People – October 2018

SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Shenandoah University in Winchester promoted Vice President for Academic Affairs Adrienne Bloss to become the first provost of the university. Bloss began working for Shenandoah in 2013 after serving as associate dean for academic affairs and institutional relations at Roanoke College. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Gov. Ralph Northam appointed and reappointed several Shenandoah Valley residents to the board of trustees of the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia in Staunton, including: David W. Bushman, president of Bridgewater College; Dianne Fulk, administrative assistant of the Honors College at James Madison University; Clifford Garstang, an Augusta County writer; Emmett W. Toms of Waynesboro, who works for Dominion Energy; and Kenneth Venable of Staunton. (News release)

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research’s board of trustees has added an advanced manufacturing division, led by director Troy Simpson. He led Danville Community College’s curriculum development and implementation for advanced manufacturing. (Danville Register & Bee)

New hires at Danville Community College include: Traci Daniel, leader of the college’s early childhood education program; Chris Ford, director of learning resources and distance learning; and Kevin Gatewood, student activities coordinator. (Danville Register & Bee)

CENTRAL VIRGINIA
University of Lynchburg President Kenneth Garren announced in late August that he will retire in 2020 after 17 years at the helm of the school formerly known as Lynchburg College. (The News & Advance)

Former Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker has become an economics professor at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business. Lacker resigned from the Richmond Fed in April 2017 after he revealed he inadvertently confirmed the accuracy of information given to a Medley Global Advisors analyst. He served as a visiting scholar at New York University’s Stern School of Business for the 2017-18 academic year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Sweet Briar College board of directors has elected a new chairwoman, Georgene M. Vairo. Vairo, who graduated from Sweet Briar in 1972, has been the David P. Leonard Professor of Law at Loyola of Los Angeles Law School since 1995. Since 2007, she also has served as president of Auswin Realty Corp., a family-owned residential and commercial real estate firm in New York City. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

EASTERN VIRGINIA
Newport News-based W.M. Jordan Co. has restructured its management. John R. Lawson II, the company’s president and CEO since 1986, is now executive chairman. Ronald J. Lauster Jr. has been named president; he was vice president and project executive. James C. Burnett has been named chief financial officer, succeeding Thomas M. Shelton. Burnett was vice president and corporate controller for the past 12 years. John J. Angle has assumed the role of senior vice president of operations.  He has been with W.M. Jordan for 18 years and previously served as vice president and project executive. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Chesapeake-based DroneUp has named Charles L. Werner its chief of public safety. Werner served 37 years in Charlottesville’s fire department, serving as fire chief for 10 years. He retired in 2015 and served as senior adviser and deputy state coordinator for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Gerald L. Gordon is stepping down as president and CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA). Gordon joined Fairfax’s economic development arm in 1983 and has led it since 1987. In January, Gordon will serve as a fellow in the College of Charleston’s Joseph P. Riley Center for Livable Communities in South Carolina and teach in the college’s Master of Public Administration program. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Joseph Thomas is the new president and CEO of Fairfax-based Freedom Bank of Virginia.Thomas led Columbia, Md.-based Bay Bank for nearly eight years before its sale to Old Line Bancshares was completed in April. (Washington Business Journal)

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Mike Hincher of Lebanon has been named to the Virginia Board of Forestry. Hincher is senior vice president, operations, of The Forestland Group LLC. (News release)

Lee Houston has been named lead credit officer and senior vice president of Powell Valley National Bank in Jonesville. Houston joined the bank in 2012 as senior vice president and commercial loan officer in the Wise and Kingsport markets. Houston is a graduate of North Carolina State University. (News release)

Marshall “Randy” Moore of Wise County has been reappointed as division of mines chief at the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy, a position he was first appointed to in 2011. Moore is a lifelong resident of Wise County and also is the bi-vocational pastor of a Baptist church. (News release)

ROANOKE/NEW RIVER VALLEY
The owner of RE/MAX Valley Realtors in Roanoke has joined MKB Realtors, the largest independent real estate company in the region. Ed Smith has worked in Roanoke Valley real estate for more than 25 years. His RE/MAX Valley Realtors operated out of an office on Electric Road in the Oak Grove area and had about 14 associates. (Roanoke Times)

Business and education leader Ray Smoot will join the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Smoot succeeds Court Rosen of Roanoke, who resigned from the board after being charged on Aug. 5 with drunken driving. Gov. Ralph Northam announced the appointment in August. The new appointee is a bank chairman and former Virginia Tech official who said he approaches transportation from a business perspective and a human one. He is co-chairman of NRV 2020, a coalition that wants Amtrak to make Christiansburg its next stop. (Roanoke Times)