Presidential Library announces honorary chair, new trustees

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library Foundation today announced that its Board of Trustees has appointed Peter F. deVaux as Honorary Chair of the Foundation, the third person so honored in the 71 year history of the Foundation. The Foundation also announced the election of Stephan W. Milo of Staunton, Virginia; Haskell Rhett of Afton, Virginia; and R. Reed Whitaker of Kansas City, Missouri; as new Trustees for three-year terms that will begin on July 1. 

Dr. A. Stanley Link, Jr., Chair of the Board of the WWPL, said, “We are pleased that Pete has agreed to serve as Honorary Chair and that Steve, Haskell, and Reed are joining the Board. Along with the leadership of Don W. Wilson as our incoming President, Pete and these new Trustees will provide expertise and experience to the Foundation and will ensure that there are exciting times ahead for the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum.”

Peter deVaux served as Chair of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library from 1999 to 2007. His career included senior financial executive positions at two advertising firms, Young and Rubicam in New York and Chiat/Day in Los Angeles, before he retired to Augusta County. After he completed his service as Chair of the Foundation, he and his wife, Paula, moved to British Columbia, Canada.

Stephan Milo is a partner in the Staunton office of Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver, a Harrisonburg, Virginia-based law firm. His areas of practice include the law governing nonprofit organizations and the law governing wills, estates, and trusts. He is a graduate of Bridgewater College and Seton Hall University School of Law and has been named one of “Virginia’s Legal Elite” and one of the “Best Lawyers in America” by Virginia Business magazine.

Haskell Rhett is President Emeritus of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. He has served as President of The College Board, Director of the Educational Testing Service, and Assistant Chancellor of Higher Education for New Jersey. He has a Ph.D. and Master’s degree from Cornell University and completed fellowships at Harvard University and the University of London.

Reed Whitaker is Regional Administrator of the National Archives at Kansas City. He is a professional archivist with degrees in history and political science and was co-chairman of the 1990 Eisenhower Centennial. He has served under six Archivists of the United States, including incoming WWPL President Don Wilson.

Mr. deVaux succeeds the late Dolores Lescure, who served as Honorary Chair for 13 years beginning in 1993. The late Dr. Arthur S. Link, a famous Wilson scholar, was the Foundation’s first Honorary Chair. The three new Trustees are replacing retiring Board members Hampden H. Smith, III, of Lexington; Rita M. Smith of Richmond; and Wilson F. Vellines, Jr., of Staunton; who were appointed as Associate Trustees of the Foundation.