With 2021 coming to a close, your Chamber invites you to view a summary of the year. 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2021 was the year of acceleration and the year of the vaccination. Your Chamber continued to move forward to support our business community programmatically. We moved forward with in-person meetings and programs in April.

Our Board members co-chaired the committees beginning in February and March. Members joined the committees and worked to deliver on the 2021 Program of Work. This program of work is our plan to take us to our Vision and Mission as a Chamber of Commerce. We provided over 200 programs, meetings, and events to strengthen our business community. 

We are most proud of our work at the Federal Government level to maintain our Blacksburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) designation, which helps sell our community for our larger employers. This one action also enables us to receive millions of dollars for healthcare, housing, and more.

Our board has worked to find the best leader to serve as our President & CEO of our Chamber and take it to the next level to achieve our goals. We announced the hiring of Steve Baffuto in November of 2021, who will take the lead in December of 2021.

Additionally, each subcommittee was able to support your Chamber's 2021 Program of Work. 

BUSINESS RESOURCE COMMITTEE
Continued to provide emergency support during the pandemic
Enhanced the value of membership 
Launched a Minority Business Accelerator (MBA) with meetings monthly
Enhanced support for buying local in 2021 
Launched the third CASE Group to support sales for businesses in our community

TALENT COMMITTEE
Delivered Best Places to Work and recognized 25 local businesses
Supported MCPS through Signing Day (virtual)
Delivered Leadership in Changing Times Conference to support the change in work culture
Supported MCPS with engagement and placement of DECA and STEM interns
Supported MCPS with a $1200 check to the Teacher of the Year 
Supported Virginia Tech with the placement of interns
Created a grant to support talent and staffing of hospitality professions

LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE
Continued to increase communication with Federal and State Legislators regarding local issues
Launched a blog to keep members informed on the legislative issues affecting the business community
Hired a Virginia Tech Policy Intern to assist with monitoring legislation
Delivered two legislative awareness sessions through Eggs & Issues
Created the 2022 Legislative Agenda in October 2021

INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
Enhanced support of the expansion of Broadband
Enhanced awareness of housing shortage as an economic development issue
Created multiple Eggs & Issues related to issues impacting the business community
Continued to support Passenger Rail financially and with member support

 
ANNUAL CHAMBER EARNINGS projected for end of 2021.
 

FOUNDATION EARNINGS projected for end of 2021.

 * Please note the Foundation graph list years (from left to right - 2019, 2020 and 2021). 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
 
2021 OFFICERS & BOARD OF DIRECTORS

• Chair – Henry Bass, Automation Creations, Inc.
• Vice-Chair – Mark Woolwine, Brown Edwards & Company, L. L.P.
• Treasurer – Kelly Kendrick, First Bank & Trust Company
• Director of Membership – James Cabler, Atlantic Union Bank 
• Member-at-Large – Terry Vangelos, Coldwell Banker Realtors®
• Past President – Aaron Harris-Kirby, Pointe West Management
• Alan Fabian, Lewis Gale Hospital – Montgomery
• Jason Dowdy, Milestone Development, LLC
• Bif Johnson, Hurt & Proffitt
• Robyn Jones, Joba
• Bill King, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM)
• Jeff Price, Kent Square LLC
• Catherine Potter, Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.
• Reid Broughton, Sands Anderson PC
• Todd Robertson, Stateson Homes
• Marianne Washington, Movement Mortgage
• Tammy Yang, TCY Properties, LLC 
• Dwayne Pinkney, Ph.D., Virginia Tech

• Chris Chittenden, Leader, Coldwell Banker Realtors
• Deanna Dickerson, Leader, Member One Federal Credit Union
• Amy Slone, Warm Hearth Village
• Anita Lilly, Baseline Solar Solutions
• Carie Kingery, American National Bank
• Cindy Rollison, Wheeler Digital
• Debbie Campbell, Stage 2 Smile, LLC
• Jeff Gordon, Shentel
• Johanna Griffith, Northpoint Insurance Advisors
• Josh Roseberry, Clay Corner Inn
• Kristina Rose, Kristina Rose Photography
• Logan Kessinger, Hampton Inn Cburg/Bburg
• Meghan Kuczmarski, Edward Jones Financial Advisor
• Rayne Stenger, Long & Foster New River Valley
• Stephanie Blankenship, Brown Insurance Agency 
• Tia Brown, Budget Blinds
• Tiffany Memitt, Freedom First Credit Union
• Whitney Stokes, VCOM