Cynthia Neff

Cynthia Neff (born September 10, 1951, in Seattle, Washington) is a businesswoman and former Vice President of Human Resources for IBM. After retiring, she moved to Albemarle County, Virginia where she has been active in many local organizations. She is a Democrat. On June 14th, 2011, she announced her candidacy to challenge incumbent Ken Boyd for the Rivanna seat on the Albemarle County Board of Visitors.
Biography
Born into a military family, Neff attended public schools in Oklahoma, including Lawton High School, graduating from high school in 1968. After finishing college, she opened a small business with a friend and became active in a number of local merchant and business associations. She was hired by IBM in 1981 and was employed there for the next 25 years. In that time, she worked in a number of managerial and executive capacities for the company, retiring as Vice President of Human Resources in 2006 to Albermarle County. She has been active in many community organizations. She currently serves as the chair of the AIDS/HIV Services Group Board of Directors, and sits on the Advisory Board of the Legal Aid Justice Center. Cynthia also serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, working with abused and endangered children.
2009 House of Delegates candidacy
Citing concerns over repeated failures of the General Assembly to address community concerns such as education, transportation, and the economy, Cynthia announced her intention to run for the House of Delegates in Virginia's 58th district in March 2009 against incumbent Republican Robert B. Bell. During her campaign, she made her extensive business experience a central focus of her candidacy.
She received the Democratic nomination following a primary held on May 11, 2009. In the second quarter reporting cycle in 2009, she raised over $90,000, becoming the first challenger to out raise Bell since he was elected in 2002. Her campaign made education, transportation and economic revitalization the central issues of her candidacy. She spent August 2009 on a listening tour of the district in all the counties to give voters an opportunity to meet her. She lost the hard fought race in the gerrymandered district to Bell in part of the 2009 Virginia Republican wave.
2011 Board of Supervisors candidacy
Cynthia Neff announced her challenge to incumbent republican Ken Boyd for the Rivanna seat on the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in front of the County Office Building on June 14th, 2011. She is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. At her announcement, she stated that a motivating force behind her decision to announce was the Board's decision past midnight to revive the unpopular Western Bypass project. She told NBC 29 that she was "appalled that we were making decisions at the middle of the night." She went on to say that she opposed "changing major things like transportation strategies that don't meet our current needs based on a late minute phone call with bad information."<ref name=nbc29announce /> Neff went on to state that "someone needs to stand up for the citizens and listen to them."<ref name=hookannouncement />

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