Stewart H. Gamage

Ms. Gamage is the founder of S. Hamilton Consulting which specializes in strategic positioning and issues management focused on women’s leadership, social justice and racial reconciliation.

Ms. Gamage served for 11 years as Program Director of Morven, a 3,000-acre property given to the University of Virginia by John W. Kluge. Programs included a Women’s Global Leadership Forum and the creation of the Presidential Precinct.

Her work draws upon a wide range of public and private sector experience. Prior to joining the University of Virginia, Ms. Gamage served for almost 15 years as Vice President for Public Affairs at William and Mary with responsibility for federal and state government relations, public affairs, and economic development. Prior to her work in higher education, she served as Chief Operating Officer of APCO Associates, one of the largest public affairs firms in Washington, D.C.

In the nation’s capital, Ms. Gamage worked as Policy Director in the Office of the House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, Director of the Virginia Liaison Office and Senior Assistant to Governors Charles Robb and Gerald Baliles, and Associate Deputy of Intergovernmental Affairs at the White House. She served as staff to the Select Committee on Ethics and Assistant to the Chair of the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs in the US House of Representatives. In 1999, Ms. Gamage was appointed to the Commission for Presidential Scholars by President Bill Clinton.

Ms. Gamage graduated summa cum laude from William and Mary in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and earned her MPA from the Washington Public Affairs Center at the University of Southern California in 1979.

She is a founding director of the Phoenix Project, an initiative to prepare Virginia’s next generation of leadership while building partnerships between higher education and distressed communities. Ms. Gamage has served on the state board of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and the national board of Women Executives in State Government. She is also a
founding member of the board for the Pamela Harriman Foreign Service Fellowships. At William and Mary, Ms. Gamage was elected to the Board of the Society of the Alumni and served as Vice Rector of the Board of Visitors.

In 2005, she received the Governor’s Award for Community Service from Governor Mark Warner.

Ms. Gamage has two children, Graves and Forbes Tompkins, and resides in Richmond, Virginia.