Appointments made to Virginia Tech Board of Visitors
Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently appointed three new members and reappointed one member to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
The new appointees are David Calhoun of Sunapee, New Hampshire; Sandy Cupp Davis of Blacksburg, Virginia; and Charles “Brad” Hobbs of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Each will serve a four-year term.
Edward Baine of Moseley, Virginia, was reappointed to a second consecutive four-year term.
In addition, Shelley Butler Barlow of Suffolk, Virginia, who as president of the board of directors for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumers Services, will return as an ex officio member of the board for an additional one-year term. Barlow is co-owner of Cotton Plains Farm Inc., a multigenerational family farming operation, and is a member of the Class of 1982 in what is now the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
“We greatly appreciate the leadership and service of the board members who have completed their terms and thank them for their expertise, insight, and guidance,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. “And we welcome our new board members and look forward to working with them to advance the university’s service to the commonwealth.”
Calhoun, a member of the Class of 1979 and graduate of what is now Pamplin College of Business, is president and CEO of The Boeing Company. Calhoun’s previous involvement on behalf of Virginia Tech includes transformative philanthropy, serving on the Innovation Campus Advisory Board, and chairing The Campaign for Virginia Tech: Invent the Future, which ran from 2003 to 2011.
Davis is the retired owner of BCR Real Estate and Property Management. She has been deeply involved in the life of Virginia Tech for many years, is a namesake of the Street and Davis Performance Hall within the Moss Arts Center, and is a past chair of the Virginia Tech Foundation Board. Davis also has served on the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund Executive Committee and the W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Lake board of directors.
Hobbs, a member of the Class of 1990 and graduate of Pamplin College of Business, is president and CEO of the commercial and industrial HVAC contracting firm Hobbs & Associates as well as managing director and chair of the commercial HVAC network Insight Partners. His previous service on Virginia Tech’s behalf includes being a member of the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund board of directors and the Hampton Roads Regional Committee for The Campaign for Virginia Tech: Invent the Future.
Baine, who is president of Dominion Energy Virginia, was reappointed to a second four-year term on the Board of Visitors, on which he has served since July 2018. He served as the board’s vice rector last year, and with his reappointment will again serve in that role in 2022-23. Baine is a member of the Class of 1995 and a graduate of the College of Engineering. Along with being on the Board of Visitors, he has served on the 4-H Blue Ribbon Committee and the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund board of directors.
In addition to the governor’s appointments, Jamal Ross, a senior majoring in political science and politics, philosophy, and economics in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, will serve as the undergraduate student representative, and Anna Buhle, a third-year medical student at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, will serve as the graduate and professional student representative. Both will serve one-year terms.
Faculty representative Robert Weiss, director of the Center for Coastal Studies, director of Disaster Resilience and Risk Management, and professor of geosciences; administrative and professional faculty representative Holli Drewry, digital content strategist for Technology-enhanced Learning and Online Strategies; and Serena Young, administrative assistant to the University Ombuds, will all return next academic year for a second one-year term as representative to the board.
Letitia “Tish” Long, chair of the board of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, will serve a second consecutive one-year term as rector during the 2022-23 year.
