Your LWV-RMA Board

Officers

Co-President:

Fran Eckenrode is a native Virginian who left the state early in her working life and recently returned to enjoy a moderate climate.  She joined the LWV of Kalamazoo, Michigan after retiring from corporate life and she served on the Board in various positions including VP for Program, VP for Organization, and Co-President.  Fran pursued a career in pharmaceutical research and now enjoys teaching pharmaceutical regulatory science for Purdue University in a program that serves sub-Saharan Africa.  Her interests include public health, voter education, and fair elections and she enjoys gardening and ballroom dancing.  Fran earned a BS in Pharmacy from VCU and a PhD in Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry from the University of Iowa.

 

Jeff Adams is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, where he received a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.  Later in his career, he also got an MBA in night school from Campbell University in North Carolina.  Jeff worked in Manufacturing for a few different companies, with the longest tenure at DuPont.  He retired in late 2021, after working for 45 years.  His experience has been in various industrial and business line and project management roles, to Director level positions..  He has at times been posted in Ohio, North Carolina and New Jersey, in addition to his time in Virginia, where he has lived since 1992.  His work took him to many overseas locations throughout Europe, Asia and South America, and enjoyed these working interactions with a variety of industrial partners.  He is the father of 6 children and 9 grandchildren.  He has been engaged with several different non-profit organizations, and youth sports coaching, throughout his career, and in retirement, does volunteer work with Feedmore, Richmond Hill, and a mentoring program through Armstrong HS.  He enjoys all manner of outdoor activities, as well as anything that feeds a continuing need to satisfy his intellectual curiosity.  That includes lifelong learning courses, Richmond Encorepreneur, and Richmond Torch Club.  He is excited to be a part of the LWV, with a passion for anything that can promote good government, and the protection of our democracy.

 

Vice-President, Program:

Sam Florer joined the LWV-RMA in December 2021. A native of Yorktown, VA, Sam holds a BA and MA in History from the College of William & Mary. He has lived in Richmond since 2015, working as a museum educator and sharing his love of the past with the public. Sam first got involved in civic engagement by volunteering as a local Election Officer in the fall of 2020 and looks forward to getting more involved in the community through the League's many advocacy and education efforts.

 

Vice-President, Operations:

Ann Way first became a member of the LWV while living in Maryland. She joined the LWV-RMA after moving to Virginia in 2020.  Ann looks forward to helping LLW-RMA to increase the number of individuals voting in Virginia elections and to supporting LWV initiatives relating to gun violence and reproductive health. Ann was born and grew up in Ohio. She holds a doctorate in Sociology from the University of Chicago, with a specialization in demography. She has worked for four decades in international health research, providing support in more than 30 countries for the collection of maternal and child health data.

 

Vice-President, Voter Service:

Anna Mason is a graduate of Virginia Tech, with a BS in Mathematics and MAEd in Education. She has taught math in various high and middle schools from Washington to Tennessee, and in Virginia. She has served in various roles for local Parent Teacher Associations, Chair of the Parent Advisory Council to the Superintendent to Richmond Public Schools. Anna loves gardening, skateboarding, and empowering all voters.

 

Secretary:

Marilyn Breslow came to Richmond from Connecticut for an MSW degree and celebrates the progress of the past four and a half decades. She looks forward to working for more - especially in terms of voter engagement and access, public health, and housing. Marilyn worked for thirty-five years in refugee resettlement and is involved with interfaith social justice groups (RISC, VICPP.) A member of the Sierra Club and a supporter of climate action networks, Marilyn sees lots of opportunities for partnerships to make our community more hospitable for all.

 

Treasurer:

Diane Black has lived most of her life in Texas. She moved here in 2023 after retiring from her bookkeeping business in Houston. She is looking forward to making a contribution to her new community in Richmond. LWV-RVA is doing great things and she is excited to become a part of this organization.

Directors

Trish Schwagmeyer joined the LWV-RMA in January 2021. She grew up in Springfield, Illinois, attended undergraduate school at the University of Kentucky, and then went on to graduate school at the University of Michigan. She moved to the Richmond area in 2013 after retiring as a biology professor at the University of Oklahoma. One of the things she most appreciates about the League is the opportunity it provides for learning, and she recently participated in the LWV-VA’s Money in Politics study.

 

Louise Evans is a resident of Hanover County and has been an observer at meetings of the Hanover County Board of Elections. She is employed by the Henrico County government.

