People – February 2019

CENTRAL VIRGINIA
Laura Bowser has been named chief executive officer of TMI Consulting Inc. Bowser, who has been with TMI for five years, was chief operating officer. (News release)

Matt Mattox has taken over lead­ership of the Geico account at The Martin Agency in Richmond. Mattox replaces Ben Creasey, who recently left to take a job with Amazon Music as senior campaign manager. Mattox has been with The Martin Agency since 2007. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Asley Moss, an attorney at Vandeventer Black LLP in Richmond, has been promoted to partner. She had been an associate at the firm since 2011. (News release)

Brooks Smith, a veteran environmental and natural resources attorney, has been named managing partner of the Richmond office of the Atlanta-based law firm Troutman Sanders. Smith succeeds John West, who has led the Richmond office since 2011 and will now chair the firm’s business litigation department. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Robert K. Snead, formerly a group vice president at Owens & Minor Inc., has been promoted to executive vice president and chief financial officer at the medical products distributor. Snead had been interim CFO since June following the departure of Richard A. “Randy” Meier. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. announced in December the appointment of Donna Morea as chair of its board of directors. Morea has been an SAIC director since 2013. She was president of CGI Technology and Solutions Inc. from 2004 to 2011. Morea succeeds Edward “Sandy” Sanderson Jr., who will continue as an independent board member. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Herndon-based Beacon Roofing Supply has promoted C. Eric Swank to chief operating officer. Swank had been chief commercial officer since January 2018. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

EASTERN VIRGINIA
Jim Kibler, president of Virginia Natural Gas, has been named to the Growth & Opportunity Virginia Council. GO Virginia is a business-led economic development initiative that fosters private-sector growth and job creation statewide. Kibler joined Southern Co. Gas in 2005 and was named president of Virginia Natural Gas in 2016. (News release)

The Norfolk Convention and Visitors Bureau (VisitNorfolk) has named Kurt J. Krause president and CEO. Krause will take over for Sam Rogers, who has been interim president and CEO. Krause was managing director for hotel openings, including Hilton Norfolk The Main and the Oceanfront, The Cavalier and the Oceanfront Marriott, all in Virginia Beach. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Nikki Lowe has been named chief financial officer of ivWatch in Hampton. She was executive vice president of Perfect Commerce Holdings. (Inside Business)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY
A Broadway-area farmer and former state delegate will lead an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Matt Lohr , who owns Valley Pike Farm, was appointed by the secretary of agriculture as the new chief of the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Lohr, 47,  will oversee 11,000 federal employees in 3,000 offices. He served in the Virginia General Assembly from 2006 to 2010. (Daily News-Record)

Farmers & Merchants Bank has announced promotions for employees at several of its branches in the Shenandoah Valley.  J onah Pence was promoted to senior vice president and market leader for F&M Bank’s Harrisonburg and Rockingham County offices. He  has worked for F&M since October 2005. Aaron Green was named senior vice president and market leader for F&M Bank’s branches in northern Rockingham, Page and Shenandoah counties, a news release stated. Green began his career at the bank in June 2010 as a regional business development officer. (Daily News-Record)

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Carter Bank & Trust in Martinsville has promoted two officials. Loran Adams, the bank’s director of regulatory risk management, has been promoted to executive vice president. He joined the bank in 2017 as senior vice president. Christy Meier, the bank’s director of internal audit, has been promoted to senior vice president. She was a vice president. (News release)

Jay Dickens has been named president of The Lester Group, a building materials firm based in Martinsville. He was vice president of American Direct in Kansas City, Mo. Dickens fills a vacancy at the company created in May when the former president Jim O’Brien became CEO. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Dr. William P. Sweezer has returned to Danville to join the medical staff at the newly opened Sovah Thoracic and Vascular Surgery. After five years with Sovah Health-Danville, the board-certified thoracic and vascular surgeon had moved to Houston to operate a private practice. (Danville Register & Bee)

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Michael Callaghan has been named head women’s soccer coach at Bluefield College in Tazewell County. Callaghan, an alumnus of the college, served as interim coach for the women’s soccer team before being named head coach and also assisted with the men’s soccer program at Bluefield College during the 2018 season.  (News release)

U.Va.-Wise alumnus Rick Hutzell is a Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2018. Hutzell, an editor at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., and the newspaper’s staff were among journalists around the world recognized by the magazine. Four Gazette employees were killed by a gunman last spring. (News release)

ROANOKE/NEW RIVER VALLEY
A bit of the Old Dominion will be represented on a U.S. Department of Commerce advisory committee related to renewable energy. Roanoke-based TMEIC’s Don Samsa was among the 39 members appointed to the Department of Commerce’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (REEEAC). Samsa is TMEIC’s general manager of renewable energy business in North America. (VirginiaBusiness.com)