Service

A dual citizen of the United States and Germany, Lauren Engels came to Alma College with a passion for international relations and a desire to use her passport to help others.

“I’ve traveled the world since I was little, and I’ve always liked seeing how different cultures shape society and how we all work together as a whole,” she says. “Traveling also has reminded me of how fortunate I am. I feel like it is my calling to help those born in less-developed nations.”

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