In February, VCC welcomed Brenda Mead as Interim Executive Director. VCC is grateful to Bruce Rinker for his contributions as Executive Director over the past 18 months. His enthusiasm was contagious and without his leadership we would not have recognized the necessity to reinvest in our core mission.
Brenda knows VCC well. She was recognized as VCC’s 2015 Volunteer of the Year and has been active in our organization for some time. Brenda brings to VCC the skills and accomplishments of a 40-year career in financial services, business development and sales, leadership, and fundraising. She and her family, husband Bob and daughter Marina, moved to Staunton in 2009 after Brenda retired from her role as Virginia statewide Executive for Bank of America’s wealth management group. A lifelong gardener, Brenda became a Master Gardener in 2010, and has spent six years creating a landscape at her Staunton home based on Virginia native and edible plants, and producing organically grown vegetables. One of 50 grandchildren of a Minnesota farmer, agriculture is an important part of Brenda’s heritage. Brenda: “We have an incredible opportunity to build VCC. I have a vision of this organization as a hub of excitement and passion for preserving this Valley, folding both present and future landowners and farmers into our mission.”