Norfolk International Airport is on track to have the best year since its 1938 opening. In June, the airport reported a 7.5% increase in passenger activity, with 431,637 passengers — up from last June’s figure of 401,517, marking the largest number of June passengers in the airport’s history.
During the first six months of 2023, the airport’s passenger count increased 8.7% to 2,083,371 passengers, compared with 1,915,866 for the same period in 2022.
One contributing factor is Norfolk International’s ability to grow its number of airlines and flights. “It has eight airlines, so customers have lots of options,” says Vinod Agarwal, deputy director of the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis at Old Dominion University.
Airlines serving the Norfolk airport include Allegiant, American, Breeze, Delta, Frontier, Southwest, Spirit, United and their regional airline partners. The airport began adding low-cost carriers in 2017, starting with Allegiant, followed by Frontier in 2018, Breeze in 2021 and Spirit in 2023.
In 2021, Breeze airlines selected Norfolk as a crew base for pilots and flight crews. Passengers can fly to 16 cities nonstop on Breeze from Norfolk, including the addition of Fort Myers, Florida, in July.
“We currently have 41 locations we can now fly nonstop,” says Norfolk International Airport President and CEO Mark Perryman. “We are continuing to grow that number and move up.”
The addition of Spirit Airlines in March, with flights to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, was another boost to passenger count.
“They are a growth-stimulator type of airline, and they are doing that. Spirit went from 0% in March to now serving 3% to 4% of our total traffic. There is huge growth in low-cost carriers,” Perryman says. “We are talking with other airlines all the time. We have two other airlines that are extremely interested,” but Perryman declined to name them.
The airport’s positive growth hasn’t gone unnoticed. This year, it received a 4-Star Regional Airport rating from London-based Skytrax. The annual ratings, which go up to five stars,are a global benchmark of airport standards.
Of the 572 airports rated in the 2023 survey, Norfolk International was one of only seven U.S. 4-Star airports, a group that includes the Cincinnati, Houston, Indianapolis, New York (LaGuardia), Portland and Seattle airports. Skytrax also ranked NIA sixth place among the World’s Best Domestic Airports.
To keep its standards steady, Norfolk International is undertaking a $30 million runway rehabilitation project to repair aging asphalt and concrete portions of two runways. The work is being performed in two $15 million phases, with phase one’s completion expected in November and phase two anticipated to be completed in November 2024.
In August, the airport released a request for proposals for a construction manager for a concourse gate expansion and a customs and border control facility, aimed at helping NIA attract international flights. The project is currently in the conceptual design phase.
In May, the airport issued a request for proposals for development of a new hotel on airport property. Perryman was set to provide the airport’s board with a recommended developer in September, after this publication’s deadline.
Like Norfolk, many U.S. airports are beginning to see some of the largest increases in air traffic since the start of the pandemic, a sign of a pent-up consumer demand for recreational travel.
“We are predominantly domestic, and our numbers rebounded faster than some others in the country. The big international airports with flights internationally are still struggling,” Perryman says. “Anecdotally, I think the pandemic opened people’s eyes to what the Hampton Roads region has to offer, but we don’t have hard evidence.”
Regionally, though, the story is different at the Newport News-Williamsburg Airport, which has a single airline — American Airlines, which serves only flights to Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2018, Newport News recorded 403,575 total passengers. In 2022, that number fell to 129,971. In February, the airport’s board dismissed airport Executive Director Mike Giardino. Avelo Airlines ended service at the airport in April, less than a year after it began offering flights from Newport News to Florida. In 2022, Delta left the airport.
“In the last 10 years or so, Newport News has seen a decline in its number of airlines. Supply and demand factors indicate the airport is having a tough time coming back to where it used to be,” says Agarwal. “If it flew to other places, it would attract more people.”
This summer, the Hampton Roads Alliance received a $100,000 GO Virginia grant to conduct a regional air transportation study, which will focus on both regional airports and include $50,000 in funding from Norfolk, Newport News, the Norfolk Airport Authority and the Peninsula Airport Commission.
The Peninsula Airport Commission’s members declined to discuss plans for Newport News’ airport until after the study is completed in early 2024.
Potter’s responsibilities include managing and operating Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports, the only two federally owned airports. He also oversees the Dulles Toll Road.
Since taking on his role in 2011, Potter has focused on improving efficiency and technology at the airports. In July, the authority’s board approved a $16.4 million overhaul of two of the Dulles airport’s mobile lounges. The authority also has an option of rehabbing the other vehicles in its 60-year-old mobile lounge fleet for $143 million. Meanwhile, a July effort to add more long-term flights at Reagan was defeated in Congress; local residents and officials were concerned about congestion and noise, as well as safety risks posed by adding flights to what is already one of the nation’s busiest airports.
A New York native whose father was a letter carrier and postal executive, Potter previously served as U.S. postmaster general for 10 years, modernizing the system and managing a workforce of more than 500,000 employees. Potter earned degrees from Fordham University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He serves on the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Advisory Committee on Travel and Tourism Infrastructure.
A massive solar project that will soon begin to take shape at Washington Dulles International Airport will not only have the ability to power 37,000 Virginia homes, but will also send a message to travelers about the power of clean energy, officials said Tuesday during a ceremonial groundbreaking for the 835-acre Dulles Solar and Storage project.
A partnership between Richmond-based Fortune 500 utility Dominion Energy and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the project is expected to begin construction later this year, aiming for completion in late 2026.
