Community Leader

In addition to Marie’s previous professional work as a practicing attorney she served as the administrator of The Alison J. and Ella W. Parsons Foundation.  She is an extremely active volunteer in the Hampton Roads community.  Marie serves as Vice Chair of the Education Panel and is a member of the Community Funding committee of the United Way of South Hampton Roads.  She serves as an Adult Sunday School teacher and Bible study leader at Second Presbyterian Church.  Marie is a donor advisor of The Parsons Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and has served in various volunteer roles at Norfolk Christian School that include:  PTA President of the Middle School, Vice President of the Ambassadors Booster Club and concession stand manager.

President & Owner, Robert W. Hayes Company, Inc.

Robert W. Hayes Company, Inc., a manufacturer’s representative for commercial and industrial heating, ventilating and air conditioning equipment, has been a frequent sponsor of the ForKids Art Auction.  Vince is an ongoing volunteer at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and was a charter member of the Downtown 100.  He has previously served on the Board of VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads and as Board member and President of ASHRAE. He has also participated in and served as a committee member of Leadership Hampton Roads.        

Managing Member, Saunders and Matthews, PLLC

In addition to his professional work as a Certified Public Accountant, Chuck serves on the Executive Board and as Audit Committee Chair for the Norfolk State University Foundation and as Treasurer for the Ward’s Corner Lions Club Charity Foundation.  He has also served multiple terms as the President of the Ward’s Corner Lions Club.                          

CEO, Thaler McCormick, joined ForKids in 1996 initially as Services Director prior to her promotion to Chief Executive in 2001. When Thaler joined ForKids, it was just beginning to grow beyond the boundaries of Haven House, its 8-unit emergency shelter. During her tenure as Services Director, she built the organization’s supportive housing programs and developed ForKids’ extensive children’s services programming and clinical services. As Chief Executive she has actively pursued and implemented a broad network of partnerships with the public sector, service organizations and other non-profits that have resulted in a tenfold increase in ForKids’ service capacity. Today ForKids assists more than 200 families each day throughout Hampton Roads.

ForKids’ innovative, result-driven programs for homeless families have garnered numerous awards including the 2008 Special Project Award from the Hampton Roads Housing Consortium for the redevelopment of W. 38th Street, the 2008 Campbell and Company Award for Excellence in Fundraising from the Association of Fundraising Professionals International,the 2006 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, the 2005 Virginia Housing Award for Best Housing Program and the 2004 United Way Agency of the Year.

During her tenure with ForKids, Thaler has secured millions in federal government grants while successfully reducing ForKids’ dependence on government funding. Since 2001 she has increased community contributions from less than $100,000 to over $1.6 million in FY2009. Her success in implementing results-driven practices while bringing ForKids onto a firm financial footing earned her the 2009 Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Prize from the Virginia Beach Foundation and the “Women In Business Achievement Award” from INSIDE Business magazine in 2005.

Thaler’s work to end homelessness has taken her to Washington D.C. to participate in a White House Roundtable discussion on national solutions for family homelessness and to Moscow to provide training in case management best practices for the AIDS Foundation East-West. She was a member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission to End Homelessness that created the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Norfolk. Thaler is currently active in the Western Tidewater Continuum of Care and on numerous boards and advisory councils. 

Prior to her work with ForKids, she worked as a Senior Consultant for Arthur Andersen in Washington, D.C. and wrote on housing and development issues for the Urban Land Institute.  She holds a Bachelors Degree in Business from Miami University and a Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University Of Virginia School Of Architecture. 

Daniel E. Beck is the Owner and President of Beck Roofing Corporation in Virginia Beach, VA. Mr. Beck attended Norfolk Christian High School and is a graduate of Virginia Tech where he earned a BS in General Business. Dan started Beck Roofing in 1988 and it has grown to become one of the largest commercial roofing installers in Hampton Roads. From 1996 – 1999 Dan served on the Board of the Judeo Christian Outreach Center; and, from 2002-2006 he served on the Virginia Association of Roofing Contractors Board. Mr. Beck resides in Virginia Beach, VA and is the father of two children. He also enjoys golfing and boating.

