A local farmer and business major is the new undergraduate member of the board of trustees.

Junior David Gringeri was sworn in as a student trustee March 1, replacing junior Caitlin McHugh, whose term ended in February.

Gringeri is from Fair Haven, Vermont, where he grew up helping his parents on their hay farm — of which he is now a co-owner with his father, assisting with the business side of the operation while at school.

It was his experience on the farm that made Gringeri decide he wanted to become a business student, though he considered majoring in an agricultural field before picking business.

“That’s really where I started to take an interest in business — growing up on that farm — and really all aspects of business accounting, marketing and sales supply chain management,” Gringeri said.

Gringeri is interested in the financial and educational sides of UVM, he said. He is a business administration major with a concentration in finance and minors in economics and computer science.

“I want to make decisions today that are going to have an impact on someone sitting in a third grade classroom who doesn’t even know they’re going to the University of Vermont,” Gringeri said. “It’s about the next generation.”

Gringeri serves on the Finance Committee on SGA. He works with the Catamount Innovation Fund to help connect student entrepeneurs to resources and advice to support their entrepreneurial projects, he said.

SGA will enhance his ability to get to know students’ perspectives about issues on campus, he said.

“It’s a whole network of people. It expands my access to the students of UVM,” Gringeri said. “I want to talk to people I haven’t met or maybe don’t know well.”

SGA President Ethan Foley, a junior, said Gringeri was a very strong applicant for the position throughout a competitive search process, which the committee, headed by Foley, reviewed.

“David also speaks the languages of the trustees, so he can effectively provide student input assertively and commandingly,” Foley said. “He truly will put his all into this position. I can’t think of a better candidate for the job.”

Gringeri is a teaching assistant for Information Technology with William Cats-Baril, an associate professor in the Grossman School of Business.

Gringeri has proven himself to be a great student while taking his class and now being a teaching assistant in it, Cats-Baril said.

“How he interacts with students is excellent. His sense of responsibility and duty is impeccable,” Cats-Baril said. “I can’t really wish for better — he is great.”

Gringeri took part in the UVM extension program, which connects local kids from the ages of eight to 18 with educational opportunities at UVM, Gringeri said.

“Those experiences made me the person I am today,” he said. “I want to pay back all of the things the University of Vermont has done for me.”

Gringeri plans to use his position to represent students all across campus and do his best to better the school for the present and future, he said.