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100 People to Meet in 2025: Storytellers

Dating back to Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner, Virginia has hosted its fair share of writers and creative types, a rich tradition that these Virginians carry into the present.

I.S. Berry

Author, “The Peacock and The Sparrow,” Fairfax Station

I.S. Berry flirted with writing even before earning her law degree at the University of Virginia and joining the CIA, where she spent six years as a spy, including in Baghdad from 2004 to 2005. In her first novel, 2023’s “The Peacock and The Sparrow” about a disillusioned spy stationed in the Middle East during the Arab Spring, Berry found a good prism to spin a tale. It also allowed her to channel some of her own experiences; espionage, she says, took a toll on her, and the role was fraught with murky decision-making.

The book landed on numerous “best of” lists and garnered multiple awards, including an Edgar Award for best first novel. Berry is at work on her second novel, another spy thriller.

Marland Buckner

President and CEO, Shockoe Institute, Richmond

Marland Buckner, who spent years in Washington, D.C., as the government affairs director for Microsoft, joined the Shockoe Institute in 2023. It’s the first step of The Shockoe Project, a 10-acre indoor and outdoor historic venue that will include a national slavery museum and provide context for archaeological sites in downtown Richmond, a center for commerce and the slave trade before the U.S. Civil War.

Funded partly with an $11 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, the institute’s goal is to put today’s issues and events into a fact-based, historical context to help visitors consider them in new ways. The former Main Street Station train shed will house the institute’s public exhibition, which is expected to open in late 2025.

Buckner previously served as interim executive director of Richmond’s Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.

Evan Friss

Professor, James Madison University; author, “The Bookshop,” Harrisonburg

Fifteen years ago, associate history professor Friss had an idea for a book about bookstores but set it aside. He went on to write “The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s” and “On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City,” both of which found relatively small audiences.

Not so for “The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore,” which came out in August and immediately made The New York Times’ bestseller list, among others. Capturing the imagination of a reading public that has increased since the pandemic, the book tells a larger narrative about the history of the bookstore and its central place in America’s cultural life. “It says something about the state of reading today that a book about bookstores is on the bestseller list,” Friss says.

Sarah McCammon

National political correspondent, NPR; author, “The Exvangelicals,” Norfolk

Sarah McCammon grew up in an evangelical Christian household during the 1980s and 1990s. Her work covering President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for NPR helped set the stage for her first book, released by Macmillan Publishers in March. The book, which is part memoir, part nonfiction journalism, outlines the disillusionment some evangelicals have felt after coming of age with the Republican Party as it has taken a far right turn amid more recent social justice movements, including Black Lives Matter and #MeToo.

The book was a fast bestseller, reaching No. 14 on The New York Times’ nonfiction hardcover list.

McCammon, who splits her time between Norfolk and Washington, D.C., says she has an idea for a new book brewing. 

Check out the rest of our 100 People to Meet in 2025.

100 People to Meet in 2025: Angels

Helping the sick, improving workplaces for health care workers and researching illnesses, these Virginians put others’ needs ahead of their own, making the commonwealth a better place.

Sarah Henshaw

Nursing senior director, Carilion Clinic Cardiovascular Institute, Roanoke

While studying nursing at Radford University, Sarah Henshaw worked as a nursing assistant at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. She liked it so much she stayed put after graduation.

Henshaw planned to spend her entire career as a bedside nurse, until a supervisor told her to think about management. This appealed to her, being able to use her voice to ensure other nurses get what they need to deliver quality care.

In 2018, Henshaw became a unit director — a supervisor of other nurses. Four years later, Carilion promoted her to a senior director role, managing other unit directors. 

As if her high-powered career and being a single mom to two kids isn’t enough to keep her busy, Henshaw shares her passion for wellness working as a personal trainer at Roanoke’s Ferguson Fitness.

Dr. Juan Montero

Founder and president, Montero Medical Missions, Chesapeake

Dr. Juan Montero’s personal medical mission began when he immigrated from Mindanao, an island in the Philippines, at age 24 in 1966. He came to Norfolk as a post-graduate trainee in general surgery at DePaul Hospital, which closed in 2021. He went on to hold a thoracic fellowship at the University of Virginia and practiced thoracic surgery until 2007.

Meanwhile, Montero established Chesapeake Care Clinic in 1992, which remains one of the most comprehensive free clinics in the U.S., he says. It’s open to all uninsured and underserved people who qualify under the 300% federal poverty level of the 1.7 million people of Hampton Roads.

In September, he was inducted into the prestigious American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators as an associate member.

Dr. Steve Ondra

Vice president of Center for Transforming Health and director of CMS Alliance to Modernize HealthCare, Mitre, McLean

A neurosurgeon and Army veteran, Dr. Steve Ondra has a long and storied history in health care, having served as a senior health policy adviser for health affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs during the Obama administration and as interim chair of neurological surgery at Northwestern University’s medical school.

In July, he began overseeing not-for-profit public interest firm Mitre’s Center for Transforming Health and the CMS Alliance to Modernize Healthcare (Health FFRDC), which advises federal government agencies on providing health care more equitably. Ondra joined Mitre in 2022 and was chief medical adviser and acting managing director of the Health FFRDC.

A graduate of West Point, Ondra was awarded a Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal for his service during combat deployments in operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

Monét Roberts

Assistant professor, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg

Monét Roberts is carrying on the legacy of the “Mother of Modern Medicine,” Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman born in Roanoke whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line. These cells were cultured and expanded without her knowledge or consent in 1951, the year she died from cancer in Baltimore. Lacks’ story became known broadly in 2010, with the publishing of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”

In February, Roberts received the inaugural Henrietta Lacks Legacy Award by Young Doctors Roanoke, in recognition of her cancer research. She founded the Roberts Glyco-Diversity Lab, where her research focuses on sugars on the surface of cells and how increases or changes in these sugars can prompt cancer.

The findings from her lab could be applied to age-related diseases and women’s reproductive health, says Roberts, who earned her master’s degree and doctorate in biomedical engineering from Cornell University.

Coleen Santa Ana

CEO and managing partner, Alere Care Solutions; founder, Luminary Lens, Virginia Beach

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated massive gaps in the U.S. health care system. In her role as CEO and managing partner of Virginia Beach-based Alere Care Solutions, Coleen Santa Ana is dedicated to connecting health care employers with skilled workers to strengthen the industry’s workforce. This places her among the 13% of women CEOs in the health care industry.

Alere Care Solutions goes beyond just filling vacancies, she says, and takes into consideration “ethical recruitment” that helps health care systems address staffing shortages, reduce turnover, enhance patient care and operate more efficiently.

The former Sentara hospital president started her career at the ripe age of 15 volunteering at a hospital. She also founded a “coach-sulting” business, Luminary Lens, which provides consulting, coaching and leadership training services.

100 People to Meet in 2024

Virginia is full of interesting people, and when it comes to this year’s batch of 100 people to meet for 2024, the commonwealth continues to deliver a bevy of fascinating newsmakers, professionals and go-getters worthy of your valuable networking time.

In Virginia Business’ fifth annual list of people to meet in the new year, you’ll find up-and-coming entrepreneurs, influential attorneys, nonprofit leaders, educators and health care executives. And in addition to people you’d expect to see in the pages of a business magazine, you’ll also find some extraordinary folks to get to know: two best-selling novelists, a popular Minor League Baseball announcer, a Netflix-famous true crime podcaster, a viral country music sensation and a TikToker famous for imitating German film director Werner Herzog.

You’ll definitely find some people here you’ll want to introduce yourself to in 2024. As always, you can break the ice by saying you read about them in Virginia Business.

Find their profiles in the below categories:

Angels

Builders

Educators

Go-Getters

Hosts

Impact Makers

Innovators

New Folks

Public Faces

Rainmakers

Storytellers

100 People to Meet in 2024: Storytellers

Dating back to Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner, Virginia has hosted its fair share of writers and creative types, a rich tradition that these Virginians carry into the present.

S.A. Cosby

Author
Gloucester

Before his writing career took off, S.A. Cosby, who goes by Shawn, worked a lot of jobs similar to the characters in his novels — bouncer, forklift driver, landscaper, construction worker. It took a couple of decades and a lot of rejections until he caught a break, finding a Manhattan-based literary agent.

Today, Cosby’s a celebrated “Southern noir” author whose crime novels are set in familiar places in rural Virginia, like Mathews County, where he grew up, and Gloucester County. 

