Governance & Administration

President & CEO, WM Jordan, Inc., Newport News, VA

Mr. Lawson has been a member of the Board since January of 2004 and has served as the Chairman of the Board since January of 2009. During his term he has served on several committees including the Monitor Center Campaign Committee, Development Committee, Executive Committee and Facility, Park and Lake Committee.

Mr. Lawson began his career with W. M. Jordan Company as a Field Engineer in 1975 after graduating from Ferguson High School and Virginia Tech with a BS in Geophysics. He is a 1989 graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Associated General Contractors of America. Under his leadership, W. M. Jordan Company has become the largest general contractor in Virginia, with annual revenues exceeding $275 million dollars and a ranking in Engineering News Record’s Top 400 Contractors in the United States for the past 25 years. Johnny spends much of his time in service to others. In 2009 he was honored with the Golden Paw award from the Virginia Living Museum. Newport News is richly improved by his many acts of generosity.

Consultant, Newport News, VA

Ms. Greene has been a member of the Board since January of 2009 and has served as Vice Chairman of the Board since 2010. She has served as the Chairman of the Finance and Pension Committee, as well as serving on the Executive Committee and the Marketing and Development Committee.

Ms. Greene is a retired senior executive with domestic and international experience in the private, public and social sectors. Most recently, Mrs. Greene was senior vice president, public responsibility, Sara Lee Corporation and president, Sara Lee Foundation. Before joining Sara Lee, Ms. Greene was deputy administrator and chief operating officer of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), where she was responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the U.S. government agency charged with ensuring the growth and development of small businesses. Previously, Ms. Greene was a vice president in trade finance with AIG and a commercial lending officer with Mellon Bank. She is a graduate of the Kellogg School at Northwestern University and Kean University.

Although relatively new to the Newport News area, she is actively engaged in the community and serves on several boards of trustees in addition to The Mariners' Museum.

President, Tower Park Corporation, Newport News, VA

Mr. Freeman has been a member of the Board since January of 2004 has served as Secretary since 2008 and as Chairman of the Audit Committee; Library, Publications and Archives Committee as well as serving on the Executive Committee; Co-Chair of the Marketing and Development Committee and member of the Monitor Center Campaign Committee.

Mr. Freeman is a certified public accountant, licensed attorney, and the developer of Port Warwick an award winning $150 million dollar “smart growth” mixed-use community in Newport News, Virginia. In addition to serving on many boards, he is the founding member and chairman of the Newport News Public Arts Foundation, a public charitable foundation whose mission is to select and locate works of monumental sculpture throughout the City of Newport News.

Director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, Retired

Captain Barnum was elected to the Board of Trustees in March of 2011 and serves on the Collections, Library and Program Committee.

Captain Steven Barnum retired as the Director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey, where he served as the nation's chief hydrographer, responsible for overseeing NOAA’s hydrographic services, including the mapping and charting of all United States navigational waters. Barnum began his career with NOAA, in 1980 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Louisiana Tech University, a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from University of Maryland, and a Master of Science degree in software engineering from Johns Hopkins University. Barnum has received numerous awards which include two US Department of Commerce silver medals, the NOAA Corps commendation medal, the US Coast Guard achievement medal, and several NOAA sustained superior achievement medals.

Retired Former Vice Chairman, Landmark Communications, Inc., Norfolk, VA

Mr. Barry has been a member of the Board since January 2006. He served as Vice Chairman of the Board in 2009, chairman of the Development Committee and the Investment Committee, member of the marketing and development committees as well as the Finance, Pension and Audit and Library, Publications and Archives Committees.

Mr. Barry has served on the boards of the Chrysler Museum or Art, United Way of South Hampton Roads, Old Dominion University, Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts, and Obici Healthcare Foundation of Suffolk.

Partner, Williams Mullen, Richmond, VA

Mr. Cabell has been a member of the Board since January 2010. He serves on the Marketing & Development, and Investment Committees. Charles also serves on the boards of Brookfield Home for Girls, Ducks Unlimited, Hampden-Sydney College, and is President of The Cabell Foundation.

At Williams Mullen, he concentrates his practice in commercial real estate, representing high new worth individuals and advising private colleges and universities. His experience includes the acquisition, development, zoning, financing and leasing of commercial property with an emphasis on mixed use projects containing office, light industry uses, residential units and retail shopping centers. His business background facilitates his practice in construction finance and loan workouts for the lenders and borrowers. He has been chosen by his peers to be listed in The Best Lawyers in America^® in the practice area of Real Estate Law.

