Finance | Insurance

JOHN ASBURY

PRESIDENT AND CEO, ATLANTIC UNION BANKSHARES, RICHMOND

A native of Radford who graduated from Virginia Tech and received his MBA at William & Mary, Asbury now leads the largest regional bank headquartered in Virginia. Atlantic Union, which employs 1,839 people in Virginia, reported $677 million in revenue in 2020. It also has $19.6 billion in assets. Asbury previously held executive positions at community banks in New Mexico and Alabama, as well as working for 17 years for Bank of America. In 2016, he became Atlantic Union Bankshares’ president and was named CEO in 2017.

Asbury said the past year was the most challenging he has seen. The bank processed more than 15,000 Paycheck Protection Program loans for $2.2 billion as of March, and it recently opened two new branches in Richmond. Asbury is also chairman of the Virginia Bankers Association.

FIRST JOB: My first college summer job was at Ferguson Enterprises in Radford where I worked in the warehouse. I still know a lot about plumbing from this, and how to operate a forklift!

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Set goals and go after them. I have learned to not just react to whatever comes your way.

G. ROBERT ASTON JR.

EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, TOWNEBANK, PORTSMOUTH

Aston, who co-founded TowneBank in 1998, began his banking career in 1964 and held leadership roles at Citizens Trust Co., Commerce Bank and BB&T of Virginia.

TowneBank has 2,700 employees, 1,800 of them in Virginia, and last year earned $411 million.

Aston is a board member for Virginia Wesleyan University, the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, Reinvent Hampton Roads and the GO Virginia Foundation. In 2019, he received the Urban League of Hampton Roads’ Martin Luther King Jr. Award, which recognizes community service, demonstrating King’s values and positive contributions to others.

He attended the National Installment Credit School at the University of Oklahoma and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Virginia and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Old Dominion University.

WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: The ability to improve the lives of others.

TOP FACTOR THAT HELPED COMPANY WEATHER THE PANDEMIC: Our culture of serving others and enriching lives.

MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen,” by Rita Gunther McGrath

THOMAS BARKIN

PRESIDENT AND CEO, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND, RICHMOND

Since 2018, Barkin has led the Fed’s Fifth District, after 30 years at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. He also previously served as chairman of the Federal Reserve’s Bank of Atlanta. The Fifth District includes Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina and part of West Virginia, and Barkin’s areas of oversight are policy, bank regulation and supervision, and payment services.

Barkin sits on the powerful Federal Open Market Committee, which makes decisions about U.S. monetary policy. In May, he told CNBC and an Atlanta Rotary group that he thought inflationary pressures would subside in 2022 and that the Fed could wait on hitting employment and inflation goals before raising interest rates.

Closer to home, he has made it a priority for the Fed to bridge the economic gap between rural and urban areas, as well as finding solutions to racial economic disparities.

He serves on the Emory University board of trustees, U.S. Golf Association executive committee and the Greater Washington Partnership’s board. He received his bachelor’s degree, MBA and law degree from Harvard University.

JEFF BENTLEY

PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHWEST FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, HERNDON

After more than 30 years in consumer and commercial lending, Bentley joined Northwest Federal in 2014 as a senior vice president and was promoted three years later to lead the institution.

Bentley has overseen a period of growth for the state’s fourth largest credit union, which was founded in 1947. Last year, its assets grew from $3.6 billion to $4.1 billion. In July 2019, Northwest merged with Constellation Federal Credit Union, adding 8,000 new members.

Last year, the credit union wrote 1,560 Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses totaling $111 million.

Bentley also serves as the chairman of Northwest Federal’s philanthropic foundation, which focuses on children and college students. He also has served on the Montgomery County, Maryland, Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors.

VICTOR BRANCH

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RICHMOND MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, RICHMOND

The Richmond market president for Bank of America, Branch started his career in 1984 at BOA predecessor Sovran Bank. The Dinwiddie County native oversees roughly 2,000 area Bank of America employees, 25 branch offices and the bank’s Henrico County-based technology and operations center.

He serves on the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Venture Richmond, Virginia Historical Society and the Richmond Metropolitan YMCA, and was named in 2020 as a Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year.

Branch serves on the board of visitors for William & Mary, from which he received his bachelor’s degree in sociology.

FIRST JOB: Server at Shoney’s Restaurant in Petersburg.

HOBBY/PASSION: Working in my garden and jogging

PERSON I ADMIRE: My mentor at Bank of America, Mary DePillars, a trailblazer who opened doors for others to follow.

MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” by Bryan Stevenson

ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I would change Virginia’s slow adaptation to change and move away from its steadfast commitment to traditions.

DAVID CAMDEN

VIRGINIA-WEST REGIONAL PRESIDENT, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., ROANOKE

Based in Roanoke, Camden manages Truist’s operations in the western part of Virginia as one of 24 regional presidents within the bank’s 15-state footprint.

Truist was formed in 2019 by the merger of mega-banks BB&T and SunTrust Bank. It debuted at No. 217 on the Fortune 500 list and rose in rank to No. 119 this year. The bank earned nearly $4.5 billion in profits last year on $24.4 billion in revenue.

After the merger, Truist announced it planned to close two BB&T branches and one SunTrust location in Camden’s market, leaving about 20 branches in the Roanoke Valley.

A Richmond native, Camden earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hampden-Sydney College and attended the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management. He worked at Wachovia and Wells Fargo before joining SunTrust as a commercial banking executive for Virginia and the Carolinas in 2010. He was then named SunTrust’s president and CEO for its Savannah, Georgia, region in 2014.

STEPHAN Q. CASSADAY

FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CASSADAY & CO. INC, McLEAN

Cassaday’s been ranked as Barron’s No. 1 financial adviser in Virginia every year except one since 2014. In 1993, after more than a decade on Wall Street, Cassaday founded his firm, which manages $4.4 billion in assets and employs 65 people.

He and his wife, Mary, are major donors to Central Union Mission, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, PRS/Crisis Link, Salvation Army, Save the Children, Smile Train, So Others Might Eat, The Lamb Center, The House DC, the Washington Jesuit Academy, Wounded Warriors and Youth for Tomorrow.

