MVCC trustees elect Mathis as chair

UTICA — The Mohawk Valley Community College (MVCC) board of trustees has elected David Mathis as chair and Peter Rayhill as vice chair.

The board elected them unanimously at its Aug. 19 meeting. Their new roles will take effect with the board’s September meeting, according to a news release.

Collectively, Mathis and Rayhill have served more than 40 years on MVCC’s board of trustees.

The board also recognized outgoing chair Elaine Falvo for 25 years of service as an MVCC trustee. She has served twice as chair and twice as vice chair and will continue as a gubernatorial appointment to the board, the release stated.

Mathis has served the past three years as MVCC board vice chair, his second stint in that role; he has also chaired the board twice. He has been a member of the board since 1977, initially appointed by former Oneida County Executive William Bryant.

Mathis is a graduate of the MVCC Class of 1970 with a degree in retail business management. He served more than a decade as president of the MVCC Alumni Association, is chair of its board of directors, and also served as chair of the MVCC Dormitory Corporation, vice president of the MVCC Foundation, and as a member of the foundation’s board of directors.

Mathis, who is the director of the Oneida County Office of Workforce Development, earned a bachelor’s degree from Utica College in business and economics, and has done graduate work at SUNYIT and Utica College. He is a Utica resident.

Rayhill joined the Mohawk Valley Community College board of trustees in December 2007. He brings to the board many years of experience practicing civil, environmental, corporate, and municipal law with the firm of Kernan & Kernan, P.C.

As a long-standing member of the New York State Bar Association, Rayhill has been associated with the Oneida County Bar Association since 1990 and served as its president in 1995.

Prior to working for Kernan & Kernan, P.C., Rayhill was a managing partner with Rayhill, Bankert & Rayhill; an associate with Evans, Severn, Bankert & Peet; and an associate with the New York City firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCoy.

In addition to his board of trustees service, Rayhill has served MVCC’s Foundation board of directors since 2008 and chaired the Dormitory Corporation board of directors from 2009 to present.

Rayhill was nominated for MVCC’s board of trustees by Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. Rayhill is a graduate of Bowdoin College and the University of Virginia’s School of Law.