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WARREN THOMPSON
Hall of Fame member A Hampden-Sydney College and University of Virginia Darden School of Business alum who grew up in the town of Windsor in Isle of Wight County, Thompson started his company in 1992 after purchasing 31 Big Boy restaurants from Marriott Corp., his former employer. Today, Thompson Hospitality is the nation’s largest minority-owned […]
After the crisis
During summer 2020, racial inequities took center stage in the United States as protesters took to the streets after the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer was captured on video and widely disseminated via social media and news outlets. Corporate America also responded, primarily through public statements vowing […]
THOMAS HASTY
Although Virginia has had notable Black banking leaders — including Maggie Walker at the start of the 20th century — it’s still a business that has not had a lot of African American representation in the C-suite. In 1999, after working for BB&T, Hasty took control of his fate and became a co-founder of Suffolk-based […]
KEN AMPY
Growing up in rural Dinwiddie County, Ampy saw firsthand the power of community. After studying computer science at Old Dominion University, he built a career as a programmer analyst and developer for Dominion Virginia Power and Capital One Financial Corp. before launching staffing and consulting firm Astyra Corp. in 1997 in Richmond. Throughout, Ampy has […]
CHANDRA BRIGGMAN
The leader since 2020 of a Richmond-based innovation incubator that includes a biotech park, startup development and a newly invigorated cluster accelerator for pharmaceutical research and manufacturing, Briggman is off to a fast start. Growing up in a town of 2,000 in rural South Carolina, she was inspired by her parents to pursue innovation. “Neither […]
KEVIN M. WIDEMAN
In just over four years, Wideman has quintupled the annual revenues of his Fairfax County-based government contracting agency from $100 million to $500 million, expanding its workforce from 130 to more than 2,100 employees, and landing it multiple times on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing U.S. private companies. A Temple University electrical engineering […]
Innovation was at center of Mighty Dream Day 3
On the third and final day of Pharrell Williams‘ Mighty Dream Forum in Norfolk, the theme was innovation. The first day‘s focus was diversity and equity, while Wednesday was largely dedicated to inspiring entrepreneurs to find and create opportunities. Panelists throughout the day Thursday encouraged attendees to innovate, seek out resources and do their homework […]
Mighty Dream Day 2: Finding and seizing opportunities
The second day of Pharrell Williams‘ Mighty Dream Forum in Norfolk included poetry, news about Williams’ Something in the Water music festival and advice for entrepreneurs. Just as Mighty Dream’s first day was focused around a central theme of diversity and equity, the second day was largely dedicated to inspiring entrepreneurs to find and create […]
Mighty Dream Day 1 focuses on diversity, equity
Grammy winning music superstar Pharrell Williams put on his business hat Tuesday in Norfolk, welcoming attendees to his Mighty Dream forum, which he likened to an event like the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, “but for marginalized communities.” The three-day forum kicked off with spoken-word poetry and a mighty boom of drums and crash […]
Richmond wellness space gets shot from Jack Daniel’s
On his 33rd birthday, Brelan Hillman learned that BareSOUL Yoga and Wellness was selected as one of six finalists to compete for $10,000 in a pitch contest for Black-owned businesses in Richmond. With just a weekend to prepare, Hillman, a business partner and board member for BareSOUL, crafted his three-minute appeal to connect Richmond’s history […]
DEI openers
Every movement has its moment. And now appears to be the moment for diversity, equity and inclusion officers in C-suites, academia and government. Black Lives Matters protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 broadened awareness of race-based inequities that exist in the United States, including inequality in hiring and job […]
B-Cubed program aids minority-owned businesses
A minority business assistance program in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County has helped 15 businesses and disbursed $21,700 in grant money in its first year of operation. With $200,000 in state and federal grant awards announced in October 2021, organizers of the Black– and Brown-Owned Business Growth Program, known as B-Cubed, hope to attract more business […]
