Search Committee

Mr. Watkins most recently served as president and CEO of Human Genome Sciences, Inc. He is a recognized leader in the U.S. biotech industry and currently serves on the boards of Horizon Pharma plc, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, HemoShear Therapeutics LLC, and as chair of the board of Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. Mr. Watkins is a member of the W&M Mason School of Business Foundation Board, is a past chair of the W&M Foundation and was a member of the President's Committee for Competitive Excellence, which in 2015 produced a roadmap for Tribe Athletics. Mr. Watkins was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2013 and has served as Vice Rector since 2015. He currently chairs the Committee on Financial Affairs. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from William & Mary in accounting and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Mr. Watkins was also a member of the William & Mary football team.

Mr. Stottlemyer is CEO of Inova Center for Personalized Health. Prior to his current role, Mr. Stottlemyer served as CEO of Acentia, an information technology and management consulting company, until the company was acquired by Maximus in March 2015. He previously served as a member of the executive management team at the Inova Health System; a co-founder and CEO of Apogen Technologies, a leading provider of technology solutions; president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business; president of McGuireWoods Consulting; chief financial officer of BTG; and a member of the executive management team of BDM International. He was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2011, reappointed in 2015, and has served as Rector since 2013. He has been a member of multiple boards at William & Mary, including the Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy, the Athletic Educational Foundation, the Washington Council and the W&M Foundation. Mr. Stottlemyer graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor's degree in government and earned a J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University. Mr. Stottlemyer was also a member of the William & Mary football team. He has also served on the University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors. Mr. Stottlemyer is currently chair of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and he is a member of the boards of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.

Ms. Agnew is the Class of 2018 Associate Professor of Finance and Economics at the Mason School of Business, where she was the inaugural director of the Boehly Center for Excellence in Finance and co-director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Behavioral Finance Research. She is a TIAA Institute Fellow, sits on the boards of the Wharton School's Pension Research Council and C&F Bank, is a former elected member of the Defined Contribution Plans Advisory Committee for VRS and is a research associate for the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. Ms. Agnew earned a bachelor's degree in economics from William & Mary, minoring in mathematics. She graduated magna cum laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Following graduation, she was a Fulbright Scholar in Singapore. She received a Ph.D. in finance from Boston College and in 2012 was a Senior Visiting Fellow affiliated with the School of Risk and Actuarial Studies in the Australian School of Business at the University of New South Wales.

Ms. Boyd is a rising senior completing a major in government and minor in education studies with a concentration in policy & equity. She has been President of the Class of 2018 since her sophomore year. She was a member of the inaugural cohort of Aim 4 with the Office of Community Engagement, committing to dedicate at least three hours of service work weekly for four years. A president's aide for 2016-2017, Ms. Boyd has been involved with Project Phoenix, providing mentoring and tutoring for local middle school students, and has served as Saturday program coordinator since the fall of 2015. She has been a Parent & Family Orientation aide and was the Community First-Year Initiatives director. Ms. Boyd spent the summer of 2016 as a D.C. Summer American Politics Institute Fellow interning at D.C. Public Schools. Most recently, she participated in the 2017 Urban Education Seminar in Washington, D.C. and interned with the Department of State in the Office of Academic Exchange Programs.

Mr. Bunch is a partner at the Washington, D.C. law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2016. He is co-founder and chairman of Global Playground, a nonprofit that funds construction of schools and educational infrastructure in developing countries. At William & Mary, he founded the nonprofit Ascanius: The Youth Classics Institute. He remains involved in W&M's Washington Center and Office of Community Engagement. At William & Mary, he earned a bachelor's degree in both government and classical studies, graduating summa cum laude, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a master's in administration, planning and social policy, with a focus on higher education, from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education in 2003. Mr. Bunch is the inaugural alumni recipient of the W&M Law School's W. Taylor Reveley Award for public service.

