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Tag: retail

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: DREW PARKER

Carter Machinery has deep roots in Virginia, tracing back to 1928, when Robert Hill Carter founded Virginia Tractor in Richmond. The company was the state’s first Caterpillar dealership, and it is still going today as an independent Caterpillar dealer, with more than 30 locations and around 2,300 employees in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C.

Parker is the eldest son of the dealership’s former owner and CEO, Jim Carter, taking over from his father as CEO in 2018. In 2020, the company purchased Baltimore-based Alban Tractor Co., expanding the business into Maryland, Delaware and D.C.

In January, Carter Machinery hosted Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who spoke about his proposed tax relief plan at the company’s newly opened Machine Rebuild Center. The company also recently sponsored the creation of a construction-oriented exhibit at the Don and Barbara Smith Children’s Museum in Roanoke, and a program that helps interest girls in construction careers.

Parker holds an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: TRAVIS HILL

Hill presides over Virginia ABC, a state agency that produced $1.4 billion in 2022 revenue, with $622.8 million going to the state general fund.

Before becoming CEO in 2018, Hill served four years as the agency’s chief operating officer and previously was a state deputy secretary of agriculture and forestry.

In June, reports emerged that employees embezzled money from seven ABC stores last year, taking advantage of a cash register system vulnerability. A September 2022 audit uncovered the thefts, but ABC leaders said they didn’t learn about it until February. Four higher-up employees were later placed on leave, but it’s unclear if that was connected to the thefts. ABC’s board chair, former state Del. Tim Hugo, expressed perplexity over how agency leaders could be unaware of the problem for six months.

Hill, who is president of the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators, said he’s learned that “the challenge of leadership changes over time. The longer you stay, the more decisions you get to own — the good ones and the bad ones.”

STREAMING SHOW I’VE ENJOYED: “Ted Lasso.” I really enjoyed the character’s determination to remain positive under the most challenging circumstances, always acting with positive intent.

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: ELIZABETH ‘LIZA’ MYERS BORCHES

Founded in 1924 by Borches’ great-grandfather, Carter Myers Automotive is Virginia’s fifth largest car sales group; it garnered $933 million in revenue during fiscal year 2022 and employs more than 1,000 people in Virginia. Since 2012, when Borches became CEO, CMA has grown to 23 dealerships. In September 2022, the company purchased Lynchburg’s Craft Automotive Group, adding three dealerships and about 100 more employees.

In addition to running the business, Borches serves on the board of Driving Lives Forward, a partnership initiative between the United Way of Greater Charlottesville, CMA and the Borches family to assist economically challenged families with purchasing reliable vehicles and providing vehicles and repairs for single moms. CMA’s Volvo Cars of Charlottesville is also a founding member of the Green Business Alliance in Virginia. It has installed solar panels at five dealerships and became the first car sales company in Virginia to do so in 2018.

Outside of work, Borches is a co-founder of Women United in Philanthropy. She lives in Charlottesville with her husband, Pete, and their two teenage children.

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Tibetan bowls sound healing — wow! That was a unique experience and incredibly peaceful.

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: DENNIS ELLMER

Ellmer launched Priority Auto in 1999 with the acquisition of two dealerships in Chesapeake. By 2023. he grew the business to No. 55 on Automotive News’ list of the top 150 dealer groups in the U.S., based on the 14,447 new vehicles the dealership sold in 2022.

In June, auto retail giant Lithia Motors announced it had purchased 13 of Priority’s dealerships, leaving only its two Lexus stores in Newport News and Virginia Beach in Ellmer’s hands, although Ellmer remains Priority’s CEO. Lithia expected the acquisition to add $1.2 billion in annual revenue.

A Norfolk native, Ellmer started selling motorcycles at Cycle World in Virginia Beach and moved on to car sales at Kline Chevrolet, ultimately becoming Kline’s president before acquiring its Chevrolet and Toyota dealerships in Chesapeake, which he renamed Priority.

In 2022, Ellmer was appointed to Old Dominion University’s board of visitors, and Ellmer and his wife, Jan, made a $2.5 million donation to renovate ODU’s baseball stadium. He was a student at the university briefly before leaving to start his career in vehicle sales.

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: JERRY MURRELL

Five Guys founder Murrell’s mother always told him, “If you can give a good haircut, or if you can serve a good drink at a bar, or if you can serve a good hamburger, you can always make money in America.”

His mom was right. Husband and wife Jerry and Janie Murrell opened a carryout burger joint in Arlington in 1986 with their four sons, and by 2001, the family owned five restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area. The “fifth guy,” their youngest boy, Tyler, was born in 1988. In 2002, Murrell, a University of Michigan economics graduate, began marketing Five Guys franchise opportunities.

Today, there are almost 1,700 Five Guys locations across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with another 1,500 in development. According to the chain, Five Guys restaurants serve up 165 million burgers each year.

In July, Five Guys moved its headquarters from Fairfax County to a renovated office building on Duke Street in Alexandria.

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: ARTHUR ‘BO’ FISHER III

Bo Fisher spoke of “the great loss of my father, partner, boss and best friend,” when his father, Art Fisher, died in 2004.

Already serving as president of Fisher Auto Parts, the younger Fisher was unanimously elected to succeed his dad as CEO and chairman of the board. He also serves as chairman of Federated Auto Parts, which Art Fisher founded.

Blair Coiner, Fisher’s grandfather, founded the company in 1929 as a small auto-parts sales concern, and it grew under Art Fisher’s leadership, changing its name in 1983 to Fisher Auto Parts. It’s now one of the nation’s largest automotive parts retailers, with 500 locations.

