HEATHER CRISLIP
President & CEO

Our May speaker is Heather Crislip, the President and CEO of the America's largest nonprofit speaker series – the Richmond Forum. The Forum has hosted nearly 250 national and international leaders in public affairs, arts, entertainment, science, sports, education,  health, and business as speakers since it began in 1987. Some speakers whose names you may recognize include Walter Cronkite, Barack and Michelle Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, Cal Ripken, Julie Andrews, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ron Howard, Alan Alda, Theresa May, George and Laura Bush, Steven Spielberg, Smokey Robinson, Neil Armstrong, and Oprah Winfrey.

Heather will talk about the nearly 250 speakers who have appeared in Richmond since 1987 and the 6 who will appear in 2025, but she is also going to also tell us about the group’s goal to contribute to the education of all public middle and high school students in the Richmond region by ensuring that every school in the region will have a speech and debate program by 2026. As part of that effort, the Forum has played a major role in bringing the 2026 National Speech & Debate Tournament to Richmond. The event is expected to attract 10,000 student contestants and visitors to the area.

Heather has an BA from the University of Mary Washington and a JD from the University of Connecticut. As a member of debate teams, Heather is a 3 time High School State Champion, a semifinalist at the Collegiate American Debate Association National Tournament, and the winner of more than 60 individual collegiate awards.

OUR HOST

3900 West Broad Street

Our May 21 breakfast will be in the newly decorated Firefly Hall, the cafeteria on the campus of UMFS. The UMFS campus has changed dramatically since we have been there, and we look forward to seeing and hearing about the changes. The campus is conveniently located on Broad Street, just one block off Rt. 195 

For 115 years, UMFS has been helping children and families in Virginia. It is a nonprofit agency that provides a comprehensive array of programs to meet the needs of high-risk children and parents to enable them to overcome challenging circumstances and succeed. A national leader in helping children, UMFS also proactively works to identify unmet social service needs throughout Virginia and develop appropriate partnerships to address them.