After several hours of deliberation, the Undergraduate Assembly selected College junior Rachel Fersh to lead the governing body for the next year.
"The UA is my top priority," said Fersh, who was the University Council steering representative this year and has served on the body since her freshman year.
Fersh's main goals for the upcoming year are to ensure member accountability, improve communication and increase enthusiasm and knowledge about the UA.
"A lot of things that were said tonight were really broad, and I look forward to applying them to actual projects and specific initiatives," Fersh said.
Rounding out the executive board are College junior Zack Rosenblum as executive vice chairman and Wharton sophomore Brett Thalmann as vice chairman of external affairs. Wharton junior Sean Walker and College junior Amy Gartenlaub were re-elected as treasurer and secretary, respectively.
Fersh plans to increase involvement by utilizing UA Steering -- a group of student leaders from many campus organizations that meets every few weeks to discuss campus issues. She also wants to extend the period before a proposal is brought to the body so that student leaders can encourage those interested in or affected by it to engage in discussion.
Fersh said that her passion for the UA, her ability to grasp nuances and her relaxed, approachable character will benefit her in the role of chairwoman.
Nominations and Elections Committee Chairman Eli Schlam -- who mediated the voting -- did not disclose the breakdown of votes between Fersh and her competitor, Wharton junior Cynthia Wong.
Several UA members said choosing between the two was difficult.
"I thought the competition was fierce," College freshman and newly elected UA representative Alex Flamm said. "The problem was that they both were such good candidates, and they said somewhat similar things during their speeches and [the] question and answer" session.
After losing the race for chairwoman, Wong ran against three other candidates for the position of vice chair of external affairs. That contest was won by Thalmann, who has worked as a non-voting UA committee member this past year.
Thalmann is the only newly elected representative to receive an executive board position in recent history.
The 25 voting UA members went into a closed session before voting for chair, vice chair of external affairs and treasurer.
"I think that it's one of the most qualified and talented executive boards that the UA has ever seen," outgoing UA Chairman and College senior Jason Levine said. "There's so many qualified candidates, and it's a shame not all of them can take on executive board roles."
