Transylvania University recently welcomed two new members to its Board of Trustees, the school’s highest governing authority.
Hannah Goodman Goodlett ’10 and Jeff Truitt ’92 both began their four-year terms July 1. The board elected them during its meeting this past spring, when members also named Byron Young ’61 a lifetime trustee.
“I look forward to working with our two new trustees as we continue to build on a tradition of excellence here at Transylvania,” President Brien Lewis said. “Their dedication to their alma mater and the local community will help ensure we’re preparing our students for engaged, fulfilling lives.”
Hannah Goodman Goodlett
For the past six years, Goodlett was a member of Transylvania’s Board of Regents, serving on the Advancement Committee and New Markets Task Force.
She’s also on the boards of HGG and Children, Sayre School and Mt. Brilliant Family Foundation. (Her family owns Mt. Brilliant Farm in Lexington.)
Goodlett graduated from Transylvania in 2010 with a studio arts degree and worked for the nonprofit Wildlands Network.
Her husband, Will, is a Marine Corps veteran studying theater at Transylvania. They have a son, James Robert Goodlett.
“I am thrilled to have been selected to join Transylvania’s Board of Trustees,” she said. “I am excited to settle into a role on this board that will allow me to best serve the university and community.”
Jeff Truitt
Truitt, who majored in business administration with an emphasis in management at Transylvania, began his insurance career in financial services and was a producer for a large independent property and casualty agency.
Truitt is now a senior benefit consultant at Benefit Insurance Marketing (BIM Group). Since he turned his focus to employee benefits, he has built a large practice in the equine industry and with businesses in various industries with more than 100 employees.
Additionally, he has served as president of the Alumni Council at The Lexington School and was chairman of its Board of Trustees. He was also on the board of the Lexington Dream Factory.
Truitt and his wife, Suzanne, have a son, Davis, who will be a senior at Transylvania, and a daughter, Katherine, who will be attending the University of Kentucky.
“I am humbled to serve as a member of the Board of Trustees at Transylvania University,” Truitt said. “Hopefully my experience as a student and parent will help bring value to the board.”
Byron Young
In addition to the election of new board members, Young was named a lifetime trustee in recognition of his longtime service to the university. He was a professor of neurosurgery at UK.
Each year, Transylvania honors writers in the Appalachian region with the Judy Gaines Young Book Award, named after Young’s wife, a 1962 graduate.