Spanberger appoints 27 university board members, including Northam

On her first day in office, Gov. Abigail Spanberger wasted no time in naming 27 new members to the boards of George Mason University, Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia, including former Gov. Ralph Northam and former U.S. Reps. Tom Davis and Jim Moran.

Spanberger appointed 12 members to George Mason’s board, which has been under quorum for several months after state Senate Democrats rejected board appointees by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, prompting a legal battle that went to the state’s Supreme Court last year. The Democratic Spanberger named 10 new members to U.Va.’s board and five members to VMI’s board.

With state senators winning the court case late last year, Spanberger was given the opportunity to name new board members for the three universities’ open seats much earlier than usual under Virginia law. Typically, a governor names about four new members to each public university’s board annually, so the 16-member boards are entirely made up of one governor’s nominees by the end of their four-year term.

However, at Spanberger’s request, five U.Va. board members resigned at the end of Youngkin’s term. George Mason’s rector, Charles “Cully” Stimson, a 2023 Youngkin appointee who was until recently part of the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, also offered his resignation Friday, but it was not clear if Spanberger requested it.

Stimson’s critics called for his resignation last year due to what they viewed as a conflict of interest. The Project 2025 document viewed as a blueprint of the second Trump administration’s goals was created by the foundation, although Stimson himself was not listed as an author.

Faculty members and others also found fault with the George Mason’s board’s handling of multiple federal investigations into alleged antisemitism and policies that allegedly discriminated against white and Asian employment candidates, although GMU President Gregory Washington has denied discriminating against anyone in hiring and promotion decisions.

At U.Va., Rector Rachel Sheridan, Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson and board members Paul B. Manning, Doug Wetmore and Dr. Stephen P. Long all resigned Friday, the day before Spanberger was sworn in, leaving 10 seats to fill. Faculty members, student organizations and others had criticized the board for what they viewed as its failure to protect academic freedom at U.Va. amid a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into former President Jim Ryan. The Trump administration accused Ryan of slow-walking the end of U.Va.’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, which he denied.

Ryan resigned in June 2025 under pressure and has since blamed Sheridan, Wilkinson and Manning in part for his departure, according to a lengthy document he wrote last year. Sheridan and Wilkinson, who also led a special committee created to search for Ryan’s successor as president, did not heed Spanberger’s request that they delay choosing a new president until she could name appointees to five empty board seats.

In December 2025, former Darden School of Business Dean Scott Beardsley was hired as U.Va.’s 10th president, taking office Jan. 1. His appointment has been controversial due to its timing, and some Democrats and others have called for his dismissal, although Spanberger has not said anything publicly about Beardsley’s hiring.

In any case, removing Beardsley would be expensive. His 10-year contract with the university, signed Dec. 19, 2025, pays a $1.3 million annual base salary, and if he is dismissed without cause, Beardsley will receive 24 months’ salary, the contract says.

On Saturday, Spanberger also named five new members to VMI’s board, although no current members resigned. Last year, VMI’s board did not renew its former superintendent’s contract. Retired major general Cedric Wins, who became the institute’s first Black superintendent in 2020 following news reports citing widespread racism against Black cadets, often encountered backlash from conservative white VMI alumni during his tenure.

Currently, gubernatorial appointees join boards immediately and are allowed to vote and hold committee leadership positions, even before they are confirmed by the General Assembly. However, Democratic state Sen. Aaron Rouse has filed a bill that would not allow appointees to serve on boards until they are confirmed by the legislature. Often, the full legislature is represented by the Senate Privileges & Elections Committee outside of the General Assembly’s regular session.

The following members have been named to the three university boards:

George Mason University

• Anne Altman, former general manager of IBM Corporation’s U.S Federal Government and Industries sector;
• Bruce Caswell, CEO of Maximus;
• Shawn N. Chambliss-Purvis, president and CEO of Sabel Systems Technology;
• Tom Davis, former Republican U.S. representative and previous GMU rector;
• Paul Misener, founder and principal of Misener Innovation;
• Trevor Montano, founder and managing member of West Potomac Capital;
• Jim Moran, former Democratic U.S. representative and mayor of Alexandria;
• Delbert Parks, vice president of Micron Technology;
• George Schindler, former president and CEO of CGI;
• Sumeet Shrivastava, president and CEO of Unissant;
• Sean Spence, senior manager of corporate finance at BDO and adjunct professor in the Costello College of Business;
• Jennifer Taylor, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Technology Council

University of Virginia

• Mike Bisceglia, president and CEO of Stauer;
• Carlos Brown, president of Dominion Energy Services and executive vice president and chief administrative and projects officer of Dominion Energy; he also was U.Va.’s vice rector through the end of June 2025;
• Robert Byron, chairman, co-CEO, and co-founder of Blue Vista Capital Management;
• Peter Grant, partner of Anchormarck Holdings and former chair of U.Va.’s Honor the Future capital campaign, which concluded in 2025;
• Owen Griffin, president and chief financial officer of Currie Medical;
• Victoria Harker, former chief financial officer of Tegna and current Huntington Ingalls Industries board member;
• Elizabeth Hayes, retired attorney with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld;
• Rudene Mercer Haynes, Richmond office managing partner of Hunton Andrews Kurth;
• Evans Poston Jr., Virginia Beach office director of Troutman Strategies; previously served as a U.Va. board member under former Gov. Ralph Northam;
• Mohsin Syed, former chief of staff for U.S. Department of Transportation;

Virginia Military Institute

• Michael Dick, director of the Lewis B. Puller Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic at William & Mary School of Law and a retired Marine Corps colonel;
• Don Hall, president and CEO of Virginia Automotive Dealers Association and a Marine Corps veteran;
• Lester Johnson, owner of Mama J’s restaurant and a former VMI board member appointed by Northam;
• Former Gov. Ralph Northam, a VMI alumnus, neurologist at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters and former Army medical officer;
• Allen Damon Williams, business development officer of First Citizens Bank.