Tom Winfree, C'77

Tom Winfree, C'77

May 20, 2013
SPCS alumni enriching the Richmond workplace

Thomas W. Winfree, C’77, is president and CEO of Richmond-based Village Bank. He’s a Virginia native, born in the Richmond metro area. Richmond is home, and he claims “there’s no place I’d rather be.”

So when he received the opportunity to address graduates of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies on May 11, 2013, Winfree encouraged them to remain engaged and involved in the Richmond community.

“This entire region is a great place to work, to business and raise a family,” he said. “We hope that as you celebrate the completion of your academic work at the University of Richmond, you will stay here and continue to call Richmond ‘home.’”

Winfree earned the opportunity to address graduates at the School’s Commencement Exercises when he was named the 2013 Gibb Family Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. The award was announced on Wednesday, May 8, during the 50th anniversary SPCS Night awards ceremony.

Winfree graduated from University of Richmond’s University College (the earliest name of SPCS) in 1977 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. Earning his degree at UR marked the beginning of his extensive career in finance and banking, which now also includes serving as director of Village Bank and Trust Financial Corporation and chairing the board of the bank’s mortgage corporation.

Winfree embodies engagement and involvement in Richmond, especially in the Richmond business community. He serves on the board of several associations, including the Retail Merchants Association, the Virginia Association of Community Banks, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce and the Better Business Bureau.

He also embodies service to the Richmond community, serving as chair of the joint hospital board for Bon Secours Health System and on the board of Venture Richmond. He is a proud director and founding member of the Families of the Wounded Fund, Inc., an organization that assists families of injured soldiers hospitalized at the McGuire Medical Center.

In addition, Winfree serves the School as a member of the dean’s advisory council. This service places Winfree in a position to see and value first-hand the impact Richmond alumni have on the local workforce.

“I remarked to Dean Narduzzi a while back,” he recalled, “that, as an employer, I really appreciated the School of Professional and Continuing Studies because we were providing University of Richmond-degreed individuals to the metro Richmond workforce.”

Winfree encouraged the graduates to get engaged in the community while remaining engaged with the School, and to focus on remembering those who are less fortunate, who have not had the opportunity to continue their education or to graduate from the University of Richmond.

“From my experience,” he reflected, “I can say with certainty that you remember and cherish the smiles you help put on peoples’ faces a lot longer than you remember how we solved some problem at work that really wasn’t such a big deal in the overall scope of things.”

Winfree’s focus on the Richmond community remained a consistent theme throughout his remarks. In a nod of appreciation to the leadership of Dr. Ed Ayers, president of the University, Winfree echoed the president’s commitment to being a university for Richmond and the University of Richmond.

“Dr. Ayers has embraced the entire Richmond community in a way that has enabled the University of Richmond to renew its place as one of the region’s most valuable assets,” he remarked. “And as someone who spends a lot of my working time out and about in the community, I think it is fair to say that the community has embraced you in return.”

Winfree proudly touted his shared academic heritage with the graduating students assembled in the Robins Center. Recognizing their commitment to lifelong education through adversity and struggle, Winfree took pride in recognizing the excellence of the assembled soon-to-be alumni.

“Yours is a great degree from a great university,” he reminded the graduates, “and as a UR alumnus myself, I want you to know how proud I am to be associated with a group of people who have sacrificed so much to be here at this point in your lives today.”

With his address, Winfree welcomed the latest group of “University of Richmond degreed” professionals to the Richmond area workforce—professionals who bring with them “that indomitable spirit of discovery” to the task of climbing “the proverbial ladder of success.”