W&L Welcomes New Trustees Cindy Hauser ’92, Charlie Prioleau ’82 and Michael Spencer ’96L All three were sworn in as trustees on Oct. 20.

W&L Office of Communications and Public Affairs
October 20, 2023

Cindy D. Hauser ’92, Charles H. (Charlie) Prioleau ’82 and Michael H. Spencer ’96L joined the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees on Oct. 20, at the board’s fall meeting in Lexington.

Hauser graduated from W&L, magna cum laude, with a B.S. in chemistry. She received an M.S. from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She currently serves as associate dean for educational policy and professor of chemistry at Davidson College, where she delights in teaching at the intersection of analytical and environmental chemistry.

At Davidson, Hauser has taught courses in topics from Environmental Health to Instrumental Analysis, many team-taught and interdisciplinary, with a current focus on inclusive pedagogical approaches. She has mentored more than 100 undergraduate student research experiences spanning atmospheric air quality to her current NIH-supported work investigating the physical and chemical characteristics of waterpipe tobacco smoke. In addition to teaching and research, she has served on over twenty committees, working groups and task forces including professional affairs, assessment, premedical, sustainability and strategic planning, and has chaired the departments of environmental studies and chemistry.

Hauser has shared her environmental interests with the community through the Mecklenburg County Air Quality Board, Clean Air Carolina and Citizen Science Projects. As an alumna, she served W&L as a member of the Science Advisory Board.

Hauser and her husband, Bryan, live in Davidson, North Carolina and have two daughters: Ana (W&L Class of 2025) and Autumn, a first-year student at Wake Forest University.

Prioleau graduated from W&L with a B.A. in chemistry and earned his M.B.A. in finance from The University of Texas at Austin. He has more than 30 years of corporate finance and investment banking experience. Prior to retiring from banking in 2008, he was a vice chair at BMO Capital Markets, having served as executive managing director and group head of BMO’s U.S. Energy & Power Group. Before joining BMO, he was a managing director at UBS/PaineWebber and head of its energy investment banking office in Houston, Texas. He started his investment banking career with J. P. Morgan & Co. in New York City, and spent several years at Kidder, Peabody & Co. in its energy investment banking group in Houston.

In 2008, Prioleau co-founded a private oil and gas company and served as its CFO and board member. He continues to be active in finance and investments; he currently actively manages a family office, various family partnerships, and is general and managing partner of the Prioleau Family Limited Partnership.

As a student, he played varsity soccer and was a member of Kappa Alpha Order. As an alumnus, he has served W&L as a Class Agent, on four reunion committees, including co-chairing his 35th reunion, two capital campaign committees and as a member of the Houston alumni chapter.

Prioleau lives in Houston with his wife, Mimi. They have two children: Wilson (W&L Class of 2016) and Carolyn (Stanford University Class of 2012).

Spencer received his J.D. from W&L’s School of Law and holds a B.B.A. in finance with a minor in economics from James Madison University. He serves as a corporate executive for a publicly traded global enterprise software services company. In his role as chief counsel and chief ethics and compliance officer, he leads an international department of attorneys and compliance professionals in maintaining the company’s ethics and compliance program.

Previously, Spencer served as an expatriate in Hong Kong for a Fortune 500 company as a corporate chief ethics officer for Asia with responsibility over India, China and Japan. He also served as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of West Virginia and a law clerk for the late Honorable Elizabeth V. Hallanan, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Spencer currently serves as a board trustee of Cambridge Christian School. While at W&L, he was managing editor of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse Journal and a member of Phi Alpha Delta and the Black Law Students Association. As an alumnus, he has served as president and vice president of W&L’s Law Council, the governing board of the Law Alumni Association.

Spencer and his wife Katrina have two daughters and live in the Tampa Bay, Florida area.