Speakers
SPEAKER LINEUP
The speakers for this year's summit were chosen to highlight the summit theme We Impact Virginia: Moving Forward Together. Each leader, trailblazer, and innovator on this year's schedule contributes valuable perspectives and extensive expertise. They remind us that progress and resilience grow best in community, not isolation.
The challenges faced in Southwest Virginia in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and the region's response, offer an example for all communities. Trust and collective action helped the region begin to rebuild, reminding all that strong relationship build strong communities, and great impact comes from great investment.
Amy Clark - opening keynote
Amy Clark is Professor of Rhetoric and Applied Linguistics at UVA's College at Wise, and Co-Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies. She is a recipient of the SCHEV Outstanding Faculty Award, the commonwealth's highest honor for faculty at Virginia's colleges and universities. She is co-editor and author of the book Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity, and Community (University Press of Kentucky, 2013) and host/producer of the Talking Appalachian podcast (recently featured in The Atlantic). Her writing about the region and its dialects has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, Oxford American, and Harvard University Press blog. Her forthcoming book, titled The Cyclone of Rye Cove: a Community's Tragedy and the Carter Family Ballad, will be published by University of Virginia Press/Rivanna in 2027.
Amy Clark will start the day by sharing how her work explores voice and place, and how those shape individual and community identities, and how storytelling can create human connection and deepen understanding.
Chris Bell - closing keynote
After a day of panel discussions and breakout speakers, Damascus town manager Chris Bell rounds out the day with a conversation on how the town of Damascus, which depends on tourism as its primary economic driver, has begun to rebuild after Hurricane Helene devastated the area. Bell considers the recovery a “baptism by fire” (or more accurately, by flood), since he had only been in the town manager position for two months before the disaster, and his experience will certainly be an inspiration and a testament to the power of community and resilience.
Chris Bell combines a strong technical background with a dedication to community service and business leadership. A native of Northern California, Chris's interest in music, science, and technology led him to a degree in Acoustic Engineering from the University of Hartford. He began his career in the early 1990s in Atlanta designing and installing sound systems for local churches and houses of worship.
Chris broadened his expertise to encompass video and control systems, creating innovative technology solutions for major clients like Delta Airlines, Coca-Cola, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. In 1998, he established his own company, providing audio-visual integration services to corporations, universities, and government entities for more than 20 years.
In early 2024, Chris retired from the industry and moved with his wife to Damascus to be closer to their son at Virginia Tech.
Thank you to our Keynote Speaker sponsor, Letterpress Communications!
HOKIE HIGHLIGHT PANEL DISCUSSION
Agriculture and Sustainability
This year's Hokie Highlight segment features three women in different phases of their career who all work in agriculture and have strong ties to Virginia Tech through education and service. The panel will discuss the economics and laws of agriculture as well as how women are changing the world of ag. The segment’s moderator, Alex Veatch, is a part owner in a farm, and will help the speakers explore how sustainability can be incorporated into agriculture while maintaining economic viability for producers, as well as which emerging trends in agriculture and sustainability deserve attention.
With deep farming roots and a vision for building resilient communities, advancing food equity, and creating thriving food systems, Sarah Morton brings clarity, warmth, and strategic intent to every conversation, empowering others to effect change. She’s a third-generation farmer in central Virginia who works alongside her siblings to steward land and feed communities, advancing initiatives connect 4‑H youth and veteran farmers with local food pantries, and collaborating with Virginia State University’s Small Farms Outreach Program to establish experiential learning labs for new and beginning farmers.
Jennifer S. Friedel is an attorney who practices agricultural law, natural resources, contracts, and estate and farm succession planning. She is an associate professor of practice in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at Virginia Tech, teaching agricultural law and environmental law. Jennifer is also co-owner and operator of her family's registered Angus operation in Bland, Virginia.
Laci Hicks is a third-generation farmer from Bristol, Virginia with a deep passion for agriculture and meat processing. She is a 2024 graduate of Virginia Tech currently the assistant manager at her family's meat processing plant. Her favorite part of the job is working directly with the farmer to ensure they get the most value out of their animal. Laci enjoys building relationships with the producer and sharing her knowledge of the meat industry.
BREAKOUT SESSION 1
Olivia Bailey is a native of Southwest Virginia and a passionate community advocate. She will discuss local and regional efforts to support long-term disaster recovery through Trails to Recovery, a nonprofit founded after Hurricane Helene.
Olivia holds a master’s degree in community and organizational leadership and bachelor's degrees in mass communications and public policy and community service from Emory & Henry College (now University).
She serves as the Director of External Affairs for Communities in Schools of Appalachian Highlands, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting students and families with basic and critical community resources in Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee. Prior to her current role, she also served as a Community Liaison Officer for the Virginia Office of the Attorney General and Director of Marketing for Friends of Southwest Virginia.
Olivia is on the board for Trails to Recovery and a state appointee to the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center Board of Trustees. She also serves as a board member and president-nominee for the Abingdon Rotary Club.
In her free time, Olivia loves travel, live music, and running. She can often be found along the streets in downtown Abingdon with her golden retriever, Emory.
