Employee Profile: William Alexander
Web Development Manager - Marketing
Where did you grow up? What was it like?
I grew up in the small foothills town of Stuart, Virginia. My family owned a small grocery store, Alexander's Food Market, and I spent my childhood riding my bicycle to grocery store, or to the town swimming pool, or playing Legend of Zelda and other great video games of the mid-1980s.
What brought you to Reynolds?
I live and work remotely from Roanoke, Virginia where I've lived for over 20 years. I love the Roanoke area and plan to live in this area for the rest of my life. My parents lived in Richmond for a period of time while my father was a student at the University of Richmond.
I was a fulltime faculty member at Virginia Western Community College for 15 years, and the Web Development Manager position at Reynolds was a great opportunity for me to get back into the VCCS, in a different way.
What were you doing before coming to Reynolds?
Before coming to Reynolds I was the website manager for Sweet Briar College in Amherst, Virginia.
Tell us about what you will be doing at Reynolds?
I'm the new Web Development Manager. I'll be keeping the website in tip-top shape and working with many colleagues to keep it updated.
What got you interested in computers and information technology?
I began my career as a graphic designer, inspired initially by the journalism class I took in high school, where we designed and produced the school newspaper. I studied art in college, with a concentration in graphic design, and worked professionally as a print graphic designer for seven years before teaching design for 15 years at VWCC. Along the way, I taught myself web design and development to broaden my professional skillset. Web Development gradually overtook print design as my main professional focus. That pathway of design, development, and teaching prepared me perfectly for the job of Web Development Manager at Reynolds Community College.
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
My life outside of work is filled with time with my wife Amber, my 14 year old daughter Aidyn, and my 12 year old son Noah. We hike, camp out, kayak, throw the frisbee with our Chocolate Lab Oscar, and enjoy the kids' participation in baseball, soccer, volleyball and softball. We are also Boston Red Sox fans and enjoy Salem Red Sox games in Roanoke.
What is your favorite book, movie, or tv series, and why?
There are too many answers to this question - but for the last few months I have been binge watching Ken Burns documentaries on PBS. I owe my love of baseball to his "Baseball" documentary, which I recently watched for the third time! I also have recently finished "The War," "Hemmingway," and "Muhammad Ali." Ken Burns is documenting and telling the story of America in an incredibly deep and powerful way, and all of his films weave together to reflect back to us what it means to be an American. They truly are some of the best storytelling ever made.
If you won $100 million in the Virginia Lottery what would you do with the money?
1) Pay most of it in taxes to support great public services that we all benefit from, like community colleges! 2) Pay off every piece of debt I could find for anyone remotely close to me. 3) Buy a very specific piece of property in Patrick County, Virginia - 80 acres with a cabin and a pond. 4) Build a small neighborhood market and deli in my Roanoke neighborhood for my family to operate. 5) Buy a 1967 convertible Chevy Camaro! 6) Retire in comfort.