His 2020 novel, “Blacktop Wasteland,” received critical acclaim; subsequent novels “Razorblade Tears” and “All the Sinners Bleed” have been New York Times bestsellers and landed on several “best of” reading lists, including former President Barack Obama’s.

The first time Obama singled out one of his novels was “surreal,” Cosby says, thinking he’d reached his pinnacle. “The second time, it makes you feel like, ‘OK, what is happening?’”

Barbara Kingsolver

Author and poet
Washington County

Celebrated author Barbara Kingsolver grew up in Nicholas County, Kentucky, though she later learned of family roots in Virginia’s Washington County. She has also lived in the Republic of Congo, France, Arizona and the Canary Islands, but in 1993, a fellowship at then-Emory & Henry College brought her to Virginia, where the mother of two moved full-time in 2004.

Her novels generally center on social justice issues. Her most recent, “Demon Copperhead,” won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for literature. A retelling of Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” set in Southwest Virginia, it tackles the opioids crisis and rural poverty. Her 1998 novel, “The Poisonwood Bible” was also a Pulitzer finalist.

In 2000, Kingsolver established the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, which awards a publishing contract and $25,000 to the author of an unpublished novel every other year.

John Park

Co-owner and co-founder, The JPG Agency
Roanoke

John Park spent 19 years as a financial planner, but digital storytelling — especially about food — is his true calling. In 2018, Park co-founded his marketing agency to help restaurants and other small businesses with digital marketing and managing their social media presences. An avid foodie and food photographer, Park is perhaps best known for his “Hungry Asian” (@hungryasianrke) Instagram account, which has grown to more than 10,000 followers over the past decade. “I don’t consider myself an influencer,” Park says. “To me, it’s just a way to share my life and food journey, mainly through the Southeast.”

Courteney Stuart

Podcast host, “Small Town, Big Crime”; radio host, WINA
Charlottesville

A longtime journalist and local radio news host, Courteney Stuart switched mediums several times while pursuing her love of investigative journalism, including stints in TV news, radio and podcasting. “I’ve sort of been cavorting through the media landscape in Charlottesville,” she says. “I love stories.”

In 2019, Stuart and her “Small Town, Big Crime” podcast co-host, Rachel Ryan, began investigating a notorious 1985 Virginia double murder. Jens Soering, then a University of Virginia student from Germany, was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend’s parents in their Bedford County home; his girlfriend and fellow U.Va. student, Elizabeth Haysom, was convicted of two counts of accessory before the fact. But there have long been questions about Soering’s guilt, even among some law enforcement officers, an angle Stuart and Ryan examined.

In November, Stuart was featured in Netflix’s “Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom,” which quickly shot to the streaming platform’s No. 1 show in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. A second podcast season, covering a new case, is coming soon.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Public Faces

From the commander of the world’s largest naval base to a viral, small-town country music sensation, these people are highly visible representatives of their communities and industries.

Oliver Anthony

Singer and songwriter
Farmville

You would have had to be living under a big rock not to hear about the splash country-folk singer Oliver Anthony — the stage name of Farmville resident Christopher Anthony Lunsford — made this summer with his viral song “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Despite not having the same corporate backing as, say, Taylor Swift, Anthony’s populist-libertarian anthem about Washington, D.C., politicians hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in August, and as of early November, the song’s YouTube video had 89.5 million views. In September, Anthony signed with Nashville-based United Talent Agency and announced he will be recording his first full album in January — outdoors. He’s scheduled to play the ServPro Pavilion in Doswell on May 17, 2024.

Eric Bach

Broadcasting and media relations manager, Fredericksburg Nationals
Fredericksburg

The voice of the Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals Minor League Baseball team, Eric Bach is, by the time you read this, relaxing in the offseason and traveling to see friends and family, as well as officiating high school and college basketball and football games. In the spring and summer, though, “it’s six games a week and it’s 132 games in sixish months,” he notes. “It’s 75-, 80-hour weeks during the season. But you know, we all are here because we love baseball, right?” As the only openly gay MiLB broadcaster in the nation, Bach is a rarity, a fact noted in a July feature about him in The New York Times. “Visibility is so important,” says Bach, who hopes to work one day for a major league team. “Just the fact that you’re existing in that space is pretty profound for a lot of people.”

Angela Costello

Vice president of communications and marketing, Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp.
Norfolk

A longtime marketing strategist who started her own video company in 1989, Angela Costello is using her skills to build interest in VIPC, the state’s tech innovation not-for-profit corporation, which connects entrepreneurs with funding, training and mentors. An aviation lover, Costello is a licensed pilot who flies drones too. A graduate of Virginia Wesleyan University and the Harvard Kennedy School, Costello is a certified chaplain. In 2017, her virtual reality company, SwivelVR, produced what was billed as the first live VR concert, which allowed fans to watch and interact with a streaming concert by rock band Matchbox Twenty.

Capt. Janet Days

Commander, Naval Station Norfolk
Norfolk

Capt. Janet Days is the first African American commanding officer of the world’s largest naval base, a post she assumed in February. As a career surface warfare officer, her role as commanding officer of the Norfolk base, which employs 89,000 active-duty military personnel and 52,000 civilian employees, involves ensuring that the Navy’s operational forces have the necessary infrastructure and support for training and operations.

Days comes from a family with a long tradition of military service and values continuing that legacy. Off base, she enjoys traveling with her husband to jazz concerts and is an avid reader.

“I love what I do, and that matters,” she says. “I’ve been serving for a while and could have retired by now, but I’m not ready to yet. If there’s an opportunity to advocate, coach and mentor, I’ll continue to do that.”

Robby Demeria

Chief corporate affairs officer, Phlow
Richmond

A former Virginia deputy secretary of commerce for technology and innovation, Robby Demeria joined Phlow in 2020 as its chief of staff, becoming the pharma company’s chief corporate affairs officer this year. He’s also inaugural board chair of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a cluster of advanced pharmaceutical manufacturers and researchers developing a production hub in the Richmond and Petersburg region. So far, the companies collectively are bringing $500 million in investments to the effort, creating about 350 jobs, Demeria notes proudly. Phlow has a $354 million federal contract to create a domestic supply chain for essential pharmaceutical drugs and ingredients. With its new factories scheduled to be online in early 2024, Phlow has potential to earn a six-year extension on its contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which expires in May 2024.

Hayley DeRoche

Writer and @sadbeige TikTok creator; branch manager, Richmond Public Library
Petersburg

A Richmond Public Library librarian and mom of two, Hayley DeRoche still squeezes in time to create satirical “sad beige clothing for sad beige children” videos for the more than 300,000 followers of the TikTok account she started in 2021 and its accompanying Instagram.

A reaction to marketing of neutral-colored children’s clothes modeled by somber kids, DeRoche’s videos feature catalog pictures and her imitation of stoic German filmmaker Werner Herzog in voiceovers like, “I call this one ‘the faceless misery of existential dread romper.’ $70. Available in cinnamon.” In November, the unthinkable happened: Herzog acknowledged DeRoche’s videos and declared, “A little bit of self-irony is not bad at all, anyway.”

The Petersburg resident has written several humor pieces for McSweeney’s and authored “Hello Lovelies!: A Novel,” an audiobook satirizing mommy blogs. As of early October, DeRoche had a novel and a picture book out for submission. 

John Fishwick Jr.

Attorney and owner, Fishwick & Associates
Roanoke

Lawyer John Fishwick Jr. has become a go-to legal commentator on former President Donald Trump’s court cases over the past year, as well as other high-profile legal matters, including the infamous Murdaugh murders in South Carolina. A former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Fishwick jokes, “Some of the big dogs must not have answered their cell phones,” when he got his first cable news invitation. But with a background in civil rights, federal criminal law and personal injury law, Fishwick is accomplished in his field. Outside of work, he’s an avid tennis player and is aiming to get Congress to rename a federal courthouse in Roanoke for the late civil rights attorney Reuben E. Lawson. “That’s not an easy thing,” Fishwick says, “but we’re in for the long haul.”

Stephen Kirkland

Executive director, Nauticus
Norfolk

Stephen Kirkland used to spend his days as a cruise director on Carnival Cruise Line’s ships traveling around the world. Now he brings cruise ships into Norfolk, an initiative that will majorly expand in 2024 and 2025, when Carnival plans to operate year-round from the cruise terminal in Norfolk. Kirkland built Norfolk’s growing cruise ship program from the ground up, starting as cruise marketing director, and using his relationship-building skills and experience working on cruise ships to bring it to life. Kirkland’s other baby, Nauticus, a maritime discovery center adjacent to the cruise terminal, is also undergoing a multimillion-dollar refresh that will be done at the end of 2024. Working in the cruise industry wasn’t Kirkland’s first career, though. The University of South Carolina graduate got his start in broadcast news.

