The Miller Center Foundation was established in 1987 to support the work of the Center and function as an ambassador to the public on behalf of its initiatives and programs. The Foundation is governed by its board of directors.

Joseph R. Gladden Jr.

Joseph R. Gladden Jr., Chair, ex officio, Miller Center Governing Council-appointed director, is a former executive with The Coca-Cola Company. As executive vice president and general counsel at the time of his retirement from a 16-year career there, Gladden had responsibility for the worldwide legal function of the company. Before joining Coca-Cola in 1985, he spent 17 years with the law firm King & Spalding. An alumnus of the University of Virginia School of Law, Gladden has an LLB degree and is on the board of directors of Emory Healthcare and the University of Virginia Physicians Group. He and his wife, Sally, co-chair the Monticello Cabinet.

Leonard W. Sandridge

Leonard W. Sandridge, Vice Chair, at-large director, is former executive vice president and chief operating officer of the University of Virginia. Sandridge joined the University in 1967 as a member of the internal audit staff and served the next 44 years in positions of progressive responsibility under five University presidents. He received a bachelor of science degree from the University of Richmond and a master of science degree from UVA. He is a member of the board of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation and a trustee of the University of Richmond. He also serves on the Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments. 

Gordon C. Burris

Gordon C. Burris, at-large director, returned to the University of Virginia in 1991 to serve as special assistant to President John T. Casteen III. Burris was named head soccer coach for the University in 1966. He went on to work as head coach in tennis and golf; assistant dean of admissions; and assistant director of the Alumni Association, where he was part of the team that developed the Legacy Admissions Program and the Jefferson Scholarship Program, and became its first director. In the late 1980s, he returned to athletics, where he served as assistant athletic director and director of development for major gifts. He played a role in raising the funds for the McCue Center and Klöckner Stadium. From 1989 to 1991, Burris was director of the Maryland Education Foundation at the University of Maryland. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1965. In 1967, he received his master’s degree in physical education from the University of Virginia.

Barbara J. Fried

Barbara J. Fried, ex officio, University-appointed director by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, is chair emerita and former general counsel and executive vice president of Fried Companies Inc., a real estate development and property management firm based in Ruckersville and Crozet. She is a director of the UVA Foundation, member and immediate past chair of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership State Advisory Board, and a former director of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. Fried is a former member of the Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners and a former trustee of the George Mason University Foundation. Fried is active in many community organizations in and around Crozet. She earned a bachelor’s and a law degree from the University of Chicago and a master’s degree in history from UVA.

John C. Jeffries Jr.

John C. Jeffries Jr., ex officio, is Senior Vice President for Advancement at the University of Virginia and the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law. His primary research and teaching interests are civil rights, federal courts, criminal law, and constitutional law. Jeffries has co-authored casebooks in civil rights, federal courts, and criminal law and has published a variety of articles in those fields. He also wrote a biography of Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. Jeffries served as dean of the Law School from 2001-2008 and accepted an appointment in University administration in 2018.

Daniel P. Jordan

Daniel P. Jordan, at-large director, is president emeritus of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Inc. and a partner at Bryan & Jordan Consulting LLC. From 1985 to 2008, he headed the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and was a “scholar in residence” at the University of Virginia. Jordan is the author of three books, including Political Leadership in Jefferson’s Virginia, as well as more than 80 articles, essays, and reviews. He received his bachelor of arts degree in English and history and his master’s degree in history from the University of Mississippi, and his doctorate in history from the University of Virginia, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He is the former chairman of the advisory committee for the National Park System, former vice chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a former member of the Miller Center Governing Council.

Paula F. Newcomb

Paula F. Newcomb, at-large director, is president of Expedition Trust Company. From 2008 until 2013, she served as president of VNBTrust, N.A. She joined Virginia National Bank in early 2006 in anticipation of the formation of a separate subsidiary for trust and investment services. From 1993 to 2004, Newcomb was director of development and public affairs for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. Prior to that, she held senior management positions at the University of Redlands and St. Lawrence University. Newcomb is on the Focused Ultrasound Foundation Council; the Westminster Canterbury of the Blue Ridge Foundation Board; serves as a Big Sister; is a former volunteer, director, and chairman of Piedmont CASA; and a former director of Charlottesville Tomorrow. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Franklin & Marshall College in 1977.