A student and business leader selected as Mason District ‘Lord and Lady Fairfax’

Victor Nguyen

This year’s Mason District “Lord and Lady Fairfax” are Victor Nguyen, a student at Annandale High School, and Elizabeth “Libby” Novak, a former member of the Fairfax County Small Business Commission, Mason Supervisor Penny Gross announced May 16 in  her “A Penny for your Thoughts” column in the Falls Church News Press.

Every year, each supervisor selects two residents to be honored for their contributions to the community. The pair are designated Lord Fairfax and Lady Fairfax in recognition of Thomas, the sixth Lord Fairfax, whose family controlled a large amount of land here through a grant from the king of England.

After Lord Fairfax died in 1781, his lands eventually became part of the commonwealth of Virginia, and that’s how Fairfax County got its name.

Nguyen is president of the Key Club and is an officer in the Math and National honor societies at Annandale High School.

He participated in the county’s year-long Youth Leadership Program; volunteers with the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, which seeks to improve the immigrant experience through advocacy and education; and tutors elementary students through the GIVE Youth Tutoring program. He recently won first place in a Future Business Leaders of America competition.

Novak, a longtime Mason District resident, owns a specialized hazardous waste company and understands the challenges facing women-owned businesses, especially in non-traditional fields.
She has represented Mason District on the Small Business Commission for more than 13 years.

Novak, Nguyen, and the rest of the 2019 Lords and Ladies will be honored at Celebrate Fairfax!, the annual county fair, June 7-9, at the Fairfax County Government Center.