Rachel W. Sheridan will be the next rector of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors and Porter N. Wilkinson will serve alongside her as vice rector. Both were elected at the June meeting of the board and will begin their two-year terms on July 1.
“I’ve enjoyed working with both Rachel and Porter as board members, and I’m looking forward to their leadership. Both are UVA alumni, and both bring a wealth of diverse experiences to bear on their roles,” UVA President Jim Ryan said.
Sheridan will succeed Robert Hardie, who has served as rector since 2023 and has served on the board itself for a dozen years.
“I owe a debt of gratitude to Robert Hardie, who served with grace and integrity as rector, as well as to (outgoing Vice Rector) Carlos Brown, a champion of student self-governance and UVA as a whole,” Ryan said. “They will be missed, but Rachel and Porter are well-positioned to continue to strengthen our university and advocate for UVA.”
Rachel Sheridan, left, and Porter Wilkinson will begin two-year terms July 1 in their new leadership roles.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed Sheridan, who earned a bachelor’s degree from UVA in 1994 and a law degree in 1998, to the Board of Visitors in 2023. During her time at UVA, she was an Echols Scholar and a scholarship athlete on the women’s track and field team, which she captained, and the cross country team. Sheridan has fully endowed two need-based scholarships focusing on women’s track and field.
Sheridan is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, where she focuses on capital markets transactions. She has been consistently recognized for excellence within her profession by Chambers, Legal 500 and MergerLinks, which named her a “Top Female M&A Lawyer in North America” in 2021. She was named to The Deal’s Top Women in Dealmaking in 2023.
She is the current chair of the Board of Visitors’ Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee and the vice chair of its Finance Committee. Sheridan also serves as president and trustee of the Virginia Athletics Foundation and as a trustee and governing board member of St. Alban’s School for Boys in Washington, D.C.
“The University is a tremendous asset – for the students, faculty and staff on Grounds, and for the commonwealth we serve,” Sheridan said. “I am humbled by the trust the board and our community have placed in Porter and me, and eager to get to work in a moment of unique challenge and opportunity for this great and historic institution.”
Wilkinson, whom Youngkin appointed in 2024, is the counselor and chief of staff to the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents, advising the board on governance, strategy and policy matters. Before joining the Smithsonian, Wilkinson practiced appellate and constitutional law at a multinational law firm and served as a law clerk at the Supreme Court of the United States.
She is a Charlottesville native and a 2007 graduate of the UVA School of Law. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was named a three-time All-ACC and All-America selection in women’s lacrosse.
Wilkinson also serves on the governing board of Beauvoir, the National Cathedral Elementary School.
She is the current vice chair of the Audit, Compliance and Risk Committee.
“Rachel and I are grateful for the tireless service of Robert Hardie and Carlos Brown,” Wilkinson said. “I look forward to partnering with Rachel, our fellow visitors and UVA leadership to build on the impressive legacy of the University we all love.”
For the first time in UVA history, both the rector and vice rector will be women. The rector and vice rector will each serve two-year terms beginning July 1.