“Millions of travelers flying in and out of Dulles every year will see this powerful symbol of the clean energy transition,” said Dominion Energy President, Chair and CEO Bob Blue, who gathered with state, federal and local officials Tuesday in a parking lot at the airport to throw a ceremonial shovel of dirt to mark the public groundbreaking.
Several years in the making, the Dulles Solar and Storage project is expected to generate 100 megawatts of solar energy and will store up to 50 megawatts of power. According to Dominion, it will be the largest renewable energy project developed at a U.S. airport. Instead of paying an annual lease, Dominion will develop two solar carports, one megawatt in capacity each, to help power airport facilities; it will also provide 18 electric transit buses, 50 electric fleet vehicles and electric vehicle charging stations for Dulles operations.
The project comes in addition to others that Dominion has in the pipeline, including a 2.6-gigawatt, $9.8 billion wind farm 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast as well as supporting development of small nuclear reactors as the company reaches toward a state mandate to produce all of its power for Virginia customers from renewable sources by 2045. During the last decade, Dominion has built the second largest utility solar fleet in the country, with solar energy providing power for 400,000 of the company’s customers and businesses, Blue said, adding that “over the next decade, projects like this one will develop enough solar for 2 million more.”
MWAA President and CEO Jack Potter noted that the 200,000-panel solar farm that will cover the 835 acres southwest of the Dulles airport will be similar in size to Arlington County’s 875-acre Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Reagan, which officials have said is the busiest airport in the country, has been the source of legislative wrangling as some members of Congress sought to add more long-haul flights there. The move has been opposed by several Virginia and Maryland lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, who took the opportunity Tuesday during remarks to also take a swipe at that idea. About 40% of flights at Reagan are delayed for about an average of 60 minutes, he said, adding “Congress shouldn’t be micromanaging the region’s airports” and noting the billions of dollars that have been invested in extending Metro’s Silver Line, including a stop at Dulles that opened in November, a move expected to drive billions of dollars in investment in Fairfax and Loudoun counties.
“You think about adding more flights there for certain members of Congress’ individual convenience, you turn a challenge for the traveling public for the neighborhoods around National from a challenge to a disaster,” Warner said.
The Dulles project, which is expected to generate 300 construction jobs and $200 million in economic activity for the state, has also faced pushback from environmental groups, including the Piedmont Environmental Council, Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and Northern Virginia Conservation Trust. In a 2021 letter, the groups said they support solar at the Dulles site but argued for an alternative option that included placing solar panels on already developed environments, including above airport rooftops, parking garages and airport parking areas.
But Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall on Tuesday applauded Dominion’s project, citing climate change and devastating wildfires that ripped through Maui as well as Tropical Storm Hilary, the first storm to hit Southern California in 84 years.
“For Dominion Energy to step up and do solar, to do wind, to do small nuclear reactors, to partner with Dulles airport speaks to the fact that everybody now knows that we are not making land-use decisions for today,” Randall said. “We’re making these decisions for our children, for our children’s children and even for their children. We have no options, but to have sustainable energy in place right now.”
Perry J. Miller, president and CEO of the Capital Region Airport Commission, which includes Richmond International Airport, has been elected 2023-24 chair of the American Association of Airport Executives, the world’s largest professional organization representing individuals who work at public-use commercial and general aviation airports.
Miller, who started his term Monday, succeeds Mark Gale, CEO and director of aviation at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. Named Virginia Airport Manager of the Year in 2021 by the state aviation board, Miller previously served as vice chair of AAAE and president of its Southeast chapter.
Miller has led the Capital Region Airport Commission since 2019. In June, the airport reported April passenger traffic of 393,355, topping the previous April record of 372,025 set in 2019 and marking the second-highest passenger count ever at the airport. For the first 10 months of the fiscal year, passenger traffic increased 13.7%, year-over-year, a gain of more than 425,000 passengers.
Based in Alexandria, the AAAE represents 875 airports.
Patrick Kinsman, former CEO and commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Norfolk District, has been hired as the Port of Virginia’s new vice president of offshore wind development.
Richmond-based Dominion Energy Inc., which is building its $9.8 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind farm 27 miles off the Virginia Beach coast, is leasing 72 acres at Portsmouth Marine Terminal to use as a staging and preassembly area for the massive foundations and components for the 180 turbines expected to be installed when the 2.6-gigawatt offshore wind farm is completed in 2026.
“This is an opportunity to really help develop a new industry in Virginia,” said port spokesman Joe Harris.
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Leidos has landed a potential five-year, $470.7 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security, according to a contract award notice published June 3.
The work is in support of checkpoint screening equipment deployment services for the Transportation Security Administration.
The scope of the work is outlined by the request for proposals to include on-site coordination, surveys, design support, coordination and execution of screening equipment installations, relocations and removals.
The TSA outlines its security checkpoint technology as walk-through metal detectors, carry-on baggage X-rays, explosives trace detection and bottled liquid scanners, among other measures, according to the RFP.
Leidos, which employs 38,000 people, reported $12.3 billion in 2020 revenue.
Breeze Airways, a new low-cost airline, will invest $5.2 million to build an operations center in Norfolk, producing 116 jobs, the governor’s office announced Friday. The airline also will offer nonstop flights out of Richmond International Airport and Norfolk International Airport.