Linda Peck

Executive director, Norfolk Innovation Corridor and Greater Norfolk Corp.
Norfolk

A Portsmouth native, Linda Peck had a career in corporate finance in Manhattan after earning degrees at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, but she wasn’t passionate about the work. “It wasn’t what I wanted to read about on vacation or think about in the shower,” she says. So, she tried a few other paths, including teaching middle school for 19 years and being executive director of a synagogue before landing at Greater Norfolk Corp., one of the city’s economic development partners, in 2021. Peck became executive director of the Norfolk Innovation Corridor, part of downtown Norfolk zoned to incentivize tech startups focused on sea-level rise and recurrent flooding, and then was named GNC’s executive director in 2022. Through these posts, Peck says, she’s able to “help make Norfolk better” and follow her passions.

Valentina Peleggi

Music director and Lewis T. Booker music director chair, Richmond Symphony
Richmond

Considered a rising star in classical music circles, Valentina Peleggi joined the Richmond Symphony during the 2020-21 season, a less-than-auspicious time for live performances. But since returning to in-person concerts, Peleggi has made up for lost time, guest conducting for the Chicago, Dallas and Baltimore symphonies, and in May 2024, she’s scheduled to conduct “The Barber of Seville” at the Seattle Opera. The Richmond Symphony renewed her contract in September to extend through the 2027-28 season.

With degrees in conducting from Rome’s Conservatorio Santa Cecilia and the Royal Academy of Music of London, Peleggi was resident conductor at the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil and has worked with orchestras around the world. She is a native of Florence, Italy, and was part of a children’s choir directed by Zubin Mehta, conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Chris Piper

Executive director, Virginia Public Access Project
Richmond

Chris Piper has been interested in electoral politics since watching Rock the Vote programming on MTV as a 15-year-old, which led him to his professional purpose: informing voters so they can make the choices that most align with their values.

After serving as state elections commissioner during the Northam administration, Piper joined an election administration consulting firm. In June, he started his newest role: leading VPAP, which keeps politically minded Virginians up to date on campaign finances and statewide races.

The job was a “natural fit,” he says, since he has firsthand knowledge of the workings of state government and had worked in his previous role with former VPAP Executive Director David Poole.

In 2024, VPAP will focus on its next phase, which could include growth beyond Virginia’s borders, says Piper, who has run 14 marathons.

Colleen Shogan

Archivist of the United States
Arlington County

The first woman to serve as the federal government’s head archivist, Colleen Shogan was nominated by President Joe Biden in August 2022 and was sworn in as the nation’s 11th archivist in May. Before starting her new job, Shogan was an associate professor of government and politics at George Mason University, served as director of the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History, worked at the Library of Congress and has published eight D.C.-set murder mystery novels. Speaking at Shogan’s September swearing-in by Chief Justice John Roberts, first lady Jill Biden quoted the new archivist: “[Shogan] said, ‘Although this truth is self-evident, we know from our almost 250 years of American history that it is not self-executing. It’s our job, collectively, to uphold these principles and protect them.’ Well done.”

Jayme Swain

President and CEO, VPM Media/Virginia Foundation for Public Media
Richmond

After 60 years on Sesame Street in Chesterfield County, VPM plans to move in 2026 to a new downtown Richmond building on Broad Street. That’s just one of the changes Jayme Swain has instituted since becoming CEO in 2019 of Virginia’s public television and radio stations serving Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. The new building will have capacity for podcast studios and live performances, as well as up-to-date radio, digital and TV production facilities.

“We are public media, and it felt increasingly isolated in Chesterfield,” says Swain, who looked at about 70 properties before deciding on Broad Street. “Being right in the heart of downtown Richmond better represents the citizens that we serve across the commonwealth.” Also in the works is a rebrand of Style Weekly, the Richmond alternative weekly publication VPM purchased in 2021.

Outside of work, Swain is an avid swimmer who occasionally competes in triathlons and loves to travel.

Renée Turk

Mayor, City of Salem
Salem

A Roanoke College graduate, former teacher, car salesperson and radio station account executive, Renée Turk narrowly lost her 2018 bid for Salem City Council by 79 votes. She decided in 2020 to try again — and succeeded. Then she was chosen by the council to serve as Salem’s first female mayor. Though it’s not a position intended as a full-time job, Turk says, “I’ve gotten out and gone to a lot more things in the community and in the region … because I happen to be retired and have the time. Every single day, I think it’s important for us to communicate with each other and to work together.” Her council term ends in 2024, but Turk plans to run again.

Lakshmi Williams

North America general counsel and corporate secretary, Transurban; board chair, Virginia Chamber of Commerce
Tysons

Lakshmi Williams watches the ribbons of connected roadways that are visible from her Tysons office window and realizes how critical her work is to getting travelers to their destinations. Williams manages legal matters for Australian toll road company Transurban’s North America branch, which operates express lanes throughout Northern Virginia.

“Unlike toll roads, customers can choose if or when to use express lanes,” she explains. “Transportation is on the cusp of exciting changes,” she adds, noting that managed lanes are candidates for the future use of connected autonomous vehicles. In October, Transurban took part in a CAV trial on a closed-off section of the 395 Express Lanes.

As of January, she’s also serving as board chair for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Keeping Virginia ranked as a top state for business is one of her highest priorities, she says.

This feature has been corrected since publication.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Rainmakers

These are the professionals who attract and grow businesses and funding, making the commonwealth wealthier.

Deseria Creighton-Barney

Fundraising campaign tri-chair, Virginia Tech
Chesterfield County

A 1986 communications graduate of Virginia Tech, Deseria Creighton-Barney aims to push 100,000 of her fellow Hokie alums into action to reach the university’s expanded 2023 fundraising goal of $1.872 billion, a nod to Tech’s 1872 founding. In some ways, Creighton-Barney never left Tech, where she serves on the Alumni Advisory Board of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and previously served on the Virginia Tech Foundation board of directors. The HR professional, who is starting her own consulting firm, is a past president of Tech’s Alumni Board of Directors, the first Black woman to hold that position. She’s also active in the 110-year-old Delta Sigma Theta sorority and public service organization.

Katie Cristol

CEO, Tysons Community Alliance
McLean

Starting in the 1960s, Tysons embarked on a development boom that took it from a rural crossroads into an edge city with office parks, corporate headquarters, malls, hotels, apartment buildings and Metro stations. Today, Katie Cristol leads an organization that is sparking the community’s rebirth as a new urban center. Cristol stepped down from the Arlington County Board of Supervisors this year to become the first permanent CEO of the Tysons Community Alliance, the nonprofit advocacy group that replaced the Tysons Partnership last year. Cristol has a passion for the way transportation connects everyone in the region and impacts housing and economic development. “It can really power dramatic opportunities for the residents of the region,” she says.

Dana Cronkhite

Economic development director, Dickenson County
Clintwood

In August 2022, Dana Cronkhite became Dickenson County’s economic development director, a newly created role. A county native, Cronkhite returned home with her daughter and husband after he retired from the Marine Corps. Her background in social work translates to economic development, she says: “Both … are about relationships and being able to advocate for what you need.”

The numerous development projects underway in the Southwest Virginia county include Kentucky-based Addiction Recovery Care’s first facility in Virginia, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2024, depending on licensing and certifications. The 112-bed men’s addiction treatment facility will provide workforce training, which could be customized for an employer in the Red Onion industrial site being built across the road.

Tracy Sayegh Gabriel

President and executive director, National Landing Business Improvement District
Arlington County

Downtown Arlington has undergone significant transformation in the past five years, largely driven by Amazon.com’s HQ2 and substantial investments in residential and commercial development, parks and transportation. Helping to lead the change has been a “dream role,” Tracy Sayegh Gabriel says.

While HQ2 has opened two 22-story office towers, Gabriel says there’s still a need for balanced development of office and residential space, as well as the growth of local businesses.

The business improvement district puts on 200 events a year and plans to launch a National Landing Foundation to support the district’s evolving needs. “We see ourselves as the stewards for managing the incredible transformation underway,” she says. “It’s a unique opportunity because we are the fastest-growing area in the D.C. region.”

