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Recent Articles from Virginia Business
Economic Development 2023: JONATHAN S. BELCHER
In addition to leading the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, Belcher has also headed up the Virginia Coalfields Expressway Authority since 2020. This year, the Virginia Department of Transportation received $7 million from the federal government, which the expressway authority will use to widen a 2-mile stretch of U.S. Route 460 in Buchanan County into […]
Economic Development 2023: TELLY TUCKER
A graduate of James Madison University, Tucker previously was director of Arlington Economic Development, and also served five years as director of economic development for Danville, before returning to Southern Virginia in May 2022 to head up IALR, a regional hub for advanced manufacturing training initiatives and economic development. This year, IALR’s Accelerated Training in […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: ELIZABETH ‘LIZA’ MYERS BORCHES
Founded in 1924 by Borches’ great-grandfather, Carter Myers Automotive is Virginia’s fifth largest car sales group; it garnered $933 million in revenue during fiscal year 2022 and employs more than 1,000 people in Virginia. Since 2012, when Borches became CEO, CMA has grown to 23 dealerships. In September 2022, the company purchased Lynchburg’s Craft Automotive […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: DENNIS ELLMER
Ellmer launched Priority Auto in 1999 with the acquisition of two dealerships in Chesapeake. By 2023. he grew the business to No. 55 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealer groups in the U.S., based on the 14,447 new vehicles the dealership sold in 2022. In June, auto retail giant Lithia Motors announced […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: MARY McDUFFIE
This year marks the 90th birthday of Navy Federal, the world’s largest credit union. As a leader focused on helping others thrive, McDuffie sees this milestone as an occasion to celebrate the credit union’s dedication to its members, writing on LinkedIn, “I’m thankful every day to be part of an organization that puts its people […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: ALBERTO SCHIAVON
Schiavon, who joined Elephant Auto Insurance in 2017 as its head of marketing and pricing, became CEO just eight months later. The Italian executive (who shares a name with an Italian Olympic snowboarder) earned his MBA from the University of Manchester in England and his undergraduate engineering degree at the University of Padova in Italy. […]
Manufacturing 2023: WILLIAM ‘BILLY’ GIFFORD JR.
Gifford became Fortune 500 tobacco product manufacturer Altria’s CEO in 2020, after having served as president and CEO of subsidiary Philip Morris USA and holding other executive posts at Altria for the past 25 years. After four challenging years, during which Altria saw the value of its 35% stake in Juul Labs’ e-cigarette company plummet […]
Nonprofits | Philanthropy 2023: ELIZABETH A. McCLANAHAN
McClanahan brings a wealth of experiences in law, leadership and higher education to her role as CEO of the Virginia Tech Foundation. A lifelong Virginian and former justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia, her ties to the university go back much further than her current position, which she took up in 2021. She has […]
Telecommunications 2023: ERNEST ‘ERNIE’ ORTEGA
Ortega began 2023 by announcing GTT had completed its financial restructuring and was marking “the beginning of an important new chapter” as a “customer-focused managed services provider.” Two weeks later, he revealed the company’s new marketing tagline, “Making exceptional possible.” In 2021, the global provider of managed network and security services sold its infrastructure divi[...]
Professional Services 2023: JEREMY BLANK
Blank has worked at Big Four global accounting firm Deloitte since 1995, moving from a tax practice partner at the accounting firm to his current market leader position in January 2022. His expertise includes tax research and analysis, tax planning, mergers and acquisitions, tax technology and compliance. In fiscal year 2022, Deloitte reported record revenues […]
