Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
Agriculture is an important industry in Pocahontas County and for a lot of kids who grow up here, it becomes a career choice as they look to the future. It was the path Anne Burns-Keeler took after she graduated from Pocahontas County High School. She attended Virginia Tech, where she got a degree in animal science from the school of agriculture.
Her career, however, took sort of a different path. She was involved with agriculture, but it was on the administrative side, instead of in the field.
“My first job after college was with Farm Credit System as an agricultural officer,” she said. “They were recruiting at the ag school at Tech and wanted people with an ag background to do lending to farmers and ag producers.”
Burns-Keeler worked out of the Roanoke, Virginia, office and traveled around southern Virginia and into West Virginia, working with farmers and producers.
After a couple years with that job, she and her husband, Greg, relocated to his family farm in Rockingham County, Virginia. They started raising turkeys and then added a pure-bred cattle herd to the operation.
While Greg focused on the farm, Burns-Keeler found several different jobs to do throughout the years.
“I worked at a poultry plant for a while doing wastewater testing,” she said. “I was kind of using my science degree – testing wastewater before it was put back into the water plants. That was interesting.”
Then, she worked for an electrical contractor for a couple of years, procuring electrical material.
Next, she moved on to James Madison University, where she was doing procurement. While there, she also enrolled in the accounting master’s program and slowly earned her master’s degree while she worked.
“That was my first exposure to the university business world, but then, I got called back into the agribusiness banking world,” she said.
She worked in a commercial bank doing agribusiness lending until the bank went through a merger and went out of the agribusiness lending business.
“I didn’t really want to do other banking,” she said. “They wanted me to transition into other kinds of banking. I loved the farm part of it. The rest of it wasn’t as interesting to me.”
Since she had her accounting master’s and passed the CPA exam, Burns-Keeler wanted to focus on the financial management side of things. Luckily, she met the then president of Bridgewater College, Phil Stone, who asked her to help him run the college.
Burns-Keeler admitted she was concerned about taking the position because she didn’t know anything about running a college, but with Stone’s encouragement, she took the job.
It didn’t hurt that he had a Pocahontas County connection that made her feel at ease, as well. Stone’s sister is Laura Jean Rittenhouse, of Dunmore.
Burns-Keeler was the chief financial officer for 23 years at Bridgewater College before she decided to “retire.”
“I left the college in 2021 and did some consulting work,” she said. “I was sort of considering it a step back, early retirement kind of thing. I decided I would do some consulting, which I did for about a year and a half.”
One of those consulting roles was for the Virginia Tech Foundation. As an alum, Burns-Keeler was happy to help the foundation.
Now, she is the chief financial officer for the foundation.
“I kind of failed at retirement,” she said, laughing. “I’m learning as I talk to people my age, I think a lot of us are doing that. We’re looking for something different, not necessarily that we want to quit work. It’s time to refresh and do something different.”
The Virginia Tech Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that handles the university’s financial assets.
“The university actually does the fundraising, but when the gifts come in, we take custody of the gifts, are responsible for the banking relationships,” Burns-Keeler said. “There’s a whole division within the foundation that does investing of the endowment.”
The foundation is currently in stewardship of more than $3 billion in assets and works closely with Tech to ensure the funding is used for the betterment of the school.
“We coordinate very closely with the university on whatever they need,” Burns-Keeler said. “Some cases, we construct buildings that they might need, or we hold buildings that they use. If a donor gives a building or donates their farm, we take care of liquidating it and converting it to financial assets.”
Burns-Keeler and Greg, whom she married in 1984, now live in Staunton, Virginia. After selling their interest in the family farm, Greg became a commercial and farm real estate broker.
They have twin daughters, Jo and Maggie, who also live in the Staunton area.
Burns-Keeler said she was happy to move closer to Pocahontas County and tries to visit as much as she can.
“I certainly have enjoyed a strong foundation from my Pocahontas County roots and my education at Pocahontas County High School. I had excellent teachers and an excellent start in life.
“I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Burns-Keeler is the daughter of Fred, Jr. and Carolyn Burns, of Marlinton.
