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Recent Articles from Virginia Business
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2025: SCHOFIELD, JENNIFER
With 34 years of theme park industry experience, Schofield started her new role on May 31, succeeding Bridgette Bywater as head of the 400-acre amusement park following corporate restructuring. Previously vice president of retail at the Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio, Schofield holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality and tourism management from Grand Valley […]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2025: JOHNSON, DWAYNE ‘THE ROCK’
Known as “The Rock,” Johnson shot to fame as a professional wrestler and is now one of the nation’s most popular and prolific movie and TV actors. He’s also been a relatively quiet resident of Virginia for several years, although for its 2024 Men of the Year issue, GQ interviewed him at the Orange County […]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2025: EDMUNDS, ANDY
Edmunds originally began his career in the music industry. As a musician and songwriter, he produced a video for MTV, thus beginning his love affair with film production. As director of the Virginia Film Office since 2011, Edmunds helps land TV and film projects that touch all parts of the commonwealth’s economy, from buying office […]
Agriculture 2025: SINK, SCOTT E.
The Virginia Farm Bureau Federation has new leadership for the first time in 18 years. During the December 2024 annual meeting, voting delegates picked Sink as the leader of the state’s largest farmers’ advocacy group after Wayne Pryor decided not to seek re-election at the end of his ninth term. Growing up on a multigenerational […]
Agriculture 2025: GUM, DAVID
National Fruit Product Co. sells apple products ranging from applesauce to juice to vinegar, mostly under the White House Foods label. In an October 2024 episode of the “Conversations on Leadership with Dr. Dave” podcast, Gum said much of the operation is automated and that the company has about 150 employees. National Fruit Product has been […]
Agriculture 2025: HEATWOLE, CORWIN
Sixth-generation chicken farmer Heatwole started his humane, sustainable and traceable chicken company in 2014. Originally named Shenandoah Valley Organic but rebranded as Farmer Focus in 2020, the company lets farmers own their flocks, make key decisions and receive fair compensation. Farmer Focus has more than 120 farming partners and more than 1,300 team members. In […]
Agriculture 2025: HOUFF, NEIL A.
Starting as a liquid fertilizer business on a Shenandoah family farm in 1975, Houff Corp. grew to provide a range of agricultural and industrial services, including agronomy, supply chain solutions, transloading and biosolids management. Houff, who earned an agriculture education degree from Virginia Tech, has been the corporation’s president since the early 1990s. In recent […]
Agriculture 2025: SMITH, SHANE
Smith became CEO and president of Smithfield Foods in 2021, just as the world’s largest pork product manufacturer and hog producer announced an end to slaughter operations in its hometown of Smithfield, the country’s self- proclaimed “ham capital.” In January, Smithfield launched its initial public offering of 26 million stock shares at $20 per share […]
Agriculture 2025: LOHR, MATTHEW J.
With a combined annual economic impact of more than $105 billion, agriculture and forestry provide more than 490,000 jobs in Virginia. Lohr’s office and its three agencies oversee these industries among other duties, including supporting rural economic development. Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry since January 2022, Lohr previously served as a three-term state delegat[...]
Law 2025: PEYTON, JANET P.
Leader of the state’s largest law firm’s Richmond office since 2023, Peyton is an attorney who specializes in intellectual property and data privacy and security. Working with clients in a wide range of industries, including retail, manufacturing and higher education, Peyton assists with strategic management of U.S. and foreign trademark portfolios, licensing and transactional intellec[...]
