Leidos to partner with Project HOPE to aid Ukraine
As Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in February, Leidos employees took to an internal blog and emailed senior executives to demonstrate support for the Eastern European nation. CEO Roger Krone remembers one employee who had family in the country and wanted to get them out. Six months later, the Reston-based Fortune 500 defense contractor […]
‘The world is behind them’
In late March, Stanislas Vilgrain drove in a convoy of eight trucks from France to Ukraine for 26 hours through a snowstorm, keeping an ear to the radio for news of Russian attacks, The convoy’s mission: to deliver 400,000 meals to Ukrainians from Vilgrain’s Sterling-based business, Cuisine Solutions. The French-born chairman of a company that […]
Interesting times
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes, according to an apt but apocryphal quote frequently misattributed to Mark Twain. We’re certainly seeing that dynamic writ large in the 2020s, though events don’t seem content with reviving just one era. A deadly pandemic has taken millions of lives across the globe. Inflation and mortgage rates […]
Fertilizer shortage hits Va. farmers
Lewis Everett farms cotton, peanuts and small grains in Southampton County, on the Virginia-North Carolina line. He expects to take a loss this year due to the rising costs of fertilizer and crop protectants, which include herbicides and fungicides. Farmers have already negotiated some contract prices, he said. “A lot of those decisions were made […]
Smithfield Foods donates $2M to Ukraine relief efforts
Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc. announced a $2 million donation to relief efforts in Ukraine Monday. The nation’s largest pork processor and hog producer donated $250,000 each to the Global Red Cross Network, Mercy Chefs, Save the Children and World Central Kitchen. “Like the rest of the world, we are humbled and moved by the resilience […]
Owens & Minor donates PPE to Ukraine
Mechanicsville-based Fortune 500 health care logistics company Owens & Minor announced Monday that it is donating $500,000 in medical-grade personal protective equipment to support humanitarian relief in Ukraine and other impacted countries. The donations, which includes exam gloves, masks and gowns, was coordinated across distribution centers in Chicago, Pittsburg and Philadelphia to speed [...]
Pain beyond the pump
Ravi Patel watched as gas prices began their upward spiral and responded accordingly. To help offset fuel surcharges for deliveries, Patel, CEO of Sina Hospitality, placed larger orders for the linens, toiletries and other dry good items that his employees need to stock the Richmond-area hotels his company operates. “Kind of like everybody’s stockpile during COVID,” […]
Va. companies aid Ukraine, pull business from Russia
McLean-based Mars Inc. and other companies with major Virginia presences are responding to the war between Russia and Ukraine, chiefly by helping employees who live in the Eastern European nation and sending other humanitarian aid to Ukraine, as well as suspending business dealings in Russia, a measure taken by many U.S. companies in recent days. […]
Fed still likely to raise rates, despite Russia-Ukraine conflict
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Thomas Barkin said Thursday that he hopes to bring interest rates up to pre-pandemic levels “relatively quickly,” while noting that it’s hard to predict the future effect of the geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine on the nation’s economy. Speaking at a luncheon in Colonial Heights hosted […]