SANDSTON, Va. –
Lt. Col. Elena Scarbrough, commander of the Virginia National Guard’s Camp Pendleton Collective Training Center, was one of 15 Hampton Roads-area leaders honored at the 2015 Women in Business Achievement Awards Dec. 14, 2015, in Norfolk, Virginia.
“It was a tremendous honor to be recognized as both a woman and a military service member,” Scarbrough said. “People don’t typically think of us (military) as a business, but we are. I am especially proud to have the Virginia National Guard recognized for our business practices.”
For 13 years, Inside Business has honored women in business in Hampton Roads who have made a significant impact on the community, within their industry and by helping lift up other women on the road to success.
Scarbrough, who was the only military member honored with the award, was nominated for the recognition by Lt. Col. Preston Scott, commander of the Fort Pickett Maneuver Training Center.
“Her military accomplishments are notable and plentiful but it’s her interface with the community that deserves the highlight of this nomination,” Scott said in his nomination letter. “She has excelled in developing community connectedness in the Virginia Beach Region. In the last two years she has established Camp Pendleton, State Military Reservation as the central hub for local Emergency Management Training and prime location for integrated state and federal response planning and preparation events.”
Scarbrough has served on the Board of Directors for the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce Virginia Beach Division for the past two and a half years. She is also on the local Emergency Planning Committee for Virginia Beach, and the Program Advisory Committee for the business program at South University.
“To say she is intertwined in the community would be an understatement and fall short of the significant rapport that has been established,” Scott wrote.