The Virginia Tech Board of Visitors appointed Jim Miller as rector Tuesday, less than a week after Gov. Abigail Spanberger removed John Rocovich from the role and the board.
Miller will serve as rector, or head, of the governing board of the university for the 2026-27 year beginning on July 1. The 13-member board voted unanimously to elect him rector.
Nancy Dye was unanimously appointed vice rector Tuesday. She is also currently heading the search for a new university president to replace Tim Sands, who in April announced plans to step down.
Miller was appointed to the board in 2024 by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin. He is the founder and CEO of Quantum Leap Research, a national security and technology company based in Leesburg.
He is also an alumnus of Virginia Tech and chair of the board’s finance and resource management committee.
“As rector, one area I plan to devote significant energy toward over my term is helping ensure that the university is prepared to make a generational leap forward with respect to research,” Miller said during the board meeting Tuesday afternoon.
“You’re going to see a lot of energy directed in that general vicinity here between now and the August board meeting, so keep on the lookout, because we have a lot of work we want to accomplish.”
Both Miller and Dye were the sole nominees for the position from the board’s nominating committee, which includes board members William Holtzman, Ryan McCarthy and Jeanne Stosser.
The vote came on the heels of another debate over how long a member should be allowed to serve as rector. Rocovich was elected rector in 2025 after the board changed its bylaws to allow a member to serve a third term in the position.
During a committee meeting Monday, the board considered, but ultimately backed away from, a proposal that would have allowed an unlimited number of terms for the board’s rector and vice rector positions.
Instead, members opted to keep the current limit of two one-year terms.
Rocovich was removed before his most recent term ended, with Spanberger accusing him of conduct that violated the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors’ Code of Ethics, the code of conduct for state appointees and governing statutes “requiring board members to act in accordance with the best interest of Virginia Tech.”
Rocovich has argued that that “no such grounds” for his removal exist and called Spanberger’s move “deeply offensive” and “legally unsupported.”
In a letter sent to Secretary of the Commonwealth Candi Mundon King’s office last week, he said he would not step down but he did not make an appearance at this week’s board meetings in Blacksburg Monday or Tuesday.
