Deborah L. Petrine was born to a mother who was one of eleven children in the Glenvar area in Roanoke County.  Her mother Dorothy King Martin, like women of the era was a homemaker and tended to her two children.  Her children describe her as the strongest person they have ever known.

Debbie’s father Gerald Martin was also a Virginia native who grew up in Goodview and the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood before settling with his young family in Glenvar.  Most people recall that her dad was one of the nice guys, his career began with the NS railroad which kept him away from home a good deal until Debbie turned 15.  Upon his retirement from the railroad, he began a second career and owned/operated a gas station and repair shop on Route 460. 

Young Debbie attended Ft. Lewis Elementary for grades K-7 and then went on to Glenvar High School during the first year the high school had a senior class.  Her high school years began with Debbie wanting to accomplish her dream of becoming a majorette, but to make that happen she had to be a member of the band, and participate in concert season, quickly she learned how to play the clarinet.  She made her dream come true and in the last two years of school she left behind the majorette role to become a cheerleader and became captain of the squad her senior year. Debbie was also a member of the yearbook staff.  Her academic performance was strong and instead of studying in her later years of high school she worked in the school office.  The time spent in the office allowed her to perfect her typing skills.  During the school year Debbie also did bookkeeping for her father’s gas station and her brother learned how to repair trucks at the same time.

Her poise and focus on a goal led to her applying to her being selected to the Miller-Rhodes department store teen board, along with this role of representing her school she modeled clothes on the runway in the store’s tearoom. Her time at Glenvar HS led to the start of many opportunities including a part-time job at the local John Deere dealer.  The location had never had a secretary and thought their best tactic would be to ask if the school could recommend a good student typist.  Without hesitation Debbie was the first person they suggested, and she was able to earn much needed money to begin paying for her post high school education.  Debbie was a first-generation college student and started her advanced education journey at Virginia Western Community College before finishing her undergrad work at Virginia Tech.

Once at VT she was only able to secure wait staff work that would fit her study schedule, this was a great concern knowing the price tag for attending college. Debbie recalled that the Sales Manager at the John Deere dealership had shared how proud he was of her being accepted at VT and said if there was ever “anything I can do for you, please give me a call”.    In addition, Debbie had made this sales manager a convert from dictating to someone who wrote in shorthand to being impressed with her speed in typing his dictations with accuracy.  Well, with Debbie’s limited on campus work options she felt that she needed to reach for a lifeline and called the sales manager.  He reminded her of a John Deere customer who not only bought parts for machines but owned other businesses like a health care facility in the New River area and suggested she call him.  Her immediate reaction to the health care suggestion was that they were seeking a CNA and she knew that was not her goal or her strength.

That one call led to her being placed amid a business deal typing up documents for a big project a “certificate of need” for the growing health care center in Blacksburg.  As fall rolled around, they asked Debbie to stay on and she was more than willing, thinking “I got a real job”.  They continued to work around her academic schedule.  She literally grew up at the Heritage Hall facility, progressing from receptionist to Administrator of the facility working daily with the two owners.

Her super typing skills had put her in the driver’s seat for the rest of her working career upon graduation from VT in 1978.  Debbie then enrolled in the A-I-T Preceptor program to take on the role of Administrator, and on to Regional Administrator, Purchase agent, Human Resources Director, and Director of Administrative Services (working with vendors) this twenty-year journey of being with Heritage Hall was engaging because of the staff, team spirit and positive impact they had on residents.  Debbie’s talent was recognized by the Chair of the company who approached her in February of 1987 to offer the position of COO/ President which she accepted.   In this new role she was witness to and the driving force of the business growing from a few to eighteen skilled nursing facilities, eight assisted living centers, a Home Health Company and a pharmacy company.   Yet, Debbie’s vast knowledge of Certificates of Need developed her skills and tenacity to bargain, testify and envision facilities with improved services for a rehabilitating and an aging population.  She sums up her joy in the leadership of health care facilities is working with multitudes of people, solving problems, and making life better for those entrusted to her companies’ care.  

Like anyone who grows up and receives their education you need to leave the nest and see what else the world has to offer, this was the case for Debbie.  Her informative years in the nursing care industry at Heritage Hall lasted 20 years with the one organization, it was time for her to put her knowledge to work in a different setting.  As a result of her leadership roles, she had met many health care leaders and owners at seminars and workshops and one individual who was changing the senior living landscape with new adult health care facilities was real estate developer James R. Smith.

Debbie was blessed to have the encouragement of husband Jim, an entrepreneur who had already established his successful business and with that she went into partnership with Mr. Smith in 1995 after sketching out their terms of the business on the back of an envelope at lunch.  The business theory they agreed upon was to build the business to a certain size and then sell.  Debbie’s extensive knowledge about operations and development led to founding a business to create more facilities while signing onto debt and earning ownership through “sweat equity”.  Debbie was the one that brought the operations side, and Jim provided funds and keen development acumen, but the infancy of the business was challenging.  One of the situations that arose was in Richmond, VA where the state took over a facility that had lost Medicare and Medicaid funding due to non-compliance with state and federal regulations.  Debbie was hired by Medicaid to get the facility in compliance and fully certified.  This work jumpstarted the business.  Jim and Debbie replaced many older facilities with modern facilities, policies and procedures were developed, and the company grew in a five-year span to fourteen facilities in Virginia and a managed facility in North Carolina, with another company divested 51% of the company with 49% remaining with Jim and Debbie and two other partners. Debbie continued to run the company until the remaining 49% was acquired. 

Six years in partnership with Jim Smith real estate developer led to Debbie, wanting more in the adult care industry and in 2001 she reached out to her husband and three partners whom she had a good prior working relationship with, to ask if they would step out with her to create a new destiny and business plan.  The new business CCR, Inc. (Commonwealth Care of Roanoke) was an opportunity to build a company, establish a culture and have control of their destiny.   They agreed and recognized Debbie’s strength and how passionate she was about the operations side of the business.  Two of the partners, (one has since retired) had senior positions in the business aligned with their expertise. 

Her vision was to build facilities that incorporate the name of the locale with a local feel and the new buildings’ culture and design would lend to making a positive difference for the residents and patients.  The reality is that for some residents this will be their last domicile. Skilled nursing facilities are expensive to build and to fill them up is expensive. You must take on risk, invest large sums of money and sign on to personal debt.  In her current position of Chairman & CEO, Debbie has more time dedicated to acquisition, advocacy, and the company’s “service excellence” culture. 

The first facility location was in Pennington Gap, VA in Lee County, the last town in Virginia before crossing over the border to TN. This acquisition happened in August and by January two more skilled nursing centers were developed in Radford and Clifton Forge.  Over the years the Commonwealth Care twelve skilled nursing facilities have stretched from the SW tip of Virginia to northern Virginia and with the growth the company has always looked at how to “build a better mouse trap”.  This theory has led to be a leader in the use of tele-health/tele-medicine.  Having a chance to participate in gerontology research/studies through Virginia Tech and Radford University that evaluates the impact of light on persons with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.  Getting a better understanding about why health is comprised from taking a fall, and how to prevent falls before they happen.  Services provided include wound care and diagnostics and looking for ways to continue participating in trial bases studies.

Debbie’s drive and attention to detail caught the eye of others in her industry and that led to several awards and appointments to the board. In 2005, Petrine received the Virginia Health Care Association’s James G. Dutton Award for lifetime achievement in the long-term care field. In 2010, she added a new responsibility to her already full schedule at CCR — serving as president of Longleaf Senior Living LLC, in North Carolina.

Giving back to the university is top priority for Petrine, who has been a member and chair of the advisory board for the management department at Pamplin and is currently a cabinet member on the Pamplin Advisory Council. She has also served as a chair and member on the advisory board for the Virginia Tech Center for Gerontology and on the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Advisory Board, among several appointments.

Petrine received the Pamplin Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011, the same year she was tapped by the governor for the Board of Visitors. In 2013, she was put on the presidential search committee. “It was an exciting time — our decision would be shaping the future of the university — and I was very honored to be a part of it, especially as an alumna,” she said.

One of her most honored times in life was having Governor McDonnell appoint her to the Virginia Tech board of directors from 2011 to 2019.  She felt doubly honored when elected rector in 2014: “it is one thing to be appointed by the governor, but it is quite another to be trusted by your peers to lead them. “As for her pioneering role on the board, she said: “I honestly didn’t give a lot of thought to the female aspect, but I know that many women were excited, and I so appreciate that.”

Petrine said that her business expertise has been a definite asset, leading her to serve on and later chair the board’s finance and audit committee. She was the Board of Visitor liaison with the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Integration Committee as the school was integrated as a college at Virginia Tech.  She continues to provide support and outreach on behalf of Roanoke VTC Academic Health Center which includes the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech. During her time on the board, she was instrumental in the selection of Dr. Sands as the new college president his first year at VT was Debbie’s first year as rector, they served their rookie years together.  She also served at the time Coach Beamer retired and the search was on to find a coach that could uphold the legacy of VT football.

