University of Delaware Board of Trustees 2009
Current Officer Biographies
A. Gilchrist Sparks III, Esq., Chairman
A. Gilchrist Sparks III is a partner in the Wilmington law firm, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell. He graduated from Yale University in 1966 and then served on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, including a tour in Vietnam. He earned his law degree from University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1973. Mr. Sparks is a fellow of both the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Bar Foundation and a member of both the American Law Institute and the Board of Advisors of the University of Pennsylvania Institute for Law and Economics. He is co-chairman of the Delaware Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Delaware Uniform Rules of Evidence and of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance Advisory Board. Mr. Sparks is also a former chairman of the Delaware State Board of Bar Examiners. Co-author of Delaware Corporation Law and Practice and The Delaware Corporation: Legal Aspects of Organization and Operation, Mr. Sparks serves on the executive and planning committees of various national corporate and securities law institutes, and is a former member of the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Mr. Sparks was elected to the University of Delaware Board of Trustees in 2003 and was elected chairman in 2009. Previously he served as Chair of the Trustee Committee on Academic Affairs and the Audit Visiting Committee, and also served on the Trustee Committee on Finance, the Nominating Committee, the Executive Committee and the Athletics Visiting Committee. As chairman, Mr. Sparks appoints all Board committees, and he chairs the Executive and Compensation committees and serves as ex-officio on all Board committees.
John R. Cochran, Vice Chair
John R. Cochran started his financial career in 1973 in credit card banking and was a senior member of the management team that established MBNA in 1982. He was the chief operating officer of MBNA Corporation and chairman and chief executive officer of its principal subsidiary, MBNA America Bank. As head of business development at MBNA for more than 20 years, Mr. Cochran was responsible for gaining the endorsement of nearly 5,000 organizations, ranging from the National Education Association and Ducks Unlimited to NASCAR and Merrill Lynch. MBNA merged with Bank of America in January 2006. He retired from the bank in February 2008.
A graduate of Loyola University Maryland, Mr. Cochran developed the endorsed marketing concept that led to MBNA becoming one of the country’s largest direct marketers, with more than 40 million customers worldwide. He oversaw the growth of a regional credit card portfolio into one of the largest loan programs in the world.
Mr. Cochran is a member of the Board of Trustees of Loyola University Maryland and Christiana Care Health System. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Delaware Council for Economic Education and the Wilmington Country Club.
His service on the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware includes membership on the Finance, Honorary Degrees and Awards, Compensation and Executive Committees. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board and is Chair for the Committee on Public Affairs and Advancement.
Mary Jane Willis, Vice Chair
Mary Jane Willis holds a B.S. from West Virginia Wesleyan College, a M.A. from West Virginia University, and has completed more than 60 postgraduate hours. As an educator, Mrs. Willis has fifteen years experience in public education as a guidance counselor, a diversified cooperative training coordinator, and a teacher of gifted and talented students. She is an active member of Asbury United Methodist Church. At present, Mrs. Willis holds a number of public service positions including Director of KidsPeace National Board; Trustee of the Children’s Beach House; Director of BayHealth Medical Center; a member of the West Virginia Wesleyan College National President’s Advisory Council; member of the Delaware Court of the Judiciary’s Preliminary Investigatory Committee; and Director of the Hope Clinic. Other community and public service activities have included Delaware State Chairman of the United States Olympic Committee; Chairman of the Delaware State Public Integrity Commission; President of the Washington College Parents’ Council; Delaware Community Foundation Board; Delaware Co-Chair of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society; The United Way of Delaware Board; the University of Delaware Parent Association Board; the Dartmouth College Parent Board; the Delaware Environmental Appeals Board; the Kent General Hospital Board; the Kent General Foundation Board; Trustee of the Delaware Children’s Fire Safety Foundation; KidsPeace National Council for Kids; the American Cancer Society-Delaware Division Board; Director of the Schwartz Center for the Arts; President of American Association of University Women; and President of Delta Kappa Gamma. Mrs. Willis also attended the U.S. Army War College National Security Seminar. She and her husband Bill are with Willis GM Automall and Willis Ford of Smyrna, DE, and Middletown Chevrolet, Middletown, DE. She is a member on the Trustee Committees of Student Life and Athletics and Public Affairs and Advancement. She also serves on the Executive and Nominating Committees.
Carey M. Koppenhaver, Secretary-Treasurer
Carey M. Koppenhaver is Assistant Head of School and Director of Development at St. Anne’s Episcopal School in Middletown, Delaware. She is a graduate of St. Andrew’s School, holds a BA in English from the University of Delaware, Class of 1994, and received her Master of Arts in English Literature from Washington College in 1998. Prior to her work at St. Anne’s, Mrs. Koppenhaver served as Assistant Director of Admissions and taught English at West Nottingham Academy, a boarding high school in Maryland, and also taught English at St. Thomas More Academy in Dover. She has served on both the Alumni Board and Board of Trustees of St. Andrew’s School, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the John Dickinson Mansion and a member of Colonial Dames of America. A lifelong Delawarean, Mrs. Koppenhaver is married to Michael S. Koppenhaver, also a UD alumnus. They reside in Dover with their children, Emma and Alex. Mrs. Koppenhaver serves on the Executive Committee as well as the Trustee Committees on Student Life & Athletics, and Public Affairs & Advancement.
