August A. Busch III is chairman of the board of Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc., a $17.2 billion St. Louis-based, global corporation that includes America’s largest brewing organization, one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of aluminum beverage containers and one of the largest theme park operations in the country. Better known to adults around the world by such icons as Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and the Clydesdales, the 152 year-old company has built a legacy of quality and leadership in everything it does.

Busch began his career at Anheuser-Busch in 1957. He built his knowledge of the beer business by working in virtually every department throughout the brewery before succeeding his father as its president in 1974 and CEO in 1975.

The company’s strong performance since that time has been attributed to Busch’s expertise in brewing, his marketing instincts, decisive leadership style and the strong management team he put in place.

Busch is credited with bringing modern, disciplined business strategies to the beer industry and is known as a fearless competitor. He is perhaps most closely identified with a relentless dedication to quality. Every day, he tastes the beer his breweries produce in the United States and around the world to personally assure their consistency and quality. This focus on quality does not end with the product – it is how the company maintains its facilities, its relationships and its business standards. His long-held belief in quality as a core business strategy continues to drive Anheuser-Busch’s business today.

Busch’s leadership also extends the company’s legacy of being a good neighbor through support for environmental conservation, educational opportunities for youth and disaster relief throughout the world. Busch is credited with starting the company’s alcohol awareness and education campaign, establishing Anheuser-Busch as the industry leader in the fight against the abuse of alcohol, including underage drinking and drunk driving.

Busch was named one of America’s “Most Admired CEOs” by Industry Week, and one of the nation’s top CEOs by BusinessWeek. He was featured in a 1995 Forbes magazine cover story, which called Busch “as fiercely competitive a chief executive as you will find in U.S. industry.”

In 2004, Anheuser-Busch ranked first among nearly 600 companies in quality of products and services and ranked No. 1 overall in the beverage industry in FORTUNE magazine’s “America’s Most Admired Companies,” a survey of 10,000 business leaders and analysts. In 2005, Anheuser-Busch was again named the most admired company in the American beverage industry in FORTUNE’s annual survey. It ranked No. 28 worldwide on FORTUNE’s 2005 “Global Most Admired Companies” list. No other alcohol beverage company made the list.

Busch has received numerous awards for his corporate citizenship from various groups, including the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility (HACR); the National Urban League; the Boy Scouts of America; the USO; the Jackie Robinson Foundation; the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund; the Muscular Dystrophy Association; the United States Olympic Committee; and the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Busch also is a Junior Achievement 2005 Global Business Hall of Fame Laureate.

Busch was educated at the University of Arizona and, as a brewmaster, at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. Busch and his wife, Ginny, reside in St. Louis, Missouri. He has four children.

America’s Largest Brewer

America’s largest brewer and the U.S. industry leader since 1957, Anheuser-Busch brews more than 30 beer brands and non-alcohol brews at 12 breweries in the
United States. It imports several other beers, distributing more than 40 brands domestically. Anheuser-Busch holds a commanding 50 percent market share, and its flagship Budweiser family of brands accounts for more than 30 percent of all beer sold in the United States.

Under Busch’s leadership, company net income has increased from $85 million in 1975 to $2.2 billion in 2004. During that time, company beer sales have grown 193 percent, compared to industry wide domestic growth of only 37 percent. Anheuser-Busch’s corresponding share of the U.S. beer market has more than doubled, from 23 percent in 1975 to 50 percent in 2004 – more than two and one-half times that of its nearest competitor.

International

Busch has led Anheuser-Busch to become one of the world’s leading brewers with a worldwide market share of 11 percent. It has the largest operating profit of any brewer in the world.

In China, Anheuser Busch owns 27 percent of Tsingtao, China’s largest brewer, and has acquired the Harbin Brewery, the largest brewer in China’s northeast region. Anheuser-Busch owns 50 percent of Grupo Modelo, Mexico’s largest brewer. Budweiser is brewed locally in nine markets outside the United States and is sold in countries around the world.

Packaging

Busch has guided the growth of the company’s Packaging Group division from its beginnings in 1973. It is the leading can and lid supplier to Anheuser Busch’s brewing subsidiary and is a leading supplier to the soft-drink industry.

Anheuser Busch Recycling Corp., launched in 1978, has become the world’s largest recycler of used aluminum beverage containers, recycling more than 125 percent of the aluminum cans placed in the market worldwide.

Theme Park Entertainment

The Busch Entertainment subsidiary’s nine adventure parks, including two Busch Gardens and three SeaWorld adventure parks and Discovery Cove, places
Anheuser-Busch among the top companies in the U.S. theme park industry. These award-winning family entertainment parks host approximately 20 million guests each year.