 

Nancy Priddy joined the LWV-RMA in 2020. With her professional background in graphic design and editing, she was immediately put to work by her friend Deb Wake. She wears many hats: Virginia Voter editor, webmaster and advocacy alerts sender. Nancy has lived in Richmond since 1990 after growing up all over the U.S.A. as the daughter of a Marine — most excitingly in Hawaii. Her undergraduate is from the College of Charleston and graduate degree in Visual Communications from VCU. In her retirement, she enjoys gardening with native plants, kayaking, playing tennis – and pickleball – but mostly, traveling with her sister. If you email her and she doesn’t respond right away, she is probably backpacking somewhere and doesn’t have cell service.

 

Roxane Rucker joined the League of Women Voters when she moved to Richmond, VA two years ago from Northern Virginia. She became active in grassroots organizing with Indivisible Waterfront after retiring in early 2020, then after the murder of George Floyd became more intensely focused on Black voter disenfranchisement and racial justice. She has held various leadership positions with Indivisible Waterfront, the Center For Common Ground, Interwoven Congregations, and the National Women’s Political Conference. She has been active with the LWV RMA in the Voter Services and Affordable Housing Committees and has hosted several Get Out The Vote Postcard parties at her home. Roxane's first career was building networks for the federal government, then she later joined the leadership team for a national nonprofit focused on eliminating playspace inequity. She holds a B.A. in economics and an M.B.A. in finance.

 

Leigh Ann McKelway moved to Richmond after graduating from the University of Alabama to take a job with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. She has worked in communications for more than 40 years with public schools and nonprofits. Leigh Ann believes in trying new things, being honest and building bridges rather than walls. She is a fan of VCU basketball, Alabama football and British murder mysteries.

 

Lynn Johnston is a long-term League member and former Board member coming back to the Board.

 

Judith Tolleson Clarke, BS, MA, FOUNDER of the Virginia Center for Restorative Justice, completed her Bachelor’s degree in General Studies at Radford University and her Master’s degree in Conflict Transformation with a concentration in Restorative Justice at Eastern Mennonite University. Judy wrote a values-based, restorative justice curriculum titled, “How to Handle Conflict” and taught it to adult and juvenile inmates. Judy served on the Board of Directors of the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, is a member of Leadership Metro Richmond and was chosen “Outstanding Woman Leader in Virginia” by the Virginia Women Attorney’s Association. She currently serves as a Deacon at Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Glen Allen, VA.

 

Kate O’Rourke moved to Virginia from New York City in 2011 and the Richmond area in 2019 after completing a graduate degree at Virginia Tech. Kate began her career in housing non-profits, shifted to working as a family therapist while earning her Ph.D, and now works as a healthcare consultant. She is working to ensure the system of care for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Virginia is of good quality and meets Federal standards. She joined the League to be more involved in enshrining voting rights in Virginia and nationally. She enjoys her garden, reading, and traveling.

 

Susan Bell originally from Maryland moved to Richmond after graduating from Towson University in 1979. She received her masters degree from VCU School of Nursing and a law degree from University of Richmond. Susan worked as a Family Nurse Practitioner for 45 years retiring in 2025. She works part time at Cristo Rey High School as a health clinic nurse. She has two adult children and two granddaughters.

 

Erin Doss advanced U.S. foreign policy as a Democracy Officer over the course of a 16-year career in the Foreign Service, which included overseas postings to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Raised with strong faith in the American people and the value of democratic governance, she returned to Hanover County in 2025 with a passion to apply the same lessons at home that she championed abroad - namely that government exists to listen to and serve its people. She joined the Political Science Department at Randolph-Macon College as an adjunct instructor and has enjoyed meeting neighbors and making new friends through such community activities as the League of Women Voters, Braver Angels, Cub Scouts, NAACP, and Rotary. She is married to a U.S. Army veteran whom she met in Baghdad, and they are raising their three amazing children together in Mechanicsville, VA.

 

Julia Robeson holds a B.A. in Economics from Emory University and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. After a career in the corporate world, she established a leadership coaching practice until retiring in 2025. Her previous volunteer experience includes serving on the board of Breast Care for Washington, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing breast cancer mortality by providing screening and diagnostic services regardless of a person's ability to pay, as well as providing pro bono leadership coaching through the Women’s Impact Alliance (WIA). Since moving from Washington, D.C., to Richmond in 2022, Julia has become involved in her local community association and volunteers with the CARITAS Works Program. She joined the LWV-RMA because she is passionate about supporting voter education and protecting voting rights.