Ray Smoot, vice president for finance and treasurer emeritus at Virginia Tech, is retiring as founding chair of the GO Virginia Region 2 council after nearly seven years of service.

Since the GO Virginia program started, Region 2 has authorized over $8 million in projects and generated $7.8 million in external investment. To date, 40 projects have been funded by the council.

“This program provides a wonderful opportunity to advance our communities and serve the people who live in them,” Smoot said. “With groups like these, we will prevail in addressing challenges in our region. Region 2 brings together the New River Valley, the Roanoke and Alleghany regions, and the Lynchburg region for the first time to work together on economic and workforce opportunities.”

As chief executive officer of the Virginia Tech Foundation, he was responsible for management of assets and over $1.3 billion in real estate development.

Over the course of his 35 years at Virginia Tech, he played a central role in the creation of the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center, the Virginia Tech Research Center in Arlington, and the Turner Street development in Blacksburg.

Picture of Dr. William E. Amos at the Region 2 council meeting.
Dr. William E. Amos speaks at the January 27th Region 2 council meeting.

William Eddie Amos, who has served as vice-chair since 2019, will take over as chair, and Smoot will serve the rest of the term on the council as a member.

“Working with Ray and getting to know him over the past few years has been exciting and fulfilling in many ways,” Amos said. “Virginia Tech has a motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), and Ray lives that every day of his life, in everything he does. His ability for problem solving, accountability, thinking outside the box, and general leadership is second to none.”

Over the course of his career, Amos worked as a general manager of developer platform & tools for Microsoft, was vice president for the software systems division at Juniper Networks, chief technology officer and vice president of product management at Meridium, corporate officer and senior vice president of software engineering at GE Digital, and chief transformation officer at Torc Robotics.

“We’re fortunate to have a great board and executive committee working together for the advancement of our region, and I’m humbled to be a part of this team. Ray’s blueprint is an excellent foundation for building upon the programs and initiatives we have already established and new ones to come,” Amos said. “We will achieve long-term job growth by listening to our communities, identifying, and promoting industry segments that provide the greatest opportunities for the region. I’m very excited to help drive this vision forward.”