Thomas R. Morris
President
morris@vfic.org

In February 2010, Dr. Thomas R. "Tom" Morris was selected as the sixth President of the VFIC assuming his duties in April 2010.

Dr. Morris continues a very distinguished career in higher education having served as Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia (2006-2010), as President of Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia (1992-2006) during which time he was Vice-Chair of the VFIC from 2002-04, and as a distinguished faculty member at the University of Richmond for twenty-one years.

A native of Galax, Virginia, Dr. Morris earned a bachelor's degree in government at Virginia Military Institute, studied at Princeton University, then completed his master's and doctoral degrees in government at the University of Virginia. He received fellowships for advanced study including a year each as Liberal Arts Fellow at the Harvard Law School and as fellow of the National Endowment for the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

During his teaching career at the University of Richmond, Dr. Morris was selected to leadership posts, honored for excellence in the classroom.   He was honored as a University Distinguished Educator, received faculty research grants, and chaired the Faculty Council. He is widely known as an expert on Virginia government and politics and has authored or co-authored of four books, including Virginia Government and Politics: Readings and Comments, Fourth Revised Edition, a 1998 work co-edited with Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia.

Dr. Morris served as a political analyst for television, radio, and print media over a period of twenty-five years. He chaired the Commission on Virginia’s State and Local Tax Structure for the 21st Century (1999-2000) and was a member of Governor Warner’s Commission on Efficiency and Effectiveness (2002). 

Business and fund raising veteran Mary-Beth Johnson serves as Vice President of the VFIC.

She brings experience in both the business world and in fund raising and is a major asset to our program.  She also has a solid understanding of the private colleges and universities in our consortium and is a graduate of one of the VFIC institutions, Lynchburg College.

Mrs. Johnson’s background includes service as Director of Development at both Home Again/ESI Connections and St. Joseph’s Villa in Richmond, positions which focused on annual funds, corporate and foundation relations, and special events. Prior to that, she worked in distribution and account management for Production Masters, Inc., as well as for TPC Communications, both in Pennsylvania.

As VFIC Vice President, Mrs. Johnson plans and directs the foundation’s annual campaign and has coordinated special programs such as the Ethics Bowl and Career and Workforce Development. Mrs. Johnson served as the 2006-07 President of the Virginia Association of Fund Raising Executives (VAFRE), is a member of Leadership Metro Richmond class of 2006 and serves on the Board for The New Community School in Richmond, VA.

Doug Banks joined the VFIC in July 2007 as the Director of The Center for Career and Workforce Development. In keeping with the Center's mission -- to connect the HR departments of Virginia's leading corporations with our colleges' students as prospective interns and employees -- Doug will be working closely with the Career Services Offices on each of the 15 VFIC campuses, and with the college recruiters in the Human Resource Departments at Virginia businesses.

Prior to joining the VFIC, Mr. Banks was with the Office of Career Development at Christopher Newport University and served as its Internship Coordinator working as the Assistant Director of Experiential Learning, serving as a liaison between the university and statewide businesses. He was the coordinator of CNU Rescue, the volunteer program for CNU and member of Adult Committee for Young Life in Hampton Roads. Prior to this position Mr. Banks served as Assistant to the President, working directly with Dr. Paul Trible. Prior to his tenure at Christopher Newport, Mr. Banks was on the corporate staff of Ferguson Enterprises, a national corporation headquartered in Newport News, VA. While with Ferguson, Doug worked at their Santa Monica, CA, operations center and also spent time in the offices of their parent company, Wolseley, in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Banks is a graduate of a VFIC institution, Hampden-Sydney College, with a major in History.