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Constructing change
The construction industry has long been perceived as a male-dominated field, but diversity is not just a moral imperative — it’s a strategic advantage. While the National Association of Home Builders reports that women currently make up approximately 10.8% of the U.S. construction workforce — an increase from 9.3% in 2002 — there is still […]
Trump-led DEI crackdown may leave glass ceilings intact
In the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s and 1970s, when my mother was climbing the corporate ladder at C&P Telephone, she was frequently the only woman at out-of-state national technical trainings for managers. And from her recollection, if the men in the classes weren’t hitting on her, many were resentful or threatened by her […]
Left behind?
In June 2022, Booz Allen Hamilton was without a chief diversity officer. The McLean-based Fortune 500 management consulting contractor’s chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Jon G. Muñoz, stepped down after a year in the role. A year and a half later, Booz Allen hasn’t hired anyone new for the position — but that’s by […]
The 2024 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards
This February, during Black History Month, Virginia Business is pleased to honor 17 distinguished leaders from across the commonwealth in our second annual Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards. This year’s cohort of honorees represent industries ranging from advertising, architecture, defense contracting, finance and health care to higher education and nonprofits. Our editors chose this [...]
On the basis of race
Logan Barry began working as a reporter for The Progress-Index newspaper in Petersburg in 2018, less than a year before a merger placed his paper under the ownership of Tysons-based media conglomerate Gannett. In August, he joined a federal class action lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia alleging […]
Virginia Tech receives $10M gift for endowed scholarship
Preston White, the founder of Virginia Beach-based concrete contractor Century Concrete, and his wife, Catharine, have donated $10 million to Virginia Tech to create an endowed scholarship, the university announced Tuesday. The Whites’ latest gift to Tech, the Preston and Catharine White Endowed Diversity Scholarship, will eventually provide scholarships of $5,000 to $7,500 to about [&hellip[...]
Building equity
When BB&T recruited Thomas Ransom, a Black economics student at Hampden-Sydney College, to join its management development program in the late 1990s, he quickly had to pick up the world of banking and its culture. The Urbanna native says he’d never met a banker before starting at BB&T and certainly didn’t know what moves to […]
Head of the class
Donald Alexander Jr. considered multiple schools, as well as the Air Force, before he landed at Norfolk State University in 2019. The Chesapeake native grew up with strong ties to the university, one of Virginia’s two public historically Black colleges and universities. As an elementary schooler, Alexander went to summer camp on Norfolk State’s campus, […]
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 […]
Pharrell brings Mighty Dream to Norfolk
In November, Grammy-winning music superstar Pharrell Williams hosted the three-day Mighty Dream forum in Norfolk and broke some news about his Something in the Water music festival and the status of his team’s proposal to redevelop Norfolk’s Military Circle Mall site. Mighty Dream, a sequel to his 2021 Elephant in the Room business conference at […]
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 […]