Alcohol Awareness and Education

Under Busch’s direction, Anheuser-Busch and its 600 wholesalers nationwide have invested more than $500 million in promoting responsibility and fighting abuse, the largest and most extensive effort of any in the alcohol beverage industry.

Corporate Citizenship

Busch has played a major role in the company’s philanthropic activities, furthering Anheuser Busch’s longstanding commitment to the communities in which it does business.

Environment: An avid outdoorsman and protector of the environment, Busch has made the company a leader in resource management, energy efficiency, environmental technology and, through the Anheuser Busch Adventure Parks, wildlife preservation and habitat protection. In 2003, Anheuser-Busch launched the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund. The fund is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation created to expand the company’s substantial support for wildlife conservation, research, education and animal rescue.

Education: Busch has also focused the company’s charitable efforts on creating educational opportunities for youth. Since 1979, Anheuser-Busch has helped raise more than $160 million for education in the African-American community, including $2 million in college financial aid through the Budweiser Urban Scholarship Foundation. The company is the largest corporate sponsor of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and supports several Asian Pacific American groups.

Disaster Relief: Busch has led the company and its charitable foundation to contribute more than $12.8 million since 1989 to help relief efforts related to disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes and flooding. The company has donated more than 46 million cans of fresh water to communities suffering from such disasters.

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AUGUST A. BUSCH III

BIRTH DATE: June 16, 1937

EDUCATION: University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Siebel Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois
Brewmaster

EMPLOYMENT: 1957 – Present:
Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc.
St. Louis, Missouri
Title: Chairman of the Board

DIRECTORSHIPS: Emerson Electric Company
SBC Communications, Inc.
Grupo Modelo, S.A. de C.V. – Advisory Member

COMMUNITY United Way of Greater St. Louis
AFFILIATIONS:
Vice President and Member of the Executive Board,
Boy Scouts of America, St. Louis Council

Civic Progress, Inc.
St. Louis, Missouri

Member of the Executive Committee, St. Louis
Variety Board of Directors

EDUCATIONAL Director Emeritus, College of William and Mary,
AFFILIATIONS: School of Business Administration

Brett A. Vassey
President and CEO
Virginia Manufacturers Association
www.vamanufacturers.com

The Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA) is the only statewide association that is exclusively dedicated to the shared vision of manufacturers and their allies. The VMA’s vision is to develop constructive policies and activities on behalf of industry by serving as an advocate for legislative, regulatory, taxation, environmental, workplace, business law, insurance, and technology issues, and as an aggregator of business services. The VMA also serves as its Members' primary resource for consultative services and programs which they require to remain highly competitive, technology-intensive and efficient organizations. Brett Vassey is the sixth President & CEO of the VMA, with a membership that employs over 119,000 Virginians in 19 different industries, which has been in continuous operation since 1922.

The VMA supports nine member committees, an affiliate organization - VMA Outreach, a political action committee (VMAPAC), a magazine, three industry web portals, a statewide industry conference and seminar series, and over 15 different programs and services including the Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence in Manufacturing, Virginia Manufacturing Appreciation Week, the Virginia Shingo Prize and the Virginia Industrial Strength Leadership Award.

Mr. Vassey serves on numerous Federal, State and Local Boards and Councils: the National Association of Manufacturers’ National Industrial Council, the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing’s Leadership Council, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Virginia District Export Council, the Virginia Workforce Council, the Virginia Manufacturing Advisory Council, the Virginia Electronic Commerce Technology Center Board and the Virginia Public Access Project Board. He has also served on the U.S. Senate Productivity and Quality Award Board, Greater Richmond Chamber’s Workforce One Leadership Council, the Manufacturing Education Consortium, the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission’s Grant Panel, the Southside Community College’s Heavy Equipment School Advisory Board, as Chairman of Business Retention and Expansion International’s (BREI) Marketing and Membership Committee, as a founding member of the VA Forest-Based Economic Development Council and as a member of the Virginia Economic Developers Association’s Education Committee. Vassey is a member of the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Council for Advanced Manufacturing, the Conference of State Manufacturers Associations and the Virginia Economic Developers Association. Mr. Vassey was recently selected for the National Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals – 2006-2007 edition.

