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Home / Staff and Leadership / Tennille Checkovich
Vice Chair
Tennille Checkovich is no stranger to the Chesapeake Bay, having grown up in Hampton, Virginia, which was the launching point for weekend fishing trips with her extended family on the Bay. Her passion started at a young age and was solidified with a high school biology trip to Port Isobel and Tangier Islands. Tennille’s passion for a cleaner Chesapeake Bay for all continues on as her children have grown up learning about the Chesapeake Bay. Tennille and her family live on the James River, and in Fall of 2019, her daughter made that same trip to Port Isobel Island that Tennille made 30 years earlier.
Having received her JD at Yale, Tennille is now the Chief Legal Officer for Smithfield Foods, Inc., where she is responsible for managing the company’s legal, compliance and sustainability departments. Outside of her practice, Tennille has provided pro bono assistance to various legal aid organizations for more than two decades. Her volunteer work has focused on issues impacting racial and social justice, including representing incarcerated juveniles seeking sentence modifications or reductions in Serious Offender Review Hearings in trial courts throughout Virginia and eliminating Virginia’s unconstitutional court-debt related drivers’ license suspension scheme.
Although she works in litigation, Tennille was drawn to the Alliance because of our mission – to bring together communities, companies, and conservationists to restore the lands and waters of the Chesapeake Bay. She believes that it is important for the Chesapeake Bay to be clean and healthy for her kids, and future grandkids, to enjoy.
