W&M Board of Visitors extends contract for President Taylor Reveley

Reveley Taylor Reveley became the 27th President of the College of William & Mary in 2008. Photo - of - Hide Caption

The William & Mary Board of Visitors unanimously approved a resolution Friday extending the contract of university President Taylor Reveley through June 2017. Reveley has served as William & Mary’s 27th president since 2008.

“This is very good news for William & Mary,” said Todd Stottlemyer '85, Rector of the College. “Taylor Reveley is a superb leader and the right person for the job. He guided us through a very challenging economy and worked hand-in-hand with the Board in developing and now implementing a new operating model – the William & Mary Promise – that will ensure our continued academic excellence. He also oversaw the most successful fundraising year in William & Mary’s long history.”

“There is a lot to get excited about when you think about the future of William & Mary,” he added. “President Reveley is a big reason why.”

Reveley was named president in September 2008. Prior to becoming president, he served as dean of the William & Mary Law School from 1998 to 2008. The Board’s action will extend Reveley’s contract – previously set to run through 2015 – two additional years.

“William & Mary is already extraordinary, and we’re taking steps that will enable the university to become even more remarkable,” Reveley said. “It’s marvelous to have a hand in the effort.”

Since becoming president, Reveley has focused on strategic planning, fundraising and a new sustainable financial model for the university. In 2008 – not long after becoming president – Reveley initiated a new strategic planning effort. Today, strategic planning has become an important part of the culture at William & Mary, serving as a roadmap for the university’s future. The William & Mary Promise, a new operating model approved in April by the Board to provide the university a roadmap for financial stability, grew out of that strategic planning process.

Under Reveley’s leadership, William & Mary is also coming off its most successful year in terms of private giving. William & Mary set new records in fiscal year 2013 in terms of total giving and outright cash gifts.

Before coming to William & Mary, Reveley practiced law at Hunton & Williams for 28 years. He was managing partner of the international firm for nine years. He is a trustee emeritus of Princeton University, where he served on the board for 14 years. He has chaired the boards of the Richmond Symphony, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the Virginia Historical Society and is now board chair of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Reveley received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1965 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia and later clerked for Justice William J. Brennan at the U.S. Supreme Court. He has written extensively about the constitutional division of the war powers between the president and Congress. In 1972-73, he spent 13 months studying the war powers while an international affairs fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City and a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. In 2008, he served as co-director of the National War Powers Commission, a bipartisan group headed by former U.S. Secretaries of State James Baker and Warren Christopher.

Reveley and his wife, Helen, have four adult children, two daughters-in-law and three grandchildren. The president’s son, W. Taylor Reveley IV, was installed earlier this month as the 26president of Longwood University. Reveley’s father, W. Taylor Reveley II, was the 18president of Hampden-Sydney College, serving from 1963 to 1977.