Brett Vassey is the sixth President & CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association, with a membership that employs over 119,000 Virginians in 19 different industries, which has been in continuous operation since 1922. Brett Vassey was also elected President of the newly formed Virginia Industry Foundation which is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit research and education foundation formed in 2006.
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 Manufacturing Development Commission, the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium Board, the Virginia Workforce Council, the Attorney General’s Regulatory Task Force, the Virginia Manufacturing Advisory Council, the Virginia Electronic Commerce Technology Center Board and the Virginia Industry Foundation Board. He has also served on the Governor’s Workforce Development Strategic Plan Steering Committee, the Virginia Public Access Project Board, 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 Committee, as Chairman of Business Retention and Expansion International’s (BREI) Marketing and Membership Committee 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 and the Conference of State Manufacturers Associations. 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. 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 child and live in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