President, University of Virginia , Charlottesville, VA

Professor of English John Casteen became president of the University of Virginia in August 1990. As president, he has overseen a major restructuring of the University’s administrative and governance structures, one of the largest capital funds campaigns ever undertaken, significant improvements in academic programs, and major expansions of the University’s physical facilities. In this period, also, the University has been recognized for its leadership in educating minority students, for the quality of its undergraduate teaching, and for its success in refinancing itself following historic reductions in state tax support at the beginning of the decade.

According to the ByLaws of The Mariners' Museum the President of the University of Virginia holds a seat on the board during their tenure. Therefore Dr. Casteen has been a member since August of 1990. He has served on the Library, Publications and Archives Committees, the Executive Committee and the Development Committee over these many years. He has agreed to continue to serve on the board when he retires as President of UVA in August of 2010 and returns to his position of University Professor, Professor of English, and assumes the title of President Emeritus.

President, TowneBank, Williamsburg, VA

Ms. Conner has been a member of the board since January of 2009. She has served on the Marketing & Development, and the Finance & Pension Committees.

Anne C. H. Conner has been President of TowneBank in Williamsburg since February 2005. Prior to this date, she was Chief Executive Officer of Christopher Newport University Foundations from September 2004 to February 2005 and Senior Vice President of Bank of America from July 1986 to August 2004. Ms. Conner is a CNU graduate (class of ’91). She was recognized by Inside Business as one of the top 25 Businesswomen in Hampton Roads in 2003.

Founder and Principal, The London Group, Williamsburg, VA

Mr. Cooke has been a member of the board of trustees since January of 2009. He has served on the Executive, Audit, Finance & Pension and the Marketing & Development Committees. In December of 2008 the Board awarded Mr. Cooke with the Huntington Fellow Medallion for his generous commitment of energy and insight in preparing The Mariners' Museum for leadership and success in the Twenty-first Century.

John Cooke is an active consultant and advisor to corporate leaders throughout the world on broad matters of human resource management as it relates to corporate strategies and their effective implementation. In 1983 Cooke founded the London Group Inc. to consult on the strategic implications of human resource management. The firm’s initial focus was on the pre and post-event integration and management of human resources in business combinations (mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures). Over the course of 25 years this activity has accounted for about 30% of the firm’s assignments with such international companies as: Ford Motor, British Petroleum, Lafarge S.A., American Hoechst, AT&T, Contel, Comsat, Blue Circle Ltd., Penn Central and Sperry Corp.

Former Director, National Maritime Museum (retired) London

Sir Neil Cossons has been a member of the board since January of 2009. He serves on the Collections, Library & Programs committee.

Neil Cossons is a chairman, chief executive and board member of standing with a lifetime of experience in museums and the heritage. As a museum director, historian and industrial archaeologist he is well known as a broadcaster, writer and public speaker. He has advised at senior level museums and heritage agencies in Britain and overseas, conducted peer reviews of scholarship and research, led change management initiatives and published widely in these fields. From 2000 to 2007 he was Chairman of English Heritage, the United Kingdom Government's principal adviser on the historic environment of England.

Retired President and CEO, Dominion Enterprises, Norfolk, VA

Mr. Hall has served on the board since January of 2009. He is the chairman of the Investment Committee, member of the Executive, Finance & Pension Committees.

Mr. Hall joined Landmark Communications, Inc. in September 1970 and held several positions on the corporate staff, WTAR-TV and The Virginian-Pilot & Ledger Star. In 1985 he was named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Landmark. In 1989 he was named president of the newly formed Landmark Target Media, Inc. and in 1991; he became president and chief executive officer of Trader Publishing Company. In 2006, he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Enterprises, a new company formed from a reorganization of Trader. Mr. Hall currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Dollar Tree, Inc., ACCESS where he serves as secretary and treasurer, The Greater Norfolk Corporation, The Norfolk Academy, the Virginia Historical Society, and the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters. He is a member of the Board of Visitors of Old Dominion University and is chairman of the Administration and Finance Committee and a member of the Investment Committee of The ODU Educational Foundation. He is a past chairman of VMI Investment Holdings, LLC and past president of the VMI Foundation, Inc. where he continues to serve as a Trustee. He is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and the Darden Graduate School of Business. He served as an artillery officer in the United States Army.

Medical Director, Virginia Oncology Associates, Newport News, VA

Dr. Harden has been a member of the board since December of 2006. She has served on the Collections, Library & Program, Library Publications and Archives, Marketing & Development and the Facility, Park & Lake Committees. Dr. Harden is a graduate of Duke University Medical School. She has been in practice on the peninsula since 1991. In addition to being a senior partner with Virginia Oncology Associates and specialize in the treatment of blood and cancer disorders she is board certified in hematology and oncology. Dr. Harden practices primarily in Newport News.