He endowed a scholarship at his alma mater, Radford University, and sits on the board of directors for the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Focus on your key strengths and delegate everything else. Invest in people, practice radical inclusion and empower them to think like owners. Be vulnerable, admit your mistakes, make customers raving fans.

PERSON I ADMIRE: My wife. Elegant, beautiful inside and out, street-smart math teacher with poor taste in men. My best friend and adviser. I would be nothing without her.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Gratitude every day. Humility.

WHAT I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Ski moguls.

TRISTAN M. CAUDRON

MANAGING DIRECTOR-INVESTMENTS, CAUDRON MEGARY BLACKBURN WEALTH MANAGEMENT GROUP, ALEXANDRIA

A certified financial planner and the managing director for investments at his Wells Fargo Advisors firm, Caudron was named one of the top four advisers in Virginia by Barron’s this year and has been on the list since 2014.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology and an MBA from Georgetown University. A father of four, he has coached his kids’ sports teams, and his hobbies include tennis, platform tennis, skiing and cycling.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Be patient. Despite recent extraordinary gains in the stock market, long-term wealth accumulation is made gradually, by being diversified and patient during good times and bad.

WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: I enjoy helping others. Our clients look to us to help them with their investment planning to save and build portfolios toward financial independence. I am so honored when a client thanks me for the good work that we do in our team.

THEODORE ‘TED’ L. CHANDLER

CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, NEW RICHMOND VENTURES, RICHMOND

The former chairman and CEO of the now-defunct Fortune 500 title insurance group LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Chandler is the managing director of a venture capital firm he co-founded in 2011 with fellow Virginia 500 honorees Jim Ukrop and Bob Mooney.

NRV invests in early stage companies that have moved beyond proof of concept and show the potential for high growth. Chandler sits on the boards of several of the companies backed by NRV, including WealthForge and Health Warrior.

Chandler holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law, where he serves as a member of the advisory board.

He also sits on boards for the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and U.Va.’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and he co-chairs the Richmond and Hampton Roads regional collaborative RVA757 Connect. He has chaired the boards of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Partnership for Nonprofit Excellence, the Maymont Foundation and the Richmond Arts Foundation.

RAVI CHANDRA

HEAD OF BRANCH MOBILE STRATEGY/BRANCH CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, BRANCH BANKING, WELLS FARGO & CO., CHARLOTTESVILLE

Chandra took on a new role for Wells Fargo after formerly serving as regional president of the company’s operations in Charlottesville, Roanoke, Blacksburg and parts of Central Virginia. Still based in Charlottesville, he now leads a national team of strategy consultants supporting the third-largest U.S. bank’s network of more than 5,100 branch locations.

Chandra started at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo in 1990 as a teller in San Jose, California. He worked his way up in positions in Oregon and Nevada before moving to Virginia.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge. Chandra serves on the board of directors for Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia and recently finished a four-year term on the Virginia Bankers Association board.

HOBBY/PASSION: Music is my passion. I used to be a DJ in high school. I also have passion around being a #girldad to my two daughters.

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: We became owners of a new Peloton. I can’t get enough of it — sometimes two times a day.

MICHAEL DeVITO

CEO, FREDDIE MAC, McLEAN

A veteran of Wells Fargo, DeVito took over in June as the head of Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. The government-backed entity, which buys bundles of mortgages from banks and other lenders so that they have enough cash to make more mortgages, is the company with the highest revenues in Virginia. In 2020, Freddie Mac saw a 12% decrease in revenue compared with 2019, bringing in $66.2 billion. In the second quarter of 2021, the company reported $3.7 billion in net income, an improvement from the previous four quarters.

A graduate of Ithaca College, DeVito was with Wells Fargo for 23 years, most recently serving as its executive vice president and head of home lending. He succeeded former CEO David Brickman, who left Freddie Mac in January to lead a commercial brokerage.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, started in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession to oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, was unconstitutional. The outcome meant that investors in the two companies lost their claim to $124 billion, and both firms’ stocks fell more than 30% after the ruling.

LAWRENCE ‘LARRY’ DI RITA

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, WASHINGTON, D.C.

In addition to being president of Bank of America’s Greater Washington market, Di Rita is the financial giant’s strategy and public policy executive. The company has 213,000 employees, including 4,000 in Virginia.

Di Rita earned degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He served as a Navy officer until 1994, leaving the military to join the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and later progressing to the staffs of U.S. Sens. Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison, as well as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Di Rita is secretary and treasurer of the Rumsfeld Foundation and is on the boards for the U.S. Navy Memorial and the Center for a New American Security, a think tank specializing in national security.

PERSON I ADMIRE: U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Sammy Perez. My college roommate who came from tiny Canutillo, Texas — pretty far from the nearest ocean — and rose to command of an aircraft carrier battle group. A man of true personal and professional integrity.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: The best way to persuade tends to be with data and a story, rather than just one or the other.

RIC EDELMAN

FOUNDER, EDELMAN FINANCIAL ENGINES, FAIRFAX

This has been a momentous year for Edelman, who stepped down as chairman of his financial planning firm and also is finishing up his nearly 30-year radio show (while starting a new one this fall).

He will continue as a strategic adviser and member of the board of directors, as well as remaining the firm’s largest individual shareholder.

He founded the firm with his wife, Jean, in 1986 with the goal of educating people about money and has become a guru of personal finance, having written several bestsellers, including “The Truth About Money,” also the title of his PBS show that aired 2011 to 2013.

In 2018, Edelman’s company merged with Financial Engines, and the combined company manages $270 billion in assets for 1.3 million clients. It has 242 employees in Virginia and 1,500 worldwide. In recent months, he has advocated for investors to become more educated about cryptocurrency and to include it in their portfolios in spite of its volatility.

HOBBY/PASSION: My wife and I collect rare books on astronomy.

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I’d let governors run for re-election.

ELENA EDWARDS

CEO, USA, ALLIANZ PARTNERS, HENRICO COUNTY

With 17 years in the insurance industry, Edwards was promoted last June to lead the German company’s U.S. business. Allianz, which sells travel insurance and provides international medical assistance, employs about 1,000 people in the Richmond area.

