On Nov. 14, Judy Collins, RN, WHNP, and Joe Teefey received well-deserved recognition for their decades of work making Central Virginia a safer, healthier place to live.

MCV Foundation Lifetime Honorary Trustees Recognized for Lifetime Achievement on National Philanthropy Day

On Nov. 14, Judy Collins, RN, WHNP, and Joe Teefey received well-deserved recognition for their decades of work making Central Virginia a safer, healthier place to live.

The couple, both of whom are MCV Foundation Lifetime Honorary Trustees, accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals Central Virginia Chapter.

Their nomination letter, submitted by the MCV Foundation and LifeSpire of Virginia, noted Judy and Joe’s history of leveraging their professional expertise in healthcare and senior services to bring people and organizations together to serve community members across the region.

“The impact Judy and Joe have had individually on this community is remarkable, but the force that these two are as a team is truly amazing,” said Margaret Ann Bollmeier, MCV Foundation president. “From directly improving healthcare delivery and healthy living options to ensuring that our educational institution is the best equipped to meet the needs of our neighbors for decades to come, these two have inspired us and improved thousands of lives.”

Judy served on the MCV Foundation Board of Trustees for 21 years. She helped create, attend and co-direct the VCU School of Nursing OB-GYN nurse practitioner program, and became founding director of the comprehensive VCU Women’s Health Center at Stony Point. Throughout her career, Judy has held positions in nursing services, administration, education and professional organizations, including appointment by the governor to the Virginia Board of Nursing and the joint boards of Nursing and Medicine.

She retired in 2000 after more than 30 years of service to the university. In honor of her retirement, family, friends, grateful patients and colleagues established the Collins-Teefey Distinguished Professorship at the School of Nursing to honor her lifelong commitment to women’s health and leadership in the school.

Joe served on the MCV Foundation Board of Trustees for nine years. Before that, he was vice president of MCV Hospitals and director of the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services. He has been instrumental in helping raise funds for the School of Nursing.

Joe joined the LifeSpire of Virginia board in 2013 and was instrumental in guiding recent expansion projects in Culpeper and Richmond. His knowledge of the healthcare field has benefitted the organization and the more than 1,300 seniors who life in its four communities across Virginia.

Together, Judy and Joe have helped lead fundraising for the VCU School of Nursing Clinical Scholars Program. In 2012, they helped mobilize alumni, foundations and individuals in the Richmond community to establish the fund supporting the program, which has helped attract clinically excellent faculty members by offering incentives for their scholarship, teaching goals and clinical practice. The fund has raised more than $550,000.

Judy and Joe also have both served CARRITAS and CrossOver Health Care Ministry, as well as their church, River Road Church, Baptist.

The pair were influential members of the MCV Foundation Board of Trustees in their 30 combined years of service. To learn about the community leaders who make up the foundation's governing body today, visit our board page.

Judy Collins and Jean Giddens, Ph.D., dean of the VCU School of Nursing.
Judy Collins and Jean Giddens, Ph.D., dean of the VCU School of Nursing. In honor of Judy's retirement in 2000, family, friends, grateful patients and colleagues established the Collins-Teefey Distinguished Professorship at the School of Nursing to honor her lifelong commitment to women’s health and leadership in the school.