President & CEO, T. Parker Host, Inc. Norfolk, VA

Mr. Host has been on the board since January of 2008. He serves on the Marketing & Development and the Collections, Library and Program Committees.

Mr. Host is a Newport News native. He graduated from Hampton Roads Academy, Hampden Sydney College. Mr. Host has been with T. Parker Host, Inc. since 1977 serving in the following capacities. President and CEO (2002 – Present); Executive Vice President (1993-2002); Assistant Vice President Operations (1982-1993); Export Manager (1979-1982); Agent (1977-1979) and he also serves as Chairman of T. Parker Host of Maryland, Inc.

President, Westwood Contractors, Inc. Hampton, VA

Ms. Hunnicutt has been a member of the board since December of 2006. She has served as Chairman of the Facility, Park & Lake, Executive, Marketing & Development, and Finance & Pension Committees.

In addition to volunteering for The Mariners' Museum Ms. Hunnicutt has also served on the boards of the Salvation Army, Virginia Air & Space Museum Foundation, Christopher Newport University Board of Visitors and School of Business, Board Member; Virginia Peninsula Rotary Member and Past President; and Ohio State University Presidents Club.

Royce R. & Kathryn M. Baker Vice President Productions, Publications & Learning Ventures The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

Mr. McCluney has been a member of the board since January 2010. He serves on the Collections, Library & Program Committee. Mr. McCluney directs Colonial Williamsburg’s Productions, Publications &Learning Ventures Division. Richard’s responsibility for outreach programming extends the educational mission of Colonial Williamsburg’s to national and world audiences primarily through the production and distribution of media – books, television, musical recordings, the World Wide Web, new media, and distance learning. Among McCluney’s responsibilities is teacher development and K-12 student resources advancing American history education.

McCluney joined Colonial Williamsburg in 1983 following a career in broadcasting, especially television news and documentary production. His experience includes both a creative and a technical background. At Colonial Williamsburg, McCluney has led the Foundation’s video, audio, motion picture, still photography, electronic engineering, theater operations, and the production of new and interactive media. The Foundation’s World Wide Web sites www.history.org, www.colonialwilliamsburg.com , and www.iCitizenForum.com have been developed under McCluney’s direction serving Colonial Williamsburg’s educational mission and museum marketing objectives. The Web sites have become key components of the Foundation’s educational outreach initiatives.

CEO and Owner Seakeepers Inc. Solomon’s Island, MD

Mr. McKenney has been on the board since January of 2007. He has served on the Collection, Library & Program, Trustee and Governance Committee & the Facility, Park &Lake Committee.

Mr. McKenney attended William and Mary undergraduate and graduate schools, earning BA in 1962 and BCL in 1964. He joined the Law Firm of Kaufman, Oberndorfer, Spainhour and Hall (predecessor to Kaufman and Canoles), serving as associate from 1964 to 1968 and Partner from 1968 to 1972. He was President and Co-Founder of Guest Quarters, Inc. 1972 to 1985. Owner and Chairman of The Hinckley Company, 1982 to 1997 and currently is CEO and Owner, Seakeeper, Inc. from 2002 to present.

Corporate Vice President and President Newport News Shipbuilding

Mr. Mulherin has been on the Museum’s board since December of 2008. He has served on the Facility, Park & Lake and the Marketing & Development Committees. Matt Mulherin is corporate vice president of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and president of Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va. Named to this position in 2011, he is responsible for all Newport News Shipbuilding engineering, operations and programs, to include the most complex ships in the world: nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines. Newport News Shipbuilding has approximately $3.5 billion in revenues and nearly 21,000 employees.
Mulherin most recently served as vice president and general manager of site operations at Newport News as part of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding since 2008. His responsibilities included programs for the company’s Newport News operations, where he successfully led the sector’s aircraft carrier design and construction programs, carrier refueling and overhaul programs, and the submarine program.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Tech in 1981 and began his career at Newport News the same year as a nuclear test engineer. Since then, he has held increasingly responsible positions, including nuclear project manager for Los Angeles-class submarines, director of facilities, director of nuclear engineering and refueling, and director of carrier refueling and overhaul construction. He also served as director and vice president for the next generation of aircraft carriers, the Gerald R. Ford class, and vice president of all programs to include shipbuilding and repair, Department of Energy and commercial energy.
Mulherin serves on the board of directors for the Shipbuilders Council of America and on the board of trustees for The Mariners’ Museum. He also serves on the distinguished advisory board for the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech and is a committee member of Greater Peninsula NOW.
Huntington Ingalls Industries designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. For more than a century, HII has built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. Employing nearly 38,000 in Virginia, Mississippi, Louisiana and California, its primary business divisions are Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding. For more information, please visit www.huntingtoningalls.com.

