Building Relationships Through Volunteering
“Business does not thrive without relationships”, Todd Mawyer, President of TK Promotions
In early and snowy January, I was fortunate to assist with our board retreat. While the board did important work on strategy which was inspiring, I was also excited to see board members connect with one another. Many had not met each other before, but after spending time working and eating together, they each left the snowy retreat with a new relationship or two.
At VACEOs, our Roundtable and Forum groups offer some of the most valuable opportunities for CEOs to connect and collaborate. Sharing experiences with fellow CEOs isn’t just insightful, it can spark lifelong relationships that help both personally and professionally. The opportunities for connection don’t stop there. Larger events like the Quarterly Luncheons, Spring Retreat, and even informal gatherings provide powerful networking opportunities.
However, there’s another, often overlooked, way to connect and deepen relationships within the VACEOs community: volunteer opportunities. As a member-led organization, VACEOs relies on active involvement from members to help guide the organization forward. Volunteering not only helps shape the future of VACEOs, but it also connects members and sponsors in meaningful ways.
What makes these volunteer opportunities truly valuable are the connections that happen when members work together on common goals. Committees bring together members from different Roundtables and Forums, creating an environment where each can connect with fellow CEOs beyond their regular group.
This collaborative setting fosters a unique bond between members who share a deep understanding of the challenges and rewards of leading a business. The result is not only more productive interactions, but also an expanded network that can offer new insights and opportunities for their business
K.Alferio, President of The Cultural Arts Center sums it up perfectly, “I am not an extroverted networker in new situations, so it can be hard for me to get maximum benefits from organizations. I am perfectly comfortable addressing hundreds of people from a stage…but getting involved on a face-to-face level can be difficult. This is where volunteering comes into play. Working on committees, volunteering to help at events, etc. gives me the chance to meet a few people at a time and become more attuned to the group. Roundtables are a great way to become involved in a small setting, but if you are looking for ways to glean real benefit from VACEOs…or any group…consider volunteering and becoming an active part of the member community. It makes a big difference for me.“
Beyond Profit: Why Measuring Social Impact is Good for Business
Contributed by Susie Fife, CEO, Red Orange Studio
If revenue is vanity, profit is sanity, and cash is king…then impact is heart. Business leaders know that there’s more to measuring the health and success of a company than dollar signs. That’s why we focus on culture and values, brand reputation and employee satisfaction – these are the heart of the business. We want to create an organization that does good in the world, not only for our bottom line, but also for our teams and our communities.
But how do you measure the good a company does? And how do you tell that story in a way that generates positivity – and ultimately contributes to making the business more successful?
The business case for social impact is simple – when you do good work in the world, you build trust, create community and leave a legacy.
Build Trust: Being transparent about how you monitor and measure social impact builds trust within a team as well as with clients and the community. Whether your goal is to reduce your carbon footprint or serve an underserved community, quantifying and sharing those efforts creates accountability. If we measure the things that matter, then let’s put some metrics to the good our companies are doing. And as we all know, people are more likely to do business with companies they trust.
Create Community: If you’ve recruited talent who share your company’s core values, then chances are they will rise to the challenge if asked to structure and measure the impact they’re making. As leaders, our role is to cast the vision and create the opportunity. But our teams are the ones who ultimately create impact through their passion, relationships and dedication. An engaged community is great for recruiting and retaining the best talent.
Leave a Legacy: Most leaders think about what kind of legacy they want to leave. We work hard in our businesses and we want that to matter in the end. How do you want to be known and remembered as a leader? Social impact is an opportunity to create that legacy and take your leadership role beyond the spreadsheets and board rooms – and into the heart of your community.
Sharing Your Impact Story
From food drives to recycling efforts, most businesses are engaged in some socially responsible initiatives. Once you start measuring your impact, and focusing those efforts in a specific direction, you’ll be eager to share your stories. Here are some tips to help communicate your social impact authentically:
- Brand your social impact efforts. Develop a unique brand for your CSR initiatives so that employees, customers, clients, and other stakeholders can easily recognize the good work your business is doing. You may recognize some branded programs such as: Cox Conserves, Sentara Cares or CarMax Cares.
- Publish a report. You don’t have to create a full CSR report or a detailed sustainability report, but find a way to document and share the success stories of your social impact. It could be a simple blog post or email, or a video report shared on your website. Focus on the stories of the people who benefit from your company’s impact initiatives.
- Create a signature event. Hosting a 5k race for charity or a clean-up day can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Just find an activity or create an event that can become a central focus for your social impact. This approach channels goodwill and positive energy into a single, high-impact effort that tells a more compelling story. At Red Orange Studio, our signature event is the PIP Nonprofit Award, an annual pro-bono award for Virginia nonprofit organizations. It gives us a focus and a structure that allows us to include other agency partners to help multiply our impact.
