757 Angels, a Hampton Roads angel investment group that matches venture capitalists with local entrepreneurs, is partnering with VentureSouth, one of the largest angel investment networks in the United States.
Effective in June, the partnership will provide more access to capital and investors to 757 Angels’ 140 members.
Established in 2015 and based in Greenville, South Carolina, VentureSouth has about 450 members and has invested more than $70 million in nearly 100 early-stage companies. It has markets in 19 cities across seven states, reaching from Virginia to Mississippi.
757 Angels also launched in 2015 and has invested more than $100 million in 49 companies, according to 757 Angels Executive Director Monique Adams. About 90% of 757 Angels’ member investors hail from Hampton Roads, and all the companies 757 Angels invests in are either Virginia-based or have significant operations in Virginia, Adams says.
“This is an evolution where our community is really going to get more,” Adams says, adding that 757 Angels will retain its brand and local board and continue to have a local market director. “We’re using this as a vehicle to grow and we can provide enhanced benefits to entrepreneurs and to investors.”
For entrepreneurs, that means providing broader access to capital and helping early-stage companies raise money faster. Entrepreneurs will present to VentureSouth’s network of 20 chapters across the Southeast. On the investor side, the partnership brings benefits such as diversification and diligence, increased deal flow and access to investments through VentureSouth’s funds. All will benefit from a larger professional staff — nine or 10 people instead of two — and more capacity and capability, Adams says.
“From a values alignment standpoint, I think we think about our role in the ecosystem similarly and that we are really focused on trying to bring capital to early-stage companies,” Matt Dunbar, managing director of VentureSouth, says. “Entrepreneurs historically have had a fairly hard time raising capital in this part of the world.”
Adams will assist with the transition and plans to step down from her role as 757 Angels’ executive director during the summer. A new director will be named at a later date.
“I think this reflects on the great organization we built,” Adams says, adding that “we’ve grown into something that’s exciting and offers incredible benefits to all the stakeholders in the ecosystem.”
Vienna-based Attune’s indoor air quality sensor is the first North American-made indoor air quality sensor to receive environmental claim validation UL 2905, the company announced Dec. 6, 2022. The validation, from UL Solutions, evaluates sensors for accuracy by measuring multiple air quality parameters, including common pollutants such as total volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, carbon dioxide and particulate matter. Attune, formerly Senseware, is a sensor-based tech platform that measures air quality, risk of water leaks, critical equipment status and energy consumption. The company was founded in 2014 by CEO Serene Almomen and Chief Technology Officer Julien Stamatakis, and currently has 45 patents. (News release)
Manassas-based Capra Biosciences, a renewable chemicals tech company, won first place, and $10,000, in a business pitch competition at George Mason University’s annual Accelerate Investor Conference, held Nov. 2 and 3, 2022. Thirty-five companies were invited to pitch in the main competition and 22 student teams from several universities pitched in a separate competition. Fifty-four investors from 10 states also attended. Absurd Snacks, a trail-mix manufacturer from the University of Richmond, won first place and $5,000 in the student competition. Tow Ninja, a vehicle towing startup from James Madison University, won third place and $1,000. (News release)
Blacksburg-based CytoRecovery, a biotech startup that invented and patented less invasive cell sorting, will be able to bring its cell research platform to market after a $250,000 investment from Danville-based entrepreneur development organization The Launch Place. Announced Dec. 1, 2022, the investment comes after CytoRecovery’s inaugural sale of its Cyto R1 platform to University of California, Irvine researchers in September. CytoRecovery CEO Stephen Turner said the company is reviewing establishing a branch office in Danville as well as a life science internship program with Danville Community College.
