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ADR Board
All District Reads Mission Statement:
To partner with public school districts and communities to foster family literacy.
All District Reads Board of Directors
From left to right: Cecilia and Jon Joaquin, Jake Maines, Bert Schmidt, Trey Campbell, Annette Wilson, Gary Anderson, Debra Aleck, Jay Sarcone, Clenise Platt.
Jay Sarcone
President
Jay is a consultant with EY-Parthenon focused on the strategy and execution of mergers and acquisitions. Prior to his time with EY-Parthenon, he served more than 11 years in the Navy’s construction community in both enlisted and officer roles. He graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Jay also serves on the Grantmaking Committee of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation’s Community Leadership Partners.
Jay is a native of Norfolk, VA, where he currently resides with his wife, two daughters, and dog. He enjoys tennis, golf, current events, and reading about history.
Trey Campbell
Vice President
Trey Campbell is the Special Executive Assistant to Louis S. Haddad, President and CEO of Armada Hoffler Properties, Holdings, and Construction Company. Before joining the Armada family, she was a 10-year employee of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools System, where she trained and managed office teams when she wasn’t assisting in Curriculum and Development for Gifted and Differentiated Learners at the District’s Central Office. Trey has taken multiple TESOL courses that focus on early reading initiatives and cultural factors that affect literacy. Trey is Armada Hoffler’s liaison to the Board of Directors.
Annette Wilson
Treasurer
Annette V. Wilson is an award-winning professional banker with over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. She is currently a Vice President and Retail Sales Manager with Townebank. Annette has served on the executive board of Tidewater Youth Services Commission, Dress For Success Hampton Roads & and the City of Chesapeake housing board.
She is also the founder and managing director of Craigwil Ministries. Craigwil offers ecclesiastical services, motivational presentations, customer service, leadership, and financial literacy training to low to moderate-income individuals.
Gary Anderson
Executive Director
Gary Anderson is the Founder and Executive Director of All District Reads, an organization focused on Lighting Literacy Fires in the home. This is the third nonprofit Gary has organized involving Read Aloud programs. All District Reads is Gary’s first nonprofit that has focused on system-wide execution and community engagement. Gary has discovered over the last 30+ years the positive and lasting impact that Read Aloud programs have on children and their families.
Gary is married to his college sweetheart, Debbie. They use up any free time they have enjoying their 13 grandchildren.
Rebecca Little
Director
Rebecca Little joined the Navy in 2014 has been proudly serving since. She has always had a fascination for reading. While growing up in Indiana she didn’t realize how hard she worked each night attempting to get through her class schedule of reading and writing. Eventually she was diagnosed with a learning disability, dyslexia and struggled with reading comprehension over the years. Her time in the US Navy has led her around the world and across the country, currently landing her in Hampton Roads. While stationed here she reached out to volunteer and found ADR, passionate about spreading the love of reading. She hopes to utilize her knowledge and skills to strengthen the community one book at a time. She attends University of Maryland Global Campus and plans on completing a bachelor’s degree in general studies. Dual military mom of three juggles the demands asked of her, as she hopes to enlighten young minds!
Jon Joaquin
Director
Jon Joaquin comes from a background of 20 years in semiconductor manufacturing
He credits his success to having read the encyclopedia A-Z during summers from grade 3 to 7. Books, magazines, even daily comics when read out loud add to the word database of an individual. He firmly believes that the All District Reads concept accomplishes this as well as provides families time to bond and enjoy reading together. Jon is married and has three grown children.
Dr. Debra Aleck
Director
Dr. Debra J. Aleck is a retired certified foot surgeon and diplomate of the American Board of Podiatric Surgery as well as a lifetime member of the Virginia Podiatric Medical Society and American Podiatric Medical Association. In 1990, she graduated cum laude from the Dr. William M. School of Podiatric Medicine in Chicago. Dr. Aleck completed a residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas as well as Francis Scott Key Medical Center, a Johns Hopkins institution in Baltimore Maryland. At Virginia Tech, Debra majored in Biology, while studying nuclear engineering. Debra grew up in Virginia Beach and lettered in basketball and tennis while attending Kempsville High School. She participated in a research program for gifted high school students through Eastern Virginia Medical School.
She started at age 11 working for her father at Earle’s Market where she went from “cutting chickens to cutting feet” after having her feet reconstructed. She was a foreign exchange student and attended Trier University in Germany and was fluent in German and French. Dr. Aleck has been a third generation Rotarian since 2001. She was president of the Rotary Club of Churchland 2021 through 2022. She is also part of the 10 For 10 with United Way of South Hampton Roads. Her special interests are the arts, boating, opera, kayaking, traveling, and of course her dogs.
Bert Schmidt
Director
Bert Schmidt is the President and CEO of WHRO and has been a leader in public media for over 28 years. Bert has passionately sought ways to support local communities through programming and educational services in his fifteen years at WHRO. Bert has been instrumental in the development and distribution of numerous virtual learning solutions for educators including the production of online courses used in high schools throughout Virginia; eMediaVA, a web-based library of multi-media learning objects available to every student in the Virginia; and SkillsOnline, an online career development and workforce readiness education initiative for adults.
Bert serves on numerous community boards including the Virginia Aquarium, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and the Norfolk Public Library Board. He previously served as the chair of America’s Public Television Stations (APTS), and as the chair of the Public Broadcast Management Association (now known as PMBA). Bert was the president and general manager of WVPT in Harrisonburg, Virginia, from 2002 to 2007 and the CFO and executive vice president of WCNY in Syracuse, New York, from 1991 to 2002. Bert is the father of two adult children: daughter Jillian and son Bertel and is married to Missy Schmidt.
Clenise Platt
Director
Clenise Platt is a native of Virginia Beach. She manages the talent development and training department for the 300 plus staff members of the Virginia Beach Public Library. Clenise is an author, speaker, and educator. She is also the CEO of The Plattinum Group, a collective of brands designed to help and inspire people and organizations to maximize their influence and to fully engage in the life experience. Clenise is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and Old Dominion University. She received an ATD Foundation of Management Excellence certificate from the Yale School of Management. Clenise has appeared on multiple television and radio shows and spoken around the country and internationally to a variety of audiences about personal, professional, spiritual, financial, community, and youth development.
She belongs to several professional organizations and has received numerous awards and honors for her community service and professional accomplishments. She was selected to serve as the District Governor during 2019-2020 for Rotary District 7600 which consisted of 62 clubs and over 2,500 Rotarians in Southeastern Virginia. She was one of six District Governors in the world featured in the May 2020 issue of The Rotarian magazine’s cover story, Up and Comers: Never Too Young to Lead.
Clenise is also the President and founder of the nonprofit organization, The Keep Your Chin Up Organization, Incorporated which raises scholarship dollars for students. She is the host of the Plattinum Passport Podcast.
