The University of Virginia has named 28 people to its Special Committee on the Nomination of a President, that will ‘guide the process of identifying and recommending candidates’ to serve as UVA’s 10th president. Included among that list is NCAA Champion and World Record holding swimmer Gretchen Walsh.
Walsh, who graduated in May with a degree in finance and a minor in math, is one of only three members of the committee who were students in the 2024-2025 academic year.
The other two are Quana Davis, a doctoral student, and Gregory Perryman, the student representative to the UVA Board of Visitors.
Walsh swam for Virginia for four seasons, amassing one of the most impressive NCAA swimming resumes in history. She was a member of four NCAA Championship teams, broke 17 World Records as of her graduation, won 25 NCAA titles (including nine individual titles), earned the maximum 28 All-America awards, and was a 23-time ACC Champion.
In 2025, she won the Honda Cup as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year, the ACC Mary Garber Award as the conference’s female student-athlete of the year for the second time, the CSCAA Women’s Swimmer of the Year for the second time, and the CSC Academic All-America Team Member of the Year, among many other honors and recognitions. Her last publicly-reported GPA, going into her final semester of college, was a 3.85.
She also owns four Olympic medals from the Paris Games, including two golds, along with eight World Championships and six World Junior Championships.
University of Virginia president James Ryan resigned in June amid pressure from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump and the US Department of Justice to dismantle the school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
University diversity programs across the country have been targeted by the Trump Administration, threatening funding and visa approval for universities’ students. In March, the school’s Board of Visitors unanimously voted to eliminate the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships, a release from Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s office said. That move wasn’t enough to stave off pressure from the Justice Department, which accused the university of simply rebranding the existing programs.
Ryan took over the role in 2018, when he was named the school’s ninth president. The school had no president from 1825 through 1904, naming its first-ever president that year.
The school’s Director of Athletics Carla Williams is also on the committee.
The full list of committee members is below from a press release by the University of Virginia:
- Rachel Sheridan, committee chair: rector of the University; president, Virginia Athletics Foundation; partner, Capital Markets Group, Kirkland & Ellis. Sheridan earned an undergraduate degree from UVA in 1994 and a law degree in 1998. She is the parent of a UVA student.
- Porter Wilkinson, committee vice chair: vice rector of the University; counselor and chief of staff, Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents. Wilkinson earned a law degree from UVA in 2007.
- Kenyon Bonner: UVA vice president and chief student affairs officer. Bonner is the parent of a UVA student.
- Philip Bourne: founding dean, School of Data Science; professor of biomedical engineering
- Marvin Bush: vice president and director, Winston Capital Management and Winston Partners Group; vice president, Virginia Athletics Foundation. Bush graduated from UVA in 1979.
- Quana Dennis: faculty member, Saint Anne’s-Belfield School. Dennis graduated from UVA in 2023 and earned a master’s in 2024 and is a UVA doctoral student.
- Jim Donovan: member, UVA Board of Visitors; vice chairman, Global Client Coverage at Goldman Sachs; adjunct professor, UVA School of Law; board member, Karsh Institute of Democracy. Donovan is the parent of a UVA student.
- Pam Edmonds: trustee emerita, the College Foundation; trustee, UVA Health Foundation. Edmonds graduated from UVA in 1991 and is the parent of a UVA student.
- Marvin Gilliam: member, UVA Board of Visitors; owner and manager, MAM Develfopment; trustee, Virginia Athletics Foundation. Gilliam graduated from UVA in 1978.
- Peter Grant: founding partner of Anchormarck Holdings; chair of UVA’s recently concluded Honor the Future capital campaign. Grant earned an undergraduate degree from UVA in 1978 and an MBA in 1986.
- John Harris: member, UVA Board of Visitors; private investor and previous managing director, chief financial officer and senior adviser for The Carlyle Group. Harris graduated from UVA in 1982.
