VFIC - Key Persons

Elizabeth "Liz" Blaine joined the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges in January 2024. Liz has extensive experience in principal gift fundraising and executive team leadership. Before joining the VFIC, Liz held development positions and served on the leadership teams of distinguished mission-based nonprofit organizations. Most recently, she served as Director of Philanthropy for the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, where she led a team of fundraising professionals to raise significant private operating and endowment support. Other roles included Senior Director of Development, Principal Gifts, for the College Foundation of the University of Virginia, her alma mater; Director of Development for The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the private nonprofit which owns and operates Monticello; and Associate Director of Development for the University of Virginia Cancer Center. Before becoming a development professional, Liz was a business lawyer in private practice and served as in-house counsel in the hospitality industry. Liz is passionate about providing access for deserving students to private, independent colleges and universities in Virginia. Together with business trustees, college presidents, donors, and leadership team colleagues, she looks forward to taking scholarship fundraising at VFIC to the next level, to better serve the member schools and their students. Blaine holds a BA with Distinction in Art History and a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is a former trustee of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia and Elk Hill Farm in Goochland, Virginia.

Esther C. Lee

Job Titles:

Trustee
President and CEO, Refraction

Frank Batten

Job Titles:

Trustee
Chairman and CEO, Landmark Media Enterprises, LLC

Frank Shushok

Job Titles:

President, Roanoke College, Salem, VA

Gary D. Bonnewell

Job Titles:

Trustee
Senior VP, Financial Advisor and Family Wealth Director, Morgan Stanley

Gary R. Shook

Job Titles:

Trustee
President and CEO, Community Bankers' Bank

Gary R. Thomson

Job Titles:

Trustee
Managing Partner, Thomson Consulting, LLC

George C. Freeman III

Job Titles:

Trustee
Chairman, President and CEO, Universal Corporation

George F. Albright

Job Titles:

Trustee
Mnging Dir. & VA Business Head, JPMorgan Private Bank

George Y. Birdsong

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Trustee
CEO, Birdsong Corporation

H. Hiter Harris III

Job Titles:

Trustee
Managing Director, Harris Williams & Co

H. McGuire Riley

Job Titles:

Trustee
President, BAHR Associates, Inc.

Hakim J. Lucas

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President, Virginia Union University, Richmond, VA

Hugh E. Taylor

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Trustee
Civic Leader, Falls Church, VA

Irma Becerra

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President, Marymount University, Arlington, VA

J. Knox Singleton

Job Titles:

Trustee
Civic Leader, Winchester, VA

James C. Wheat III

Job Titles:

Trustee
President, Blandfield Associates, LLC

Jeffrey P. Stein

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President, Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, VA

Jeffrey V. Haley

Job Titles:

Trustee
Chairman & CEO ( Ret. ), American National Bankshares

Jennifer Felix

Job Titles:

Trustee
President & CEO, ASRC Federal

John C. Asbury

Job Titles:

Trustee
President & CEO, Atlantic Union Bank

John H. Wick IV

Job Titles:

Trustee
Senior Vice President, Wells Fargo Private Bank

John Lawrence Stimpert

Job Titles:

President, Hampden - Sydney College, Hampden - Sydney, VA

John M. Camp III

Job Titles:

Trustee
Managing Director of Bus. Dev., Arbor Investments

John McNamara Curtis, Sr.

Job Titles:

Trustee
Chairman, Cubic Corporation

John R. Clark III

Job Titles:

Trustee
President ( Retired ), Steuart Investment Company

Kevin F. Hallock

Job Titles:

President, University of Richmond, Richmond, VA

Kristen Erickson

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Administrative Assistant

Lauren Fisher White

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Trustee
Partner, Christian & Barton, LLP

Locke Ogens - President

Job Titles:

President

Locke assumed her role as president in February 2024. She is responsible for developing and executing the strategy that enables the VFIC to achieve its mission of connecting deserving students with the excellent, personalized, and values-based independent education offered by the 17 VFIC schools. An innovative thinker who is well acquainted with the philanthropic community in Virginia, Locke previously served as the Virginia State Director for The Nature Conservancy, the world's largest conservation organization. Before joining The Nature Conservancy, Locke was President of the Darden School Foundation at the University of Virginia. In addition to her work in the nonprofit sector, Ogens has more than fifteen years of successful experience as a portfolio manager and investor for small-to mid-cap companies. Ogens earned a BA in American History from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. She serves as Chair of The Salvation Army's Charlottesville Advisory Board and as a board member and secretary of Foxfield Races. Locke previously served as a board member and chair of the College Foundation at the University of Virginia.

Louise Fincher

Job Titles:

Interim President, Emory & Henry University, Emory, VA

Mark G. Mykityshyn

Job Titles:

Trustee
CEO, Endeavor Technology Group

Martin Kent

Job Titles:

Trustee
President and CEO, the United Company

Mary Allen Waller

Job Titles:

Trustee
Global Director of Community Engagement, Markel Corporation

Mary Dana Hinton

Job Titles:

President, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA

Mary G. Shockey

Job Titles:

Trustee
Civic Leader, Millwood, VA

Mary Pope M. Hutson

Job Titles:

President, Sweet Briar College, Sweet Briar, VA

Mary-Beth Johnson - COO

Job Titles:

Chief Operating Officer

As Chief Operating Officer at the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, Mary-Beth Johnson is responsible for the internal operations including day-to-day management of the organization. She has been with the Foundation for the past twenty years, since 2004. Mary-Beth's non-profit professional history includes more than twenty-seven years of working in Richmond, VA for organizations including Emergency Shelter, Inc./Home Again, St. Joseph's Villa and currently for the VFIC. During her non-profit career, Mary-Beth has been responsible for all areas of fund raising including the annual fund, major gifts, capital initiatives, grant writing, planned giving and special events. Prior to her work in Richmond, she was the Distribution Supervisor for Production Masters, Inc. and TPC Communications both in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While working at the audio and video postproduction companies, she was responsible for processing all duplication orders, trafficking for ad agencies and broadcast clients and the distribution of nationally syndicated programs. Johnson holds a BA from the University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, Virginia and a certificate in Management from the Darden School of Business. In addition, she holds certificates in non- profit and volunteer management from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of South Carolina respectively. She is a past-President for the Virginia Association of Fundraising Executives and has held positions on the boards of the Virginia Pharmacists Association Research and Education Foundation Board, the New Community School, the Richmond Symphony Orchestra League and the Junior League of Pittsburgh. Johnson is a graduate of the 2006 Leadership Metro Richmond program and a 2019 graduate of LEAD Virginia.