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Tag: finance

Finance | Insurance 2023: HANS VonKRUGER

In college, VonKruger took a part-time job as a teller to help pay for tuition. After working for JPMorgan Chase for more than 20 years, VonKruger joined Bank of America in 2016, becoming consumer banking market leader for southeastern Virginia. He has been the Hampton Roads market executive since 2018, managing about 575 employees and 28 branches.

A graduate of California State University’s Northridge and Long Beach institutions, VonKruger volunteers as board vice president for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia and is a board member for RVA757 Connects. He also participates in the United Way of South Hampton Roads’ Mission United program for active-duty military members, their families and veterans.

HOW I UNWIND FROM WORK: Kicking the soccer ball in the back yard with my daughter or shooting hoops in the driveway with her. I enjoy that one-on-one time and watching how much she’s improved from day to day.

Finance | Insurance 2023: THOMAS S. GAYNER

On Jan. 1, Gayner became Markel’s sole CEO after serving more than six years in an unusual co-CEO arrangement with Richard Whitt III, who retired after more than two decades at the Fortune 500 insurer and holding company. Gayner, also chief investment officer, joined Markel in 1990.

As CEO, Gayner oversees three divisions: insurance, investments and Markel Ventures, which owns and operates a family of independent subsidiaries ranging from luxury purse maker Brahmin to Eagle home builders.

Markel reported operating revenue of $11.7 billion in 2022 and has more than 20,000 employees worldwide, including 2,700 in Virginia. In May, the company changed its name from Markel Corp. to Markel Group to better reflect its diverse holdings.

A University of Virginia graduate, Gayner previously served as a vice president at Davenport and was a CPA for PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is also chairman of the board for Davis Series Mutual Funds, and a board director for Graham Holdings and Cable One.

In April, he and his wife, Susan, started the Gayner Family Sustainable Investment Fund and Scholarship Program, supporting students at U.Va.’s McIntire School of Commerce.

Finance | Insurance 2023: G. ROBERT ASTON JR.

When he founded TowneBank in 1999, Aston had a vision of creating a Main Street bank that would be focused exclusively on serving the people and businesses in its hometown. Today, TowneBank has over 45 locations, with assets of more than $16.7 billion as of March 31, and supports more than 200 nonprofit organizations through its TowneBank Foundation.

Aston served as board chairman and CEO from the founding of the bank until 2018, when he transitioned to executive chairman. Prior to starting TowneBank, Aston served as president and CEO of Virginia Beach-based Commerce Bank from 1985 until BB&T acquired it in 1995. He then served as president and CEO of BB&T of Virginia from 1995 to 1998.

In January, TowneBank completed its merger with Farmers Bankshares and its subsidiary, Farmers Bank. The merger added Isle of Wight and Southampton counties to TowneBank’s service area and expanded Towne Insurance Agency’s market base.

This year, TowneBank received its sixth consecutive outstanding rating from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for its Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) performance, evaluating the bank’s performance on meeting credit needs of its service areas, including low- and middle-income clients.

Finance | Insurance 2023: STEPHAN Q. CASSADAY

Cassaday, who has been advising investors for nearly 50 years, founded his eponymous independent advisory firm in 1993. Since then, his firm has grown from $40 million in assets under management to $4.7 billion, with 84 employees and 2,800 clients nationally.

Cassaday & Co. has appeared on several “best places to work” lists, and Barron’s named Cassaday to its hall of fame, ranking him as top financial adviser in Virginia several times in the past decade.

More interested in playing in his band than filling out college applications as a teen, Cassaday ended up at Radford University because it was the school with the latest application deadline. That said, Cassaday earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Radford in three years. He is a former member of the board of visitors and received Radford’s Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2016. He also endowed a scholarship fund there.

Cassaday is a member of the board of directors for the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, a conservative think tank focused on economic progress in free markets.

FIRST JOB: Cutting grass in Alexandria

HOBBY/PASSION: Cycling, golf and playing drums

Finance | Insurance 2023: CHRISTOPHER M. ‘CHRIS’ SHOCKLEY

Under Shockley’s leadership, the Virginia Credit Union received a 2023 Gallup Exceptional Workplace Award, marking the first time the credit union made the list. The state’s third largest credit union, Virginia Credit Union reported more than $5 billion in assets for 2022, and has more than 300,000 members.

A Roanoke native who earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Radford University and his MBA from Liberty University, Shockley has led VACU since 2016 and also serves as board secretary and chair of the governance committee for PSCU, the nation’s largest credit union service organization.

