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County Official and National Graduate Concludes Distinguished Career

John Chambliss (pictured), a distinguished National College graduate and one of Roanoke County's longest-tenured administrators, is retiring this month after 36 years of service. John originally attended National from 1970 through 1973 and earned his an associate degree in accounting. He later returned to National and earned a bachelor’s degree in business management in 1992.

Perhaps more important than his degrees, John met his future wife, Judy, when the two of them were enrolled together in a penmanship course which was the very first class he ever attended at National.

After National, John went to work for Roanoke County in 1973 in the finance department. He rose to lead that department and became assistant county manager in 1986. He has been the Roanoke County liaison on several regional efforts -- most recently, the Western Virginia Regional Jail. He pondered his desire to be the county's permanent county administrator, but decided to retire from municipal government to take on another major task -- becoming Grand Master of Masons in Virginia for 2011.

"I look back and I cherish the training that National provided"

John was inducted into the National College Alumni Hall of Fame in 2000, and has served on the Roanoke Valley Campus Advisory Board since 2001. Speaking about his education at National College, John said: “Reflecting back on my [bachelor’s] program, it was an appropriate time in my career for me to attend those types of classes in management and get a more-well rounded background. The most amazing part was that a number of students in the program were ones I had originally attended college with in the associate program. Not only did we learn from our textbooks, but we also learned from sharing the real-world experiences that our employers had passed along to all of us. Those classes had remarkable dynamics, and that made them really interesting. We knew we were succeeding together.”

John said, “In my current position, I see and interview so many people who are involved in texting and emailing but who are not skilled in formal writing or writing letters. I look back and I cherish the training that National provided as far as writing and correspondence skills, and those skills have continued to serve me well to this very day.”