Spotlight Members

Karl Bren | Heidi Abbott | Jerry McCarthy | Fred Ortiz

Karl Bren (LMR Class of 2000) is a consultant with Greenvisions Consulting, where he works to bridge the gap between environmental protection concerns and affordable, modern building techniques. He and his wife Jane have one daughter.

A self-professed tree-hugger, Karl Bren has dedicated his career to his passions of environmental protection and housing concerns throughout the region. Because of his vision, passion, and ability to get things done, Karl was the winner of LMR's 2007 Ukrop Community Vision award.

The Ukrop Community Vision award recognizes an LMR member whose talent and purpose flows from an inner spirit and strength that produces sound judgment and competent servant leadership and trusteeship. He was nominated for the Ukrop Community Vision Award by 2002 winner T.K. Somanath, '86.

Karl has had a major impact on the civic life of the Richmond region, most of it unknown by the public and all of it done as a volunteer. Karl has the ability to use his passion, vision, tenacity and skill to make long lasting changes to help solve pressing societal problems. He saw before others that solutions were possible in affordable housing, homelessness, and the environment - and the interconnectedness of seemingly diverse concerns.

He has been instrumental in the creation of homelessness initiatives including CARITAS and the Better Housing Coalition and founded the James River Green Building Council and the Virginia Housing and the Environment Network (a nonprofit focused on green building principles and practices, and sustainable design with an emphasis on affordable housing.

Heidi Abbott (LMR Class of 2003) is of counsel at Hunton & Williams LLP, where her practice focuses on state government affairs, compliance and lobbying. Abbott, who represents the Maymont Foundation on a pro-bono basis, enjoys photography and music. She and her husband Billy have two children.

Not long after the death of their friends, the Harvey family, Heidi Abbott, Carter Carpin and Kristin Hott began talking about what could be done to prevent violence throughout the Richmond region.

The result is NotWithTheseHands.org, a nonprofit organization that strives to connect members of the community who want $ndash; and need $ndash; to do something about the escalating nature of violence in Richmond.

"Our desire to do this came out our grief over the Harveys," Abbott said. "With that said, it also focused us on the fact that we weren't alone in our grief. This goes way beyond our own experience and our own grief."

Carpin, an artist and businesswoman, and Hott, a GED teacher and the designer of the organization's Web site, started sharing ideas early last summer, and Abbott joined the conversation shortly after. By the fall, the three moms had their first organized meeting with a host of other volunteers and hammered out a mission: To increase dialogue and civic engagement around issues of violence and to link people to violence prevention resources in the Greater Richmond Community.

"We really wanted to be a facilitator and a resource for everything that was out there," Abbott said. "We needed a vehicle to bring everything together in a user-friendly manner."

The Web site, NotWithTheseHands.org, does just that, in a fun, colorful and vibrant manner. It's a one-stop shop for anyone who needs to find a resource or wants to volunteer for organizations ranging from those that focus on child abuse prevention and family development to domestic violence prevention and homelessness prevention.

The "Community Resources" and the "Get InVOLved" pages are two pieces to the puzzle, Abbott noted. The third piece is the "Pledge Project" $ndash; "A chance for people to individually or collectively share and submit their vision for nonviolence in their community," Abbott said.

While some pledges already have come in, NotWithTheseHands.org will have an official public launch and call for submissions Jan. 30.

Abbott, Carpin and Hott hope this will be a positive first step toward preventing violence in Richmond in 2007 and beyond.

"First and foremost, this is totally grassroots," Abbott said. "We're three moms. We're all playing our roles and using our strengths to make this happen."

Jerry McCarthy (LMR Class of 1982) is the executive director of the Virginia Environmental Endowment, which strives to improve the quality of the environment by using its capital to encourage all sectors to work together to prevent pollution, conserve natural resources and promote environmental literacy. McCarthy enjoys playing the guitar and flute in his spare time. He and his wife Lucile have two grown children.

Jerry McCarthy says most people don't realize he was educated principally as an engineer and nuclear scientist.

As a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, his first job actually was as a nuclear program manager in the Air Force's premier weapons laboratory in Albuquerque.

"Our mission was to 'harden' U.S. warheads and missiles carrying atomic weapons, first modeling the effects of X-rays and gamma-rays on a combination of composite materials nominally designed to protect our 'birds' from counterattack in the upper atmosphere, and then actually testing the bombs underground west of Las Vegas," McCarthy recalled.

Fast forward to today, and the executive director of the Virginia Environmental Endowment is the namesake for the University of Virginia's Gerald P. McCarthy Award for Leadership in Environmental Conflict Resolution for his varied contributions to protect and promote environmental literacy in Virginia.

In addition, McCarthy was honored as a recipient of the 2006 National Kodak Awards given by the American Greenways Program of The Conservation Fund. He was honored for helping secure a commonwealth-wide network of greenways and open linked spaces and for "his thoughtful leadership" in leveraging new investments to provide a linked web of conservation systems and landscapes.

"Having a life goal helps define one's purpose and spurs one on to do all kinds of things that help achieve it," McCarthy said. "Mine, since age 26, has been to improve the quality of life by promoting interdisciplinary communication, education and social cooperation."

Fred Ortiz (LMR Class of 2006) is a partner with SMBW Architects, PC, who dabbles as an actor/model, PC. In his spare time, Ortiz enjoys drawing, working out and coaching little league baseball, basketball and football. He and his wife Cindy have four children.

Fred Ortiz was enjoying dinner with his wife and kids upon returning from an architect's convention in Chicago in 2004. A young woman approached the table, introduced herself and told Fred, "We need guys like you."

A hobby was born.
 

The woman, a local casting director, was looking for extras for Terrence Malick's The New World. Ortiz, who stands an imposing 6-3, 220 pounds, was one of 125 extras who showed up the first day of filming of everyday life of Native Americans and the capturing of Capt. John Smith. He left that day with a Mohawk, which gave him a more intimidating and authentic look as a Powhatan Warrior.

"My wife's jaw hit the floor when I walked through the front door," Ortiz remembered. At a client meeting, the client had to ask about the "new do." Ortiz's Hollywood explanation generated the following response: "Oh, we thought you were just a very progressive firm."

A little less hair, a lot more interest in acting.

"The acting bug put a good bite on me because everything was so new, exciting and I really enjoyed the process of making a film," Ortiz said. "All of the behind-the-scenes stuff one never gets to see was right before me."

That one chance restaurant encounter led to additional movie roles in War of the Worlds and Evan Almighty and on TV series Commander in Chief as well as several other print and television ads.

"There is nothing like being on set with Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg or in the same room as Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman and John Goodman," Ortiz said. "In the end, acting and modeling is an exciting creative outlet."

Yet, Ortiz isn't quitting his day job as a principal at SMBW Architects, PC.

At SMBW, he has worked on projects such as the renovations of Richmond City Hall and the Richmond Coliseum, and other design projects at the Greater Richmond Convention Center, Jackson Ward, the United Network for Organ Sharing headquarters, Luck Stone Corporation's headquarters, Main Street Station and the Turning Basin office building.

The design at City Hall won one of the three honor awards for excellence in architecture given by the Richmond chapter of the American Institute of Architecture and has been featured in national trade journals.

"My partners have been very understanding," Ortiz said of his acting/modeling hobby. "As an architect, I am able to work at any time of the day and on weekends to keep up with the project schedules."

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