Recent Articles from Virginia Business
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: GEORGE, MICHAEL
A 40-year hospitality industry veteran, George founded Crescent Hotels & Resorts in 2001. The company operates more than 120 properties in the U.S and Canada. Its hotel portfolio includes Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt and InterContinental Hotels Group brands, along with the Latitudes: Lifestyles by Crescent collection of independent hotels and resorts. In 2024, the company announced […]
Health Care 2025: SAMPSON, AMY
Since 2023, Sampson has led Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters, where she oversees 4,000 employees. She has worked for the pediatric health system for about 35 years. Established in 1961, CHKD offers neonatal and pediatric intensive care, cancer care, acute inpatient rehabilitation, and medical and surgical care, as well as transitional care. Additionally, the […]
Health Care 2025: MATHEIS, DENNIS
Matheis has led Sentara Health, a not-for-profit health system with 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, since 2022, overseeing more than 34,000 workers. Sentara broke ground in October 2024 on a $107 million, 42-bed acute care hospital in South Boston expected to open in summer 2026. After the health system said in April it […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: EVANGELISTA, ALLIE
A native of Brazil, Evangelista arrived in Bristol in 2022 with more than 20 years of experience in hospitality and gaming. She previously worked for Penn National Gaming and joined Hard Rock to lead the state’s first casino, which opened three years ago in a temporary home. Since then, the $515 million Hard Rock Hotel […]
Health Care 2025: FRIEDLANDER, MICHAEL J.
As founder and head of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Friedlander leads 40 research teams with more than 450 faculty, staff and students working together to solve major health challenges, including brain disorders, heart disease and cancer. Under his leadership, the institute, which was founded in 2010, had been awarded more than $379 […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: DESAI, NEEL
Desai joined LTD Hospitality Group in 1998 as the second generation of the family-owned hotel development and management company co-founded by Desai’s father in 1983. As a managing principal, he oversees property management and the profitability of its portfolio. Following in those entrepreneurial footsteps, Desai invested in Dallas-based fast food franchise Super Chix Chicken & Custard[...]
Health Care 2025: McBRIDE, MAUREEN
Since 2023, McBride has been CEO of UNOS, the nonprofit that has managed the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) for more than four decades. UNOS has come under congressional scrutiny in recent years, and a law signed in September 2023 authorized the Health Resources & Services Administration to break the OPTN management contract […]
Health Care 2025: SHANNON, ERIK
Shannon has overseen this division of UVA Health since 2021, starting as an interim chief executive and then as permanent CEO. With about 2,700 employees, UVA Community Health includes three Northern Virginia hospitals — Prince William Medical Center, Haymarket Medical Center and Culpeper Medical Center — as well as an integrated network of medical practices, […]
Health Care 2025: JUST, DR. J. SCOTT
A former ER doctor, Just has been CEO of UVA Physicians Group since 2023. Founded in 1979, the nonprofit university-associated organization supports UVA Health physicians and providers at U.Va. Medical Center and numerous clinical practice group locations. More than 1,100 University of Virginia clinical faculty members were dually employed by UPG and U.Va.’s medical school […]
Health Care 2025: TUGMAN, RICHARD
Tugman became president and CEO of Centra Health in October 2024, after serving in an interim capacity since Amy Carrier’s departure in March 2024. The regional nonprofit health system serves more than 500,000 people and has four hospitals along with numerous primary care and specialty practices. Tugman was previously CEO of Piedmont Community Health Plan, […]



