- Jim Lambert: Janet Scott Hamilton and John Downman Hamilton Professor at the UVA School of Engineering and Applied Science; UVA Board of Visitors faculty representative. Lambert earned a master’s degree from UVA in 1990 and a doctoral degree in 1994.
- Dr. Babur Lateef: former member, UVA Board of Visitors; former chair, UVA Health System Board; chair, Prince William County School Board; founder and owner, Advanced Ophthalmology. Lateef is a UVA graduate student.
- David Leblang: Ambassador Henry J. Taylor and Mrs. Marion R. Taylor Endowed Professor of Politics at the College of Arts & Sciences; professor of public policy, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; director of policy studies, UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs
- Paul Manning: member, UVA Board of Visitors; chair, UVA Health System Board; chair and CEO of PBM Capital
- George Martin: former rector of the University; former managing partner, McGuireWoods. Martin graduated from UVA in 1975.
- Lori McMahon: UVA vice president for research; professor of neuroscience
- Sherri Moore: associate professor, McIntire School of Commerce. Moore graduated from UVA in 1985.
- John Nau: member, UVA Board of Visitors; former chair and CEO of Silver Eagle Distributors. Nau graduated from UVA in 1968.
- Dr. David Okonkwo: member, UVA Board of Visitors; professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh. Okonkwo is a 1994 UVA graduate and the parent of a UVA student.
- Gregory Perryman: UVA Board of Visitors student representative
- Amanda Pillion: member, UVA Board of Visitors; former mayor of Abingdon. Pillion earned an undergraduate degree from UVA in 1997 and a master’s in 1999. She is the parent of a UVA student.
- Jimmy Reyes: former member, UVA Board of Visitors; owner, Reyes Holdings
- Adam Richard: co-chair, UVA Staff Senate Executive Committee
- Dr. Mitch Rosner: chair, UVA Department of Medicine; Henry B. Mulholland Professor of Medicine; interim executive vice president for health affairs at UVA Health
- Gretchen Walsh: Olympian; world record holder; NCAA Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year (swimming and diving). Walsh graduated from UVA in May.
- Doug Wetmore: member, UVA Board of Visitors; senior vice president for business development, Centauri Health Solutions. Wetmore earned a bachelor’s degree from UVA in 1988 and a law degree in 1991.
- Carla Williams: UVA director of athletics. Williams is the parent of a UVA student.
Wait guys so proud of everyone the majority of these comments are all upvotes no down votes <3
Something tells me, based on how the last president left, this committee won’t have much if any say in who becomes president
Ten members of the Board of Visitors are on the committee. The BOV hires the president.
Queen mother
A deserving honor for an amazing young woman.
Only 9 presidents in 206 years seems nuts.
UVA didn’t have a president until 1905, it was just governed by the board of visitors until then
Disgraced Santa Ono in the mix?
Random, but I saw Douglass post a while back that she was upset the current present was ousted
and Alex and Gretchen if I remember correctly
Absolutely Gretchen posted in dismay. I thought of that as soon as I saw the header to this thread.
Imagine an era in which Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are being attacked. I don’t know how anybody can be afraid of this guy. There is tremendous honor in being on the correct side of history. Anyone who tags along will be properly condemned and disrespected long term.
Gretchen and the others should pick the candidate who best shares their ideals. Succumbing to a weakling choice will likewise earn scorn down the road, along with inner regret.
Everyone was… he was beloved. He would fly to NCAAs the last 5 years and jump in the pool with the team in his clothes. My sister graduated from UVA a few years ago and said everyone loved him.
Yes. He was my constitutional law professor a million years ago. I wasn’t a huge fan of law school generally, especially because the recession made it a lot more stressful than UVA Law is normally, but I loved that class. The Law School had a program where you could take a professor out to lunch on the school. A group of my friends and I invited him, and I still remember how genuine, interesting, and fun to talk to he was.
He’s also an avid runner so probably better appreciates other non-ball-sport types like swimmers than most.
He was very popular with students
This will be a Board of Visitors decision, the rest are window dressing.
Yup celebrity judge