Mr. Chason is an associate law professor and director of the annual William & Mary Tax Conference, which offers an in-depth look at current topics in tax law. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and joined William & Mary's faculty in 2004, focusing on taxation, finance and employee benefits. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Duke and earned a J.D. at the University of Virginia, where he was a notes editor on the Virginia Law Review and recipient of the John M. Olin Student Fellowship in Law and Economics and the Edwin S. Cohen Tax Prize, which is awarded to the most outstanding student in taxation in each graduating class. He was previously a partner at Ivins, Phillips & Barker. Mr. Chason was W&M Faculty Assembly president in 2015-2016 and is the current faculty representative to the Board of Visitors.

Ms. Dillon is a community and civic leader serving with nonprofits devoted to supporting education, at-risk children and the arts. At present, she serves as a member of the board of directors of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and the ARCS Foundation/Metropolitan Washington Chapter. She was appointed in 2013 to the Board of Visitors, where she chairs the Committee on Academic Affairs. After 25 years in corporate finance, Ms. Dillon retired as senior vice president at First Chicago/Bank One. She has served on a number of key boards at William & Mary, including the Alumni Association Board of Directors, where she was president from 2001 to 2003, vice president and treasurer; the Annual Fund Board, serving as chair of Alumni Engagement; the W&M Foundation Board; and the Washington Council. She was awarded the Alumni Medallion in 2009. She earned a bachelor's degree from William & Mary in history with honors and an M.B.A. in finance from George Washington University.

Mr. Frantz earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from William & Mary, and went on to earn a J.D. and a Masters in Law and Taxation from W&M Law School. Mr. Frantz is a practicing attorney, the prior CEO and current chairman emeritus of Williams Mullen law firm. He is the chairman of the Hampton Roads GO Virginia Regional Council and serves on the boards of the Mason School of Business Foundation, the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, the Hampton Roads Business Roundtable and the Advisory Board of the William & Mary Business Law Review, as well as a number of others across the Commonwealth of Virginia. Mr. Frantz was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2011, reappointed in 2015 and served as Secretary of the Board from 2013 to 2015. He is chair of the Committee on Strategic Initiatives and New Ventures and a member of the Executive Committee.

Ms. Gerdelman earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from William & Mary and taught school in Washington state before working at the White House with Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and as associate director of the President's National Economic Council. Ms. Gerdelman has served on the Board of Visitors since 2013. She is currently Secretary of the Board of Visitors. Ms. Gerdelman has long been active in support of her alma mater and in the community; she is a past chair of the W&M Foundation, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and is past president of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, Inc., the private affiliate. She is currently chair of the Board of Visitors' Committee on Advancement and chair of For the Bold: The Campaign for William & Mary. She was awarded the W&M Alumni Medallion in 2011.

Mr. Heideman is the Boles-Ash Distinguished Professor of Biology, Neuroscience Faculty Affiliate and served as department chair from 2004-2009. He specializes in research on student learning, ecological and evolutionary physiology, variation of neuroendocrine pathways of reproduction and seasonal rhythms. He joined the W&M faculty in 1994, was a 2010 Plumeri Award recipient and 2013 Faculty Adviser of the Year. He is the principal investigator for the Robert Noyce Scholars Program and was director for the ASLAM Foundation Scholars Program. He offers student workshops on university writing with WMSURE and faculty workshops on teaching. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology, summa cum laude with senior honors, from Central College; and an M.S. in zoology and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Hixon retired as executive vice president for law and corporate relations at Norfolk Southern Corporation. Mr. Hixon also served as vice president and executive officer of the Norfolk Southern Foundation. He and his late wife, Robin, are the namesakes of the James A. and Robin L. Hixon Center for Experiential Learning and Leadership at the W&M Law School. He has served as trustee on the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust, a member of the Virginia Governor's Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates and director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Arts Festival board. He was a member of the Board of Visitors of Old Dominion University, serving as Rector from 2004 to 2006, and was a member of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Council. He was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2015. Mr. Hixon earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Virginia Tech, and a J.D. and M.L.T. from W&M Law School.

