Meet your MAC members
Robert Connelly

July 2010  

My name is Robert Connelly. I have been a member of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter (MAC) since 1998. I have served on the board as a Virginia State Representative since I joined and served on the Executive Board for many of those years.  I served 2 terms as president from 2002-2003 and I thoroughly enjoyed that.  I am very proud of the MAC’s success to date and many of my good industry friends and even family date back as founding members of the Chapter.

I grew up in the erosion control industry.  My dad was hydroseeding in the early 60’s, which was revolutionary for the time and by the very early 70’s I would have spent my summers as a kid working on a highway seeding job.  I learned to drive a truck on an un-opened interstate roadway somewhere in Virginia and still hear stories about me being pulled back out of a hydroseeder by my belt when I was probably too young to be up there anyway.  My dad died a young man but due to the efforts of my family and others, the business survived.  My family remains in the business to this day and can document its impact on the turf industry since the 50’s.  My brother established a scholarship in my dad’s name that recognizes gifted Va Tech students who excel in turfgrass study each year. My nephews have worked their way to the helm; another generation of Connellys in the industry.

After high school I attended Ferrum College for two years and decided I wanted to go back to work. I spent a few years dabbling in another industry where I tried my hand at carpentry. I spent two years doing that but that led me back to the family business. I think it was 1977 that I remodeled an old house into an office for the company and by the next year I was full time at WS Connelly & Company.  I spent the next 12 years running seeding crews in a tri-state area and there’s no question that’s where I learned the value of hard work.  They are truly looked back on as the best years of my life.  I married my wonderful wife Dorothy in 1982 and by 1987 we had completed our family, a son and a daughter.

My years of experience in the family business afforded me the opportunity to try something different. In 1990 I went to work for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (Virginia’s lead non-point source agency) as an erosion control specialist. The Clean Water Act created funds to help the states fund positions to help reduce non-point source pollution. My 10 years there included the promulgation of the E&S Regulations, an update to the Virginia Erosion & Sediment Control Handbook and the development of the state’s certification program.  Prior to me leaving in 2000, the state had released the stormwater regulations and the Stormwater Management Handbook was being mulled over by every civil engineer in region.

At some point mid-way during that era, I realized I was not cut out to be a life-long bureaucrat.  I returned to the private sector when I joined ACF Environmental in January of 2000. Today, I serve as a Territory Manager for Western Virginia and help manage our West Virginia operation in Charleston.  My wife and I reside in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia where my empty nesting days are all about work and an occasional trot on the links.

 I acquired my CPESC certification in 1998 and some years later I became a certified instructor.  I would like to complete my CPSWQ but I cannot seem to find the time. 

 I treasure my Chapter affiliation and actually many of my industry friends and associates have developed thru the MAC.  In the days of our earliest international awards, it was quite clear that the MAC had established the bar that other chapters were measured by.  I am pleased to see the enthusiasm of the new leadership and would encourage others to step up and take an active role in the Chapter and allow it to be a very rewarding part of your industry involvement.  Please contact me if I could introduce you to the MAC and I expect to see all of you in Front Royal in September.