In the spring of 2019, Debbie was presented the Distinguished Alumni Award from Virginia Western Community College Education Foundation.   She serves as the Vice Chair on the VWCC Educational Foundation Board and chair of the Virginia Western Forward Endowment Fund initiative.   She also serves on the Feeding Southwest Virginia board of directors.

Her advice to young people is “you can make a difference in someone’s life every day. It can be positive or negative but focus on the positive. “Debbie wanted to share that a title doesn’t define your effectiveness as a leader.  Be a team player, led by example make the coffee for your employees, and make work pleasant.  When asked what she would say about her success, she stated for time spent at work you need to work hard, enjoy it and commit to a work/life balance.  She often encourages her staff not to miss life events “you don’t get a do over on some things”.

Deborah Petrine was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2020.

Sandra Davis was born August 9, 1946, in the Indian Valley section of Floyd, VA, to loving parents.  Sandra spent free hours as a child reading and in high school, she played basketball and volleyball. In her junior year Sandra was inducted into the Beta Club, served as president of FHA and FBLA.  She also was the editor of the school newspaper and yearbook.   At 14 she attended 4-H camp at VT.  It was during her 14^th year that her father had a heart attack that he eventually succumbed to, but not before he shared with his daughter how sad he was that with him transitioning there would be no money for college.  He advised Sandra to learn a trade or find a job with a bright future.  In addition to telling his daughter to look at courses in high school that would allow her choices in the workforce.

By the time high school graduation approached one of the most promising avenues to success, besides having a good job was to marry.  At the age of seventeen Sandra married Patrick Cupp and was a wife and headed to New River Community College night school.  At NRCC she took shorthand and a college prep course. Those courses made her realize she was a businessperson at heart.   The shorthand led to eight years at the State Health Department as a Supervisor/Health Director helping citizens in Radford and Giles County.

Marriage proved to be a fruitful partnership out of Floyd and to career choices in the NRV.  Growth in the job market did occur for Sandra in retail banking at Bank of Christiansburg (now Wells Fargo) where she had developed a strong relationship with co-workers and the community and in 14 years she was Senior VP.   Banking courses at UVA led to her handling commercial loans.   While in the loan department Sandra was on the cusp of understanding the ins and outs of purchasing residential and business buildings.  Before long, her knowledge of the real estate world along with a strong push from her husband, Sandra left banking to create her own business.   The business BCR Realty/Property grew because she and her husband saw a need for student housing, and they reviewed the multiple property inventory.  The couple started looking for other individuals who wished to sell property or enjoyed sales to first time homeowners and business owners and were ready to venture in developing multi-housing units.  Their first venture for multi-housing was in Radford, because they bought area homes for a fair price and their reputation was shared with others, making them welcome realtors in the city.  Business was growing and they relocated their offices to Radford and Blacksburg.

By the time BCR realty was in business for fourteen years Sandra and her first husband Patrick Cupp, built a team of realtors by providing a way for each of them to gain more realty experience and the Cupp’s personal motto was “with me, not for me”.  Sandra made certain to make a connection with all employees from maintenance to management and treated each with respect and appreciation.  The goal for BCR was to be a team player, honest, profitable, and visionary.  The business plan proved to be a valuable tool for success, until the unexpected occurred with the tragic death of Mr. Cupp in September 2000.  There is no script or business plan to help a wife navigate the loss of her husband and business partner.  However, the business team that had evolved over the 14 years at BCR did not waver and Sandra went on to keep the business running another twenty-two years.

At the helm of BCR Management, Sandra became committed to supporting education and economic development.  The fact that she could not attend college because of the lack of financial resources, made her more committed to learning from her many work experiences and service to the community. 
Sandra’s economic development passion comes from understanding the small and big pieces needed to ensure job creation and how education ties into the careers that are attainable by individuals.

Her good fortune as a business leader has led to her being a donor to a scholarship fund at VT in memory of her first husband who was an athlete at the institution. Her other education ties are as a board member for VT Foundation, VT Athletic Board, and the Campaign Steering Committee at Radford University.

Sandra has been a board member of GO Virginia/Region 2 that focuses on creating more high-paying jobs through incentivized collaboration between business, education, and government to diversify and strengthen the economy in every region.  In addition to serving on the Blacksburg Partnership and Carilion Board of Directors – Radford.  She is also seated on the board of the Business Council of Roanoke. She co-chairs the New River Passenger Rail Commission (Radford, Pulaski County, Giles, New River Valley).

Awards:

William H. Ruffner Award – VT

Honorary Alumni -VT

Honorary Education degree – RU

Owner of the Year – Blacksburg C of C

Citizen of the Year – Montgomery C of C

Citizen of the Year – Blacksburg Rotary 

Sandra Davis was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2022.

Dr. Michael Friedlander received his B.S. in Biology from Florida State University, his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics from the University of Illinois and did postdoctoral training in neurophysiology at the University of Virginia and SUNY Stony Brook. He is the founding president of the Association of Medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs (AMSNDC) and Chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Council of Academic Societies (CAS). Dr. Friedlander has served on various NIH and NSF panels. He is a member of the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives, and he serves as the Editor for the Neuroscience section of the Journal of Experimental Biology and Medicine and an Associate Editor on the cellular/molecular section of the Journal of Neuroscience. Dr. Friedlander is a recipient of the William Menninger Award for Mental Health Research and the University of Illinois Distinguished Alumnus in Molecular and Integrative Physiology.

On his maternal side of the family the grandparents fled Ireland during the potato famine in hopes of finding a job and a ready source of food for the entire family.  The couple made a new home in Greensburg, PA and had their daughter Phyllis and her two siblings.  Tragedy struck the Murtha family when both parents were killed in a car accident making the children orphans. Phyllis stayed in the state orphanage system until she became an emancipated minor while her siblings were growing up with an aunt and uncle.  This challenging childhood led the future Mrs. Friedlander to being self-sufficient, finding work in Pennsylvania to take care of her necessities.  At the approximate age of 17 she met and married Norris Friedlander upon his return from war, they chose to settle in Miami, FL and they started their family.

On the paternal side of the family the Friedlander’s fled Russia as religious refugees, the grandfather was 11 years old when he came to the U.S. and became a fought in WWI veteran.  His son Norris Friedlander followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the air force during WWII, as a result he had the G.I bill to pay for his education while he maintained odd jobs as a cab driver, postal worker and he earned his CPA degree.  

Both Phyllis and Norris raised their sons in Miami, Florida blocks away from the many animal habitats of the Everglades and quiet beaches, an idyllic place for their boys William and Michael who loved the outdoors. One of the fondest memories for young Friedlander was fishing on Fridays in the unique location where the ocean and the bay connected (“Haul Over Cut”).  No matter what the week was like, Friday was the one time that was carved out for the family fishing in the evening using live shrimp for bait to snag a shark or even a stingray along with a variety of fish caught for dining.  

Michael’s childhood was spent in Miami public schools and enjoyed most sports, particularly basketball, baseball, and surfing.   Another part of Michael’s middle school years was being a participant in his local Junior Achievement and developing entrepreneurial skills selling his company product door to door.  During these years President Kennedy was assassinated, and the principal announced the name change of the Junior High to JFK, the first school in the country to bear the name of the 35^th president.

Michael was a graduate of North Miami Senior High School, and his early goal was to pursue a political science degree like his older brother and mentor at Florida State University, Tallahassee.  Michael witnessed the success his brother was having as an attorney and the work he was doing with the American Civil Liberties Union and because the two had shared so much growing up he knew pursuing his path would work for him.

Yet, there was a persistent tug at the heart strings for all things that existed in the Everglades.  Many times, growing up, he and neighborhood boys would slip off to the everglades without their parents knowing.  That biosphere was chock full of adventure and a variety of habitats existed in addition to the alligators, birds, little critters, the affinity for different life forms and how they came to be. 

This “need to know” about the creation of lifeforms kept rising “front of mind” for young Friedlander as he was pouring over political, landmark decisions and economics, creating a huge conflict within him.  Finally mid-way through his sophomore year in college he approached his academic advisor and informed him of his desire to switch from poli-sci and economics and pursue biology and chemistry.  This change of majors meant cramming in 21 credit hours during fall and spring at Florida State and summer classes at the University of Miami as he worked the nights as a bellman.