The Salt Lake City, Utah-based startup company, which offers service to mid-size U.S. markets, will include Norfolk as one of its first four operations bases in the United States, and it also will offer flights out of Richmond International Airport, Gov. Ralph Northam said in a news release Friday. The airline started accepting flight reservations Friday morning.
“Aviation has long been ingrained in the Hampton Roads economy, and the arrival of Breeze Airways is another sign of this region’s growing position as a commercial flight hub,” Northam said in a statement. “The post-pandemic world will offer increasing opportunities for travel and tourism, and the addition of this new low-cost carrier at Norfolk International Airport will be a catalyst for economic growth, welcoming visitors to our commonwealth with convenient, nonstop service to often overlooked markets. We are honored that Breeze Airways has selected Virginia as one of its first domestic locations and look forward to building a strong and successful partnership with the company.”
David Neeleman, who founded JetBlue and other airlines, is behind Breeze, which will begin offering flights in June, mainly in markets not served by other low-cost carriers. All employees, including airline crew and maintenance workers, will remain local, the governor’s office said.
“Breeze is excited to be announcing two destinations in Virginia: Norfolk and Richmond,” Neeleman said in a statement. “Norfolk, particularly, is a strong inbound destination with a significant number of unserved markets that will provide Breeze with many years of growth opportunities. We’re looking forward to providing Virginians with low fares and nonstop service, getting them where they’re going in half the time, usually for about half the price.”
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the city of Norfolk, the Norfolk Airport Authority and other regional and state organizations to secure the project. Northam approved a $400,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the city, and the company is eligible to receive benefits from the major business facility job tax credit for new full-time jobs created.
VeriScan, a facial-recognition system developed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, has been sold to Alexandria-based Pangiam, a security and travel services provider, the company announced Friday. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
More than 40 airlines use veriScan’s traveler verification system, which is an integrated biometric facial recognition program that debuted in 2018 at Washington Dulles International and Ronald Reagan Washington National airports, which MWAA oversees. MWAA developed the technology in partnership with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the system was sold to other airports beginning in 2018. According to Pangiam’s news release, 1.3 million passengers have been processed by veriScan since 2018, with 99% accuracy.
Although facial recognition programs have become commonplace at airports, there has been considerable controversy over the technology’s use elsewhere, particularly by police. Some states, including Massachusetts, have started passing regulations that limit the use of facial recognition technology, and the American Civil Liberties Union has called for the Biden administration to halt its use, calling it a “threat to civil rights and civil liberties when it works, and when it doesn’t.”
Pangiam’s purchase of veriScan is its first acquisition since the merger of Alexandria software company Linkware LLC and Pangiam, which were purchased by Florida-based private equity firm AE Industrial Partners LP in November. The combined entity now operates as Pangiam in the commercial space, and the Linkware brand is still used for government customers.
PRESIDENT, CMA CGM AMERICA LLP AND APL NORTH AMERICA, NORFOLK
The CMA CGM Group serves 80% of the world’s commercial ports with a 502-vessel fleet and 110,000 employees. The American arm of its shipping and logistics company, based in Norfolk, has a workforce of more than 11,000 employees and serves 18 ports.
In June, Aldridge was named president of CMA CGM Group America, where he’s based in Norfolk and is responsible for all of its U.S. commercial and government activities.
He also continues to serve as president of its APL North America, the country’s oldest ocean carrier, based in California. Aldridge has been president of APL since 2017, when he was promoted from chief operating officer.
Aldridge, a graduate of Marist College in New York, began his career with SeaLand Service, where he held a number of senior roles.
Aldridge left APL for a time in 2003, when he launched an ocean carrier as CEO and president of US Lines for 13 years. That business eventually became part of CMA CGM Group and was integrated into APL North America.
Anders
DEVON ANDERS
PRESIDENT, INTERCHANGE GROUP INC., MOUNT CRAWFORD
Anders has led InterChange Group for two decades, overseeing a warehousing and transportation company that continues to grow.
With 265 employees in Virginia, InterChange offers transportation, supply chain management and storage solutions across 17 warehouses, including a cold storage facility in Rockingham County that recently underwent a $42 million expansion.
Anders serves as a Region 8 council member for the state’s GO Virginia economic development initiative. He also serves on the board of the Virginia Maritime Association.
EDUCATION: Eastern Mennonite University, B.S. in accounting and business administration
FIRST JOB: Worked in a butcher stand in Pennsylvania when I was 9; and as a CPA in public practice at PBMares after college.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Nehemiah: Becoming a Godly Leader,” by Gregory Brown
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Montepulciano wine from Italy
SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN: Eat zucchini. Go skydiving.
ADAM ANDERSON
Anderson
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, T. PARKER HOST, NORFOLK
With 145% revenue growth over three years, terminal operator T. Parker Host made Inc. magazine’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in August 2019. It wasn’t the first time Host made the list, attributing its growth in part to its chairman and CEO, Anderson.
Anderson is no outsider. He’s worked at Host since 1998, starting as a boarding agent. A company timeline notes that a year later, he helped open the company’s first terminal operation at Giant Cement in Chesapeake. He became chairman and CEO in 2011.
The nearly 100-year-old supply-chain company moves cargo and watches over it through its businesses in agents, terminal operations and marine equipment.
Host opened a logistics division in 2017. In late 2018, Host was one of the partners in Avondale Marine, which bought a closed shipyard in Louisiana, redeveloping the more-than-250-acre site along the Mississippi River.
