Medina Wilkerson | Director of Operations
Medina Wilkerson - Operations Director Medina joined Virginia Organizing as the Operations Director in April 2026. She is a Virginia native who grew up in the Valley. Medina has worked with Charlottesville non-profit organizations...
Read More »Francisco Lopez | Community and Social Work Organizer
Francisco joined Virginia Organizing as the Tri-Cities organizer in September 2025. With a previous background in social justice initiatives, particularly language justice and work with immigrant communities, he brings with him knowledge and first-ha...
Read More »Preston Graves | New River Valley Organizer
Preston joined Virginia Organizing as the New River Valley organizer in September 2025. He is a native of Southwest Virginia, growing up and living in Christiansburg. He has extensive experience engaging with the public, having most recently worked a...
Read More »Eduardo Acevedo | Richmond Area Organizer
Eduardo joined Virginia Organizing as the Richmond Area Chapter organizer in July 2025. As a native of Chesterfield, Eduardo is very familiar with the greater Richmond area, having spent much of his time going back and forth between Chesterfield and...
Read More »Cassandra Waters | Norfolk Organizer
Cassandra joined Virginia Organizing as the Norfolk Chapter organizer in June 2024. Originally born in Portsmouth, she graduated from Woodrow Wilson High school and has also resided in Suffolk. At an early age, she began small volunteering projects a...
Read More »Michelle Tabbanor | Director of Communications
Michelle joined Virginia Organizing as the Communications Director in April 2024. She is from Virginia Beach, where she has been involved with many community service projects and organizations, including partnering with Virginia Organizing campaigns....
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Nora Scott | Waynesboro Organizer
Nora grew up in Nelson County and is self-taught. They enjoy studying the intersections of relational dialectics, historical materialism, and gender. “A big part of my politics surrounding advocacy is rooted in the fact that I am an ordinary person....
Read More »Paméla Frank Houndjo | Director of Finance
Paméla joined Virginia Organizing in the summer of 2023. Paméla is an avid learner. She has an Associate degree in Accounting from PVCC. A Bachelor of Science in Leadership Studies from Averett University. She recently completed an MBA in Economics...
Read More »Liz Cunningham | Halifax Organizer
Liz was born in Boston and attended the University of Rhode Island, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In 2006, she moved to Halifax, Virginia where she found her passion for health care community outreach in helping disabled client...
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Gayland Oliver | Southside Organizer
Gayland grew up in Greensboro, North Carolina where he learned community organizing from his mother at an early age, as he accompanied her throughout the community to register voters and encourage them to get out and vote. He earned his Bachelo...
Read More »Clio Schurtz | Albemarle/Charlottesville Organizer
Clio is the Albemarle/Charlottesville Organizer as of June 2024. She joined Virginia Organizing in June of 2023 as the New River Valley Organizer, and after a year of working in the New River Valley, she has returned to her hometown of Charlottesvill...
Read More »Elisabeth Chaves | Director of Research and Policy
Before beginning her current role as Research and Policy Director, Elisabeth previously served as Virginia Organizing’s Climate Equity Policy Fellow after becoming a member of the New River Valley chapter in 2018 and serving on the statewide Environm...
Read More »Terran Young | Wise County Organizer
Terran became the Wise County Organizer in 2022. She spent her early childhood in Wise County, moved to Middletown, Ohio, and then returned home as a young adult after college. She took her first position at the Highlander Center as an Appalachian Tr...
Read More »Glenda Crockett-Eans | Wythe County Organizer
Glenda grew up in Wytheville, where she and her family returned 17 years ago, and has worked as an elementary school teacher for 16 years. She went to college at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro NC, where she obtained her BS degr...
Read More »Eric Olson-Getty | Director of Programs
Eric Olson-Getty grew up in Vermont and came to Virginia via North Carolina in 2014. He moved to Harrisonburg when his wife got a new job, but arrived looking for opportunities to get involved in grassroots organizing work. The local Virginia Organiz...
Read More »Jorge Mendez | Organizing Co-Director
Jorge Mendez joined Virginia Organizing as the Fredericksburg Organizer in June of 2019, and became the Co-Director of Organizing in 2024. He grew up in El Salvador, where he began to work for human rights and political and social rights at the age o...
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Tony Jones | Suffolk Organizer
Tony Jones joined Virginia Organizing when the Portsmouth Chapter was just getting started. He became the Suffolk Organizer in April of 2018. A native of Portsmouth, Tony knows first-hand the kinds of discrimination that students of color face in are...
Read More »Meghan McNamara | Organizing Co-Director
Meghan McNamara (they/them) is a community and labor organizer who joined Virginia Organizing in January 2016 and became the Co-Director of Organizing in 2024. Prior to joining the organization, Meghan worked on various social justice campaigns in Wa...
Read More »Brian Johns | Executive Director
Brian Johns currently serves as the executive director of Virginia Organizing. He first came to Virginia Organizing as an intern in 2000 and then worked as a community organizer from 2001-2005. He spent two years in Pennsylvania doing community organ...
Read More »Sally Bastian | Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator
Sally Bastian began working with Virginia Organizing in 2006, as the Grassroots Fundraising Coordinator. In the past she has worked in education, housing, and in community development. She is also a Spanish speaker. Sally is excited about Virginia Or...
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