Ron Rordam, Mayor
803 Draper Road
Blacksburg, VA 24060
rrordam@blacksburg.gov
Ron Rordam was first elected to Town Council in 1996. He served as vice mayor for six years, was elected Mayor in 2006, and reelected Mayor in 2009. He holds a B.A. degree in History from the University of New Orleans and a M.A. degree in History from Virginia Tech. He currently serves on the following committees:
Blacksburg-Virginia Tech Liaison Committee
Town-County Liaison Committee
Blacksburg Partnership Board of Directors
Virginia Tech/Montgomery Regional Airport Authority
Mayors’ Task Force on Climate Protection and Sustainability
Smartway Bus Committee
Loop Trail Committee
Executive Committee of the Virginia Municipal League
Vice President of the Virginia Transit Association
In 2007, Mayor Rordam was invited to attend the Sundance Summit – A Mayor’s Gathering on Climate Protection and the Northeast Mayor’s Institute on City Design sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Mayor Rordam is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He moved to Blacksburg in 1976 to attend graduate school at Virginia Tech and, following a brief departure, returned in 1984 to make Blacksburg his permanent residence. Mr. Rordam started his own insurance agency in 1983 and continues to operate the business today. He is married to Mary Sammons Rordam and they have two grown sons, Gardner and Landon.
Susan Anderson, Vice Mayor
700 Preston Avenue
Blacksburg, VA 24060
sanderson@blacksburg.gov
Susan Anderson was re-elected to Town Council in November 2009 and currently serves on the following:
- Blacksburg Partnership Board of Directors
- Blacksburg-Virginia Tech Liaison Committee
- Town County Liaison Committee
- Blacksburg Housing and Community Development Advisory Board
- Downtown Revitalization Committee, Chair
- Friends of the Farmers Market
- New River Valley Agency on Aging, Vice Chair
- South Blacksburg Transportation Planning Task Force
Anderson earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Mary Washington College in 1980, majoring in mathematics and classical civilization, and a Master of Science degree in mathematics from Virginia Tech in 1982.
She has been teaching mathematics at Virginia Tech since then and is currently a senior instructor. Her departmental work includes chairing an annual career day in mathematics for 250 sixth graders. Anderson is a member of the university’s Women’s Month Advisory Committee and is the faculty advisor to Amnesty International and Womanspace.
Anderson is a member of the board of directors of the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley, the assistant coordinator of Montgomery County NOW (National Organization for Women), and a member of Friends of Planned Parenthood Health Systems. Since 1990 she has been married to Kim J. Kipling, professor emeritus of philosophy at Radford University.
John Bush
203 Wharton Street SE
Blacksburg, VA 24060
jbush@blacksburg.gov
John L. Bush, AIA, was elected to Town Council in November 2009, and currently serves on the following:
Blacksburg Museum Advisory Committee
Historic or Design Review Board
Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission
- Montgomery County/Blacksburg Local Emergency Planning Committee
- Town Gown Committee
Bush’s involvement in local government has been a formative experience and has helped him to understand how good government can operate. Additionally it has given him the opportunity to hear some of the concerns of residents and business owners that live and work in, or adjacent to, the historic district.
From 1999 to 2009 Bush has served the Town as the chair of the Historic Design Review Board (HDRB). He is also chair of the 16 Squares sub-committee, which is composed of members of HDRB and the Museum Committee. Their charge is to address issues that affect the original and historic 16 squares. His involvement in local government has been a formative experience and has helped him to understand how good government can operate. Additionally it has given him the opportunity to hear some of the concerns of residents and business owners that live and work in, or adjacent to, the historic district.
Bush has also served the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) from 1997 to 2009. He has served at every level in the Blue Ridge Chapter, from Director, to Program chair, president-Elect, President and past-President. In addition, he has served the Virginia Society AIA for 4 years as the local chapter representative and Director.
He grew-up in Lexington, Kentucky and left the bluegrass state in the fall of 1980 to attend St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he studied the Great Books, western thought, history and culture. After graduating in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Bush, his wife Elizabeth and almost 2 year old son moved to Blacksburg.
Since 1984, he has worked as a frame and trim carpenter, received a Masters degree in Architecture from Virginia Tech, designed and built timber frames, and has pursued his career as an architect in the profession and for the state in the University Architect’s Office at Virginia Tech, where he has been employed since 2001. At Virginia Tech he serves on the ADA (American Disabilities Act) Executive Committee and helps to promote universal design for the University community.
Bush and his wife have been married since 1982 and have raised two sons in Blacksburg. He has a passion for the outdoors and enjoys trail running, biking, hiking, camping, fishing and hunting in the Blue Ridge and southern Appalachian mountains.
Krisha Chachra
1622 Honeysuckle Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24060
kchachra@blacksburg.gov
Krisha Chachra was elected to Town Council in November 2009 and currently serves on the following:
Council on Human Relations
Metropolitan Planning Organization Board
Virginia Tech Business/Technology Center Advisory Board
Chamber and Tourism Initiative
Cemetery Trustee Advisory Committee
She is the author of the book Homecoming Journals: Dreaming Big in a small town, a compendium of essays about growing up in Blacksburg. She is a native of Blacksburg, attended Margaret Beeks Elementary and both Blacksburg Middle and High School. After leaving for college and graduate school and working around the country, Chachra returned to her native Blacksburg to continue writing and pursue a PhD at Virginia Tech in Urban Affairs and Planning.
