members Archives - The Young Professional

January 26, 2021

Tom Marsden

Ashton Love Joins tHRive Board

tHRive is pleased to announce that Ashton Love has been elected as Vice Chair of Membership on tHRive’s Board of Directors for the 2021 calendar year. The young professional program of the Hampton Roads Chamber is approaching its sixth year as one of the 757’s premiere young professional networks, and boasts a roster of over 3,000 diverse members in practically all of the region’s primary industries.

Ashton will take a leadership role on the Membership committee, which is responsible for engaging with current members and providing a welcoming environment for new and future members to network, share and grow. When asked why he joined the tHRive Board, Love stated “I’m passionate about building our young professional community in the region and I’m excited to help continue, and grow, the success and impact of tHRive.”

Love will also be integral in developing safe and opportunistic events for new and current members to connect throughout his two-year term on the Board. “As we begin 2021, I am very pleased to have Ashton joining our Board of Directors,” says tHRive Chairman Tom Marsden. “He brings an energy to the position that will surely help connect and motivate our own members to get more involved with tHRive.”

Ashton Love is employed as an Investment Executive at Davenport & Company LLC, where he helps a variety of clients with their investment and financial planning needs which can range from retirement planning to stock and investment portfolio management.

January 26, 2021

Anne Baumler

tHRive Announces It’s 2021 Board

tHRive, the young professional program of the Hampton Roads Chamber, has announced its new Board Leadership for 2021. The working Board, with the support of the Chamber, has elected Tom Marsden as tHRive Chairman for the 2021 term, along with four new Board members.

Marsden is a Vice President at Marathon Consulting and previously served as the Vice-Chair of tHRive’s Regional Engagement Committee in 2020. As tHRive Chairman, he will serve as the program’s leader and work alongside the Board of Directors to continue the progress made by his predecessor, Norfolk Southern’s Assistant Director of Labor Relations, Daniel Sileo. Like it did many with many organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic caused many challenges for tHRive in 2020. His goals for a renewed and reenergized 2021 include: getting back and delivering tHRive’s core principles of professional development, creating strong relationships, and community engagement; reengaging current members of tHRive and attracting new members; enhancing the diversity of tHRive as a representation of Hampton Roads’ young professional community; and championing the responsibility of tHRive’s members to give back to and make an impact in the community, among many others.

Hampton Roads Chamber President & CEO, Bryan Stephens says, “I am immensely impressed with the 2021 tHRive Board of Directors. They represent the best of our young professionals in the Hampton Roads business community. I am confident they will continue to lead the 3000+ members of tHRive to accomplish their objectives this year in spite of the pandemic. I look forward to watching them as they cultivate regional awareness and community development by providing a platform to empower young professionals, give them a voice, and invest in the future of our region”.

tHRive is supported by a robust and active team of volunteer committees devoted to promoting an attractive and dynamic community by engaging in the development of the region.

Marsden says, “On top of all the excitement for what 2021 will bring, I am very excited to take on the position of the chairman of the board of tHRive. I thank our previous chair Daniel Sileo for all his efforts for tHRive. I take on this responsibility knowing that I have a strong and energized board around me to recalibrate tHRive for the business environment of 2021 and beyond. We hope to continue to grow on what tHRive has done well and use tHRive as a conduit to make an impact on issues that are important to the 757 young professional community.”

The 2021 tHRive Board is as follows:

Chair – Tom Marsden
Marathon Consulting
Vice President

Chamber Liaison – Anne Baumler
Hampton Roads Chamber
Director of Events

Director of Administration – Lauren Bland
Hampton Roads Soccer Council
Executive Director

Branding Chair – Lauren Roberts
Chesapeake Public Schools
Special Education Teacher

Branding Vice-Chair – Melissa Katz
Virginia Port Authority
Design Manager

Membership Chair – Kiersten Stanton
Aerotek Inc. – Aston Carter
Business Development Manager

Membership Vice Co-Chair – Neil Anglen
Business Development and Sales

Membership Vice Co-Chair – Ashton Love
Investment Executive
Davenport & Company

Events Chair – Caroline Myatt
The Foleck Center
Marketing Manager

Events Vice-Chair – Monica Wilsey
Heather Murray Homes
Business Development Manager

Regional Engagement Chair – Amanda Green
Hampton Roads Workforce Council
Youth Program Coordinator

Regional Engagement Vice-Chair – Amasa Smith
CIVIC Leadership Institute
Director of Programming and Communications

January 26, 2021

Tom Marsden

Message from the 2021 tHRive Chair

Dear tHRive Membership,

Welcome to 2021…we’re excited to see you soon!

