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Tag: foundation

VCU, VCCS to receive $3.5M for transfer student program

The Mellon Foundation will award a combined $3.5 million to Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Community College System, VCU announced Tuesday.

“We are excited to continue our partnership on the Mellon Pathways Program and build upon the strong history of collaboration between VCU and the Virginia Community College System,” Deborah Noble-Triplett, senior vice provost for academic affairs at VCU and co-principal investigator of the grant, said in a statement. “This award will ensure the program remains strong and provides important continuity for our Mellon Pathways Program students as we welcome our first cohort to VCU.”

The grants will extend the Mellon Pathways to the Arts and Humanities Program until May 2025. VCCS will receive $1.98 million, and VCU almost $1.52 million. The program provides resources to arts and humanities students at Reynolds and John Tyler (becoming Brightpoint) community colleges who are transferring to VCU.

The Mellon Pathways program began in March 2018 with an initial $2.3 million from the Mellon Foundation. The first cohort entered community colleges in August 2019.

The program provides:

  • Advising on course selection, transfer logistics and financial aid
  • The ability for college students to take VCU coursework in their majors and participate in VCU events before they transfer
  • Career development panels and workshops, and creation of a professional ePortfolio
  • Funding and scholarships reserved for students in the program, like a stipend for Mellon Research Fellows

The new grants will allow the program to serve more students and provide Relevant, Experiential, Applied Learning (REAL) opportunities to transferred students through internships, mentorship and undergraduate research, with a focus on career planning and readiness.

Cameron Foundation president to retire

The Cameron Foundation’s president, J. Todd Graham, will retire Dec. 31, the Petersburg foundation announced Monday.

Graham has served as the foundation’s president since fall 2012. Under his leadership, the foundation has supported projects that have established school-based health clinics in Petersburg and Hopewell high schools, a teacher residency program in Petersburg schools to recruit, train and retain teachers, workforce training programs for local manufacturers and the emerging pharmaceutical industry cluster and others.

“After 10 years of serving as president, it’s time to pass the mantle to others,” he said in a statement. “Leadership transition is healthy for place-based foundations, which often wield significant influence in their region. A change in leadership can open doors to new ideas and approaches to addressing community needs.”

Graham helped the foundation develop proactive grantmaking strategies. Proactive projects are those of significant scale that have the potential to leverage funding from other sources and yield a long-term benefit for the community.

“Todd led us to see proactive grantmaking’s role as a new, high-impact philanthropic strategy to supplement the foundation’s traditional responsive grants program and nonprofit capacity-building initiatives,” Cameron Board Chair J. Tolleison Morriss VI said in a statement. “Since the launch of this strategy in 2015, we estimate that our proactive grants have leveraged approximately $47 million from other sources — which amounts to more than $4 from other sources for every $1 that Cameron has committed proactively.”

Before joining the foundation, Graham served as executive director of the Robins Foundation in Richmond. Prior to that, he was president and CEO of the Iowa West Foundation and of the Iowa West Racing Association, a nonprofit license holder for three casinos, for eight years. From 1999 to 2003, Graham led a foundation funded by Seattle Seahawks owner and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen to address the impacts of the Seahawks’ stadium on surrounding communities.

Graham earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Wake Forest University and a master’s in city planning from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

The foundation’s board will conduct a nationwide search for Graham’s successor with assistance from an executive search firm.

Founded in 2003, The Cameron Foundation is a private foundation formed from the proceeds of the Hospital Authority of the city of Petersburg’s sale of Southside Regional Medical Center. Since it began providing grants in 2004, the foundation has awarded more than $100 million to organizations serving residents of Petersburg, Colonial Heights and Hopewell and the surrounding counties.

MCV Foundation names director of marketing and communications

Medical College of Virginia Foundation has tapped Eric Peters as director of marketing and communications, promoting him from other marketing communications roles he’s held there since 2017.

Peters is responsible for the marketing and communications strategies for MCV Foundation, which manages $800 million in assets. The foundation works to raise awareness and inspire philanthropic support for the schools, college, medical center and cancer center on the MCV Campus at VCU Health.

Peters previously worked in public relations for Virginia Commonwealth University before serving public affairs roles in the office of the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Virginia office.

A graduate of VCU, Peters earned his master’s degree in corporate and professional communication from Radford University, and a master of public administration degree from VCU.

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Virginia Law Foundation names 2021 president

The Virginia Law Foundation announced Tuesday that Jon D. Huddleston has been named as president for 2021. He succeeds Matthew E. Cheek.

Huddleston is a principal with Leesburg-based Sevila, Saunders, Huddleston & White PC, where he has practiced since 1986 specializing in family law and serious traffic offenses. 

From 2009 to 2010, he served as the president of the Virginia State Bar (VSB) and has previously served as chair and executive committee member for the VSB’s Conference for Local Bar Associations. He is also a past president of the Loudoun County Bar Association.

“Passing the baton of the Virginia Law Foundation’s presidency to someone like Jon Huddleston is both an honor and a luxury,” Cheek said in a statement.

Founded in 1974, the Virginia Law Foundation has disbursed more than $26.5 million in grants in support of law-related projects throughout the state.

