The Board of Trustees appointed Zack Moore as the new Vice President for Government and Community Relations at its meeting Friday in light of former Vice President Michael DiRaimo stepping down.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in international politics from Penn State, Moore moved to Washington, D.C. and has lobbying and senior legislative experience in both the U.S. House and Senate. He also founded a government consulting practice, in which he represented corporations, universities, public authorities, and other entities before the federal government, according to his biography.

Moore began working at Penn State as Director of Federal Relations in 2007 and was promoted to Assistant Vice President for Governmental Affairs in 2015.

“Many of you know Zack from his work over the past nine years,” President Eric Barron said, “during which time he was a powerful advocate for Penn State and he significantly helped advance the university’s legislative agenda.”

As Assistant Vice President for governmental affairs, Moore oversaw interactions between Penn State all levels of governmental agencies supporting the university’s interests. He the university’s primary point of contact on state relations and advised on Penn State federal relation efforts and served on the steering committee of the Association of American Universities Council on Federal Relations.

“I believe Zack Moore is exceptionally well qualified to be Penn State’s vice president for governmental and community relations, effective immediately,” Barron said.