Economic Development 2023: STEPHANIE LANDRUM

Economic growth in Northern Virginia continues surging with the ongoing construction of the $1 billion Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Potomac Yard. In February, development reached a milestone when officials raised a steel beam to the 11th floor of the campus’s anchor building. The 300,000-square-foot structure is expected to open by the fall 2024 semester as part of the state’s Tech Talent Investment Program. The milestone was followed by the May opening of the Potomac Yard-VT Metro station, a long-expected linchpin for regional economic development.

Landrum has been AEDP chief for the past eight years and this year welcomed Metroscope, a Paris-based diagnostic software company, to its first U.S. office in Alexandria. She prides herself on forming a team with the vision and commitment to attract Northern Virginia businesses that will also benefit the community. In July 2022, for the second year in a row, Business Facilities magazine ranked Alexandria No. 1 for Best Business Climate among U.S. cities with populations under 200,000.

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ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: If we could banish humidity, Virginia would be close to perfect!