Victoria Cobb, President of the Family Foundation
Victoria Cobb is President of The Family Foundation of Virginia, the largest and oldest pro-family advocacy organization in Virginia, where she maintains the vision, mission and strategies of the organization. In her 20th year as President, she now also oversees the work of their legal arm, the Founding Freedoms Law Center.
Victoria is also President of The Family Foundation Action, a 501c(4) that protects families and promotes responsible citizenship by giving Virginians the tools they need to hold their elected officials accountable, including educating and mobilizing voters in key elections.
In her role as spokesperson for the organization, she is often quoted in the media. Her weekly commentary on the issues of the day can be heard on Speak Up! radio. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for John Jay Institute and Family Policy Alliance.
Victoria earned her B.A., Political Science and Leadership Studies at University of Richmond. She and her husband Matt and their four children reside in Richmond, Virginia.
CLICK HERE to read Victoria’s blog posts.
Candi Cushman, Vice President of Grassroots and Communications Strategies
Candi comes to us after nearly 19 years of service at Focus on the Family, where she served as a national expert on education issues affecting public and private education, including school choice initiatives, sexual agendas in public schools, and parental rights issues. Her interest in equipping parents and students inspired her to launch several initiatives and create unique web tools—including the annual Bring Your Bible to School Day, which grew from 8,000 participants to more than 650,000 within the last five years.
Cushman has also represented the viewpoints of students and families in national media outlets and radio shows, including CNN’s “Anderson Cooper,” HLN’s “Dr. Drew,” and MSNBC.
She also served for several years as an editor for Focus on the Family’s Citizen magazine. Prior to joining Focus, she was an investigative reporter for WORLD, a weekly national news magazine. Cushman also served six years at a Texas state organization associated with Focus on the Family as the media liaison and program director for the 700-member physicians’ grassroots coalition.
In her role, Candi focuses on amplifying and empowering your voice—the voices of concerned Virginia citizens, including moms, dads, pastors and business leaders through the Speak Up! Virginia movement. A key part of her job involves developing grassroots networks that give families the tools they need to express their concerns in a loving, winsome—and yet powerful—manner, whether it’s at local school board meetings or hearings at the Capitol. She also hosts and directs production of our Speak Up! Virginia show for radio and podcast.
“I’m thrilled that God has given me this unique opportunity to help empower families during this ‘such a time as this’ moment in the state’s history,” she said.
Todd Gathje, Vice President of Government Relations
Dr. Todd Gathje is Vice President of Government Relations at The Family Foundation. Todd brings excellent experience and subject matter expertise to many of our issues.
Todd joined The Family Foundation after spending 13 years in state government. From 2012 until 2018 he worked for the Virginia Department of Education managing the state's School Choice program, which has become one of the most effective initiatives for giving more parents greater options in providing the best quality education for their children.
Prior to his time with VDOE, Todd was a tax policy analyst with the Virginia Department of Taxation. He also spent some time at the Attorney General’s Office under then Attorney General Bob McDonnell.
Todd earned his undergraduate degrees from Virginia Tech, and his MPA and Ph.D. in public policy and administration from VCU. He is also a graduate of the Sorensen Institute’s Political Leadership Program.
Within the core principles of TFF, Todd’s public policy interests include school choice, stem cell research, foster care and adoption, and the protection of religious liberty. Todd’s doctoral dissertation examined the stem cell research debate and the role of conservative Christian groups.
Todd and his wife have four children.
Michael Morisi, Vice President of Church Ambassador Network
Mike has a 30 year career in the corporate world and has been in full time ministry since 2015 ordained as a Pastor, Director of a national campus ministry and working in development and leadership for several ministries. As Vice President of the Church Ambassador Network, Mike works to inspire the Church to engage government for the advance of God’s Kingdom, by connecting the shepherds of God’s Church (pastors) to God’s shepherds of government (the “king,” or today’s elected officials).
Josh Hetzler, Esq., Legislative Counsel
As Legislative Counsel, Josh is actively engaged in public policy development and analysis, lobbying, coalition building, strategic communications, regulatory oversight, legal compliance, FOIA, litigation and other matters.
He regularly addresses state and local boards, commissions, and legislative committees, including school boards across Virginia, on public policy and legal issues. He has served on numerous expert panels, including at Family Research Council, the Values Voter Summit, and several Virginia universities. He also speaks frequently to civic and faith groups.
Josh’s area of greatest interest is defending religious freedom. As James Madison providentially wrote into Virginia’s Constitution, “religion” is “the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it.” Such duties take precedence over all others, and civil governments exist to protect the free exercise of our God-given rights and duties.
Licensed Virginia Attorney (2015-present)
J.D., Liberty University School of Law (2015)
B.S. in Government: Politics and Policy, Liberty University (2012)
Recipient of the 2012 Jesse Helms Outstanding Student Achievement Award
Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership, CLP Class of 2010