Vice President of Development, Gannett Media Technologies International

In addition to her professional endeavors she is personally interested in the power of education to change lives, music education and art performance, and mentoring pre-teen and teenage girls.

She currently serves on the Board of the Downtown Norfolk Council and is a member of the Steel Magnolias Investment Club.  Chelsy has previously served as the Vice President of the Asian-American Business League and served on the Board of Virginia Social Ventures. 

Rick Clarke has been President of Mancon since 1999, growing Mancon from a relatively small business to a strong and efficient national government contracting company. Prior to joining Mancon, Rick spent several years at UNISYS and Intergraph in Reston, Virginia, developing software, and managing teams of software developers for various government agencies including the EPA, U.S. Army+ and NOAA.

Rick is a graduate of UVA with his BS in Applied Mathematics and a graduate of ODU’s Executive Development Series. He and his wife Mary are multi-year major donors to ForKids and have attended the Art Auction for the last two years.

Natanya Cressman is a graduate of ForKids and our 2011 Phoenix Award winner. She is a social worker with Virginia Beach Child Protective Services where she has been employed for five years, previously working with the Norfolk Juvenile Court system. Natanya has her Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work and her Master’s Degree in Urban Education from Old Dominion University. Natanya brings to the Board not only her own first-hand experience of homelessness, but over ten years of experience working with at-risk families and children.

Mr. Crown the President and CEO of Buzz Crown Enterprises which provides sales and marketing client services geared to multiple foodservice and retail channels. Clients included companies such as Tyson foods, Smuckers, Nestle, Rich Products and B&G Foods. In 2006, BCE merged with T Furr and associates to form a regional sales and marketing organization serving the Mid Atlantic marketplace. In 2012 this entity merged with the Advantage Waypoint organization to become the first ever national foodservice agency organization. He attended the University of Baltimore and received a BS Degree in Business Management. Mr. Crown is married to LaVerne, has three sons and two grandchildren. Buzz has been a regular Art Auction attendee and donor and hosted a table at this year’s event.

Nicole Harrell is a partner at Kaufman & Canoles in the firm’s Norfolk office. Her commercial practice includes entity formation, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, supply and distribution agreements and contract negotiation. Her intellectual property practice includes federal and state trademark registration, copyright registration and assignment, negotiation of software development and licensing agreements, and licensing of intellectual property. Nicole received her B.A. from Hollins College, her J.D. from the University Of Baltimore School Of Law and her M.B.A. from Merrick School of Business (magna cum laude). She resides in Suffolk with her husband Eley Duke III and son Parker. Nicole will be hosting a reception to friend-raise and fundraise in Suffolk next week at her home.

Community Leader

In addition to her professional work, Kim serves on the ODU Advisory Board for the Institute for Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding and is an Honorary Board member and past President of both the Ohef Sholom Temple and the Holocaust Commission.  She is also currently a Board member of the United Jewish Federation Women’s Campaign and serves on its Strategic Planning Committee.  Kim has previously served on the Board of the Tidewater Performing Arts Society, and has worked with Spectrum Puppets presenting Child Abuse Prevention programming.

Partner, Williams Mullen

Howard’s practice is focused on commercial and multi-family real estate, commercial leases, ground leases, land use planning and permits and pass-through entities. Mr. Gordon’s experience includes representing owners and developers in the acquisition of land, development, leasing and financing of numerous shopping centers and multi-family housing projects, as well as hotels and development of a traditional neighborhood. He also has represented borrowers in the closing of conventional, FHA-insured, conduit and specialty loans secured by commercial and multi-family properties. Mr. Gordon has represented developers of multi-family housing properties which received Low Income Housing Tax Credits or Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment Contracts and were financed by either loans from the Virginia Housing Development Authority, loans insured by FHA or local housing authority bonds. He has also represented developers of hotels which have used New Markets Tax Credits to reduce the equity required for development.