Mike Quillen brings the spirit of the Virginia Tech motto Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) to life through his work and will highlight how a life rooted in service creates meaningful impact in communities, organizations, and industries, and how the values we carry forward can strengthen our collective future.
Michael J. Quillen has been involved in the coal and energy business for over four decades along with an equal amount of time in economic development in southwest Virginia and east Tennessee. He is chair of the SWVA Energy Advisory Council and serves on the Mountain Mission board in Grundy, VA. Quillen is on the VA Tech Alumni Advisory Board and the Virginia Higher Education Council. He also sits on the Ballad Health board of directors and chairs the finance committee.
In 202, Quillen was awarded the William H. Ruffner Medal by Virginia Tech, the university's highest honor. He has received numerous awards over his career in addition to the Ruffner Medal, including the Bristol Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award in January 2020, the Virginia Business Magazine Businessman of the Year in 2012 and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year-Greater Washington Area Winner in Energy in 2006.
April Martin, Director of Education for the Wilderness Road Regional Museum, has deep generational roots in the New River Valley with her first recorded ancestor purchasing land in the region in the late 1740s. She has received national, state, and regional historic preservation awards and educational outreach recognition from National Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of War of 1812, Virginia Sons of the Revolution, and various other local history organizations.
April has a bachelor's and master's degree in American history from Virginia Tech, a minor in literature, an Associate's degree in education, and a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Pamplin School of Business at Virginia Tech.
She is a founding and active member of the Virginia Legacy Lewis & Clark Trail, the co-chair of the very active Pulaski County 250th committee, and helps part time with the Ratcliffe Museum of Transportation and the interpretive 1930s farmhouse at Radford University’s Selu Conservancy.
BREAKOUT SESSION 2
Derek Orr, Benjamin Jackson, and Kimble Reynolds come together for the panel discussion Telling the Story of Slavery Through People, Place, and Preservation. The three will share their work to highlight, preserve, and enhance the narrative of the men, women, and children whose labor built the physical structures and the economy of antebellum plantations around the region.
A native of southwest Virginia, Derek Orr continues his family’s legacy of service to others and promotion of the area’s history through his personal and professional endeavors. He attended the University of Tennessee School of Architecture; earned a bachelor's degree in psychology at Emory & Henry College, and a master's degree in counseling and human development at Radford University.
Derek's cultural and service organizations include: founder and president of the Octagon House Foundation, Inc.; Smyth County Historical Society Board of Directors; Chair, Smyth County Department of Social Services Board of Directors; Mountain Community Action Program-Headstart, Parent-Community Advisory Committee; Share Food Program-Director; Smyth County VA 250 Advisory Committee; 2023 Smyth County Strategic Planning Comprehensive Plan, Tourism/Cultural and Historic Resources Planning Committee; Smyth County Historical and Cultural Assets Advisory Committee; Master Mason, Grand Lodge of Virginia Freemason, Marion Lodge 31; Lead Therapeutic Specialist, Highlands Community Services Board; Certified Mental Health Professional (CMHP).
Kimble Reynolds, Jr. received a bachelor’s degree in marketing management in 1988 and a master’s degree in education from Virginia Tech in 1995. An attorney with a private practice in Martinsville, Reynolds earned his law degree at the Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1993. Part of his legal training included working as a legal intern with the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C. researching precedent case law, analyzing investigative reports and writing proposed dispositions.
He is the former Mayor of the City of Martinsville and has served on several community boards and Virginia’s Commission on Local Government. He also served as Regional Director for Congressman Tom Perriello. Kimble currently serves as the chair of the Reynolds Homestead’s Descendants Committee.
Benjamin Jackson was born and raised in Smyth County, Virginia, where history has always been a part of his life. Today, Ben is considered the head griot of his family, carrying forward the stories and traditions of generations whose elders have passed on. A griot, pronounced GREE-oh, is a traditional West African oral historian and storyteller.
Since retirement, he has been on a quest to uncover pieces of history hidden in plain sight throughout Southwest Virginia and beyond: the handmade fingerprints of the enslaved community. For centuries, bricks used to construct homes, chimneys, outbuildings, and other structures have quietly preserved evidence of the people who made them. Embedded in some of those bricks are fingerprints, handprints, initials, and, occasionally, even the footprint of a child. They are marks left behind by enslaved people whose names and stories were too often erased from the historical record. The fingerprints can be difficult to see at first. But once you learn to look for them, they become almost impossible to ignore.
Through his search, Ben is helping people see what has been overlooked for generations. What appears to be an ordinary old brick may actually contain the impression of a person's hand—or even the tiny footprint of a child.
Dr. Tamarah Holmes serves as director of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), where she leads the commonwealth’s housing, community development, and economic revitalization portfolio. Her work strengthens regional collaboration and advances long-term development strategies in communities experiencing economic transition.
Corrie Bobe, director of economic development & regional collaboration at the Danville Regional Foundation, leads cross-jurisdictional efforts to align economic investment, workforce development, housing, and community assets across the Dan River Region. Her leadership has helped transform downtown Danville into a nationally recognized mixed-use destination.