VCU news

By Anne Buckley

Gov. Bob McDonnell has appointed four new members to the Virginia Commonwealth University Board of Visitors, the university’s governing body.
 
The appointees are Teresa Carlson of Silver Spring, Md., vice president, Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services; Michael D. Fraizer of Richmond, principal of Commonwealth Horizons LLC; Robert Holsworth, Ph.D., of Richmond, managing principal, DecideSmart; and John A. Luke Jr. of Richmond, chairman and CEO of MeadWestvaco Corp.

“I am excited to work with all of the new appointees to the VCU Board of Visitors,” said VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D. “This group brings tremendous talent and expertise to VCU's governance that will be used to advance this great urban public research university.”

Carlson is responsible for strategy, sales and business development for Amazon’s Web services and cloud computing business. Before joining Amazon, she was vice president of federal government business at Microsoft Corp., where she defined the strategy and oversaw the execution of sales, contracting, pre-sales technical support, product marketing, customer satisfaction and performance of the U.S. federal government business worldwide.

She has earned a number of awards for her leadership, most recently being named to Washingtonian magazine's "2011 Tech Titans," a list of the top 100 leaders in the D.C. technology scene. She also was named to FAST Company’s 2010 list of the 12 top executives in its “Most Influential Women in Technology” listing.

Fraizer is the former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Genworth Financial, Inc. Prior to that, he was a senior vice president of GE and served as chairman and chief executive officer of GE Financial Assurance Holdings Inc. He earlier served in various capacities at GE, including leadership roles at GE Capital Commercial Real Estate, GE Japan, GE Corporate Business Development and GE Corporate Audit Staff.

Fraizer serves on the advisory board of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation and is a founding trustee of the VCU School of Business Foundation. He and his wife are founders of the Mary and Frances Youth Center at VCU.

Holsworth is managing principal of DecideSmart, a company focusing on enabling innovation to succeed. He also is president and founder of Virginiatomorrow.com. He is founding director of both the Center for Public Policy and the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at VCU, and served as dean of the university’s College of Humanities and Sciences.

Holsworth’s observations on national and Virginia politics have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and the New York Times.

Luke joined what was then Westvaco in 1979 and through the years served as treasurer, vice president, senior vice president and as a member of the board of directors. He was elected executive vice president in 1990, president and chief executive officer in 1992 and chairman in 1996. He was elected chairman of MWV in November 2002.

He serves with professional associations that include The Bank of New York Mellon, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Forest & Paper Association and the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research. He also is a trustee of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the VCU School of Engineering Foundation, and serves on the Board of Governors of The Community Foundation serving Richmond and Central Virginia.

The VCU board also saw the departure of J. Alfred Broaddus Jr., Brian K. Jackson, Thomas McCandlish and Thomas G. Snead Jr., outgoing rector.

“I am grateful for the generosity, outstanding service and support of each of these board members,” Rao said. “We are fortunate to have them remain a part of our VCU community and I look forward to continuing our work together.”