The new science and research classes kept him engaged and matched his thirst for knowledge. His first lab hours led to a research project in his junior year. The project was observing the olfactory nerves in a gar fish to understand electro physiology.   The research success caught the eye of his Univ. of Florida- Tallahassee mentor Dr. Dexter Easton who studied Electrical properties of nerve cells. and unlocked the key for Mike to earn credits at the same time as acquiring research funds for his next University.  Thanks to Dr. Easton’s recommendations young Friedlander was accepted to University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana to meet another amazing researcher Ladd Prosser whose research influenced Michael in their research of effects on fish brains because of environmental extremes that may lead to retardation.   He went on to pursue his graduate work with a degree in Physiology and Biophysics as a PhD.  His post-doctoral fellowship work was conducted at UVA. While at this institution Friedlander studied the structure and function of individual nerve cells in the brain that process vision.  His mentor during his graduate work was Professor Murray Sherman who convinced young Friedland to continue more research at SUNY -Stoney Brook where he studied for 18 months.

His tenacity in research led to a job offer from Dean Jim Pittman at the University of Alabama Birmingham.  The Dean was considered a principal architect of the School of Medicine in Birmingham, known for his ability to recruit and retain nationally and internationally known physicians and scientists to work at UAB, Pittman was dean for 19 years, from 1973 to 1992. After serving in several teaching and administrative positions, including director of the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism and co-chair of the Department of Medicine, Pittman was appointed dean of the medical school in 1973.

Pittman had an abiding interest in graduate and medical students, challenging them to excel. In 1964, while a young faculty member, he established Medical Student Research Day, a program that continues 50 years later. He is credited with restoring a four-year medical school curriculum, replacing the 35-month program that was in place when he became dean, and creating space in the academic cycle for students to pursue research and service activities. He retired from the deanship in 1992.Friedlander’s style and concern for students appears to emulate that of Dean Pittman.

Pittman’s primary research interest was in thyroid physiology and disease. He was a popular visiting professor and lecturer at universities across the country and around the world, and received numerous professional awards, including the Abraham Flexner Award from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Brotherhood Award from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the Founders Medal from the Southern Society of Clinical Investigation, and honorary doctorates from Davidson College and UAB. He was inducted into the Alabama Academy of Honor in 1982.

While at UAB as a new faculty member Friedlander taught and conducted his own research, Dr. Pittman tapped him to grow into the position to build out the research studies and recruit other researchers.  Dr. Friedlander made strides in his twenty-five years at UAB as the founding Director of the Neurobiology Research Center, then the Founding Chair of the Department of Neurobiology and Director of the Civitan International Research Center. These three initiatives from 1996-2005 were recognized nationally for improving health and the impact our environment has on developing. During his time at UAB he was an endowed faculty with being awarded the first Evelyn F. McKnight Professor of Learning and Memory in Aging (2004-2005).

The years of research and securing funding to unveil the root of health concerns and finding cures has been the stuff that would keep Friedlander steeped in discovering another formula or solution, but he started to wonder if there were options he had not pursued now that he had 25 years in one place.  His curiosity led him to being invited to Roanoke Virginia to build a program from the ground up.  The right people showed up to grab Friedlander’s interest in Roanoke, Virginia.  Roanoke offered him the opportunity to connect with Virginia Tech and Charles Steger and Carilion’s Dr. Ed Murphy.  The two gentlemen painted a bright future that would flip the region from a train to brain economy.  The goal was to form a team to create the infrastructure for a Research Institute starting with funding, creating labs, purchasing equipment, building out the technology, marketing and of course a human resources department.  This free-market multiplier effect has equated to 80 people that now occupy the largest footprint in Riverside. 

Dr. Friedlander enjoyed this opportunity to develop Fralin Bio-medical research institute because of his knack for attracting talented people and his “joy in others success plus the joy in research.”  The ripple effect of building this new research institute has increased the economic strength for Roanoke valley.  Dr. Friedlander has put his energy into the Fralin Bio-Medical Research Institute with focus on brain disorders, cardiac, vascular, brain cancer, Parkinson’s’ disease, and Multiple Sclerosis.   Dr. Friedlander reports directly to the VT Provost and works in conjunction with the VT/ Carilion Medical School each institute is rapidly gaining national recognition evidenced by their medical school graduates all having tremendous success on “match day”.

The wonderful spinoff of FBRI is the Animal Cancer Care and Research Center that has expanded the amount of research to cure humans of cancer.  This new opportunity to analyze animals has led to innovative diagnostics and techniques, often using genetic analysis that are comparable to human genetics.

Dr. Friedlander’s success as a renowned researcher has led to key leadership as Vice President of Health Sciences and Technology at Virginia Tech University and Executive Director of Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VT Carilion and senior Dean for Research at VTC School of Medicine.  He has built FBRI’s research programs to over $140 Million in grants with 37 research teams and over 400 investigators and students.

Dr. Friedlander serves on the advisory board of the D. C. /Children’s National Hospital Research- VT Research on the old Walter Reed campus with concentration on cancer, behavioral, cardiac and brain studies. He has served as the principal investigator on multiple research grants on brain processes that mediate vision, developmental plasticity, and traumatic brain injury.

Outside of his university leadership Friedlander is the founding president of the Association of medical School Neuroscience Department Chairs, he has served as Chair of the Council of Academic Societies of the Association of American Medical Colleges- representing over 90 medical and scientific societies.  – AAMC joint task force on the Scientific Foundations of Future Physicians, and as an AAMC    Distinguished Service Member.  He served as Chair of the National Association of Intellectual Disabilities Research Centers, as President of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine (EBM) where he was also elected to the inaugural class of EBM Fellows and was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Friedlander is a recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship in Neuroscience that included a cash award, an NIH Fogarty Center Senior International Research Fellowship to the Australian National University, a Lucille Markey Foundation Center Award, a W.M. Keck Foundation Center Award, the American College of Physicians’ Menninger Award for Mental Health Research, the University of Illinois Distinguished Alumnus Award and   the   Distinguished  Scientist Award from the Society of Experimental Biology and Medicine. He held visiting Professorships at Oxford University, the Australian National University, and the U. of Paris.

Dr. Michael Friedlander was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2022.

Jim Wade was born in April 1954 in the Indian Valley section of Floyd County, Virginia. Jim was to be the youngest of three brothers who learned more about the world from the small rural farm they grew up on than any textbook. Farm life impressed upon them the importance of work ethic, common sense, and respect for people.  Jim’s mother Marie Akers Wade was a homemaker her entire life.   His father, Colen, also grew up in Floyd County and was self-employed doing carpentry and painting, and other ventures, in addition to farming.  Like most farmers of the generation, he built many of their farm buildings, including the home Jim and his brothers grew up in, based on repetition and not a manual.   Both of Jim’s parents grew up in the Depression and only had a sixth-grade education and their strongest desire was to make certain their sons would have a solid education and greater opportunities.

Jim’s earliest memories of the lessons learned about business came from his dad’s support and guidance for anything he wanted to try.  At around the age of six he would gather pumpkins from the family farm and would sell them from a roadside stand.  When Jim got a bicycle of his own with a basket, he would scout for empty glass soda pop bottles along the rural roads that could later be redeemed for five cents apiece at the local service station.   Jim’s fondest memories of his dad came from his positive approach to people and stated that he always looked for their strengths.

Jim attended Indian Valley Elementary for grades 1-7 and grades 8-12 he attended Floyd County High School.   Jim became a member of the Beta and Math clubs, and he participated in some intramural sports but his main job starting at 4:30 in the morning and continuing after school was helping on the farm.   Math and other classes, they would be called STEM curriculum today, were easy for Jim and he used that passion in determining his career.  Jim graduated high school in the top 10 of his class, that academic strength and the positive influence from his family made college a reality.

Upon Jim’s high school graduation, he was unclear about what his next steps could be and contemplated community college but his brother, Ernie, intervened and insisted upon him going to Virginia Tech especially because of his high academic standing in high school.  Because Ernie was living in Blacksburg, Jim was able to live with him part of the time and not incur the cost of room and board.  Jim found business-related courses to be very interesting and easy and that became the impetus for choosing Accounting as his field.  He says he also did enough research to conclude that with an accounting degree he could count on getting a job!  It was apparent that his choice was well thought out because he graduated second in his accounting class.  This led to Jim taking and passing the CPA exam in his last semester at VT.

After graduation Jim took a job in Roanoke with Peat Marwick & Mitchell Co., which later became KPMG where he worked from 1976-1980.  He held the positions of staff accountant and eventually Senior Accountant.  Beginning in 1980, Jim accepted an offer from American Motor Inns, his largest client at KPMG, and worked with the Krisch family as Vice President of Finance.  This move allowed him to go from Public Accounting to the business world, which he enjoyed much more.  Eventually he moved over to Operations where he had the opportunity to get more involved in the actual day-to-day running of the business.   Change occurred again for Jim as the Krisch family sold their business.   He was approached by Dick Lynn of Heironimus.  Dick shared his company’s needs and Jim accepted a position with Heironimus.  He worked there from 1987-1993 as the V.P. of Finance and Operations, until the company was sold in 1993.  