Sarah Jane Kirkland

Associate vice president for corporate partnerships, Old Dominion University
Norfolk

Sarah Jane Kirkland started as a ballerina in her native United Kingdom but soon left her hometown of Startford-upon-Avon, Shakepeare’s birthplace, to work on cruise ships. That’s where she met her husband, Stephen, who convinced her to move to Norfolk with him when they decided it was time to drop anchor. She worked on and off for the nonprofit Civic Leadership Institute and Carnival Cruise Line for several years, and in March started in a newly created position at ODU. There, she focuses on forming relationships with senior executives at corporations and nonprofits to develop partnership opportunities, such as internships, corporate research and development grants, and workforce development initiatives.

Kevin Leslie

Associate vice president for innovation and commercialization, Old Dominion University
Norfolk

Kevin Leslie has worked at various educational institutions in Virginia, specializing in health care technology, and has witnessed the growth of biomedical research in the state. In January he was named ODU’s first associate vice president for innovation and commercialization, and will assist students, staff and faculty with turning their innovative ideas and inventions into commercial products. “If you have a scientist who does something interesting in a lab, but maybe that could eventually be a product or a drug or device, we help them navigate the entire process of going from idea and protecting it to then shepherding it all the way out and helping to commercialize that,” he explains. Leslie previously was executive director of Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium, a partnership among Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, Sentara Health and ODU.

Duane Miller

Executive director, LENOWISCO Planning District
Duffield

In his senior year at what was then Clinch Valley College and now the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Duane Miller interned with the LENOWISCO Planning District, where he’s now worked for almost 30 years. Originally from Fredericksburg, Miller fell in love with Southwest Virginia.

Infrastructure development is a priority for the district, which had over $30 million in active water and sewer projects in its region (Lee, Wise and Scott counties and Norton) in October, Miller says. In August, LENOWISCO partner Scott County Telephone Cooperative won a $25 million federal grant to help expand broadband districtwide.

One of the planning district’s many current projects is a study on the jobs impact of a small nuclear modular reactor, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin is bullish on building in Southwest. Miller estimates the report will be finished in early 2024.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Innovators

These scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs are leading the way in tomorrow’s industries, from artificial intelligence and drone technologies to biotech research.

Michael Beiro

Founder and CEO, Linebird
Ashland

Michael Beiro’s bio on X (formerly Twitter) is to the point: “I make robots that can touch power lines for a living.” Under his leadership, Linebird has developed the first-ever solution to allow “off-the-shelf drones to do hands-on work on live power lines, previously achieved by linemen hanging out of helicopters,” says Beiro, a Virginia Commonwealth University mechanical engineering grad who teamed up with an ex-lineman to develop the concept. Being a power lineworker is one of the 10 most lethal occupations in the U.S., so Linebird’s drones not only save utilities time and money, but they also have the potential to save lives. The company is based in the Dominion Energy Innovation Center’s coworking space in Ashland.

Marc Breton

Professor and associate director of research at Center for Diabetes Technology, University of Virginia
Charlottesville

Marc Breton hails from a long line of scientists and doctors, joking that he tried his best to escape the family business and failed. Despite his master’s degree and Ph.D. in systems engineering, the native of France jumped when offered a chance to head a research project with applications in medicine.

“It was an incredible chance to see the fruits of my research applied in clinical care,” he says of inventing an artificial pancreas that could monitor and automatically regulate the blood glucose levels of Type 1 diabetes patients. “It’s mind-boggling that 400,000 to half-a-million people worldwide are now using the device.”

As a result, Breton received U.Va.’s 2022 Edlich-Henderson Innovator of the Year award for faculty members whose work makes an impact on society. The father of three tries hard not to work all the time but notes, “That balance is not always struck.”

Alex Fox

Chief growth officer, HawkEye 360
Herndon

At satellite analytics company HawkEye 360, Alex Fox is responsible for various aspects of business development, sales, marketing and sales engineering. His background is in space technology, having previously worked for Harris Corp. as director of space intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance solutions. In January, three HawkEye 360 satellites went into orbit during Rocket Lab’s first launch in the United States, which took place at NASA’s Wallops Island facility. The company operates 21 satellites and plans to have 20 clusters with three satellites each by 2025.

Fox enjoys spending time with his family, including helping his son develop his own cybersecurity career and attending his daughter’s soccer and softball games. He serves on the advisory board for alma mater Georgia Tech’s College of Computing.

Susan Ginsburg

Founder and CEO, Criticality Sciences
Alexandria

Examining the causes and consequences of the Sept. 11 attacks as a senior counsel on the 9/11 Commission made Susan Ginsburg passionate about making sure that when the unexpected happens, failures are kept small and recovery happens rapidly. Those too were her goals in starting software company Criticality Sciences, which aims to build resilience into critical infrastructure like utilities.

An attorney whose career was centered on public policy and government, Ginsburg is an adviser to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security.

Keeping failures small and recovering rapidly not only protects essential producers but also protects the communities they supply and serve, Ginsburg notes. Criticality Sciences entered the market in 2021 and was part of the Dominion Energy Innovation Center, an independent nonprofit accelerator and incubator in Ashland.

Christopher Goyne

Associate professor and Aerospace Research Laboratory director, University of Virginia
Charlottesville

Boarding an aircraft in New York City and landing in Los Angeles 40 minutes later could be possible within 15 years, says Christopher Goyne, an Australian expert
in hypersonic technology.

“Hypersonic is flight in the atmosphere at Mach 5 and faster, or five times the speed of sound,” explains Goyne, director of U.Va.’s Aerospace Research Laboratory. “We are developing next-generation technology for use by commercial companies, NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense.”

Under a $4.5 million DOD award, Goyne leads a team of collaborating universities and industry partners to develop components for a supersonic combustion scramjet that can handle speeds above Mach 5. Besides fulfilling military needs, the work promises longer-term applications as well, specifically high-speed reusable aircraft that can transport people and goods quickly around the world and space travel that is more efficient and safer than using conventional rockets.

Nanci Hardwick

Founder and CEO, Aeroprobe and Meld Manufacturing
Christiansburg

Serial entrepreneur Nanci Hardwick says being called a disruptor at the R&D 100 Awards in 2018 was one of her proudest moments. At the event, her metal 3D printing company, Meld Manufacturing, was named among the 100 most innovative companies in the world and received the award for most market-disruptive new technology.

Rather than melting metal, the company uses pressure and friction to layer materials into shapes of any size, resulting in stronger products that are made faster and with less waste than through traditional manufacturing. Meld is a spinoff of Aeroprobe, another company started by Hardwick, and she also has launched Meld PrintWorks to fulfill customer metal orders.

“I am passionate about restoring manufacturing independence and self-sufficiency in our country,” says Hardwick, who participated in a 2022 roundtable with Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen about the semiconductor chip supply chain crisis. “Investments must be made for that to become true again.”

Nikki Hastings

Executive director and co-founder, CvilleBioHub; Instructor of commerce and Shumway Business Health Science Fellow, University of Virginia
Charlottesville

Nikki Hastings thinks of herself as a scientist helping scientists to do their best work by applying entrepreneurial methodologies. She has a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia, where she leads the graduate-level biotech track at the McIntyre School of Commerce. With the January announcement that U.Va. is establishing the $300 million Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology, Hastings has been busier than ever with CvilleBioHub, a nonprofit focused on Charlottesville’s biotech community. In March, the organization received a $100,000 GO Virginia grant to launch CvilleBioLab, an accelerator for early-stage biotech startups.

Hastings, who has been immersed in research, launching companies and helping connect people to one other, says there is “great vision to attract new research to the region.” Also an avid Taylor Swift fan, Hastings snagged a lucky ticket to see the singer on her Eras tour in Atlanta earlier this year. 

John S. Langford

Chairman and CEO, Electra.aero
Manassas

John Langford’s team at aerospace startup Electra.aero has unveiled a new kind of airplane, a hybrid-electric short takeoff and landing vehicle that can take off and land on soccer-field-size spaces.

The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Electra’s two-seat technology demonstrator, the EL-2 Goldfinch, for testing under a special airworthiness certificate; demonstrations are set to begin in 2024, with a nine-passenger vehicle in commercial operation by 2028.

Compared with vertical lift designs, Electra’s quiet plane uses blown-lift technology to more economically deliver twice the payload at 10 times the range while still being able to take off and land almost anywhere. Langford says the plane is ideal for middle-mile passenger mobility and cargo logistics.

