Recent Articles from Virginia Business
Law 2024: JOHN ‘JACK’ LAVOIE
Joining Cooley in 2008, Lavoie leads the firm’s real estate practice group. His practice centers on real estate transactions, including buying, selling, developing and leasing office, industrial and retail properties. Lavoie represents landlords, tenants, lenders and borrowers in the leasing, financing and repositioning of commercial property in the Washington, D.C, area and the mid-Atlantic reg[...]
Law 2024: A. BENJAMIN SPENCER
James Randolph Spencer was the first Black federal judge in Virginia and, later, the first Black chief judge serving on the Eastern District of Virginia bench. His wife, Margaret P. Spencer, was a 13th Judicial Circuit judge for 16 years, as well as a law professor at William & Mary. Their son Benjamin Spencer is […]
Real Estate 2024: BYRON L. BOSTON
Dynex Capital, a real estate investment trust, reported about $6.37 billion in total assets at the end of last year, compared with about $3.61 billion in 2022, with a strong fourth quarter capping a volatile year for REITs because of inflation and high interest rates. A St. Louis native, Boston joined Dynex in 2008 as […]
Real Estate 2024: MILES LEON
As leader of one of the largest real estate development companies in the Southeastern United States, Leon is responsible for all company operations and new business development. Founded in 1906, the firm has a property management portfolio exceeding 30,000 multifamily units. Among other deals, the company is handling Texas convenience store chain Buc-ee’s expansion into the commonwealth, [&hel[...]
Retail 2024: GEOFFREY POHANKA
Pohanka’s family has been selling cars since Frank Pohanka opened a Washington, D.C., dealership in 1919. Today, the family’s business, headed by Frank’s grandson Geoffrey, has 20 locations in Virginia, Maryland and Texas, and is the third largest Virginia-based auto dealership. It had revenue of $1.8 billion and more than 1,400 employees in 2023. Geoffrey’s […]
Transportation 2024: RANDY CLARKE
Clarke took leadership of WMATA in 2022 and since has been working to increase ridership and add fleets to the Metrorail and Metrobus. One of the transportation system’s biggest challenges has been its budget, with ridership way down from the pandemic and construction costs up during recent inflation. However, Metro avoided a $750 million shortfall […]
Living Legends 2024: JIM McGLOTHLIN
McGlothlin’s story begins in Grundy, where he practiced law as a partner at the firm of Street, Street & McGlothlin until 1970. That year, he became founding partner of United Coal Co., which became a billion-dollar business by the time it was sold in 2009 to a Ukrainian billionaire’s company. The William & Mary alumnus […]
Banking | Finance 2024: JEFF BENTLEY
In September 2023, the Washington Commanders announced a multiyear partnership with Northwest Federal, making it the official credit union of the team and, for a few months, former Commanders quarterback Sam Howell was NWFCU’s spokesperson before being traded to the Seattle Seahawks. Bentley has more than three decades of experience in consumer and commercial lending. […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: GARY J. SHAPIRO
Lawyer, author and lobbyist Shapiro is the longtime leader of the Consumer Technology Association, a trade organization representing more than 1,300 consumer technology companies. CTA owns and produces CES, the world’s largest consumer technology trade show, which has been held in Las Vegas since 1978. With more than three decades at CTA’s helm, Shapiro has […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: JOHN USTICA
Before being named president and CEO in October 2022 of Siemens Government Technologies, the U.S. contracting arm of German tech conglomerate Siemens, Ustica served as its senior vice president and chief financial officer. Now, he oversees a government contracting firm focused on securing and modernizing technology infrastructure. Before joining SGT in 2018, Ustica was a […]