ELIZABETH ANN McCLANAHAN

When Elizabeth Ann McClanahan mentors younger people about how to achieve success, her advice is straightforward: “Showing up is 75% of it.” What she means, beyond the most literal interpretation, is showing up with passion, saying yes to every career opportunity that comes along, and taking the initiative to pursue those opportunities.

McClanahan credits others who have blessed her along the way for the wide range of opportunities in her career that spans law and higher education. After nearly 20 years working in private legal practice, McClanahan became Virginia’s chief deputy attorney general and then went on to serve a combined 16 years on the Court of Appeals and as a justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. 

Though McClanahan says it was “a great honor” to be a justice, she retired from the bench in 2019 and became president and dean of the Appalachian School of Law. In 2021, she was named CEO of the Virginia Tech Foundation.

Throughout her career, McClanahan says she’s loved seeing young people achieve their dreams. And in her current role, she really enjoys the foundation’s long-term focus on building opportunities to educate generations to come. She’s a passionate supporter of 4-H, which she credits as her biggest influence growing up in Buchanan County, while her parents instilled in her a strong work ethic and appreciation for education.

“Education is what opens the doors for upward mobility for people in the U.S.,” she says.

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