The most important turning point in Jim’s business career came at that time in 1993 when Jim received a call from Nick Taubman which led to a meeting with Nick and Garnett Smith to discuss the future Nick saw for Advance Auto Parts.  Nick outlined how Advance would become a leader in the auto parts business with 1000’s of stores and how he was looking for leaders to support that growth.  Nick asked Jim to join the company and when Jim asked what his position would be Nick assured him “we will figure it out when you get here.”  This confirmed everything Jim had heard about Nick and his belief in empowering people to lead and he quickly accepted this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Jim came to Advance when they were a $300 million corporation and today, they have grown to a $10 billion Fortune 500 company.  The tremendous growth has occurred by opening more stores and purchasing other chains.  With Jim’s background he was immediately drawn to Nick’s philosophy that has sustained Advance – Take care of our people, our people will take care of our customers, and customers will allow us to make a profit so we can do more of one or two.  Looking back, Jim has come to believe that the most important attribute of a great company is a strong culture built around employees who believe in their company and who are fully empowered to serve customers better than anyone else every day.

After serving as SVP-Logistics from 1993 during a time when the company grew from 300 stores to 800 stores, and a short stint as Executive Vice President, Jim was named President of Advance in 1999 upon the retirement of Garnett Smith.   During his over 20-year tenure, Jim led every part of the business in the company at least once.  Nick would probably say, we kept trying to find something he could do right!

From 1999 to 2003 the company grew from 800 stores to over 2000 stores because of two major acquisitions, Western Auto and Discount Auto Parts, both companies having over 500 stores each.  In his role as President, Jim led the acquisition and integration of the two companies.  At this time as he was serving as President, Jim also held the Chief Financial Officer title when the company went public and became a member of the New York Stock Exchange in 2001.

From the time that Nick changed the company’s name from Advance Stores to Advance Auto Parts until the mid-1990’s the company focused on providing Do it Yourself customers auto parts.  By the mid 2000’s it became clear that fewer people were working on their own vehicles and instead with vehicles having more technology were taking them to their local garage.  Advance was still 85% DIY, and it was clear the business model would need to change again.  Jim led the introduction of the company into the Commercial business delivering auto parts to local garages where they installed the parts.  Now the business model has shifted and 60% of the business is commercial, sales to local garages and only 40% is directed to DIY customers.

In 2011, Jim informed the team at Advance that he would be retiring from his position as President.  He was asked at that time to become a member of the Board of Directors and to continue to provide strategic leadership to the company.  As part of his continued role, he played a key role in the acquisition of Carquest Auto Parts in 2013 as a result of the relationship he had built with the owners of Carquest over the years as a competitor.  Today, Advance Auto has over 5,000 stores and is the largest auto parts distributor in North America.

Upon retirement as President from Advance, Jim was awarded the “Lifetime Achievement Award” in front of over 4,000 store managers at the nationwide Advance annual meeting…it was one of the greatest surprises to have this highly coveted award bestowed to him.

Through his years at Advance, it was understood that if you are a leader at Advance you are a leader in the community.   Jim has served on the Boards of United Way and led the Advance campaign, Center in the Square where he led Advance’s partnership with Center during the recent renovation, the Skelton Smith Mountain Lake 4H Center where he set up a scholarship fund in his father’s name to enable kids from Floyd County to attend camp, the Foundation for the Roanoke Valley, and several other local non-profit organizations.  Jim and Ellen are proud supporters of the March of Dimes and their research and assistance to kids with birth defects.  They have also taken on a significant support role with the VT Research Institute led by Mike Friedlander because of their cerebral palsy research and because they believe the Research Institute and connection to VT are so critical to the future growth of the Roanoke Valley.

During his years with Advance, Jim was also a leader in addressing issues that affected the entire auto parts industry in partnership with leaders at competitor companies.  He and his peer leaders led the effort to get an agreement with auto manufacturers that would enable consumers to have access to the diagnostic information needed to diagnose their vehicle problems.  You can relate to this if you have ever had your “check engine light” come on and wondered what it meant and what you have to do to get it turned off.  After several years of visiting Congressmen and Senators in DC, testifying in the Massachusetts legislature where a state bill was passed addressing this issue, and working to persuade auto manufacturers we could work together on this issue, a national agreement was signed in 2014 to make all diagnostic data available to your local garage.  Jim continues to work with the industry on the next big issue, how telematics data will be handled.  Just like on your smartphone, every time you drive a current model vehicle it is accumulating personal data on your driving habits, where you traveled, and much more and there is even concern that hackers could take over your vehicle while you are driving it by penetrating the computers in your vehicle.

In addition to his continued service on the Advance Auto Parts board of Directors, Jim serves on the Boards of two other public companies, Lumber Liquidators based in Williamsburg, VA, Tuesday Morning, based in Dallas, TX, and on the Board of a private equity owned company in New York.

Jim’s advice to young people.  Learn to be a leader.  The success you achieve in your career will not be what YOU YOURSELF accomplishes but what is accomplished by those who entrust you to lead them. Several traits that he shares with those starting out: find mentors, be a good listener, put others first, give others credit and take the blame yourself, learn something new every day, provide direction and let people do their jobs, be consistent, give others more opportunity than they think they can accomplish, always be honest with people who work for you and who you work with, without trust and integrity you cannot be a successful leader.

Jim Wade was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2015.

Claudia Sedonia Alexander Whitworth, born in Fayetteville, WV, in 1927, the daughter of Rev. F.E. Alexander and Sedonia (Rotan) Alexander, began her early years in Lynchburg. Her multitasking father served as pastor of Rustburg Baptist Church taught printing at the Virginia Theological Seminary and College and ran a private printing business.  In 1935, Whitworth and siblings, Frieda & F.E., Jr., moved to Christiansburg where her father took over as pastor of First Memorial Baptist Church and continued his printing business, the Tribune. After completing first and second grades in Lynchburg, Whitworth attended Quaker schools in Christiansburg, her only option. She graduated from Christiansburg Institute at age 16.

She briefly attended Bluefield State, although her mother was a 1922 graduate of Ohio State and three of Whitworth’s four aunts were all college graduates, and all were educators. Whitworth says she was the “rebel” and wanted to find her own way in the world. She pulled out a big geography book and, using a somewhat unconventional method, chose her first move from home. A place she says, “where I didn’t know anyone.”  “The map had big dots for big cities, little dots for little cities,” she says. “I wanted a medium dot. I figured that in a big city, I’d just be a hick. In a little city, there wouldn’t be enough work.” She chose Dayton, Ohio. From earnings selling newspapers door-to-door, Whitworth purchased a one-way train ticket.  Finding a job in the printing business there turned out to be difficult as most were union shops, and she was still a teenager. So, she took a job as a waitress by telling them she was 21.

After her limited stay in Dayton, she relocated to New York where she took her first newspaper job working as a linotype operator for the New York Age, the African American newspaper, co-founded by Timothy Thomas Fortune, a former slave. There were no women working in the composition rooms at that time, and it was heavy work changing typefaces.  Following New York, Whitworth worked on the Cleveland Herald, and Ohio State Sentinel in Columbus, Ohio for brief intervals, returning home to Roanoke between each to help her father in the family business, The Roanoke Tribune, founded in 1939. In the summer of 1945, Whitworth joined her father at the Tribune.

After her marriage to Robert Hale in 1952, the couple relocated to Los Angeles, CA. The family’s stay in California was short-lived. Following the birth of her first son, Robyn, the family returned to VA.  Back in Roanoke, Whitworth gave birth to twins, Steven and Stanley, fourteen months after Robyn was born. Tragically, Steven did not survive.   Daughter, Eva, joined Robyn and Stanley ten years later.

In 1971, following her father’s car accident in Roanoke and subsequent retirement, Whitworth purchased the Roanoke Tribune thus beginning her long tenure at the paper’s helm. Whitworth realized the responsibility she and her paper had to the African American community using the power of the press as a means of uniting a divided community.

The Tribune has never missed a weekly edition under Whitworth’s leadership despite many obstacles. In 1979 following confrontations with the City of Roanoke during the revitalization of Gainsboro, she lost nearly everything when her office was firebombed destroying all records, however the antiquated printing equipment went unscathed.  History repeated itself in 1983 when one morning, Whitworth arrived at the newspaper to find the city had bulldozed the plant. Unbelievably, Whitworth’s new photo typesetting machine had been temporarily set up in her home while she was taking care of her ailing father. The Roanoke Tribune relocated to its present location on Melrose Avenue. Unfortunately, earlier that same year, Whitworth’s husband, Clifton B. Whitworth, Jr. lost his 12-year battle with cancer end.  The couple was a dynamic force and served as ambassadors for the northwest quadrant of Roanoke.

