Many Faces, Many Voices @ your library ^®

Outstanding Graduates @ your library^®

Bill Colgate | Lucious Edwards, Jr. | Kevin Goodwyn | Timanto Marima | Sam Parham | Dr. A. Wright Pond, Sr.

Bill Colgate
General Manager, Brown's Dealership in Richmond

Bill Colgate attended Richard Bland College, where he played basketball and then transferred to Virginia State University. Colgate served in the Army in the late 1980's before getting into the car business. He was driving home one night and stopped in a Dick Strauss Ford, talked to the staff, and ended up working as a salesman. He jumped to the Haley dealership and then landed with Brown's in 1995 as finance manager. He's filled multiple positions with the dealership and has held his current role as General Manager since 2000. His days are fast-paced and full of different duties.

As general manager, Colgate oversees the three Brown's dealerships along the Midlothian Turnpike: Volkswagen, Jaguar, and Suzuki. He grew up in Richmond and has a family of his own, which includes three daughters who are always helping out around the dealership.

See the complete article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch (Richmond Drives, Primed to Perform", May 18, 2012.)

Lucious Edwards, Jr.
Archivist, Lindsay-Montague Hall Archives, VSU

As University Archivist, Edwards preserves historical materials, such as the Oliver Hill papers, Archie Richardson materials, Colson-Hill papers, and the papers of Amaza Meredith. He is also responsible for the preservation of university records and other three-dimensional items. After graduating form Richard Bland College, he attended Virginia State University where he received his BA in History in 1975 and MA in 1977.

A resident of Chesterfield, Lucious is married and has two adult daughters. He enjoys regional history and has spent over 30 years preserving history and enjoys sharing his knowledge of local history, Petersburg, and Southside Virginia with others.

Kevin Goodwyn
Database Administrator, Chesterfield County Schools

Goodwyn graduated from Richard Bland College in 1983 and majored in Business Information Systems at VCU. He later received his MBA from Hampton University, and he has worked for several Fortune 500 Corporations that have allowed him to travel the world.

Kevin writes: "Thanks to RBC and to all my instuctors and supportive administrators who kept me focused and helped me understand the importance of education."

Timanto Marima
VP of Cash-Sales Consulting, Citigroup

Timanto Marima is originally from Kenya, and she graduated from Richard Bland College in 1997. She then received a scholarship to transfer to the Jepson School of Leadership Studies at the University of Richmond. She entered Georgetown's foreign service graduate program, and received her Master's in 2001. She currently works for Citigroup, offering investment advice to multinational corporations with minimum revenues of $1 billion and a geographic presence on at least 3 continents. This career is a dream come true for her!

Sam Parham
Director, Colonial Cleaning Service Inc.

Sam Parham was born and raised in Petersburg and graduated from Richard Bland College with an Assoc. of Science Degree in 1996. He graduated in 1999 from VCU with a BS in Business Management and Entrepreneurship.

At Richard Bland, he was a member of the RBC players and traveled with the play, "Love's true lies" to VCU and the University of Texas El Paso to participate in the Spanish Theater Festival. He was a founding member of the Multicultural Alliance, whose purpose was to get all students involved in activities to better the college.

As the director of Colonial Cleaning Service Inc., he specializes in residential and commercial carpet and upholstery cleaning, vacuum sales, repair, and parts, commercial cleaning, and supplies.

Sam feels his greatest RBC accomplishment, as President of the Petersburg Breakfast Rotary Club, was re-chartering the RBC Rotaract Club with President Bill Poarch of the Petersburg Lunch Club.

Dr. A. Wright Pond, Sr.
Owner and Orthodontist, Southside Orthodontics

After graduating from Richard Bland College, Dr. Pond transferred to William & Mary and then went on to the MCV School of Dentistry, graduating from VCU in 1970. He practiced general dentistry in Petersburg in 1970-71 and then returned to the Department of Orthodontics at MCV/VCU, graduating in 1973.

Dr. Pond believes strongly in community participation and fulfillment of civic duties. He has been president and board member of many organizations and the recipient of numerous honors. He has been honored to be elected as a Fellow of the Virginia Dental Association, Fellow of the American College of Dentists, and Fellow of the International College of Dentists. He has also been honored by the United States Jaycees, receiving the Outstanding Young Man of the Year Award, and is listed in Outstanding Young Men of America.

He loves his profession and cannot conceive of anything else he could do in life that would be more rewarding. He feels privileged to work at Southside Orthodontics.

Dr. Pond can honestly say without reservation that if Richard Bland College had not been available to him with the encouragement from the college to go there, he would have gone into the workforce directly from high school, and his life would have been changed from what it has been and is.

See outstanding graduates honored in 2011...