Recent Articles from Virginia Business
Manufacturing 2023: ROB COLLIER
Collier has worked for ChemTreat, an industrial water treatment company owned by Danaher, two different times. His first stint was from 2012 to 2018, when he was in the marketing department. He left to become president of Danaher subsidiary McCrometer, a California-based flow meter manufacturer, and returned to ChemTreat in 2020 as senior vice president […]
Manufacturing 2023: CHRIS KEFFER
Keffer took over leadership of U.S. operations for German chainsaw and power tools manufacturer Stihl in early August, after joining the company in 2022 as vice president for sales and marketing. He previously spent about two decades with Stanley Black and Decker. He replaced Terry Horan, who led the division for a little more than […]
Transportation 2023: JERROLD ‘JERRY’ MILLER
A veteran in the region’s ship repair industry, Miller is spearheading the $100 million development of Fairwinds Landing, a maritime operations and logistics hub supporting Hampton Roads’ offshore wind, defense and transportation industries. The 111-acre project at Norfolk Southern Corp.’s Lambert’s Points Docks in Norfolk across from Portsmouth Marine Terminal is a joint v[...]
Professional Services 2023: GLORIA BOHAN
In May, Bohan received the 2023 Hall of Fame Cruise Industry Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cruise Lines International Association, the latest of many honors recognizing her work leading one of the largest woman-owned businesses in the Washington, D.C., region. Bohan, who also received a lifetime achievement award from Travel Weekly magazine in 2021, started […]
Law 2023: JOHN M. RAMIREZ
Ramirez has headed Troutman Pepper’s Virginia Beach office for seven years. He joined the 125-year-old global law firm in 2005 and handles mergers and acquisitions, general corporate and limited liability company matters, joint ventures, private equity and licensing transactions. He also serves as outside general counsel to local and national businesses. Recognized nationally, Ramirez has [&[...]
Real Estate 2023: BRETT HITT
Hitt’s grandparents started the family business in 1930, now one of Virginia’s biggest general contracting firms, earning $5.41 billion in 2022 construction revenue and landing in the top 20 of Engineering News-Record’s 2023 Top Contractors list. Hitt joined his family’s company as an assistant project manager in 1984. He rose through the ranks to become […]
Real Estate 2023: C. LEE WARFIELD
Warfield has led Thalhimer, one of the state’s oldest and largest commercial real estate firms, since 2016. Thalhimer Realty Partners, one of the company’s subsidiaries, is part of the team developing Richmond’s $2.44 billion Diamond District, a mixed-use project that will include a replacement baseball stadium for the Double-A Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team. Richmond [&[...]
Economic Development 2023: NANCY L. GRDEN
In April, Grden oversaw the merger of Reinvent Hampton Roads, which she had led since 2022, with the Hampton Roads Business Roundtable to form the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable. Grden will lead the new organization, which is focused on realigning the region’s economic development initiatives to boost growth. For the past seven years, Reinvent Hampton […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: REGGIE AGGARWAL
Cvent is a market-leading meeting, events and hospitality technology provider based in McLean. Originally trained as a lawyer, Cvent CEO Aggarwal received degrees from the University of Virginia, Washington and Lee University and Georgetown University Law Center. But he was seduced from the law by events management. After staging several hundred events as president of […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: JERRY MURRELL
Five Guys founder Murrell’s mother always told him, “If you can give a good haircut, or if you can serve a good drink at a bar, or if you can serve a good hamburger, you can always make money in America.” His mom was right. Husband and wife Jerry and Janie Murrell opened a carryout […]



