In 1991, Whitworth also purchased the building next door, remodeled, and opened it as a community center. Her goal was to provide a place for instilling a sense of worth, responsibility and mutual respect in neighborhood youth who also helped with the weekly mailing and distribution of The Roanoke Tribune.

This sense of service pervades all aspects of Whitworth’s life extending throughout the Roanoke community and beyond. She has served on the Norfolk State University’s President’s Roundtable and Board of Visitors and chaired the Employee Relations Committee of the Welfare Reform Commission during the Wilder Administration. Locally she has served on numerous boards that provided health care, clothing, shelter to restore human dignity.  She currently serves on the Roanoke City Bahai Local Spiritual Assembly.        

Among the many honors, Whitworth considers her first recognition the most amazing. In 1976 she was listed in a publication in Washington, DC in a Pictorial Review of “Selected Leaders” among such greats as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, and others, “At a time when I had done absolutely nothing that anyone could ever have heard of.” She claims this miracle to be the propelling motivation behind the rest of her life of service.

Today, the Roanoke Tribune continues as a real “family affair,” as she, son Stan, daughter Lauren, and grandchildren, triplets Kenneth, Kaitlyn and Klaudia Shaw, work together with a great staff to get out each meaningful edition.

Claudia Whitworth was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2009.

Thomas Marshall Hahn, Jr., was born in Lexington, Kentucky on December 2, 1926, to Thomas Marshall Hahn, Sr., and Mary Elizabeth Boston Hahn. His father taught physics at the University of Kentucky. Hahn and his two younger siblings—David and Elizabeth—grew up during the Great Depression in Lexington with little money. When Marshall Jr. reached school age, his father took a year off from teaching in order to complete his Ph.D. in Chicago. Hahn entered the first grade at a public school near the university on Chicago’s South Side.

Upon entering school, his teacher immediately recognized that Marshall was a gifted student and chose to advance him to the second grade, which he completed before moving back to Lexington with his family. Back in Lexington, Marshall worked hard during the days of the Depression delivering newspapers, working part-time in a florist shop, and helping with daily chores in the family vegetable garden. He continued to advance scholastically in the public schools of Lexington and was allowed to skip ninth and twelfth grades. However, he never completed high school before moving on to college.

Hahn enrolled at the University of Kentucky at the age of fifteen with aspirations to pursue a degree in physics. As the United States entered World War II, Hahn began his undergraduate studies on an accelerated wartime schedule. He graduated two-and-a-half years later in 1945, at the age of eighteen with a BS in physics “with highest honors.”

Upon graduation, Marshall joined the Navy, spending a year teaching physics at the Naval Academy Preparatory School. A year later, he moved to a civilian job at the Naval Ordinance Laboratory in White Oak, Maryland. From there, he decided to pursue a career in physics and applied to several universities’ graduate programs. He accepted a graduate assistantship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before leaving his job in suburban Maryland, Marshall met his future wife, Ms. Margaret Louise “Peggy” Lee of Dinwiddie County, Virginia, who was a recent graduate of Madison State Teacher College and teacher in Hyattsville, Maryland. After meeting at a Methodist Youth Fellowship Christmas program, their romance developed and continued after Marshall left for MIT. They were to marry in 1948. Together, they had three children—William, Elizabeth, and Anne.

Hahn thrived under the fast-paced conditions of MIT. He completed his doctorate in 1950 at the age of twenty-three. However, after observing the exceptional research of his fellow classmates, he decided to pursue a different career path—university teaching and academic administration. After receiving his doctorate, Hahn accepted a position as an associate professor in the physics department at the University of Kentucky. During his four years back at Kentucky, he became a full professor, director of the graduate studies in physics, and director of Kentucky’s nuclear accelerator laboratories.

At the University of Kentucky, Hahn realized that he was limited in what he could accomplish within the school’s physics department. So, a chance meeting with family friend and chief academic officer for Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Dr. Louis A. Pardue, seemed promising. During their meeting, Pardue mentioned that the chair of VPI’s physics department was planning on retiring. The position would provide a great opportunity for growth, as VPI’s department did not have true graduate or research programs. He applied for the job and quickly accepted an offer. He served as the department chair for five years, during which he tirelessly sought out sources of funding and equipment for his department to attract more physics students. During his five years, physics enrollment tripled, he developed a new master’s program in nuclear engineering and a Ph.D. program in physics. He was able to obtain more than $635,000 in research grants, which included money for a nuclear reactor simulator for teaching purposes, the first in the nation. He also helped the president, Dr. Walter Newman, in getting $1 million in state funding for a new physics building.

At the time that Hahn became a member of the staff at VPI, the school was extremely limited in scope. It was largely restricted to white male students with a compulsory military system for most freshmen and sophomores. Its curriculum focuses on professional and occupational training, especially in the fields of engineering and agriculture. President Newman realized the need to break away from the original charter of the school to become a more comprehensive land-grant institution and he laid the groundwork for a change to occur.

While Hahn had become devoted to VPI, he still desired to advance his career further in academic administration. In 1959, he accepted an appointment as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Kansas State University. President Newman was disappointed to lose Hahn and he wished to remain in contact with him, alluding to a possible future for Hahn back at VPI. Hahn spent three years as dean at Kansas State. Throughout his time away from VPI, President Newman did keep in touch with him, making his intentions clear in 1961 that he wished for Hahn to succeed him as president of VPI. In the meantime, Hahn had been offered the opportunity to become president of the University of South Carolina. In November of 1961, the rector of the VPI Board extended an offer to Hahn and he soon turned down the offer from USC and began discussions with the VPI Board of Visitors and President Newman. At a special meeting of the Board in Richmond on December 4, 1961, Hahn was formally appointed as the eleventh president of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, two days after turning thirty-five. His appointment became effective on July 1, 1962. For many years, he would be the youngest land-grant college president in the nation.

Marshall Hahn returned to VPI in the summer of 1962 knowing the challenges that he would face, but confident that he would be able to take advantage of the many opportunities that he saw for growth and change. At the age of thirty-five, he was an energetic and visionary leader with a marveling level of enthusiasm for his work. During his twelve and a half years as president, he was able to accomplish more than most people ever thought imaginable.

Looking back on his appointment, Hahn recalled that he had accepted the VPI presidency “deliberately, with the idea that with engineering and agriculture, both of which had some national prominence, that you could develop a nationally prominent institution…that you could really build.” He further explained, “There was a real opportunity to stir things up. The state needed to be awakened, the institution needed to be vitalized, and the opportunity was just hitting you over the head every morning.”

Beginning on his first day as president, Hahn immediately began referring to VPI as a “university,” which did not go unnoticed by those who called upon him on his first day in office. It soon became apparent that Hahn envisioned a transformed institution with preserved traditions. He showed courage in developing a vast pool of knowledge by encouraging more programs for research and expanding the areas of study. During his time as president between 1962 and 1974, Hahn oversaw the addition of thirty-three new academic programs and three new colleges, including the flourishing College of Arts and Sciences as well as the College of Veterinary Medicine. Student enrollment nearly tripled, increasing from 6,358 to 17,470 students. He opened enrollment to women and African Americans and saw the first hiring of a black faculty member as well as the graduation of the school’s first African American woman. He severed VPI’s ties with Radford College, eliminated the compulsory military service requirement for freshmen and sophomores and opened the Corps of Cadets to women. The physical campus grew tremendously as well during Hahn’s tenure, with the construction of many major academic, athletic, and residential facilities, including Lane Stadium, Cassell Coliseum, Cowgill Hall, Slusher Hall, and many others. Perhaps most significantly, Hahn’s administration proposed legislation in 1970 to change the school’s name to Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, to reflect VPI’s transformation into a major research university. It would later be encompassed by the name Virginia Tech, as it is known today.

By the late 1960s, it became evident that Hahn wished to move on to another challenge. After holding the highest position possible at a state university, he began to see the business sector as his next mountain to conquer. Robert B. Pamplin Sr., the chairman of the board and president of Georgia-Pacific Corporation and trustee of Virginia Tech, attempted to pull Hahn away from Tech first. Although he was interested, he was not ready to leave the school yet. Beginning in January 1973, Hahn instead served as a member of the board of Georgia-Pacific. Pamplin later said of Hahn, “He was a good disciplinarian, smart, a hard worker and had integrity. I felt sure that we could train him to be a good executive.”

