President
Dennis Taylor
dennis.taylor@WarrentonChamber.org
Dennis Taylor is the Chief Operating Officer of Paradigm Solutions, a certified small, woman-owned Business & Management Consulting firm located in Catlett, VA. Paradigm Solutions was founded in September 2002. Before launching Paradigm Solutions, Dennis was employed for 17 years by Intertek Technical Services where he served in various management capacities including: Director, Operations; Director, International Business Operations; Chief Operating Officer; and he then concluded the last 7 years of his career with Intertek as their President and Chief Operating Officer. Intertek is an international supply chain improvement and quality assurance consulting firm serving the aerospace and commercial manufacturing markets. In his current role Dennis is responsible for relationship development and interfacing with Paradigm Solutions’ customers who are primarily small to medium sized commercial firms. In addition Dennis also supports consulting service delivery to the company’s municipal customers which include Fauquier County Government and Public Schools, Culpeper County and The City of Roanoke, VA.

When not working in the business Dennis volunteers his time in support of local organizations including the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce (GWCC), the Balanced Growth Alliance (BGA), the Warrenton Economic Development Advisory Committee, Fauquier County Government’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC), The Partnership for Warrenton, the Southern Fauquier Business Owners Association (SFBOA), the Academic Advisory Council of the University of North America, and VDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway Program. Dennis and his wife/boss/best friend Jean reside in Catlett, VA where they enjoy gardening, music, photography, cooking, travelling, and creating custom designed gifts and gift baskets.

 

 

Vice President
Angela Smith
asmith@WarrentonChamber.org
Angela Smith is one of the founding members of the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce. While she is best known as a local business owner and operator, she has also worked with dozens of businesses and government organizations to affect strategic change within organizations. As the Executive Director of the Fauquier County Chamber of Commerce from 1998 through 2002, she worked with local businesses with common causes to create coalitions that helped all of the individual participants. She has also applied this skill as a private consultant through effective meeting facilitation for groups like The Nature Conservancy, The Humane Society, United Way, NASA and the US Small Business Administration. Angela is the General Manager of the Fauquier Springs Country Club and Legends Catering, now a division of the Springs Club. She is a graduate of James Madison University with a BS in Accounting. She also graduated in 1992 with honors from ATI School of Culinary Arts.

 

 

 

Treasurer
Andreas Keller
akeller@WarrentonChamber.org
Andreas A. Keller grew up in Switzerland, attended the Jesuit College in Austria and attained a Master’s Degree from Columbia University’s Business School in New York. He enjoyed a career as an international banker living and working in Europe, the USA, the Middle East and Asia. He spent five years with Union Bank of Switzerland as a private banker and close to a quarter century with Citibank, N.A., as a commercial banker and Senior Credit Officer.

Settling in Northern Virginia in the early nineties he applied his business experience to building his own companies in the residential and commercial security industry and sold these companies to enter the mortgage business in 2000. As his professional focus evolved toward working with seniors who use reverse mortgages as part of their retirement strategy, he specialized in reverse mortgages exclusively and is now affiliated with Southern Trust Mortgage, a subsidiary of Middleburg Bank.

Mr. Keller was a founding member of The Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce and returned to the Board in 2012 out of the conviction that since global changes are now reaching our shores, every Chamber of Commerce in the country will need to prepare its community to face inevitable and new challenges. He brings a global perspective to the Board, and it is his belief that in today’s world of debt destruction our neighborhood becomes our future.

 

 

 

Secretary
Tom Campbell
tom@WarrentonChamber.org
Tom Campbell is a licensed realtor in Virginia. He and his wife Shelley own and operate Long & Foster’s Campbell Team, LLC, whose motto is “Real Estate is Our Career, Helping People Our Passion.”

Tom enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1971, and in 1973 he accepted an appointment to the United States Naval Academy where he graduated in 1977. Tom resigned his commission in 1987 and became a Contracts Specialist with Northrup-Grumman. In 2003, Tom decided to leave his corporate job to pursue his passion for real estate. He and Shelley built their home in Marshall and moved to Fauquier County in January 2003.