Anderson also is sought out for his industry perspective. He was part of a panel discussing the market outlook for oil, gas and coal at the American Coal Council’s December 2019 conference in New York.
Aument
JENNIFER AUMENT
PRESIDENT, NORTH AMERICA, TRANSURBAN, FALLS CHURCH
If you’ve ever tried to beat traffic by hopping on an express lane on or around the D.C. Beltway, you’ve paid Transurban, an Australian company that operates the toll roads alongside high-volume interstates 95, 395 and 495.
Aument, who joined Transurban in 2006, runs its North American arm. She’s been instrumental in using public-private partnerships to make those transportation projects a reality, including the 53 miles of reversible toll roads in the Greater Washington area. She also had a hand in the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, leading its development team during her time at Bechtel.
Aument is growing Transurban’s business with Virginia, helping rebuild the American Legion Bridge over the Potomac River, and Aument has its eye on Maryland’s road expansion work in Greater Washington.
Gov. Bob McDonnell appointed Aument to a five-year term on the Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners in 2011, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe kept her there. Commissioners oversee the Hampton Roads port, which saw $74.86 billion in cargo pass through in 2019. Aument’s second five-year term ends in 2021.
Airlines are taking a hit, but Norfolk International Airport has been a key transportation gateway for Hampton Roads. It also was responsible for 14,920 jobs that resulted in $1.8 billion in economic output in 2018, according to a study from the Virginia Department of Aviation.
The man overseeing the airport authority, which governs the Norfolk airport, is Bowen, a native of the Northern Neck and a graduate of Old Dominion University. He’s spent much of his career at the airport, starting as director of operations in 1988 and becoming executive director in March 2016.
The airport announced a 94.2% decline in passenger activity in April due to the pandemic. Cargo seemed to be holding fairly steady, however, with a 4.2% increase from the previous year, seeing 5.39 million pounds shipped in and out of the airport.
Before passenger traffic began plummeting this spring, the airport was seeing its best numbers in history. Its passenger count rose 8.62% in 2019 to 3.98 million.
STEPHEN C. BRICH
Brich
COMMISSIONER, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, RICHMOND
Appointed in January 2018, Brich oversees a state agency with a $6.4 billion annual budget and 7,700 employees, responsible for designing, building, operating and maintaining the nation’s third-largest state-maintained highway system.
An Old Dominion University graduate who earned his master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Virginia, Brich started out at VDOT and has spent most of his career there, save for a stint of more than seven years at the planning and design engineering consultancy firm Kimley-Horn and Associates.
Foremost on his plate, Brich is overseeing a project to address longtime traffic congestion — the expansion of the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. At $3.8 billion, it’s the largest construction project in VDOT’s 114-year history, with a planned 2025 completion date. He has also championed the need for $2.2 billion in improvements to Interstate 81, as well as the creation of a sustainable pipeline of projects and the development of performance measures to support long-term strategies for state transportation funding.
Brown
GEORGE BROWN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CP&O LLC; VICE PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION, NORFOLK
Brown leads the stevedoring company CP&O, which employs its “house gangs” of 75 to 300 longshoremen to load and unload ship cargo. Formed in 2004, CP&O operates at the major terminals of the Port of Virginia.
Its presence is felt at Norfolk International Terminal, Virginia International Gateway, Half Moone Cruise and Celebration Center, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal and Lambert’s Point Docks.
Brown, a graduate of Old Dominion University, has worked in the industry more than four decades. Before CP&O, he was an executive at Cooper/T. Smith Stevedoring Co. He serves on the boards of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association and the Virginia Maritime Association, and is treasurer of the National Maritime Safety Association.
As someone who hires and works with the men and women who unload the vessels, he has a significant voice in the industry and looks out for the international longshoremen: “He’s watched the evolution of things,” says Ashley K. McLeod, vice president of communications and membership at the Virginia Maritime Association.
CAPT. WHITING CHISMAN
Chisman
PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA PILOT ASSOCIATION, VIRGINIA BEACH
Chisman was elected president of the Virginia Pilot Association in May, unanimously chosen to replace longtime predecessor Capt. Bill Cofer.
Chisman previously served as vice president of the association, which represents the people who perform the delicate calculations and chart courses that help guide the big cargo ships safely into
Virginia ports.
A Hampton native who underwent the rigorous pilot apprenticeship training after graduating from Virginia Military Institute, Chisman became a branch pilot and earned a U.S. Coast Guard Inland Master’s license. Chisman also is active in Virginia Maritime Association leadership and serves on the Virginia
Port Authority’s stakeholder committee.
He knows the geography of the waterways and has worked to help plan significant dredging and expansion projects in Hampton Roads. Ashley McLeod of the Virginia Maritime Association says Chisman is the future of ensuring a navigable harbor: “He’s instrumental in making sure the waterways are safe and taken care of.”
The Cohen brothers, Adam and Elan, run Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry, the second-largest shipping registry internationally, with more than 4,500 vessels, representing 12% of the world’s oceangoing fleet.
The company was founded by their father, Yoram, in 1999.
In a 2019 profile by Tradewinds, Adam Cohen said he and his brother worked summers for their father, before Adam joined the company full time in the early 2000s, with Elan coming on board a few years later.
Before their father left, they worked with him for about five years, Adam told the magazine:“I brought my background in finance and got to absorb a lot of my father’s entrepreneurial skills, as well as his high-level relationships with governmental officials and senior shipowner contacts he’d developed over many years.”