Edwards joined Allianz in 2019 as general manager of the U.S. unit, after holding executive roles at Genworth Financial and General Electric companies.

The travel industry took a huge hit in 2020 when the pandemic forced people to stay home. However, as restrictions began to be lifted this spring, Allianz started offering plans with epidemic coverage for COVID-19 or future pandemics. In May, Edwards won a Top Workplaces leadership award for the Richmond area based on employee surveys conducted anonymously.

Edwards studied mechanical engineering at Union College and earned an advanced degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a vice president of the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation board.

RICHARD FAIRBANK

CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP., McLEAN

With a background in banking and credit, Fairbank started Capital One in 1994. Today, it ranks 99th on the Fortune 500, although it saw a 6% decrease in revenues last year, recording $31.6 billion, while profits fell 51% to $2.7 billion. Capital One has nearly 52,000 employees worldwide.

Earlier this year, Capital One was hit with a $390 million federal civil penalty for willfully violating anti-money-laundering policy between 2008 and 2014.

Fairbank, who previously was head of banking for a national strategy consulting firm and chaired MasterCard International’s global board, is a billionaire and has not received a base salary since 1997.

In June, Fairbank told employees in an email that they could continue working remotely on Mondays and Fridays once the company’s offices reopen in the fall. The company will adopt a flexible hybrid model. Since last spring, the bank started closing branches, a plan hastened by the pandemic.

In July on a second-quarter earnings call, Fairbank said customers are paying higher rates on their credit cards this year, accompanied by purchase volume 25% higher than the second quarter of 2019.

ROB FINNEGAN

CEO, WEST CREEK FINANCIAL, GLEN ALLEN

Finnegan has been at the helm of the startup financial technology firm since 2017, as it rapidly started to increase its role in consumer leasing.

The company has been rapidly expanding since its founding in 2015. Within five years, it had exceeded $200 million in revenue, had partnered with more than 10,000 retailers and financed 200,000 customers’ purchases. West Creek uses machine learning and analytics to rate a borrower’s credit worthiness rather than relying solely on credit scores. The company also loans money for outright purchases and lease-to-own arrangements through retailers of furniture, mattresses, appliances and HVACs.

Finnegan, one of the co-founders, previously worked for 2nd Order Solutions, a consulting firm that uses data analytics to develop credit models. He also was with Capital One for 17 years, starting at its founding and holding several executive level posts. When he left, Finnegan was senior vice president of new account market and decision sciences. Before his career in finance, the University of Virginia alumnus was a systems engineer for Mitre Corp.

MARK A. FRANTZ

GENERAL PARTNER AND CO-FOUNDER, BLUE DELTA CAPITAL PARTNERS, McLEAN

Blue Delta Capital is a venture capital fund that invests in federal government clients in the technology sector without taking an ownership interest. Frantz, who has an extensive background in investment and technology, co-founded the company in 2009.

He’s worked with or invested in dozens of companies, including Sourcefire, NetWitness, The Carlyle Group and Blackboard, and served as managing general partner of In-Q-Tel, a venture capital affiliated with the U.S. intelligence community. He also served on the board of CRSA Holdings Inc., which General Dynamics Corp. purchased in 2018 for $9.7 billion, and is currently on the board of ASGN Inc., the parent company of Apex and ECS Federal.

One of Blue Delta’s biggest deals recently was PAE’s $92 million purchase of intelligence analysis firm Metis Solutions in December, after the capital firm had begun partnering with Metis in 2016.

A graduate of Alleghany College and the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned both an MBA and a law degree, Frantz was associate director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs during President George H.W. Bush’s term.

THOMAS S. GAYNER

CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., GLEN ALLEN

Gayner oversees investing activities for Markel Corp., a Glen Allen-based Fortune 500 holding company that has nearly 19,000 employees worldwide.

Markel, which Gayner joined in 1990 to form Markel Gayner Asset Management, holds insurance, reinsurance and investment operations worldwide.

In 2019, it had a record year, with revenue rising 39.2% over the previous year to $9.35 billion. The pandemic appears to have slowed growth, with Markel reporting $9.7 billion in revenue during 2020.

“We are grateful and amazed by how our employees responded to the global pandemic and continued to serve the needs of our customers, trading partners, shareholders and each other,” Gayner wrote with Co-CEO Richard Whitt in announcing the 2020 financial report. “Markel enters 2021 well positioned to continue the momentum of our excellent fourth quarter.”

Before joining Markel, Gayner was a vice president of Davenport & Co. and a CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He sits on the boards of Graham Holdings LLC, Colfax Corp. and Cable One, where he serves as lead independent director. Gayner also is a member of the Virginia Retirement System’s Investment Advisory Committee, which is responsible for making investment recommendations to the state agency’s board.

JEFF GRINSPOON

MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PARTNER, VWG WEALTH MANAGEMENT AT HIGHTOWER ADVISORS, VIENNA

Grinspoon founded VWG in 2011 with two of his Morgan Stanley colleagues in response to the shift in wealth management services following the Great Recession. He started his career with Legg Mason.

This year, the firm, owned by Hightower Advisors, has more than $1.6 billion assets under management and has been ranked on Forbes’ Top 100 wealth advisers list. Grinspoon has also made Forbes’ and Barron’s top adviser rankings.

With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from the University of Maryland, he serves on the board for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. Grinspoon also has dedicated time toward charitable work for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Don’t be shy to apologize for something you’ve done wrong, and don’t be loud about something you’ve done right.

FIRST JOB: Selling credit card processing equipment

HOBBY/PASSION: My family is my passion.

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Eating at a restaurant (been a long time)

MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Code Breaker,” by Walter Isaacson

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Our health is the single most taken-for-granted thing.

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: A wider bridge coming over the Potomac

SIMON HAMILTON

MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BAIRD/THE WISE INVESTOR GROUP, RESTON

In addition to overseeing Baird/The Wise Investor Group’s portfolio, Hamilton is also host of the small Reston firm’s “Wise Investor Show” and “Midweek Update” podcasts, which offer insights into how the market is behaving. Before joining the firm in 2007, Hamilton was vice president of investments at Smith Barney and previously filled the same role at Ferris, Baker Watts in Baltimore, his hometown. For several years, Hamilton has been named a top financial adviser by Financial Times, Forbes and Barron’s. In his spare time, he serves as Vienna Youth Soccer’s vice president of travel soccer.

WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Seeing in real time how my efforts can produce both quantifiable and psychological positive outcomes for real people and their families

WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: I was around the edges of everything. Smart, but not the smartest; on the sports teams, but not the best athlete; went to the “cool” parties, but wasn’t the first to be invited!

HOBBY/PASSION: Youth sports — I love coaching, organizing, and watching my kids and their friends compete.

BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: I’m a simple man: a fine lager.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Baltimore Ravens

H. HITER HARRIS III

MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, HARRIS WILLIAMS & CO., RICHMOND

Thirty years ago, Harris co-founded a global investment banking company specializing in mergers and acquisitions with a friend from Harvard Business School, Christopher Williams. Today the firm has more than 400 employees across eight global offices and operates as a subsidiary of PNC Financial Services.

The company, which advises companies buying or being sold to other corporations, promoted more than two dozen people to more senior positions in its offices in February, with particular focus on energy and health care sectors.

A Hampden-Sydney College alum who was a kicker on the football team, Harris serves on the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges board and the University of Richmond board of trustees. He also was inducted into the Greater Richmond Business Hall of Fame in 2015.

WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Throughout Harris Williams, our professionals are dedicated to fostering long-lasting, trust-based relationships with clients and colleagues alike. Everything we do at Harris Williams is intended to foster lasting relationships. Watching those relationships deepen and grow over the past 30 years has brought me great joy and makes me very proud of what we have accomplished together.

CHARLES R. HENDERSON JR.

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HAMPTON ROADS MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, NORFOLK

A West Virginia native who graduated from Hampden-Sydney College, Henderson has lived in Hampton Roads for four decades. He oversees Bank of America’s Hampton Roads business and also its charitable arm.

Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Henderson credited CEO Brian Moynihan’s leadership for assisting bank employees, including a freeze on all job reductions in 2020 and increased child care benefits.

The company has 213,000 employees, including 4,000 in Virginia, and recorded $85.5 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2020. A member of LISC Hampton Roads’ local advisory committee, Henderson also serves on the Virginia Bankers Association Education Foundation board.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Be willing to accept job assignments that may be outside of your comfort zone as a means of learning new skill sets and making connections.

WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: Charlie has been a champion of the nonprofit sector while driving growth for the bank over his 46-year career.

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Celebrating our grandson’s (Brooks) first birthday and the anticipation of the birth of our granddaughter
in October.

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Encourage more collaboration among municipalities to unleash the enormous
potential of our commonwealth.

CECILIA A. HODGES

REGIONAL PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON, D.C., AND VIRGINIA, M&T BANK, VIENNA

Named the regional president of the Virginia and Washington, D.C., region for M&T in 2018, Hodges marked her 25th anniversary with the bank this year and oversees 60 regional branches.

A Virginia Tech graduate from Rocky Mount, she is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore board and has dedicated time to the region’s Easter Seals chapter and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. Hodges also has taken an active role in organizing charitable activities in Virginia and Greater Washington for M&T.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Bring your authentic best self to everything you do. Be kind and generous with your time and make every effort to be helpful to those you come in contact with.

FIRST JOB: Lifeguarding at the neighborhood pool was my first paid job. As a young child I swept a lot of floors and did odd jobs at my parents’ building supply business, and I did a lot of babysitting.

ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I’d like to see more robust economic opportunity and top-notch education for citizens in the rural parts of the state like where I grew up in Southwest Virginia.

JERMAINE JOHNSON

GREATER WASHINGTON AND VIRGINIA REGIONAL PRESIDENT, PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP INC., VIENNA

Johnson was promoted last August to head PNC’s Greater Washington regional market, which includes Northern Virginia and neighboring Maryland counties.

He oversees retail, corporate and institutional banking, wealth management and community activities for one of the nation’s largest banks, with more than $560 billion in assets. In June, PNC closed on its $11.6 billion purchase of BBVA USA, bumping its ranking from the country’s ninth-largest bank to the fifth.

With a bachelor’s degree in finance from James Madison University, Johnson worked for Bank of America and GE Healthcare Financial Services in executive positions before joining PNC in 2005. Before assuming his current post, he was PNC’s executive vice president and market manager for corporate banking in greater Richmond and greater Maryland.

He serves on the board of directors for the Greater Washington Board of Trade and has been an audit committee member for the March of Dimes, and he is the 2021 chair of Junior Achievement’s Washington Business Hall of Fame, which will hold its induction event virtually in December.

BRIAN R. KAHN

PRESIDENT AND CEO, FRANCHISE GROUP INC., VIRGINIA BEACH

Known partly for its employees dressed in Statue of Liberty costumes during tax season, Liberty Tax Inc. became known as Franchise Group in September 2019. Kahn soon became its CEO, steering the corporation through several deals as it shifted its model to focus on buying and investing in franchises and businesses that could be franchised.

In March, Franchise announced it had completed the purchase of Pet Supplies Plus for $700 million and that it had sold the Liberty Tax business to NextPoint Acquisition in a deal that included $182 million in cash and $67 million in shares of NextPoint.

Franchise’s other business lines include American Freight, the Vitamin Shoppe and Buddy’s Home Furnishings.

In May, Kahn purchased $36 million worth of shares in Franchise. He is also managing partner of Vintage Capital Management, an equity firm he founded
in 1998 in Orlando, Florida.

A Harvard graduate, he has served as chairman of the board for rent-to-own stores Buddy’s Home Furnishings, API Technologies Corp and White Electronic Designs Corp., and he was a director for Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises.

EVELYN LEE

GREATER WASHINGTON REGION PRESIDENT, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., WASHINGTON, D.C.

Lee manages the Greater Washington area, including Northern Virginia, for Truist, which formed from the SunTrust and BB&T merger, one of the biggest bank deals in recent years. A SunTrust executive for 19 years in several divisions, including senior living, not-for-profit and corporate banking, Lee is a William & Mary alumna. She also is a founding board member of the D.C. International Charter School and is on the executive committee of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.

