Helen Dragas
By Peter Galuszka
The antagonist in the drama against Teresa Sullivan is a rich real estate developer from Virginia Beach who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Virginia, took over her construction firm from her father and is a major donor to political, mostly Democratic, causes.
Helen E. Dragas, 50, president of the The Dragas Cos., was appointed to the Board of Visitors of U.Va. by then Gov. Tim Kaine in 2008. Now Rector or chairman of the BOV, Dragas has been the moving force in the dramatic and secretive effort to remove university President Teresa Sullivan, one of the top academic in the country, after less than two years in office.
Both Dragas and Sullivan have something in common. Dragas is the school’s first female Rector and Sullivan is its first female president. While only giving vague hints at her displeasure with Sullivan, Dragas herself has come under intense fire for allegedly keeping at three of the 16 board members in the dark about her maneuvering to get Sullivan to resign, holding a legally questionable meeting to do so and then giving conflicting information about Sullivan’s alleged inadequacies as an academic visionary and administrator.
Dragas has complained that Sullivan lacked a needed long-term vision and philosophy for the school and fell behind on applying technology, such as online classes, to push Mr. Jefferson’s University into the future. On the contrary, reports The Washington Post, Sullivan had been lobbying to upgrade parts of the school that seemed to be resting on their laurels and had been advocating the use of digital classroom techniques to get undergraduates through introductory courses so more time could be spent in personal instruction in more advanced courses taken by upper classmen.
Sullivan’s outstanding popularity at U.Va. and Dragas’ secretive management tactics have sparked furor at the school.
Who is Dragas, anyway? According to business media articles, she is one of three daughters of a Greek immigrant who built a successful home construction firm operating in Virginia Beach and other parts of Hampton Roads. Helen Dragas started working part-time at the firm in its customer service section at age 13 and later attended U.Va., graduating with a bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs and economics in 1984. An MBA from the Darden School followed in 1988. Her husband is also a double Hoo grad, both College and Law.
Dragas took over the construction firm in the late 1990s and in 2009 won a national trade magazine’s award for “America’s Best Builder.” Her typical products are simple starter homes of about 1,500 sq.ft. each that cost about $200,000 in the typical, car-centric, cul-de-sac neighborhoods that define suburban sprawl.
In business, she defines herself as an “ultraconservative” in handling finances and even uses personal credit scores as a criterion for hiring a worker. “We have a very conservative way of managing our balance sheet,” she has said in interviews. “Emotional intelligence” is another trait she looks for in her employees. Her company has branched from residential into mixed use projects. The Dragas Co. received favorable publicity for replacing badly-made and unhealthy drywall imported from China that had been used in the condominiums it sold.
Her successful operation has generated political campaign contributions mostly to Democratic candidates. She gave more than $7,000 in 2008 to Jody Wagner, A Democrat who had run unsuccessfully for U.S. Congresswoman and as Lieutenant Governor, losing to Bill Bolling. Other recipients of her funds are PACs such as Moving Virginia Forward and One Virginia PAC where she has joined other prominent state political players as Sheila Johnson, Ted Leonsis and James Ukrop.
She also has been made a director of Dominion Resources and has been in contact with its public relations veterans and energy firm head Tom Ferrell about how to manage the catastrophe in Charlottesville.
For recreation, Dragas takes walks on the beach at dawn, attends her children’s sporting events and retreats to Albemarle County near Charlottesville where family members are forbidden to use cell phones and other technology devices.
According to a regional business magazine, Dragas was supporting Sullivan as recently as January. In an interview, she said: “I don’t consider myself the chief executive at U.Va. What I am is more like the chair of the board. My job really is to engage the board and include the board in setting the long-term direction for the university. The academic environment is one of shared governance, which is quite different than running a for-profit company.”
