In June, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam appointed financial manager Charles S. Reed Jr. ’11 to the UMW Board of Visitors. In addition, Sharon Bulova and Edward B. Hontz have been reappointed to second terms. The appointees will serve four-year terms, which will expire June 30, 2024. Reed succeeds Deirdre Powell White ’91, who has moved out of state.
A member of UMW’s James Farmer Legacy Council, in 2011 Reed was one of 40 college students nationwide to earn a place in the PBS 50th anniversary commemoration of the 1961 Freedom Rides. The 10-day bus tour traced the original bus route, and several of the first Freedom Riders participated. Reed called the trip “life-changing.”
The business administration major first learned about civil rights leader James Farmer, architect of the Freedom Rides, during a UMW first-year seminar on the life and legacy of the late history professor. The class propelled Reed to hold many leadership positions at Mary Washington. As a student, he received the Citizenship Award for Diversity Leadership, the James Harvey Dodd Scholarship in Business Administration, and the Emerging Leaders Diversity Scholarship.
In 2017, Reed received the Young Business Alumni Award.
Reed, who lives in Sterling, Virginia, with wife Missira Amuda ’12, is a manager for Federal Advisory Services Practice at KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services. He develops business and financial strategies to support federal clients.
Sharon Bulova was chair of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors from 2009-2019, had served as supervisor of the Braddock District in Fairfax County, and had led the board’s budget committee. She also had served as chair of the Council of Government’s “Greater Washington 2050 Coalition,” which led to the adoption of a regional planning initiative signed by all 21 of the Council of Government jurisdictions.
The Fairfax resident helped establish the Virginia Railway Express commuter rail system and has served on the its operations board since its inception. The 2009 recipient of Council of Government’s Elizabeth & David Scull Metropolitan Public Service Award, Bulova earned the Virginia Transit Association’s 2012 Local Public Official of the Year award. Her daughter is Karin Bulova Johansson ’91.
Edward B. “Ted” Hontz, a former Navy captain, is the vice president of Basic Commerce and Industries, Inc., in charge of the company’s Navy programs in Dahlgren, Virginia. While in the Navy, he served a year in Vietnam and participated in numerous military operations. He also fulfilled various on-shore duties, including as commanding officer of the AEGIS Training Center in 1995.
The Stafford resident was a member of the Stafford County Economic Development Authority and the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce board of directors. In 2015, he became a citizen member of the Mary Washington Healthcare board of trustees. A founding member of the Fredericksburg Military Affairs Council in 2006, he served on its board of directors until 2012. While chair, he took a lead role in promoting the establishment of UMW’s Dahlgren Campus, Center for Education and Research.
The Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce honored Hontz with the 2015 Prince B. Woodard leadership award. Hontz led the effort to establish a UMW student leadership cash award supported by an endowment funded by previous Prince B. Woodard award recipients.