Despite making a pledge to stay another ten years at the school, Hahn knew that he could not stay that long and that it was his time to move on. He left Virginia Tech in 1974 to become president of Georgia-Pacific’s chemical division. He was made chief executive officer and chairman of the board in 1983, two positions he held until 1993 when he retired. During his time as CEO, Hahn saved the company from a heavy debt load and watched it prosper with sales nearly doubling, increasing from $6.5 billion to $12.3 billion. He was named CEO of the Year for the Forest Products and Lumber Industry by The Wall Street Transcript for seven years and was recognized as “Top 10 Best Executives: Big Business Category” by the Gallagher Report in 1986 and 1988.

Upon retiring in 1993, Hahn joined his wife Peggy at their beloved 1,000-acre farm, Hickory Hill, in Montgomery County. Always one to lead an active life, he continued to serve on the board of Georgia-Pacific as well as the boards of Norfolk-Southern, and the Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Hahn enjoys spending his spare time raising cattle, playing tennis, traveling the world to hunt or sail his yacht, and following his beloved Hokies. He continues to be a member of Virginia Tech’s President Circle and Ut Prosim society.

T. Marshall Hahn was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2010.

Anna Logan was born May 10, 1943, the middle child and only daughter of Frances McNulty Logan and Joseph D. Logan, Jr.  Anna’s parents settled in Salem in 1941 in the house where Mr. Logan had grown up, joining his mother and his sister, Miss Nancy Logan.  Along with Anna they had Joe III, born in 1940, and George in 1945.   Anna’s father, with a partner from his tobacco-buying days, started Martha Washington Candies, later Old Dominion Candies in Roanoke.  A decade later, in 1944, they started Frigid Freeze Foods, an innovation in food storage and distribution.  In 1950, Mr. Logan died and Anna’s mother–trained as a philosopher, violinist, and English teacher–went to work in the business.  Eventually the company expanded to become a distributor of a complete range of frozen and canned foods—from meats to desserts, juice to vegetables—and, by the 1980’s–fresh produce. In 1959 Frances Logan remarried to JMB Lewis, Jr. a Norfolk Western lawyer.  The Logan siblings instantly gained stepbrother Minor Lewis and Anna was delighted to have a wonderful big sister Stuart Lewis Smith.   Through 1986, Anna’s brothers ran the company and Joe, Anna, George, and their mother all served on the board—Joe as board chair, Anna as corporate secretary, and George as CEO.  George ran the company until 1986, when it merged with the Sara Lee Corporation.

Anna began her education at North Cross School, then located on Union Street in Salem for grades K-3.  She attended Broad Street School (now Salem City Hall) for grades 4-7, was a student at Andrew Lewis for grades 8-10, and finished her high school education at St. Anne’s, a boarding school in Charlottesville.  Her first official employment was in 1959 when, at 16, she held a part time summer job filing at the old Lindsey-Robinson Feed Company.

She earned a B. A. in English at Hollins in 1965 and received an M. A. in English and Creative Writing in 1970, also from Hollins.  As an undergraduate, she was associate editor of the student newspaper, and worked in student government as a class officer and served as a member of the college’s student legislative body, creating and interpreting regulations governing student life.

As with many young women in the 1960s, Anna’s aspirations were not clear cut.  “I think I was more interested in causes than in a career,” she says now. She notes, she “wanted to avoid confrontations and was willing to make compromises by looking into how the system could be adjusted.”  Certainly, the years at Hollins were a time when the system was being questioned on several fronts, among them, civil rights (classmates and faculty were involved in sit-ins and marches in Roanoke), and women’s rights (required reading one summer was Betty Freidan’s “The Feminine Mystique.”).

Upon receiving her undergraduate degree, Anna set out for New York and a job at the publisher William Morrow, where the work was “mostly low-level secretarial, but with a bit of opportunity to read unsolicited manuscripts.” She returned to Roanoke after a year and married Thomas Lawson, whom she’d met while she was at Hollins, and he was in law school at the University of Virginia.  A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tom served in the U. S. Navy 1960-62, and joined Woods Rogers, Muse, & Walker (now Woods Rogers) in 1965 where he was a trial lawyer until leaving the firm in 1992.  In 2008, Tom’s book, Carl Jung, Darwin of the Mind  (2008) about the Swiss psychoanalyst, came out from the London publishing house, Karnac, and he has received acclaim and developed a steady market for his abstract paintings.

After their marriage, Anna went to work (part time) for the Roanoke Historical Society as its first executive director, under the guidance of George Kegley, and the late Jean Showalter and Louise Goodwin.  From 1967 to 1970, Anna was employed as News Director at Hollins, writing press releases covering exciting times at the college, while at the same time working on her master’s degree in English.  Her years at Hollins under the tutelage of forward-thinking faculty and administration shaped her mission for questioning “the system” and began her career as a social entrepreneur. And in the Publications and Information Office she found a mentor in her boss, Virginia Carter.  Active in the arts, all things literary, but especially politics, Ginny urged Anna to become involved in Common Cause, the national non-partisan group founded by John Gardner in 1970, advocating open, honest, and accountable government.  Common Cause captured her attention and talent because if its focus on the system—it was not about a particular political issue; it was the process of creating and refining the process of making and administering the rules and regulations governing a civil society.

Anna and Tom had two children: Thomas Towles, Jr., born in 1971, Frances Blair, in 1973.  Towles, who earned a joint degree in art history and philosophy at UVA, is an inventor who holds patents that address such engineering areas as turbo-lag and zero turn radius.  Blair, in New York after obtaining a B. A. from Stanford and a MBA from Northwestern, is a vice president at Louis Vuitton, the Paris-based leather goods and fashion firm.  Anna and Tom have 4 grandchildren, two in Charlottesville and two in New York. 

It was the birth of their children that led Anna onto another pioneering path.  With research, peer support from other new parents, and instinct, Anna embraced “prepared” or “natural” childbirth, a movement to help women better understand and have a role in the process of childbearing.  In 1971, Anna and Tom were one of the early couples in the Roanoke area to have natural childbirth in a Roanoke hospital; the staff were a bit tentative—some even reluctant–about the process.  And nursing the baby—having him only on breast milk– was a struggle.  However, by 1973, when Blair was born, the medical staff was fully behind natural childbirth, and the hospital encouraged “rooming in,” having the baby with its mother for “on-demand” feeding.  A “system” had adjusted!

In 1976 Anna returned to Hollins as editor of the college alumnae magazine, and co-editor of the college’s admission catalog.  She stayed in this job until 1982, serving as interim director of the annual fund for a 6-month period.  In 1983-84 she returned to campus as assistant to President Paula Brownlee, at the same time working part-time between l982-86 as newsletter editor and publications planner for the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio.

A long-held interest in archaeology and anthropology led Anna back to school in 1986, when she enrolled in the doctoral program at UVA.  Going part-time was not an option for graduate students in the anthropology department at the University, so she took a full load for three years, living in Charlottesville 2 nights a week.  Tom, meanwhile, and the children, beginning when they were 13 and 15, took care of things at home, generously assisted by her sisters-in-law; her mother, Frances; a longtime housekeeper, Jean Wiley; and wonderful boxed dinners provided by Bridget Meagher from Alexander’s.  Anna received her PhD in Anthropology in 1995, her dissertation entitled – “The Other Half”: Making African American History at Colonial Williamsburg.  While writing her dissertation, Anna taught anthropology for a semester at Hollins, and, in line with her research topic, she was a consultant in 1997-98 with the National Park Service on the Booker T. Washington National Monument, helping rewrite its general management plan. 

Two publications by Anna have tackled her concerns about how systems work and make them more responsive to the constituents.  In 1985 she prepared A New Age for University Research for the American Council on Education at the University of Georgia.  Again in 1992 she wrote, with two anthropologist colleagues, “On the Uses of Relativism: Fact, Conjecture, and Black and White Histories at Colonial Williamsburg” for American Ethnologist.   And there was writing “for fun.”  For several years in the 1970s she was a regular reviewer for the Roanoke Times Sunday Book Page, edited by Paxton Davis, and published book reviews in various anthropology journals.

As a director Frigid Freeze Foods in the mid-1970s -1980s she learned about spread sheets, net interest margin, facility depreciation, marketing and sales, and staff management.   In 1994, as Roanoke’s locally owned financial institutions were being absorbed by banks in Charlotte and Atlanta, she helped found, under the leadership of her brother George, Valley Bank, to serve our region as a locally owned and operated community institution. She continues as a director, today sitting on the Audit Committee and heading the Human Resources Committee.  The understanding of “systems” is a theme that continues.  

