2021 National Council Election

National Council is Triangle’s all-volunteer board of directors consisting of the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, six alumni Councilmen, one active Councilman, and the Past President.  The Secretary, Treasurer, and Active Councilman positions are appointed annually.  The President and Vice President are elected for one-year terms and three Councilmen are elected each year for two-year terms.  This year, we have one Council position elected for a one-year term to fill a vacant position.

Below are the nominated candidate’s biographies.  Once you feel comfortable placing your vote you may do so by completing and submitting the form below.  If you would like to vote via paper ballot, please contact Triangle Fraternity Headquarters at (317) 847-9640 or via email to tom@triangle.org. 

Online voting closes May 31, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

Nominated for President | John Cottage ps04

Employer:  CDI, LLC
Occupation:  Specializing in WAN, Data Center and Network Security Design
Goals for Triangle: 1) Increased focus on membership growth in existing chapters; 2) Ensure each chapter has appropriate mentorship board/group; 3) Foster warm start groups into chapters; 4) Strive to financial stability and affordability.

John C. Cottage Jr. joined the Penn State Chapter of Triangle Fraternity in the Fall of 2003 and was initiated in the Spring of 2004. While at Penn State John served as the Undergrad President in 2007 leading the chapter in its celebration of the Centennial. He also has served as President of the Penn State Alumni Chapter.

After leaving Penn State, John created a web development company with another brother from the chapter. In 2009 John took a job working for a regional high school doing desktop support and systems administration. 

In 2011 John transitioned into the role of Network Administrator for the Bergen County School District and in 2013 was promoted to Network Architect.  In 2017 John joined the IT consulting firm CDI, LLC where he specializes in WAN, Data Center and Network Security design.

John has served the last year as Vice President of Triangle and Chairman of the Standards Committee.  He has served on National Council since 2016.

Nominated for Vice President | Ryan Sunyak tol10

Employer:  General Electric
Goals for Triangle: 1.  Ensure that the priorities of our membership are engrained in the strategic plan, annual work plan, and council initiatives. Deliverables for the term include input into the staff work plan so that the required baseline data collection is accomplished, constituent discussions on fraternity experience/expectations/value, and parsing the results of feedback to develop a representative voice for each constituent group.  The end objective is to better understand what each constituent group defines as success measures and the critical questions asked of each so that strategy, work plans, and initiatives can be weighed against it.

2.  Use the position to improve council engagement and throughput. I believe that the most direct method for engagement on this type of board is active committees.  So, I plan to collaborate with the President so that I can take a more active role in improving committee management while he focuses more time on strategic direction.  This alleviates the current issue with many committees that little management occurs outside of council meetings so inaction lingers.  Deliverables for the term are ensuring that all committees have goals, rosters, and recurring meetings with set agendas.

3.  Initiate a value analysis for NIC membership options with council and immediate fraternity family during this term. This is a necessity so that a future membership decision can be grounded in logic and an intentional choice rather than a reaction to negative emotion in the changing fraternal landscape.  The deliverable for this term is (1) development of a plan or decision tree with staff to assess NIC membership at critical milestones, (2) continued discussion with similarly positioned fraternities, (3) execution of targeted discussions with key active and alumni audiences to assess the temperature of the membership on this subject.

Nominated for Councilman (1 yr. term) | Brad Keller neb69

Brad was initiated into the Nebraska chapter in 1969 and is a retired Mechanical Engineer since 2014, living in Beatrice, Nebraska. Most of Brad’s professional career was in the nuclear power industry. 

As an undergrad, Brad served as activities chairman, secretary, and rush chairman. Brad was also the first full-time summer recruiter for his chapter where they had 19 new members pledge in the summer of 1972.

Brad was the first actively involved Alumni President for the Nebraska Chapter in 1976 and was re-elected to the Board of Directors 19 times. As an alumnus, he was a de facto recruiter and helped to pledge around 50 men from 1975 to 1982.

Brad has attended every National Convention since 1977 except for 1997 and 2013 and has attended most Leadership Schools since 1978. He has visited every current Triangle chapter, and most former chapters, and has performed more than a dozen official chapter consultations. During the 1980s and 90s, Brad served as Triangle’s extension director and participated in the start-up of Michigan Tech, TAMU, UTA, UConn, and NIU and led the role in the founding of Akron.

Brad served as a member of the Toledo Alumni Board of Directors in 2000-2004, was the New Housing Project Coordinator for the Nebraska Chapter in 2001-2003, the Nebraska Alumni Treasurer from 2008-2018 and led the recolonization of the Nebraska colonization in 2016-2018.

Additionally, Brad has served as a National Councilman from 1979-1981, 1992-1994 and currently since 2017.