 

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Virginia Tech announces new foundation CEO

Virginia Tech announced Monday that Elizabeth McClanahan, a former Supreme Court of Virginia justice, has been named CEO of the Virginia Tech Foundation, which manages the university’s endowment. She succeeds John Dooley, who announced his retirement in August.

“The foundation is deeply involved in realizing the university’s mission and vision,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement. “Elizabeth brings a wealth of experiences in law, leadership and higher education, and I look forward to working closely with her on our key strategic initiatives and partnerships.”

Effective June 1, 2021, McClanahan will focus on the university’s endowment, real estate portfolio and economic development. The former Appalachian School of Law dean has served as an adjunct finance professor and senior adviser to the dean of Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business since September 2019.

“Virginia Tech is now a global university and world leader in higher education,” McClanahan said in a statement. “Joining the foundation is the opportunity of a lifetime — especially at a time when Tech’s energy, innovation and trajectory are unmatched.”

McClanahan also previously served as the Williamson fellow at William & Mary Law School and taught at the Wake Forest University School of Business and Accountancy. She has chaired the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and has served on the board of visitors for William & Mary as vice rector, and was also on the board of trustees for Emory & Henry College.

“She really knows well the public higher education community in Virginia,” Dooley said in a statement. “She’s been in positions where she has seen the value that higher education brings to the economic vitality of the state, and I’m sure that will be of benefit as she assumes this role.”

McClanahan earned her bachelor’s degree from William & Mary and her law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law. She has served as a shareholder and director at Penn, Stuart & Eskridge; chief deputy attorney general for Virginia; and a Virginia Court of Appeals judge.

 

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Michael Milken joins Focused Ultrasound Foundation board

Michael Milken, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in February over felony charges for securities fraud, has joined the Charlottesville-based Focused Ultrasound Foundation’s board, the organization announced Thursday.

Milken (often referred to as the “junk bond king”) is credited with being part of the development of high-yield bonds and was indicted in 1989 for racketeering and securities fraud as part of an insider trading investigation. After spending 22 months in a minimum security federal prison and paying out $600 million in fines, he has turned his focus to medical research philanthropy, founding the Milken Institute. The Santa Monica, California-based nonprofit think tank focuses on research related to economics, health, aging, human capital, philanthropy and capital markets. He is also the co-founder of the Milken Family Foundation, which focuses on education reform and teacher recognition. 

In a White House statement issued about the pardon, the Trump administration said, “Since his release, Mr. Milken has dedicated his life to philanthropy, continuing charitable work that he began before his indictment.  Over the years, Mr. Milken—either personally or through foundations he created—has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in critical funding to medical research, education, and disadvantaged children.”

The statement also noted that “Mr. Milken’s work also democratized corporate finance by providing women and minorities access to capital that would have been unavailable to them otherwise.”

Fortune magazine has called Milken “The Man Who Changed Medicine.” In 2008, he was listed as one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century by Forbes magazine for his role in founding FasterCures, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on accelerating medical research. The Forbes list also included high-profile leaders such as Mark Zuckerberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.

“Focused ultrasound is an exciting development that’s pushing out the frontiers of medical science,” Milken said in a statement. “I’ve never been more hopeful about continued progress.” One of the Milken Institute’s 10 centers FasterCures works with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation on medical research.

Milken earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned his master’s degree in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Shapiro. Photo courtesy Focused Ultrasound Foundation
Shapiro. Photo courtesy Focused Ultrasound Foundation

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation also announced Thursday that Gary Shapiro has joined the board. Shapiro, the president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), lobbies for innovation and technology in Washington, D.C.

“Focused ultrasound is an innovative treatment that works, and we need to adopt it globally,” Shapiro said in a statement. “As humans, we can always do better. Focused ultrasound can improve millions of lives.”

A New York Times bestselling author, Shapiro wrote “Ninja Future: Secrets to Success in the New World of Innovation,” “Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses” and “The Comeback: How Innovation will Restore the American Dream.” He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology from Binghamton University and his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

“The addition of Michael and Gary – two of the most highly acclaimed thought leaders and influencers – will amplify the Foundation’s ability to achieve its vision of improving the lives of millions of patients globally with life-threatening and disabling conditions by accelerating the development and adoption of focused ultrasound,” Foundation Chairman Dr. Neal F. Kassell said in a statement.

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation was founded in 2006 and works to accelerate development of focused ultrasound, a noninvasive therapeutic technology that is being explored as a treatment for numerous medical conditions, including neurological disorders. Other board members include bestselling novelist John Grisham.

 

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U.Va. Foundation hires director of real estate asset management

The University of Virginia Foundation has hired Maryellen Dolan as director of real estate asset management, the organization announced Wednesday.

The U.Va. Foundation has provided real estate, financial and administrative services to the university since 1986. Dolan will develop and implement strategies for the foundation’s real estate asset management and oversee asset management and facilities operations personnel. She replaces Bill Cromwell, who retired on Jan.y 24 after 20 years at the foundation.  

Dolan was previously the director of portfolio and asset management for National Real Estate Advisors LLC, where she managed part of its portfolio of joint venture equity developments and construction loans. She had been with National Real Estate Advisors since 2008.

Dolan earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in real estate from The American University and received her master’s degree in economics from Georgetown University.