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Recent Articles from Virginia Business
Law 2023: LAURA FOOTE REIFF
A longtime immigration advocate, Reiff has 30-plus years of experience representing businesses and organizations in the immigration and compliance field. She oversees more than 50 attorneys as co-managing shareholder of the firm’s Northern Virginia office, a regional hub for the global firm. She is also co-founder of Greenberg Traurig’s Business and Immigration and Compliance group, [&[...]
Law 2023: A. BENJAMIN SPENCER
In 2020, Spencer became the first Black dean to lead William & Mary Law School. A year later, he was awarded the Marshall-Wythe School of Law Foundation Trustee Professorship. He previously held professorships and academic appointments at Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Law School, University of Virginia School of Law and others. Spencer started his […]
2023 Virginia 500: Education
Makola M. Abdullah PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY, ETTRICK Javaune Adams-Gaston PRESIDENT, NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY, NORFOLK Jonathan R. Alger PRESIDENT, JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, HARRISONBURG Peter Blake DIRECTOR, STATE COUNCIL OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOR VIRGINIA, RICHMOND Lance R. Collins VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA TECH INNOVA[...]
Agriculture 2023: MATTHEW J. LOHR
Lohr has worked in agriculture and public service for his entire career. As Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry since January 2022, he manages an 810-employee department that oversees Virginia’s largest private sector, which has an annual economic impact of over $105 billion. A three-term state delegate and former commissioner of the Virginia Department of […]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2023: KEVIN W. LEMBKE
Lembke has spent his entire career in the amusement park industry, starting at SeaWorld Orlando in 2000, and he’s been president of Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA since 2018 (except for a brief break in 2019). In preparation for the park’s 2023 season, he oversaw the opening of two new rides: DarKoaster, an […]
Economic Development 2023: CAREN MERRICK
After 25 years as a Virginia business founder and leader, Merrick was appointed the commonwealth’s secretary of trade and commerce in early 2022, her first role in state government. She helped encourage Amazon Web Services to invest $35 billion to build multiple data center campuses across the state, an initiative announced in January. She also […]
Education 2023: MICHAEL RAO
In his 14th year at VCU, Rao has had a year of ups and downs. VCU opened its $125 million STEM building in April, and in May it announced an $18 million donation from Washington, D.C.-based real estate analytics company CoStar Group to build an academic building for arts and innovation. However, VCU Health made […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: MEHUL P. SANGHANI
A Virginia Tech graduate, Sanghani runs one of the fastest growing federal contractors in Virginia’s tech sector. In December 2022, IBM announced it would purchase Octo from Arlington Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum, and Octo is now a part of IBM Consulting’s U.S. public and federal market arm. Born in India, Sanghani was raised […]
Health Care 2023: LT. GEN. TELITA CROSLAND
Previously deputy surgeon general for the U.S. Army, Crosland became director of the Defense Health Agency in January, following her confirmation last year by the U.S. Senate. With a staff of nearly 140,000 civilians and military personnel and a budget of more than $54 billion, the decade-old Defense Health Agency is responsible for providing medical […]
Manufacturing 2023: ASHLEY B. SMITH
Smith, the third generation of his family to lead the precast concrete company, became CEO in 2018 and board chairman in 2022. The Fauquier County business was started by his grandfather, David G. Smith, in 1960 as Smith-Cattleguard, named for its concrete cattleguard innovation. By 1995, Smith-Midland was a publicly traded company. Today, the company […]