Yoram Cohen transitioned out of LISCR in 2015.
The family has ties to former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and the company’s $120,000 donation to his campaign for governor raised questions in 2013. The Washington Post and NBC News reported that it was seen as an unusual alliance, because LISCR’s role as an open registry draws criticism from unions and others over less stringent accountability. The company also was questioned by U.S. lawmakers and others for its business during the regime of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, The Post reported. The company said it opened its books to U.S. officials.
MICHAEL W. COLEMAN
Coleman
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CV INTERNATIONAL INC.; PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION, NORFOLK
Coleman is the son of B. Wayne Coleman, who launched a forerunner of CV International in 1985. While the older Coleman remains chairman, his son became president in 2006 and CEO in 2018.
CV International is a player in the supply chain business, offering logistics, transportation and freight-forwarding services. Coleman’s influence extends beyond the business. He’s a member of the Hampton Roads Coal Association, serves on the Hampton Roads Shipping Association and Greater Norfolk Corp. boards, and recently was appointed to the Virginia Board for Branch Pilots. This year he became president of the Virginia Maritime Association.
EDUCATION: University of Richmond, B.A.; Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, J.D. and B.C.L.
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: Hatteras Island
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Vodka martini
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar,” by Alan di Perna and Brad Tolinski
PERSON I ADMIRE: I admire my father more than anyone in the world. He is my father, my boss and a best friend rolled into one. He built the company I now lead from scratch. I have always admired him, his determination, self-confidence and work ethic.
Connor
CHRISTOPHER J. CONNOR
PRESIDENT AND CEO, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PORT AUTHORITIES, ALEXANDRIA
As chief of the American Association of Port Authorities, founded in 1912, Connor works as an industry spokesman and public policy advocate for 130 public port authorities across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.
It’s still early in Connor’s tenure. He took his position in October 2019, bringing a range of shipping and logistics experience — he worked for United States Lines and Crowley Maritime, before becoming global president and CEO of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics AS. Automotive Purchasing and Supply Chain Magazine named him Logistician of the Year in 2013.
Supply chains are undergoing changes and disruptions due to the coronavirus. Another big shift, Connor told Seatrade Maritime News in June, is that “the pandemic has heightened shippers’ awareness of the need to have ready access to essential products and materials without the worries of international trade tensions, long shipping delays, environmental concerns related to shipping and other issues hampering access to goods and affecting their costs.”
A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Connor also serves as business advisory board chairman of Xylyx Bio Inc. and is on the board of The Pasha Group.
JAY CROFTON
Crofton
OWNER AND PRESIDENT, CROFTON INDUSTRIES INC., PORTSMOUTH
Crofton Industries, which provides professional diving services for the maritime industry, grew out of a diving business started by Navy veteran Juan F. Crofton and a friend in 1949.
Crofton’s four children — Bob, Kenny, Camille and Jay — were working at the growing company by 1983, and they remain on its leadership team.
Jay Crofton serves as president of the company, which offers services including commercial diving, hydraulic cranes and crane rental, rigging, marine construction and engineering.
In a company video, Crofton notes that attention to safety has been important from the beginning. The company had to develop its own protocols, because OSHA regulations were nonexistent in the early days.
Crofton Industries celebrated its 70th anniversary last year. In a story about its milestone, The Virginian-Pilot noted that the company had been key in preserving regional infrastructure, including the replacement of the Bonner Bridge, helping with the replacement of Portsmouth’s seawall and inspecting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
As for the company’s future, a third generation now works in the family business.
Cuomo
JOHN CUOMO
CEO AND PRESIDENT, VSE CORP., ALEXANDRIA
Cuomo took the reins of logistics company VSE Corp. in April 2019.
After graduating from Florida Atlantic University in 1996, Cuomo earned a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law and went on to pick up his MBA from the University of Florida. He followed that up with nearly 20 years in the aerospace industry, working for B/E Aerospace Inc. and then its spinoff, Aerospace Solutions Group. When that company was acquired by The Boeing Co., Cuomo served as vice president and general manager of Boeing Distribution Services.
VSE was founded in 1959 and drew much of its work serving the Department of Defense. A little more than 40% of its revenue in 2019 came from defense contracts, which included work on military vehicles, ships and aircraft, along with technology and engineering services.
Its other two arms are supply chain management and aviation — the latter of which recently announced a partnership with 1st Choice Aerospace and Aviation Clean Air on a project that tested ionization technology and purification systems as a way to sterilize the COVID-19 virus in aircraft interiors.
JEROME L. DAVIS
Davis
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER, METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON AIRPORTS AUTHORITY, ARLINGTON
Davis was appointed to his position at Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in September 2014. The authority oversees the Ronald Reagan National and Washington Dulles International airports.
Davis, who also serves on the board of Destination D.C., the city’s tourism marketing organization, came to the authority with corporate experience at Waste Management, Americas for Electronic Data Systems, the Maytag Appliance Company, Frito Lay and Procter & Gamble.
A graduate of Florida State University, Davis played football under Coach Bobby Bowden, and during his time at Ohio State University was a defensive back in two Rose Bowls.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Nightingale,” by Kristin Hannah.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: From a business perspective, I would say Pepsi, because our airports entered into a pouring rights agreement with the company.
