Transit Club News Connecting Purdue-Chapter Alumni of Triangle Fraternity
New Purdue Housing Corporation
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uring the Homecoming 2023 Annual Meeting, the Alumni Association approved a motion to form a new legal entity—Purdue Triangle Housing Corporation—to separate ownership of the Chapter House asset from the Alumni Association legal entity. See below for an update from the President of the new Housing Corporation.
Greetings from Purdue Triangle Housing Corporation! As some of you may not be familiar with this new entity, we wanted to provide you a brief update on the organizational structure going forward for supporting our fraternity. Since the 1950s, Purdue Triangle has been set up as one organization, including an Alumni group and an Active group, with the organization owning the Chapter House. Under the leadership of Alumni Association President Randy Herrell, the chapter recognized the need to protect our largest, physical asset from potential lawsuit liability. Under guidance from Purdue Greek Life, Triangle Fraternity National Headquarters, and other legal counsel, Purdue Triangle completed a project to separate the fraternity into two separate organizations during our 2023 annual meeting. The first organization is the Purdue Chapter of Triangle Fraternity, Inc. (Chapter) and continues to be the fraternity we all know and love. It includes the Active organization and the Alumni organization with the Alumni organization, providing mentorship to the Active leadership and supporting the Alumni membership. The Chapter is organized as an Indiana non-profit 501(c)(7) corporation.
January 2024
The second organization is the Purdue Triangle Housing Corporation (PTHC) and is organized as an Indiana nonprofit 501(c)(7) corporation. PTHC and the Chapter are now separate and distinct, with separate Alumni leadership providing for strong corporate liability protections. PTHC’s sole purpose is to provide a physical home for the Purdue Chapter of Triangle Fraternity, Inc. PTHC does this by owning and maintaining the Chapter House and acting as landlord of the Chapter House at 103 University Street for the Chapter. PTHC will act as trustees of this awesome resource to solely benefit our Brotherhood. PTHC will also work closely with both the Active and Alumni organizations of the Chapter to support our continued success at Purdue, and we hope that our work to protect our physical asset will continue to benefit and support the Chapter long into the future. If you have any questions regarding PTHC’s responsibilities, such as status of the physical house, property management, or financial status, or if you would like to better understand our new organizational structures, please contact me via email. Brian Jarman President, Purdue Triangle Housing Corporation bjarman@btlaw.com PTHC Board of Directors | 2024 Term President: Brian Jarman Vice President: Don Knebel Secretary: Craig Slinker Treasurer: Mike Hogan Members: Jim Janz, Mike Zeller, Al Raffin, and Pat McCarthy
Transit Club News | Page 2
Alumni President’s Letter
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reetings fellow alumni, and happy new year! Last year was a tremendous year of growth and improvement for our Chapter. We accomplished really great things under the leadership of Randy Herrel, the Actives, and the generous donation of time and money from hundreds of Alumni. Together, we helped stabilize and grow the Active Chapter, renovate the Chapter House, and refine the Purdue Triangle brand. In 2024, we plan to capitalize on this momentum with a focus on our core mission: Build Better Men. Our longterm goals in this area are ambitious. We aim to be in the top ten percent in academics, philanthropy, and leadership on campus. In addition, we aim to have the leading personal and professional development program on campus. The path forward will not be easy. The COVID years were tough on our Purdue Chapter. Membership dropped, we
veered off track in key metrics, and our campus standing took a hit. The good news is that the new Chapter BOD is energized and already working to set the course right. The Alumni Board is assisting with several key programs: Coaching - led by Darrell Samuels, works with the Active BOD to enhance leadership, culture, membership, risk management, academics, wellness, finance, and recruiting. Coaches attend formal training and spend quality time with the Active BOD on a regular basis. Professional Development - led by Mike Silver, will focus on providing professional and leadership training. Programs include a professional speaker series plus leadership training. Big Brother Program - led by Zarrell Gray, will match Alumni with Actives in the Chapter for one-on-one mentorship.
Actives to network, discuss topics, post job openings, and submit resumes. I want to close by saying that the most incredible part about serving on the Alumni Board for me has been meeting fellow Purdue Triangle alumni. After working closely with alumni who span over six decades, the professional success and depth of character of every alumnus I encounter never ceases to amaze me. We certainly have no shortage of role models. I don’t think there is another network of STEM Alumni as successful and impactful as what we have in our Purdue Triangle Brotherhood. We are truly part of something very special! If you want to get involved in helping guide the next generation, please contact me or one of the other program leaders.
