2010-2011 Board Members

President
Jennifer Morrone
A native of the Virginia peninsula, Jennifer Morrone attended Ferguson High School and Graduated Christopher Newport University 2000 with a Bachelors concentrating Public Administration. After Graduation, she went on to become the Leadership Institute Director for the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. During that time, Jennifer served as President of the Virginia Leadership Association and helped to develop Lead Virginia, a statewide Leadership Program. She left the Chamber in 2005 to pursue her love of scrapbooking and her Creative Memories Business. It is her belief that everyone should have a scrapbook that shows them how much they are loved. Jennifer has been a member of the Peninsula Women’s Network since 2004 and has served on the PWN Board for the last couple of years. Jennifer has 3 children who are attending college and resides in Newport News with her husband Michael.

Vice President for Programs
SUSAN LEVY

SUSAN LEVY

Vice President for Membership
WANDA HENDRON

WANDA HENDRON is a  native of New Orleans, she moved to Newport News in 1986. The first office she worked in happens to be a service that PWN hired to do their secretarial duties. She  was responsible for assembling and sending out new member packets. My main contact was Verna Goodman.  Verna helped her move forward in her career (even though I was not a member).  In 1989 Wanda and her husband started Hendron Tree Care.  She joined PWN in January 2009 and saw much value in my membership. PWN is an enjoyable way to market her business.

Wanda currently live in Newport News with her husband of 22 years and have a daughter and 2 grandsons that live close by. 

Vice President for Communications
Carol Veneris

CAROL VENERIS Although born in Idaho, Carol Veneris has lived in Hampton, VA, for 50 years, with the exception of 1 year at Ft. Bragg, NC, while her husband was in the Army.  Carol entered the world of finance and mortgages in 1974, working for Washington Mutual Finance until 2005. Looking for more ndependence, she switched to mortgages only and discovered the business of networking to build both business and personal relationships. That’s when she found PWN and realized the benefit of associating with other women working to grow their businesses. She quickly got involved in the organization as a facilitator of a Leads Group, and became part of the Communications Committee as a staff writer for the Connections Newsletter. She is also Treasurer for the Hampton Roads Networking Exchange Club, an organization dedicated to community and national service. Still married to her High School sweetheart after almost 40 years, Carol has 2 adult children and 3 grandchildren, living in Newport News, and 2 furry” kids” lounging at home.

Secretary

Bella Trowbridge

BELLA TROWBRIDGE came to Virginia from Colorado with her husband 11 years ago.  She is a native Maine where she resided until she joined the U.S. Army.  She has lived in Germany, Korea and throughout the United States during her career.  While serving she has attended the University of Maryland, Fayetteville State College and has earned her degree from St Leo.  She retired from the U. S. Army after 22 years of service working in the Judge Advocate General Field.  After retiring she worked for various attorneys prior to opening her own Title Insurance Agency.  She has worked in the real estate industry for more than 12 years and is dedicated to providing the best possible service to her customers.  Bella has been a member of the Peninsula Women’s Network since 2007 and has been an active member of the PWN Tuesday Lunch Leads group and most recently elected as their facilitator.

Treasurer
Denise Owen

DENISE OWEN is a native of Hampton Roads.  Raised in Norfolk, she attended Norfolk Catholic High School and Old Dominion University.  She has worked as a mortgage originator, consumer loan manager, bank manager and is now a commercial loan officer with Bayport Credit Union.  Denise became very active with community involvement and networking groups especially after moving to the Peninsula in 2004.  She has been married for thirteen years and has two beautiful children, Nicholas, age 9 and Nadia, age 6.

Past -President
Pat Harvey

PAT HARVEY came to Virginia from western Pennsylvania with her NASA-bound husband 37 years ago. She worked with him in their business, Sound Approach, a high-end audio store. After his death in the early 80's, she sold the business, completed her education, and taught art in Newport News City schools for 15 years. She was a PWN member in the early 80's and rejoined after starting her graphic design business, Art of Communication, in 2001.She likes to help small businesses and professionals “look professional in print.” 

First Year Member at Large
SANDY SAMMONS
SANDY SAMMONS

First Year Member at Large

Ann Andrews

ANN ANDREWS was born and raised in Fairfax, VA, and relocated to Norfolk to attend ODU in 1972. She moved to the peninsula in 1980 and has remained a loyal peninsula resident since then. She received her BA in Sociology in 1976 and her MS in Health Administration in 1987, working first as a nursing home Social Worker, then the Executive Director of the Alzheimer’s Association and later in her career as a licensed long term care administrator. She was the Administrator of the Sentara Nursing Center on Executive Drive in Hampton when it was first opened and several other homes in the area as well. In 2005, Ann retired and became a licensed REALTOR, a change that has been a very positive one! As a RE/MAX Select agent, she focuses mainly on residential sales and has received her ABR Certification (Accredited Buyer Representative) and her SRES (Senior Real Estate Specialist) which was a natural transition from her career with long term care. Ann is married to Tom, a local pastor, and together they have started a new church ministry, HarborPointe Community Church. (check out www.harborpointe.org) She has 3 sons, all married and two grandsons. Life is very good!

