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Tag: Davenport Energy

Va. Chamber honors four execs with lifetime achievement awards

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce honored four Virginia business leaders with lifetime achievement awards during a May 16 ceremony at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.

The honorees were: Carilion Clinic CEO Nancy Howell Agee; Michael Daniels, chairman of the board of CACI International; Benjamin Davenport Jr., chairman of the board of First Piedmont and Davenport Energy; and James Dyke, senior advisor with McGuireWoods Consulting.

“We are delighted to recognize the individual achievements of each honoree who has helped shape Virginia as a best state for business,” Virginia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barry DuVal said in a statement. “Their visionary leadership and commitment to excellence serve as an inspiration for current and future generations of business leaders.”

Honored by the chamber for her “lifetime of exemplary leadership in health care and economic development in the commonwealth,” Agee oversees a $2.4 billion health system that employs 14,000 workers and serves more than 1 million people across western Virginia and West Virginia. It has seven hospitals and a physician group with more than 1,000 doctors. She has served as CEO since 2011 and also served as president until 2023. Prior to that, she served as executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Daniels was honored for “a career dedicated to positioning the commonwealth as a technology leader and promoting a thriving economy supported by a world-class workforce.” CACI’s chairman since January 2021, he previously served as chairman and CEO of Network Solutions and held several executive roles at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), among many other executive roles. He also was a former senior White House adviser on international technology and a senior adviser to the National Security Council.

Davenport was honored for his “lifetime commitment to excellence in education, workforce development and improving the business climate of the commonwealth.” A Virginia Tech alumnus, Davenport is a past rector for Tech, which in 2016 awarded him the university’s highest honor, the William H. Ruffner Medal. He serves on boards for GO Virginia and The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research in Danville. Davenport Energy supplies propane and fuel oil to more than 30,000 customers in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia, and gasoline and diesel fuel to more than 200 convenience stores.

The commonwealth’s first Black secretary of education, Dyke was honored for “a lifetime commitment to excellence in education, workforce development, diversity and improving the business climate of the commonwealth.” Dyke also is a past chair (1999-2000) of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, breaking barriers as the first Black professional to hold that position since the chamber’s 1925 founding. Dyke was valedictorian of Howard University’s law school in 1971, and, in addition to serving under Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, he was a domestic policy adviser to Vice President Walter Mondale and was instrumental in opening Virginia Military Institute to women after a landmark 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down VMI’s males-only admissions policy. Dyke’s clients at McGuireWoods Consulting have included George Washington University and the George Mason University Foundation.

In accepting the award, Dyke thanked the chamber for “giving me the opportunity to help develop bipartisan, policy-focused business support for needed improvements in education and workforce preparation programs — changes that will provide every Virginian with the opportunity to succeed and help grow our economy.”

VFCCE names Ben Davenport chairman

Davenport Energy Inc. Chairman Ben Davenport is the next chairman of The Virginia Foundation for Community College Education, the Richmond-based foundation announced Tuesday.

In 2016, Davenport and his wife, Betty, invested $1 million through VFCCE to create a pilot program with four community colleges that provided early childhood programs to 150 early childhood professionals. Those students also received academic coaching, supportive services and onsite workplace mentoring.

“I think the community college system, by and large, has been taken for granted,” Davenport said in a statement. “I decided that I needed to get involved and that maybe this was one of the best ways to redevelop the workforce and the level of education in our region and across the state.”

Ben Davenport’s father founded Davenport Energy in 1941. The company employs 150 people and has offices in Danville, Gretna, Rocky Mount, Martinsville, Roanoke, South Boston, Covington and Siler City, North Carolina. It supplies propane and fuel oil, along with related services, to more than 30,000 customers in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia and supplies gasoline and diesel fuel to more than 200 convenience stores.

“We are thrilled and honored to have Mr. Davenport as our chair,” Jennifer Gentry, VFCCE’s executive director and vice chancellor for institutional advancement, said in a statement. “His passion and vision for how philanthropic support can play such a critical role in education, and Virginia’s economy, serve as guideposts for VFCCE’s board and mission.”

Davenport also serves as chairman of waste management company First Piedmont Corp. and holds leadership positions on the Virginia Growth and Opportunity (GO Virginia) Board and the boards of Hargrave Military Academy, The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, the Future of the Piedmont Foundation and Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corp.

He attended Hargrave Military Academy, served in the U.S. Coast Guard and graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1964. Davenport lives in Chatham.

Founded in 2006, VFCCE broadens access to education at Virginia’s 23 community colleges by supporting students with tuition, fees and books and by providing services ranging from technology to child care and transportation.

Davenport Energy promotes Harold Thornton to president

Chatham-based Davenport Energy Inc. has promoted Harold E. “Hal” Thornton Jr. to president, the company announced Tuesday.

Thornton has been with Davenport, a provider of gas, diesel fuel propane and petroleum products, for 27 years. He was initially hired as human resources director in 1995, rising through the ranks to supervisory and management positions. Most recently he was executive vice president, a role he has held since 2002. His vice president role will not be filled, according to a company spokesman. Before he joined Davenport, Thornton worked for North American Locating Inc.

“Hal has been a key part of our success, and we are thrilled to promote him to this important position,” Davenport CEO Lewis E. Wall Jr. said in a statement.

Davenport was founded in 1941 and is a family-owned company. Benjamin J. Davenport Jr., whose father founded the company, is now chairman, and Wall is his cousin. The company employs 150 people and has offices in Danville, Gretna, Rocky Mount, Martinsville, Roanoke, South Boston, Covington and Siler City, North Carolina. It supplies propane and fuel oil, along with related services to more than 30,000 customers in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia and gasoline and diesel fuel to more than 200 convenience stores.

 “Davenport Energy Inc. has been my work home for nearly 27 years,” Thornton said. “The excitement of watching the company flourish is only matched by the day-to-day honor of being a member of Team Davenport. I am grateful for the opportunities afforded me and look forward to Davenport Energy’s continued success.”