Former PBMares CEO named 2021 Chamber board chair

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce on Friday elected Alan Witt, former CEO of Newport News-based accounting and consulting firm PBMares LLP, to serve as its 2021 chair of the board of directors. He succeeds 2020 Chair Paige Clay, a senior partner with Mercer.

Witt has been a Virginia Chamber of Commerce board member since 2016 and an executive board member since 2017, also serving as vice chair-Hampton Roads, vice chair-finance and, most recently, first vice chair. Witt announced his retirement from PBMares on Jan. 5  after 42 years with the top 100 accounting and business consulting firm he co-founded. He had served as CEO since 1979.

Before his time with PBMares, Witt worked with Newport News-based Eggleston Smith after graduating from Christopher Newport College (now Christopher Newport University). On Jan. 14, CNU announced that Witt had been named as an executive in residence at its Luter School of Business.

“As businesses continue to recover from the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I look forward to serving as chair and working closely with board, executive committee and chamber team to build on the work of 2020 and continue to support initiatives that will foster long-term recovery and economic resiliency,” Witt said in a statement. “Together, we will continue to lead the charge in promoting policy initiatives that support a competitive, pro-business climate that is good not only for Virginia business but for all Virginians.”

The board of directors also elected 13 new members and chose as its first chair Fred Thompson, a business partner and chief administrative officer with Reston-based Thompson Hospitality Corp. Linda Stanley, market president of Charlottesville and senior vice president and market executive of Greater Virginia with Bank of America, was elected treasurer.

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