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2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Yvonne Allmond
Allmond joined TowneBank in 2005 and has more than three decades of experience in banking and finance. Although she moved around in her youth as part of a military family, Allmond is today settled into Hampton Roads civic life, having served on boards for Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University Foundation and the Virginia Center […]
Business Facilities names Virginia 2024 State of the Year
Business Facilities has named Virginia its 2024 State of the Year, recognizing the state’s business environment and economic development success, the publication announced Monday. The award comes in the same year as Virginia’s sixth No. 1 ranking as CNBC’s Top State for Business, awarded in July. Virginia previously won Business Facilities’ State of the Year […]
Omni Homestead GM receives lifetime achievement award
The American Hotel & Lodging Association presented Mark Spadoni, managing director of The Omni Homestead Resort in Bath County, with the association’s General Manager Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 28. The association honored Spadoni in San Antonio at its second annual The Hospitality Show conference, cosponsored by Questex’s Hotel Management brand. “I am deeply honored [&hel[...]
2024 Virginia CFO Awards: Nonprofits: John Zabrowski, VHC Health
VHC Health Chief Financial Officer John Zabrowski zeroed in on accounting and finance early in life, double majoring in the subjects at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and then doing two internships in public accounting after graduation. “I love economics, I love statistics,” he says. “I found that I was really attracted to the […]
Out & About August 2024
On June 13, Virginia Business honored the winners of the 2024 Virginia CFO Awards during the magazine’s annual black-tie banquet at Richmond’s Jefferson Hotel. Photos by Rick DeBerry. 1. L to R: Virginia CFO Awards nominee Paul Huckfeldt of Hooker Furnishings and wife, Annette; 2024 CFO Awards winner Joel Flax of Cohen Investment Group and wife, […]
2024 Virginia CFO Awards: Small Business: Joel Flax, Cohen Investment Group
Joel Flax hadn’t planned on serving as a chief financial officer after retiring from a full-fledged career as an accountant and tax advisor. But it also wasn’t the first time he made an unexpected career shift. In college, he had wanted to be a sportswriter. But shortly after graduating from William & Mary with a […]
2024 Virginia Women in Leadership Awards: Leading Ladies
For the fourth annual Women in Leadership Awards, Virginia Business hosted a photo shoot at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where eight of this year’s winners struck poses for Richmond photographer James Lee. Given the surroundings, Lee took inspiration from the museum’s collection and other artwork in staging the photos. The results display a […]
Out & About July 2024
1. James W. Dyke Jr. with McGuireWoods Consulting received a lifetime achievement award from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce May 16 in Richmond. L to R (front row): Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don L. Scott Jr., D-Portsmouth; former Gov. Douglas Wilder; Dyke. L to R (back row): Virginia Sen. Lamont Bagby, D-Henrico, former U.S. […]
MELODY DICKERSON
In December, Melody Dickerson added a new set of letters after her name: DNP, or Doctor of Nursing Practice. More than one person wondered aloud: “Why on earth did you go back and get your doctorate now?” The reality was Dickerson had contemplated going back to school for years, but the pandemic gave her the […]
MONICA SCHMUDE
A key performance indicator is a metric used to gauge a company’s performance, and, for Monica Schmude, the KPIs that matter most are the mental and physical well-being of her employees. “A company’s greatest asset is the health of its workforce,” she says, a particularly apt belief for the Virginia head of Anthem Blue Cross […]
AMY SEBRING
The Virginia Tech motto — Ut Prosim (from the Latin for “that I may serve”) — was made to order for Amy Sebring, who describes herself as “a servant leader.” In her dual roles as the university’s executive vice president and COO, the Tidewater native and daughter of two civil servants has to keep many […]
MARGARET SHAIA
Margaret Shaia trained as an accountant, but says she had zero interest in being “a bean counter who sits in an office all day. I wanted to know what the numbers were saying.” That curiosity led her to a series of jobs at Virginia manufacturing companies, where she became involved not just in financial […]
