Impact makers

Graduating from three leadership organizations in a year? Serving on multiple nonprofit boards? All in a day’s work for these impactful Virginians who use their influence to empower others.

Kathy Albarado, CEO, Helios HR, Reston

Eighteen years after founding human capital management firm Helios HR, Kathy Albarado is working hard to make sure her clients are ready to “attract, retain and engage” employees in a “very, very tight” job market that will soon feel the influence of Amazon HQ2. Last year, Helios started its Human Capital Impact Forum, bringing 100 CEOs and human resources leaders together to discuss employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, and other workplace issues. Albarado also is deeply involved in a girls school in Honduras that offers room and board and a full education at no cost. Graduates, she says, “become the change [agents] in their country.” •

Frazier Millner Armstrong, Executive director, Capital Trees, Richmond

You may recognize Frazier Millner Armstrong’s name from her previous marketing and communications work for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond Symphony, or perhaps from her service with Leadership Metro Richmond, VCU’s Robertson School of Media and Culture and as former chair of the Richmond YWCA board. She is also recipient of the YWCA’s Outstanding Women Award. Today, though, she leads Capital Trees, a Richmond-based urban greening organization that is preparing to launch The Low Line Green, phase two of the Low Line project which will remediate stormwater runoff from I-95 before it goes into the Canal and James River as well as horticulturally restore this historic and important public space.  Armstrong also planned multiple events continuing this spring to celebrate The Woman’s Club’s 125^th anniversary. If you’re a Richmonder, she’s a good person to know. •

Ashley McLeod, Vice president of communications and membership, Virginia Maritime Association, Norfolk

The Virginia Maritime Association turns 100 on Feb. 13, but Ashley McLeod has many other projects on her agenda: helping with the association’s annual banquet, expanding its international trade symposium and starting a leadership certificate program that graduates its first class in May. McLeod became interested in ports after working for Norfolk’s sister city foundation. Her task now is to expand the group’s membership beyond Hampton Roads to other parts of the state, including new chapters in Southwest and Northern Virginia in 2020. “We want to hear the collective voice of the entire state,” she says. •

J.D. Myers II, Senior vice president and region manager, Cox Communications Virginia and North Carolina, Chesapeake

For J.D. Myers, who grew up a military brat and became an Army officer, moving to the Hampton Roads area last year was “like having a flashback to my youth.” As the Virginia and North Carolina region manager for Cox, the Atlanta-based cable and telecommunications company, Myers is perpetually on the go, focusing on telehealth, home automation, cable infrastructure and even improving traffic and water management. One situation that he’s seen change lately is increased cooperation among localities in Hampton Roads, which before was “almost like having seven silos. The good news is that collaboration is starting to happen.” •

Rhodes B. Ritenour, Vice president, external and regulatory affairs, Bon Secours Mercy Health, Richmond

Rhodes Ritenour has an impressive résumé: the state’s deputy attorney general for civil litigation, a policy worker in then-Gov. Mark Warner’s office and a former partner at McGuireWoods. Now, he works with Bon Secours’ mission services division, which is completing consolidation of services after a merger this year with Cincinnati-based Mercy Health. Ritenour was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 5; he and his wife, Alana, co-founded TheDiabetesSupportGroup.org, an online community focused on diabetes management. Next year, he hopes to bring sponsors into the support group, and the Ritenours hope to publish a children’s book series on diabetes, too. •

Anna-Maria Schneider, Senior vice president, industry-government relations, Volkswagen Group of America, Herndon

Anna-Maria Schneider knows cars. More specifically, the car business — and how manufacturing connects with public policy. She’s spent nearly 27 years working in the industry, including Mitsubishi Motors North America and Toyota Motor North America. And for the past 11 years, she’s been chief lobbyist for Volkswagen Group of America — which includes luxury brands Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini. In her role, she’s also been called to serve on other boards, including the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, Virginia FREE and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. •

Chris Stuart, Vice president, Top Guard Security, Norfolk

Top Guard Security is the state’s largest woman-owned business, with more than 1,000 people employed in professional security, including more than 300 veterans. Nicole Stuart serves as president, and her husband, Chris, is vice president. He’s proud of the business they founded, which marked “24 straight years of increased revenue and staff size” in 2019. Next year, they expect to add contracts in Philadelphia and San Diego. Aside from work, Chris graduated from Lead Virginia, LEAD Hampton Roads and LEAD Peninsula in 2014 and served on the Hampton City Council from 2010 to 2014. He and Nicole “flunked family planning,” Chris jokes. They have five children between the ages of 7 and 14. •