Before starting Electra in 2020, Langford co-founded Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences and was president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Grace Mittl

CEO and co-founder, Absurd Snacks
Richmond

An athlete in high school and at the University of Richmond, Grace Mittl was constantly looking for healthier ways to revamp salads. At UR, where she ran track, she soaked beans in bins and buckets in her apartment overnight, seeking the best texture.

“My roommates probably hated me at the time,” she says in hindsight.

Absurd Snacks was born in 2022, the result of a yearlong startups class at UR. Mittl was also inspired by a classmate who suffered anaphylaxis after eating a granola bar contaminated with nuts from the supply chain. Absurd’s savory and sweet trail mixes, by contrast, are free of major allergens.

In September, the brand expanded to Whole Foods, reaching 14 locations throughout Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., and in October, expanded to Amazon.com.

Sharon Nelson

President, Sensei Enterprises
Fairfax

Ask Sharon Nelson, a former Virginia State Bar president, how Sensei Enterprises came to be, and she’ll say it began when she asked John Simek to computerize her law practice in the ’80s. Now vice president, Simek always wanted to own a tech company.

“So, we took a chance, and somewhere along the way, we got married,” Nelson laughs. Their company, Sensei Enterprises, is a boutique provider of IT, cybersecurity and digital forensics services, established in 1997 by Nelson, a practicing attorney, and Simek, who holds a wealth of technical certifications.

Although Nelson’s technology knowledge was slim at the time, she became an expert, and she and Simek have lectured on legal technology, cybersecurity and other topics in all 50 states and around the world. Nelson balances that schedule with a “rich tapestry of family life,” including spending time with the couple’s 10 grandchildren.

Alexander Olesen

CEO and co-founder, Babylon Micro-Farms
Richmond

When Alexander Olesen and fellow Babylon Micro-Farms co-founder Graham Smith dreamed up their “plug and play” hydroponic micro-farm concept as University of Virginia undergrads, they had little work experience, let alone farming chops. But they had a vision: leveraging technology to grow nutritious food. Based in Richmond’s fast-growing Scott’s Addition neighborhood, the company produces indoor, vertical hydroponic farms that let schools, hospitals and other businesses grow their own climate-controlled produce, saving labor and requiring less experience. Since its founding in 2017, the business has expanded impressively into international business. In April, Babylon announced $8 million in Series A funding, two years after snagging $3 million in seed funding.

Neal Piper

CEO and founder, Luminoah
Charlottesville

Neal Piper came to his present job with a background in pharmaceutical sales at Pfizer, as well as being founding executive of Presidential Precinct, a nonprofit focused on improving health outcomes through leadership training. He used that expertise to found his med-tech startup in 2020 after his then-3-year-old son, Noah, was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.

“It rips your heart out when you go into a pediatric cancer floor, and it completely transforms your mindset,” Piper recalls, but the experience also gave him an idea for a needed innovation.

Luminoah, named for Piper’s son, is developing a wearable solution to free patients from being tethered to a pole to receive tube feeding. The company raised $6 million in a Series A round that finished in the summer and plans to use that toward expansion and regulatory approval.

Noah, who has a twin sister, Saphia, is now 7 and cancer free.

Chris Rawlings

Founder and CEO, Bowerbird Energy; podcast host, “Energy Sense”
Richmond

An Iraq War veteran, Chris Rawlings was an aircraft maintenance supervisor and program manager for the Marine Corps and Northrop Grumman before starting his energy services contracting business in 2014. Named for a species of bird that builds complicated nests to attract mates, Bowerbird Energy specializes in designing, building and maintaining renewable-energy and energy-efficient HVAC, electrical and lighting systems for industry and government clients nationwide. Around Virginia, Bowerbird’s projects include replacing natural gas-fired hot water heaters with a solar thermal system at Joint Base Langley–Eustis. A renewable energy industry influencer, Rawlings also hosts the podcast “Energy Sense,” taking deep dives into timely topics such as utility-scale battery storage, microgrids, energy security and offshore wind power.

Tim Ryan

Executive director, Innovate Hampton Roads
Norfolk

Tim Ryan’s no stranger to Hampton Roads’ entrepreneurial scene, having served as executive director of StartWheel, which provides resources to startups and more established businesses. In May, StartWheel and Hampton Roads Innovation Collaborative merged their education programs, naming the joint venture Innovate Hampton Roads. Its mission is to centralize efforts that foster the growth of startups and create more visibility for small businesses locally. Ryan previously worked in the incubator and accelerator sector in Williamsburg, as well as consulting with East Coast startups through his business, Arcphor. He also is an avid runner, covering an average of six miles daily for the past 10 years. “Through hurricanes, snowstorms and before early morning flights, I’m out there getting in my miles,” he says. “To succeed, you must do hard things, and this is something that keeps me tough.”

Gymama Slaughter

Executive director, Center for Bioelectronics, Old Dominion University
Norfolk

Growing up, Gymama Slaughter thought she would become a medical doctor, but in biology class, she realized dissections left her feeling very squeamish. Nonetheless, she found a way to continue working in the biomedical space and now focuses on innovative research to diagnose and treat cancer without invasive surgery. She’s particularly excited about ODU’s July 2024 merger with Eastern Virginia Medical School, and plans to host a biotech conference to promote academic and research discussions next year. “That collaboration is big for us in terms of being able to translate our product from the lab to the clinic and then to the consumer market,” Slaughter notes. She’s also involved with community outreach to engage young people, especially from underrepresented minority groups, in STEM-related fields.

Kim Snyder

CEO and founder, KlariVis
Roanoke

Kim Snyder landed in banking in 2005 when Valley Bank in Roanoke recruited her to be its chief financial officer. She immediately fell in love with community banking and helping small businesses.

After Valley Bank was sold in 2015, Snyder worked as a consultant and discovered that every bank she worked with had the same data problems. Beginning in 2018, she started building a proof of concept for what would become KlariVis, her business that helps small banks centralize and analyze data so that they can better compete with large banks.

KlariVis launched in the first quarter of 2020, just ahead of the pandemic. By the end of the year, they’d picked up seven clients, 45 by the end of 2022 and 90 this year. Snyder’s goal for 2024 is to become profitable and continue growing the platform.

Paula Sorrell

Associate vice president for innovation and economic development, George Mason University
Arlington County

Sorrell comes from a family of engineers, and though she’s not one, she calls herself a “good translator of technology.” At George Mason, she oversees a team of 200 people across the state, including six incubators and the Office of Technology Transfer, as well as federal and state programs that offer funding and help to startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses. She’s also in charge of growing GMU’s Arlington campus.

With degrees from Central Michigan University in marketing and marketing management, Sorrell is well-versed in the world she’s helping others navigate. She worked in marketing for several startups, was vice president of entrepreneurship, innovation and venture capital for Michigan Economic Development Corp. and directed the University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute before joining GMU in 2020.

Bill Tolpegin

CEO, AURA
Vienna

With decades of experience in telecommunications and internet technology, Bill Tolpegin now champions the development of uncrewed aviation vehicles such as air taxis and large cargo-hauling autonomous vehicles. Tolpegin is the former owner of a group of television stations and founder of the C-Band Alliance, a group of four satellite operators that banded together to roll out 5G wireless communications. Following CBA’s dissolution, he started AURA (Advanced Ultra Reliable Aviation). It’s building a nationwide wireless communications network to support large drones to fly beyond visual line-of-sight in the national airspace. “People don’t believe it, but it is real,” says Tolpegin, who’s a science-fiction writer in his spare time, of unmanned flight. “It’s coming faster than people think. It’s going to really change things in a positive way.”

Beth Burgin Waller

Principal, cybersecurity and data privacy chair, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black
Roanoke

Beth Burgin Waller has family members who worked as lawyers, but her legal specialty is something they probably couldn’t have foreseen — the burgeoning fields of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data privacy. Waller, who majored in creative writing at Hollins University, says she’s always enjoyed “tinkering” with computers and found that technology law was an excellent intersection of those interests. “We have to stay on top of the technology itself … and also having to be on top of these new laws that are coming into play every few months,” she says. “Virginia is like a mini-Silicon Valley in a lot of ways.”

