BUFFY BAREFOOT

BUFFY BAREFOOT

President — Virginia Beach, TowneBank, Virginia Beach

Buffy Barefoot describes herself “as a pretty steady Eddie.” During her 27-year career in finance, she has worked for only two companies, and she credits her steady rise to staying in her lane, keeping her nose down and doing the best job she could. “End of the day,” she says, “everything works out.”

As Virginia Beach president for TowneBank, Barefoot manages the bank’s largest region, with almost 30% of the market share in Hampton Roads, but she also finds time to mentor employees. She tells them that they need to invest in their careers and never stop learning. She also advises them to build relationships in the community, which might mean sitting on local boards and committees, or sometimes stepping out of their comfort zones. “You’ve got to go to that chicken lunch,” she says.

Barefoot doesn’t just talk the talk. A lifelong Hampton Roads resident, she has donated her time to local institutions such as Virginia Beach’s Neptune Festival, the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center and the Virginia Beach Rescue Squad. She also was a member of Lead Virginia’s 2021 class.

Perhaps ironically for a banker, Barefoot says that the best advice she ever got, which came from her father, concerned the ultimate value of money. “He told me that if money can fix a problem, it is not worth worrying about,” she says. “Money can’t buy happiness, health or family.”