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Hospitality | Tourism 2025: DESAI, NEEL
Desai joined LTD Hospitality Group in 1998 as the second generation of the family-owned hotel development and management company co-founded by Desai’s father in 1983. As a managing principal, he oversees property management and the profitability of its portfolio. Following in those entrepreneurial footsteps, Desai invested in Dallas-based fast food franchise Super Chix Chicken & Custard[...]
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: WOOLARD, KERRY
Woolard manages operations for the 1,300-acre winery and estate purchased by the Trump family in 2011 after Patricia Kluge declared bankruptcy. Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing now owns the property, which includes a hotel and event facilities, and Eric Trump is its president. Billed as the state’s largest winery, the business opened a cidery business in […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: SPADONI, MARK
Spadoni joined the nearly 260-year-old Omni Homestead in 2021. He has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 40 years, working at The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa in Georgia for about 20 of those years. The Bath County resort was founded in 1766. Omni Hotels & Resorts purchased the property from […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: FLEET, CLIFFORD B. ‘CLIFF’
Fleet became the ninth president of the world’s largest living history museum in 2020. Prior to that, he was CEO and president of 22nd Century Group and, before that, president and CEO of Richmond-based tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris USA. He’s also an adjunct professor at William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business. The […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: NASSETTA, CHRISTOPHER J.
Nassetta is the longtime president and CEO of one of the world’s largest hospitality companies. Hilton has a portfolio of 8,600 properties and 24 brands in 139 countries and territories. Nassetta joined Hilton in 2007 after investment firm Blackstone acquired the company in a $26 billion deal. Hilton went public again in 2013, and by […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2025: KAMENSKY, JANE
Kamensky started work as the head of the foundation that owns and operates Monticello, in 2024. Home of Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and author of the Declaration of Independence, Monticello draws more than 300,000 visitors annually. Before coming to Albemarle County, the Yale alumna was a history professor at Harvard University and director […]
Restaurant chain Hooters goes bust and files for bankruptcy protection
Hooters is going bust. The U.S. restaurant chain, known for chicken wings and its skimpy “Hooters Girls” wait-staff outfits, has filed for bankruptcy protection. HOA Restaurant Group filed the motion for Chapter 11 protection Monday in the North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas. It’s the latest legacy restaurant chain to run into financial trouble amid high […]
Blackstone completes Jersey Mike’s Subs acquisition
A spokesperson for Manasquan, New Jersey-based sandwich chain Jersey Mike’s Subs told NJBIZ that Blackstone completed its acquisition of a majority stake in the company Jan. 16. They added the terms of the deal remain unchanged from the private equity behemoth’s November 2024 announcement. Blackstone did not immediately respond to a request for more information. […]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Torrece Gregoire
Known as “Chef T” from her time on the Fox TV reality cooking competition series “Hell’s Kitchen,” Gregoire is chef-owner of her Bristol-based restaurant, Union 41, which opened in 2023. Before that, the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts graduate was director of culinary operations at Draper Mercantile, based in Pulaski County, and served […]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Benita Thompson-Byas
Thompson-Byas joined the company started by her brother Warren Thompson right at its launch in 1992. Over the past three decades, Thompson Hospitality has grown from a group of 31 Big Boy restaurants to become the nation’s largest minority-owned hospitality business. Thompson-Byas is in charge of the company’s partnership with Compass Group, including more than […]
Richmond water crisis shuts down many restaurants, businesses
Jan. 9 update: Richmond starts water testing, but city remains under boil water advisory “Dry January” became all too literal in Richmond, where most city residents and businesses were struggling with a water outage that started Monday afternoon and was still leaving much of a city with a population of more than 225,000 people without […]
Youngkin proposes eliminating tax on tips in Va. budget
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday a budget proposal to exempt service tips from Virginia’s state income tax, an idea that’s gained bipartisan support federally. In a statement, Youngkin said that Virginians who receive tips — hair stylists, restaurant workers, bellhops and other service industry professionals — would benefit from being able to claim deductions on […]