Mr. Gordon is a fellow of the Virginia Bar Foundation and of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers. He is a member of the Virginia Bar Association, Norfolk and Portsmouth Bar Association and is a past chairman of the Virginia State Bar, Real Property Section Board of Governors. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Virginia Business magazine’s “Legal Elite” among the real estate practitioners. Additionally, Mr. Gordon has been named a “Super Lawyer” for Real Estate by Virginia Super Lawyers magazine. He is very active in community and civic organizations, including Norfolk Collegiate School, Norfolk Sports Club, and its scholarship foundation, the Virginia Arts Festival and the TOWN Foundation. Martindale Hubbell has rated Mr. Gordon an AV attorney, its highest rating available.

Before joining the firm, Mr. Gordon was a partner with Hofheimer Nusbaum, P.C., which merged with Williams Mullen in 2004. Mr. Gordon also served as law clerk to John A. MacKenzie, Judge of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, from 1972 to 1973.

Mr. Gordon received his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1972. He earned his bachelor of arts degree in economics from the University of Virginia in 1969.

President, Gromelski & Associates

Under Raymond’s leadership Gromelski and Associates provides IT support services including training for large government agencies and major corporations. ­ His primary responsibilities include business planning and development, marketing, financial management, proposal development, personnel management, project management, and general business operations.  He has written several business plans for start-up, acquisition, and expansion of these companies.  With several thousand professionals located throughout the country, his team planned and directed several national training programs. The company has been recognized for innovative approaches for the design and delivery of training programs.  They received national recognition for training program planning and evaluation techniques at the 1990 and 1991 Computer Training & Support Conference in Orlando, Florida. 

With a Ph.D. in Urban Services with specializations in public administration and education, his professional development is in program design and implementation, policy analysis, organizational development, and program monitoring and evaluation. His dissertation was a program evaluation and cost-benefit analysis of a government program. For his research methodology, Dr. Gromelski received an award from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for “Innovative Doctoral Research”.  His publications include "An Evaluation Model for Manpower Training Program Managers", Evaluation Review 8: 843-859, Sage Publications, December 1984.  Dr. Gromelski wrote white papers which describe the challenges, program design, and implementation strategy for training certification and standardization for transportation security professionals.  In 2004, Dr. Gromelski, Admiral Robert J. Natter (retired) and Rear Admiral Paul O. Soderberg (retired) were contracted by McDonalds USA to conduct a review of training operations and processes to assess potential areas for improvement.

Raymond is a member of the Civic Leadership Institute and his volunteer experience includes seven years of coaching with the Great Neck Baseball League and serving on the Board of the Broad Bay Point Greens Civic League.

Owner, Pure English Couture & Silk

A native of Liverpool, England, Helen worked in London and Dublin before moving with her husband to Norfolk in 2000.  She serves on the ForKids Board because she feels strongly about the need to provide safe living spaces and life skills to struggling families.

Senior Vice President, Thalhimer Commercial Real Estate

Ed is a past chair the Downtown 100 and was a frequent ForKids Hot Meals and Homework volunteer.  In addition to serving on the ForKids Board, he is a Board member of the Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate and the Executive Advisory Council, ODU School of Business.  Ed previously served on the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and as a panel member of the United Way Funding Panel.

An educator for 35 years, Rozalyn Klein is retiring in this summer as Dean of the Norfolk Collegiate School (NCS) Middle School. During her 23 years at NCS, she served as middle and upper school librarian, technology coordinator, chair of the communication arts department, and, most recently, as dean and head of the middle school. As a staff member of a Virginia Association of Independent Schools member school she served on ten school accreditation committees across the state of Virginia. As chair of the School Improvement Committee she led NCS through two accreditation cycles and was instrumental in guiding the school’s strategic planning process. She is a past president of the Consortium of Interactive Instruction. At NCS she coordinated student projects and service opportunities benefitting ForKids.

Prior to coming to NCS, Mrs. Klein served as librarian at Portsmouth Catholic High School and history teacher at Lafayette High School in Williamsburg, Virginia. A member of Second Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia, she has been an Elder and Sunday school coordinator. She is married to John H. Klein, mother of three daughters and a grandmother of one. Roz is a long-term major donor to ForKids and Art Auction attendee.

