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He’s worn a lot of hats and done a lot of work over the years. And as a result, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation wanted to honor William F. Osl Jr. The Columbia resident, who raises cattle and works in forestry, was recognized Tuesday, Jan. 30 for 10 years of service on the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors. 

VFBF President Wayne F. Pryor presented an award to the Cumberland County native at a Farm Bureau board meeting in Richmond. As the organization’s District 9 director, Osl represents Farm Bureau producer members in Amelia, Appomattox, Buckingham, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Nottoway, Powhatan and Prince Edward counties.

Osl serves on the Cumberland County Farm Bureau board and is a past president of that organization. He chairs the VFBF Forestry Advisory Committee and the State Fair of Virginia Youth Development Board. He also serves on The Meadow Event Park Oversight Committee, the VFBF Compensation Committee and the Countryway Insurance Co. board of directors. He has served on the VFBF Membership Categories Study and Legislative committees and the VFBF Finance and Audit Committee, and he is a former member of the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation AgPAC board of trustees.

More about Osl’s history 

He retired from AT&T and Lucent Technologies after working for 28 years as a corporate officer and vice president.

Osl currently chairs the Virginia Forestry Board and is a past chair of the Cumberland County Board of Supervisors, Commonwealth Regional Council, the Cumberland County Public Schools Foundation Inc., the New York City Rescue Mission and the Information Communication Institute of Singapore. He also serves on the Central Virginia Poultry Cooperative Inc. board, and previously has served on the boards of AT&T Consumer Products Ltd. and Cancer Hope Network.

He attends Cartersville Baptist Church. He and his wife, Stephanie, own and operate Oakland Farm. They have five children and 19 grandchildren.

With almost 135,000 members in 88 county Farm Bureaus, VFBF is Virginia’s largest farmers’ advocacy group. Farm Bureau is a non-governmental, nonpartisan, voluntary organization committed to supporting Virginia’s agriculture industry.