In July, University President Scott Beardsley named Gregory Fairchild, dean and chief executive officer of U.Va. Northern Virginia, as head of the newly reconstituted search committee for executive vice president and provost. This is the University’s third search committee for the next permanent provost — Beardsley chaired the second committee until January, which paused its work in March. Brie Gertler has served in the role of interim EVP and provost since March 2025, when former EVP and Provost Ian Baucom departed for Middlebury College.
The role of EVP and provost, according to the Office of the EVP and provost website, is to advance “academic excellence” on Grounds, working alongside the president and other executive vice presidents to improve areas like academic affairs, administration and planning and enrollment.
The University’s first provost search committee formed following Baucom’s departure and it worked alongside the U.Va. Executive Search Group, an internal search group used to find candidates for lead executive and senior leadership roles within the University. The Executive Search Group is composed of 10 senior search consultants, recruiting associates and other staff.
Malo Hutson, School of Architecture dean and Edward E. Elson Professor, chaired the first search committee, and its final meeting was held in May 2025. The search failed for unclear reasons, but anonymous sources told The Cavalier Daily that Porter Wilkinson, former Board of Visitors vice rector, had a “highly unusual” role in the search process and vetoed a leading candidate.
The search commenced again with a newly constituted committee in September 2025, and the committee was chaired by Beardsley. Beardsley stepped down as chair in January after being appointed University president, and in March, Beardsley and Board Rector Carlos Brown paused the search, citing leadership turnover as a leading reason to restart the search at a later time with another newly constituted committee. Fairchild leads the third provost search, alongside the rest of the search committee and the U.Va. Executive Search Group.
In a written statement to The Cavalier Daily, Fairchild emphasized the new search committee’s diverse makeup, with individuals dedicated to finding the right person for the job.
"It's important to remember that I'm one of many serving on this provost search committee. While I have deep and longstanding connections in the U.Va. community through my own higher education path and through more than 25 years of work with leaders across the University, the search committee is composed of a variety of diverse minds who can help us find the right fit for the important role of provost,” Fairchild said.
Fairchild got his start with the University as a student in the Darden School of Business. After graduating from Darden in 1992, he worked as an assistant brand manager at manufacturing company Procter & Gamble before joining the teaching faculty at Darden in 2000. He has served in multiple roles, including as an assistant professor of business administration, academic director of public policy and entrepreneurship and the E. Thayer Bigelow research associate professor.
In addition to his roles as dean and chief executive officer of U.Va. Northern Virginia — which he was named to after the creation of U.Va. Northern Virginia in 2021 — Fairchild is the Isidore Horween research professor of business administration for Darden.
Fairchild also has a research history, and he is the author of the book “Emerging Domestic Markets.” In 2008, Fairchild was recognized for his research with a $850,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation with the purpose of studying the best practices in community development financial institutions — “lenders with a mission to provide fair, responsible financing to rural, urban, Native and other communities that mainstream finance doesn’t traditionally reach,” according to Opportunity Finance Network. Additionally, in 2010, Fairchild was named one of five high-impact research professors by the Financial Times.
The University’s campus in northern Virginia is located in the Rosslyn neighborhood of North Arlington and offers courses in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Education and Human Development, the Darden School of Business, the School of Continuing and Professional Studies and the School of Data Science.
Specifically, Fairchild shared that he is particularly impressed with the perspective and input of Mariam Parray, the search committee's sole student member, Jefferson and Echols Scholar and fourth-year College student. Fairchild said that Parray has important input in helping to ensure the new provost is supportive of University students.
“[Parray] has a valuable viewpoint to share in terms of how the person who accepts the provost role will interact with and support U.Va. students,” Fairchild wrote.
In terms of goals for finding a new provost, Fairchild shared the importance of finding someone who understands how to fulfill the University’s needs.
“We all have a vision of what a provost should be to the U.Va. community in particular,” Fairchild wrote. “From academic rigor, to AI in teaching and learning, to faculty and research support, it will be important to find someone who can step into the unique needs of U.Va. at this time."
Fairchild shared that he is excited and encouraged by the pool of talent the committee has to choose from, and he remains eager to work together with his committee peers and continue search discussions. According to a University media release July 23, the goal of the committee is to select a provost by the end of the calendar year.
Ruby Budetti is a staff writer on the news desk. She also works as a staffer for The Cavalier Daily social media team. She is a second-year student on the pre-Batten track and hopes to major in public policy and leadership.
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