- Find your B Keepers. As a Certified B Corp, we are encouraged to have designated “B Keepers” to help us stay the course as we use our business as a force for good. If your company is already engaged in social impact, you most likely have team members who are natural ambassadors for the cause. Equip them and empower them to tell the story!
Measuring and communicating your social impact isn’t just a feel-good exercise—it’s a strategic imperative that builds trust, strengthens community, and secures a lasting legacy. By quantifying the good your company does, you not only reinforce your commitment to doing good but also create a roadmap for sustained business success. As leaders, let’s embrace the power of transparency and purpose, and show that when we invest in making a difference, everyone benefits.
Northern Virginia CEO Forums
VACEOs is forming CEO Forums in Northern Virginia this spring! Regional Executive Ed Johnson will be facilitating these peer groups.
Forums are our facilitated peer group. Using the same best-practice techniques that we use in our self-led Roundtables, Forums meet every other month to share and learn together in a confidential environment. All of our peer groups meet in person.
Consisting of 8 to 10 non-competing CEOs, the members of a Forum commit to openly sharing their challenges and opportunities with each other, and learning from the experiences of the group. Here’s what members say about their peer group experience at VACEOs.
All members of VACEOs benefit from the largest CEO network in Virginia, connected via our private online network, and through learning and social events like our Spring Retreat.
CEOs interested in our NOVA Forums should contact Ed Johnson, Ed@VACEOs.org. For basic membership information, see our web site.
The New Reality of HR in 2025
Evolving HR Capabilities
The rapid changes in technology, shifting workforce dynamics, and competitive landscape are driving changes in how we work, reshaping industries, and challenging organizations to operate at unprecedented speeds. What feels fast now will soon become the baseline, with even greater demands on agility and innovation just around the corner. HR leaders must embrace a mindset of continuous learning, equipping themselves and their teams to adapt to whatever challenges arise. To achieve this, HR professionals must ask themselves: How will we rise to meet these demands and transform HR into a strategic driver?
HR Leaders + Owning the Conversation
Sometimes, HR can be perceived as a reactive function focused on compliance and transactional tasks. However, if we look at the HR function another way, it is the key to an agile and innovative business. To remain relevant, HR leaders should strive to be active architects of organizational success – working towards becoming a strategic driver in 2025 and beyond.[1] Here are practical steps to consider to elevate your HR function and empower HR leaders to drive meaningful outcomes.
1. Continuously Develop Your Team
To stay ahead in a fast-changing environment:
- Train your team: Focus on AI integration, workforce analytics, and strategic workforce planning.
- Expand HR Capabilities: Prioritize skills in data analytics, leadership development, and organizational design.
- Redefine Roles: Shift selected HR positions to focus on strategic impact.
2. Embrace Data
Track strategic outcomes through data:
- Adopt Real-Time Tools: Use platforms to track employee engagement, turnover, and productivity.
- Analyze Trends: Forecast hiring needs, identify skill gaps, and plan for succession.
- Communicate Insights: Create dashboards and reports that link data directly to business goals.
3. Advocate for HR to join in Strategic Conversations
To position HR as a trusted partner:
- Advocate for HR’s inclusion: Be a part of strategic planning to align HR strategies from the start.
- Provide Proactive Solutions: Anticipate challenges and propose workforce strategies ahead of time.
- Show Measurable Impact: Demonstrate how HR initiatives contribute to business outcomes like revenue growth and employee satisfaction.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
With organizations operating at the speed of innovation, HR cannot lag behind. Success will hinge on building capabilities that allow HR to anticipate and act, not just react. Mastering the art of agility to quickly pivot in response to business needs while consistently focusing on employee engagement, productivity, and well-being will be critical.
In our February newsletter, we will dive deeper into the dynamic nature of HR in 2025, exploring how to leverage emerging technologies like AI, and build ecosystems where talent thrives. By focusing on what matters most—aligning people strategy with business goals—our goal is to equip you with insights to confidently face the challenges of tomorrow.
Sign up for Warren Whitney’s newsletters here: https://warrenwhitney.com/newsletter-signup/
Contributed by Beth Williams, Warren Whitney
[1] The HR Observer, HR’s Strategic Role Will Drive Organisational Success in 2025, December 26, 2024, www.thehrobserver.com/decision-making-hr-strategy/hrs-strategic-role-will-drive-organisational-success-in-2025
Warren Whitney’s HR team works with business leaders to strategically evaluate your best path forward. Our work includes strategy consulting, HR assessments, fractional HR leaders, in-depth compensation and benefits analysis, organizational structure and planning, and talent management. If you have any questions or seek further clarification, please call us at 804-282-9566 or email Kyle Ficker at kficker@warrenwhitney.com. We do not charge for the initial call. We want to learn more about your business needs.