She is a regular columnist for NRV Magazine, has contributed to National Public Radio affiliates and was the host of Virginia’s daily, live, call-in TV show, Blue Ridge LIVE! on Blue Ridge Public Television. Her work has appeared in U Magazine, The Honolulu Advertiser, USA Weekend Magazine, Bella Magazine and the Roanoke Times. She has traveled to over 45 countries in 6 continents compiling human-interest stories for publication.
Chachra holds degrees from William & Mary and American University and was appointed to the state of Virginia’s Board of Psychology by former Governor Mark Warner before living in Honolulu, HI where she taught communication courses at Hawaii Pacific University.
Besides attending Virginia Tech, she is active in the community and helps to coordinate the creative professionals mixer “Up on the Roof” for locals. She served on Blacksburg’s Towing Board, is active with organizing community activities for locals, and is a founding member of Downtown Events Inc.
Don Langrehr
1705 Ginger Lane
Blacksburg, VA 24060
dlangrehr@blacksburg.gov
Don Langrehr was elected to Town Council in 2004. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in the Reading Specialist field from New Jersey City University, and a PH.D in Literacy Education from Florida State. Langrehr currently teaches as an Associate Professor in the Radford University College of Education and directs the Graduate Reading Specialist Program. He teaches courses in the areas of Advanced Literacy Methods, Diagnosis and Remediation of Reading Problems, Content Area Literacy, and the Administration and Supervision of Reading Programs. Many of Langrehr’s students and advisees are actively engaged in New River Valley and Southwest Virginia schools as Book Buddies and America Reads tutors.
Langrehr’s community and professional participation includes a number of organizations such as the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, the Mount Tabor Ruritans, the New River Valley Living Wage Campaign, the Virginia Organizing Project, and the Virginia State Reading Association.
He is currently serving on the following town, state, and county committees as well:
Planning Commission
New River Valley Planning District Commission
Stormwater Management Task Force
Agricultural and Forestal District Advisory Committee
Loop Trail Committee
- VML Environmental Quality Policy Committee
Cecile Newcomb
911 Gracelyn Court
Blacksburg, VA 2406
cnewcomb@blacksburg.gov
Cecile Newcomb was elected to Blacksburg Town Council in 2009 and currently serves on the following:
MBC Development Corporation
Downtown Blacksburg, Inc.
Downtown Revitalization Committee
Greenway/Bikeway/Sidewalk Corridor Committee
New River Valley Agency on the Agency (Alternate)
She is a native and long-time resident of Blacksburg.
Newcomb is a certified HERS Rater (Home Energy Rating Services) and co-founder and Business Director of Energy Check, a division of Shelter Alternatives, Inc.
She is also a cycle class instructor at The Weight Club, and the former founder and owner of Rest Assured Housing Management, Inc.
She has coached cross country and track teams at Blacksburg High and Middle Schools, and volunteered in Montgomery County Public Schools. Cecile and William Newcomb have been married since 1987, and have two teenagers.
Prior to her membership on Town Council, Newcomb actively participated on numerous ad hoc and appointed committees, including:
Blacksburg Planning Commission
Blacksburg Long Range Planning Committee
Blacksburg Townscape Committee
Blacksburg Housing and Community Development Advisory Board
New River Valley Green Home Tour
Bennett Hill/Progress Neighborhood Representative
Other memberships Include:
New River Land Trust
Montgomery County League of Women Voters
Shawnee Swim Club
Blacksburg High School Athletic Boosters
New River United Soccer Association
YMCA at Virginia Tech
The Lyric Theater
RESNET
Leslie Hager-Smith
906 Allendale Court
Blacksburg, VA 24060
lhagersmith@blacksburg.gov
Leslie Hager-Smith was elected to Town Council as Vice Mayor in 2008. She served formerly as the Director of the Downtown Merchants of Blacksburg; and also as Director of Community Programs for the YMCA at Virginia Tech. Her service on council has focused on community and economic development through participation in the Blacksburg Partnership; the MBC Development Corporation; and the Downtown Revitalization Committee. Hager-Smith currently serves on:
Blacksburg Middle School Transition Committee
Blacksburg Housing and Community Development Advisory Board
Metropolitan Planning Organization Board
Recreation Advisory Board
South Blacksburg Transportation Planning Task Force
VML Community & Economic Development Policy Committee
Hager-Smith holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, awarded magna cum laude by the University of Georgia in 1977; she majored in public relations and American history.
Hager-Smith has lived in Blacksburg since 1982. A native Cincinnatian, she has also lived in Athens, GA; Seattle, WA; Oak Ridge, TN; Canterbury, England; and Heidelberg, Germany. Wherever she’s made her home, Hager-Smith has been a devoted church, school, and civic volunteer. She founded the Epilepsy Parent Network for the New River Valley, in association with the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia; she has also served on the Special Education Advisory Board of the Montgomery County Public Schools. She is married to Eric Peter Smith of Manyunk, Pennsylvania and they have three grown children: Elliot, Byron, and Virginia.
Memberships Include:
Downtown Blacksburg, Inc.
Friends of the Farmers Market
The Lyric Theater
PRAYS (Presbyterians at Your Service)
Sustainable Blacksburg
YMCA at Virginia Tech
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