Youngkin names three new members, two reappointments to VSU Board of Visitors

ETTRICK – The former president of Michigan State University and the owner of a Chesterfield County restaurant are among the new faces who will be on Virginia State University’s Board of Visitors come July 1.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office announced the appointments Friday afternoon. With them, Youngkin, a Republican, will have appointed or reappointed all but two of the 15 board members.

The new appointees are:

• M. Peter McPherson of Arlington, former president of Michigan State University;
• Verndell Robinson of Prince William County, a broker with Coldwell Banker; and
• Robert Thompson of Chesterfield, owner of several Eggs Up Grill franchises in the metro Richmond area.

The governor reappointed retired Virginia Tech communications professor Robert Denton Jr. and retired Gen. Dennis Via of McLean to the board. Denton was first appointed in 2022 to fill the unexpired term of the late Jay Stegmaier, while Via joined last year.

The new members replace Pamela Curray, the longest-tenured board member wrapping up her second term; Shavonne Gordon and William Murray. Gordon, vice president of diversity recruiting and talent recruiting at Capital One, and Murray, senior vice president of corporate affairs at Dominion Energy, were appointed in 2020 by then-Gov. Ralph Northam but not chosen by Youngkin for a second term.

Currey, a former associate vice president for finance and administration at Virginia Commonwealth University, was appointed in 2016 by then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe and reappointed by Northam four years later. She was not eligible for reappointment.

McAuliffe and Northam were Democrats. McAuliffe lost to Youngkin in the 2021 gubernatorial election.

The non-Youngkin appointees on the board are Philip Morris USA president/CEO Jon Moore and insurance agency owner Edward Owens. Both were appointed by Northam in 2021 and will be eligible for reappointment in 2025.

Other current visitors are rector Valerie Brown, Victor Branch, Joseph Chase Jr., Thomas Cosgrove, Harold Green Jr., Leonard Haynes III, Daphne Meeks and Kishore Thota. Brown is in her second term.

The terms of Brown, Branch, Cosgrove, Green and Haynes will be up in 2026. Meeks’ and Thota’s terms are up in 2027.

Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.