Riverside names Daniel G. "Bud" Oakey, '75, its 2025 Distinguished Alumnus

Daniel G. “Bud” Oakey, ’75, has been named Riverside Preparatory Academy’s 2025 Distinguished Alumnus.

 

A resident of Richmond, Virginia, Oakey is the chairman and managing director of Advantus Strategies, LLC, a firm he founded in 1998 that has become a leader in government procurement and regulatory consulting. With over four decades of experience, Oakey has played a pivotal role in transportation, technology and economic development projects across Virginia and the U.S., including airport and port development, interstate expansion, and public-private partnerships.

 

Oakey has represented business interests before the Virginia General Assembly since 1989 and has served numerous advisory committees focused on science, technology, and aviation policy. During his career, Oakey has been appointed by numerous Governors to multiple boards including the Roanoke Higher Education Center, the Virginia Museum of Natural History, and the Virginia Aviation Board. In addition to Advantus, Oakey serves as the President of the Virginia Aviation Business Association and is a member of the Board of Directors and executive committee of his family’s funeral home business, John M. Oakey Inc., in Roanoke Virginia.  Oakey is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary Civil Air Patrol, where he serves as the principal government affairs advisor to the Region Commander for the Mid-Atlantic Region, responsible for advising seven Wings within the region and as an aviator.

 

Oakey is a graduate of Riverside Military Academy, Class of 1975. He attended Kennesaw Junior College and then Purdue University, Calumet where he majored in Manufacturing Engineering.

In 2024, Oakey was honored by the Virginia General Assembly with a Joint Resolution (SJ 227) recognizing his outstanding contributions to the aerospace and aviation industry. That same year, he received the Virginia Department of Aviation’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Virginia Aviation Conference.

 

Oakey, an active alumnus of Riverside for over thirty years regularly attends reunions and alumni gatherings. Under Oakey’s leadership, the Alumni Council was instrumental in updating Riverside’s alumni database. Oakey a consistent annual donor actively works to support the Academy’s greatest needs. Oakey’s mission has always been “Developing tomorrow’s leaders, today,” a mission he credits Riverside for instilling in him to this day. As a volunteer, Oakey served as Alumni Council Chairman and Alumni representative on the Riverside Board of Trustees from 2011 to 2015. More recently, Oakey has partnered with the Board and Council in forming the Riverside Ambassador program. A volunteer group committed to reconnecting alumni with each other across all age segments.

 

Oakey resides with his longtime partner Daphne Berkowitz and has two daughters, Ellen Oakey, of Richmond Virginia, and Dorothy Kelly of Roanoke.