Armfield, Miller, and Ripley Fine Properties is pleased to announce that James P. Atkins has joined its firm. A Middleburg resident since 1995, Mr. Atkins has been president of two corporations and vice president for business development of another. He has been selected to serve on three corporate boards of directors and is a former lieutenant colonel of Marines and jet pilot.

Locally, Jim has served on the board of Middleburg's Emmanuel Episcopal Church and is a member of the Piedmont Environmental Council, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, the Goose Creek Association, the Middleburg Tennis Club, the Fauquier Springs Country Club, and the American Legion. A subscriber to the Orange County Hunt, he and his wife, the former Sandi Costin, have a farm near Middleburg.

He will be based in the firm's Middleburg office.

"Jim's decision to change from corporate life and travel to representing our clients with the sale and purchase of real estate is very promising for us", said Gloria Armfield, the firm's principal broker. "Jim has been an achiever since his youth", she added, "as an Eagle Scout, then as president of WVU's Sigma Delta Chi, as chair of his city's planning commission, as president of the Los Altos Hounds, as a Marine Corps officer, and later as a corporate president." "We are certain that he will significantly contribute to our firm's continued success in the Middleburg market", Mrs. Armfield said.