2023 – 2024 Board of Directors

Leonard B Poulin (Len) has been a Waynesboro resident, business owner and downtown property owner for over 27 years. Born in Natick, Massachusetts, he attended UMass – Lowell where he earned his degree in Business Management. Over the next 34 years he worked in the Information Technology industry for Centronics Data Computer Corp., Applicon/Schlumberger, and Genicom Corp. In 1991 he left corporate America and started LBP Enterprises Inc., a regional provider of value added IT technologies and services serving corporate clientele across the Mid-Atlantic region. He operated the business for 21 years during which time he formed LBP Properties LLC, a commercial real estate company managing 18,000 square feet of professional office in 2 buildings located in the core of downtown Waynesboro. In 2012 he sold LBP Enterprises, Inc. to begin work with David Brown Gear Systems, a 150 year old UK based gear manufacturer, in the role of Business Manager – Americas. He left David Brown Gear Systems in 2014 and started he latest venture, AIProdEx LLC, a wholesale exporter of industrial products which he currently operates.

Len has been active in the community, particularly downtown Waynesboro, where he served as the President of Waynesboro Downtown Development Inc. (WDDI) from 2005 to 2014. During his tenure at WDDI he was instrumental in developing the vision for outdoor recreation based industry centered by the natural fresh water resources so abundant in and around Waynesboro. He oversaw the creation and management of the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival and the Center for Cold Waters Restoration (CCR). He a sitting board member of the Foundation Board of the Virginia Museum of Natural History. Additionally, Len has been an active member of the Waynesboro noon Rotary club since 2001.

Urbie is graduate of Virginia Tech, and a retired professional sanitary engineer who has lived in the Shenandoah Valley since 1973 and in Waynesboro since 2000. He spent the first half of his 35 year professional career in the operation, design and construction of municipal and industrial water and wastewater treatment, collection and distribution systems. The second half of his career was spent working as a project engineer and program manager on federal and state contracts involving the cleanup and remediation of abandoned industrial facilities and chemical and petroleum spills under state and federal Superfund programs. Under these programs he was involved with the remediation of more than 400 contaminated sites at a cost of more than $600 million. He was a registered engineer in 13 states and held a Class I water and wastewater treatment plant operator license in Virginia. He continues to work part time as a project engineer for EPA on the Superfund program.

Throughout his career he has been a volunteer and member of many natural resource organizations. His current volunteer work includes serving as Vice-Chairman of CCR, Chairman of the Storm Water and Flood Commission for the City of Waynesboro, Elected Representative on the Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation District board, Past President and Board Member of the Riverfest committee, Executive Committee Board Member for the Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited and Board Member of Friends of the Shenandoah River.

Greg Hitchin is a Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) with 15 years of Economic Development experience and has served as the Director of Economic Development and Tourism for the City of Waynesboro since April 2010. Before joining the City, Greg spent 11 ½ years as the Business Development Manager and the Treasurer/CFO of the IDA for the Onondaga County Office of Economic Development in Syracuse, New York.

Prior to public service, Greg spent 20 years in Consumer Goods and Services Sales and Marketing in a variety of positions, from Sales Representative to Senior Management. He has a BS from the Rochester Institute of Technology and graduated from the Oklahoma University Economic Development Institute.

His industry involvement includes membership on several boards and committees: International Economic Development Council (IEDC), Vice Chairman Marketing Advisory Committee; Southern Economic Development Council (SEDC), Education Committee; Virginia Economic Development Association (VEDA), Director/Vice-Chairman—Program Committee; Shenandoah Valley Partnership (SVP), Executive Committee, Chairman—Marketing Committee; Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC), Associate Advisory Committee; Waynesboro Downtown Development, Director; Center for Coldwater Restoration, Treasurer.

Jenna Konizer is a retired teacher who taught Chemistry and AP Chemistry at Waynesboro High School for 28 years.  Jenna has lived in the Waynesboro area for more than 30 years.  She has been an active member of Waynesboro Education Association, American Association of University Women, and League of Women Voters.