Tom served three years on the Fauquier County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; two of those years, he held the position of Vice-Chair of Legislative Affairs. He is currently the President–elect of the Rotary Club of Warrenton and will be the club’s President for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.   Tom also serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Piedmont Area Association of Realtors (GPAAR), its Realtor Political Action Committee/Legislative Committee, as well as the Education Committee. He is a certified Ethics instructor and was accepted into the Virginia Association of Realtors Leadership Academy Class of 2011. In 2008 and 2009 GPAAR presented Tom with their Honor Society Award. Fellow realtors chose Tom as “Outstanding Citizen for 2008”– an award presented to the agent who displays high standards in ethics, service to customers, clients and fellow associates, professionalism, cooperation, enthusiasm for the real estate profession, friendliness, and pride in the company.

In 2010, Tom received the GWCC “President’s Award”, which recognized his leadership in making Warrenton a better place to live.

Tom is a member of Warrenton United Methodist Church where he enjoys singing in the choir. He and Shelley support many local charities and host fundraisers for the Fauquier Food Distribution Coalition and March of Dimes.

 

 

Director & Counsel
Bert van Gils
bert@WarrentonChamber.org
Bernard J.E. van Gils, Esq. is an attorney whose practice focuses on estate, probate and business matters. He assisted the founders of the Chamber with establishing the corporation Warrenton Chamber of Commerce, drafting its bylaws and many other legal documents. Bert has over 20 years of diverse domestic and international experience as a transactional attorney and business consultant. He has practiced in Fauquier County for ten years. Bert also serves the University of North America as General Counsel and as a member of the faculty. He has also provided seminars to business owners for the Small Business Development Program at Lord Fairfax College. He has taught in the U.S, Indonesia, China and the Czech Republic. Bert has previously been a Board member for the Fauquier County Chamber of Commerce, the Fauquier County Community Action Committee, the Partnership for Warrenton, the Warrenton Ballet Company and the Fauquier Regional Technology Association.

 

 

 

Director
Mark Child
mchild@WarrentonChamber.org
I have spent 38 years in the financial services industry. My experience spans retail and commercial banking, consulting with businesses on financial restructuring, and a licensed financial/investment adviser. These working experiences provide me with the realistic insight on the impact of financial decisions and changes, which allows an increased level of financial order and control for both individuals and businesses.

 

 

 

Director
Robert Grouge
robert@WarrentonChamber.org
Robert “Bob” Grouge currently serves on the Partnership for Warrenton board.  His expertise lies in sales, marketing, management and human resources.   Bob currently manages Iron Bridge Wine Company in Old Town Warrenton.  He is also a former business owner in the Town.   Bob feels that helping struggling businesses, new or old, get through and survive in this economy is one of the critical challenges we will face going forward.  He feels that we have to work together and accept each other’s help.  He has experience and insight into growth and stability for business and community.

 

Director
Laura Kelsey
lkelsey@WarrentonChamber.org
Laura is currently employed by Weissberg Corp in Warrenton where she is the Director of Construction Management.  She has twenty years of experience in commercial property management and an equal number of years in retail sales.  Her retail experience includes a decade of ownership of The Main Thing, a women’s clothing and gift shop, on Main Street in Warrenton, more than a decade as co-owner of The Farm Cottage, specializing in imported yarns, fabric and needlework in Stevensburg and was the owner of the first one-hour photo processing business in the Metropolitan Washington area during the 1980’s.  Prior to her commercial and retail experience she was an English teacher in Madison and Fluvanna counties.   She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Troy University, Alabama.  She grew up in Chicago and the Florida Keys but has happily called Virginia home for the past 44 years.

 

 

 

Director
Crystal McKinsey
crystal@WarrentonChamber.org
Crystal McKinsey has extensive experience in developing and expanding organizations through effective marketing and business development campaigns. She founded McKinsey Development in 2009, and has steadily grown the company by adding clients from the commercial and non-profit sectors.