FIRST JOB: Working at a small local deli. I was on the 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, so I did the early morning baking through sandwich lunch prep.

MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Parting the Waters,” by Taylor Branch

FRANK L. LUCIA

PRESIDENT AND CEO, DELTA DENTAL OF VIRGINIA INC., ROANOKE

A longtime health insurance leader, Lucia has been with Delta Dental’s Virginia branch since 2017. The nonprofit provides dental insurance for more than 2 million members and has 370 employees in the state. Delta Dental’s national foundation provided $1.1 billion in COVID-19 relief funding to help support dental care in underserved communities and also assisted dentists with low- and no-interest loans during the height of the pandemic. The Delta Dental Virginia Foundation contributed more than $4 million to organizations in the state to improve oral health in 2020.

Lucia moved to Roanoke from Wisconsin, where he had served as president of Dean Health Plan. A graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the University of Miami, he also is a CPA. Before joining Dean, Lucia worked with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, WR Grace Inc. and Cigna Corp.

During his time in Virginia, Lucia has devoted time to community organizations Verge, the Valleys Innovation Council and Virginia Health Catalyst.

FIRST JOB: Masonry apprentice. I carried cinder block.

HOBBY: Skiing, being outdoors, woodworking

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: In business and in life, there are certain things that simply can’t be rushed.

PAUL B. MANNING

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PBM CAPITAL Group LLC, CHARLOTTESVILLE

Manning founded PBM Capital, a private equity firm, after selling his infant formula company, PBM Products LLC, for $800 million in 2010 to Perrigo. In recent years, he has become known as a significant philanthropist, donating $1 million in spring 2020 to establish the Manning Fund for COVID-19 Research, money that has gone to eight projects to research vaccines and treatment.

In 1997, Manning built his company from a $1 million investment into the world’s leading provider of private-label infant formula and then founded other companies, mostly related to health care. Manning has served on the boards of several startups in which his company has invested.

A University of Massachusetts alum, Manning made a $1 million gift to his alma mater to support commercializing scientific research projects, and he’s served on several committees at U.Va., including its most recent capital campaign. Manning also donated $100,000 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign, according to finance reports released in July.

DENNIS A. MATHEIS

PRESIDENT, SENTARA HEALTH PLANS; EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, SENTARA HEALTHCARE, VIRGINIA BEACH

Matheis heads up Sentara’s health insurance plan, previously known as Optima Health, which covers more than 875,000 members and has 2,600 employees. Sentara is also the majority owner of Virginia Premier, a Medicaid managed-care organization that the health care system purchased in 2020 from the
VCU Health System.

A University of Kentucky alum, Matheis is on the executive committee of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the board of directors for the Virginia Association of Health Plans, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Norfolk Forum. He is also on the board of DarioHealth.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Develop your own personal plan. Focus on the next three years of your career, develop mile markers and periodically step back to ask yourself if you are on the right track to achieve your goals.

WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: A person’s health and well-being are critical to leading a happy and productive life. It is incredibly rewarding to be part of an organization whose primary focus is providing access to high quality health care, through both financing and delivery. I am especially passionate about helping to advance the affordability and quality of health services.

MARY McDUFFIE

PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, VIENNA

McDuffie has worked at Navy Federal since 1999 and was promoted to CEO in 2018. She is the first woman in this role for Navy Federal, the world’s largest credit union, with 10.6 million members, 346 branches and $148 billion in assets.

Navy Federal was named No. 59 in 2021 on the 100 best companies to work for list by Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine, based on employee surveys. This is the credit union’s 10th consecutive appearance on the list.

A Wellesley College alumna, McDuffie was executive vice president of delivery channels and communications at Navy Federal, leading the marketing department and launching its mobile banking service. She was promoted to CFO and then quickly to CEO. Much of her focus has been on customer experience; the credit union developed its first mobile app under her leadership.

Previously, McDuffie was senior vice president of marketing for Star Systems Inc. and a senior manager at J. Walter Thompson Inc., a communications company.

THOMAS McINERNEY

PRESIDENT AND CEO, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC., RICHMOND

For the past five years, Genworth was in negotiations with Beijing-based China Oceanwide Holdings Group, which sought to acquire the company for $2.7 billion. In April, Genworth announced it had terminated the deal, which was delayed more than a dozen times.

McInerney, who joined Genworth Financial Inc. in January 2013 as its CEO, has overseen a challenging period for the Fortune 500 company, which offers long-term-care insurance and private mortgage insurance with nearly 4 million policy holders. He has spent his career in insurance since 1978 and was with ING Group, the Dutch multinational banking and financial services company, for 32 years.

Genworth began 2021 with an announcement that it was laying off employees and shaving $50 million in operating costs. Its net income was $178 million in 2020, short of 2019’s $343 million net income. McInerney said early this year that Genworth planned a public offering of its rebranded mortgage insurance business, Enact Holdings.

The company has faced challenges in both insurance markets, first through the housing market collapse and then with escalating costs for long-term care that predate McInerney’s leadership.

A graduate of Colgate University and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, he serves on Tuck’s board and also those of VA Ready and the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance.

SHANE McLAUGHLIN

NORTHERN VIRGINIA REGION BANK PRESIDENT, WELLS FARGO & CO., LEESBURG

McLaughlin has worked for Wells Fargo since 2004, becoming a community bank president a decade ago and then being promoted in 2017 to head the Northern Virginia territory, which spans from Fairfax and Loudoun counties to Winchester and Culpeper. A Virginia Tech alumnus, McLaughlin is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington. He’s also on the advisory boards for Bright Beginnings Inc. and George Mason University’s College of Human Development and Education.

Wells Fargo is ranked No. 37 on the 2021 Fortune 500, and it recorded $1.95 trillion in assets in the past fiscal year.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Ensure you and your team have time for those important family moments.

WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: Shy and spent all of my time playing basketball and running.