Shockley is board chair-elect of the YMCA of Greater Richmond and is the immediate past chair of the Virginia Council on Economic Education, as well as a trustee for the Virginia-West Virginia Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

FIRST JOB: Teller, while still an economics student at Radford University

Finance | Insurance 2023: THOMAS I. BARKIN

As president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Barkin serves as an alternate on the Fed’s interest-setting Federal Open Market Committee and will be a voting member next year. In his position as head of one of 12 regional Fed banks, he is also responsible for the Fed’s information technology.

In June, weeks before the Fed raised rates to a 22-year high in its ongoing attempts to fight inflation, Barkin told reporters in Richmond that he worried that continuing hikes “might well lead to a greater set of people feeling left behind.” During his tenure, Barkin has advocated for disadvantaged rural communities in the Fed’s Fifth District, which covers South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia and Maryland.

Barkin previously served as chief financial officer and chief risk officer for global consultancy McKinsey & Co. He also served on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, chairing the board for a year.

Additionally, Barkin has served on the Emory University board of trustees since 2014 and is on the board of the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond. Barkin attended Harvard University, earning bachelor’s, MBA and law degrees.

Finance | Insurance 2023: MICHAEL DeVITO

Freddie Mac’s leader since June 2021, DeVito has spent the past two years focused on advancing affordable housing, practicing risk management excellence, growing talent and delivering strong financial results.

A government-sponsored enterprise that buys mortgages and packages them as mortgage-backed securities, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. reported a net revenue of $21.3 billion in 2022, down 3% from 2021, and $9.3 billion in net income, down 23% year-over-year.

DeVito previously spent more than 23 years at Wells Fargo, rising to executive vice president and head of home lending, a role in which he oversaw the bank’s mortgage and home equity business. Prior to that, he served in a diverse array of positions within the company, working in default servicing, loan workout and mortgage retail underwriting and operations, as well as heading the bank’s education financial services.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ithaca College.

Finance | Insurance 2023: JERMAINE JOHNSON

Johnson has led Virginia and Washington, D.C., metro area operations for Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. since August 2020, 15 years after he joined the bank.

A graduate of James Madison University, Johnson has more than two decades of experience in the banking industry. Before coming to PNC, he worked in portfolio management and underwriting at GE Capital and served as a vice president at Bank of America, where he started his career as a management trainee.

A Fortune 500 bank with assets of $562 billion as of March 31, PNC is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., offering retail banking, residential mortgage, corporate and institutional banking, and asset management.

As head of the area’s operations, Johnson also aims to strengthen PNC’s role in the community. The PNC Foundation has donated more than $1 million to regional nonprofits in recent years, including Academy of Hope, GOODProjects, FSC First and the Wolf Trap Foundation.

Finance | Insurance 2023: JAFFRAY WOODRIFF

While many on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) struggle to fit their bios into allotted characters, Woodriff’s says volumes: “Embrace Simplicity, Beware Complexity,” declares the co-founder and CEO of Quantitative Investment Management, a Charlottesville-based hedge fund.

Woodriff, Michael Geismar and Greyson Williams co-founded QIM in 2003. Woodriff also invests in early-stage startups through his family office fund, The Felton Group. Additionally, he owns the CODE (Center of Developing Entrepreneurs) Building in Charlottesville, which provides office and coworking spaces for entrepreneurs.

The Charlottesville native’s connection to his hometown remains strong. In 2019, Woodriff and his wife, Merrill, both of whom are University of Virginia graduates, donated $120 million through their Quantitative Foundation to establish the U.Va. School of Data Science.

The foundation previously gifted $12.4 million to establish U.Va.’s McArthur Squash Center at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, which opened in 2013. The facility is named for his late grandfather, Douglas McArthur. Soon after, Woodriff received the U.S. Squash Special Recognition Award for his contributions to squash. The sport also gets a shoutout in his X bio.

Finance | Insurance 2023: THEODORE L. ‘TED’ CHANDLER JR.

Chandler partnered with Richmond businessmen Jim Ukrop and Bob Mooney to found New Richmond Ventures in 2011. With its name now shortened to NRV, the venture capital firm launched its Early Stage Growth Fund in 2017, garnering $33 million from 83 investors, and provides counseling, connections and capital to a variety of early-stage companies.

Prior to co-founding NRV, Chandler was chairman and CEO of LandAmerica Financial Group, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008.

Chandler was also lead director of property and casualty insurance broker Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs, and before that, he worked as an attorney for Williams Mullen, specializing in corporate law, mergers and securities.

Chandler co-chairs the RVA757 Connects regional collaboration initiative and currently serves on the boards of VCU Massey Cancer Center, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

He earned his bachelor’s from U.Va.’s McIntire School of Commerce and his law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law.