Vice President-Investments, Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC

Partner, Montagna Klein Camden

President of Suburban Asset Management

Chris is a graduate of Cape Henry Collegiate and the University of Colorado. In addition to ForKids, he is also a board member for CHKD Health System, VA Arts Festival and Heritage Bank. He is also a trustee of the Perry Foundation and the Windward Fund.

Rob’s company, SteelMaster Buildings, designs, engineers and manufactures pre-engineered steel buildings for use throughout the world.  Located in Virginia Beach, SteelMaster employs over 60 people with 50 distributors in 60 different countries.

Rob is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a combat veteran of Operation Desert Storm who served in the Navy for 6 years.  Upon completion of a Masters degree from Troy University, he joined Landmark Communications acting in various leadership positions within The Virginian-Pilot for the next 10 years.

Dr. Simpson joined Old Dominion University in January 2008 as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences. She obtained her Ph.D. at the ETH-Zurich, Switzerland in 1981. Dr. Simpson is an elected Fellow of the Geological Society of America and is a member and past Spring Meeting Chair of the American Geophysical Union. 

Dr. Simpson is a 2009 Civic Leadership graduate and has served on several non-profit boards in the communities in which she has worked. She began serving on the Advocacy Committee this spring, attended the Art Auction, and is currently contributing at the major gift level.

Defense Industry Consultant and Leadership Development Speaker

Tom is a retired US Navy Rear Admiral and former Navy SEAL.  His last assignment here in Norfolk was as Director of Anti Terrorism for the Navy. Tom helped start the Sports Program here at ForKids five years ago. His other volunteer activities and community involvement currently include serving as a Board Member of the Hampton Roads Civic Leadership Institute, and Vice President of the Exalted Warrior Foundation.  Tom has previously served as Board Member and HERO’s Campaign Leader for the Southeastern Virginia Red Cross, and as a Board Member of the Naval Special Warfare Foundation.

Elaine is a community leader based in Virginia Beach with a degree in Speech Therapy from East Carolina University. She wears many hats as wife of 15 years to David Smith, mother of two boys Alec (10) and Noah (7), civic leader and a generous philanthropist. The Smiths have been heavily involved at ForKids since hearing about the hardships that the children at ForKids go through and the difference that ForKids makes in their lives.

Is currently a practicing psychiatrist with the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board, formerly practicing with Finny Psychiatric in Norfolk. She is a board-certified adult psychiatrist with expertise in psychopharmacology, psychiatric diagnosis, and disease management. She has clinical and research experience in the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, including bipolar disorder, major depression, and disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period.

Dr. Truman has served on numerous hospital and university committees. She obtained her B.A. from Amherst College, magna cum laude and attended medical school at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She completed her internship at Yale University and Yale-New Haven Hospital and her psychiatric residency at the New-York Presbyterian Hospital of the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Prior to relocating to the Tidewater area, Dr. Truman was an attending psychiatrist at the Rhode Island Hospital of Brown University. She resides in Norfolk with her husband Ian Woollett, M.D. and two children. She has attended and contributed enthusiastically at the last two Art Auctions and assisted in table hosting at this year’s event.

Mike Veraldi is the Owner and President of Tidewater HomeBuyers, a local property renovation company. Mike, a nominee of Helen Kessler, has been a ForKids volunteer and donor for over ten years. Mike first started volunteering at ForKids by providing periodic repairs at Morgan Place, then he started dropping off supplies at Haven House. In recent years he’s become a generous NAP credit donor and sponsor of the end of school-year party for the children. Mike now has also become a ForKids fundraiser, hosting a year-end party for the Christmas campaign. Before starting his home renovation business, Mike worked for over 15 years as a pilot for United Airlines and flew F14s as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.

CEO, Thaler McCormick, joined ForKids in 1996 initially as Services Director prior to her promotion to Chief Executive in 2001. When Thaler joined ForKids, it was just beginning to grow beyond the boundaries of Haven House, its 8-unit emergency shelter. During her tenure as Services Director, she built the organization’s supportive housing programs and developed ForKids’ extensive children’s services programming and clinical services. As Chief Executive she has actively pursued and implemented a broad network of partnerships with the public sector, service organizations and other non-profits that have resulted in a tenfold increase in ForKids’ service capacity. Today ForKids assists more than 200 families each day throughout Hampton Roads.

