Two appointed, two reappointed to Virginia Tech Board of Visitors

Two new members will join the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors July 1 having recently been appointed by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam.

The new board members are Edward H. “Ed” Baine of Chesterfield, Virginia, senior vice president for distribution for Dominion Energy’s Power Delivery Group, and Preston M. White of Virginia Beach, Virginia, chief executive officer of Century Concrete.

Northam also reappointed Mehul Sanghani of Vienna, Virginia, founder and chief executive officer of Octo Consulting Group, and Horacio Valeiras of La Jolla, California, chief executive officer of Frontier Global Partners, LLC.

“I am pleased to welcome Ed and Preston to the board, and delighted Mehul and Horacio will continue to serve with us for another four years,” said Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. “Each of these distinguished leaders has demonstrated his commitment to serve, not only through their professional careers but also through their commitment to their community. Virginia Tech is fortunate to have these individuals working on our behalf to make our university stronger and more engaged in the commonwealth and beyond.”

Baine, Sanghani, Valeiras, and White all are graduates of Virginia Tech and all are members of the university’s Ut Prosim Society. Their terms on the board will run from July 1, 2018, through June 30, 2022.

Edward H. “Ed” Baine

As senior vice president, Baine is responsible for all facets of Dominion Energy’s regulated electric distribution business that provides electricity to approximately 2.6 million customer accounts in Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. He joined the company in 1995 as an associate engineer and has held numerous engineering, operational, and management positions within the company.

Baine is a member of the boards of directors of the Dominion Energy Credit Union, ChamberRVA, Venture Richmond, the Capital Region Collaborative and the Chesterfield Public Education Foundation.

In addition, he serves on the boards of directors of the Southeastern Electric Exchange, the Virginia Tech Athletic Fund, MEGA Mentors, and the American Association of Blacks in Energy, as well as the Edison Electric Institute’s National Response and the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies' Power Delivery executive committees.

Baine graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. In 2017, he received the Anthony R. James Legacy Award for Outstanding Community Service at the Career Communication Group’s Black Engineer of the Year Award STEM and Community Service Conference. He also received the Metropolitan Business League Oliver Singleton Humanitarian Award.

In April, Baine received one of seven Influential Black Alumni Awards during Virginia Tech’s Black Alumni Reunion. One of his four sons, Kyle, is an entering freshman in the College of Engineering.

Preston M. White

Just three years after graduating from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in building construction, White founded and has served as chief executive officer of Century Concrete since 1966. The company specializes in structural concrete for high rise buildings and infrastructure, concrete paving for airfields and industrial applications, sound barrier walls, all concrete for steel frame buildings and various concrete foundation systems.

White currently serves on the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation-HR Leadership Council, and on the executive council of Virginia Tech’s Myers Lawson School of Construction.

In 2009, White was appointed to the Christopher Newport University Board of Visitors and served as rector for three years. He is currently a member of the board of trustees for The New E3 School in Norfolk, Virginia.

In 2008, White and his wife, Catharine, established an endowment in support of the Myers Lawson School of Construction to support the Preston and Catharine White Faculty Fellowship Program.

Mehul Sanghani

Sanghani is the founder and chief executive officer of Octo Consulting Group – a nationally recognized and award winning technology-solutions firm located in Northern Virginia and serving the federal market. Octo specializes in providing agile software development, data visualization, data analytics, and strategy services for the classified U.S. intelligence community and the government health information-technology market.

Sanghani serves on the boards of directors for the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Pamplin College of Business Advisory Council, the Pamplin Finance Advisory Board, and Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region Leadership Council.

A native of Blacksburg, he is a member of Virginia Tech’s Class of 1998 and has earned separate bachelor’s degrees in industrial and systems engineering in the College of Engineering and psychology in the College of Science.

Horacio Valeiras

Prior to being chief executive officer of Frontier Global Partners, LLC., Valeiras was the principal of HAV Capital LLC and worked at Allianz Global Investors Capital LLC as managing director, chief investment officer, portfolio manager, and member of the management board.

Earlier in his career, Valeiras developed and oversaw the global core equity and European tactical asset allocation programs at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. From 1992 to 1996, he was a partner at Miller, Anderson & Sherrerd, responsible for international equities and asset allocation.

Valeiras is a C.F.A. charter-holder. He earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Virginia Tech, a master’s degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. 

A former chairman of the Virginia Tech Foundation Board of Directors, Valeiras is a member of the College of Engineering Academy of Engineering Excellence.

At the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors meeting in June, Valeiras was selected to serve as vice rector for the 2018-19 year pending his reappointment. Rector Dennis Treacy will serve his second one-year term as rector next year.