Summer
Planned your summer vacation? Got your beach reads picked out? Ready for the summer movie blockbusters – did someone say Top Gun: Maverick?? The Alliance Group Team hopes you’re able to fully enjoy your Summer ’22 and create some great memories!
Our team has a busy summer planned in and out of the office, balancing work with some much-needed PTO…everything from the beach to tropical rainforests to National Park adventures. Keep an eye out on our social media channels to see what we are up to and please share your own pictures!
As always, we’re ready to jump both feet into the deep end of the pool to help with all of your communications, outreach and branding needs. Let’s make a splash together!
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ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT
VGPA Annual Conference
Congratulations to our Association Management team for a successful Annual Virginia Grain Producers Association (VGPA) Conference. Our team worked hard to plan and organize a full agenda of annual meetings, networking and incredible speakers, including: Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Matt Lohr, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Joseph Guthrie, soil fertility management specialist Neil Kinsey, Vice President of Public Policy of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) Brooke Appleton and American Soybean Association (ASA) Economist Scott Gerlt.
To close the day out, we recognized the corn, soft wheat, and hard wheat state yield contest winners - congratulations to those winners!
This was the first year the conference was held at the fairgrounds in Doswell, and the new location was very well received by participants. We look forward to many more successful conferences.
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GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
The Long and Winding Road
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Session 2022 began with great change for the Commonwealth. Republicans swept all three state-wide offices and regained control of the House of Delegates. Newly-elected Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) announced his office would focus on education, tax relief, and the continuing response to the COVID pandemic. House Republicans pledged to work with the Governor to implement his policy agenda and Senate Democrats, who still held the chamber, vowed to uphold the policy gains they’d made in the last two years, most-notably around social justice issues.
Although this year’s regular session offered many surprises, the biggest was that the General Assembly adjourned sine die on March 12th without a budget. This test of divided government highlighted the policy split between the priorities of Governor Youngkin and those of House and Senate Democrats.
The Governor called for a Special Session in early April to address the budget, but the money committees communicated they would meet and develop their relative conference reports on their own timeline. As spring wore on a great deal of uncertainty surrounded the process.
A bi-partisan budget agreement was announced in May and it seemed the light at the end of the tunnel was finally visible. Both sides were able to claim victory for certain issues important to their bases while also demonstrating their willingness to compromise by highlighting the areas they conceded. That, as always, is The Virginia Way.
After months of debate, politics, and lobbying, the Governor signed the final budget in June. Ahead of major elections drawn on new maps in 2023, we are all left to wonder what the future holds. The one thing we are certain of is that no matter what changes come to the General Assembly, year after year lobbyists, everyday citizens, and advocates alike are always ready, one-pager in hand, to advocate for their issues and make their voices heard.
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ASSOCIATION MANAGEMENT
EXPO 2022
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Congratulations to the Virginia Forest Products Association (VFPA) and our Association Management team, Lesley, Liz, and Conner. EXPO 2022 took place May 20-21 at the Richmond Raceway under beautiful blue skies! The gates opened to a big crowd on Friday morning to the iconic and familiar sound of the steam engine. Lots of smiles were seen. We ended up having around 200 exhibitors this year, and we had over 5,000 attendees over the course of the two days. This year we hosted a Virginia's Finest Hospitality Reception where legislators were invited to come out and meet with exhibitors. We also had samples of local Virginia products for attendees to try. We had a great turn-out for the reception, and even got a visit from Senator Mark Warner! Our exhibitors were pleased with the turnout, and we have received a tremendous amount of positive feedback from them.
EXPO 2022 could not have happened without all the hard work done by the Association Management team, the committee and all the members that came out and volunteered at the event. Expo 2022 never would have come together if it weren’t for the leadership of our board members, Jamie Coleman and Beth Hutchins.
We are busy planning for EXPO 2024 and look forward to a bigger and better show!
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PUBLIC RELATIONS
Public Relations Seminar
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On March 31, Andy Poarch teamed up with Greg Gilligan (Communications Director for RVA 757 Connects and former Business Editor for the Richmond Times-Dispatch) to give a ‘Public Relations PRimer’ virtual presentation to clients of Davenport Asset Management, a VA-based wealth management and financial advisory firm.
This presentation included tips and tools for how organizations – of varying sizes and across industry sectors – can work with reporters and editors in the news media to promote their people, products and services. Poarch and Gilligan highlighted key industry best practices and talked about how to manage a crisis communications scenario and how to prep for print and broadcast media interviews.
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INTERNAL AFFAIRS
Summer 2022 Intern Spotlight
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Paige Bowling is a rising junior at Christopher Newport University from Powhatan, Virginia. She is majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in Spanish, Latin American Studies, and Leadership Studies through CNU’s Presidents Leadership Program. She is also a student ambassador representing the university at various events and an NCAA athlete on the field hockey team. Paige enjoys spending time with her dog and going to the beach. She is looking forward to working on projects and learning new skills from the Alliance Group that she can apply towards her studies and professional career. |
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INTERNAL AFFAIRS
Team News
- Congratulations to Geoff Zindren and Liz Newsome on recent promotions! Geoff was named Public Affairs Manager and Liz was named Account Manager. The two have worked very hard to earn their titles, and we congratulate them!
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Earlier this year, Andy Poarch was named Chair of the ChamberRVA Government Affairs Committee. In this role, Andy will serve on the ChamberRVA Board of Directors and on the Board’s Executive Committee.
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Left to right: Lesley Moseley, Liz Newsome, Geoff Zindren, Andy Poarch, Rob Jones, Kelly Fitzgerald, Conner Miller |
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2201 West Main Street | Richmond, VA 23220
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