Ann Xu

CEO, ElectroTempo
Arlington County

The poor air quality in Beijing set Ann Xu on the path of her life’s work. As an undergraduate in environmental science, she learned what a major contributor transportation was to air pollution and became determined to get to the root of the problem. In 2020, as a Texas A&M Transportation Institute research scientist based in Washington, D.C., Xu founded ElectroTempo, a Northern Virginia startup focused on electric vehicle charging software. Xu raised $4 million in funding to market her creation: a scalable toolkit that uses transportation data to predict future EV demand and its impact on infrastructure and emissions. With a five-year focus on electric trucks, Xu’s vision is bold. “Our goal is to quadruple our revenue within five years,” she says. “We want to be the analytic background of the electrical charging infrastructure.”

Yuhao Zhang

Assistant professor, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg

Virginia Tech’s Center for Power Electronics Systems was partly responsible for attracting Yuhao Zhang to Virginia. “It’s one of the most respected institutes in the field of power electronics in the world,” he says.

A native of China who received his doctorate in electrical engineering from MIT, Zhang teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, and he’s noticed a trend in students’ growing interest in the technology related to semiconductors. He attributes this to students witnessing the major changes that semiconductors have wrought in consumer electronics such as faster chargers for laptops and phones.

Zhang leads a four-person research team that received a $1.5 million grant last year from the National Science Foundation to design the components for a greener grid that will better support renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Educators

As leaders in our K-12 and higher education workforce, these teachers, professors, deans and university administrators are passing on their knowledge to the next generation of Virginians.

William Kelly

President, Christopher Newport University
Newport News

William Kelly has built his career on public service and leadership, including serving as the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s superintendent, his job before taking the reins at Christopher Newport University in July. A rear admiral before his military retirement this year, Kelly succeeds longtime CNU President Paul S. Trible Jr.

During his 36 years in the Coast Guard, Kelly and his wife, Angie, spent three years in Newport News. Now, at CNU, he looks to shape the next generation of leaders. “We want to open doors to as many students as possible so their lives can be transformed and they, in turn, can improve the lives of people in Virginia and around the world.”

Richard Moncure

Director of S.T.R.E.A.M., St. Margaret’s School
Tappahannock

Richard Moncure grew up in a family of watermen and ran a seafood restaurant until he saw the Rappahannock River was no longer providing a large enough catch to supply the business. Moncure pivoted into conservation, first helping Zambian tilapia farmers in the Peace Corps, and later serving as the first-ever tidal river steward for Friends of the Rappahannock. Now, he is educating the next generation about the river, as head of S.T.R.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, River, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) at St. Margaret’s, an-all girls’ school serving grades 8-12. Tapped for his new post in June, Moncure developed a prototype for the S.T.R.E.A.M. program during the pandemic, creating an outdoor classroom at Aylett Country Day School to connect kids to the region’s history through the river. Now he teaches his students the challenges of restoring the watershed through experiential learning.

Enric Ruiz-Geli

Professor of practice, Virginia Tech Honors College; principal and founding architect, Cloud 9
Blacksburg

As professor of practice at Virginia Tech’s Honors College, Spanish architect Enric Ruiz-Geli instructs students in transdisciplinary and experiential learning, drawing from the lessons learned in his wide-ranging career. His Barcelona-based firm, Cloud 9, has been involved in significant sustainable architecture projects around the world, including the Media-TIC building in Barcelona, named “Best Building in the World” at the World Architecture Festival 2011. At Virginia Tech, he’s part of the Honors SuperStudio faculty that teaches four interrelated topics. Ruiz-Geli’s focus has been on building greener buildings. Now the architectural and building fields are primed, he says, to be a solution to global warming.

Bevlee A. Watford

Associate dean of equity and engagement; executive director, Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg

At age 10, Bevlee Watford was that rare child who met an engineer and discovered her life’s calling. A high school guidance counselor recommended Virginia Tech, where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in mining and industrial engineering and operations research. With few women and people of color in engineering when she began teaching at Clemson University, Watford became a role model and her office a magnet for students needing assistance to unlock their potential. She joined Virginia Tech’s faculty in 1992, and as a dean, she works to attract and retain a diverse group of students. In January, Watford was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Science Board, which advises on policy matters in science, engineering and related education. “To know I can contribute to finding new programs and discussing research to further our culture is amazing,” she says.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Impact Makers

Whether shining a light on underserved people or helping startups get ahead, these impactful Virginians are changing the commonwealth for the better.

Eileen Brewer

Executive director, 757 Accelerate
Norfolk

With 20-plus years of experience working for tech companies in Silicon Valley, Eileen Brewer was promoted in May to executive director of 757 Accelerate, a Norfolk mentorship-based accelerator program for full-time founders of businesses with high-growth potential. She joined 757 Collab, 757 Accelerate’s parent organization, as director of strategic partnerships in January 2022.

In recent decades, Brewer also served as a mentor in the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen Exchange Program, a program that aids high-achieving women from the Middle East and Africa working in STEM careers and provides them with professional mentorship in Silicon Valley. As an international consultant, she focused on entrepreneurship and STEM training and built the first tech accelerator in Iraq.

Bonnie Chavez

CEO, Building Beloved Communities
Roanoke

When the world shifted to virtual meetings during the pandemic, not much changed for Bonnie Chavez. She’d launched her consulting business in 2018 and quickly decided that driving to meetings was a waste of time. “We became a virtual company before it was forced on everyone,” she recalls. A second-generation American, Chavez was working in the corporate world and trying to figure out her life’s purpose when she heard a sermon at church in her native New Mexico that referenced a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. about “beloved communities.” It was enough to inspire her to create a company focused on helping nonprofits thrive and assisting government agencies with project management. “I’m a nonprofit badass, and I love fighting for them,” she says. When not assisting nonprofits, she’s devoted to spending time with her partner and their two daughters as well as enjoying the outdoors and good coffee.

Erica Cole

CEO and founder, No Limbits
Richmond

In college, Erica Cole turned her hobby into a side gig by sewing costumes for friends. In 2018, while studying at the University of Iowa, Cole was in a car wreck that led to her left leg being amputated below the knee. Soon, she started tailoring her own clothes to accommodate her prosthetic. Demand from other people snowballed quickly.

“I was really embedded in this amputee community, altering clothes for other folks in that community,” says Cole, who went on to found No Limbits, a maker of adaptive clothing for people with disabilities.

Appearing on ABC’s “Shark Tank” last year, she received a $100,000 investment from sharks Mark Cuban and Emma Grede in exchange for 10% of her business. Cole moved her startup to Richmond after graduating from the local Lighthouse Labs accelerator. She’s now expanding into other adaptive apparel and is planning a Series A funding round in 2024.

Braden Croy

Program director, Dominion Energy Innovation Center
Ashland

As programmer of Dominion Energy’s startup incubator, Braden Croy says that he invents “creative collisions,” running pitch competitions and supporting clean energy-focused entrepreneurs at the coworking space just a stone’s throw from Ashland’s railroad tracks. The Virginia Tech grad joined DEIC in 2021, after having worked in real estate, hospitality consulting and risk management. A woodworker who also expends energy running after his three children, Croy says he loves mentoring innovators as they work in the fields of energy storage, carbon capture, electricity transmission and distribution, and grid management. The center also has workshops for agribusiness entrepreneurs, and DEIC’s Spark Virginia program awards $75,000 in grants to help energy entrepreneurs across the state.

Sue Deagle

Senior vice president and chief growth and client service officer, V2
McLean

Sue Deagle holds an important job at aerospace and defense contractor V2X, but outside of work, Deagle writes The Luminist newsletter, discussing loss and pain that applies not only to individuals but communities struggling with the pandemic and world conflict. She also speaks openly about her inner life — addressing her grief over the 2016 heart attack death of her husband, Mike. The Wall Street Journal wrote about Deagle’s decision to build a new, glass-filled house in Great Falls designed by New York-based Robert Young Architects that has helped her and her two children start a new life following Mike’s death. At work, too, her worldview is important, since V2X trains soldiers, sailors and airmen when they’re deployed, and Deagle says she also finds meaning in serving members of the military.

 

Art Espey

Managing director, Lighthouse Labs
Richmond

Lighthouse Labs, an equity-free, early-stage startup accelerator launched in 2012, offers guidance to help tech founders on their entrepreneurial journeys, and Art Espey has been part of the process since 2015, as founding vice chair of Lighthouse’s board.

When Lighthouse’s former managing director, Paul Nolde, left in June to join 757 Collab in Hampton Roads, Espey was named as his replacement. In his new position, the serial entrepreneur and former Marine saw an opportunity to think big and reinvent Lighthouse’s work with founders, investors and the area’s innovation ecosystem.