FIRST JOB: Round Hill Garden, gardener

PERSON I ADMIRE: I admire my wife because she discovered her passion in life and turned it into her career as a teacher.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Georgetown University Hoyas

FAVORITE BEVERAGE: San Pellegrino

JOSEPH W. ‘JOE’ MONTGOMERY

MANAGING DIRECTOR, INVESTMENTS, THE OPTIMAL SERVICE GROUP OF WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, WILLIAMSBURG

Montgomery has led The Optimal Service Group since its founding in 1975. The firm has 13 employees and has $17 billion under advisement.

A William & Mary graduate, Montgomery was co-captain of his college football team and was invited to the Philadelphia Eagles training camp, where he played center but didn’t make the final cut.

Montgomery has been named to top financial adviser lists and was inducted into Barron’s Advisor Hall of Fame in 2019. He topped Forbes magazine’s best wealth advisers list in Virginia the last two years.

He is a trustee of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation board and vice chair of the Virginia Retirement System board, and he has also served on boards at W&M.

WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Seeing the happiness that success brings to people and the good they can do when they succeed.

HOBBY/PASSION: Stand-up paddleboarding, pocket billiards

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Visiting The Grove at the University of Mississippi. Didn’t know it was on my bucket list until I was there.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Price is only an issue in the absence of value.

SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Grass skiing

J. ROBERT ‘BOB’ MOONEY

CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, PHLOW CORP., RICHMOND

After decades in accounting and venture capital, Mooney joined Phlow Corp. last year and was instrumental in landing a $354 million federal contract to start a development pipeline for medications and pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States. The four-year contract has an additional $458 million in options. He also was a key organizer in the $20 million Series A financing that Phlow secured in 2021 from private equity investors.

Mooney, who served as CFO for Ethyl Corp. and William & Mary’s Mason School of Business, co-founded and served as managing director of venture capital firm New Richmond Ventures (NRV), along with fellow founders Ted Chandler, former chairman and CEO of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., and Jim Ukrop, former chairman and CEO of Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc.

A William & Mary alum, Mooney has strong ties to Richmond’s arts community and is vice chair emeritus of the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance board. He also raised funds for the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School and chairs the finance and investment committee at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. In August, he won Virginia Business’ Virginia CFO Award for small business.

NIGEL MORRIS

CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, QED INVESTORS, ALEXANDRIA

A co-founder of Capital One Financial Services with Richard Fairbank, Morris was the McLean banking giant’s first president and chief operating officer. Now he manages the fintech venture capital firm he co-founded in 2007. Among its investments are stakes in Credit Karma, SoFi, NuBank and Avant.

Morris announced last June that his company was launching the Just Five program to tackle addiction and reduce its stigma. The issue hits close to home for the U.K. native, whose business partner, Greg Mazanec, died in 2019 after suffering from substance use disorder. QED is partnering with Operation Lighthouse, a nonprofit set up by Mazanec’s family.

“I say all the time that if I have a sore arm or a sore shoulder, I’ll come into work, and I’ll whine about it. But if I couldn’t sleep last night or I’m paranoid about going outside or I’ve been taking too many sleeping pills or drinking too much wine, I won’t talk about it,” Morris wrote in a June op-ed for TechCrunch about ending mental health stigmas in the tech industry. “I’ll say that I’m going to my doctor to get my shoulder fixed, but I won’t say that I’m going to talk to my therapist.”

JAMES B. MURRAY JR.

CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, COURT SQUARE VENTURES; CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENTIAL PRECINCT, CHARLOTTESVILLE

Murray, who co-founded Court Square Ventures (named for Charlottesville’s downtown courthouse neighborhood) in 2000, finished his term as rector of alma mater University of Virginia, where he continues to serve on the board of visitors, in July.

He also is the co-founder of a nonprofit collaboration among U.Va., William & Mary, and other institutions, including presidential estates Montpelier and Monticello, that’s known as Presidential Precinct. It hosts leadership discussions about democracy and other broad topics for participants from around the world. Murray is a graduate of W&M’s law school and served on that university’s board of visitors.

Murray started Columbia Capital of Alexandria, a firm that manages more than $3 billion in investments, and he previously served on the Export-Import Bank of the United States advisory board, including as chair.

He also has been a guest lecturer at several universities, co-wrote the book “Wireless Nation: The Frenzied Launch of the Cellular Revolution in America,” and holds a U.S. patent for a wireless maritime ignition control system.

DANIEL J. O’NEILL JR.

REGIONAL PRESIDENT VIRGINIA-EAST, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., RICHMOND

After SunTrust and BB&T merged last year to create the sixth-largest bank in the nation, O’Neill was named president of Truist’s Virginia-East region, based in Richmond.

Having worked at SunTrust since 1990, O’Neill was previously president of the bank’s mid-Atlantic region and head of wholesale risk. Previously he was a Nasdaq trader for Merrill Lynch and was with Riggs National Bank and Citibank.

A graduate of College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business in New York, he also completed an advanced risk management program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

O’Neill also serves on the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Bankers Association boards. Last year, Truist partnered with Sentara Healthcare and the state to launch a COVID-19 emergency fund to provide free meals to families during the height of the pandemic, with Truist committing $500,000 toward the $2.6 million fund.

PAUL A. PAGNATO

FOUNDER, PAGNATOKARP; CO-CHAIRMAN, CRESSET ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC, RESTON

Pagnato and David Karp founded PagnatoKarp Partners to manage the assets of CEOs, wealth creators and families with ultra-high net worth. They had worked at High Tower Advisors and went on their own during the Great Recession, with the aim of providing more transparency.

They sold PagnatoKarp to Chicago-based Cresset Asset Management last year but retain leadership roles. The combined company had $13.8 billion in assets under management as of June, when the purchase took place. The transaction amount was not disclosed.

Pagnato, who was named Northern Virginia’s top wealth adviser by Forbes in 2021, graduated from Florida Atlantic University and began his career as a microbiologist looking for life in outer space for NASA and McDonnell Douglas. He then entered the financial industry and worked for 19 years at Merrill Lynch.

He has been a Barron’s and Forbes top financial adviser for decades, and Pagnato is also an advisory council member for the Stanford Center on Longevity based at Stanford University.

JEFF RICKETTS

PRESIDENT, ANTHEM BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD VIRGINIA, RICHMOND

Ricketts joined Anthem in 1984 and rose through the ranks to lead its Virginia operation in 2017. Anthem has 8,730 employees in the state and offers an array of health plans, including ones through the marketplace exchange for most of the state.

