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Honoring an Effective Trustee: Tom McMillen Wins Outstanding Director Award

February 11, 2015

The Washington Business Journal and the National Association of Corporate Directors have just announced the honorees for their 4th Annual Outstanding Directors Awards. Among them is The Honorable Tom McMillen, a great friend of ACTA and signatory to Governance for a New Era. He will be recognized along with the other award winners at a black tie gala at the Four Seasons Hotel, Washington, DC on March 19th.

ACTA nominated McMillen for his outstanding service on the University of Maryland’s Board of Regents and we are delighted that he has been selected. One would be hard pressed to find a more deserving board member—McMillen has pursued meaningful reform in the University System of Maryland to great success. During his tenure, Maryland has become a shining example of active governance, enacting impactful reforms focused on accountability and cost-cutting.

McMillen has been particularly vocal about the need to rein in athletic spending and to focus on academic success. In 2013, he introduced a plan to tie coaches’ bonuses to athletes’ academic progress. It was approved by the rest of the board in October and will apply to all new coaching contracts at Maryland’s state universities. ACTA is encouraging other schools to emulate the policy, which stands to vastly improve athletes’ degree completion rates.

We hope you will join us in congratulating McMillen—a true Renaissance man and effective leader—on this much-deserved honor. 

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Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives an intellectually rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.

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