Recent Articles from Jason Roop
Dollar Tree launches digital media network
Chesapeake-based Fortune 500 discount retailer Dollar Tree has launched a digital media arm that aims to connect advertisers with potential customers via its Family Dollar retail brand, it announced today. Dollar Tree says its new venture, the Chesapeake Media Group, will offer services that help companies place ads on Family Dollar’s website and mobile app […]
Henrico-based The Hilb Group announces four acquisitions
Henrico County-based insurance company The Hilb Group LLC (THG) announced a series of acquisitions in the last three weeks, bringing its total offices to more than 100 in 22 states. The company has been focused on acquisitions in recent years. Founded in 2009, THG has been a portfolio company of Washington, D.C.-based investment management company […]
U.Va. names new engineering school dean
The School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia announced Friday the appointment of its first female dean, Jennifer L. West. She will start July 1. A researcher, inventor and entrepreneur, West comes from Duke University, where she’s been associate dean of doctoral education for a little more than six years at […]
BWX Technologies lands $2.2B in naval nuclear contracts
Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies Inc. has landed $2.2 billion in U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts, the nuclear components and fuel supplier announced Tuesday. Approximately half of the contract was awarded in the first quarter of the year, with the rest as options subject to congressional appropriations, according to the company, which employs approximately 6,600 people […]
$59.6M hydroponic operation coming to Va. Beach
Agriculture startup Sunny Farms LLC plans to build a $59.6 million, 32-acre hydroponic operation in Virginia Beach — creating 155 jobs and one of the largest greenhouses on the East Coast, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. The facility, which will cover 1.2 million square feet when completed in three years, will be located at […]
3Pillar Global closes third acquisition within year
Fairfax-based product lifecycle management company 3Pillar Global Inc. has completed an acquisition of North Carolina-based software firm Software Development Europe, it announced Tuesday. It’s the third acquisition for 3Pillar during the past year — part of a growth strategy fueled by an investment from New York-based private equity investor CIP Capital, according to 3Pillar. The […]
United Methodist Family Services gets new chief
Nancy Toscano has become president and CEO of United Methodist Family Services (UMFS), a 121-year-old nonprofit statewide provider of social services programs for high-risk children and parents. Promoted from chief operating officer, Toscano succeeds Greg Peters, who is retiring after more than 20 years leading the Richmond-based nonprofit. Toscano, who was named to the role […]
Fed says Fifth District economy shows moderate growth
The economy has grown “moderately” in recent weeks, with strong production increases, employment rising and consumer spending up in the Federal Reserve’s Fifth District, which includes Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland, according to the latest edition of the Fed’s Beige Book, released Wednesday. The Beige Book, which is published eight times [&hel[...]
Mary Baldwin University announces $5 million gift
William H. “Bill” Goodwin Jr. and his wife, Alice, have made a $5 million gift to Mary Baldwin University to fund the launch of a new hybrid doctor of nursing practice degree program. The prominent Richmond philanthropic couple, who have given tens of millions of dollars to charitable causes, said in a statement that they […]
Economic development consultancy taps Roanoke partner
Longtime economic development executive John J. Smolak has joined Sanford Holshouser Economic Development Consulting (SHEDC) as a partner, the Raleigh, North Carolina-based consultancy announced this week. Smolak, who will be based in Roanoke, worked for 25 years with Appalachian Power. He’s well known in the Southwest Virginia region, where he will help the firm expand, […]