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Recent Articles from Katherine Gustafson
Big Deals: Virginia lands billions in new business investments
Anticipated to create at least 100 jobs apiece, these economic development announcements were some of the largest in Virginia in 2024 and 2025. CENTRAL VIRGINIA Goochland County: Washington-based retail giant Amazon.com announced plans in May to build its fourth Virginia robotics fulfillment center, which will involve a $500 million investment and is expected to create […]
Biotech accelerator launches in Charlottesville
At the beginning of April, the Charlottesville area will enter a new phase in its journey to become a hub for biotech innovation with the launch of the Commonwealth Bio Accelerator. The program will help early-stage biotech companies from the University of Virginia and others in the surrounding region and beyond move from the research […]
Smooth sailing for Virginia’s publicly traded companies, except Boeing
Overall, Virginia’s largest publicly traded companies saw 2024 as a successful year, reflecting the nation’s economic upswing of about 3% each quarter. Except for Boeing and “its ghastly record,” as George Mason University’s Terry Clower memorably said late last year about the Arlington-based Fortune Global 500 aerospace and defense giant. In January 2024, a Boeing […]
UR students launch food startup — for school credit and profit
Lindsay Batten never thought she’d become a CEO before leaving college, but the University of Richmond senior is beginning her final semester as head of a brand-new startup. The company — which will produce a newly conceived pesto Caesar salad dressing called Envee — is the result of a marketing class focused on entrepreneurship, Bench […]
Tiny Cargo gets big local support
In a bid to keep the startup local, the Roanoke Regional Partnership found a 10,800-square-foot warehouse to renovate and looped in Roanoke Valley Development Corp. and Greater Roanoke Valley Development Foundation, which jointly purchased the building and offered Tiny Cargo favorable leasing terms. “If a place has the real estate solution to offer a business, […]
Power up
In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy‘s Grid Deployment Office awarded Dominion Energy a grant of $33.7 million to help make the state’s electrical grid more efficient. The funds, provided through the department’s $3.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program, will support increasing battery storage capacity in rural communities and facilitating[...]
2024 Virginia CFO Awards: Nonprofits: John Zabrowski, VHC Health
VHC Health Chief Financial Officer John Zabrowski zeroed in on accounting and finance early in life, double majoring in the subjects at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and then doing two internships in public accounting after graduation. “I love economics, I love statistics,” he says. “I found that I was really attracted to the […]
2024 Virginia CFO Awards: Large Business: Sean Daily, CAES
Sean Daily, chief financial officer of Arlington County defense technology contractor CAES, didn’t set out to forge a career in defense. But an interest in corporate finance, sparked by an internship at Marriott International, combined with an opportunity to join Lockheed Martin after his graduation from Virginia Tech. Soon enough, “I developed an interest in […]
2024 Virginia CFO Awards: Small Business: Joel Flax, Cohen Investment Group
Joel Flax hadn’t planned on serving as a chief financial officer after retiring from a full-fledged career as an accountant and tax advisor. But it also wasn’t the first time he made an unexpected career shift. In college, he had wanted to be a sportswriter. But shortly after graduating from William & Mary with a […]
Slow and steady
The Lynchburg region has seen the slowest job growth of any metro area in Virginia over the past three years, according to economic analyses, and it typically has a higher unemployment rate than the state average. But there’s more to the story, some officials say. For instance, the Lynchburg region saw 23 inquiries from economic […]
