2017 Keynote Luncheon Speaker

Posted June 14, 2017 at 12:17 PM, Filed Under: Featured, Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 13, 2017

ROANOKE, VA (June 13, 2017) – The Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference, Inc. is pleased to announce that Afira DeVries will be the 2017 Keynote Luncheon Speaker for the 2017 Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference. She will speak on Friday, September 22, 2017.

Afira DeVries

Afira DeVries serves as President & CEO for United Way of Roanoke Valley. Her visionary style and extensive development experience contribute to the strategic direction and credibility of the organization, having generated more than a quarter billion dollars in support of social innovation over the course of her career. Afira’s education is in public policy and political theory and, after a short lived pursuit of a political career, she realized that her idealistic nature was better suited to the not-for-profit sector. Afira joined United Way Central Massachusetts as a Development Officer in 1998 and has since assumed advancing positions with United Way’s of Greater Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, United Way Suncoast in Tampa Bay and her current organization. Afira serves as an engaged leader within the United Way system and is viewed as an expert resource and mentor to fundraisers across the country. She is a product development trainer for United Way Worldwide, serves on the Executive Resource Development Committee and provides consultative sales trainings for United Way’s seeking to evolve to a more relational fundraising model.

Afira is frequently called upon to serve as a presenter and guest speaker on a wide variety of subjects both locally and nationally, within and beyond the United Way system. She has been featured in San Jose Magazine and was recognized as one of Tampa Bay’s Under 40 “Up and Comer’s” award recipients by the Tampa Bay Business Journal in 2011. Additionally, Afira was honored by the Tampa Bay Business Journal as a “Business Woman of the Year” finalist in 2014. She earned her educational credentials at Averett University in Danville, VA and Cornell University.

In addition to her professional responsibilities, Afira serves on the Board of Directors of Local Colors, and the Steering Committee of the Partnership for a Livable Roanoke Valley, and is a founding member of the Roanoke Valley Unites initiative. Afira and her husband Jason live with their two daughters, Ava and Amora, and their dogs Vito and Luca in Roanoke.