R-MC Announces New Board of Trustee Members

Randolph-Macon College President Robert R. Lindgren and Board of Trustees Chair Sue Schick ’84 are pleased to announce the following appointments to the college’s Board of Trustees.

Reginald M. Barley ’74, Alice Nunnally Collins Fruth ’01, William S. Peebles IV and Graham Rashkind ’96 were elected as new Trustees. Desmond and Glenda Baker have been named Co-Chairs of the R-MC Parents Board and Desmond will serve as an ex-officio member on the Board of Trustees.  

Reginald M. Barley ’74

Reginald M. Barley graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 1974 with a B.A. in Political Science and earned his J.D at the College of William and Mary School of Law in 1977.  As an R-MC student, he received an American Association of Colleges and Universities International Studies Fellowship to study at the University of Graz, Austria in 1973.

Barley has been a member of the Virginia Bar since May 1977.  He was a Reginald Heber Smith Community Law Fellow in Birmingham, Alabama, where he was a poverty law attorney from 1977-78. He returned to Richmond in 1978 to serve as an attorney with the Richmond Neighborhood Law Society and in December 1979, he became the first African American employed as a lawyer in the Richmond City Attorney’s Office.  Barley currently has a private law practice in Richmond, Virginia.

Barley has played an active role in the life of R-MC. He currently serves on the Multicultural Alumni Association Advisory Board, was a member of the Board of Associates from 1996-98 and the Society of Alumni from 1999-2005. He has participated as a career speaker on campus and was the keynote speaker for R-MC’s 2013 Martin Luther King Day celebration.

Barley is active in his church and community through numerous civic organizations.

Alice Nunnally Collins Fruth ’01

Alice Nunnally Collins Fruth is a 2001 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Randolph-Macon College with a B.A. in French and Sociology.  She was also a member of Delta Zeta sorority.

While at R-MC, Fruth played lacrosse and field hockey.  During her senior year, she was a co-captain for the field hockey team and named first team Regional All American. She was also named to the ODAC All-Tournament Team in lacrosse.   She was named all-academic by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association in 2000 and all-academic by the National Field Hockey Coaches Association for three straight seasons (1998-2000). At R-MC’s 2001 Honors Convocation, Fruth received the Susan L. de Nagy Senior Athletic Award for outstanding athletic performance, academics, leadership and sportsmanship.

After graduation, Fruth served as an assistant field hockey coach and lacrosse coach at both Kenyon College in Ohio and Drew University in New Jersey. She returned to R-MC in 2003 as an assistant field hockey coach for two seasons. 

Following her collegiate coaching years, she returned to school and completed the Teacher Licensure Program at University of Richmond.  Fruth taught elementary school for the Goochland County Public Schools system before leaving to start a family.  She has coached field hockey for several years at her alma mater, the Collegiate School.

Fruth currently serves on the R-MC Yellow Jacket Club Board and the Athletic Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. She was also active with the 2016 Alumni Reunion Committee and is a former member of Young Alumni Board. Fruth is a board member at Childsavers in Richmond and is a former member of the Massey Alliance Board for Massey Cancer Center in Richmond, Virginia.

William S. Peebles IV

Billy Peebles has an A.B. in Politics from Princeton, and an M.B.A. from the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. He has also conducted graduate work at Virginia Theological Seminary. 

Peebles is in his 39th year of teaching and serving in independent schools. He served three, long-term headships with his longest stint at the Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia from 2003-2018. Prior to joining Lovett, Peebles was Headmaster at The Asheville School for ten years and at Powhatan School for seven years prior.

Currently, Peebles is the head at Powhatan School, an independent PK-8 school located east of Winchester, Virginia. Throughout his career, he has taught American Studies and Religious Studies.  He has also served on numerous accreditation committees and school boards through the years, including Episcopal High School in Alexandria and the Collegiate School in Richmond.

Peebles has numerous connections to R-MC including his sister, Mary-Peyton, who is a 1985 alumna. Other alumni who attended R-MC include his grandfather, William S. Jr. (1917-18), his uncle Charles (1949-51), and two great-uncles, Wesley (1914-15) and Marion (1919-21).

Peebles’s great-grandfather, W. S. Peebles, Sr., founded Peebles Department Store (originally the Peebles & Green clothing store) in Lawrenceville, VA, in 1891.

Graham Rashkind ’96

Graham Rashkind graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 1996 with a B.A. in English & Journalism.

Rashkind is the co-owner and managing broker of Rashkind Saunders & Co. Real Estate, an independent, residential real estate brokerage serving the Metro Richmond area. He is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the Commonwealth of Virginia with more than 20 years of experience leading sales and marketing professionals.

Recognized as a Distinguished Achiever by the Richmond Association of Realtors (RAR), Rashkind is a graduate of RAR’s Leadership Development Academy and serves on various committees within the association. He holds the designation of Senior Real Estate Specialist from the National Association of Realtors and has been recognized by Richmond Magazine as one of the area’s most-referred Realtors.

During his time at R-MC, Rashkind was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and served as President of the Interfraternity Council. After graduating, he stayed connected to the R-MC community by serving on both the R-MC Board of Associates (BOA) and the Executive Committee of the Society of Alumni. He chaired the 1990s Initiative for the BOA to help re-engage alumni from that decade. He has also served as a Class Agent for more than a decade.

The Rashkind Family has a long relationship with R-MC. Graham’s grandfather, Julian Rashkind, was a member of the R-MC Board of Trustees, and Graham’s father, Alan B. Rashkind, a 1969 graduate, was a member of the Board for 28 years, serving as Chair from 2009-2019. Graham’s uncle, Michael P. Rashkind, graduated from R-MC in 1971, and Graham’s wife, Cameron Morgan Rashkind, graduated from R-MC in 1994.

Desmond Baker

Desmond A. Baker is a native of Kingston, Jamaica, WI, where he attended elementary school through high school at St. Andrew Technical High (STATHS). He holds a Bachelor of Engineering and Master of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the City College of The City University of New York (CCNY-CUNY).

Baker began his engineering career with the Proctor & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, and joined The DuPont Company in Delaware in 1980.

In 1985, Baker started Desmond A Baker & Associates, LLC., a full service architectural and consulting engineering firm located in Wilmington, DE. The firm provides architecture, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection engineering services.

For his work in the consulting engineering field, in 1999 Baker was elected as one of two engineers in the state of Delaware as Fellows in The Consulting Engineering Council of America. He also has professional engineer registrations in the states of Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland, the District of Columbia and Jamaica, West Indies.

Baker is actively engaged with numerous professional and civic organizations. A Rotarian for 25 years, he is also past President of the Wilmington Caesar Rodney Rotary Club. He remains involved in local and international aid and community efforts sponsored by Rotary International. He is an active member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc (Wilmington Alumni) and the Kappa Achievement Center. 

Baker is the proud father of R-MC Yellow Jacket, Haley R. Baker ’21, a biology major with a minor in chemistry.