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.

Mary Vee Connell

Mary Vee Connell, chair, comes from a distinguished career in the intelligence community, most of which was at the Central Intelligence Agency. She also served as deputy undersecretary of intelligence in the Department of Homeland Security. Connell received the National Intelligence Medal, the Secretary of Homeland Security Medal, and the CIA’s Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. Previously, she was an assistant professor of history at Southern Methodist University. She earned her BA at Cornell University and PhD in U.S. diplomatic history at the University of Virginia. Connell has served on several boards in Charlottesville, including the Charlottesville Symphony Society, Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Miller Center Governing Council.

Christopher "Kip" Acheson

Christopher “Kip” Acheson comes from an esteemed career in finance. He worked for First Interstate Bank as a senior vice president and northwest regional manager, serving nine years in Asia and Australia. He later joined a wealth management firm, where he counseled clients on retirement and estate planning strategies. In Portland, Oregon, he served on the boards of the Portland Art Museum and the World Affairs Council before retiring and moving to Charlottesville with his wife, Dr. Elizabeth Carr, in 2017. Acheson and his wife are proud UVA graduates.

Gordon C. Burris

Gordon C. Burris 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 BA degree from Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1965. In 1967, he received his MA degree in physical education from the University of Virginia.

Barbara J. Fried

Barbara J. Fried, ex officio, 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 BA degree and law degree from the University of Chicago and an MA degree in history from UVA.

Ashley Waters Gundersen

Ashley Waters Gundersen is an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia Law School, where she teaches a seminar on law enforcement policy and civil liberties and works pro bono with law students on asylum cases. She serves as a trustee of Saint Anne’s-Belfield School. Previously, she worked at the New York City Police Department as special counsel for intelligence affairs and counsel to the police commissioner. She began her law career at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in New York. Additionally, she maintained an extensive pro bono practice with an emphasis on asylum cases and served on the board of The Bronx Defenders.

John C. Jeffries Jr.

John C. Jeffries Jr., ex officio, is the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor of Law and counselor to the UVA president. 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 UVA Law School from 2001-2008 and accepted an appointment in University administration in 2018.

 B. Wistar Morris III

B. Wistar Morris III is a partner at Signature Family Wealth Advisors/Brown Advisory, where he advises families on asset allocation, portfolio construction, family and business succession, estate planning, and philanthropic strategies. He co-founded Signature’s Charlottesville office in 2007 and has led its growth to over $3.5 billion in client assets under management. Previously, Morris served as executive director and general counsel of the Miller Center Foundation and served as program director of the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Morris is past president, chair of the investment committee, and National Medallion Award winner of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Virginia; a director of Charlottesville Tomorrow; and a director of the H. Gordon and Mary Smyth Foundation. He is a graduate, magma cum laude, of Middlebury College and received his JD degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1989.