Each year, the Greater Richmond Chamber sponsors an exciting trip to a comparable region in the nation to exchange ideas and best practices. The InterCity visit (ICV) has become one of our most sought after programs because it helps participants look at the Richmond region through new eyes.  The Chamber’s ICV seeks to accomplish three things:

1. Provides an exclusive experience to deepen bonds between the dynamic regional leaders who play a significant role in shaping our Capital Area Region.

2. Enhances our region’s future performance by benchmarking best practices of a peer region and measuring, contrasting and comparing our key projects and initiatives against those in the site community.

3. Embrace actions we can import. We’ll use these lessons to advance the Chamber’s key priorities.

This year the Greater Richmond Chamber will be visiting Boston. M. H. West & Co., Inc. is sponsoring “The State of Boston Public Schools” at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Chair and CEO, Marilyn H. West will be introducing the Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, Dr. Carol R. Johnson at the event.

Below is a complete list of Richmond-area civic leaders participating in the Greater Richmond Chamber’s 2012 InterCity Visit to Boston: (more…)

Go Red For Women is a national movement of the American Heart Association that has been raising awareness among women about the threat of heart disease to the lives of our friends, mothers, sisters and families. Go Red is thriving here in Richmond with the support of our generous sponsors and a passionate group of volunteers, and together we are saving lives.

As women, we often place the needs of others before our own. Now is the time to add personal well-being to our list of important ‘to-dos’. Together, we can educate ourselves, and our friends and families, about the signs and symptoms of heart disease in women, and on the small steps they can take to change their lifestyles and lower their risks of heart disease and stroke. There is great information to get you started at www.GoRedForWomen.org. You can also share your personal story on this site, get connected with other survivors, or start the BetterU 12-week program to eat better and get active.

I would like to personally invite you to make a donation to Go Red For Women, join our Circle of Red, or volunteer your time on our Passion Committee. As a supporter of this year-round campaign, you will be helping to change women’s lives throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Contributions are tax-deductible and specifi cally restricted for women’s heart disease research, advocacy and education. Find out more at www.heart.org/richmondvagoredluncheon or “Like Us” at facebook.com/RichmondAHA.

Heart disease kills one in three women, women just like you and me. Together, we CAN make a difference.

View a part of the Go Red for Women insert which is featured in this month’s Richmond Magazine.

Marilyn H. West
2012 Chair, Go Red For Women

The article below can be viewed in Richmond Free Press:

The Go Red for Women Luncheon promises to offer a spectacular sight in Richmond: A sea of women wearing red.

Their attire will accentuate a good, eye-catching purpose: To show that women, in a display of togetherness, can make a difference in improving women’s heart health.

The 2012 Go Red for Women Luncheon is a benefit to raise awareness and much-needed funds for cardiovascular research by the American Heart Association. It will be held next month at The Jefferson hotel.

Marilyn H. West, a prominent Richmond businesswoman, is this year’s Go Red volunteer chair. She enthusiastically accepts the challenge of making the heart-healthy luncheon a total success. What drives Mrs. West to be involved in this benefit?

“I am committed to promoting wellness and healthy lifestyles in women,” she says. One in three women die from heart disease.

For that reason, Mrs. West, 67, willingly is making the time to lead this event despite her already busy schedule. She is chairwoman and CEO of her own company, M.H. West & Co., Inc. a management, planning and education consulting firm she launched 21 years ago. (more…)