Pledging to increase student participation in service programs and improve relationships with area communities, Kristin M. Garcia ’05 was elected President of the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) Wednesday night.

PBHA’s vice president since September, Garcia will take the helm of the umbrella organization for the majority of the College’s service programs on Feb. 1.

PBHA is also the College’s largest student organization and boasts a $1.7-million budget.

Garcia edged out Sonya E. Kpaduwa ’05—who will become vice president—for the post.

Garcia cited “student development” and “community partnership” as focal points in the election.

“Both Sonya and I tried to emphasize those aspects of the organization in our campaign,” Garcia said.

Garcia will replace outgoing President Ayirini M. Fonseca-Sabune ’04, whose tenure saw the completion of a budget restructuring process and the hiring of a Gene A. Corbin as executive director.

Garcia said she hopes to build on the stability that followed in the wake of these changes.

The organization is considering the addition of a new officer post, the holder of which will create a five-year fundraising plan for PBHA. The planner would work with the three other officers whose jobs are currently dedicated to fundraising.

“Right now PBHA is in a really stable place financially and programmatically, however I think that fundraising is always a challenge to make sure that we have enough resources to best support our programs,” Fonseca-Sabune said.

In addition to Garcia and Kpaduwa, the “first slate” of officers elected Wednesday is composed of Treasurer Grace C.S. Hou ’06, Secretary Mae C. Bunagan ’06, Student Development Chair Laura J. Ridge ’06, Resource Development Chairs Jonathan D. Einkauf ’06 and Matthew J. Rioth ’05, and Programming Chairs Shaw Natsui ’05 and Mariam F. Eskander ’05.

All elected members have extensive experience with PBHA and the president, vice president, and treasurer have all been involved in the Summer Urban Program (SUP).

The officers were elected by the Cabinet—the all-student governing board of PBHA. Each of PBHA’s 76 programs was given two votes, while officers currently serving a term had one vote. The final vote tally was not released.