First Year Member at Large

Debbie Stoddard

DEBBIE STODDARD is Commercial Services Officer with Old Point National Bank. She has been in banking for over 24 years with experience in Treasury Services, Merchant Services, and Commercial Banking. Debbie received her Bachelor of Business Administration from Averett University. She has completed several courses with the American Banker’s Association. Debbie is very active in the community, currently serving on numerous Committees with Coliseum Central Business Improvement District. She is a member of Hampton Roads Network Exchange Club and serves on the Board of the Peninsula Women’s Networking group.

First Year Member at Large
SUE WHEELER

Sue Wheeler was born in New Jersey, grew up in upstate New York (a big town of 365 people), went to nursing school in Schenectady, NY, and met her husband, Herb, who was then Dean of Union College.  She moved to Washington, PA where Herb was VP of W & J College. Meanwhile Sue became a SCUBA instructor and headed the PR department for the County Library system.  In 1989 her family moved to Burke, VA where Herb went to work for NSF and Sue worked for a large DC law firm.  In 1995 Sue moved to Denbigh.  2 months later Herb passed with Cancer.  Since then she became a system engineer for Verizon and then in 2002 opened my own business as a licensed mortgage broker.  In 2006 she married a new husband and now reside in Newport News.  Sue has 2 grown sons and 3 grandchildren and is expectign a new grandson in September 2010.  Sue joined PWN in 2007 and hopes to be able to contribute good things to this wonderful organization.

Second Year Member At Large

JANET GODING
JANET GODING, currently a Senior Loan Officer with SunTrust Mortgage, began her career in the mortgage business as a processor trainee in the late 1980’s. She has lived in Germany, Kentucky, Florida, California, and decided to stay in Virginia. She attended Ricker College, University of Maine, and earned her degree from Saint Leo University. Her interests are traveling, reading, and treasure hunting. She believes that the greatest treasure hunt is to find the buried treasure in each person that she meets. She joined PWN to interact with more business women and contribute to making the organization even better. Upon hearing that some members would like a morning group, she began the Tuesday morning leads group. 

Second Year Member At Large 

LOUISE GRAY

Second Year Member At Large 

PAT MERICA
At a time when she was facing one of the major crossroads one encounters in life, Pat Merica found PWN.  She credits the guidance, support, and inspiration she received from its members with giving her the courage to step out into the great unknown to start her own business.  Until that time she had led a fairly conventional and unexciting life, with the exceptions of her winter as a ski bum in Vail, Colorado, her solo drive to California from Colorado in the days before cell phones when she almost become one of those horrible statistics, and her work with New Mobilization to End the (Vietnam) War in Washington, D.C.

Pat moved to the Tidewater area in the early 70’s, and worked for First City Bank for a short time, and for Nick’s in Yorktown.  At the time of her marriage in the late 70’s she had been working as a bookkeeper for a lumber company, a job which she enjoyed so much she began taking accounting classes at Christopher Newport College.  However, when her children entered school she decided to return to Christopher Newport, now University, to earn her teaching credentials.  She taught for 7 years in the Suffolk school system but maintained her bookkeeping skills, and developed an expertise in QuickBooks, as the bookkeeper for her community pool.  

By late 2004, she decided that teaching had become so warped by the implementation of the Standards of Learning that she had to find some other way to support herself.  She began spreading the word to her friends outside of teaching.  One thing led to another, as networking does, and she discovered Peninsula Women’s Network. 

With inspiration from PWN’s members, she started A+ Bookkeeping Services.  From A+ Bookkeeping Services she is able to provide quality bookkeeping services for small, independent businesses.  She knows the value of maintaining the comprehensive, detailed financial records needed to effectively guide operating and marketing decisions.  She brings this knowledge and experience to her small business clients, giving them access to the expertise they need to manage their financial information at an affordable price.

Pat is grateful to PWN members for their help at a crucial crossroads in her life, and she is grateful to be able to serve on the Board to help this great organization continue its fine work in helping women become successful in the business world.
 

Second Year Member At Large

Wendy Trent

WENDY TRENT grew up in the small town of Berlin, Pennsylvania.  After marrying her childhood sweetheart who was stationed at Ft. Carson she moved to Colorado Springs where she received her Associates Degree in Medical Assisting.  She was hired by Colorado Springs Health Partners right after graduating and worked there for a year.  The army moved them to the Peninsula in the summer of 2003.  While enjoying being a stay-at-home mom she was introduced to Mary Kay skin care, after a few years she tried Mary Kay again and decided that this was the opportunity for her and became a consultant in 2006.  Her husband has been in the military for 20 years and they have 2 handsome sons.  She is a devoted follower of Jesus and enjoys enriching women’s lives through her Mary Kay career.  She loves PWN for the opportunity to network her business, but mostly for the truly wonderful women she’s met and the friendships she’s made.