ForKids’ innovative, result-driven programs for homeless families have garnered numerous awards including the 2008 Special Project Award from the Hampton Roads Housing Consortium for the redevelopment of W. 38th Street, the 2008 Campbell and Company Award for Excellence in Fundraising from the Association of Fundraising Professionals International,the 2006 Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, the 2005 Virginia Housing Award for Best Housing Program and the 2004 United Way Agency of the Year.

During her tenure with ForKids, Thaler has secured millions in federal government grants while successfully reducing ForKids’ dependence on government funding. Since 2001 she has increased community contributions from less than $100,000 to over $1.6 million in FY2009. Her success in implementing results-driven practices while bringing ForKids onto a firm financial footing earned her the 2009 Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Prize from the Virginia Beach Foundation and the “Women In Business Achievement Award” from INSIDE Business magazine in 2005.

Thaler’s work to end homelessness has taken her to Washington D.C. to participate in a White House Roundtable discussion on national solutions for family homelessness and to Moscow to provide training in case management best practices for the AIDS Foundation East-West. She was a member of the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission to End Homelessness that created the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness in Norfolk. Thaler is currently active in the Western Tidewater Continuum of Care and on numerous boards and advisory councils. 

Prior to her work with ForKids, she worked as a Senior Consultant for Arthur Andersen in Washington, D.C. and wrote on housing and development issues for the Urban Land Institute.  She holds a Bachelors Degree in Business from Miami University and a Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University Of Virginia School Of Architecture. 

Senior Director of Grants and Research, Vikki Henderson has been with ForKids for five years, recently transitioning from Associate Director of Finance and Administration to direct the newly formed Grants and Research Department. A Norfolk native, Vikki spent 15 years working in Dallas, Texas, at Dallas Services, an early childhood center for special needs children with a budget of $2.5 million. Vikki worked her way up from Administrative Assistant to Bookkeeper to Comptroller to Associate Director. Through each of these positions, she learned critical elements of the day-to-day operations of running a non-profit. She has applied this knowledge to ForKids, where Vikki spent four years managing the operations of eleven properties, the federal Continuum of Care grants process, and all financial processes of the agency. Vikki is currently completing her Bachelor’s degree in Business at Strayer University.  In her new role at ForKids, she oversees the application and reporting of over 65 different grants which fund the agency.  In addition, her department implements the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for ForKids’ Housing and Urban Development grants, the Chesapeake Central Intake System, and the communities of Suffolk and Western Tidewater.

Chief Development Officer, Bill Young joined the ForKids team in December of 2009 to grow and diversify ForKids’ income streams following a 15-year career in a variety of for-profit businesses.  Bill heads up the ForKids’ development team, including fundraising, community relations, volunteer coordination, special events, and marketing as well as new business development.  Bill came to ForKids from Beaufort Advisors, a small, rapidly growing healthcare consulting firm in Norfolk where he served as VP of Business Development.  Prior to Beaufort, Bill served as the Chief Operating Officer and owner of Taste Unlimited for eight years until negotiating its sale in 2006.  He holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia where he was a Shermet Scholar and the recipient of the C. Lewis Sheppard award for distinguished community service.  He received his BA in Economics from the University of Virginia.

Chief Financial Officer, MacKenzie Arbogust joined ForKids in September 2009.  MacKenzie oversees the financial and operational aspects of ForKids, including budget development, annual external audit, facilities management, and human resources.  MacKenzie came to ForKids from AARP’s Legal Counsel for the Elderly (LCE) in Washington, D.C., where she worked as the Manager of Business Operations.  LCE provides free legal services to D.C. seniors who earn up to 200% of the national poverty level and is supported by governmental grants and the AARP.  Prior to her tenure at AARP, MacKenzie worked in the Northern Virginia high tech corridor as an analyst in varying roles for 5 years before going back to school full time to pursue her MBA.  She has her BS from the College of William and Mary and her MBA from the Robert McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, where she was a Connelly Scholar.