July 5, 2011 — Gov. Robert F. McDonnell late on Friday announced his appointments to the governing boards of the state's colleges and universities, including the University of Virginia.

The new members of U.Va.'s Board of Visitors will take their seats at the board's annual retreat, scheduled for July 15 and 16 in Alexandria. Helen E. Dragas of Virginia Beach will begin her two-year term as the University's rector, and Mark J. Kington of Alexandria will become vice rector.

Stepping down from the board are former rector John O. Wynne, Susan Y. "Syd" Dorsey and Lewis F. Payne, all of whom completed two four-year terms. Austin Ligon was not reappointed. Sheila C. Johnson resigned from the board earlier this year.

The new members:

• Allison Cryor DiNardo of Alexandria, president of King Street Wireless Inc., is a 1982 graduate of U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences and 1988 graduate of the Darden School of Business. She has served on the Jefferson Scholar Foundation's regional and national selection committees and on its campaign committee and national advisory board. In the mid-'90s, DiNardo worked at the Virginia Athletics Foundation and served for a time as interim executive director. She has worked in the wireless communication field developing and managing wireless spectrum since 1999.

• Dr. Stephen P. Long of Richmond, partner with Commonwealth Pain Specialists in Richmond, is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Randolph-Macon College and of Virginia Commonwealth University's School of Medicine. He is an associate clinical professor of anesthesiology at VCU and has served on the boards of the VCU Health System and the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

• George Keith Martin of Hanover is managing partner at McGuire Woods LLP's Richmond office, the firm's largest. A 1975 graduate of the College, he received his law degree from Howard University. He has served on the boards of Regent University School of Law and James Madison University, as well as the Virginia Board of Bar Examiners and the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education.

• John L. Nau III of Houston is president and chief executive officer of Silver Eagle Distributors, one of the nation's largest Anheuser-Busch distributors. A 1968 College graduate, Nau, with his wife Bobbie, has been a longtime U.Va. benefactor whose gifts have benefitted, among others, the history and environmental science departments, the Gordie Center for Alcohol and Substance Education and the College itself. A major gift helped make possible the College's South Lawn complex, which includes a building and lecture hall named for him. He is the past president of the College Foundation and vice chairman of the U.Va. Capital Campaign. He has also served as chairman of the College of Arts & Sciences Campaign and on the Board of Managers of the Alumni Association.

• Tim Robertson of Virginia Beach is CEO of Bay Shore Enterprises, an investment holding company with activities in international media and Internet technology ventures. A 1977 alumnus of the College, he was previously appointed to the board in 1998 and will be filling Johnson's unexpired term until June 30, 2014. He and his wife, Lisa, endowed the media studies program at U.Va., which in part supports the Robertson Professorship in Modern Media. Robertson is best known for the Family Channel, which he built while president of International Family Entertainment. IFE was acquired in 1993 by Fox Kids Worldwide.

In addition to the board appointments, McDonnell appointed Dr. Edward M. Miller of Baltimore, dean of the medical faculty and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, in an ex-officio capacity. Miller, whom the Board of Visitors recently appointed to the Medical Center Operating Board, was on the School of Medicine faculty from 1975 to 1986.