(Cardinal News)
Virginia has been approved for $230.4 million in federal funds to accelerate startups, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced Dec. 6, 2022. The money comes from Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative. About $57 million will go to the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority to expand credit support and technical assistance to small businesses through the SSBCI program. The remaining $173 million will be allocated to the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp., which will use the money to expand its current seed and early-stage direct coinvestment program for Virginia-based technology startups. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Shift5 Inc., a cybersecurity company that focuses on protecting transportation and military systems from cyberattacks, is nearly doubling its space in Arlington. The company’s headcount grew 54% last year to 85 employees. The expansion comes as Shift5 has seen revenue more than double year-over-year and as the company is planning continued hiring. The new office space increased from 11,883 square feet to 19,840 square feet at 1100 Wilson Blvd. in Rosslyn. The office has desks for 80 workers; the company operates a flexible, hybrid team. (Washington Business Journal)
Five winners of the Southwest Virginia Regional Bristol Casino Pitch Contest, named Dec. 8, 2022, will each receive $10,000 and will also have the chance to become vendors at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Bristol. The winners are: Anne Vaughan Designs (Floyd County); Beagle Ridge Herb Farm (Wythe County); The Orange Bandana (Montgomery County); The Pakalachian food truck (Washington County); and Virginia Mountain Vineyards (Botetourt County). The casino hosted a ceremony during which judges and community partners watched 3-minute pitch videos from applicants. The contest received 17 applications from 11 counties, and more than 1,300 members of the public weighed in during a one-week online voting period. Prizes were awarded with collaboration from the Virginia Small Business Administration, the Friends of Southwest Virginia, the Virginia Tourism Corp., the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator and the SWVA Small Business Development Center. (News release)
757 Angels, a Hampton Roads angel investment group that matches venture capitalists with local entrepreneurs, is partnering with VentureSouth, one of the largest angel network groups in the United States, the group announced Friday.
The partnership, effective June 2023, will provide more access to capital and investors to 757 Angels’ 140 members.
VentureSouth has about 450 members. 757 Angels launched in 2015 and in its first year raised about $4 million from 50 members. Now, it’s grown to 140 and surpassed $100 million in capital invested in 49 companies, according to 757 Angels Executive Director Monique Adams. About 90% of 757 Angels’ member investors hail from Hampton Roads, she said, and all the companies 757 Angels invests in are either Virginia-based or have significant operations in Virginia.
“This is an evolution where our community is really going to get more,” Adams said, adding that 757 Angels will retain its brand and local board and will continue to have a local market director, she stressed. “We’re not upsetting the applecart here. … We’re using this as a vehicle to grow and we can provide enhanced benefits to entrepreneurs and to investors.”
On the entrepreneur side, that means providing broader access to capital and helping early-stage companies to potentially raise money faster. Entrepreneurs will present to VentureSouth’s entire network, which includes 20 chapters across the Southeast. On the investor side, it provides benefits such as diversification and diligence, increased deal flow and access to invest through VentureSouth’s funds. All benefit from a larger professional staff — nine or 10 people instead of two — and more capacity and capability, Adams said.
VentureSouth, also established in 2015, has invested more than $70 million into nearly 100 early-stage companies. It has chapters in cities such as Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Atlanta.
Matt Dunbar, managing director of VentureSouth, came to Norfolk to meet with 757 Angels’ members Thursday night.
Matt Dunbar
“From a values alignment standpoint, I think we think about our role in the ecosystem similarly and that we are really focused on trying to bring capital to early-stage companies,” he said. “Entrepreneurs historically have had a fairly hard time raising capital in this part of the world.”
The organizations’ processes and approaches are not identical, but similar, Dunbar says.
“I think this reflects on the great organization we built,” Adams said, adding that “we’ve grown into something that’s exciting and offers incredible benefits to all the stakeholders in the ecosystem.”
Adams, who will assist with the transition, plans to step down from her role as executive director in June 2023. “I am going to take some time to recoup, reset and re-evaluate,” she told Virginia Business. Her replacement has not been identified and a search for a new executive director will begin in 2023.
A former finance executive at predecessor banks of Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, she sits on the boards of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority, Reinvent Hampton Roads and the Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium.
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. has formed a $100 million corporate venture capital arm, the McLean-based Fortune 500 global management consultancy announced Wednesday.
Named Booz Allen Ventures LLC, the arm will invest in early-stage companies and technologies across four categories: defense, artificial intelligence/machine learning, cybersecurity and deep technology.
“We are proud and excited to continue our work with the best startups to support our U.S. government clients,” Booz Allen Chief Technology Officer Susan Penfield said in a statement. “The ability to navigate bigger, faster technology waves and identify the right emerging technologies for their mission needs, as well as our own, is vital to enabling growth and mission speed.”