PERSON I ADMIRE: Muhammad Ali, because he was so relevant during my formative years. He knew how to handle adversity and he had the ability to bring diverse people together.
Estes
ROBEY W. ‘ROB’ ESTES JR.
CEO, ESTES EXPRESS LINES, RICHMOND
Taking over CEO duties from his father in 1990, Estes now runs the company started by his late grandfather, W.W. Estes, in 1931.
Rob Estes has seen the implementation of new technology and exponential growth at the trucking company, which employs more than 18,000 people and last year served 1.54 million direct points in all 50 states, with service to Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
A year after Estes became CEO, annual revenue hit $100 million. By 1994, it had doubled to $200 million, and 10 years later reached $1 billion. By 2014, Estes was recording more than $2 billion in revenue, soaring to $3.1 billion in 2018. That landed it on the Forbes list of American’s Largest Private Companies in 2019, at No. 153.
Estes told Virginia Business in 2016 that a hallmark of his leadership was planning conservatively for growth. “We make sure decisions are long-term focused and not quick decisions that will have a long-term negative impact on the company,” Estes said.
Estes’ son Webb is continuing the tradition, serving as a vice president at the company.
GEORGE GOLDMAN
Goldman
PRESIDENT, ZIM AMERICAN INTEGRATED SHIPPING SERVICES LTD., NORFOLK
ZIM is a mammoth shipping services provider that operates around the globe, reaching more than 100 countries. As part of an expansion strategy, it launched an independent arm in the United States in 2015, tapping Goldman to lead its business.
Before docking at ZIM, Goldman worked most of his career for APL ocean carriers in leadership roles that took him from Singapore to Scottsdale, Arizona.
A native of the Netherlands, Goldman grew up on the West Coast. He’s a graduate of San Jose State University in California, attended graduate school at New York University and took executive management courses at the University of Michigan.
ZIM American has added ports during Goldman’s term and in June launched an express service that offered 12-day transit from South China to Los Angeles, the Journal of Commerce reported. “We always had a keen interest in returning to the U.S. West Coast,” Goldman told JOC, “but it all depends on scope and scale.”
Govind
GANA GOVIND
PRESIDENT, SOFTEON, RESTON
Softeon provides supply-chain software and other systems that help companies manage and run warehouses, an increasingly high-tech prospect that incorporates robotics, artificial intelligence and the internet of things.
Govind, a graduate of the University of Madras, India, founded the company in 1999 and says it’s been profitable from the start.
For 20 years, Govind was the sole shareholder of the company. But in October the company announced a minority investment from private equity firm Warburg Pincus. “Their software is crucial for many companies of all sizes and complexities with warehousing needs,” Warburg Pincus Vice President Angel Pu said. “We are confident that the company is primed for strong growth in the years ahead.”
Speaking of the future, in May, Softeon opened a 2,200-square-foot Warehouse of the Future Innovation Lab near its Reston headquarters. In it, the company can explore and showcase how voice applications, high-tech sortation systems and other technology can squeeze more efficiency out of warehouse operations.
PERRY J. MILLER
Miller
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CAPITAL REGION AIRPORT COMMISSION, RICHMOND
August marks Miller’s first year as president and CEO of the Capital Region Airport Commission, which governs the Richmond International Airport, which brought in $43 million in revenue in 2019 and typically flies more than 4 million passengers a year. (Numbers are down dramatically this year due to the pandemic.) Miller brings more than 25 years of management experience from the Houston Airport System and served as interim CEO of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority in Mississippi.
In June, Miller was named secretary and treasurer of the Alexandria-based American Association of Airport Executives. He is married to his college sweetheart, Tanya. The couple has four sons: Shane, Nekoda, Jachin, and Jahleel.
FIRST JOB: Working as a cook for a local restaurant in Houston, Texas
PERSON I ADMIRE: It has been said that in the face of racial disharmony and blatant disregard for human dignity, Air Force Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was able to prove that people with different backgrounds working together for a common good can achieve far more together than they could separately. Today, the workforce, particularly in the aviation sector, is much more diverse because of his efforts and the efforts of many other brave Americans.
Milliken
JOHN G. MILLIKEN
CHAIRMAN, VIRGINIA PORT AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, ARLINGTON
The Virginia Port Authority needs a new CEO and executive director to replace John F. Reinhart, a former Virginia Business Person of the Year who has announced he will retire in March 2021.
It falls to Milliken to guide that search.
Milliken knows his way around the industry. He served as Virginia’s secretary of transportation under Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and has been chairman of the Virginia Port Authority Board since his appointment by Gov. Terry McAuliffe in 2014. It marked his return to the board, which he also chaired from 2002 to 2011.
He worked under three other governors, including serving as transition director for Gov. Mark Warner and helping lead the transition committee on transportation for Gov. Ralph Northam.
A University of Virginia School of Law alumnus, Milliken spent 21 years as a lawyer at Tysons-based firm Venable LLP and has had his hand in more than maritime — including board service on the Washington Airports Task Force and the Dulles Corridor Rail Association. He’s a senior fellow in residence at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
JOHN E. ‘JACK’ POTTER
Potter
PRESIDENT AND CEO, METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON AIRPORTS AUTHORITY, ARLINGTON
Virginia’s two largest airports, Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International, fall under the watch of Potter. He’s led the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority since 2011, overseeing 1,718 employees in Virginia and an organization with $913.5 million in revenue in 2019.