Professional Network - led by Nate Kerr, will develop a portal for Alumni and
Fall 2023 Recruitment Update
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he Summer Refresh Initiative construction presented challenges for hosting rush events during the Fall semester. Despite these challenges, we recruited a pledge class of nine new members: • Ivor Chu | First-Year Engineering | Taiwan • Richie Hiernaux | Civil Engineering | Liberty Township, OH • James Liu | Game Development | Shanghai, China • Mikey Mariani | Aeronautical | White Plaines, NY • Alex Myers | Interdisciplinary | Clinton, IN • Ryan O’Donnell | Computer Science | San Marcos, CA • Arav Vashisht | Industrial | New Delhi, India • Adu Viswanath | Computer Engineering | India • Nolan Williams | Electrical Engineering | Terre Haute, IN The Spring 2024 recruitment goal is 15 new members, with a target of 48 brothers living in the chapter house for the Fall 2024 semester. Follow recruitment via Instagram (@PurdueTriangle) and email recommendations to Active Recruitment Director Oscar Aguirre (recruitment@purduetriangle.org).
In F, S, & C, Rob Searle Alumni Board President rob@searlegroup.com
Purdue Triangle Fall 2023 Pledge Class
Richie, Adu, Mikey
James, Ivor, Ryan
Alex and Arav
Nolan
Transit Club News | Page 3
Ethics-Based Chapter Improvement Coaching
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he Active BOD is working with the Alumni Coaching team to become a top-3 Triangle chapter for 2024 as measured by our ethics-based Pyramid performance assessment.
Areas of improvement are Community Service, Professional Development, and Academics. To start improvements for the new year, RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) has been chosen to help focus the culture of the house toward more meaningful community service. A cardboard sled competition will be held
February 7 as the first fundraiser. See RAINN.com for more information, or to contribute through Triangle, contact Gio Pollina (philanthropy@ purduetriangle.org). Darrell Samuels Executive Coach
Celebrating Purdue Triangle Graduates
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n Sunday, December 3, members of the Purdue Triangle Alumni Board honored our chapter graduating senior with a brief ceremony followed by a dinner at The East Side Grill in Lafayette, IN. Our lone graduate this term is David Amshel. David majored in electrical engineering with a minor in management. He is from Apollo Beach, FL, and will be relocating to Chandler, AZ, where he has accepted a position with Intel as a facilities engineer. Congratulations and best wishes to David!
Start Planning to Attend Grand Prix 2024
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he “Greatest Spectacle in College Racing” returns to Purdue the weekend of April 20 and 21, 2024. Repeating the lineup from last year, Purdue Triangle plans to enter two karts in the race. With our great veteran drivers and crew team, we hope to improve last year’s impressive top-10 finish! The Actives and Alumni Engagement Committee will be planning multiple events for the weekend on both Friday evening and race day. Current plans include hosting a cocktail hour at a local pub on Friday evening and hosting a pre-race BBQ at the house, with transportation
From Left: Oak Stevens, Steve Powell, Jackson “Deeds” Longfellow, David Amshel, Darrell Samuels, John Klug, and Camden Edam
to the race course. Details will be finalized soon and distributed to all, but plan ahead now! Make travel plans and book a room as this will be the biggest Alumni/Active event of the Spring semester. For alumni who graduated prior to the 1980s, you may not know that Grand Prix has grown from a small event in the stadium parking lot to become a major campus event with a dedicated track and some very exciting racing! So that we may start planning requirements for the headcount, please email Jack Cunningham, Alumni Engagement Director (jdcunn1@ comcast.net), if you plan to attend. Please note: The Triangle Racing Team is 100% funded through donations! A funding campaign is
underway. In addition to individual contributions, we are also focused this year on corporate sponsorships. Please contact Brothers Randy Krampe (rwkrampe@gmail.com) or Dave Gary (dave@davegary.com) for more information. Last year, we finished in sixth place, with a strong performance of our second kart. With this experience, our racing team is confident we can be a major contender for a spot on the winner’s podium this year! In addition, members of our new pledge class have become heavily involved with our Triangle Grand Prix team, demonstrating we are driven to not only perform well on track but to ensure that Triangle Racing is used as an educational opportunity and recruiting tool for future brothers.
STAY CONNECTED LIKE US ON FACEBOOK: Triangle Fraternity: Purdue or @purduetriangle CONNECT WITH US: Instagram: @purduetriangle
UPDATE US: Update your contact information! bit.ly/triangleupdate SUPPORT: Donate to the Purdue CEF today using the link or QR code below:
Save the Date for Grand Prix 2024! April 20-21, 2024 • Friday: Cocktail hour at a local pub • Saturday: Pre-race BBQ at the chapter house • For more details, see page 3