Nominating Committee Reports Nominations for Virginia SAR Officers for 2016-2017

     With only two exceptions the nominees are current incumbents or in the case of the president and vice presidents have held the next lower office.  Two nominees are new to their offices, Tom Whetstone, nominee for 3rd Vice-President, and Dr. Kirk Sheap, nominee for Surgeon; so a brief biography for each of them is added to this report.

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     Dr. John Thomas Whetstone III (Tom) was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on July 5, 1947.  He and his wife, Nancy, are raising their eighteen-year-old son, James, in Chesapeake, Virginia.   Tom has experience in corporate management, the military, church ministry including supply preaching, university teaching, research and writing, and leadership of civic organizations.   
     He earned a B.S. degree at Washington and Lee University (Phi Beta Kappa, Distinguished Military Graduate, and magna cum laude) and a master’s degree in management from the Sloan School at M.I.T., writing his thesis with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Finance Corps.  He worked in corporate management positions with two Fortune 500 diversified energy corporations, advancing from corporate planner to Director, Strategic Planning & Analysis.  After eleven years of corporate experience, he was called to theological studies, earning Master of Divinity and Master of Theology degrees at Reformed Theological Seminary.  He has preached widely on a supply basis but, after seminary, was recruited to teach management at Belhaven University.  To complete his academic credentials, he completed the Doctor of Philosophy (combining philosophy and social science) at the University of Oxford, England, writing his dissertation on the moral character of managers.  He subsequently served on the faculties of Jacksonville University (FL), Montreat College (NC), and Regent University (VA), where he built up and chaired the undergraduate Organizational Leadership and Management Department and developed several other new programs.
     Tom has written three books (plus another yet unpubished manuscript), four academic theses, six additional book chapters, seven academic course modules, and 43 journal articles.  He also has made three audio recordings (cds) and has delivered numerous academic and history presentations.  For many years he judged the national Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl Competitions and has belonged to several international professional organizations.  He regularly referees academic papers submitted to journals in his field, including Journal of Business Ethics and Business Ethics: A European Review.  He is recognized internationally for his publications concerning the application of virtue ethics to business.  Recently, he completed a chapter, “Developing a Virtuous Organizational Culture” for Springer Reference’s forthcoming Handbook of Virtue Ethics in Business and Management.
     Now retired from university faculties, he devotes his energies primarily to family, writing, reviewing academic articles, speaking, and leadership of civic organizations.  He serves on the Advisory Board of Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways History Foundation, currently working on exhibit planning and land acquisition.  In addition to the SAR, he is a member of the Society of the War of 1812, Sons of the Revolution (formerly State Secretary in NC), Sons of Confederate Veterans, and Norfolk County Historical Society.  He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.  His most recent books are Leadership Ethics and Spirituality and A Southern Pioneer Woman, and he has recently published articles about American history, including “The Amazing Complete Victory at the Great Bridge” (SAR Magazine. Fall 2011, pp. 18-23).  He published the latter to promote wider recognition of this too-often forgotten battle that was so strategically important during the American Revolution.              
     A member of the Sons of the American Revolution since 1997 (NSSAR # 150631) and of VASSAR since 2007 (VASSAR # 7351), by the right of bloodline descent from Captain Elisha Meredith, commander of an infantry company of Virginia troops from Hanover County at the Siege of Yorktown, 1781. 
     President, Jacksonville Chapter FLSSAR, 2001-2002; 1st Vice President, 2000-2001 (Program Chair) 2nd Vice President, 1998-2000 (ROTC/JROTC Chair).
     President, Blue Ridge Chapter NCSSAR, 2005-2006; Registrar 2004-2005.
     President, Norfolk Chapter VASSAR 2013-2015; Vice President, 2011-2013; Chaplain, 2012-2013; Immediate Past President, Norfolk VASSAR, 2015-2016; Newsletter Editor, 2009-2015; Great Bridge Observance Committee, 2011-2016 (Chair, 2013-2015); Knight Essay Contest, Chair 2011-2016.,
     VASSAR Battle of Great Bridge Observance Committee 2011-2015, Chair 2013-2015; VASSAR Virginia History Day Committee, Chair 2015; Virginia Delegate to NSSAR Congresses (2014 & 2015); 2020 Congress Planning Committee (2015-2016); nominated for 3rd Vice President (2016). 
     SAR Awards: Florida Society Chapter (Jacksonville) Meritorious Service medal; Virginia Society Chapter (Norfolk) Service medal; Virginia Society State Service medal; National Society Meritorious Service medal; Bronze Roger Sherman Medal,Certificates of Appreciation; President General's Aide-de-Camp Gold Pin, 3 Former Chapter President's pins & certificates. 
     Norfolk Chapter SAR annually received the VASSAR Chapter Excellence Award, 2013-2015. Enhanced controls were implemented regarding chapter finances, new constitution and by-laws were instituted, and renewed emphasis was placed on historic commemorations.

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     Dr. Christopher N. Sheap (Kirk) is a Virginian, born in Richmond in 1945 and attended High School in Williamsburg (James Blair).  Kirk has an undergraduate degree in History from the University of Virginia.  His Medical Degree is from the Medical College of Virginia (Class of 1971, that of "Patch Adams") and his Internship was there as well.  Kirk's Residency in Dermatology was at UVA which was followed by two years in the U.S. Army stationed in Mannheim, Germany at the 546th General Dispensary.  In 1977 Kirk began a solo practice in Dermatology in Harrisonburg, VA from which he retired in mid-June 2015.  Kirk and his wife, Norma were married at Fort Belvoir in 1969.  They have five children (four girls and a boy) and six grandchildren (three girls and three boys).  Two of their daughters are members of the DAR and their son is a Compatriot of the Fort Harrison Chapter.  Of their grandchildren, two are members of the CAR in Virginia Beach.   Kirk has been a Compatriot of the SAR and the Fort Harrison Chapter since February 1994.  In that Chapter he has served as President and Chaplain and is now President-elect.  In VASSAR, I has served as Chairman of the Flag Committee since 2004 and is also a Trustee of the Knight-Patty Fund.

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