At its regular quarterly meeting held Monday at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville, Va., the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors elected Jacob A. Lutz III, partner, Troutman Sanders LLP of Richmond, Va., as its new rector.

John Lawson, president and chief executive officer of W.M. Jordan Co., Inc., of Newport News, was named vice rector.

Lutz succeeds Ben J. Davenport, Jr., of Chatham, vice chairman of the Future of the Piedmont Foundation. Davenport’s four-year term as a member of the board of visitors will expire June 30, 2006. He served as board rector for two years.

Lutz is chair of Troutman Sanders’ Financial Institutions Practice Group, which represents national banks, state banks, thrifts, credit unions, securities firms, insurance companies, and related financial services providers domestically and internationally. He also serves as faculty for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants National School of Banking at the University of Virginia and is a member of the board of directors for the Salvation Army.

Lutz has been a member of the board since 2000 and has chaired the board’s Finance and Audit Committee for the past four years. He is a graduate of Virginia Tech and received his Juris Doctorate degree from the College of William & Mary.

Lawson, also an alumnus of Virginia Tech, is the president and chief executive officer of the largest construction company based in Virginia with nearly 400 people. Under his leadership, W.M. Jordan Co. has achieved annual revenues exceeding $360 million The company has been ranked in Engineering News Record’s Top 400 Contractors in the U.S. for the past 25 years.

Lawson has been a member of the board since 2002 and has served as chair of its Buildings and Grounds Committee for the past two years. He received the Ernst and Young Virginia Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2004, the Lenora Mathews Lifetime Achievement Award from the Volunteer Hampton Roads in 2003, and the United Way Volunteer of the Year Award in 1997. The new Myers-Lawson School of Construction at Virginia Tech has been named after Lawson and his college classmate, Ross Myers.

The Board of Visitors is the governing body of Virginia Tech. The board is composed of 14 members, 13 of which are appointed by the governor and the 14th member is the president of the Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, who serves ex-officio. The term of office is four years.

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