A James Madison alum, Ricketts is a Richmond native, “the son of a preacher who worked in the prison system,” he says. “Both of my parents taught me the value of hard work, staying grounded, taking responsibility for your actions and, most importantly, to help those in need.”

He’s also co-chair of Gov. Ralph Northam’s primary care task force and serves on several boards, including ChamberRVA, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Virginia Center for Health Innovation and Virginia Business Council.

WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: A fierce but fair competitor.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: People do what you incent them to do — and that does not always mean a monetary incentive, and it’s not necessarily positive incentives. Nothing good happens when incentives aren’t aligned with desired outcomes. This goes for life and in business.

TOM RYAN

PRESIDENT AND CEO, LANGLEY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, NEWPORT NEWS

Langley, the state’s fifth-largest credit union, continues to grow its assets under Ryan’s leadership. Since he was tapped to lead the Hampton Roads credit union in 2012, assets have doubled from $1.7 billion to $3.9 billion, with a $400 million increase during the past year.

Membership has also grown from 165,000 to 295,000. Members had about $2.9 billion deposited with Langley and about $2.6 billion in loans in 2020.

Previously an executive vice president and chief operating officer for Digital Federal Credit Union, Ryan has 35 years of credit union experience.

He serves on the Boys & Girls Club of the Virginia Peninsula and Langley for Families Foundation boards. In 2020, the foundation and the credit union together donated $1.4 million, their largest annual amount ever, to Hampton Roads organizations, including the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank; scholarships for students at Hampton, Christopher Newport and Old Dominion universities; and local United Way funds. About $364,000 went to grants as a response to COVID-19.

FREDRICK D. SCHAUFELD

MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, SWAN & LEGEND VENTURE PARTNERS, LEESBURG

The founder of investment firm SWaN & Legend, Schaufeld is a partner in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics teams and Capital One Arena, and he is a part owner of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team.

Before starting SWaN in 2006, he founded Electronic Warranty Corp, which was acquired by Asurion in 2008 and is now called NEWAsurion. Schaufeld and his partner, Tony Nader, are credited with pulling Best Buy Corp. out of financial trouble by suggesting in 1996 that it sell comprehensive consumer warranties at much lower prices than competitors.

Schaufeld sits on numerous companies’ boards, including KIND, Sugar23, Noodle Partners, Custom Ink and José Andrés’ ThinkFood Group.

He and his wife, Karen, are active in organizations that support education, health, arts and the environment. They have endowed a scholarship fund at their alma mater, Lehigh University, which two of their three children also attended. In April, the Schaufelds, who own the Hill Top House Hotel property in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, got the green light for a demolition permit, allowing them to build a $139 million hotel expected to open in summer 2024.

JAMES SCHENCK

PRESIDENT AND CEO, PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, McLEAN

Since Schenck became president of PenFed in 2017, its assets have grown from $17 billion to $27 billion, and membership has increased from 1.3 million to 2.2 million. During the past year, loan originations rose from $10.1 billion to $16.8 billion.

Founded in 1935, PenFed is the second-largest federal credit union based in Virginia.

Schenck is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and has an MBA from Harvard. In the Army, he flew Black Hawk helicopters in Korea and was a night vision instructor pilot. Assigned to the Pentagon, he served as a special assistant to the secretary of the Army and on the staff of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans.

He taught economics and finance at West Point and in 2015 Schenck was named one of HillVets Foundation’s 100 most influential veterans and recognized for the contributions PenFed makes to veterans. In 2020, PenFed’s charitable arm gave nearly $3 million to veterans and first responders who were impacted by the pandemic.

ALBERTO SCHIAVON

CEO, ELEPHANT INSURANCE SERVICES LLC, GLEN ALLEN

A native of Venice, Schiavon is an alum of University of Padova in Italy and Manchester Business School in England. He joined Elephant in 2017 to lead marketing and pricing and was promoted in less than a year to CEO. The Henrico-based insurance company has 602 employees, with 526 in Virginia, and it was recognized last year as one of the top workplaces in the Richmond area by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Elephant recently expanded into Georgia. The company also launched a new work-from-home discount in Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, rewarding policyholders who aren’t commuting as frequently.

In June, Elephant launched Helping Herd to donate $300,000 to organizations that were impacted by COVID-19 or are providing relief.

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: We have a whitewater rafting expert on our leadership team at Elephant. She recently led a group of us on a wet but exhilarating ride on the James River. The experience was a blast!

FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: I love visiting Hawaii because it has a great mix of nature, history, culture and diversity.

CHRIS SHOCKLEY

PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA CREDIT UNION, RICHMOND

Shockley, who grew up in Roanoke, began his banking career as a teller while attending Radford University. In 2003, he joined the state’s third-largest credit union, Virginia Credit Union, with more than 300,000 members and about $4.5 billion in total assets as of the end of 2020, becoming CEO in 2016. He chairs the Virginia Council on Economic Education board and is treasurer of the YMCA of Greater Richmond board.

Shockley also serves on the board of the Virginia-West Virginia chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a cause close to his heart after losing his sister to the disease.

VACU was named an outstanding organizational partner by the Association of Fundraising Professionals last year for its endowment of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Financial Success Center and contributions to a state employee financial wellness program. In July, the credit union was recognized by the Virginia Credit Union League for its financial education programs for youth and adults. During the height of the pandemic, VACU offered free online workshops for 60,000 people.

Shockley said trust, transparency and communication throughout the organization helped them weather the pandemic. “When you go through something like we experienced this past year, it tests you in ways you never imagined. I am so proud of my teammates’ determination and resolve in the face of complex challenges at work and in their personal lives.”

PETE SNYDER

CEO, DISRUPTOR CAPITAL, CHARLOTTESVILLE

Snyder sought the Republican nomination for Virginia’s governor this year, placing second to fellow businessman Glenn Youngkin in the GOP’s unassembled convention in May.

