The Richmond-based Virginia Public Access Project is starting a search for a new executive director after current leader Chris Piper shared plans to step down later this year to return to consulting on election policy.

Piper, a former Virginia elections commissioner, is expected to leave VPAP after the November elections, which will give the organization several months to start lining up a successor. 

Founded in 1997, VPAP seeks to improve public understanding of government and politics by publishing campaign finance data, voting trends, lobbying disclosures and a Virginia-centered news digest rounding up state and local articles.

Piper will still be running VPAP on election night, when many politics watchers will be frantically refreshing the organization’s website to watch live results of Virginia’s contests for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

In a statement, VPAP Board Chairman Ross Grogg praised Piper’s two-year tenure, which included the expansion of the student-focused Civics Navigator initiative and a mobile app focused on the Virginia General Assembly.

“He has strengthened our mission to provide Virginians with important information in ways that are easily accessible and free of partisan bias,” Grogg said of Piper. “We wish him success in his next chapter.”

The VPAP Board of Directors has hired Richmond management consulting firm Warren Whitney to lead the search for a new executive director.

“With a statewide election at hand, the board has complete confidence that the VPAP team will continue their important work leading up to November,” Grogg said. “VPAP’s credibility rests on its work, not any one person – we remain fiercely committed to nonpartisan transparency in Virginia politics and policy.”

Piper is only the second person to serve as VPAP’s executive director.

He took the reins from founder David Poole, a former newspaper journalist who retired from VPAP in 2023. Poole, who was the founding development director for The Richmonder, published a book this year about VPAP’s rise.

In a statement, Piper said he’s proud of “the strides we’ve made at VPAP to make our work more accessible to Virginians while staying true to our core users.”

“Though it is hard to leave such a dedicated team and supportive community, I am confident VPAP will continue to thrive in their hands,” he said. “I will continue to assist VPAP as it transitions to new leadership and I’m optimistic about the future of transparency and good governance in the commonwealth.”

After several other roles in state government, Piper served as Virginia’s top elections official under former Gov. Ralph Northam.  

He left that role in 2022 and worked as an election administration consultant, a field he’s planning to return to with a focus on election security.

An exact date for Piper’s departure from VPAP has not yet been set.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org