People – September 2019

EASTERN VIRGINIA
Clark Simpson is Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer’s new vice president in the Capital Markets Group, which specializes in multifamily and retail investment properties. He is based in Virginia Beach and most recently owned Commonwealth Property Group, a brokerage and management company he started in Norfolk and sold to SlateHouse Group LLC. (Press release)

Suffolk-based TowneBank has tapped former SunTrust Bank executive Charity Volman to head up its newly created Corporate Banking Group in Norfolk. Volman most recently served as president of SunTrust’s South Hampton Roads market and has more than 29 years of experience in the banking industry. She brings three members of her SunTrust team to TowneBank’s new department: executive vice president Karen Priest and senior vice presidents Laura Morgan and Brian Woodell. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Mark Showers has been named Frederick County’s new fire marshal after serving as the department’s interim head since March, after the retirement of John Bauserman. During his career, Showers has worked in the Fire Marshal’s Office and the Frederick County Fire and Rescue Department and graduated from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Accelerant Canine Program. He and his trained dog, Walker, have responded to about 300 calls.   (The Winchester Star)

CENTRAL VIRGINIA
Andrew LaGala has been named director of Lynchburg Regional Airport. He will succeed retiring director Mark Courtney on Nov. 1. LaGala has served as deputy director. (News & Advance)

John Lecci has been named a senior director of professional liability at Glen Allen-based Markel Corp. He heads the company’s New York-based U.S. Professional Errors & Omissions team. Lecci formerly worked for Axis. (News release)

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Allison Mays, vice chair of the Washington County Board of Supervisors, has been selected to participate in the National Association of Counties’ Economic Mobility Leadership Network, a program sponsored by Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The group will meet three times this year in Oregon, Minnesota and Maryland to discuss successful policies that improve residents’ quality of life. (Washington County News)

Virginia Tech faculty members Daniel Slade, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Scott Verbridge, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at the College of Engineering, received a $358,627 award from the National Institutes of Health to study how an oral bacterium is involved in the proliferation of colorectal cancer, the second most common form of cancer in the world. (News release)

NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Virginia Tech faculty members Daniel Slade, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Scott Verbridge, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics at the College of Engineering, received a $358,627 award from the National Institutes of Health to study how an oral bacterium is involved in the proliferation of colorectal cancer, the second most common form of cancer in the world. (News release)

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Richmond native Jeffrey Sadler has been hired as the new housing and revitalization coordinator for the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. Sadler formerly worked as associate director of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Community Revitalization Office. Funding for the position will be supported by The Harvest Foundation, which has worked since December 2018 to convene stakeholders and other officials in a community conversation about housing. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Wendi Craig has been named general manager of the Martinsville Bulletin. Craig had worked for the newspaper for 19 years before joining Virginia Media Inc., a subsidiary of Mountain Media LLC of West Virginia, in 2016. (Martinsville Bulletin)

Joseph M. Zehner has stepped down as president of Putney Mechanical Co. Inc. in Farmville after 45 years with the HVAC firm. He has sold his interest in the company, leaving W. Parker Terry Jr. as sole owner. The company was founded by S. Waverly Putney Jr., Zehner’s father-in-law. (The Farmville Herald)