Snyder, who founded Disruptor to invest in companies looking to break the usual mold, became prominent outside venture capital circles last year when he and his wife, Burson, founded the Virginia 30 Day Fund to send forgivable $3,000 loans to small businesses that needed help with cash flow gaps. As of January, the fund had raised more than $4 million and assisted 1,000 businesses.

A former Fox News contributor and William & Mary graduate, Snyder founded Arlington-based social media marketing firm New Media Strategies and sold it to Meredith Corp. for $30 million, later founding Disruptor.

Snyder invested in Media Group of America, founded by two Republican operatives, which publishes the Independent Journal Review. He also
has served on William & Mary’s board of visitors.

BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Tito’s Vodka, rocks. Two limes.

JOHN STANCHINA

PRESIDENT AND CEO, MARSH & McLENNAN AGENCY — MID-ATLANTIC LLC, RICHMOND

Marsh & McLennan subsidiary Rutherfoord hired Stanchina in 1994 to establish surety bond operations in Richmond. Until then, he had been in Charlotte, North Carolina, working for Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland.

In Richmond, Stanchina rose through the ranks as division manager, division president and president. He oversees the global professional services company’s mid-Atlantic hub of 11 states and serves on the agency’s strategic steering committee. Based in New York, Marsh & McLennan reported $17.2 billion in worldwide revenue last year, a 3% increase from 2019.

Marsh offers commercial property, casualty, personal lines and employee benefits to businesses and individuals across North America. This year, it acquired Greensboro, N.C.-based  Compass Financial Partners, which supplies retirement consulting and investment advice.

A graduate of Muskingum College in Ohio, Stanchina has served as a board member for the Young Presidents’ Organization, the Valentine Richmond History Center, Greater Richmond SCAN and Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School.

PERSON I ADMIRE: My dad. He always lived by certain principles — integrity, work hard and play hard, and the CEO was no more important than the janitor. He was also a student of business.

SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Snow ski. (I don’t want to be in a cast!)

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Reduce the humidity in July and get back to being more business-friendly politically.

KEVIN P. STEVENSON

PRESIDENT, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, PRA GROUP INC., NORFOLK

Stevenson helped start the 25-year-old debt-purchasing company and has served in a number of roles, becoming president and CEO in 2017. It earned $1.1 billion last year, up from 2019’s $1 billion in total revenue.

A former controller with Household Recovery Services and Household Bank, Stevenson says the same thing makes him passionate about his work today as it did at the start of PRA: to do things the right way for the right reason and focus on the long term.

Last year, PRA opened a call center in Danville, and it has offices in North and South America, Europe and Brisbane, Australia. It employs 4,000 people worldwide, with 1,600 based in Virginia.

Stevenson studied accounting at The Ohio State University and has volunteered his time with the Greater Norfolk Corp. and Equi-Kids, an organization that provides therapeutic horseback riding.

FIRST JOB: Flipping burgers at McDonald’s. My first full-time job out of college was in financial and regulatory reporting for Household Bank.

HOBBY/PASSION: Motorcycles

FAVORITE APP: Waze

FAVORITE VACATION: Motorcycle vacation: Tail of the Dragon and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Get on a horse.

JANET N. TOPE

REGION BANK PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA EAST, WELLS FARGO & CO., RICHMOND

Tope joined Wells Fargo 33 years ago after graduating from Florida State University with a business degree. In 2016, she was promoted to her current role as president of the region that covers Richmond, the Peninsula and Hampton Roads. Ranked 37th on the Fortune 500 in 2021, Wells Fargo reported $80.3 billion in revenue last year.

Tope sits on several boards, including the Virginia Bankers Association, the Richmond Forum and Communities in Schools of Richmond. She also is a member of the Regional Leadership Circle of the Greater Richmond Partnership.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Never stray from your values/principles. You can add value just by listening and asking questions.

FIRST JOB: Retail sales

PERSON I ADMIRE: My husband, Doug. He is an amazing husband and father and is a true example of someone who sees the good in others. He encourages and supports — showing confidence in others when they may not be sure what they could accomplish. He models ethical values like no one I have seen and sets an example for others to strive to achieve. He is the voice of reason in most any situation, and I admire his strong character.

RICHARD R. ‘RICHIE’ WHITT III

CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., RICHMOND

Having joined Markel 20 years ago, Whitt has been controller, chief administrative officer of the company’s international operations, chief financial officer and co-chief operating officer. He also led the company’s international operations in London for two years before returning to Richmond in 2005. Whitt became Markel’s co-CEO in 2016, serving alongside Thomas S. Gayner. A Virginia Tech alum, his first job after graduating was with KPMG, where he was a senior auditor.

A Fortune 500 holding company for insurance, reinsurance and investments with 64 offices in 16 countries, Markel employs nearly 19,000 people. Its subsidiary, Markel Ventures, invests in companies outside the insurance marketplace, and in 2020, it acquired Lansing Building Products.

Markel was coming off a banner year in 2019, having earned $2.1 billion in income, which was more than the four previous years combined, and nearly double any single previous year.

The pandemic took its toll, though Markel reported $1.2 billion in comprehensive income in 2020.

Whitt serves on the boards of the Virginia Tech Foundation and St. John’s University School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science.

JAFFRAY WOODRIFF

CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, QUANTITATIVE INVESTMENT Management LLC, CHARLOTTESVILLE

Woodriff said he first became interested in data science as a child, describing a game he played then. “I would obsessively roll a pair of dice to see seven win, and six and eight duke it out,” the U.Va. alum said in his bio for the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science, which he and his wife, Merrill, who’s also a U.Va. grad, were instrumental in founding.

In 2003, Woodriff parlayed that obsession into creating his $3 billion hedge fund, which uses data science to manage investments. Woodriff has supported dozens of startup companies. Before founding QIM, he was a director at Société Générale, a French multinational investment bank.

The Woodriffs set up the private family foundation Quantitative Foundation that makes philanthropic gifts, including the largest private gift in U.Va.’s history. In 2019 they pledged $120 million to build on U.Va.’s Data Science Institute, which became the School of Data Science last year.

A native of Charlottesville, Woodriff is also behind the Woodriff Center of Developing Entrepreneurs (CODE) building, a 170,000-square-foot space for early-stage tech startups, coworking and other businesses, on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. It’s expected to be completed this year.