Former Presidential Primary Candidate Among New Appointees To JMU Board Of Visitors
Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed four new members to James Madison University’s Board of Visitors, including Carly Fiorina, a former 2016 Republican primary presidential candidate.
The BoV is JMU’s governing body and is responsible for the “effective government of the university,” according to the BoV website. Five current board members’ terms will end this year, including Jeffrey E. Grass. Matthew Gray-Keeling, Maria D. Jankowski, Deborah Tompkins Johnson and Craig B. Welburn.
The new appointments will shift the makeup of the board, making the majority of the board — nine of the 15 — appointed by the Republican governor rather than by former Gov. Ralph Northam.
Members appointed to the board serve four terms each and aren’t eligible to serve more than two consecutive four-year terms. To fill four of the seats ending in this term, Youngkin appointed Fiorina, Steven C. Smith, Jeff Tickle and Nicole Palya Wood.
Carly Fiorina
Fiorina served as the CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and since then has worked in a variety of different positions in politics, foundations and companies. Fiorina was a Republican nominee for one of California’s U.S. Senate seats in 2010, then in 2016 ran as a Republican candidate in the presidential primary. Fiorina dropped out of the race in February 2016 and subsequently endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz.
Fiorina, who’s living in Mason Neck, Virginia, is currently serving as the chair of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a position she’s held since 2020. In the press release from Youngkin’s office, she’s also listed as the honorary chairperson of the Virginia 250 Commission, a group formed by the Virginia General Assembly in 2020 to honor the 250th anniversary of American independence.
According to Fiorina’s LinkedIn page, she’s served as the chairman of Carly Fiorina Enterprises since 2018. Carly Fiorina Enterprises functions as a consulting firm for government agencies, political committees, policy initiatives, nonprofit and business consulting, according to Bloomberg.