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Shenandoah Valley Partnership launches capital campaign
Shenandoah Valley Partnership (SVP) is raising $1.7 million through its first capital campaign, Forward2028, to fund a five-year plan aimed at business and workforce attraction and retention. The region’s manufacturing sector alone has 3,100 job openings due to older workers retiring and companies ramping up production, says Jay Langston, executive director of the economic development […]
Shenandoah Valley SBDC names new director
Shenandoah Valley’s Small Business Development Center, based in Harrisonburg, has named Allison Dugan its newest director. Dugan started with the regional SBDC as a part-time program manager in 2014 and became a business adviser in 2015, adding the title of assistant director in 2019. She took on the leadership role May 1, after serving as […]
Goodwill of the Valleys names philanthropy exec
Donna Stucker is the new chief philanthropy officer for Goodwill Industries of the Valleys. Stucker assumed her role April 3, according to a news release. She will lead a new capital campaign and associated donor development and will plan and manage an effort to grow donations for the Roanoke-based Goodwill chapter, which serves 35 counties […]
Avian flu outbreaks strike Va. farms
For almost a year, Virginia poultry farms managed to avoid the nation’s worst-ever avian flu outbreak, but in January, the virus struck a commercial turkey operation in Rockingham County, prompting the killings of 25,300 birds. Five days later, 10,700 more turkeys were euthanized in Rockingham, and in February, 800 birds at an Alexandria live market […]
A time to build
The Shenandoah Valley Partnership had more economic development activity than “anyone anticipated in 2022,” says Jay Langston, the partnership’s executive director. During the calendar year, the partnership saw close to $140 million in investment and 520 jobs. In Fishersville, Amazon.com Inc. is building a $120 million, 1 million-square-foot nonsortable fulfillment center, which handles bu[...]
Farmer Focus taps new president/COO
Harrisonburg-based organic poultry producer Farmer Focus announced leadership changes Tuesday, including tapping a new president and chief operating officer as well as a new chief commercial officer. Stephen J. Shepard is the company’s new president and COO, a promotion from executive vice president of operations, a position he has held since April. In his new […]
Valley of the entrepreneurs
The Shenandoah Valley has long been recognized as fertile ground for agricultural endeavors, but it’s now being seeded to grow an entirely different kind of crop — entrepreneurs. During the past few years, local and regional governmental bodies, nonprofits, and private and educational organizations in the valley have been coordinating efforts to create an entrepreneurial […]
Tech-savvy ski resorts weather climate change
Warmer winters mean ski resorts must manufacture more snow to keep slopes open, but improved technology has helped offset costs and streamlined the process. Wintergreen Resort has more than 400 snow guns that over the season can cover 26 trails in 3 feet of snow, says General Manager Jay Gamble. Under optimal conditions over 24 […]
Valley views attract scenic train tours
The views Steve Powell and his employees at Buckingham Branch Railroad see daily while riding the rails inspired him to launch the Virginia Scenic Railway. “There are a lot of people that love railroads, and we love sharing our railroad. It’s a unique way of seeing the Virginia scenery instead of riding on the interstate,” […]
Regional biz mentorship program jump-starts startups
Ruth Rau started her business as a hobby. Now, seven years later, her Winchester-based toy company — Mouse Loves Pig — is on track to generate revenue in six figures. The entrepreneur’s toys for babies and young children are sold in more than 250 stores in nine countries, and she’s partnered with a manufacturing company […]
Shenandoah University creating tech hub
Shenandoah University is connecting the future to the past. It’s renovating an armory on its main campus in Winchester where National Guard soldiers once trained before D-Day, turning it into a Hub for Innovators, Veterans and Entrepreneurs — the HIVE. “This building will be a game changer for economic development in the Northern Valley and […]
FOR THE RECORD
Central Virginia The state’s fiscal 2023-24 budget, approved June 1, contains funding that will benefit future redevelopment of the Central Virginia Training Center site in Madison Heights. Republican Sen. Steve Newman requested $25 million in state money to annul outstanding bonds associated with CVTC, a former state facility for people with intellectual disabilities that closed […]
