Brett Vassey is the sixth President & CEO of the VMA, representing Virginia’s estimated 6,000 manufacturing facilities employing over 230,000 Virginians. Vassey is also a founder, President & CEO of the Virginia Industry Foundation, which is a 501 (c) 3
non-profit research and education foundation, and the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild.
Vassey serves on numerous Federal, State and business Boards and Councils including the NAM State Association Group, NAM National Public Affairs Steering Committee, US Global Leadership Coalition’s Virginia Advisory Committee, the Consumer Energy Alliance Board of Directors, the Virginia Manufacturing Development Commission, the Executive Committee and Performance & Accountability Committee Chair position on the Virginia Board of Workforce Development; the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium Board; and the Governor’s Climate Change & Resiliency Commission.
In previous years, Vassey has served on the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Virginia District Export Council, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace Steering Committee; VirginiaFIRST Foundation Board, the Virginia Rural Jobs Commission, Governor Bob McDonnell’s Jobs and Economic Development Commission, the Governor McDonnell
Transition Team, the Virginia Attorney General’s Regulatory Reform Task Force, the Virginia Commission on Youth’s Career and Technical Education Subcommittee, VA Governor’s Workforce Development Strategic Plan Steering Committee, the Virginia Public Access Project Board; the Greater Richmond Chamber’s Workforce One Leadership
Council, the Chesterfield County Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, and as Chairman of Business Retention and Expansion International’s (BREI) Marketing and Membership Committee. Vassey is a member of the National Association
of Manufacturers, the Conference of State Manufacturers Associations and the American Society of Association Executives.
Vassey has been published numerous times in regional, state and national publications, including Politico. Prior to the VMA, Vassey held positions in public policy, economic development and college administration in the Commonwealth of Virginia, Kansas and Missouri. Vassey has a Master of Public Administration from Virginia Tech’s Center for Public Administration and Policy. He graduated in the top 10% of his class and is a member of the National Honor Society for Public Affairs and Administration – Pi Alpha Alpha. He was a 2005 Governor’s Fellow for Virginia Governor George Allen. Vassey has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Kansas. Mr. Vassey
was selected for the National Register’s Who’s Who in Executives and Professionals – 2006-2007 edition.
Vassey is married and his wife is an executive with a legal publisher. They have one child and live in Chesterfield County, Virginia.