Governor Announces Appointments to UMW Board of Visitors

The Virginia Governor’s Office announced the appointment of Patricia “Pat” Gwaltney McGinnis ’69 of Washington, D.C., and Devon Williams Cushman ’93 of Richmond to the University of Mary Washington Board of Visitors. They will serve four-year terms, which expire June 30, 2021. They succeed Kenneth J. Lopez ’92 and Lisa D. Taylor ’85, whose terms will end on June 30, 2017. Carlos Del Toro of Alexandria, Virginia, CEO of SBG Technology Solutions Inc., was reappointed to the Board.

Patricia Gwaltney McGinnis ’69

Patricia McGinnis is a distinguished professor of practice at George Washington University’s Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration. Previously, McGinnis designed leadership programs as a White House senior advisor and served as president and CEO of the Council for Excellence in Government, where she produced a blueprint for the 2002 E-Government Act, improving the management and promotion of electronic government services. She formed the Coalition for Evidence Based Policy, reforming the design and funding of education, health and criminal justice programs, and created SAGE, Strategic Advisors to Government Executives, uniting leaders to share strategies and management tools.

McGinnis also served during the Carter administration in the Office of Management and Budget, where she led the effort to create the U.S. Department of Education. She has held senior posts with the Senate Budget Committee and the U.S. departments of Commerce and Health and Human Services.

Founder and principal of public strategy firm FMR Group, focused on education, energy and communications policy, McGinnis also was a senior associate at international management consulting firm Cresap, McCormick and Paget. She is a member of UMW’s College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Advisory Board, an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, a trustee of the Congressional Management Foundation and director of Caleres Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri, and LMI in McLean, Virginia.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from UMW, McGinnis earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. She and husband Dr. J. Michael McGinnis have two grown children.

Devon Williams Cushman ’93

Devon Cushman has served as senior counsel at Capital One in Richmond since 2012. Prior to joining Capital One, she worked as an attorney for Morris & Morris P.C. from 2003 to 2005 and for Hirschler Fleischer from 2005 to 2012, during which time she was recognized by Law & Politics as a Virginia Rising Star in business litigation and by Virginia Business as Legal Elite among lawyers under 40.

Before building her law career, Cushman served as an account executive for GMMB, a public relations and communications agency in Washington, D.C. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, with clients that include DaimlerChrysler, Amazon.com and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Cushman also has been an adjunct professor, teaching advanced trial practice at the University of Richmond School of Law, where she earned a juris doctorate. She currently chairs ChamberRVA’s Richmond Business Council Cabinet and Government Affairs Committee.

Originally from Greenlawn, New York, Cushman received a bachelor’s degree in political science from UMW, where she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, served as Student Association president and was selected as a Virginia Governor’s Fellow.