2020 was far from the year that we all had planned, this includes the goals of tHRive. Most of our plans switched to handling the COVID-19, and due to the nature of our in person events, a lot of our plans had to adjust. During these times many of us had to put our work and family effort to the forefront, which created a difficult scenario for tHRive to execute many 2020 goals. The board and our committees have started planning for a renewed 2021 and are very excited to getting back and delivering on tHRive’s core principles of professional development, creating strong relationships, and community engagement.

tHRive did have some successes in 2020 and started out strong with a great financial event hosted by our Diamond Partner, ABNB Federal Credit Union. We also continued our regular table for tens and even hosted a few virtual events. We hope we can get back to some of those events tHRive has been known for, but in the meantime we plan to get a bit creative with our programming. Our fundraising and volunteering efforts still continued throughout the pandemic, and we ended up raising almost $2,600 for our organization of the year, and contributed 20 hours of volunteer hours. We thank all of our members that have assisted in those efforts. Due to the interrupted efforts of 2020, we have decided to continue to support Samaritan House as our organization of the year for 2021!

One of our first acts in 2021 is to reach out to you, our members, to make sure our plans aligns with our members’ goals. Please let us know what we am do well and what we could do better. If you have any ideas on things tHRive could do, please do not hesitate to reach out to info@ypthrive.org, and please take time to complete the brief survey below that will help us develop programming for this year.

On top of all the excitement for what 2021 will bring, I am very excited to take on the position of the chairman of the board of tHRive. I thank our previous chair Daniel Sileo for all his efforts for tHRive. I take on this responsibility knowing that I have a strong and energized board around me to recalibrate tHRive for the business environment of 2021 and beyond. We hope to continue to grow on what tHRive has done well and use tHRive as a conduit to make an impact on issues that are important to The 757 young professional community. Thank you all for continuing to support tHRive, making it one of the premier young professional organizations around!

At your service,

Tom Marsden
tHRive Chair

laptop — Millennials Making an Impact in Hampton Roads

November 16, 2015

Alejandro J. Medina

Millennials Making an Impact in Hampton Roads

tHRive—the young professionals program of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce has reached a milestone of 1,000 members since its launch July 16th. tHRive has become an attractive and engaging platform for millennials by focusing on their professional development and giving them a voice in the region.

tHRive was created for young professionals ages 21 to 39. It began with fifteen leaders recognizing a need for millennials in the Hampton Roads region to better connect with the community and one another. Gaining over 1,000 members within just a few months of its launch is a clear mark of tHRive’s success, as well as the void the program has filled in this region.

The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce has not only recognized the need for the program, but also its success by creating a Vice Chair of Young Professionals position on the Chamber’s Executive Committee as well as a position on the Regional Board so that the voice of young professionals is heard on every major decision. tHRive’s current goals for expansion and growth include polling its membership on key regional issues, expanding their charitable reach, increasing membership, and increasing sponsorships to secure success in the coming year.

Through monthly and annual events, members from the full fabric of the community are able to connect with one another, gain insight from local leaders, and impact the community. At Table for Ten, nine young professionals sit down for dinner alongside one community business leader. The Business Leaders Roundtable features a prominent Hampton Roads business leader discussing a business-related subject. Monthly Happy Hours are scheduled across the region to help members stay connected and tHRive’s Signature Events provide an opportunity for its entire membership to come together.

Membership is free and open to Chamber members and non-members. Visit YPtHRive.org to join.

tHRive thanks its sponsors: Virginia Natural Gas (Platinum); Franklin Business Incubator, GEICO, Lingerfelt Commonwealth Partners (Gold); and Young Veterans Brewing Company (Silver).

About tHRive

tHRive is a program of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce created by a small group of diverse young professionals all driven to provide a platform to advance and empower young professionals in our region. tHRive has numerous signature events throughout the year and various monthly events spread across the region. These events will promote an attractive and dynamic community by engaging in the development of the region, and will focus on tHRive‘s three main goals: Professional Development, Cultivating Relationships, and Community Engagement. Visit www.YPtHRive.org. Like us on Facebook at YPtHRive and follow us on Twitter @YPtHRive.

About the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce

The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce is the Region’s premier business organization; helping our members succeed, driving regional economic growth and enhancing the quality of life of our community’s residents. The Chamber is a vigorous advocate for the economic success of its member businesses, which employ nearly 250,000 men and women in southeastern Virginia. Visit www.HamptonRoadsChamber.com. Like us on Facebook at Chamber757 and follow us on Twitter @Chamber757.

Please contact Alisa Crider at info@YPtHRive.org if you would like to feature this news through your outlet.

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