About Us

The Roundtable of Business Leaders (RBL) is Tidewater's premier business organization committed to the betterment of our region.

"Our mission is to advance and strengthen our members and their business relationships and to offer our collective resources to improve our community."

We accomplish this mission in several ways:

1. We have meetings on the first Thursday of each month (February-November) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Bonney Road in Virginia Beach at 12:00 pm over lunch. We attract excellent speakers from the business community and political arena to inform our members on the most important issues affecting South Hampton Roads.
2. We have created a mentoring/scholarship program designed to give local rising college juniors who complete the program opportunities to understand local businesses from the inside. Each student is given a $3000 scholarship award that will help cover the costs of their education. We have selected five recipients to participate in the program for 2007.
3. Three times a year we plan to travel as a group to places of interest.  These trips create a great deal of comaraderie while learning about how business gets done.  Former trips include our General Assembly in Richmond, the Dollar Tree distribution center, the White House, Congress and Supreme Court on our trip to DC, as well as our trip to Moonrise Bay Winery on Knotts Island. 
4. We close the year with the celebration of our annual gala: Lites & Bites. We also invite the students in our mentoring program to show our support on their behalf. Finally, we celebrate our community with the most festive party in Tidewater.

Founders and Officers

The founders of the RBL are Peter Reuss (President) and Robbyn Gayer (Vice President). Their vision of creating a group of business leaders, politicians, community activists and educational leaders has been realized. With the tremendous support of Debbie Plunkett (Treasurer), they have developed an organization committed to advancing the lives and careers of its members while helping improve their community.

The RBL would also like to recognize the achievements of Tina Cappa who started this website in November 2002 as an intern student from Bryant and Stratton College working with Reuss Investment Group.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors will serve from January 2008 through January 2009.

Aaron Bull / Bull & Crowley Mediaworks
Tony Cutrino / WR Vandershoot of Virginia, Inc.
Robbyn Gayer / Scott & Stringfellow, Inc.
Dave Giesen / Doormation
Lee Handford / Attorney at Law
Vikki Holliday / Virginia Wesleyan
Al Midgett / The Nobleman
Debbie Plunkett / Reuss Investment Group of Scott & Stringfellow, Inc.
Steve Pniewski / The Artemus Group, LLC
Pete Reuss / Reuss Investment Group of Scott & Stringfellow, Inc.
Jeff Verry / Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group