“The [Interstate] 64 corridor from Charlottesville to Richmond to Hampton Roads represents a huge number of smart people collectively and collaboratively,” Espey says. “We’re a mega-region if we choose to be.”

A lifelong martial artist and avid reader, Espey also kayaks, backpacks and teaches yoga workshops.

Kathryn Fessler

Senior director of community impact and co-founder of Mosaic, Altria Group
Henrico County

Raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Kathryn Fessler was the first person in her family to graduate from college. She went to the University of Richmond on a merit scholarship and studied English literature. Since 2008, she has worked for Altria Group, the Henrico County-based Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes.

A decade ago, Fessler took charge in co-founding Mosaic, an employee resource group for LGBTQ+ workers at Altria. It’s among a dozen similar affinity groups at the company, and it has about 500 members. In her role as senior director of community impact,  Fessler says she gets to help lead a team that is focused on the company’s investment and strengthening communities.

Michael Hemphill

Creator and host, Buzz; owner, Buzz4Good
Roanoke

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Michael Hemphill moved to Virginia in 1997 when his wife was doing her residency in family medicine. Since then, Roanoke’s been his home and he’s helped tell the region’s stories throughout his career, including as a former reporter for The Roanoke Times, as a marketer, and now as host of the Blue Ridge PBS TV show “Buzz.” The show’s focus is on nonprofit groups in the Roanoke and New River Valley regions and the good they’re accomplishing. Hemphill also started Buzz4Good, a pro bono marketing company that helps attract volunteers and donors to nonprofit organizations. Outside of work, Hemphill enjoys traveling, and in 2015 he followed the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, catching soccer matches across 8,000 miles and five time zones.

Ryan Key

Customer projects designer and community engagement lead, Dominion Energy
Hampton

Although he’s a designer with a background in customer service, one of Ryan Key’s most significant roles at work is letting colleagues know about Pride, Dominion Energy’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group.

Having joined Dominion in 2015 as an intern and returning as an employee in 2017, Key first got involved in Pride in 2018, and now he’s one of the group’s leaders. He also aids in recruiting diverse candidates in his role as community engagement lead. Doing otherwise, he says, “would be casting people away that could potentially bring something new, something innovative. It only benefits the company to embrace everyone.”

In 2024, Key aims for Pride to have a larger presence in the community at career fairs and other events.

Michelle Maldonado

Delegate, Virginia House of Delegates
Manassas

Coming from a background of educators and military veterans, state Del. Michelle Maldonado believes in the importance of serving and helping others. A freshman Democratic legislator, she started her career as a tech lawyer but always looked for ways to uplift people. At AOL, Maldonado initiated programs to help workers whose first language wasn’t English improve their language skills to excel in their jobs. She later started a leadership and team development coaching company, Lucenscia. Elected to the House of Delegates in 2021, Maldonado established the Technology and Innovation Caucus in the General Assembly to educate legislators and the public about technology issues and is working on a statewide initiative to govern the use of artificial intelligence. “Our job is to really educate people, keep people safe and innovative at the same time,” she says. (Editor’s note: After this article went to press, Maldonado announced she would be entering the 10th Congressional District race to succeed U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton.)

Paul Nolde

Managing director, 757 Collab; market director, 757 Angels powered by VentureSouth
Norfolk

In May, Paul Nolde jumped from leading Richmond’s Lighthouse Labs accelerator to head up 757 Collab, the founder-focused innovation network that includes
757 Accelerate, 757 Startup Studios and 757 Angels. Nolde studied foreign affairs at the University of Virginia but got into wealth management banking, working for a string of banks including Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Nolde, who relishes the relationship management side of his job, was executive managing director at Lighthouse Labs before taking the reins at 757 Collab.

He’s excited about working with Hampton Roads investors to advance the entrepreneurial ecosystem. “There’s wealth here that is willing to take risks,” Nolde says. “When you marry the two together, it’s pretty compelling what a founder can find here.” 

Paul Rucker

iCubed Arts Research Fellow, curator for creative collaboration and assistant professor, Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond

A conceptual artist, composer and musician, Paul Rucker is also an obsessive collector of more than 20,000 historical items, most related to the history of slavery and racism in the South. “They’re primary source materials that act as evidence. … They act as documentation of historic events,” he says. Last year, he was awarded $2 million in grants from the Mellon Foundation and the Art for Justice Fund to turn his collection into Cary Forward, a Richmond museum, arts space and lending library focused on “the omitted histories of race and gender.”

The museum, which plans to provide residencies for local and international artists, as well as a banned book library, will open in 2025 on Richmond’s Cary Street. Rucker notes that the thoroughfare, which includes the Carytown shopping district and parts of VCU’s campus, is named for Archibald Cary, an 18th-century Colonial Virginia legislator who enslaved more than 200 people.

Becky Sawyer

Executive vice president and chief people officer, Sentara Health
Norfolk

Becky Sawyer’s focus for 2024 revolves around several priorities to attract, retain and engage a diverse and talented workforce at Sentara’s facilities, despite ongoing staffing challenges throughout the health care industry. Promoted in 2017 as the first woman to lead human resources for the health system’s 31,000-person workforce, Sawyer says that among her key focuses are staff burnout and mental health, issues that present challenges for the health care industry overall. Her plans, she says, include prioritizing “internal support systems to boost overall well-being, improve safety in the workplace and decrease burnout.”

Sawyer has been with the health system for more than two decades, previously leading HR departments at nine hospitals and for Sentara’s health insurance plan. She serves on the board for Virginia Ready, the nonprofit workforce initiative started by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia first lady Suzanne Youngkin.

Hunter Walsh

Director, 757 Startup Studios
Norfolk

You could say Hunter Walsh believes in forging long-term relationships.

A newlywed, he met his wife when they were preschoolers. His family’s roots in Virginia date back to the 1800s, and he started his career working in sales and marketing for his family’s Cullipher Farm, an agritourism destination in Virginia Beach, before going on to work in membership development for the Hampton Roads Chamber. In 2021, Walsh, a James Madison University alumnus who has an MBA from Virginia Wesleyan University, became founding director of 757 Collab’s 757 Startup Studios, a program that provides rent-free workspaces for qualifying startups. Next year,

757 Startup Studios plans to expand its influence, rolling out tech assistance for all types of entrepreneurs and engaging in more community events.

Richard Wintsch

Executive director, Startup Virginia
Richmond

Hailing from Geneva, Richard Wintsch spent years in private banking and working for ChamberRVA before the Swiss native landed at Startup Virginia, where he’s now executive director. He attended James Madison University on a golf scholarship, where he met his wife, Katherine, a nationally recognized expert on motherhood and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. A nonprofit incubator and entrepreneurial hub, Startup Virginia this year won a gold award for entrepreneurship from the International Economic Development Council. Wintsch thinks the startup scene has made tremendous progress not only in Central Virginia, but across the state. “I believe we have a good infrastructure for high-growth businesses,” he says. “The foundations are in place for us to continue to improve.”

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Go-Getters

Including startup founders, motivated executives and an Olympic cycling team’s leader, these folks don’t take no for an answer.

Eric Astor

Founder and CEO, Furnace Record Pressing
Alexandria

Eric Astor was a 15-year-old drummer living in Phoenix when he pressed his first album. “My band couldn’t find anyone to make a record for us, so I started a label and figured out how to do it myself,” says Astor.

Today, Astor is founder and CEO of Furnace Record Pressing, one of the nation’s largest vinyl record producers. Founded in 1996, Furnace employs 107 workers who use 14 presses to produce more than 25,000 vinyl records a day. The company expected to turn out more than 4 million records in 2023.

Furnace has had a long relationship with heavy metal legends Metallica; pressings for the band represent about 15% of Furnace’s output yearly, and in March, Metallica acquired a majority interest in the label for an undisclosed amount.

“There’s an appetite for vinyl,” says Astor. “As long as artists keep producing, people will keep buying.”

 

Paul Busch

Owner and mining engineer, R&R Remining and Reclamations
New Canton

Buckingham County resident Paul Busch has gold in his veins. A commercial miner, Busch owns R&R Remining and Reclamations (formerly Old Dawg Resources), the only company holding a permit to mine for gold in Virginia since the state’s last mines folded in the 1940s. (The General Assembly may review and update the state’s gold mining rules in its 2024 session, following a report last year by a study group.)

Busch currently operates on private land at the reopened Moss mine in Goochland County, where he processes mounds of contaminated tailings to separate remaining gold scraps from the toxic mercury that was used during mining decades ago. He delivers the mercury to a recycling center at Virginia Beach. “The state is happy, I get to do what I love to do, and the landowner is left with safer, cleaner property,” he says.

