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Recent Articles from Alissa Skelton
TRACY GREGORIO
Nine years ago, Tracy Gregorio and two business partners realized the military needed better technology to protect its communications systems from cyberattacks. G2 Ops was among the first small businesses to apply digital engineering to safeguard military communication systems, Gregorio says. The company plays a pivotal role in helping weapons and ship navigation systems communicate […]
LATITIA McCANE
Growing up in Alabama, Latitia McCane was inspired by the work of her father, a mechanic at Ciba Geigy Chemical Corp. (now BASF), and her uncle, an electrician at Ingalls. So, she forged her own career path in STEM and manufacturing fields. A throughline in her work, however, has been to support and encourage women […]
CECILIA HODGES
Outside of her three-decade career in banking, in which she currently manages more than 60 branches, Cecilia Hodges enjoys volunteering for community organizations and charities. “I can see in the work that those dollars really make a difference to people,” she says. One organization she’s involved with, Women Giving Back, is a boutique that provides […]
DIANNE JEWELL
Dianne Jewell’s work as a physical therapist and administrator has not just been about helping patients but also her colleagues. In 2011, Jewell founded the Rehab Intelligence Network, which helps rehabilitation practices use data to demonstrate the value of their services, and served as its CEO for a decade. “Health care is awash in data […]
BUFFY BAREFOOT
BUFFY BAREFOOT President — Virginia Beach, TowneBank, Virginia Beach Buffy Barefoot describes herself “as a pretty steady Eddie.” During her 27-year career in finance, she has worked for only two companies, and she credits her steady rise to staying in her lane, keeping her nose down and doing the best job she could. “End of […]
DEBORAH JOHNSTON
Deborah Johnston’s father inspired her career path. When she was a child, he encouraged her to pursue a job in nursing for the opportunities it could afford her. “He said, ‘You’ll always have a job. You could join the Air Force and travel the world. But no matter what happens, you’ll always have a job, […]
JYLINDA JOHNSON
Jylinda Johnson sees the world for what it could be. That’s why she thrives in a role that requires her to solve complex problems facing the federal government. Johnson oversees a 2,000-person team for General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of Reston-based Fortune 500 global aerospace and defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. Her team […]
GWEN HURT
Gwen Hurt spent more than 15 years working in the tech industry. Then, unexpectedly, days after being laid off from her job in 2013, Hurt and her daughter were in a car accident. During their months of recovery, Hurt decided to start her own winemaking business in 2014. Her daughter suggested she name it for […]
JENNIFER HUNTER
Education and mentorship are important to Jennifer Hunter. “If you want to create change and create opportunities … you’ve got to bring people to the table,” she says. “And that means supporting folks, equipping them, preparing them and then pulling them to the table with you.” Outside of mentoring others, she was appointed by former […]
NANCY HOWELL AGEE
NANCY HOWELL AGEE President and CEO, Carilion Clinic, Roanoke Nancy Howell Agee calls herself “a bit of a unicorn” because, as a woman and a nurse, the odds of her ever heading a health care system were poor. When asked about obstacles she faced along the way to becoming CEO and president of Carilion Clinic […]
NAKIA MADRY-SMITH
Few people can say they sing in a choir with Pharrell Williams. Or that they’ve performed on Netflix, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Good Morning America” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” But Nakia Madry-Smith has done all those things. Yet, she still finds time to connect with the community, representing Old Dominion University regionally as […]
JENNIFER WAKEFIELD
Jennifer Wakefield is on a mission to turn the greater Richmond area into the top midsize region in the U.S. for business. To accomplish her goal, she is laser-focused on persuading companies to relocate to the area. She aims to create enough jobs to encourage youth to stay, instead of moving to other cities to […]
REBECCA McHALE
Some job applicants might have been intimidated by the opportunity to integrate three information systems into one due to a massive merger of Perspecta Inc., Northrop Grumman Corp.’s federal IT and mission support services and Peraton, a national security contractor. Not Rebecca McHale. Helping Peraton, which is set to move to Reston in September, undergo […]
Taking the reins
To quote the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made. … It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” In Year Two of our Virginia Business Women in Leadership Awards, we received more than 300 nominations — exceeding last year’s nominations by more than […]
JANET GULLICKSON
Janet Gullickson initially didn’t think much about the importance of being named the first woman president of Germanna Community College in 2017, after having worked in higher education in Colorado, Minnesota and Washington state. “I just thought, ‘Well, women should be in these positions,’” she says. “It shouldn’t be a big deal, but I guess […]
BARBARA D. BOYAN
“I decided at age 10 that I was going to cure arthritis because my mother had it,” says Barbara Boyan, and, in the decades since then, Boyan has never really wavered in her search for treatments. Although Boyan holds a doctorate in biology, she early on saw the value of mastering engineering concepts so that […]
LORI GARRETT
When Lori Garrett was studying architecture at the University of Virginia in the 1980s, she recalls, there wasn’t a women’s restroom near her classrooms. “That changed shortly after I graduated,” Garrett says. “But clearly, in the ’80s, it was very male-dominated.” Garrett went on to oversee the design of buildings at colleges and universities across […]
CAROLYN BISHOP
Virginia529 helps families in the commonwealth afford higher education for children by participating in long-term, tax-advantaged saving programs. And as chief operations officer of the independent state agency, Carolyn Bishop helps oversee its $60 billion in assets distributed across more than 2.5 million accounts. The job is about much more than just managing money, though. […]
SUSAN HORNE
From her local government service to building statewide networks of people and organizations, Susan Horne knows how to connect people. Horne has been involved in Lead Virginia since its inception — first as a member of its steering committee and as a board member and then as a member of its second class in 2006. […]
AMY McDANIEL WILLIAMS
In 2011, Amy McDaniel Williams learned she had breast cancer. The hard-driving finance lawyer realized she needed to slow down and take care of herself. “The diagnosis made me realize that every day is a gift,” she says. In 2015, she created a supportive fitness community for cancer survivors, launching Amy’s Army of Cancer Warriors, […]
KIM ROY
By age 10, Kim Roy knew she wanted to build skyscrapers. Now she leads Hitt Contracting, a $3.3 billion commercial construction business that builds structures across America. Roy is passionate about recruiting women into her firm to help diversify the next generation of leaders in her industry. Women comprise about 10% of the construction workforce […]
