Our Next Speaker

Marlene Pierson-Jolliffe, CFE

Marlene Jolliffe is the current Vice President of Operations for the Meadow Event Park and the Executive Director and Vice President of The State Fair of Virginia. She was hired by Virginia Farm Bureau in February of 2015 to oversee the Meadow Event Park operation. Prior to this she served 25 years at the State Fair of WV as Asst. Manager and then CEO. In 2013, she was inducted into the WV Association of Fairs and Festivals Hall of Fame. She is President of the Secretariat Heritage Center, which is leading the efforts to expand the story of Secretariat at the Meadow Event Park.

Marlene chaired the Board of The International Association of Fairs and Expositions in 2013, and served as a Trustee for the IAFE Education Foundation, as well as Vice Chair of the IAFE Industry Relations Committee. At the December 2018 IAFE convention she received the organization’s highest honor and was inducted into the IAFE Hall of Fame. At present, she Chairs the Virginia Agribusiness Council and is Vice President for the board of the Virginia Association of Fairs and Events. Degrees include a Master of Science, Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Clemson University, and a Bachelor of Science, Travel Industry Management, Concord College, Athens, WV.

Since coming to the Meadow Event Park, she has lead the organization through a hurricane that caused a State Fair shut down and a sizeable revenue loss and a pandemic which forced a hard stop on all events and activities at Meadow Event Park. In 2021, the operation had the best financial year in it’s history, had a record # of events, and welcomed over 500,000 guests to the property in Caroline County.

She attends New Hanover Presbyterian church where she has served as an Elder and member of the handbell choir, is a member of the Hanover Community Band as a trumpet player, and enjoys golf, hiking and anything outdoors! Her greatest honor is being a mom, stepmom and Mimi!