“Compassion and curiosity” coupled with an attempt to understand and adjust (when necessary) the social, economic, and political systems that govern our lives, are what drive Anna.  Those qualities have led to her leadership roles with Hollins (board chair, 2000-2003), TAP (chair 1999-2001), and The Nature Conservancy-Virginia Chapter (chair 2005-2009).  In addition, she is currently active with the Virginia Environmental Endowment, Virginia Land Conservation Foundation (appointment by Gov. Kaine), and the Virginia Historical Society.    She has been an advocate of education and the arts, as evidenced by a sampling of the boards she has served: Taubman Museum, Hollins College Alumnae Association, North Cross School, Science Museum of Western Virginia, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (chair 2007-09), Family Service, Virginia League of Conservation Voters.

“If I have a legacy, she says, “I hope it is about making systems effective, efficient, and accessible.”  Perhaps the non-profits of which she’s most proud are her involvement as a director and volunteer fund-raiser with Planned Parenthood, TAP (Total Action Against Poverty), the Nature Conservancy, and Hollins University.

She and Tom have supported Planned Parenthood from its beginning in The Roanoke Valley in the 1960s.  Between 1975-85 she was a board member, and in the late 1990s she and Warner Dalhouse served as co-chair of Planned Parenthood’s capital campaign for construction of its new headquarters, dedicated in 2000.

Anna’s work with The Nature Conservancy is again about changing culture in how we approach the environment. Thinking globally about our natural resources has direct consequences for the physical and economic health of our world. Complementing this work, Anna is involved with the Virginia Environmental Endowment which is a foundation that grants funds to small projects that can make a difference.

Hollins helped Anna hone thinking and analytic skills and learn how to apply them toward making organizations and institutions, and perhaps even society, function better. Working in development and administration, she found out “on the ground,” as they say, something about two interesting “systems”—fundraising, mostly with volunteers, and institutional management, with employees.  In addition to a total of 11 years, off and on, as an employee, Anna served 15 years as a Hollins trustee.  In her three years as board chair, a president left the institution, and the country experienced the horror of 9/11. “What inspired me most in that period was the leadership of interim president Walter Rugaber, drafted into the job from his then recent retirement as publisher of The Roanoke Times.  Anna also remembers relying as well on the leadership of Hollins student government president Beth Burgin, now an attorney at Woods Rogers. 

The importance of role models in Anna’s life have been profound in the choices she made from watching her widowed mother tackle the world of work, to living with the aunt who was a dedicated civil servant all her life, to working alongside former college President Paula Brownlee who supported her entering the PhD program.  President Brownlee, while advising that taking on the PhD program might involve getting rid of unwanted responsibilities, noted that there would things Anna loved doing that she would have to sacrifice.  A cellist with the symphony in upstate New York, where she was taking up the post of dean at Union College, Dr. Brownlee said, “I put the cello in the closet—there just wasn’t going to be time.”  Barbara Lemon, community leader and volunteer with whom Anna serves on the Valley Bank board, has been consistently influential with her question, always: “What have we learned?” When an outcome is positive, be sure how we got there; and when it’s negative, be sure to analyze our mistakes.

Asked about a motto, Anna responds, “The Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they would have you do unto THEM.” In other words, try to figure out what the other person wants or needs, what his or her culture is, its values, and then try to respond in a respectful, compassionate manner.  In a way, it’s the flip side, or complement, to her belief in the importance of “curiosity and compassion.”  “It’s not always pleasant, or easy,” she continues. “Often, I’m dead wrong about what’s going on with a person or a situation, but usually something good comes out of the effort.  It takes curiosity, the mind, to determine what drives someone, and compassion, the heart, to understand it.”

Anna Lawson was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2010.

Leon Harris was born on April 3, 1942, in Floyd County, Virginia. Harris earned his bachelor’s in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech in 1964.   He is currently the president of KelTech Inc., of Roanoke, Virginia, a company specializing in electronic contract manufacturing.

While attending Virginia Tech, Harris served as a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets (VTCC) and was a member of the industrial engineering professional society, now known as the Institute of Industrial Engineers, Professional Society, and Alpha Pi Mu, the industrial engineering national honor society.

Post-graduation, Harris was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and accepted his first job at General Electric on the engineering and manufacturing management team.   Shortly after, Harris was called to serve in active duty at U.S. Army Fort Belvoir and Fort Campbell.   In 1966, he was promoted to first lieutenant and then served as a combat engineering officer in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.   In 1967, Harris was discharged from active to reserve status and later promoted to captain in 1970.

After three years of military service, Harris rejoined the GE management development program and stayed with the company through 1983.   His broad experience with GE instilled the background necessary to move into small business ownership.   Harris purchased a local radio station and served as president of Waynesboro Broadcasting Inc, in Waynesboro, Virginia.

Harris developed Tele-Path Instruments in Salem, Virginia, a company that designed and produced digital test equipment for the burgeoning telecommunications industry.   Under Harris’ leadership as president, Tele-Path grew into a $30 million business.   In 1995, the family sold the business and soon after, Harris and his wife Beverly purchased KelTech.

Student success and creating opportunities for engineering students has been a focus for Harris.   In 2998, he endowed the Leon P. Harris Scholarship Fund, supporting undergraduate students in Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering.   Together with Beverly, the couple endowed the Harris Manufacturing Processes Laboratories, an instructional lab used to teach about 650 industrial and systems engineering, mechanical engineering, and materials science engineering students each year in a variety of manufacturing processes, including machining, welding, and sand casting.

Harris is an actively engaged Hokie.   He is a member of the 1872 Society, the Pylon Society, and the Ut Prosim Society.   He has helped propel many university projects with his generosity, including the VTCC building fund and the VTCC Leon Harris ’64 and Beverly Harris scholarship, the W.E. Skelton R-H Educational Conference Center Smith Mountain Lake 4-H fund, and the Moss Arts Center.

Harris and Beverly served as the Roanoke regional co-chairs for The Campaign for Virginia Tech: Invent the Future, which concluded in 2011 and raised more than $1.1 billion. In 2010, Virginia Tech’s Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering bestowed its highest honor upon Harris, the Marvin Agee Distinguished Alumni Award.

Harris is a member of the board of directors for the W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake, Hokies for Higher Education, and Virginia Tech Carilion Health Systems and Technology Steering Committee.   He currently serves as the chair for the Taubman Museum of Art and president of the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation Board.

Leon Harris was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2011.

John Williamson, III was born in Bedford County, Virginia in 1954.  He is a Roanoke businessman and civic leader who took an early career in local government and turned it into a long, successful run in the business world. John attended Montvale elementary school, and liberty school, with half days spent working on architectural drafting at Bedford vocational center. He was working for money by age 14, stocking shelves at carter’s store, and running the gas and diesel service at the Atlantic truck stop in Montvale. Although he worked long hours, he still had time to be a member of the Beta Club, Future Farmers of America, and the JV baseball team. 

After high school john attended Virginia Western Community College, where he received his associate of science degree in business administration. After that he attended Virginia Commonwealth University and graduated with his bachelor’s degree in May of 1977. From there, John became the assistant county administrator in Bedford County… where he approved early plans for development at smith mountain lake.

In 1979 John, at 24, became the youngest county administrator in the state of Virginia, when he took over the reins in Nelson County. There, he would work with businessman L.F Payne on the development of The Wintergreen Resort. In 1981, John left the job in nelson county to earn his MBA at William and Mary.   Upon graduation in 1983, he took a job with C & P Telephone, which would later become Verizon. 

Not wanting to move to larger cities to move up the corporate ladder, the Williamson family started looking at living in Roanoke. John wanted to be near his aging parents, so he accepted a job as Botetourt County administrator. During his time in this role, he from 1986 to 1992 he would develop the county’s first industrial park, east park commerce center, create the county’s public works department, and manage the steady growth of southern Botetourt County and finance upgrades to the county’s public-school buildings and fire department and rescue fleets. 

Despite those successes in the public sector, john’s best work was still ahead of him. In 1992 he joined Roanoke Gas Company as director of rates and finance. In less than a year he was named vice president of rates and finance – a position he held for five years. Then in 1998 John was named President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director.  In 2003 he added the title of chairman – positions he still holds today.

Among his early actions – the creation of RGC Resources, a holding company that allowed for diversification – including the acquisition of several propane companies and ventures into heating and air conditioning, information systems and utility services consulting. When John and the board sold highland propane in 2004, the company paid a special dividend of almost $10 million to the shareholders. Since john joined the company in 1992, the company’s stock has improved from $15 a share to $34, paying $27 in dividends and a 300-percent increase for shareholders over 20 years. Today the company has more than $100 million invested in natural gas plants, provides 60-thousand customers with environmentally friendly fuel and pumps $7 million in wages into the local economy, while remitting 3.5 million in property and utility taxes to local governments.

Beyond work and family, John has been a significant contributor to the community as well, serving on the boards of numerous businesses including corning natural gas, Luna innovations, Botetourt Bankshares, optical cable, synchrony, friendship retirement community, Roanoke regional partnership, Virginia Tech corporate research center the business council and of course RGC Resources. The list of non-profits which have benefitted from his service is equally long, and he has chaired many of them. With John’s career still in full swing, he uses a quote from President John F. Kennedy for daily guidance:  for those to whom much is given, much is expected.