Nicola Cranmer

Founder and general manager, Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24 Women’s Pro Cycling Team
Roanoke

When Nicola Cranmer relocated base operations for her team of elite women cyclists from Idaho to Roanoke in 2022, she knew it was a great move. “Some of the nicest riding in the world, and the hills are perfect for training,” says Cranmer, a native of Salisbury, England.

Her medal-winning team has adopted various iterations of its name over the years, the most recent reflecting its partnership with Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, the region’s official destination marketing organization. Cranmer founded the team in 2005 with eyes locked on the 2012 London Olympics and has adjusted the team’s name in four-year cycles ever since. Team Twenty24 is currently racing toward the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Besides building professional cyclists and a pipeline for future Olympians, Cranmer promotes cycling’s overall benefits through her junior program, connecting girls age 17 and younger with leadership and scholarship opportunities.

Siera Fountain

Graduate student, Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond

An artist and designer who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art from VCU and was an intern at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Siera Fountain is now back in Richmond as a product innovation graduate student at VCU’s da Vinci Center for Innovation. This year, in addition to winning a $3,500 first-place award from the American Marketing Association Richmond-Robert R. Barber Endowment Fund for Scholarship & Training, Fountain earned an entrepreneurship certificate from the da Vinci Center. And this past summer, she participated in a European Innovation Academy in Italy to create a product. There, Fountain was exposed to how she could use her art skills in the field of business and marketing. She now works as a graduate assistant at VCU’s Shift Retail Lab, designing promotions and assisting local entrepreneurs. “Gen Z people are very interested in authenticity and being able to put themselves into the product or the brand,” Fountain says.

Matt Ganyard

Placekicker, University of Virginia Cavaliers football team
Charlottesville

“At the end of the day, in the locker room, I like to think that I’m another one of the guys,” says Matt Ganyard, U.Va.’s 34-year-old placekicker. That’s no typo. Ganyard is not only the oldest college football player in Virginia; he’s the oldest in the NCAA. As an undergrad, he tried out for the team and failed, and after his 2011 graduation, went on to serve in the Marines Corps, where he was an elite Cobra helicopter pilot and kept kicking the football in his spare time. In 2022, Ganyard came back to Charlottesville to attend U.Va.’s Darden School of Business and joined the team as a walk-on in 2023. A father of two, Ganyard says he is thankful for his wife’s patience regarding his unusual extracurricular activity. In May, he will graduate from Darden and has accepted a position at Boston Consulting Group’s office in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Laura Godfrey

Serial entrepreneur
Roanoke

Laura Godfrey founded or co-founded five companies in the past two decades. Among those are Brandpoint Analytics, a software-as-a-service platform, and Bookelicious, an online resource that focuses on increasing child literacy by curating books for kids. Godfrey co-founded Bookelicious with Lea Anne Borders — the wife of Louis Borders, founder of the now-defunct Borders Group books and music retail chain.

Godfrey stepped aside from Bookelicious in late August — she remains an investor — to take on new projects; as a “fractional” executive, she lends her experience to companies getting off the ground.

“I really like learning while doing,” Godfrey says. “That’s what keeps me focused and busy … always learning new things, new experiences.”

Vanessa C. Hampton

Senior vice president and not-for-profit and government banking team lead, Truist Financial
Richmond

Today, Vanessa Hampton leads a team of bankers in Virginia who focus on large nonprofit clients like health care organizations and private foundations, and government agencies, but she’s been part of the banking industry for more than 20 years, beginning at BB&T, which merged with SunTrust to create Truist in 2019. She also spends a fair amount of time engaged with the Richmond community as a board member of YWCA Richmond and the Memorial Foundation for Children. A Radford University alum, Hampton enjoys the beach and traveling the world with her family.

Arketa Howard

Director of business and policy affairs in offshore wind, Crowley Maritime
Norfolk

A Norfolk State University alum who’s worked in project management, marketing and higher education, Arketa Howard was hired by Crowley in 2021 to work in the burgeoning offshore wind industry. She was still new to the field, but Howard started learning more about wind energy before her hiring, as part of the Virginia Maritime Association and the Hampton Roads Alliance. Now, she chairs the alliance’s Women of Offshore Wind group, founded in 2022. “We understand that women may not be represented a lot in certain spaces,” Howard says, “and what I love the most is our excitement when we see each other.” Outside of work, Howard is a marathon runner, averaging one race a year, and she supports her two children’s interests in art and sports.

Kevin Hubbard, Kristina Loftus and Matt Loftus

Co-founders, Rhoback
Charlottesville

The day after Kristina Loftus graduated with her MBA from the University of Virginia in 2017, she packed a wooden camper with high-performance activewear and hit the road promoting Rhoback, the privately held clothing company she co-founded in 2016 with her husband, Matt, and his best friend from his undergraduate days, Kevin Hubbard.

Kristina hauled their pop-up shop to retail venues along the East Coast, but she was never alone. Her dog, Bunker, rode by her side as the face of the fledgling brand. “Bunker is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, dogs that are bred to hunt lions,” she explains. “Rhoback takes its name from this breed that perpetually craves activity.”

Matt and Kevin joined Kristina when they could, but both were still holding other demanding full-time jobs — Matt as a financial consultant and Kevin as policy director of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Rules Committee, a position he worked up to since arriving on Capitol Hill as an intern in 2011. Both have since left those positions to commit full-time to Rhoback.

The brand offers a line of fast-wicking activewear for men and women. Its popular print designs range in theme from universities (U.Va. being first) to states and popular destinations.

Wendy P. Lewis

Richmond office managing partner, KPMG; chair, Virginia Board of Accountancy
Richmond

Although Wendy Lewis is a numbers person — she is, after all, the Richmond managing partner for Big Four accounting firm KPMG — she also is a self-professed people person who loves being involved in the community. In July, she became the first Black woman to become the Virginia Board of Accountancy’s chair, a post she will hold through June 30, 2024. Lewis says much of her job at KPMG and at VBA supports career development, particularly with training fellow accountants in technological advances such as artificial intelligence. Away from work, the beach lover, home cook and runner can also be found investing in playtime with her son, a fourth grader.

Peter Mann

Founder and CEO, Oransi
Radford

Peter Mann has had an eclectic career, serving in the Navy, marketing tech solutions for companies like Dell, and launching two flourishing companies in succession.

In 2009, Mann founded his air purifier company, Oransi, in part seeking solutions to his son’s asthma. And now, after merging with an electric motor company, Oransi is making an effort to bring its manufacturing business back to Virginia. In 2021, the company bought a 156,000-square-foot factory in Radford that’s expected to create 100 jobs. “It’s been under development close to two years; we essentially had to create an entirely new supply chain that could compete with Chinese imports,” Mann says.

Cindy Yao

Chief financial officer and executive vice president, Markel Food Group
Richmond

A native of Shanghai, China, who speaks three Chinese dialects, Cindy Yao not only serves as CFO for Markel Food Group but as CEO for three of its subsidiaries operating in China. Yao came to the United States as an MBA student at the University of Rochester and earned her master’s degree in accounting at Virginia Tech. After working for Bausch & Lomb, in 2013 she joined Markel Food Group, a $350 million independent subsidiary of Fortune 500 insurance holding company Markel Group, with around 1,000 employees worldwide.

She’s also founding dean of Markel Business Systems Leadership University, an internal school she established to provide leadership coaching for a diverse group of employees.

“It not about the job we do, it’s the purpose each of us has in life, and my job is truly to help people to achieve their goals and the purpose in their life,” Yao says.

Chryssa Zizos

Founder and CEO, Live Wire Strategic Communications
Arlington County

Strategic communications and crisis management expert Chryssa Zizos believes flourishing in a competitive industry requires boldly trying new things. “People learn as much from failure as they do from success,” she notes.

Zizos founded Live Wire Strategic Communications 26 years ago in her Alexandria home. Now, with 10 employees, the company has served more than 100 clients, nearly half of them Fortune 500 firms. Looking to 2024, Zizos projects the firm will gross about $4.5 million in revenue.

“Our relationships are impressive,” says Zizos, pointing to notable clients such as Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, Accenture Federal Services and General Dynamics Information Technology.

“Our success comes from staying true to who we’ve been since the beginning: a boutique, high-touch strategic communications firm,” says Zizos. “We have a long runway ahead, and this team gets better every year.”

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.