Maria J.K. Everett joined VCOG’s board of directors in 2018 and became president of the board in 2024. Previously, as legal counsel to the House Committee on General Laws, Maria drafted legislation to amend and recodify much of what is now today’s Freedom of Information Act. She was staff to the FOIA study committee in 1999 that led to the eventual creation of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council. Maria was the council’s first director, penning more than 200 formal opinions, several of which have been cited by the Supreme Court of Virginia. After retiring from the council in 2017, Maria served as the chair or vice chair of the Virginia ABC Authority from 2018 to 2023.