VIRGINIA SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS
HAMPTON ROADS, VA [AUGUST 16, 2018] – The Virginia Symphony Orchestra is excited to welcome two new members to its board of directors. With them they bring considerable experience in organizational leadership and solid business acumen.
Brenda Snow is widely regarded as the leading pioneer in patient engagement. The disruption Brenda has affected with her business has put patient engagement and centricity to the center stage in the biopharma mindset. Her agency, Snow Companies, is active globally and has helped over 65 businesses representing 150 disease categories become more patient-centric and more successful at the same time.
Grown out of Brenda’s own experience as a patient with multiple sclerosis, Snow Companies has created jobs for over 330 employees in the United States and abroad and is offering millions of people around the globe who are living with an illness a new perspective and renewed purpose on their journeys. The agency is now part of Omnicom Health Group, the largest healthcare marketing and communications group in the world, and part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC).
Brenda is a sought-after opinion leader who has been published in publications such as PM360, MM&M, Pharmaceutical Market Europe,DTC Perspectives, PharmaVOICE, and Life Science Leader, to name a few. She speaks extensively to corporate audiences about her experiences and on how to effectively communicate with patient audiences.
PharmaVOICE named Brenda one of the 100 Most Inspiring People in the pharmaceutical industry in 2007 and 2010, PM360 selected her for the Elite Award in 2016, and numerous NGOs worldwide also honored her for her achievements for the patient community.
Snow Companies is ranked among the nation’s leading companies, winning awards such as MM&M’s Top 100 agencies, Inc. magazine’s fastest growing private companies (46th in the health industry), the AMCP MarCom Award, PM360’s Pharma Choice and Trailblazer awards, the DTC National Advertising Award, and multiple Telly Awards honoring Snow’s video work.
All those successes, as impressive as they may seem, are dwarfed by the countless patient lives and treatment outcomes that have improved thanks to Brenda’s legacy. Nobody has inspired more patients to become their own advocates than Brenda Snow.
Originally from California, Brenda now lives with her husband in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is a member of the board of the MCV Foundation, the nonprofit that supports the mission of the medical college campus within VCU Health. She proudly serves on the Board of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra to inspire others about the joy and benefits derived from music. Her passion is classical and jazz music, dance, Broadway musicals, and channels her own creative energy into mixed media art. She cherishes every second she gets to spend with her daughter and granddaughter.
Becky Sawyer is Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Sentara Healthcare. She is responsible for HR administration for 28,000 employees across 12 hospitals and a fully integrated health system with clinical and health plan operations in Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama and Ohio. Prior to her promotion to a senior corporate position, Ms. Sawyer was Vice President of HR responsible for nine hospitals, plus Sentara Medical Group, Sentara Enterprises, Sentara Life Care and the Sentara-owned health plan, Optima Health. In 27 years with Sentara, Ms. Sawyer has held increasingly responsible HR leadership positions across multiple divisions.
Ms. Sawyer co-led system implementation of an innovative ‘HR Solutions’ model, which concentrates expertise and streamlines delivery of HR services across the enterprise.
Ms. Sawyer supports a strategic HR program to maintain a positive, diverse, multigenerational workplace where members of the team develop their full potential and contribute to the Sentara mission to improve health every day.
Ms. Sawyer has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Troy University and a master’s in public administration from Arkansas State University.
She serves on the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, the Board of Directors for the Virginia Symphony and for the Norfolk State University School of Business. She is a member of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), the American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration (ASHHRA) and the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE).
###
Under the leadership of GRAMMY-winning music director JoAnn Falletta, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra is Virginia’s preeminent professional symphony orchestra with a mission of inspiring, educating and connecting audiences of all ages.
Founded in 1921, it is ranked in the top ten percent of professional orchestras nationwide and serves the entire Southeastern Virginia region with Classics, Pops and Family concert series in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News and Williamsburg as well as performances in outlying Virginia and North Carolina communities, reaching nearly 150,000 concert-goers every year. Additionally, the orchestra annually reaches 45,000 children, students and lifelong learners with its education and community programs. The Virginia Symphony has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center and is the cornerstone of the performing arts in Hampton Roads.