Mr. Littel is senior vice president of government affairs and communications at Magellan Health. Prior to joining Magellan, he served as executive vice president for external affairs at Amerigroup Corporation, until that company was acquired by Wellpoint. He has been the deputy secretary of Health and Human Resources for Virginia and director of intergovernmental affairs for the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy. Mr. Littel has served on the boards of the Family and Children's Trust Fund and For Kids, a program for homeless families in Norfolk. At William & Mary, he has been a member of the Public Policy Board of Advisors. Mr. Littel was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2012, was reappointed in 2016 and serves as the chair of the Richard Bland College Committee. Mr. Littel earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and political science from the University of Scranton and a law degree from The Columbus School of Law at Catholic University.

Ms. Osiapem is a senior lecturer in the Africana Studies and Linguistics programs and director of the Africana House. Her research specialty is Bermudian English and she teaches courses on language and identity in the Caribbean. Ms. Osiapem joined William & Mary in 2007. She is a member of the Race and Race Relations Task Force's implementation team, a Fellow with the Center for the Liberal Arts and is president of the William & Mary Non-Tenure Eligible Faculty Association. Ms. Osiapem has also served on W&M's Africana Studies Advisory Board, the Reves Center's International Advisory Committee and the Arts & Science's Committee on Academic Status. She has chaired the Linguistic Society of America's Committee on Ethnic Diversity in Linguistics. She earned a bachelor's degree in international studies from Southern Methodist University, an M.S. in technical and professional communication from Southern Polytechnic University and a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Georgia.

Mr. Payne is the principal of Bull Moose Strategies, specializing in public relations and advocacy. He is also a co-founder of the nonprofit Virginia Sportsmen's Foundation and serves as an officer of Virginia 21's board of directors. Mr. Payne earned a bachelor's degree in public policy from William & Mary and was named a Fellow of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership in 2005. In 2015, he published his first book, Mark Warner the Dealmaker: From Business Success to the Business of Governing. Mr. Payne has been a member of the W&M Annual Giving Board and in 2011 received its Board of Directors Cup. Since 1997 he has been involved with the W&M ice hockey team as a player, assistant coach and chairman of its booster club. Mr. Payne was appointed in 2014 to the Board of Visitors, where he chairs the Committee on Administration, Buildings and Grounds.

Ms. Raitt is Chancellor Professor of English and chair of the English Department. She joined the William & Mary faculty in 2000, focusing on British modernist women writers, history and theory of sexuality, psychoanalytic theory, 19th- and 20th-century British literature, and women's studies. She was director of the Women's Studies Program (now Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies) from 2004 to 2008, has served on a number of key committees at William & Mary and was on the editorial board of Feminist Studies for over a decade. She was awarded the Plumeri Award for Faculty Excellence in 2008 and in 2012 the Jennifer and Devin Murphy Faculty Award for integrating research and undergraduate teaching. She is a member of the Race and Race Relations Task Force's implementation team. Ms. Raitt was Faculty Assembly president from 2013 to 2014 and faculty representative to the Board of Visitors from 2014 to 2016. She received a bachelor's degree in English at Jesus College, Cambridge, a master's in English at Yale University, then returned to Cambridge for a Ph.D. in English.