A James Madison University graduate, Fisher joined the company in 1992 and created the Art Fisher Memorial Scholarship program, which assists students pursuing careers in the automotive aftermarket.

In 2022, Fisher was honored with the Mort Schwartz Excellence in Education Award by the Auto Care Association. In July, he attended the opening of the Mary Louise Fisher Breast Center at Augusta Health in Fishersville, a facility named for his mother, who died in 2018. Fisher Auto Parts donated $1 million to the center.

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: JIM KOONS

Koons owns and operates 20 auto franchises in the mid-Atlantic region, under the umbrella of the nation’s 13th largest used-vehicle dealership and Virginia’s biggest, according to Automotive News. Koons’ father, John, opened the first location in 1964 in Falls Church, and Jim Koons bought out his brother’s stake in the business in 1992. With more than 2,400 employees spread across 20 dealerships in Virginia and Maryland, Koons Automotive generated $1.18 billion in revenue last year from used vehicle sales.

A longtime philanthropist, Koons has supported Bishop O’Connell High School, Catholic Charities and Northwood University, where his donations helped fund on-campus housing. Koons graduated from the Michigan university in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in business management; he was his alma mater’s commencement speaker in 2011 and received an honorary doctorate.

Koons and his wife, Cece, also are major donors to the Talbot Hospice Foundation. A section of Talbot Hospice in Easton, Maryland, is named the Eleanor A. Koons Hospice House in memory of Jim Koons’ mother.

Winchester shopping center sale could revitalize area

During his time on Winchester City Council, Jeff Buettner recalls, plans to revitalize Ward Plaza shopping center were a frequent topic of conversation at every council retreat, going back as far as 1998. Now, as interim executive director of the Winchester Economic Development Authority, he believes that vision is coming close to fruition.

“It is a project that is near and dear to my heart,” Buettner says. “It’s just been floating out there for so long, and this is as close to having something happen as I’ve seen in my time involved with city government.”

The 19.6-acre property, originally opened as a shopping center in the 1960s, finally sold on June 1 after decades on the market. H. Paige Manuel, who represented the former owners, Walter Enterprises, in the sale, says the buyer, McLean investor John W. Gray Jr., intends to demolish the existing structures in November, with plans to replace Ward Plaza with a mixed-use development, including residential units and a smaller shopping center that the new owners — Winchester Acquisition Partners, the company name Gray purchased the shopping center under — hope will be anchored by a supermarket. Manuel says the area is currently a food desert, an area with limited options to purchase healthy, affordable food.

“If we get your typical footprint of a 40,000-square-foot supermarket, you’re probably looking at a 50,000- to 60,000-square-foot shopping center,” Manuel says.

Gray declined to comment on his plans before October, but Buettner says that Gray is finalizing details on potential tenants at the new shopping center.

Winchester City Manager Dan Hoffman, who was also involved in talks regarding the property, said in a statement that Ward Plaza has been a priority for many years in the city’s comprehensive plan, named as one of five “catalyst” sites which are intended to bring walkability, mixed-use development and improved street connections to the area.

“This project will bring vital housing and retail opportunities to the Winchester community and spur economic development in the heart of Winchester’s commercial district,” Hoffman said in the statement.

Buettner knows that even with the sale of the property, the developer will still have to apply for rezoning and present a site plan before the city can approve it and redevelopment can begin: “It’s up to the developer to take it across the finish line, but we have confidence based on everything we’ve seen.”

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: GEOFFREY POHANKA

Pohanka’s family has been selling cars since Frank Pohanka opened a Washington, D.C., dealership in 1919. Today, the family’s business, run by Frank’s grandson Geoffrey, has 18 locations in Virginia, Maryland and Texas, and is the third largest Virginia-based auto dealership.

Geoffrey’s children now work in the business, too — marking the dealership’s fourth generation. Automotive News ranked Pohanka Automotive Group at No. 44 on its list of the nation’s top 150 dealerships.

In January, the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) elected Pohanka chair of its board of directors. He has been involved with the organization for more than two decades, having served on the board for two terms, most recently as vice chairman. In his first major address as NADA chair in February, Pohanka pushed for greater understanding between dealers and vehicle manufacturers, which have sometimes come to loggerheads as automakers have tried running their own dealerships, leaving franchise dealers out in the cold.

Along with his work with NADA, Pohanka sits on the boards of the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association. He is a graduate of Colgate University.

Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: LORI RAYA

In 2021, Raya became president of Kroger’s mid-Atlantic division, overseeing more than 100 stores in five states and 18,000 employees.

She brings more than three decades in the grocery business to the job, mostly spent at Safeway and Albertsons, including as president of Safeway’s Vons division from 2012 to 2015. In 2018, Albertsons acquired Safeway, and Raya became division president for Southern California, leading the store brands’ integration. In 2019, she left the company for a chief merchandising and marketing officer role at wholesaler SpartanNash and joined Kroger two years later.

In October 2022, Kroger and Albertsons announced a $24.6 billion merger agreement set to be completed in 2024, but the Federal Trade Commission has recently cracked down on major mergers, and some Virginia Kroger workers are concerned that unionized stores could be closed due to the deal. Unionized workers in Richmond and Hampton Roads ratified a collective bargaining agreement with the chain in August 2021, giving them raises and maintaining their health care plan.

A graduate of Colorado Mesa University and the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, Raya received an honorary doctorate from CMU in 2018.