2023 Economic Summit

For more than a decade, Ryan has honed his knowledge of Virginia’s housing market. Before stepping into his current role of Virginia REALTORS^® Chief Economist, Ryan served as the association’s Deputy Chief Economist. Prior to joining our team, he served as the President of research consulting firm LSA Planning, as an Urban Planner for the City of Alexandria, and as part of the research team at the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. Even before joining VAR full time, Ryan spent years contributing to our research, including the monthly Virginia Home Sales Report and our quarterly regional market reports. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from James Madison University and a master’s degree in urban planning from Virginia Tech.

Ann B. Wheeler was elected Chair-At-Large of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors during the 2019 General Election and assumed office on Jan. 1, 2020. Prince William County is located 25 miles south of Washington, D.C., and is the Commonwealth of Virginia’s second-most populous county with approximately 469,000 residents. 

Over the past 19 years, Chair Wheeler has actively served the people of Prince William County. She spent the last 14 years (2005-2018) as a NOVEC board member and continues to be an active member of the Hylton Performing Arts Center board. She chaired the Prince William Board of Social Services, where she gained invaluable insight into the operations of the county government and budgeting process. 

She is a graduate of Prince William County Community Leadership Institute and served a two-year term as President in 2018 of the Prince William Committee of 100, a non-partisan civic organization that provides a forum to raise awareness of county matters. Chair Wheeler has also served on various community and civic boards to include the Shelter Lakes Homeowners Association (2004-2007), the Prince William County School Northern Boundary Committee (2005-2006), the Gainesville District Budget Committee (2005-2007), Board of Social Services (2006-2011) and Stonewall Middle School Advisory Council (2010-2011). 

Prior to moving to Prince William County in 2001 with her husband, John, and two daughters, Chair Wheeler spent 15 years working and consulting in the energy industry. She graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, specializing in Finance. 

In her spare time, Chair Wheeler enjoys spending time with her family and friends, traveling, and volunteering in her community.

• Resident of Manassas Park since 1994.
• City Representative to the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA).
• Chair of the Finance Committee of the NVTA.
• Member of the Planning and Programming Committee of the NVTA
• Serves on the Upper Occoquan Service Authority (UOSA) Board of Directors since 2010.
• City Representative and Vice Chair of the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC).
• City Representative to the Transportation Planning Board (TPB) of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
• City representative to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC)

Earnie Porta has served as Mayor of the Town of Occoquan from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2014 and from July 1, 2018 to the present.  He holds a BS degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center, an MA in History from George Mason University, and a PhD in History from Georgetown University.  Dr. Porta has spent much of his professional career in the field of Finance and has been an active board member and officer of various civic organizations, including the Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition, the Occoquan Historical Society, the Prince William Public Library System Foundation, Historic Prince William, Patriots for Disabled Divers, the Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Association, the Prince William Historic Preservation Foundation, Action in the Community through Service (ACTS), and the Prince William County Historical Commission.  He is also a member of the Virginia Medical Reserve Corps, serves on the Prince William County School System Superintendant’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability, and is chair of the County-PWCS Joint Environmental Taskforce.  In November of 2010, he authored a book on Occoquan in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series.

TracyLynn is… The proud Mother of three adult children scattered across the US and abroad as her daughter is in St. Louis pursuing her PHD, her oldest son is working as an underwriter with an insurance company in Chicago and she feels incredibly blessed to be the Mother of an Army soldier stationed in Germany.

She has been a licensed Real Estate Agent for over 13 years and a Virginia resident for 22 years. Having fallen in love with the beautiful Autumn season, Northern VA will always be her home.

She has served The Town of Haymarket as Vice Mayor for the past three years and also serves as the Business Liaison for the Town. Building a town that ensures community inclusion and the feeling of “Everyone’s Home Town” is a focus as well as encouraging businesses to make Haymarket their destination. TracyLynn prides herself on approachability and open conversation with an environment of acceptance and security.

Patrick J. Small, CEcD currently serves as the Director of Economic Development for the City of Manassas. In that capacity he is responsible for all aspects of business attraction, retention, expansion and for tourism. Mr. Small was hired by the City in August, 2014; prior to that he served as the Economic Development Director for the City of Portsmouth, Virginia. His other roles in Virginia included being the Assistant County Administrator in Isle of Wight County and Director of Economic Development/CEO of the Chamber of Commerce in Lancaster County.

Mr. Small has 27 years of executive level experience designing and launching innovative programs to create sustainable economic growth on the local government level. During his career he has assisted companies with investing more than $5 billion in new capital and with creating or saving more than 8,000 jobs. He is also an accomplished real estate developer completing more than $500 million in public development projects. Patrick was born and raised in Maryland. He began his local government career in Florida and holds a BS in International Affairs from Florida State University. Patrick is also a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma and is an accredited Certified Economic and Community Development (CEcD) professional by the International Economic Development Council. He lives in the City of Manassas with his wife, Melissa.