ODU Board of Visitors Elects Ross Mugler Rector

Old Dominion University's Board of Visitors on Sept. 19 elected Ross Mugler, commissioner of the revenue for the city of Hampton, as rector for 2008-10. He succeeds Marc Jacobson. Also elected were retired Navy Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr. as vice rector and Linda Forehand as secretary.

Mugler, who becomes the 20th rector of the ODU board, has served in his current position with Hampton since 1992. He received two degrees from ODU: a bachelor's in business administration in 1984 and a master's in public administration in 2003. He became certified as commissioner of the revenue through the Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia.

Mugler is active in the Hampton Roads community, including serving as chair of the capital campaign for the expansion of the American Theatre, president of the Hampton Roads Commissioners of the Revenue Association and chairman of the Education Foundation at Thomas Nelson Community College. Additionally, he serves as a member of various other boards, including the board of directors for the Hampton Education Foundation, the Peninsula Command of the Salvation Army, the Volunteer Center of the Peninsula and the Hampton Roads Regional Board of the Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership.

Gehman retired from the U.S. Navy in 2000, after more than 35 years of active duty service. His last assignment was as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, and as the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, one of the United States' five regional joint combatant commands. Immediately after retiring in 2000, Gehman was appointed co-chairman of the Department of Defense review of the terrorist attack on the USS Cole. In 2003, he was appointed chairman of the Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board.

Forehand is the senior associate director of philanthropy for The Nature Conservancy. In this role, she has organized and directed The Nature Conservancy Golf Classic, raising more than $500,000 in unrestricted gifts, and assisted in the completion of TNC's successful $52 million Wild Virginia Campaign. She is a founding director of the TowneBank Chesapeake board, and served as chair of TowneBank's marketing committee from 1999-2003. She is also a Realtor with Continental Realty in Virginia Beach.

She received a bachelor's degree in political science/pre-law from ODU in 1980, magna cum laude, completed postgraduate public administration course work at the university, and is a 2004 graduate of the Civic Leadership Institute.