Potter is responsible for more than air travel, however. He’s had his eye on the rails, too, with responsibility for the multibillion-dollar expansion of Metro’s Silver Line, which will allow trains to reach Dulles and other points in Loudoun County.
Among his roles, Potter serves on the management advisory council of the Federal Aviation Administration and on the board of directors for the U.S. Travel Association.
EDUCATION: Fordham University, bachelor’s degree in economics; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, master’s degree as a Sloan Fellow
FIRST JOB: Distribution clerk at the United States Postal Service
BEST ADVICE: Change is inevitable in every business. It is critical that you are constantly looking forward and preparing for change.
FAVORITE VACATION: The Jersey Shore
Price
KEVIN PRICE
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL TERMINALS LLC, NORFOLK
Price is responsible for the operations of Virginia International Terminals (VIT), a nonprofit corporation created by the Virginia Port Authority in 1982 to run its cargo terminals — including Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal and the Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal.
VIT generates more than half a billion dollars in annual revenue at the port, which is the third-largest in the United States and has been rapidly expanding in recent years.
Price attended East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, where he played football. Since graduation, he’s spent the majority of his career in terminal operations, with stints at Sea-Land Service Inc., APM Terminals and Global Container Terminals.
He started with Virginia International Terminals in 2018 as senior vice president of operations. After a little more than a year, he became COO.
Price reports to Virginia Port Authority CEO and Executive Director John F. Reinhart, who has announced plans to retire in March 2021.
JOHN F. REINHART
Reinhart
CEO AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA PORT AUTHORITY, NORFOLK
The chief of the Virginia Port Authority, Reinhart has overseen the transformation of the Port of Virginia since he started in 2014. He took the helm of an organization in need of an overhaul, supervising great growth and shepherding some of its biggest projects.
He oversees the Virginia International Gateway, Norfolk International Terminals, Virginia Inland Port and the marine terminals of Newport News, Portsmouth and Richmond — an impact put into perspective in May when he gave notice that he would retire in March 2021.
“This port is going to be an economic force in Virginia for decades to come,” he said in a statement.
Some of his keystone projects include the $700 million expansion of Hampton Roads terminals, a $1.5 billion capital spending program, a $350 million investment from the state and a dredging project that will increase competitive advantage for the port by creating the deepest commercial harbor and shipping channels on the East Coast.
Reinhart, who came to the authority after more than two decades with the Maersk shipping company, also holds influential board memberships on the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the GO Virginia Region 5 Council.
Rock
REAR ADM. CHARLES ‘CHIP’ ROCK
COMMANDER, NAVY REGION MID-ATLANTIC, U.S. NAVY, NORFOLK
In a region that’s home to the world’s largest naval facility, Rear Adm. Rock is in command. He leads the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic, overseeing 14 Navy installations — five of them in the Hampton Roads area.
In an editorial published in The Virginian-Pilot last year, Rock laid out the numbers that reinforce the significance of the military in Hampton Roads: 300,000 people with direct ties to the Navy, nearly 90,000 active duty sailors, more than 9,000 reservists and 53,000 civilians employed by the Navy. And that’s not mentioning veterans and family members based in the area.
Rock started his naval career in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program at Texas A&M University, receiving his commission in 1987. He’s held his current post since July 2018.
In May, Rock spoke of the role the Navy could play during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the hospital ship USNS Comfort, and its collaboration with the business community. “Cultivating this type of environment is absolutely foundational to the collective success of the region and to each other,” he says, “no matter what we’re trying to achieve.”
JAMES A. SQUIRES
Squires
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP., NORFOLK
Traffic volume is declining at Norfolk Southern, which soon will leave Virginia on a midnight train to Georgia. Volume was down 11% in the first quarter, Squires reported during the annual shareholder meeting in May.
Nevertheless, efficiency is up, Squires said, citing the results of a strategic plan launched last year that led to records for train speed and other metrics: “We’ve decongested our yards and road network, allowing cars to turn quicker in the terminals and trains to move faster on the network. Our success enabled us to dispose of 703 locomotives that are no longer needed because our network is more efficient — a strong sign that our strategic plan is working.”
In a big hit to the Hampton Roads region and Virginia, in 2018 Norfolk Southern decided to relocate its headquarters after being based in Norfolk for nearly four decades. The company will maintain a presence in the area but broke ground in Atlanta last year and plans to complete its relocation by 2021. It sold its signature Norfolk Southern building in downtown Norfolk to Suffolk-based TowneBank and Norfolk-based Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters.
Squires, a New Jersey native and U.S. Army veteran, served throughout Norfolk Southern’s leadership before becoming president in 2013. He added CEO and board chairman to his title in 2015.
Wheeler
SCOTT WHEELER
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION; PRESIDENT, BAY DIESEL & GENERATOR CORP., VIRGINIA BEACH
Wheeler leads the 100-year-old Virginia Maritime Association (VMA), which represents more than 450 companies across Virginia in all areas of the maritime industry. A native of St. Louis and a U.S. Army veteran, Wheeler was elected president of the association in December 2017.
In addition to his work representing the industry for VMA, Wheeler occupies leadership roles for several community organizations. He serves on the boards of the World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads and WHRO Public Television and Radio.
Wheeler also runs a business that has its own place in the maritime supply chain. After working for the Virginia Tractor Co. and Caterpillar Inc., he started Bay Diesel & Generator Corp. from the back of his Ford Pinto in 1982.
