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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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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, […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: WILLIAM W. ‘BILL’ LOVETTE
Lovette was Sauer Brands’ executive chairman and interim CEO in 2019, when Charlotte, North Carolina-based Falfurrias Capital Group purchased Richmond-based family-owned spice company C.F. Sauer. He then made way for Martin Kelly, who became president and CEO of the renamed Sauer Brands later that year. However, as of January, Lovette is back as CEO at […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: VINCE SHEEHY IV
Sheehy carries on his father’s legacy as an auto dealer, manning the second largest dealership group in Virginia and No. 31 in the nation. His father, Vincent Sheehy III, founded Sheehy Ford in Maryland in 1965 as a suburban business near the newly built Capital Beltway. After graduating from Dickinson College, receiving an MBA from […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: WATT R. FOSTER JR.
In 1989, Watt Foster Jr. bought Foster Fuels from his father, the late Watt R. “Bobby” Foster Sr. The younger Foster marks the third generation to run the family business, which was founded in 1921. In June, Foster was named one of 11 winners of Ernst & Young’s 2023 Entrepreneur of the Year Mid-Atlantic Award. […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: REID A. BROWN
What began in 1919 as a bottling operation for cherry cola is now a major beverage-distribution business delivering more than 5 million cases of domestic and craft beers, ciders, seltzers and nonalcoholic beverages annually. Reid Brown is among the fourth generation to run Brown Distributing, joining the family business in 2006. His brother, Jason Brown, […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: TING XU
A Shanghai native, Xu graduated from Old Dominion University and settled in Richmond in 1989. She was working as a computer programmer for the state health department in 1993 when she started a small decorative flag venture in her garage, investing $20,000. Established in part to provide work for her parents, who had been engineers […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: STEVEN C. ‘STEVE’ SMITH
Smith is carrying on his family’s legacy at the helm of K-VA-T, the Southwest Virginia operator of Food City supermarkets. His father, Jack C. Smith, grew the K-VA-T empire from a single Piggly Wiggly store opened in Grundy in 1955. Steve Smith joined the family business after graduating from James Madison University in 1979, becoming […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: GEORGE L. HOLM
Performance Food Group’s leader since 2008, Holm has worked for more than 40 years in the food service distribution industry. The Goochland-based corporation was ranked No. 91 on the 2023 Fortune 500 list, with $47.19 billion in revenue reported in fiscal year 2022, up from $30.39 billion in 2021. After holding leadership roles with Sysco, […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: ROBERT S. ‘BOBBY’ UKROP
Ukrop’s name is synonymous with his family’s former Virginia grocery chain that opened in 1937 and was purchased in 2009 by Dutch retail conglomerate Ahold. In recent years, Ukrop rebooted one of the Ukrop’s stores’ most beloved features: its line of prepared foods. Not long after the sale of the grocery chain, he and his […]
