The University of Lynchburg Board of Trustees has a new chair. Bob Lemon ’98 MBA, chief financial officer at Meriwether Godsey in Forest, Virginia, will replace Nathaniel X. Marshall ’83, who served the board as chair for the past three years.
“I am thrilled to welcome Bob into this new role during what is a time of great innovation at the University,” said President Dr. Alison Morrison-Shetlar. “I look forward to working alongside Bob and the board of trustees to ensure a strong and sustainable future for the institution. I want to thank Nat for his warm welcome, support, and steadfast guidance during my first year, and for all of his hard work steering the board through this pandemic.”
Marshall, a senior human resources specialist at Babcock & Wilcox in Lynchburg, led the board during the final years of former President Dr. Kenneth R. Garren’s 19-year tenure. He worked with the search committee that selected Morrison-Shetlar and helped the new president transition to campus in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It has been an honor to serve my beloved alma mater in this capacity, and I wish Bob all the best as he takes over as chair. I know he will do a fine job,” Marshall said.
Lemon has served on the board alongside Marshall since 2017.
“I’m truly excited to step up during this crucial time in our University’s history,” Lemon said. “There is so much happening at Lynchburg, and I can’t wait to harness the tremendous potential and vision that is represented by our board and on campus. I’m confident that together, we can accomplish amazing things.”
Lemon has led Meriwether Godsey’s finances for nearly six years, following more than 29 years at Fleet Laboratories, where he spent the second half of his tenure as CFO.
During that time, Lemon drove the strategy and operational components of the company’s finance, treasury, accounting, taxation, and information technology. He also provided leadership and support to business development, legal, risk management, property and casualty insurance, and employee compensation and benefits. He expanded Fleet’s finance and accounting functions to support international financial and managerial accounting, treasury, capital and financial planning, analysis, and taxation.
As a member of the executive leadership team, Lemon led or co-led a number of business development activities, including business and brand acquisitions, co-development partnerships, divestitures, and acquisitions. He led the restructuring of Fleet’s international companies to provide for the tax-efficient flow of capital among non-U.S. operations. He was instrumental in managing the impact of product litigation on the company’s liquidity and cash flow.
He also spearheaded the evolution of Fleet’s IT infrastructure from client/server architecture to a cloud-based SaaS and IaaS platform, significantly increasing the agility, scalability, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness of the company’s information technology services.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Virginia Tech in 1982, Lemon began his career at Deloitte, where he worked as staff to the senior auditor for nearly four years before joining Fleet Laboratories as an accounting manager in 1986. Over the next decade, he would advance to director of accounting and director of finance, before being named CFO in 2000. Lemon earned his MBA from Lynchburg in 1998.