MAKING POTENTIAL HAPPEN
Meet Your 2025 Board of Directors
Here is your 2025 Board and what the future of VACEOs looks like to them.
Henry Clifford, Livewire
Position on Board: Chairman
Something you’ve learned as a member: I’m not alone and there’s no shortage of opportunities to improve the lives of our employees thanks to the amazing camaraderie & collective wisdom found in our roundtables.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs: Roundtable health is vital to the success of our group. I’d love to help move the needle north on making the Roundtable experience more meaningful for our members.
Something more personal: I love live music, endurance racing and flying airplanes. I’ve been happily married to my wife for 22 years and we have 3 amazing kids with an incontinent French Bulldog serving as team mascot.
Melissa Ball, Ball Office Products and C.P. Dean Company
Position on Board: Vice Chair
Something you’ve learned as a member: Our problems are nearly all the same. Being together in our round tables and as a larger group gives us endless opportunities for continued personal and business growth.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs: To build stronger relationships and create resources for each other through programing and meeting structures our members find to be meaningful and valuable.
Something more personal: I am a wife. mom, dog lover, sailor, policy advocate and reluctant entrepreneur.
Ron Carey, Tilt Creative + Production
Position on Board: Past Chair
Something you’ve learned as a member: We not only have some amazing CEOs, but even better people. It’s really been a pleasure to build relationships with members and sponsors.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs: My hope for the future of VACEOs is that it continues to meet the needs of CEOs regardless of their stage in the CEO journey.
Something more personal: I hope that all of our CEOs have good health and prosperity in 2025!
B. Scott Crawford, Virginia 811
Position on Board: Treasurer
Something you’ve learned as a member: How the Round Tables are very powerful experiences that have facilitated my ability to learn more about me and gain more insight into who I am.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs: A VACEO presence and participation rate in the Roanoke Valley to rival the Richmond area!
Something more personal: I have a strong passion for technology and innovation. I love working with others to explore how technology can be leveraged in new ways in my industry in order to help protect Virginia’s underground infrastructure!
Bryant Harrison, Seventh Wall
Position on Board: Director
Something you’ve learned as a member: I’ve learned that CEOs, as a group, are incredibly creative, resilient, adventurous, and fun-loving. Being part of VACEOs feels like I’ve found my people.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs:
I believe VACEOs has a unique ability to do something truly impactful:
- Show business owners the power they hold, and
- Teach them how to use that power to create positive change in their communities.
Now more than ever, businesses have the opportunity to make a real difference in the world, and VACEOs has the power to help make that happen.
Something more personal: I am most happy when sharing good meals or unique experiences with thoughtful, curious people. Also, I LOVE snowboarding, wakeboarding, and kiteboarding.
Jill Lemon, Sandbox
Position on Board: Director
Something you’ve learned as a member: As a VACEO member, I’ve learned how to be a more confident leader and reassurance that I’m not the only leader trying to figure things out on a daily basis.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs: In my dreams, the future of VACEOs looks like a diverse membership full of tenured and emerging leaders learning from each other.
Something more personal: I love thrifting and a hunt for a good deal!
Todd Mawyer, TK Promotions
Position on Board: Director
Something you’ve learned as a member: Being a member of VACEOs has helped me as much personally as it has professionally. When I joined the Council in 2015, I primarily thought it would be good for my business and quickly realized how impactful it was for me personally.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs: My dream for the future of VACEOs is a day when we are providing meaningful connections between Virginia’s top Fortune 500 CEOs with the CEOs of small businesses and everything in between.
Something more personal: My family and I are active members at Second Baptist Church in Richmond where my wife and I teach Kindergarten Sunday School every Sunday. My faith in Jesus is the most important aspect of my life.
Jock Wheeler, Old Dominion Mechanical
Position on Board: Director
Something you’ve learned as a member: I have learned that as a rapidly growing company learning through shared experiences has allow me to grow while avoiding many pitfalls through the experiences of others. By learning this way it has allowed ODM to leapfrog from a $10 million dollar a year company to a $40 Million dollar a year company in just a few years.
Dreams for the future of VACEOs: I hope that VACEOs will continue to broaden its base so other small companies can benefit from this model and continue to reach for their dreams.
Something more personal: By nature, I am an introvert. I have worked to overcome this to be better at my job but its always a work in progress.
Recent Comments