As the author of, “The Centennial History of Triangle”, Brad’s goals are to continue his efforts to update “The Centennial History” to bring it to the current status of our fraternity and see to it that each chapter gets a copy. Additionally, he will continue his involvement in the expansion by visiting all of our current colonies and be serving as a mentor to some of the smaller chapters in his area of the country. He also commits to offering his historical perspective to National Council meetings.

Nominated for Councilman (2 yr. term) | Jake Hoppert msu10

Jake Hoppert msu10 graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2013, after graduation, he joined Black & Veatch as a Chemical Engineer in their Power Generation Business line where he designs power plants. While working full-time, Jake received his Master’s degree in Engineering Management and is currently a licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Michigan where he lives.

As an undergraduate, Jake held multiple positions in the chapter including President and Member Educator. Additionally, Jake recruited the members of the Alpha class of Phi Sigma Rho at MSU and coordinated with Phi Sigma Rho’s national council to find volunteers to mentor and eventually install them as a chapter on campus.

As an alumnus, Jake has served as Chapter Adviser and Chairman of the MSU Triangle Membership Development Board and was a founding member of the MSU Alumni IFC. Currently, Jake serves as President of the MSU Triangle Alumni Association and on the Approved Courses Committee. Jake has alsopreviously served as Chairman of the Council of Emerging Leaders.

Finally, Jake has facilitated at more than 10 national events including facilitating Leadership and Training Weekend more than 8 times, and serving as a facilitator and lead Facilitator at Herb Scobie Leadership School

When not volunteering for Triangle, Jake serves on the Board of Trustees at his church and spends time with his two daughters and his lovely wife, who has been incredibly supportive of his volunteerism with Triangle.

Nominated for Councilman (2 yr. term) | Merle Newlon III lou73

Merle Newlon lou73 has served in several positions in Triangle. As an undergraduate, served as the Lousiville Active Org president. As an alumnus, served as a Regional Field Director, member of National Council, and as Interim Executive Director, Associate Executive Director & National Secretary (1991-1996), Triangle REVIEW Editor, National Vice-President and National President in 2001. Brother Newlon was re-elected in 2017 for another term on National Council. He is a recipient of the Triangle Service Key.

Brother Newlon graduated with a B.S. and M.Eng in Computer Science from the University of Louisville. He has previously worked for Texas Instruments, Chicago Board of Trade, Classified Ventures, AXA Assistance USA and Fulling Motor USA. He is retired.

Brother Newlon currently serves on the Ritual Committee and the Approved Courses Committee.

Nominated for Councilman (2 yr. term) | Pete Satre os89

Pete Satre was initiated into the Ohio State chapter in 1989, where he went on to in serve multiple officer positions, including chapter vice-president. Upon returning to the Columbus area in 2000, Pete served on the chapter alumni board and as an active adviser. He was elected to serve on National Council in 2017. He currently serves as chairman of the Communications Committee and is a member of the Finance Committee.

Brother Satre graduated from Ohio State, earning a B.S in Metallurgical Engineering. He was employed by Ford Motor Company in Cleveland, OH for 7 years before joining Allied Mineral Products, Inc. in 2000. His current position is Manager of Corporate Engineering.

He and his wife Maria live in Columbus, Ohio. They have 3 children.

The Triangle Building & Housing Corporation’s Leadership Team is an all-volunteer board of directors, consisting of a chairman, secretary/treasurer, assistant secretary, and two directors. Members of the Fraternity also have the opportunity to elect a Director for the Triangle Building & Housing Corporation. Director terms last for five years. This year the elected Director would begin his term July 1, 2021. The five-year term would conclude June 30, 2026.

Nominated for Director | John Malmquist wis72

Brother Malmquist graduated Rose Polytechnic (now Rose-Hulman) in 1969 with a BSCE, Structural Engineering degree. He then worked with the U.S. Navy Group designing components for submarines. Returning to school at the University of Wisconsin, John joined Triangle in 1972, serving as House Manager for two years, and earned his MBA in Production Management in 1973.

Following graduation, John joined the San Francisco construction firm doing large scale projects in the U.S. and other countries including Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Papua New Guinea. Following his last overseas assignment, John left to start his own Construction Management firm building hotels for a small chain. After the sale of the chain, he began consulting with small businesses in project, employee, schedule, and finance management.

Malmquist maintained active relationships with local organizations, both civic and professional, serving as Director of AGC of Wisconsin Cub/Boy Scout units, ending as Asst. Regional Counselor Assisted Red Cross, Salvation Army, and others during fund raising activities John was asked to join Building Loan Fund in 1996, serving as Secretary and has continued his service through the formation of Triangle Building & Housing Corporation (TBHC) as Vice-Chairman. In 1987. John received the Career Achievement Award from Rose-Hulman, and in 2013, he received the Triangle Service Key Award.

He and his wife, Susan, are currently putting together a small car museum on Route 66 in Tulsa and enjoying their five kids and eight grandkids. They also love to travel whenever possible.