Board of Directors

Dina Bennett

Dina Bennett

President

Vice President and Instructor for Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School in Catawba, Virginia.
Born in California and raised in Chicago and Roanoke, Va., Dina began her career in the corporate world, where she trained and coached sales staffs.
All of that changed in 2006 when she went to her first survival course with her now-husband, Reggie Bennett. That course sparked an appetite for new challenges and new adventures, a passion that motivates her to this day.
As vice president and instructor for Mountain Shepherd Wilderness Survival School in Catawba, Va., Dina’s greatest satisfaction comes from sharing that drive for adventure, self-confidence and empowerment with others. She has successfully combined more than 25 years of experience in corporate consulting and leadership with her love of the outdoors to establish a world-class survival curriculum that has changed the lives of people from all over. She is an adjunct professor at Hollins University teaching a course “Survival for the Modern World” and a professional public speaker. Dina is currently pursuing a Master of Arts Degree at Hollins University.
When she’s not immersed in survival training, Dina enjoys hiking, handcrafting paracord survival bracelets for charity, quilting, reading and spending time with her family: husband Reggie, her son, Mitch, and four dogs, Scout, Holly, Levi and Riley.

Theresa M. LaRocco

Theresa M. LaRocco

Career educator and Board member, Terry LaRocco, believes that experiential learning is the key to success and confidence in any educational experience. During her 36 year career in education, practical experiences provided the most intensive learning for her students. An environmental educator before it was fashionable, Terry worked with science and Mathematics colleagues to develop a recycling program and an environmental awareness program for her school system. Together recycling programs were instituted in all the schools, materials were recycled and collected, and funds were garnered from the hard work of the students to implement new initiatives. Add political action to the mix, and we have a plan to help save their corner of the world.
Dreaming is believing…so the development of the G.E.M.S. experience for girls is just the right type of educational experience to foster the development of knowledge and self-confidence needed for success in today’s world. Trained in Social Studies education, Terry lends her expertise to the program as a former subject-area supervisor and teacher-mentor for the program. Classroom experience with the middle school and secondary school student, as well as teacher coaching and mentoring, provide a strong willingness to help the young women of tomorrow to achieve.

Bettina Altizer

Bettina Altizer

Ms. Bettina C. Altizer (Partner) was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. At the ripe age of three, she decided that she wanted to be a lawyer and that desire never wavered. Bettina moved to the Roanoke Valley with her family in 1973 and graduated with high distinction from the University of Virginia in 1985 with a B.A. in American Government. Bettina graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1988. She began practicing with her father, Jack Altizer, in 1991 and they formed the Roanoke injury firm of Altizer & Altizer in Roanoke, VA. When her father retired in 2012, Bettina formed the firm of Altizer Law, P.C
Bettina is a five-time World champion and American and world record holder in powerlifting. At one time, Bettina was considered the world’s strongest drug-free power lifter, pound for pound. She brings the same winning competitive spirit to every case.

Andrea Milliron

Andrea Milliron

Andrea earned a B.S. in Residential Property Management from Virginia Tech in 1987.
As Vice President of Business & Community Development at Member One Federal Credit Union, Andrea and her team are responsible for membership growth and maintaining excellent relations with credit union partner companies. She is also leads the community development efforts at Member One. The credit union strives to be an excellent community citizen by partnering with organizations who support the youth, arts, culture and education, sustainability and health and human services.
Andrea also does her part by volunteering in the community. She is a Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Roanoke-Downtown and an area assistant governor serving as a district resource to the seven clubs in the Roanoke market and incoming vice-chair of the training committee for district 7570 clubs. Andrea is a board member of Family Service of Roanoke Valley and serves as the current chair of the development committee and is on the steering committee of the Leadership Roanoke Valley Alumni Association and serves as membership chair of that organization.

Emily Wood

Emily Wood

Treasurer

Regional Controller Virginia Community Newspapers – Berkshire Hathaway
Emily has dedicated her career to finance upon graduating from Radford University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. She held the position of Finance Controller with Clear Channel Communications, Team Leader – Transactional Accounting at GE Financial Assurance and Controller with Media General prior to her position with BH Media.
When not crunching numbers, Emily can be found fund raising money for Autism Awareness and participating in Relay for Life events.

Helen Burnett

Helen Burnett

Helen Burnett has over 35 years of sales and marketing experience in the Roanoke Valley. She spent more than 20 years at The Roanoke Times and currently serves as Sales and Marketing Director for The Glebe Retirement Community. She graduated from Thiel College with a B.A. in French and later returned to West Virginia University, where she received a B.S. in Business Administration.