Four appointed to Virginia Tech Board of Visitors
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced this week four appointments to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors.
These appointments will begin on July 1. Spanberger made her selections in advance of July 1 following Rector John Rocovich’s commitment to place these appointees on the university’s presidential search committee.
The appointees are Sharon Brickhouse Martin ’83, MEA ’88 of Arlington; Christopher Ramos ’12 of Falls Church; Jane Cady Rathbone ’80 of Virginia Beach; and Mehul Sanghani ’98 of McLean.
Earlier this month, Spanberger appointed Sanghani to complete the term of Vice Rector Sandra “Sandy” Davis, who died March 17 at the age of 79. Her term was to expire on June 30.
In making these appointments, Spanberger said, “These distinguished alumni of Virginia Tech will bring a wide variety of skill sets and experiences to the board. I appreciate their deep commitment to the university and our commonwealth, and I am grateful for their willingness to serve. I look forward to having these highly qualified leaders included on the search committee as Virginia Tech works to identify a successor to President [Tim] Sands. Finding, vetting, and selecting a new university president is the most consequential of a board’s responsibilities. These searches must be wide-reaching, thorough, and transparent to maintain public trust throughout the process of identifying candidates for this critical position. I know that these appointees will be integral to fulfilling that duty.”
Martin’s career focus has been health care administration. She is vice president of health services integration at VHC Health, a nonprofit healthcare system in Arlington. She also is the founder and president of Brickhouse Martin Healthcare Engineering. She previously served on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors from 2019-23 and was a member of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association board of directors. She currently serves on the advisory board of the Ron Brown Scholars Program based in Charlottesville and the board of directors of Health Care for Children with Special Needs Inc., an affiliated board of Children’s National in Washington, D.C. Martin earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research and a master’s degree in engineering administration from Virginia Tech.
Ramos is a senior account manager with Microsoft. He previously worked at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The Vanguard Group, and the CIA. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Rathbone is principal and CEO emeritus with Hanbury Architects. Through her 40 years of practice, she has had significant influence on the planning and design of university campuses. Her firm has worked with more than 150 campuses throughout the United States and abroad. In addition, she has taught issues related to campus architecture, including nine years as an instructor for one of Harvard’s Graduate School of Design’s Executive Education summer courses. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech.
Sanghani is founder and managing partner of Greycore Ventures. A Blacksburg native, Sanghani graduated with bachelor’s degrees in industrial and systems engineering and psychology. In addition to serving on the Board of Visitors from 2014-22, Sanghani has supported the university as a member of the National Capital Region Leadership Council, Pamplin College of Business Advisory Board, Pamplin Finance Advisory Board, and Virginia Tech Science and Engineering Regional Growth Enterprise. He and his wife, Hema Sanghani ’99, financially supported the creation of Virginia Tech’s Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics; the construction of Academic Building One in Alexandria; The Market of Virginia Tech, a Blacksburg program to combat food insecurity in the Virginia Tech student community; and the football players’ lounge.
