Members of the State Governing Board and Executive Director Brian Johns met in Richmond on December 8 to celebrate Ladelle McWhorter, who served as chairperson of Virginia Organizing for the previous seven years. Our new chairperson, Lily Hungarland, presented her with an honorary plaque for her service.

From Brian:

“On 11/19 at our Annual State Governing Board meeting, we officially elected a new Board Chairperson (Yay, Lily Hungarland!!) and also saw the end of Del McWhorter’s 7 years as chair.  I cannot even remember when I first met Del because she has been a presence on the board for so long.  Del has been consistently working both out front, and also behind, the scenes to build Virginia Organizing since the early days.  In Del’s time as chair, we not only added members, organizers, and chapters, but we also underwent the huge transition of our founding director retiring and me coming into the director role.  Since that time Del’s partnership has been invaluable as I learned my new role and we all also weathered turbulent political times and a pandemic.  Through it all Del has been an example of a steady hand helping to stay the course.  We are a stronger organization thanks to the countless ways Del has impacted and helped to lead Virginia Organizing.  I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Del, and I am also so excited for the next phase with Lily coming in. 

“We are truly built by incredible members and leaders (like Del) doing powerful work across the state.”