I’m pleased to
share that Virginia Wesleyan College alumnus Michael White ’81 will be joining
our Board of Trustees. Mike is the President of Maersk Line Agency, Inc. After graduating from Virginia Wesleyan, he
studied at Harvard Business School and IMD Business School in Lausanne,
Switzerland. He and his wife and children currently reside in New Jersey.
Recently I had the
opportunity to visit with Martha McClees, Executive Director of
Virginia Beach Vision, and Donald Crigger, Executive Vice President of CBRE, to discuss Virginia Beach Vision and the
Virginia Beach Light Rail Initiative. Composed exclusively of
corporate CEOs, Virginia Beach Vision is an organization dedicated to helping
to shape the future of Virginia
Beach and the Coastal Virginia/Hampton Roads community.
It is an honor to have been selected to serve on the
Board of Directors of this
organization because I am deeply committed to the
advancement of our region's development, prosperity and
quality of life.
I’ve enjoyed several visits with members of our community lately. David Moore of SunTrust Bank stopped by Godwin Hall last week to deliver a gift to the College from the SunTrust Foundation in support of the SunTrust Foundation Computer Classroom in the Floyd E. Kellam, Jr., Social Science Lab.
Annie and I also
had a very enjoyable evening visiting with Alice Clarke and Martha Jo Wilson during
dinner. Alice and Martha Jo have been active members of the Virginia Wesleyan
family for over four decades. Alice’s
husband, Lambuth, was president of VWC for 26 years and Martha Jo’s husband,
Bill Wilson served as a vice president for many of those years.
And, Vice President
of Enrollment David Wagonner and I recently
had a productive meeting with Head of School Daniel Tubbs at Norfolk Christian
Schools to discuss possibilities for collaboration with Virginia Wesleyan.
Along with several other not-for-profit partners from the
area, I was the guest of Hunter Applewhite, President of The
Dominion Foundation,
for a luncheon and briefing at Norfolk Botanical Gardens. We are grateful to Dominion
for their support of the College.
Last week, I participated in a Second Nature Steering Committee
meeting to discuss critical next steps and
resources for the successful implementation of our climate commitment. As
I have shared previously, I am one of the original signatories of the Climate
Commitment and Virginia Wesleyan is a part of the Climate Leadership Network, which consists of
more than 650 institutions in all 50 states and the District of Columbia
working together to implement comprehensive plans in pursuit of a sustainable
future. As part of the Climate Leadership Network, we have access to the
resources and capacity of schools leading on climate action across the country.
The Commitments are driven by Second
Nature and overseen by a group of 25 presidents who serve on the Climate Leadership
Steering Committee. I’m proud to be
included in this group.
As we gear up for
the fall semester, please mark your calendars for Virginia Wesleyan’s Homecoming
and Family Weekend,
scheduled for October 7 – 9, 2016. From our annual parade and athletic events
to a theater production and tailgating, we look forward to welcoming alumni
back to campus for an exciting time with our faculty, staff, friends, students
and their families.
Finally, I continue to be committed to staying connected to all Virginia Wesleyan stakeholders. As many of you know, I’m active on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, and LinkedIn. In addition, I have a blog and write columns for the Huffington Post and The Virginian-Pilot. You can also connect with me via email and my president’s page is on the VWC website. With that in mind I’m sharing an updated “Let’s Connect” card with all of you (attached). I invite you to connect with me often to share your thoughts and ideas and to follow me on social media.
