Meet Ron Enders, Board Member

Ron Enders has served as a member of Piedmont Housing Alliance’s board of directors since its inception in 1996. Ron originally moved to Nelson County, outside of Charlottesville, in the early 1970s to help found an alternative community in Afton, which is now called Shannon Farm Community.

For 21 years, Ron served people with disabilities in Charlottesville as the President of WorkSource Enterprises. Ron was also instrumental in the development of JAUNT (Jefferson Area United Transportation) and the Independence Resource Center, both of which provide support to community members with physical and sensory disabilities. Ron also served on the Advisory Board of the Thomas Jefferson Housing Improvement Corporation (TJHIC), which ultimately merged with the Charlottesville Housing Foundation to form the Piedmont Housing Alliance. Through his work with these organizations, Ron saw that housing was an issue for many vulnerable members of our community, and he feels fortunate to have had the opportunity through his work with Piedmont Housing to participate in the provision of affordable housing in the area.

In addition to his leadership at Piedmont Housing, Ron helped found and still serves as treasurer of Friends of Nelson, working to protect Nelson County from Dominion Power’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. He is also one of the founders of the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Trail Foundation, a grassroots group with the ambitious vision of creating a trail connecting the Blue Ridge Parkway and the James River. Seven miles of the rails-to-trails project is now open on the border between Nelson and Amherst Counties. An avid cyclist, Ron has traveled by bicycle on extended trips in many countries around the world. In recent years, he has continued these winter travels, but now foregoes the bicycle in favor of other modes of transportation. He recently returned from a three-month trip to Japan, where he made the most of a rail pass. Ron holds a business degree from Wake Forest University, with a concentration in accounting.