View as Webpage

Club #69

Serving the Richmond Community

Since 1913

The Tabasco

October 2026

Volume 26 Issue 10

The Rotary Club of Richmond welcomed 275 guests to its Third Annual Blue Crab Festival and Silent Auction at ChildSavers Outlook for an evening of crab-picking, blues music, and fellowship!

Thanks to each and every sponsor, ticket holder, guests and silent auction participants, the event raised $30,000.  Proceeds will support the Club’s annual grants to nonprofits serving communities across Central Virginia.

The Club extends its sincere thanks to everyone who helped make Crabfest a success. Your generosity will help local organizations continue their work throughout the region.

View highlights here and make sure to join us next year! 

Cold Weather Clothing Drive

Upcoming Events

Whether you are relatively new to the club or a long-serving member, The Rotary Club of Richmond has been serving Richmond for more than a century; do you have your copy of this history? Copies are now available; $20 soft copies; $30 hard copies.

October 6

Alex Nyerges, Director and CEO, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

"VMFA's Expansion and Renovation Projects"

Alex Nyerges serves as the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the VMFA. Serving as director since 2006, he has spearheaded major strategic initiatives to make the museum more accessible, diverse, and inclusive.  

He oversaw a massive 165,000-square-foot expansion completed in 2010 and is currently leading a new $190 million campus expansion featuring the upcoming McGlothlin Wing II. He has curated and hosted historic, high-profile exhibitions, including a landmark 2010 Picasso showcase that broke all museum attendance records and the 2025 exhibition on American photographers born in Hungary, including Robert Capa and Andre Kertes.



Currently the chair of the Program Committee of the Association of Art Museum Directors, he has nearly 40 years of experience as an art museum director. Nyerges came to VMFA from the Dayton Art Institute.  Before his assignment in Ohio, Nyerges held positions as executive director for the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson and at the De Land Museum of Art in Florida. He is an award-winning photographer, photo historian, and author whose work has been exhibited globally.

A native of Rochester, New York, Alex graduated from George Washington University in Washington, DC with a master's degree in museum studies. His wife Kathryn Gray is a former musician and performing arts manager and artist who maintains a studio at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond. They have a son, Robert Nyerges, who is a filmmaker in Los Angeles.

October 13

Thad Williamson, Ph.D., Professor UofR. Sr Policy Strategist, Office of Mayor Avula.

"The Intersections of Leadership Theory and City Hall Reality"

Dr. Thad Williamson is a civic strategist and academic who currently serves as the Senior Policy Strategist for Richmond Mayor Danny Avula. Appointed part-time in January 2025, he acts as a key architect for municipal strategy. He spearheads the development and rollout of Mayor Avula’s core strategic plan, which was launched in October 2025.

He balances his civic duties as a tenured Professor of Leadership Studies and Philosophy, Politics, Economics, and Law at the University of Richmond Jepson School of Leadership Studies, teaching courses on justice and civil society. He is a published author whose research centers on social justice, urban politics, and anti-poverty initiatives, most recently co-authoring The Making of 21st Century Richmond (2024).

Dr. Williamson has a Ph.D. in Political Science, Harvard University. A master’s degree in religion earned from the Union Theological Seminary in New York and a BA in history and religious studies from Brown University. He is married to Dr. Adria Scharf, who serves as an educator and nonprofit executive in Richmond, Virginia.

October 20

Greg McQuade

Storyteller/Reporter/Anchor at WTVR

"I Have a Story"  

For the last quarter century, Greg McQuade has traveled across Virginia and the world telling unforgettable stories on CBS 6.

A native of Somerville, Massachusetts, Greg earned a BS in Journalism from Northeastern University, and as an undergrad, spent time working as a disc jockey in Hawaii.

He also studied abroad in his ancestral homeland, first working as a political intern in Dublin and later interning for the BBC in Northern Ireland. After graduation, McQuade got his start in television behind the scenes as an entry level video archivist at WBZ in Boston. His first reporting job took him to Maine in 1997. He returned home the next year.

Then, in 2000, McQuade packed up his Celtic pride, put on his Red Sox gear and headed south, joining WTVR as a military and political affairs reporter. He's been with WTVR ever since having won over 105 Emmy Awards.

October 27

Marshall Orr Salute - “50+ Years of Service to Rotary”

…and special appearance by

Mental Note Barbershop Quartet

Mental Note is a quartet that came together in 2023. The quartet is comprised of Scott Beach/lead singer, Jerry Candrilli, baritone, Mike Geipel, bass, and Jeff Mauro, tenor. All four have been in competitive quartets over the years.

The group is part of The Virginians’ Barbershop Chorus and its mission to celebrate and share the uniquely American art form of barbershop music, with roots dating back to the early 1900’s and deep connections to African American musical traditions.