Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is the newest member of the University board of trustees, appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday.

“I am very excited to join the board and be part of trying to help serve a great institution,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m hoping that I can come in with lots of questions and try to learn what’s going on as quickly as I can.”

Fitzgerald is replacing trustee Lawrence Oliver II, whose term expired Jan. 14. Previously having served as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois for more than 10 years, Fitzgerald led the investigations that resulted in corruption charges against former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. He resigned from the position in June and currently works as a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom law firm in Chicago.

“Fitzgerald is a friend of mine, and I think a friend of anyone who is looking for education in Illinois that’s open to everyone, that gives the opportunity to make our society better,” Quinn said at an event honoring Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago on Friday.

Quinn also announced the reappointments of trustees Timothy Koritz, a staff anesthesiologist at Rockford Memorial Hospital, and James Montgomery, a Chicago attorney. Koritz was appointed to the board in 2009 and Montgomery in 2007. They are both University of Illinois alumni and were appointed to six-year terms.

Oliver, chief counsel for investigations at The Boeing Co., said he learned he would not be reappointed to the board when he received a phone call from the governor’s office Wednesday afternoon. Oliver was not given a specific reason, he said, although “there was reference to the fact that the board has to be balanced.”

By state statute, the nine-member board must be politically balanced. No more than five members of each political party can serve on the board at one time.

Oliver was appointed by Quinn in 2009 as a political independent, serving among the five Democrats and three Republicans. Oliver said it’s possible he was not reappointed because he voted in a 2010 Democratic primary.

“It’s not something I agreed with,” he said. “To be quite honest, I maintain to this day that I am still a politically independent person.”

Contrary to his political independence, he said, he voted in the primary to support not the party but the candidate, David Hoffman, who was running for U.S. Senate.

Oliver said he was disappointed by the news because he would have enjoyed working with the board for another term. However, he commended Fitzgerald on his appointment, saying he will be a great addition to the board.

“With Patrick (Fitzgerald), the board is in good hands,” Oliver said. “It has been an honor serving my 3 1/2-year term. The board and the University are in great shape.”

Although Oliver will no longer be a trustee, Quinn said Friday that his office has some very important assignments that he hopes Oliver will partake in, particularly dealing with integrity. Oliver previously sat on Quinn’s Illinois Reform Commission, which analyzes government procedure.

“(Oliver) served … very well on the board of trustees of the University of Illinois, and I really want him to continue in government,” Quinn said. “I hope he can stay with us in another area of service, and I look forward to working with him.”

Lauren can be reached at [email protected].