Prior to the VMA, Vassey was the Business Services Manager for the Virginia Department of Business Assistance (DBA), the Commonwealth’s agency dedicated to existing business development. DBA provided workforce development resources, financing, small business counseling and manufacturing consulting services to more than 6,000 businesses a year. DBA also manages the Governor’s Business Appreciation Week events, the Virginia Economic Development Seminars, the Small Business Incubator Program, the Women’s Business Enterprise Program and the Community Partnerships Program. Mr. Vassey also spent several years with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, managing their International Information Center that provided international commerce consulting services to over 1,000 businesses and development organizations annually. He has also worked in local economic development, consulting and College administration in Kansas and Missouri.

Mr. Vassey has a Master of Public Administration from Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy, rated one of the top ten programs in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. His area of study and expertise is management and public authorities in economic development. He graduated in the top 10% of his class and is a member of the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration - Pi Alpha Alpha. Vassey received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Kansas. Vassey is a Certified Master Consultant and a Certified Business Retention and Expansion Report Writer from BREI and the University of Minnesota’s International Center for Business Retention and Expansion. He is a member of the Founders’ Cohort for the Workforce Development Academy at UVa.

Vassey is married and his wife is an executive with a legal publisher. They have one son and live in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

Dr. Charles A. Taylor
President
Thomas Nelson Community College
Hampton, Virginia (with campuses in Hampton and Williamsburg)

Dr. Charles A. Taylor is the president of Thomas Nelson Community College. He assumed his post on July 1, 2004. He holds a doctorate in Educational Administration and Supervision from Loyola University of Chicago, a master’s degree in Education from The Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

Prior to taking the position of president, he was the senior vice chancellor for administration and finance/chief operating officer at Peralta Community College District in Oakland, California. Dr. Taylor was with the Peralta Community College District in Oakland for two years, and prior to that he served as vice president for student affairs at Kellogg Community College in Michigan. He was president of St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, and chancellor and chief executive officer for the Community Colleges of Spokane, Washington. He also has held administrative appointments in Illinois and Maryland.

In addition to his extensive administrative experience, Dr. Taylor taught in the Department of Counseling, Psychology and Higher Education at Loyola University of Chicago, and he was an assistant professor in Education at Chicago State University.

Dr. Taylor has been involved in various community and civic organizations, such as the chamber of commerce, economic development councils, workforce development organizations, Rotary and foundations as well as serving on a number of national boards. Since becoming President at TNCC Dr. Taylor has continued his community involvement as a member of a number of boards such as Hampton Roads Partnership, Virginia Tidewater Consortium and Greater Peninsula NOW, just to name a few. Dr. Taylor has a number of publications and national awards.

Dr. Taylor is married to Dr. Scheherazade Taylor, who has a doctorate in Health Systems and Nursing Administration from the University of Michigan and they have four children.

Thomas Nelson Community College has campuses in Hampton and in the greater Williamsburg area. The college served over 12,200 students in credit courses during the 2004-05 academic year. Thomas Nelson is the fourth largest community college in the Virginia Community College System in terms of full-time-equivalent enrollment. In addition, the college has a nationally recognized workforce development program, with more than 25,000 class enrollments in workforce training, professional development and continuing education noncredit programs.





Preston Wilhelm is currently Director of Virginia’s Jobs Investment Program at the Virginia Department of Business Assistance. During his tenure as director, he has assisted over 5,000 firms to create more than 240,000 jobs in Virginia. Preston has served as President of the National Association of Industry-Specific Training Directors and participated in various initiatives in the Commonwealth including working with the Virginia Community College System and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. He has also managed the Virginia Department of Economic Development’s domestic marketing program and the Commonwealth’s customized recruiting and training incentive program for new and expanding businesses. Preston was recently presented the 2005 Cardinal Award by the Virginia Economic Developers Association for his leadership in the field of economic development and his professional accomplishments. His background also includes experience as an industrial engineer with E.I. DuPont and a line manger responsible for the manufacturing of Tyvek and other chemical fiber products. Preston is a seasoned management consultant to both government and businesses, creating and implementing organizational development and human resource programs. Preston holds a master’s of business administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is married and has two children and two grandchildren.




Carthan F. Currin, III
President
Woods Rogers Strategic Solutions

Before the position with WRSS, Carthan Currin served the Warner Administration as the Executive Director of the Virginia Tobacco Commission, charged with the economic revitalization of 34 Virginia tobacco-dependent counties. Prior to that service, Mr. Currin served as the Executive Director of the Governor’s Employment and Training Department which held the responsibility for statewide administration of the Job Training Partnership Act Programs and Services. Carthan is a graduate of Ferrum College and has numerous professional affiliations in Virginia.