Jane and Bob Taylor didn’t come to Williamsburg 15 years ago to do needlepoint, garden or golf (although they do all these things). After an already successful career in finance, Bob took a position as Senior Vice President of Colonial Williamsburg, and Jane followed five years later upon her retirement as a partner with Ernst and Young. Outside of the work arena, both have lent their skills in finance to many of the nonprofit organizations that make this community work. As Bob puts it, “There are a lot of retirees that come here, but they don’t just retire, they provide extraordinary skills for the community. They serve on the visiting faculty at the college, on other board..” Jane continues this thought, “You can get as engaged or not as you want to be. It’s a very welcoming place for people who want to make a difference and give back.”
Active in numerous organizations over the past 15 years, they have served on boards or volunteered, consulting for the Williamsburg Symphonia, the Williamsburg Health Foundation and the City of Williamsburg Audit Committee, among others. Jane and Bob work with the Williamsburg Community Foundation both as volunteers (Jane is a past trustee) and as the creators of an unrestricted endowment fund that allows the Foundation the most latitude in selecting charitable recipients. “Our current assessment of community needs may not be relevant in twenty years or so,” Bob says. “It’s the changing needs of the community that the Community Foundation does a very good job of understanding and that our fund supports. ”
“There continue to be so many unmet needs in our community,” Jane says, which is why it’s important to the couple to give locally. She continued, “Williamsburg is our home. We want to make sure it stays a vital community.”