Love at first site
Home to eight Fortune 500 companies and three Fortune 1000 companies, metro Richmond is “punching above our weight” for a region of 1.3 million residents, says Jennifer Wakefield, president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Partnership. For the third year in a row, the Richmond region was named by Business Facilities magazine as a top […]
RVA757 Connects releases plan for global internet hub
RVA757 Connects, a nonprofit focused on regional cooperation for economic development in Richmond and Hampton Roads, released on Thursday its 10-point strategic plan for transforming the “megaregion” into the next global internet hub. Virginia is already home to the world’s largest internet hub in Loudoun County’s Ashburn area, which has the world’s greatest concentration of [...]
Dominion pitches state on $70M battery storage pilot
Dominion Energy Virginia is asking the state to allow it to test two technologies that it says could lengthen the time its batteries can electrify the grid from an average of four hours to longer than four days. In a 117-page filing made Monday with the State Corporation Commission, Dominion said its Darbytown Storage Pilot […]
Manufacturing 2023: GREGORY TREPP
In 1996, Trepp joined appliance manufacturer Hamilton Beach as its director of marketing and has since held various senior and executive leadership positions within the company. In 2017, he became president and CEO, overseeing the company’s consumer, international and commercial divisions. He also previously served as the CEO of various subsidiaries, including Hamilton Beach’s Canadian[...]
Economic Development 2023: ANTHONY ROMANELLO
In the past year, Romanello was instrumental in growing Henrico‘s data center footprint, as QTS Data Centers announced a 1.5 million-square-foot expansion to be completed in 2024, and the DE-CIX Richmond internet exchange opened in November 2022. In other sectors, education research firm EAB announced it was bringing 200 more jobs to Henrico, and plans […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: ALBERTO SCHIAVON
Schiavon, who joined Elephant Auto Insurance in 2017 as its head of marketing and pricing, became CEO just eight months later. The Italian executive (who shares a name with an Italian Olympic snowboarder) earned his MBA from the University of Manchester in England and his undergraduate engineering degree at the University of Padova in Italy. […]
Transportation 2023: PERRY J. MILLER
This summer, Miller was elected 2023-24 chair of the Alexandria-based American Association of Airport Executives. The world’s largest professional organization for airport managers, the association represents roughly 7,000 executives from about 875 airports and authorities. Miller also leads the Capital Region Airport Commission, which owns and operates Richmond International Airport (RIC), [...]
Transportation 2023: P. DALE BENNETT
Though he originally planned to pursue a law career, Bennett instead took a job for the predecessor organization of the Virginia Trucking Association. It was a job close to home for Bennett, whose father was a trucker for two decades. Nearly 40 years later, he continues to advocate for Virginia’s trucking industry. In 2019, Bennett […]
Real Estate 2023: MICHAEL HALLMARK
Hallmark is lead developer of the $2.3 billion GreenCity development underway in Henrico County that plans to include a 17,000-seat arena billed as the nation’s greenest concert venue, as well as hotels, retail, office and residential space. An architect, he moved to Virginia in 2018 from Los Angeles, where he designed the Crypto.com Arena, formerly […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: THOMAS J. McINERNEY
The leader of a Fortune 500 insurance company, McInerney has come a long way since his first job as a newspaper carrier at age 12. Genworth, which provides life, mortgage and long-term care insurance, posted 2022 revenue of $7.5 billion, down from $7.83 billion in 2021 and $8.65 billion in 2020. In June, Genworth acknowledged […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: RICHARD G. ‘RICKY’ SPIRO
When Spiro stepped into the leadership role for Henrico County-based insurance company The Hilb Group, he brought with him more than 30 years of experience in insurance and financial services. Prior to joining Hilb, Spiro served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of property and casualty insurer Chubb. Before that, Spiro was a […]
Finance | Insurance 2023: ELENA EDWARDS
Edwards joined French travel insurance agency Allianz Partners in 2019 as general manager of the U.S. business unit. She was named CEO of Allianz Partners USA in June 2020 and took on the additional the role of regional CEO for North America in July 2021 before being appointed chief markets officer and a board member […]




