Ms. Roday is the chief operating officer of FireIce Solutions, LLC, an exclusive distributor of FireIce® fire suppression and prevention products. Ms. Roday has been a self-employed legal consultant for 20 years. She practiced matrimonial law in New York, is a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and was a founder of the Network for Women's Services, a pro bono legal mentoring program that provided junior lawyers with the opportunity to provide legal services to underserved populations in New York City. She was an adjunct professor at the T.C. Williams School of Law and a substitute teacher at the Collegiate School. From 2008 to 2011, Ms. Roday was the March of Dimes NICU family support specialist at Henrico Doctors' Hospital, where she established the March of Dimes' neonatal intensive care unit family support specialist program, and was the 2011 recipient of the National Leading Practice of the Year award for a program promoting skin-to-skin contact for premature infants. Ms. Roday serves on the Collegiate School board and chairs the Congregation Or Atid Board of Trustees. She was appointed in 2014 to the Board of Visitors, where she chairs the Committee on Student Affairs and serves as the Board liaison to the Race and Race Relations Implementation Team. Ms. Roday earned a bachelor's degree in English with a minor in journalism from the State University of New York at Binghamton and earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Ms. Whitaker, business manager for the Department of Applied Science, has been employed with William & Mary for more than 20 years. She is involved with the Black Faculty and Staff Forum – now The Forum – serving as co-chair in 1997 and president in 2000. She has also been a mentor for the Center for Student Diversity and the Women's Network, and was a member of the President's Task Force on Race and Race Relations. She was Staff Assembly president from 2012 to 2013, when she was also staff liaison to the Board of Visitors. Ms. Whitaker is the recipient of the 2016 Charles and Virginia Duke Award, which recognizes individual accomplishment and exemplary service among W&M staff members.

Mr. Whitaker earned a bachelor's degree from William & Mary as both a Sharpe Community Scholar and Powell Leadership Scholar, majoring in government. On campus, he was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; a president's aide; and a resident assistant. Serving previously in a number of student government roles, Mr. Whitaker was Student Assembly president and student representative to the Board of Visitors in 2015-2016. In 2016, he was a recipient of the Benjamin Stoddert Ewell Award in recognition of his campus leadership and academics. After graduation, Mr. Whitaker taught in Vietnam with Global Playground, a nonprofit funding school construction and educational infrastructure in developing countries. He is currently pursuing an M.Div. from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University.

A principal with Swan Creek Strategies, Mr. Woolfolk has worked in government relations and congressional investigations for more than 20 years. He earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from the University of Maryland at College Park and a J.D. from W&M Law School. Before joining Swan Creek Strategies, he served with Squire Sanders Public Advocacy and Mattox Woolfolk, which he co-founded. He has served as minority counsel on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and advised committee members and staff on constitutional, environmental, antitrust, criminal justice and investigative issues. Prior to his work for the Committee, Mr. Woolfolk served as legislative counsel to Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott; while attending law school, he worked in Scott's district office in Newport News. Mr. Woolfolk was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2016.

Chancellor of the university Robert M. Gates '65, L.H.D. '98 will serve as Advisor to the Presidential Search Committee. Gates, former U.S. Defense Secretary, was named 24th Chancellor of William & Mary in 2012. He is the first alumnus to hold this position in William & Mary's modern era.

Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and also served as a National Security Council staff member. He was deputy director of the CIA from 1986 until 1989 and assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser at the White House from 1989 through 1991. He was CIA director from 1991 to 1993. Gates took office as secretary of defense in 2006, under President George W. Bush. When President Barack Obama was inaugurated in 2009, he asked Gates to continue in office, making him the only defense secretary to serve under presidents from different political parties.

Gates retired in 2011, when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has also received the National Security Medal and the Presidential Citizens Medal. Gates was twice awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the CIA's highest award, three times.

A history major at William & Mary, Gates was an active member of Alpha Phi Omega, a dormitory manager, orientation aide and the business manager of the William & Mary Review. At graduation, he received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.

Gates frequently participates in W&M ceremonies and the annual U.S. Army commissioning. He has served as a trustee of the William & Mary Foundation Board, in 1998 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from William & Mary and in 2000, the Alumni Medallion.

Gates earned a master's degree in history from Indiana University and a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. From 2002 until 2006, he was president of Texas A&M University. He has also published three books. An Eagle Scout himself, Gates was elected to a two-year term as national president of the Boy Scouts of America in 2014. Bob and his wife, Becky, live in Washington state.