During its February meeting, the Board of Trustees of the Civil War Trust elected Lester "Ruff" Fant III as its chairman. His appointment followed the announcement by J. Roderick Heller III that he is stepping down after five years as chairman. Heller will remain on the board as chairman emeritus.

Fant is the founder and chairman of Galway Partners, L.L.C. and is corporate general counsel of the Cassidy Companies Inc. He was a partner in the law firm of Sidley and Austin until 1995. Fant is deeply interested in the Civil War and battlefield protection and serves on the Maryland Civil War Heritage Commission. He has restored a 19th-century farm on the Antietam battlefield and is restoring Airliewood, a 19th-century home in Holly Springs, Mississippi, that served as General Grant's headquarters during the first phase of his Vicksburg campaign.