Chief Executive Officer
Mary G. Morris is Chief Executive Officer of the Virginia College Savings Plan (VCSP), an independent state agency which administers Virginia’s four 529 college savings plans – the Virginia Prepaid Education ProgramSM (VPEP), the Virginia Education Savings TrustSM (VEST), CollegeAmerica® and CollegeWealth®, each of which offers a different solution to assist families in saving for higher education in a tax-advantaged environment. Ms Morris directs and manages the operations, resources, and investments of the largest 529 college savings program in the country with over 2.1million accounts and assets under management of almost $36 billion as of June 30, 2011.
A former Treasurer of Virginia and a Virginia Senior Assistant Attorney General, Ms. Morris came to the Virginia College Savings Plan in 2007 from the national law firm of Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP (Kaplan Fox). As a tax, securities and bond expert, Ms. Morris was a member of the firm’s Institutional Investor Client Services Group, drawing on her knowledge of public financing and her public service experience to work with state and local pension funds and other institutional investors. A significant focus in her practice was on corporate governance and shareholder activism.
Prior to joining Kaplan Fox in 2002, Ms. Morris served a term as Treasurer of Virginia. As State Treasurer, Ms. Morris was the chief executive of the Department of the Treasury, which serves as the Commonwealth’s chief cash and debt manager and manages the concentration, investment, and disbursement of all State funds. She was responsible for the investment of the Commonwealth’s $7 billion General Fund and the issuance and management of all Commonwealth debt. She also served as Chairman of the Commonwealth Treasury Board and as a member of the Boards of the Virginia College Savings Plan, the Virginia Public Building Authority, the Virginia Public School Authority, the Virginia College Building Authority and the Debt Capacity Advisory Committee.
From 1994 to 1998, Ms. Morris served as the Senior Assistant Attorney General for Finance and Tax in the Office of the Attorney General. In that capacity she was primarily responsible for the legal work for 16 client agencies, boards and authorities including the Office of the Secretary of Finance, Department of the Treasury, Department of Taxation, Virginia Retirement System and Higher Education Tuition Trust Fund (now Virginia College Savings Plan). While serving in the Office of the Attorney General, she also was lead counsel for all Commonwealth tax litigation with issues including corporate income tax, state and local tax and individual income tax.
Ms. Morris received her Juris Doctor and Master of Law and Taxation from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. While Treasurer, she served as the Regional Vice President (Southern) of the National Association of State Treasurers (NAST). Ms. Morris currently is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the College Savings Plans Network and the College Savings Foundation.
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