Marge Connelly will chair the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. SCHEV is the state’s coordinating agency for higher education.

Connelly was appointed to the council in 2014 and reappointed in 2018. She currently serves on the board of directors at Norfolk-based PRA Group Inc. She was integral in the 1994 foundation of Capital One Financial Services, where she served as executive vice president of operations for 12 years. From 2012 to 2013, she served as interim president at Longwood University, where she had been rector for eight years. 

Northam also reappointed Thaddeus B. Hollomon, Tom Slater and Ken Ampy to the board. Alexandra Arriaga is the only newly appointed member of the board, replacing William Murray.

Arriaga is a founder and partner at Arlington-based management consulting firm Strategy for Humanity LLC, which is a woman-, minority- and person with disabilities-owned company. She has also served in leadership positions with the White House, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Congress and nonprofit organizations. 

“Alexandra is a terrific addition to the council,” Connelly said in a statement. “With vast government and education experience, she will add tremendous value to our efforts to improve Virginia’s system of higher education.”

Officers for the year starting July 1 and ending June 30, 2021, include:

• Chair, Marge Connelly
• Vice Chair, Thomas G. Slater Jr., an attorney who serves as chair emeritus for litigation, labor and competition practices at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. He was appointed in 2016.
• Secretary, Katharine Webb, senior vice president of the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. She was appointed in 2015. 
• Chair of Academic Affairs Committee, Ken Ampy, CEO of Richmond-based tech consulting and staffing firm Astyra Corp. He was appointed in 2016.
• Chair of Resources & Planning Committee, Victoria Harker, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Tegna Inc. She was appointed in 2017.

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