--- title: Advocacy and Government Relations Committee date: 2026-06-02T15:46:00-04:00 author: Jiayu Kang canonical_url: "https://umcpf.umd.edu/board-trustees/committees/advocacy-and-government-relations-committee" section: Pages --- # Advocacy and Government Relations Committee *Board of Trustees* **Advocacy and Government Relations Committee** The Advocacy and Government Relations Committee assists the board by reaching out to the Maryland community and stakeholders (including elected and appointed officials, business executives, alumni, faculty, students, civic and community leaders, and the general public) to advance higher education in general and the University, in particular while promoting their human, social, educational and economic impact. The Board has delegated authority to the Committee to: review and assess legislation and/or policy at the local, state and national levels relative to the foundation and/or university; create and coordinate with University staff the board’s advocacy and government relations outreach strategy and related activities in support of the Foundation’s and University’s priorities; collect data regarding trustees’ legislative districts and any relationships with federal, state and local officials to inform execution of board’s advocacy and government relations outreach strategy; and develop with University staff informational materials to brief trustees and other stakeholders on matters of federal, state or local government policy relative to the Foundation and/or University. ### Chair: Laura Scheeler - **Laura I. Scheeler** — Principal and COO, Resource Solutions, Inc. - **Arthur H. Adler** — Managing Member, Caves Valley Partners LLC - **Ethan Brown M.P.M. ’97** — Founder & CEO, Beyond Meat - **Richard D. “Rick” Davis M.A. ’84** — Retired Executive Vice President of News Standards and Practices, CNN - **Leonard J. "Len" Elmore ’74** — Senior Lecturer in Sports Management, Columbia University - **Ashley Manning Foxworth ’06** - **Randall "Randy" Lord ’77** — Retired Partner, Jackson Lewis P.C - **Singleton B. McAllister ’75** — Attorney, Husch Blackwell - **Jingli Yang Ph.D. ’95** — CEO, Earth Resources Technology, Inc. ## Committee Staff --- - **Virginia Meehan** — Executive Director for Government Relations