PRESS RELEASE

January 24, 2020

Paige Clay, Mercer Managing Partner, Elected Chair of Virginia Chamber of Commerce

12 new members join Chamber leadership on the Board of Directors

RICHMOND, VA – The Virginia Chamber of Commerce elected Paige Clay to serve as the Chair of the board of directors at the Chamber’s annual meeting on January 23 in Richmond. She has been a member of the Chamber Board since 2016 and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board since 2017, serving as First Vice Chair of the board in 2019. Clay succeeds 2019 Chair Charlie Meyer, Managing Partner of O’Hagan Meyer, LLP.

Paige Clay currently serves as a Managing Partner for Mercer and leads the Mid-South market. She manages a number of the firm’s largest clients with representation in the following industries: insurance and financial services, manufacturing, retail/distributors, healthcare, higher education, energy, and government contracting. She has more than 23 years of financial services experience as a senior executive in finance, operations, call centers, and human resources. Her leadership spans all business cycles, from start up to decline, and global operations in the US, UK, and India. She received her bachelor’s degree in finance from Virginia Tech and a master’s degree in business administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.

“I look forward to serving as Chair this year and working with the Board and Executive Committee to continue to strengthen the Chamber’s role as the voice of Virginia’s business community,” said Paige Clay, Chair of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors. “I look forward to working with Barry DuVal and the Chamber team to ensure we continue to lead the charge in promoting policy initiatives that foster a competitive pro-business climate that is good not only for Virginia business but for all Virginians.”

“Paige has been a vital member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors and Executive Committee for several years and is a valued leader in the business community,” said Barry DuVal, President and CEO of the Virginia Chamber. “We look forward to having Paige serve in this leadership role as we continue to promote the implementation of the public policy goals outlined in Blueprint Virginia 2025 and maintain Virginia’s status as the best state to do business.”

The board of directors elected 12 new members at the annual meeting, including electing Alan Witt as First Vice Chair. Alan Witt is the CEO and Partner of PBMares LLP. Under his leadership, PBMares has strategically expanded to a leading Mid-Atlantic firm and is now one of the top 100 accounting and business consulting firms in the nation, serving clients nationally and internationally.

In addition to Chair Paige Clay and First Vice Chair Alan Witt, the 2020 Executive Committee will be represented by the following individuals:

IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR     

Charlie Meyer, Managing Partner of O’Hagan Meyer, PLLC

TREASURER    

Linda Stanley, Market President – Charlottesville,  Senior Vice President & Market Executive-Greater Virginia, Bank of America

AT LARGE POSITIONS                

Gil Bland, CEO, The GilJoy Group

Ben Davenport, Chairman, First Piedmont Corporation

John Dooley, CEO & Secretary-Treasurer, Virginia Tech Foundation, Inc.

Tammy Finley, Executive Vice President, General Counsel &  Corporate Secretary, Advance Auto Parts, Inc.

Jim Kibler, President, Virginia Natural Gas, Inc

Chris Kyle, Vice President, Shentel

John O’Brien, Executive Vice President, Strategy & Public Affairs, WGL Holdings, Inc.

Eric Sisco, Chairman, Virginia International Gateway, Inc.

Fred Thompson, Chief Administrative Officer, Thompson Hospitality

 Lakshmi Williams, General Counsel, North America, Transurban

New members to the full board of directors include:

Rick Barker, Founder & President, Supply Resources, Danville

John Cox, Chief Executive Officer, Radford University Foundation, Radford

Toby Dobbs, Sr. Vice President, CareFirst Administrators, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Fairfax

Ian Graham, Group General Counsel, Ferguson Enterprises, Newport News

Mark Herzog, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, kaléo, Inc., Richmond

John Hewa, Chief Operating Officer & Vice President of Corporate Services, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Fredericksburg

 Martin Kent, President & Chief Operating Officer, The United Company, Bristol

Arlene Lee, CEO/Principal, R.E. Lee Companies, Inc., Charlottesville

Michael Matthews, President, Froehling & Robertson, Richmond

Brian McHugh, Chief of Staff to the CEO, SVP External Affairs, ManTech, Herndon

Tom Walls, Virginia State and Local Government Affairs, Verizon, Richmond

Robyn Zacharias, President & CEO, Yebo (formerly Barber Martin Agency), Richmond

A full board listing, including those continuing their terms, can be found at www.vachamber.com

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About the Virginia Chamber of Commerce

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce is the largest business advocacy organization in the Commonwealth, with more than 26,000 members. The Chamber is a non-partisan, business advocacy organization that works in the legislative, regulatory and political arenas to act as the catalyst for positive change in all areas of economic development and competitiveness for Virginia. In December 2017, the Chamber released an update to its long-term strategic economic development plan, Blueprint Virginia 2025, which engaged over 6,000 business and community leaders to lay out a plan to getting Virginia back to the top of national business climate rankings. Learn more at www.vachamber.com