CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Carlos M. Brown and Victoria D. Harker, two former University of Virginia Board of Visitors members returned to the body by Gov. Abigail Spanberger last month, will serve as the school’s rector and vice rector.

The BOV announced the decision during its meeting Friday, emerging from a brief closed session to make the decisions public.

Brown, who resides in Glen Allen, was on the BOV from 2021-25 and served as vice rector in 2023, under former Rector Robert Hardie.

He made quick work of his acceptance and got the board straight to work, “It’s an honor to be able to serve as rector, and I know there are lots of issues we are encircling and the first one is getting our March meeting date figured out.”

The executive vice president, chief administrative and projects officer, and corporate secretary for Dominion Energy, Brown holds a bachelor’s degree from the UVA College of Arts & Sciences and a juris doctorate from the UVA School of Law.

He was a bit harried at the Friday morning meeting as he was meeting remotely from Richmond as he had Dominion business to administer to.

McLean’s Harker was a BOV member from 2012-16. The former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Tegna Inc. holds a bachelor’s degree from the UVA College of Arts & Sciences and a Master of Business Administration degree from American University.

The new rector and vice rector will be filling the remainder of the two-year term vacated when former Rector Rachel Sheridan and Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson resigned in January, at Spanberger’s behest.

The new duo will begin their term immediately and conclude June 30, 2027. At that point, the vice rector will begin a two-year term as the next rector, according to BOV bylaws.

Friday’s meeting was the first session attended by 10 new appointees from Gov. Spanberger, who were approved by the Virginia General Assembly.

New UVA President Scott Beardsley got his first chance to address the board with its new members and said, “I just want you to know that leading this University is the highest honor of my life and I’ll do it to the best of my ability, and I’m very optimistic about what we can achieve together.”

Whether or not Beardsley continues to serve as President remains to be seen as some within the University community still want a new Presidential search while the Student Council passed a resolution in late January advocating giving Beardsley a chance in the name of “institutional stability”.

Brown and Harker are joined by Charlottesville’s Robert Byron and Peter Grant II, Michael C. Bisceglia, and Rudene M. Haynes, from the Richmond area, Owen D. Griffin Jr. and C. Evans Poston Jr. from the Tidewater area, and Elizabeth H. Hayes and Mohsin Syed from Northern Virginia.