Meet the Board

Laurie Brogdon

President

Brogdon is the fourth Hokie in her family and a 2004 and 2011 graduate of Virginia Tech. As a student she was a resident advisor in West AJ, president of the NAACP Collegiate Chapter, and a sportswriter for the Collegiate Times. Brogdon works in higher education. She previously worked in the Office of Alumni Relations Relations and Diversity and Inclusion at Virginia Tech. She is the creator of the Virginia Tech Influential Black Alumni Award and the Diversity Chair for regional alumni chapters. She orchestrated the award winning 2010 and 2012 Black Alumni Reunions. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Vonda Paige

Vice President

Paige was a reporter and the first black woman news editor of the Collegiate Times and became a member of Delta Sigma Theta while attending Virginia Tech. An award-winning journalist she is a former reporter for the Springfield News Leader and The Associated Press. She served as a non-profit executive director for 10 years before turning to public relations and social media management for the city of Los Angeles. She is a film producer, creator of The First Black Woman media project and the social action chair, journalist and historian for the Century City Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. 

Robin Hylton

Secretary

Robin Hylton is a 1986 graduate of Virginia Tech. As a student she was an active member of Virginia Tech Chapters of the National Society of Black Engineers, National Civil Engineering Society, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. She is a former patent examiner and currently works as a special programs examiner and assistant outreach coordinator for the Eastern Regional Outreach Office at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. 

Annette Turlington

Treasurer

Turlington is the first generation four-year degree graduate in her family. She received a  bachelor's degree in political science in 1984. She grew up on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Turlington held several operations management roles in retail banking. She now works as an executive in the not-for-profit educational assessment industry. She received a master's in public administration from the University of Delaware and has served on the board of their Black Alumni Organization. She has participated on numerous Virginia Tech Black Alumni Reunion committees. Annette is active in the First State Alumni Chapter. She has supported numerous community service and fundraising events. She also participates on the scholarship committee.

Michael Chijioke

Parliamentarian

Chijioke graduated from Virginia Tech in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in biology. As a student, he was the president of the African Student Association and the Student National Medical Association. He is partner at Preside Partners, a business development consulting firm.