Board of Visitors appoints Wertz as rector, welcomes three new members

Robert S. Wertz Jr. ’85, a former member of the Longwood University Foundation Board and past president of the Longwood Alumni Association, has been elected rector of the Longwood University Board of Visitors. 

He succeeds Colleen Margiloff ’97, who will complete her maximum two-year term as rector on July 1, but will continue to serve on the Board and on the executive committee.

Former rector Marianne Radcliff ’92 and Lucia Anna "Pia" Trigiani were also named to leadership positions at the Board’s annual retreat earlier this month. Radcliff will serve as vice rector and Trigiani as secretary. Board member Eric Hansen will also serve on the executive committee, along with Margiloff, in her capacity as immediate past-rector.

On June 13, Gov. Terry McAuliffe appointed three first-time members to the Longwood Board of Visitors:

• Katharine McKeown Bond ’98, of Mechanicsville, a senior policy advisor at Dominion, and executive director of the Dominion Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm.
• Steven Gould, of Danville, an attorney with Clement Wheatley and member of the Danville City School Board who previously worked as a policy adviser to Gov. Mark Warner and Gov. Tim Kaine and currently serves as chair of the Virginia Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division.
• Nettie L. Simon-Owens, of South Boston, chief economic advancement officer at Southern Virginia Higher Education Center.

Wertz, of Leesburg, is Commissioner of Revenue for Loudoun County and was appointed to the Board of Visitors in 2013. He was first elected Commissioner of Revenue for one of the country’s fastest-growing counties in 2003 and has been re-elected three times. He served as president of the Longwood Alumni Association from 1998-2000 and served on the Longwood Foundation Board from 2011-13.

Radcliff, of Richmond, is vice president of Kemper Consulting, a prominent Richmond-based lobbying firm. She has held several positions in Virginia state government, including assistant secretary of transportation, and served on the Longwood Board of Visitors since 2011. She served as rector from 2012-14.

Trigiani, of Alexandria, is an attorney at MercerTrigiani, a real estate law firm, and served on the Virginia Bar Association Board of Governors from 2007-12, including as president in 2011. She is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College and the University of Richmond, and was appointed to the Longwood Board of Visitors in 2014.

Hansen, of Lynchburg, is president and CEO of Innovative Wireless Technologies, and previously held engineering positions at Ericsson and Motorola. He is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology and Florida Atlantic University, and has served on the Longwood Board since 2012.