The Fort Monroe Authority enters October under new leadership for the first time in its history.
Glenn Oder, the historic Hampton monument’s first chief executive officer, is calling it a career. John Hutcheson, another longtime leader with Fort Monroe, will step in on an interim basis as the board of trustees completes its national search for Oder’s permanent replacement.
“The surprise for me has been my personal growth,” Oder said in a recent edition of Discover Fort Monroe. “Having learned more of my history, learned of our history, having begun the challenge and being disappointed by the way history was taught to me, has caused me to question some things in my own belief system.”
“I haven’t changed who I am, my DNA is still the same, but … I am a very different person than I was 13 years ago.”
While Oder will be remembered for his transformative mark on Fort Monroe, to his friends and colleagues, his legacy is one of ambition, faith and a powerful love for his family.
"Steady as a rock"
Over 13 years, Oder oversaw the transition of the former U.S. Army post from military to Virginia property. He joined Fort Monroe in 2011 after a decade of service in Virginia’s House of Delegates.
That’s where he met former Suffolk Del. Chris Jones. At first, it was the two Hampton Roads Republicans’ shared faith and love of family that made them fast friends.
“Glenn is very intense in the context (of) working on an issue,” Jones said. “But he’s just a very friendly person, he’s very welcoming and someone that you can easily approach and talk to.”
Jones remembered Tuesday night basketball games with Oder and other legislators in those early days. It was through those outings that the two began to solidify a friendship that’s lasted the past 23 years.
“You’re better positioned, or better able to work through differences when you have a familiarity with each other, because you have a certain level of trust,” Jones said.
That trust proved important in 2004 during a budget stalemate in Virginia. The two were part of what was called the “Gang of 17,” a group of Republican lawmakers that voted with Democratic legislators on then-Gov. Mark Warner’s proposed tax-raising budget.
Jones said failing to pass the budget jeopardized the state’s triple A bond rating, something he and Oder were not willing to risk.
“Glenn was steady as a rock,” Jones said. “He had only been in the legislature and he was one of the strongest voices in the room that (said) we had to do what we had to do for the Commonwealth.”
At the time, Republicans had a 2-1 majority in the chamber. Only 1 of the 17 had to peel away to keep the budget from passing. Jones said it was comforting to have Oder’s unwavering support during that stand-off.
“I think Glenn subscribes to that theory in life (that if) you know you’re doing the right thing, you’ll survive the turbulence that comes with it.”
"A perfect fit"
Oder and Barry DuVal go back to 1990. Currently the president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, DuVal was the mayor of Newport News when he and Oder became acquainted through a mutual friend.
Oder had an interest in public service and an educational background in landscape architecture from Virginia Tech, making him an easy choice for appointment to the Newport News Planning Commission.
“He was a perfect fit,” DuVal said. “We were creating a framework for the future, and Glenn was an instrumental part of helping us think through the different areas of the city and what their needs were.”
The two kept in touch as their careers grew and branched out, even working together as part of a land use planning consulting group in the 2000s before DuVal joined the chamber in 2010.
The next year, Oder began considering joining Fort Monroe in what was then called the executive director role.
“I encouraged him to take that role,” DuVal said. “The skill sets that Glenn has and the experience he had at that time (were) perfectly suited for the responsibilities of being executive director at Fort Monroe Authority.”
DuVal described the role as similar to a city manager job, overseeing the installation’s infrastructure and services as well as land planning. But he said Oder took to the position with a “tremendous heart for service.”
“He secured significant funding for Fort Monroe from the state, and both sides of the aisle supported the infrastructure, the new visitor center and many other projects,” DuVal said. “He attracted private sector development … that has helped lift the economic profile of the fort.”
But what stands out most to DuVal as he reflects on Oder is who he is as a person.
“He has what I would consider one of the most balanced lives of anybody I’ve seen,” DuVal said. “Who can maintain his faith and his family priority, and at the same time give all that he’s given to public service.”
“He’s a true person to admire as a role model for anyone looking to be involved in public service.”
"On the right path"
While similar to a city manager position, Fort Monroe is situated in the broader city of Hampton. And it's through that relationship that Oder connected with Mary Bunting, Hampton’s city manager.
“I always understood him to be a really energetic, committed individual to whatever passion he would take on,” Bunting said. “He had been very instrumental as a delegate in taking on the payday loan industry, and that was something that we, and many people, cared about for our residents.”
Bunting met Oder when he was in the General Assembly, but the two worked together more closely when he joined the Fort Monroe Authority.
At the time, Hampton was very concerned about economic loss as the fort changed hands.
“Most of the jobs went to Newport News at Fort Eustis, but a lot of the businesses – particularly in the Phoebus area – had been very dependent upon the civilian and military jobs that were at the former post,” Bunting said.
Bunting serves on Fort Monroe’s board of trustees, and early on worked as a liaison sharing city council’s perspectives with Oder. There was a lot of work to be done to get vacant buildings renovated, underground utilities modernized and work through the complicated process of officially handing the land off to the state.
“I can’t exactly remember when things really started to click, … but I would say we have a very strong working relationship,” Bunting said. “It wasn’t that way in the beginning when Glenn came – and in fairness to the team and to Glenn early on, I don’t think it was that they didn’t want to work with the city.”
“They were still having to figure out the property transfer.”
As the transfer progressed, so did the relationship between the city and Fort Monroe – and between Oder and Bunting.
“I’m pleased to call Glenn a professional and personal friend,” she said. “We’ve gone through so much together over the years and really worked to make Fort Monroe that place that people want to live, work, play and visit.”
There have been many projects Oder got involved in over that 13-year partnership. But his investment in highlighting the full historical story of Fort Monroe stood out from the rest to Bunting.
“For many people, people only understood the military history of the base initially,” she said.
But Fort Monroe is also a pivotal site for African American history. It was there that thousands of enslaved people fled for sanctuary after the Contraband Decision of 1861. Fort Monroe is also the site where the first African people taken to English-speaking North America first landed in 1619.
“Glenn made it a priority, and I think that’s really, really important for us to tell that story,” Bunting said.
Oder worked with members of Project 1619 Inc., which spearheaded efforts to see an African Landing memorial installed at the fort, to strive toward that goal. The first statue of the memorial is expected in 2026.
“I don’t think we’re done by any stretch of the imagination,” Bunting said of the work still to be done at Fort Monroe. “But I have every confidence we’ll get there, and that Glenn put us on the right path.”
