VTS magazine

Earlier this year, the Very Rev. Ian S. Markham, Ph.D., announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2027-28 academic year.

His retirement will conclude 21 years of transformative leadership as the dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), and six years as the president of The General Theological Seminary (GTS), a role he assumed following the Affiliation Agreement between the two seminaries.

The announcement triggered the start of the search process for the next dean and president of both seminaries. The Boards of Trustees of VTS and GTS appointed a Search Committee, whose membership represents a range of stakeholders, to lead the process and it engaged the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller.

During the spring, more than 25 in-person and online listening sessions were held with stakeholders from both seminaries, including students, faculty, alumni, bishops, and friends. One session was also conducted in Spanish. The position profile for the next dean and president was drawn up following these sessions and published in July, at which point the seminaries started accepting nominations and applications.

The Search Committee is now working through these applications, identifying and evaluating potential candidates, with the aim of holding first-round interviews in mid-winter. The aim is to announce the new dean and president in early summer 2027, although the successful candidate will not take up the post until July 2028 when Dean Markham retires.

It is not too late to share a name. Nominations and suggestions of potential candidates are still welcome, and can be submitted through the dedicated IM webpage

Dean Markham’s tenure has been marked by a deep commitment to excellence in theological education, with the two seminaries offering outstanding Master of Divinity programs in both residential and hybrid modalities. He has attracted and supported an outstanding faculty and senior leadership team, recruited an increasingly diverse student body, and fostered a strong culture of faculty scholarship, teaching, formation and institutional health, leading the seminaries with courage and conviction.

During his time at VTS, Dean Markham oversaw the creation of a Reparations Program, under which VTS became the first educational institution in the United States to make annual cash payments in perpetuity to the descendants of those who labored on its campus during slavery and the Jim Crow era. The initiative formed part of a broader institutional commitment to acknowledge participation in oppression in the past and work towards healing and justice in the future.

Dean Markham also ensured the long-term stewardship and renewal of the campus, leading two major capital campaigns at VTS. The first funded the construction of a new chapel after the historic 1881 chapel was destroyed by fire. The second campaign, undertaken to mark VTS’ Historic Bicentenary, enabled the renovation of several historic buildings and addressed deferred maintenance across the campus.

In 2022, Dean Markham led the affiliation between VTS and GTS, under which the two seminaries continue to operate as separate institutions with distinct identities and their own accreditation, endowment, and boards, while sharing an overlapping governance structure and executive leadership team – establishing a new model for cooperation and shared mission. In 2025, he oversaw the lease of GTS’ historic home in New York City, the Close, to Vanderbilt University. Under the terms of the lease, GTS retains a year-round presence on the Close and continues to hold its intensive weeks there.

Dean Markham said: “It has been a profound privilege to serve as leader of these two institutions, and I am deeply grateful to the staff, students, faculty, and board members who have walked this path with me. I remain humbled by the trust I was given and by the chance to serve our shared mission. I look to the future with confidence and hope as my successor leads these seminaries into fresh possibilities.”