The Elizabethtown College Board of Trustees recently announced the appointments of three new members. Dr. Gerald Baer ’84, Dr. Albert Granger ’83, and Robert Sands ’90 joined the Board of Trustees effective July 1, for three-year terms.
“We are thrilled to have three new Trustees join our Board with innovative and dynamic professional backgrounds to offer their expertise and talents as we work to effectively govern and leverage the institution,” Elizabethtown College Board of Trustees Chair Michael Spangler ’88 said.
The new Trustees’ approval was confirmed at the April 2023 Board of Trustees meetings. Their backgrounds include:
Dr. Gerald Baer ’84
Dr. Gerald R. Baer, MD, is a Family Practice specialist with Penn Medicine-Lancaster General Hospital. A resident of Elizabethtown, Gerald and his wife, Rose, established a scholarship which is in honor of Elizabethtown College former professors, James L. Dively, J. Robert Heckman, Frederic E. Hoffman, Ronald L. Laughlin, Rollin E. Pepper, and Frank P. Polanowski. Criteria for the award include academic achievement, rising senior status, and must be enrolled in the pre-medical core curriculum in preparation for entry to medical school.
Baer attained his medical degree from The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Elizabethtown College.
Albert Granger ’83
Albert L. Granger, DDS ’83 has been named to the Board of Trustees at Elizabethtown College for a new tenure. He served previously as a Trustee from 2008 through 2021.
Granger is the founding partner of Premier Endodontics of Long Island, New York. He also served as a City Councilman for the City of Glen Cove, N.Y. from 1994 to 2005 and was President of the Nassau County Dental Society in 2012. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Dentists, the Academy of General Dentistry, and the Pierre Fauchard Dental Honor Society.
Granger is a graduate of Howard University College of Dentistry class of 1987 and the post-graduate Endodontic program at Columbia University. In 2007, he completed the Implant Maxi Course at the Medical College of Georgia. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Elizabethtown College. In 2007, received the Farver-Apgar Biology Alumni Award. He also served on the College’s Leadership Council prior to joining the Board in 2008. Granger’s father, Richard, is also a graduate of Elizabethtown College’s Class of 1942.
Robert Sands III ’90
Robert Sands ’90 is Partner and Vice Chairman of Financial Services for PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Philadelphia. He has more than 30 years of experience as a Partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ trust solutions and has held several key leadership positions.
A member of the Elizabethtown College Leadership Council since 2014, Sands established his own scholarship which aids need-based students with a preference for those who are first-year Accounting or Business majors and are from Bedford, Fulton, Huntington, Somerset or Montgomery counties.
Sands holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Elizabethtown College.
Emeritus Trustee Appointment
Also approved at the April 2023 Board of Trustees meeting, the confirmation of Emeritus Trustee appointment, Nevin D. Cooley, CPM, retired CEO, and High Companies Board member.
Cooley served as a Trustee from 2008 through 2022, first being involved on the College’s Leadership Council, where his participation and counsel led to him serving on the Board. He also was the first person to serve as an Executive-in-Residence for Etown’s School of Graduate and Professional Studies.
Cooley began his career in health care, where he served as an administrator and rose to become vice president at Lancaster General Hospital. He was hired by High Companies in 1986 where he spent more than 29 years working in various roles for High organizations. He retired from High Industries, High Real Estate Group, LLC as Chief Executive Officer. At the time of his retirement, High Companies had operations in seven states consisting of multiple businesses with annual sales of $600 million and employing nearly 2,000. He also served as president of Penn Square Partners, which developed the Lancaster County Convention Center complex. He and his wife, Kathleen, have played an integral role in the Lancaster County and Elizabethtown College communities.
Cooley earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from the University of Maryland, his master’s in Health Services Administration from the University of Michigan, and his Certified Property Manager designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management.