RICHMOND, Virginia — The Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA) Board of Directors voted to extend its Honorary Lifetime Membership Awards to Pat Gottschalk and Sandi McNinch at its 2022 Winter Membership Meeting held in Richmond.
Gottschalk, a Naval Academy graduate and former Chair of the Economic Development Team at Williams Mullen, has served as an Ex-Officio Board Member and Counsel at VEDA and as Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade.
In the nomination for the award, Gottschalk was called a “gentleman who volunteered his time and expertise to benefit VEDA (and) his pro bono work to benefit the organization would have cost many thousands of dollars in the marketplace.”
McNinch recently retired as General Counsel for Virginia Economic Development Partnership and served as VEDA’s Counsel, an Ex-Officio position, for many years.
“Sandi’s constant professionalism, wisdom and grace under pressure were always evident in her service to the Commonwealth,” said Deborah Flippo in her nomination of McNinch.
Gottschalk and McNinch made outstanding contributions to the economic and industrial growth of the Commonwealth and VEDA. Gottschalk and McNinch are the seventh and eighth members, respectively, afforded the distinction of Honorary Member.