Bay Diesel, where Wheeler is president, services diesel engines and electrical generators for ships and other maritime and industrial uses. Its generators help keep refrigerated cargo cold on river barge voyages from Norfolk to Richmond.
White works to ensure the maritime industry’s voice is heard in the Virginia General Assembly and on Capitol Hill. With the Virginia Maritime Association celebrating its centennial this year, White is leading the organization into its next 100 years. The association has more than 450 member companies. White has encouraged wind energy to be the next opportunity for Virginia as part of the maritime supply chain. In his role with the Hampton Roads Shipping Association, he also helps handle the collective bargaining agreement for the International Longshoremen’s Association.
EDUCATION: William & Mary, bachelor’s in business administration
FIRST JOB: At the age of 16, I worked part time at a Wendy’s, flipping hamburgers.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Futbol Club Barcelona is the best soccer team in Spain’s La Lisa league system. All three of my daughters have played travel soccer.
BEST ADVICE: Listen more and speak with purpose; treat others the way you want others to treat you; when you see divisions, build bridges; and let your actions match your words. Such characteristics build trust and respect. To these I would add the importance of having a personal relationship with your god.
Wiedefeld
PAUL J. WIEDEFELD
GENERAL MANAGER AND CEO, WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.
With a workforce of 12,000, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority serves more than 600,000 riders a day through Metrorail and operates a fleet of more than 1,500 buses making 11,500 daily stops.
But the pandemic and construction work caused public transit ridership to plunge about 90% this spring and summer.
Wiedefeld was searching for the silver lining while the WMATA prepared to restart its Silver Line service and reopen six stations in August.
“By combining the schedules of our two biggest capital priorities in Virginia during a time of historically low ridership,” he said, “we believe we have positioned Metro and the region for a strong recovery.”
Wiedefeld has experience with large-scale challenges. As CEO of BWI Airport, he oversaw projects that included the construction of a Southwest Airlines 26-gate terminal. At the Maryland Transit Administration, where he was CEO, he was responsible for the 13th-largest transit system in the country.
Wiedefeld is a graduate of Towson University and earned his master’s degree in city and regional planning from Rutgers University.
ROLF A. WILLIAMS
Williams
OWNER, ANDERS WILLIAMS & CO. INC.; VICE PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION, NORFOLK
Williams is the grandson of Anders Williams, a native of Norway who got his start on ships as a teenager — eventually becoming a captain for the Wilhelm Line. He and his wife moved to the United States, settling in Norfolk.
The Williams patriarch bought part of the business where he was working, the Henry A. Kassel Co., in 1924, and it has grown into a portfolio of businesses. Anders’ son, the late Rolf Williams, founded Anders Williams Ship Agency, and led Marine Oil Service and Port City Transportation.
His son, Rolf A. Williams, represents the third generation. He’s president of the shipping and trucking arms of Anders Williams, and executive vice president of Marine Oil Service of Norfolk and New York.
A William & Mary graduate, Williams is a well-known industry leader who serves as a vice president of the Virginia Maritime Association.
Woodhour
WILLIAM E. ‘BILL’ WOODHOUR
PRESIDENT AND CEO, MAERSK LINE LTD., LEESBURG
Woodhour has been president and CEO of Maersk Line Ltd. a little more than four years. His company’s parent, the Danish container logistics company Maersk, ships from more than 300 ports around the world, employing approximately 3,500 U.S. mariners annually.
Maersk Line, which has offices in Norfolk and Reston, is the U.S. arm founded in 1983 to support the U.S. Navy. It now operates vessels that support military, government and humanitarian missions.
Woodhour earned business and marketing degrees at the University of Delaware and attended Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program before embarking on a career that has spanned 26 years at Maersk. He held sales and marketing positions and served in executive roles that took him from New Jersey to Denmark.
His role as president and CEO is based in Virginia, and Woodhour is called upon to share his expertise. He delivered a keynote address last year at the Conference on America’s Ports, held at Christopher Newport University’s Center for American Studies.
The Alexandria-based American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) announced Friday its 2020-21 leadership board, which includes Richmond International Airport President and CEO Perry Miller, who was tapped as the organization’s secretary and treasurer.
Kelly Campbell, executive director of aviation at the Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport in Texas, will serve as chair. Other executive appointments included Larry Krauter, CEO of Spokane International Airport, as first vice chair; and Mark Gale, CEO and director of aviation of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, as second vice chair.
Founded in 1928, AAAE is the largest organization representing commercial and general aviation professionals. Leadership transitions for 2020 through 2021 were supposed to happen during the 92nd Annual AAAE Conference and Exposition planned for May, but were canceled due to the pandemic.
“These are unprecedented times for AAAE and the aviation industry, and we are fortunate to have an exceptional group of airport executives to help guide us through the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for our Association and our industry,” AAAE President and CEO Todd Hauptli said in a statement. “The recognition these leaders have earned from their peers is extraordinary and a testament to their commitment to our organization and the airport profession.”
Miller was appointed as president and CEO of Richmond International Airport in July 2019. He had previously been the interim CEO of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority in Jackson, Mississippi. During his career of more than 25 years, he also held leadership positions at William P. Hobby Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Ellington Field (all in the Houston Airport System).
He earned his bachelor’s degree in airway science management and his master’s degree in transportation planning and management from Texas Southern University. Miller also holds a doctorate in management from Walden University.
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