Virginia Tech, Virginia Tech Foundation leaders recognized with 2024 Women in Leadership Awards

When retired Justice Elizabeth A. McClanahan talks with people about how to achieve success, her counsel is straightforward: “Show up with passion, say yes to every viable career opportunity that comes along, and take the initiative to pursue these opportunities.”

Amy Stoakley Sebring recommends “looking for opportunities to stretch yourself and bring potential solutions forward to decision makers.” She also advises communicating effectively to make complex matters readily understandable to others. “Communication,” she said, “is a skill you can never overdevelop.”

Both McClanahan, chief executive officer of the Virginia Tech Foundation Inc., and Sebring, Virginia Tech’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, received 2024 Women in Leadership Awards from Virginia Business, joining a cohort of 38 women chosen from a pool of more than 250 nominees.

All of the award winners work in Virginia and hold C-suite or equivalent positions. They have all demonstrated exceptional professional achievements, broken glass ceilings, mentored others, engaged in civic work, and brought leadership skills to nonprofit and company boards, according to Virginia Business. 

McClanahan credited others who helped her for a wide range of opportunities in her career, which 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. She retired from the bench in 2019 and became president and dean of the Appalachian School of Law. In 2020, she was named CEO of the foundation. McClanahan teaches "Legal, Financing, and Ethical Issues for Entrepreneurs" at Pamplin College of Business.

Throughout her career, McClanahan said she’s relished seeing young people achieve their dreams. And in her current role, she appreciates the foundation’s visionary focus on building opportunities to educate generations to come.

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

Sebring, who describes herself as a “servant leader,” has a lengthy list of responsibilities, including oversight of the university’s administrative, financial, physical, technological and operational infrastructure, as well as support for its teaching, research, and outreach missions. She joined Virginia Tech in 2022 and has already had impact, working to expand Virginia Tech’s role in Roanoke as a hub for health sciences innovation and education, serving on the university’s Northern Virginia Steering Committee as the university expands its presence in the region, and developing a team that can deliver and sustain the enabling infrastructure that will support the university’s top strategic priorities regardless of location.

During her 25-plus-year career in government and higher education, Sebring previously worked at Virginia Commonwealth University and William & Mary after having served in nonpartisan staff positions in both the executive and legislative branches of Virginia government.