The River City Company board of directors announces five new members for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. Those additions include Valoria Armstrong, Dr. Rebecca Ashford, Ken DeFoor, Marcus Shaw and Barry White.
About the board members:
Valoria Armstrong is president of Tennessee American Water, the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water services to more than 390,000 people. In her role, Mrs. Armstrong is responsible for the overall operating and financial performance of Tennessee American Water.
Mrs. Armstrong previously served as director of Human Resources for the Central Division of American Water, where she led a team of HR professionals in seven states.
Dr. Rebecca Ashford began her role as president of Chattanooga State Community College in July 2017. Dr. Ashford’s focus at Chattanooga State is the same as it was when she started her career in higher education: student success and completion. Before coming to Chattanooga, Dr. Ashford served as the vice president of Student Affairs at Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, and is originally from Merritt Island, Fl.
Ken DeFoor is a local real estate developer and entrepreneur with over 47 years of business experience. In addition to starting The Corporate Image, Chattanooga’s largest real-estate development for office ownership and largest medical office space for ownership, Mr. DeFoor co-developed the recently open The Westin Hotel and surrounding retail center of CitiPark on Chestnut Street in Downtown Chattanooga.
Marcus Shaw is the chief executive of The Company Lab, Co.Lab. A recent transplant from the Baltimore-D.C. area, Mr. Shaw is the former senior director of business development and partnerships for Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a D.C.-based nonprofit that helps build diversity and leadership pipelines for corporate institutions, nonprofit organizations and government agencies.
Barry White is the president and CEO of the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau since early 2018. Mr. White worked for 26 years at the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Augusta, where he started as director of sales in 1991 and then was promoted in 1994 to president and CEO. Mr. White is a native of Kingsport.
In addition to the five community members and business leaders who have agreed to serve on the River City Company board of directors, Chattanooga City Council Chairman Ken Smith of District 3 and Hamilton County Commissioner Randy Fairbanks of District 1 are now serving on the board as the representatives of the Chattanooga City Council and Hamilton County Commission as directed by River City Company bylaws that also include automatic board positions for the current sitting City of Chattanooga Mayor and Hamilton County Mayor.
“Having a strong, community centered board of directors is crucial to the success of River City Company,” states Kim White, president and CEO of River City Company. “The varied and thorough experience of these five new board members in addition to the public officials who serve on our board will be an incredible asset and will help us continue to make Downtown Chattanooga a vibrant, engaged and prospering urban center.”