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Former Va. Treasurer Named Head of College Savings Plan
Richmond, Va. – The Board of the Virginia College Savings Plan today announced its selection of Mary G. Morris – a tax, securities and bond attorney, as well as a former Treasurer of Virginia and a Virginia Senior Assistant Attorney General representing all of the state’s finance agencies – as the 529 college saving program’s new executive director.
She replaces Diana F. Cantor, the founding executive director who launched and expanded Virginia’s 529 plans into the largest college savings program in the country. Cantor will serve as executive director emeritus until she joins Howard Milstein’s New York Private Bank & Trust early next year.
Morris comes to the Virginia College Savings Plan from the national law firm of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, where she worked with public pension funds across the country on securities and corporate governance issues. She holds a J.D. and a Master of Law and Taxation from the College of William and Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law.
Senior legal counsel to the Virginia College Savings Plan in its formative years in the mid-1990s, Morris is again working closely with Cantor and the agency’s directors to ensure a smooth transition for the Virginia Prepaid Education Program’s (VPEP) 2007-2008 enrollment period opening on December 1 and the launch of the new CollegeWealth 529 bank product plan.
Board Chairman Frank M. “Rusty” Conner III praised Morris as a leader with strong legal, finance and management expertise, as well as a keen interest in higher education. “She brings together experience with the Virginia College Savings Plan in its early years and an acute awareness of how the program can grow to help more families,” Conner said.
Added Morris, “I am honored to be selected to join the Virginia College Savings Plan and have the opportunity to work with the agency’s talented staff, the Board and the plans’ advisors as we take what I consider the best 529 program in the country into the future.”
“Diana Cantor had the vision, determination and skill to create 529 plans which are recognized nationally,” said Morris. “I look forward to building on the firm foundation we have to fulfill the mission of the Virginia College Savings Plan to enhance the accessibility and affordability of higher education for all citizens of the Commonwealth.”
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