Panel elects new chairman

Charleston certified public accountant Douglas Snyder has been elected chairman of The Citadel's Board of Visitors.

Snyder, a founding partner of The Snyder Firm, has been serving on the board since he was elected by the General Assembly in 1996. He was vice chairman from 2002 to 2006 and has served as chairman of the Finance Committee since 1998.

Snyder, a 1982 graduate of The Citadel, will step into the board's top post July 1. He will take the reins from Maj. Gen. Arthur Baiden.

Snyder said he understands that he's taking over at a time when the state's higher education institutions are facing huge financial challenges. "It stares you in the face," he said. But "what better place to face challenges than The Citadel?"

The school has an active and committed base of alumni, he said, and plans are already in the works to ask them to step up, support their alma mater and pick up some of the slack from state funding cuts.

It's a good time to make requests from alumni, he said, because the school has completed a solid, detailed strategic plan. School leaders can point to specific areas of need, and can match donors' interests to the school's priorities.

The plan will carry the school forward, he said. "It's not just a go-get-the-money plan."

In addition to his service on The Citadel's board, Snyder is charter member of the South Carolina Secretary of State Non-Profit Advisory Council and the South Carolina Department of Revenue Blue Ribbon Committee for Non-Profits. He is also a member of Phi Kappa Phi national honor society, the American Institute and South Carolina Association of CPAs, the Small Business Regulatory Advisory Council, and serves as a deacon at First Scots Presbyterian Church in Charleston.