Lynn B. Clements

Lynn B. Clements was appointed by the Portsmouth City Council to the College Board in 2017. She serves as Board vice chair and on the Curriculum and Student Development Committee.

Lynn was named Executive Director of the Slover Library in Downtown Norfolk in August 2017 after a 32-year career at the Virginia Aquarium where she was an experienced Department Director and CEO with a demonstrated history of working in municipal government and the aquarium and zoo profession. She is a strong business development professional, skilled in nonprofit organizational development, coaching, event management, and team building. Originally hired at the Virginia Marine Science Museum in 1985, she worked her way up the ranks, serving as the Director of Education, Marketing, Operations, Development and Deputy Director. In 2002, she was named Director of the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center and the Executive Director of the Aquarium’s non-profit foundation. She was also the Director of the City of Virginia Beach Department of Aquarium & Museums where she operated three historic house museums and an African American Museum. Previously she was a public school science educator and science department chair. Her 2009 Owls Creek Master Plan laid the groundwork for the projects funded by her successful $25 million capital campaign for the Restless Planet exhibits in 2009. As part of the Virginia Aquarium’s current $40 million capital campaign for the Darden Marine Animal Conservation Center, new Marsh exhibits and endowment, Lynn raised $12.7 million in private funds before she started at the Slover Library for projects that are slated to open in 2019-2020.

Under Lynn’s leadership, the Aquarium was recognized as the Philanthropic Organization of the Year, and she was recognized as Outstanding Business Woman of the Year, and served on the national Association of Zoos & Aquariums board, ODU’s Science Advisory Board and as a trustee for Tidewater Community College and Virginia Wesleyan University. She was one of 50 CEOs in the 2017 National Arts Strategies’ Chief Executive Program “Community & Culture” sponsored by Harvard and the University of Michigan’s schools of business and the Kresge Foundation and will receive the 2017 YWCA Women of Distinction Award in March 2018 for her work to eliminate racism and empower women.