By Lakeshia Artis, Inside Business - Hampton Roads, January 1, 2007

“I have two objectives this year, as the new vice chair of legislative affairs for the Virginia Beach Chamber. First, I want to look at the process of picking issues, and, secondly, to increase awareness of just how much work the chamber does to protect the business community.

“My passion is investment management, which is the perspective I’m bringing to this new assignment. As managing principal of Bay Capital Advisors, I study the financial markets daily to determine its direction and then advise my clients. As vice chair of legislative affairs, I will study local legislative and regulatory issues to determine their direction.

“Just like all good stocks don’t need to be in every portfolio, the chamber has to carefully decide which issues are worth the cost . . . in time, energy and goodwill. You shouldn’t pay too much money even for a good stock, and you shouldn’t support or oppose a governmental issue if the cost is too great. If we have no chance of being effective on some regulatory issue, we should not spend political capital working on it.

“Transportation will continue to be a top issue with the chamber. We will certainly stay actively engaged with our elected leaders to resolve this difficult problem. We certainly need more help from the community to pressure politicians to stop talking and start producing.

“The behind-the-scenes work of the chamber is amazing. Our executive director, Ira Agricola, does an incredible job helping our elected leaders, at both the city level and the state level, to understand how their actions impact employers.

“My second objective is to increase awareness of the enormous effort of the local and state chambers to help. I encourage everybody to go to www.hamptonroadschamber.com and click on Legislative, for a great education on the issues facing business.”

Time Line:

Born
May 29, 1947, in Radford.

1972
Graduated with a degree in business from Old Dominion University.

1973
Obtained a master's in business administration from William & Mary.

1973-1976
Construction officer with Wachovia Bank in Hampton.

1977-1980
Assistant vice president of Bank One in Dallas, Texas.

1980
Received a master's degree from University of Dallas.

1980-1984
Vice president of Citigroup in Dallas.

1985-1990
President of Public Syndications Division of Southmark Corp in Dallas.

1991-2001
Retired as senior vice president of SunTrust Bank in Williamsburg and Alexandria.

2002-2005
Senior vice president of Bank of America Private Bank in Norfolk.

2005-Present
Managing principal of Bay Capital Advisors LLC.