Before relocating to Virginia in 2009, she spent five years directing operations and development at an entrepreneurial Manhattan-based company. During that time, the company grew from a single-location operation to a six-location, multi-million dollar enterprise.  In addition to playing a leading role in the organizations expansion, McKinsey streamlined marketing, public relations and operations across multiple locations, provided customer service and sales training, and managed dozens of staffers.  She utilized her keen eye for efficiency improvements, implementing numerous programs, procedures and technological advancements that help enhance the organizations already highly regarded service quality and reputation. In her time with the company, the number of clients served grew to more than 27,000 per year.

Her husband, long-time Fauquier County resident, Sean Broderick is also a member of the McKinsey Development team.

 

 

Director
Les Nichols (1956-2011)
We lost Les Nichols on August 11, 2011. Les was a founding director and a moving force behind the creation of the GWCC. He was also the chairman of the Networking Committee. At the time of his passing, Les was the business development director for Carson, Ashley & Associates, LLC, a third generation Land Planning, Land Surveying & Civil Engineering Company headquartered in Fauquier County. Les was very active in the community having also served on the board of the Southern Fauquier Business Owners Association and the leadership council of the Northern Virginia Builders Industry Association. Les was a long time resident and business person in Fauquier County. He started and owned a health food store on Main Street in Old Town in the 1980′s before joining Piedmont Press and Graphics where he served ably as the Director of Customer Service from 1992 to 2005. Most importantly, he was a loving husband, wonderful father and a great friend. He will always be with us. It is with his spirit that the GWCC is here to stay and serve our unique, authentic and wonderful business community.

 

 

 

Director
Sunny Reynolds
sunny@WarrentonChamber.org
Operating her businesses in Fauquier County for over 25 years, Sunny Reynolds is an award-winning photographer and adventure travel operator based in historic Old Town Warrenton. She has incorporated the passion for photography and travel into Biotrek Tours (biotrektours.com), which organizes and leads adventure travel for small groups into 10 countries worldwide. Her travel encounters provide unique insight and knowledge as to the ways and workings of the land, the people, the culture and the environment. Sunny served as an elected member of the Warrenton Town Council where she sought support for business and the arts in the town of Warrenton. Sunny was voted Woman of the Year for the Arts in 2003 and was voted, for the last four years, Best Artist in Warrenton by Warrenton Lifestyles magazine readers poll. Ms. Reynolds is a member of the American Red Cross and works in their disaster relief program, spending several weeks in Mississippi as a shelter manager during the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

 

Director
George Rowand
georgerowand@WarrentonChamber.org
George Rowand practiced law for five years before going into the thoroughbred syndication and management business, where he eventually enjoyed considerable success. He wrote a book, “Diary of a Dream: My Journey in Thoroughbred Racing,” about the experience. At the same time, he was employed at the Fauquier Times-Democrat, first as the reporter covering education issues in the county, and then as the business editor for more than a decade. In that time, he wrote approximately 1,000 stories featuring local businesses. Now he is a freelance writer who has had recent articles published in the Time-Democrat, the Discovery, the Warrenton Lifestyles Magazine, the Piedmont Virginian and others. He currently is finishing a ghost-writing project of the memoirs of a local person.   Rowand has been a member of the Greater Warrenton Chamber of Commerce since its early days.

 

 

Director
Pablo Teodoro
pablo@WarrentonChamber.org
Pablo, along with his wife Lynda, owns Great Harvest Bread Company in Old Town Warrenton. Before the Bakery, he spent over twenty years managing car and emergency apparatus repair facilities. He recently received his B.A. in the School of Hard Knocks (with honors) and is currently pursuing a Graduate Degree from the same institution.

 

 

 

 

 

Staff
Therese Crowther, Office Manager
Therese@WarrentonChamber.org
Therese Crowther (“T.”) is GWCC’s employee who serves our members and the board of directors.  She has many years of customer service and administrative experience as well as an extensive non profit employment history.   She also has an extensive background working for the Boy Scouts of America at their high adventure, Philmont Scout Ranch, in Cimarron, New Mexico.  Therese was recognized as one of Fort Benning, Georgia’s 2001 “Volunteers of the Year” and has the Commander’s Award for Public Service in addition to other various civilian and U.S. Army volunteer accolades.  Therese is married and lives in the Warrenton area with her husband.  She is a member of Bethel United Methodist Church.