Finance | Insurance 2023: JANET N. TOPE
Many executives at Tope’s level have a long list of employers on their résumés. Tope has just one: Wells Fargo. The Florida State University alumna “stumbled into” the bank in 1988 straight out of college with her business degree in hand and has been there ever since. In 2017, she was promoted to director of […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 [[...]
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 […]
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[...]
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 […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: FRANCISCO ‘FRANK’ CASTELLANOS
As Greater Washington market executive for Merrill, the wealth management arm of Bank of America, Francisco Castellanos leads the D.C. market’s nearly 150 financial advisers, overseeing some $31 billion in client assets. He was named to the position late last year, having previously been Merrill’s Greater Virginia market executive and for 18 months also serving […]