UW-Madison senior Jeff Pertl was named president of United Council, a student government for all UW System campuses Saturday.
Pertl, a member of the Associated Students of Madison, will succeed Matt Fargen, a UW-La Crosse graduate and current president of the group.
The president works full time for the group and is elected by its General Assembly each April for a one-year term that begins June 1.
United Council was created in 1960 at the Stevens Point campus by representatives of student governments from five of the nine Wisconsin state colleges.
The organization represents approximately 140,000 students on 23 different campuses, making it the largest student government coalition in Wisconsin.
It is staffed by full-time employees including a president, an academic affairs director, an executive director, a legislative affairs director, a multicultural affairs director, an organizing and communications director, a shared governance director, a women's issues director, and a lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender issues director. United Council is based in Madison and has offices at 122 State St.
