Our Board of Directors
Joe Pullara, ‘99, President
Joe is a Construction Project Manager for Leonard S. Fiore Inc. He manages various construction projects in the central Pennsylvania area, including many projects at Penn State University Park Campus. He currently resides in Tyrone, PA (~30 minutes outside State College) with his wife Lindsay, daughter Sophia, son Nico, and bulldog Bruno.
Joe’s time playing rugby at Penn State impacted his life so significantly that he moved back to central PA to help coach, which worked out well for him! He met his wife, started a wonderful family, and now gets to share them with his PSU Rugby friends. Joe decided to join the Booster Club so he can give back to the program that gave him so much. Joe donates his time to honor the great people—Fraser Grigor, Charlie Smith, Jim Mathias, Terry Ryland, Marshall Sturm, Don Ferrell, and Pete Steinberg, among others—who came before him to make this program as special as it is.
Keith Fitzpatrick, ‘99
Keith played rugby at PSU from 1994-1999, starting as a prop and finishing his career at hooker. He teaches Building Trades Occupations in the Career Technical Education department of Delaware Valley High School and is the head cross country coach of DVXC as well as an assistant track coach. Keith lives in Maramoras, PA with his wife Betsy and his 3 children: Juliet, Philip, and Helaina.
Keith says that spending all of that time in an uncomfortable position (srummaging) was ideal preparation for life after college. He describes his PSU Rugby highlights as all the bonds he formed with his brothers on the late 90s teams and traveling to three national championships—two Final Fours filming the games with a chunky old camcorder and one on the field in 1999. He feels compelled to get involved with the Booster Club in order to repay Penn State Rugby for the life-changing opportunities it provided him.
Jon Chris Larry, ‘86
Chris played for Penn State Rugby from 1982–1986 and graduated as an Architectural Engineer and has done that type of work as a career. Chris walked onto the PSU Football team as a freshman, but since they won the national championship that year, he knew the effort needed to start might not result in much playing time. Friends asked him to come out to PSU Rugby. Jon Chris Larry played inside and outside Center as well as wing and fullback positions and played only one game as a flanker. During this time, PSU Rugby was a club with many non-student members. The Club then transitioned to a PSU student team and participated in the national championship playoffs. In 1984, Chris studied at the University of LEED (England) and played rugby for them in their 1st 15 as a fullback and ended the season winning the UAU England National Championship. Playing rugby in England was much different than the US game at that time.
After graduation from PSU, Chris played for the Denver Harlequins (Colorado) and the Chicago Lions (Illinois). He actually played one game with Dick Butkus after his football career! Chris joined the Penn State Rugby Alumni Club, Inc. Board in 1995 and helped incorporate it in 2000. Chris became Board President and helped build the current Rugby pitch near the golf course. He is a Lifetime Member, and after some time off the Board, returned to renew the Board’s goals.
Jonathan “Hooker” Swart, ‘08
Jon works as an Academic Adviser in the Smeal College of Business at Penn State, in addition to overseeing marketing and communications efforts for the undergraduate department. He currently resides in State College, PA with his wife Mallory and daughter Malia.
Playing hooker for Penn State from 2003-2008, Jon moved on to coaching with the men’s and women’s programs from 2009-2017. From there, he helped to re-start the State College High School boys’ program in 2019. Additionally, he also helped in founding the Nittany Lion Rugby Association, which supports youth rugby efforts in Central Pennsylvania.
His joining the Board was done in an effort to make an impact and build on what was done before him.
Pete Steinberg
Pete Steinberg has served Penn State Rugby in many roles, most notably as the Women’s Team Head Coach from 1995–2009. He also led the USA Women's Rugby to two World Cups and coached at the Rio Olympics. He is the President of Innovative Thought, a consulting firm with expertise in leadership, team development, and innovation. Pete lives with his wife and two children, Penelope and Elliot, in Colorado.
Pete joined the Booster Club Board (again!) and helped to start the Foundation because to him, Penn State Rugby means friendships that last a lifetime. He wants Penn State Rugby to continue to give impactful experiences to students and for the players to come through the program and leave as better people.
Kristen (Snyder) Miller, ‘09
Kristen aka “Oohrah” serves as a consultant to the Booster Club Board. Kristen made the coveted transition from back to forward during her time at PSU. She won 2 National Championships (and lost three), creating a standing dislike of Stanford and tree mascots. She was a 2009 All-American and was able to play on the first ever assembled AA Women’s Team. Kristen and her husband Matt (2007) live in Philadelphia with their two future forwards, Ben and Ryan, and their bulldog, Pidge. She works as a neurological physical therapist and as a project manager for Pete Steinberg’s company, Innovative Thought.
After more than 10 years of services on the Booster Club Board, she transitioned to helping out on an “as needed” basis. During this time she has helped with communications, events, and fundraising with the goal of giving back to a program that has given her so much. Kristen is very grateful to be able to continue into adulthood with her (and her husband’s!) teammates by her side.
Brandon Zlupko
Board Title: Treasurer
Graduation Year: 2000 Graduate from Juniata College
Rugby Position: Fly Half and Second Row
Lives In: State College, PA
Occupation: Partner with Baker Tilly, Certified Public Accounting and Certified Exit Planning Advisor
“Rugby is a great sport. I want it to thrive here in Happy Valley. Happy to be of service to the organization.”
Meet the Coaches
Zac Mizell, Men’s Head Coach
Mizell comes to Penn State after serving as the men’s rugby head coach at Adrian College in 2023-24, where he was the Midwest Rugby Conference Coach of the Year. He also currently serves as head coach of the men’s elite team at the Ohio Aviators Rugby Academy.
Before his time at Adrian, Mizell served as a rugby performance consultant for Arkansas State rugby in 2021-22 and also coached at Life University in Georgia (2019-21) guiding the team as assistant head coach to the Collegiate Rugby 7’s Championship match in 2021.
His coaching career also includes roles as director of rugby and head coach for University of Texas Men’s Rugby (2017-19) and as U23 assistant coach at Austin Elite Rugby of Major League Rugby (2018).
Mizell’s playing career includes professional stints in Major League Rugby, Professional Rugby Organization North America and USA Rugby from 2012-20. He was a member of the USA Select XV (2012) and USA Rugby Sevens team (2013).
Mizell began his collegiate rugby career at Arkansas State, where he was a two-time USA Rugby Collegiate All-American (2012-13) and MVP of the 2012 USA Rugby Division I Collegiate 7’s National Championship.
Mizell holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Life University, where he was also a USA Rugby Division I Men’s Club National Champion.
Lauren Shissler, Women’s Head Coach
Shissler returns to the Penn State women’s rugby program after graduating in 2015 with a bachelor of science degree in criminology. As an athlete, Shissler helped Penn State to 15’s National Championships in four of five years on campus and led the Nittany Lions to the championship game all five years. She also guided PSU to a 7’s National Championship in 2015. She was a team captain during the 2013 season.
She returns to Happy Valley after serving as one of the head coaches for the girl’s high school Atlantis Rugby Program since 2020. She also served as head coach for Harrisburg Women’s Rugby in 2022.
Shissler was head coach for West Shore United in 2019 after holding the assistant coach position for West Shore United in 2018. She was also an assistant coach for State College Area High School girl’s rugby in 2015.
As an athlete, Shissler served as co-captain for the Harrisburg Rugby Club from 2020-21 and 2023-24.