Director, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Mr. Powell was elected to the Board of Trustees in June of 2010. He graduated from Williams College with a double major in Art and European History and earned his Masters and Doctorate degrees from Harvard University. His field of expertise includes 19th- and 20th- century European and American Art. His military experience is in the US Navy from 1966 through 1969 and Commander, US Naval Reserve, from 1969 to 1980. Currently he serves as the Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Prior experience was as Director, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, 1980-1992; Executive Curator, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979-1980; Museum Curator, Senior Staff Assistant to the Assistant Director and Chief Curator, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1976-1978; Curator of the Michener Collection and Assistant Professor of Art History, University of Texas at Austin, 1974-1976 and Teaching Fellow in Fine Arts, Harvard University, 1970-1974.

President Emeritus, College of William and Mary; Former President and CEO The Mariners' Museum Williamsburg, VA

Mr. Sullivan was elected to the Board of Trustees in December of 2009. He serves on the Finance & Pension and the Collections, Library & Program Committees. Mr. Sullivan served as President & CEO of The Mariners' Museum from November of 2006 to November of 2009. Prior to The Museum Mr. Sullivan came to the College of William and Mary as a freshman in 1962. He left four years later with a bachelor’s degree in government, a Phi Beta Kappa key and membership in Omicron Delta Kappa. He became the 25th President of the College of William and Mary in 1992. He became President Emeritus in 2005.

After receiving a law degree from Harvard University in 1969, Sullivan went on to serve in the Army Signal Corps in Vietnam, where he received the Army Commendation Medal, First Oak Leaf Cluster Bronze Star, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal with three battle stars.

In 1981 and 1982, he was a visiting law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law. He served for nearly three years as executive assistant for policy for then-Governor Charles S. Robb. Sullivan returned to Marshall-Wythe in 1984, as the John Stewart Bryan Professor of Jurisprudence. He became dean of the law school in July 1985. He is a member of the Virginia State Bar and the Ohio State Bar, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Virginia Bar Foundation.

President of Fitzhugh-Wilson Real Estate, Inc., Newport News, VA

Ms. Wilson was elected to the Board of The Mariners’ Museum in January, 2006. She serves on the Facility, Park & Lake, Marketing & Development and the Ad Hoc Land Committees. She served on the Museum Development Council for many years and was Council Co-Chairman prior to becoming a trustee.

Ms. Wilson is a graduate of Hampton Roads Academy. She attended Mary Baldwin College, The Boston University School of Fine Arts Theater Division, and studied at St. Anne’s College at Oxford University in England. After working professionally in theater in New York City, Toronto, and Tanglewood in Lenox, MA, she returned to Newport News and graduated from Christopher Newport University.

Ms. Wilson is a third-generation Newport News real estate broker. She is the principal broker and owner of Fitzhugh-Wilson Real Estate, Inc. She is a Certified Residential Specialist (CRS) and has consistently received top regional production awards from the Virginia Peninsula Association of Realtors since founding Fitzhugh-Wilson Real Estate in 1992. Ms. Wilson began her real estate career as an associate realtor with Goodman Segar Hogan Real Estate in 1986.

Ms. Wilson served on the Peninsula Advisory Board for Peninsula Trust Bank and was a member of the Board of Tidewater Regional Repertory Theater. She is currently serving her second term on the Newport News Arts Commission.

President of the Abbitt Group, Inc., Newport News, VA

Mr. Wornom was elected to the Board in January of 2008. He has served on the Executive, Collections, Library & Program, Marketing & Development, and the Ad Hoc Land Committees. Mr. Wornom is the President of the Abbitt Group, LLC. and its subsidiaries. The Abbitt organization has significant involvement in Real Estate Brokerage, Land Development, Real Estate Investment Acquisitions, and Property Management. Abbitt Management, Inc. is a multi-state operation.

He graduated from Randolph Macon College in 1964. Upon leaving Randolph Macon, Charles worked as a chemist for the State Department of Agriculture in Richmond for two years. He then joined the United States Air Force and went through the Officer’s Training Program. He served four years and was discharged with the rank of Captain. After leaving the Air Force, he attended The College of William & Mary and obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. Upon completing this program, he joined the Abbitt Organization.