MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Regent Brent Smith of La Crosse was elected the new President of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents today. Regent Michael J. Falbo of Franklin was elected to serve as Vice President of the Board.
Smith, who has served as a Regent since 2004, has served as Vice President for the past year. He succeeds Regent Emeritus Michael J. Spector in the leadership post.
Smith is an attorney with Johns, Flaherty & Collins in La Crosse. He has served on the State Public Defender Board and the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission for Federal Judges. Smith has been president of the La Crosse Center Board since 1993 and serves as a member of the Gundersen Lutheran Health Plan Board of Directors.
Smith is also on the UW-La Crosse Chancellor’s Community Council and the executive board of the La Crosse Loggers baseball team. He is past president of the Wisconsin Technical College Board. He received his bachelor’s and law degrees from UW-Madison.
Falbo was appointed to the Board in 2004. He has chaired the Board’s Business, Finance, and Audit Committee, and recently chaired the Legislature’s Special Task Force on UW Restructuring and Operational Flexibilities. Falbo is the former chairman and chief executive officer of State Financial Services Corporation. The company was the fifth-largest bank holding company in Wisconsin and was acquired in 2005 by Associated Banc-Corp of Green Bay where Falbo took on the role of chairman of Associated Community Development, LLC.
Falbo earned his bachelor’s of science degree from UW-Parkside. He is also an alumnus of the Graduate School of Banking at UW-Madison. Falbo is a director for the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund and on the advisory board for Alverno College School of Business. He is a veteran of the United States Army, Vietnam Medic Corps.