Alumni Board of Trustee Election Process

Alumni Election of a Member of the University Board of Trustees

History

Since 2003, the Alumni Association Board has regularly submitted a three-person slate to the Board of Trustees, from which they chose one person to become a Trustee. In 2019, the Trustees asked that the Alumni Association revise the process in order to make alumni better aware of and more directly involved in the election. 2023–2024 is the second implementation of this alumni election process.

Process

1. This fall, the Alumni Association solicited nominees from all alumni for consideration to be one of three candidates on an alumni ballot for election to the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees. Various digital and print methods, including the W&L Magazine, Generally Speaking, W&L alumni social media platforms, and emails to all contactable alumni, were sent to communicate the election process.
2. 103 alumni were nominated, and 52 accepted the nomination by completing the application process, which involved answering a series of questions and providing a resume and a letter of recommendation.
3. The eight members of the Alumni Board’s Trustee Election Committee—a committee of the Alumni Association Board of Directors—reviewed the applications of all 52 candidates and selected the three-person slate for the ballot.
4. Each member of the Trustee Election Committee dedicated approximately 16 hours of their personal time to the process, which included extensive reviews of each candidate’s application and numerous hours of robust discussion in committee meetings.
   
   The full Trustee Election Committee and the entire Alumni Association Board of Directors unanimously approved the final slate.
5. All alumni are eligible to vote in this election. An active Colonnade Connections account is needed to cast a vote. Voting opens Wednesday, Jan. 17 and will conclude at 11:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Feb. 7.
6. Once voting closes and the votes are tallied, the winner’s name will be given in confidence to the Governance Committee of the Board of Trustees. The winner will then be formally elected by the Board of Trustees at their February 2024 meeting, absent extraordinary circumstances in which the Trustees, in the exercise of their fiduciary duties, find that the winner is disqualified from effective service as a Trustee.
7. Shortly after the February 2024 meeting, the Alumni Association will announce the winner, who will take the oath at the Board of Trustees meeting in May 2024.