John Williamson was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2011.

William Heywood Lee Fralin was born in 1940, in Union Hall Virginia. The youngest of three boys, Heywood was named for writer Heywood Hale Broun.  It was his mother’s desire to give all three sons strong names.  Mrs. Fralin was from Scruggs, Virginia and taught school in a one room Franklin County school house which is still standing and located in Explore Park.  This young teacher barely started her career when at the age of nineteen she met the man she would be married to for 50 years.   His mother was strong-willed with a great work ethic and strong belief in the virtues of an education. 

Mr. Fralin was born in Union Hall, Virginia and with a 7^th grade education plowed the farmland around him from the age of 11 until he married at the age of 31.  Starting a new job, he followed the exodus with his wife into Roanoke to work at the silk mill later known as the American Viscose.  As Mr. Fralin matured, he had entrepreneurial instinct, and, with a partner, opened and operated an automobile service station in Garden City. This venture lasted until 1945 when he sold his interest.  Taking his earnings, Mr. Fralin began a business constructing homes in Roanoke County and Roanoke City. This continued until he built his last home for Heywood on Wycliffe Avenue in 1972.  He died in 1973.

While in grade school, middle school and high school Heywood was a decent student.  He played on little league sports teams at an early age and has enjoyed being a spectator his entire life.   The bar had been set and young Heywood graduated from Jefferson High School in May 1957 and was accepted into the University of Virginia after turning 17 in June.  He joined a social fraternity and made the social adjustment most college students do.   He would add that he often enjoyed social life a little too much.  He graduated in May 1962 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. “My mother would have preferred that I attend Virginia Tech, but I had a rebellious streak and because my brothers went to Tech, I chose Virginia.”    The competitive and academic prowess held by Heywood led to American University Law School and in two and a half years he obtained his law degree by January 1965.  It was quite apparent that a law degree would be a great background for business.

Heywood returned to the Roanoke area to begin his law career under the mentorship of Tracy Lloyd and was paid $200 per month.  Over the years with several mergers, his firm became Jolly, Place, Fralin, and Prillaman, with Heywood being the managing partner.  Heywood’s specialties were real estate law, representing developers, HUD loan closings, and estate planning. He mostly represented the business side of law and rarely ventured into trial law.

This dedicated lawyer was a true asset to his family as brother, Horace, partnered with Elbert Waldron to create Fralin and Waldron, Inc. (F&W), a development and construction company.  Heywood was the legal counsel to the business and honed his specialties as his brother went from home and multi-family construction to the development of Skilled Nursing Care Centers and Retirement Centers.  The Skilled Nursing business is very different today than it was when it started.  The acuity level is much higher and most residents in the skilled nursing facilities go home in 30 days or less.  They operate more like rural hospitals operated years ago.

 The sudden death of Horace Fralin in 1993 spurred Elbert Waldron to reach out to Heywood and convince him that he would be the most natural fit into the Fralin and Waldron enterprises.   Heywood had a working knowledge of the business dealings as he originally did the legal work setting up the businesses and securing the loans to finance the businesses.   Four years later the death of Mr. Waldron led to another natural fit from the Waldron family.  Elbert’s daughter, Karen, came on board in 1997 and the new team has led the many businesses for the last 15 years.  Heywood’s focus was with the Skilled Nursing Facilities in VA and NC plus the Assisted Living Centers.  Karen’s focus was the multi-family operation and construction, the construction company having been purchased by Elbert Waldron at Horace Fralin’s death.  Even with this defined order of business, major decisions for the company would remain the same since the doors opened in 1962. Both partners would meet and discuss the issues before making any major decisions.  This arrangement worked in the beginning and continues to be a successful collaboration.  Heywood is quick to add that work has been pleasant and successful because we have surrounded ourselves with a “crackerjack” staff which number almost 7,000 full and part time employees based in Virginia and North Carolina. 

Heywood espouses a keen observation that understanding politics on all levels is important for existence and survival in health care.   It is also important for higher education which has been a life-long passion.  His first and lasting impression of courting a politician to share industry concerns was setting a meeting with the late Senator Hunter Andrews.  Sen. Andrews was a formidable member of the Senate Finance Committee and Majority leader in the Virginia Senate.  He represented the Hampton Roads area for 32 years.   His first meeting in the late Senator’s office was to take place in the early morning and upon Heywood’s arrival to the office he was told by the Senator to please leave him alone.   The Senator’s secretary, a wonderful lady, reported that “land mines are everywhere – I would have to come back tomorrow”.  After multiple attempts by Heywood to meet with this most important figure to discuss issues he finally succeeded and developed a lasting friendship and mutual admiration.   The political posturing that exists to uphold quality of life issues transcended to the next generation of the Fralin family and Heywood’s son, William Fralin, served 3 terms as State delegate for the 17th district before retiring to become President of MFA.  Ironically, Heywood could not vote for his son because he did not live in his district. 

Heywood and Cynthia treasure a tradition of taking their children and spouses annually to a different location in the world for a 7–10-day venture.  This helps Heywood complete his bucket list and build a deeper admiration for his adult children.  They have had twelve expeditions.  The first was a trip to a dude ranch in Wyoming, while the children’s favorite trip was a picture safari in Kenya, Africa.  The other trips include a tour of the countryside in England and Ireland, a cruise in Alaska, a cruise up the Baltic Sea from England to Russia, and a trip to India to see the Bengal tiger in its natural habitat.  It was noted by Heywood they have shared with friends how wonderful these excursions have been with their children and now other families are emulating their vacation ideas.  

Notable Accomplishments:

• The recent rehiring of University of Virginia President Theresa Sullivan just prior to the end of his term on the board of visitors having formerly served as Rector for UVA.
• Serving on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors and having the opportunity to participate in the choosing of Paul Torgerson and Charles Steger as Presidents.
• Appointed by the Speaker of the House to the Council of Virginia’s Future, a body assembled to provide the road map for measuring the performance of state agencies.
• Serving as a member and former Chairman of the Alliance for Quality Nursing – the health care trade association for the largest long term skilled nursing care providers in the country.
• Appointed by the Governor to his Commission on Higher Education and his Higher Education Advisory Council to make higher education a priority of his Administration.
• Recipient of the 2012 Dunton Award by the Virginia Health Care Association – the state trade organization for the long-term health care industry, for outstanding leadership in long term health care.
• A member and former Chairman of the Virginia Business Council – comprised of the state’s largest major businesses.
• A member of the Carter Immunology Center (created by the Beirne Carter Foundation) on the UVA campus providing immunology and medical research at UVA.
• Recently serving on the Virginia Historical Society Board of Directors.

He is a former member of Board of Directors for Explore Park, a former member of The Jefferson Center Board of Directors – Heywood served with the honorable Beverly T. Fitzpatrick on the board and participated in overseeing the renovation of the Shaftman Performance Hall. In addition, the Horace Fralin Charitable Trust was the largest benefactor of the center. He is also a benefactor of Taubman Art Museum – The Horace Fralin Charitable Trust made major donations of American Art, and Heywood and the Trust contributed significantly to the construction of the building and Heywood served previously on the Board of Directors and as Chairman.

In all the years he has advocated for health and education there are some observations that Heywood would like to make to those young people in middle and high school.  “Obtain as much education in the STEM subjects as possible to prepare for our knowledge-based economy. Those subjects and other rigorous studies will lead to significant jobs.”  It is important to be the “best at what you do –then there will always be a need for your services.  You only get one opportunity to get an education – take advantage of it.  Once you pass the age of thirty it becomes tough.  Prepare for a job you enjoy because it’s terrible to dread your employment.”

 “Success” is a word that is used often by Heywood in sharing the key to being fulfilled.  The definition of success to him “depends on the topic – but generally lead productive lives; stay healthy by working to preserve one’s health through exercise and good eating habits.  Give back time and resources to make your city, state, and nation better for everyone. “

Fralin was asked for a motto he lives by, he shared “Give back to the community, state and nation to make it a better place than you found it.”  He values work ethic and instilling values, to replace the current attitude of entitlement. A true gentleman and renaissance man who looks for ways to sustain a quality of life for others he has made a major gift along with his wife Cynthia of beautiful turn- of- the century American artist paintings.   The collection of 41 paintings will be housed at Heywood’s alma mater, the University of Virginia.  Upon their demise the collection they have amassed will be placed in the newly named Fralin Museum of Art a division of the College of Arts and Science for students and Virginians to study the great works.

W. Heywood Fralin was inducted into the Southwest Virginia Business Hall of Fame in 2012.