Ex-CEO seeks Penn State seat, attacks 'sinister fiction'

It's not every day that the hard-charging past CEO of an S&P 500 company goes back to his university and offers -- not to buy a little immortality with a new dorm or lab  -- but himself as an active leader. Al Lord relishes combat: Raised in a Philly housing project, toughened by his campaigns to seize control of student lender Sallie Mae and defy challengers from Wall Street to the White House for 30+ years, Lord stepped down last year and has gone to fight for alma mater, Penn State, which faces unusual reputational and governance challenges...

Lord is collecting signatures to place his name in nomination to a post as alumni trustee on the Penn State university board. Note that Lord wasn't among the business leaders most recently appointed by Gov. Tom Corbett or Penn States's own business-trustees approval group. By taking his case straight to the alumni, Lord is betting he and his allies will grow the insurgent movement already shaking up the board into a new majority.

Count Lord ('67) among the critics of PSU's rapid willingness to dump its top academic and athletic managers after the long-simmering investigations of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky erupted into a public scandal and Sandusky's conviction on multiple child rape counts. "We must restore the reputations of Penn State, Joe Paterno, Graham Spanier, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz and make these names a part of Penn State's future," Lord wrote in his note to friends, fellow alumni, and members of the PS4RS (Penn Staters For Responsible Stewardship) group. He asked them to sign to put him on the ballot for the next election.

Lord expresses "sadness and anger" at the way the past trustees board accepted "the purposeful and sinister fiction that passes as the Freeh Report," which Lord blames for Penn State's "rapid descent to mediocrity." Penn State needs "major leadership change," and "first rate professionals in the legal, political and PR arenas," and an "open review" of Freeh's findings, Lord adds.

He says his own career gives him "the relevant experience - and expertise -- to take on the complex political and legal issues into which the Trustees will have plunged our alma mater," and promises his seat "will not be a quiet seat" on the 30-member Penn State board.