Brigadier General William W. Alexander, Jr. is a native of Waynesboro, Virginia and is a 1964 graduate of Fishburne Military School. He graduated from East Tennessee State University in 1968 and received his commission through the ROTC program. His assignments include a tour in Vietnam and over seventeen years in Germany where he commanded from Company to Brigade level. He holds a Master’s Degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Kansas and is a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and is a 1987 graduate of the United States Army War College. His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Bronze Star with “V” Device, Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal, and Army Commendation Medal. Additionally, he holds a Parachutists Badge and the Ranger Tab.

BG Alexander retired with nearly 30 years of service as a Colonel in December 1997 and became the Director of Development at Fishburne Military School in June 1998. In February 2004, he assumed the position as President and Superintendent of the school. On August 17, 2006, Fishburne Military School was formally inducted into the Virginia Militia and Colonel Alexander was promoted to Brigadier General in the Militia. BG Alexander retired as the 9th Superintendent of Fishburne Military School on 31 October 2008. BG Alexander is married to the former Ms. Hannelore Brigitte Keller of Berlin, Germany.

Dr. Thomas Benzing is full professor at James Madison University in the Integrated Science and Technology Department with expertise in water quality and water resources management. He completed his PhD at Michigan State University in Crop & Soil Science – Environmental Toxicology.

In addition to serving as board member for the Center for Coldwaters Restoration, Dr. Benzing serves on the board of trustees for the Virginia Museum of Natural History and as Conservation Chair for the Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited.

Maggie Van Huss is the former Director of Students Services for Waynesboro Public Schools.  She is currently the Director of Staffing and Strategic Planning for the Waynesboro YMCA.  She received her EdD from VT in Educational Administration with a concentration in Special Education.  She resides in Waynesboro, VA.

Dr. Jonathan Miles is a professor in the School of Integrated Sciences and serves as executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Energy at James Madison University. His expertise and scholarship are focused primarily on clean energy technologies and deployment as well as the energy transition. He earned his B.A. in Physics from Clark University and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Bob Stuart is a native of Richmond and a 1975 graduate of The University of Richmond.

He spent 41 years as a newspaper reporter. During that time, he worked at five different  newspapers in Virginia and South Carolina. He was the sports editor of The Union (S.C.) Daily Times and Orangeburg Times & Democrat. He spent 10 years working for South Carolina’s largest newspaper, The State, in Columbia. For 21 years, he worked for The News Virginian in Waynesboro, covering education, government and politics. While in South Carolina, he covered the PTL Ministry in Fort Mill, Hurricane Hugo and the criminal trial of singer James Brown.

Prior to joining the Center for Coldwaters Restoration board, he served as a board member for The Valley Alliance for Education.

A research virologist, Hal Aaslestad (PhD, Louisiana State University), formally Associate Dean of Research at the Yale Medical School, has experience in the biological sciences generally, research leadership and funding, peer review, technology transfer, and regulatory issues. He held faculty positions at a number of universities and the National Institutes of Health. After locating to the Shenandoah Valley, he has been involved in a range of community activities and is a 22-year member and Past President of the Staunton Rotary Club.  Hal’s current interests focus on studies of European history, as well as work in figurative stone and clay sculpture.

He is a member of the Virginia Museum of Natural History and a former Instructor and Board Member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at the University of Virginia.  As a LSU Tiger, he recalls early football scrimmages wearing the leather helmet.

Peter Nebel is a Waynesboro native with local family roots going back to the 1830’s.  He spent most of his educational and professional life elsewhere, returning permanently in 2009.  Trained as an Ecologist, he spent his professional life working in environmental protection.  He also has experience in economic development in both the U.S. and Latin America.  Since returning to the area he has spent several years as an Adjunct Professor of Biology at Piedmont Virginia Community College and has been active in local non-profits such as the Augusta County Bird Club, the Virginia chapter of the Friends of the Americas, and the Massanutten Chapter of the Virginia Archaeological Society, as well as CCR.