Booz Allen Ventures will help the company expand its tech scouting program, sourcing and recommending tech investments focused on mission-specific applications, according to a news release.
Booz Allen employs approximately 29,500 workers globally, with about 10,000 employed in Virginia. For the 12 months ended March 31, Booz Allen reported revenue of $8.4 billion.
Mark Esper, who led the Pentagon from 2019 to 2020, has joined Tysons-based incubation and venture capital firm Red Cell Partners LLC as a partner and chair of its national security practice, according to a news release.
Esper will lead Red Cell’s investment activities in cyber, defense, security, international affairs, space and aerospace and seek to establish more efficient ways to spark engagement between nontraditional innovators and the Defense Department.
“Dr. Esper is an accomplished and visionary leader whose appointment comes at a pivotal point in Red Cell’s evolution,” said Red Cell Founding Partner, Chairman and CEO Grant Verstandig in a statement. “His expertise across the spectrum of disruptive technologies is unparalleled and will be key to Red Cell’s ongoing ability to identify, create and scale innovative and sustainable businesses in both the public and private sectors.”
Esper was named the first John S. McCain Distinguished Fellow at the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University in 2021 and serves on the board of directors at the Atlantic Council. Prior to his tenure leading the Pentagon, Esper served as Army secretary from 2017 to 2019, and worked as a senior corporate executive at Raytheon Co. from 2010 to 2017. He also served as a deputy assistant secretary of defense from 2002-04.
“I am excited by the opportunity to join Red Cell’s exceptional team and to build new businesses capable of bringing revolutionary advancements to market in the nation’s most vital sectors,” Esper said. “I believe the key to accelerating and expanding the U.S. military’s overmatch in the years ahead is through the rapid, sustained and aggressive modernization of the joint force. Grant and the team at Red Cell are applying the mission-focused vision and energy that is needed to bring new innovations and cutting-edge technologies to the national security sector in record time.”
Esper graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1986 and served 10 years on active duty and 11 years in the National Guard and Army Reserve. He serves on the board of directors of Epirus Inc., an artificial intelligence-enabled power management company focused on directed energy defense applications. Epirus was cofounded by Verstandig and is a part of the Red Cell portfolio of companies.
Herndon-based national security contractor Peraton Inc. acquired Chantilly-based federal IT contractor Perspecta in May for $7.1 billion. Curtis took Perspecta public in 2018 by merging his company, Vencore Inc., with the U.S. Public Sector unit of DXC Technology Co. and Keypoint Government Solutions.
Before running Vencore, Curtis was the CEO of Vangent Inc., which General Dynamic Information Technology Inc. acquired in 2011.
Curtis holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Virginia Military Institute. He has been on the Wash100 list seven times.
Curtis serves on the boards of the Military Bowl and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges. He chaired the American Heart Association’s Greater Washington Heart Ball and Heart Walk, as well as the Professional Services Council.
Formed in 2009, Blue Delta is a growth stage venture capital firm focused on the U.S. government services market. The company provides equity investments in return for non-controlling ownership positions. Blue Delta has made 23 investments and has had 10 full exits and three major dividends which together created more than $1 billion in shareholder value.
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ATLANTIC UNION BANKSHARES, RICHMOND
A native of Radford who graduated from Virginia Tech and received his MBA at William & Mary, Asbury now leads the largest regional bank headquartered in Virginia. Atlantic Union, which employs 1,839 people in Virginia, reported $677 million in revenue in 2020. It also has $19.6 billion in assets. Asbury previously held executive positions at community banks in New Mexico and Alabama, as well as working for 17 years for Bank of America. In 2016, he became Atlantic Union Bankshares’ president and was named CEO in 2017.
Asbury said the past year was the most challenging he has seen. The bank processed more than 15,000 Paycheck Protection Program loans for $2.2 billion as of March, and it recently opened two new branches in Richmond. Asbury is also chairman of the Virginia Bankers Association.
FIRST JOB: My first college summer job was at Ferguson Enterprises in Radford where I worked in the warehouse. I still know a lot about plumbing from this, and how to operate a forklift!
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Set goals and go after them. I have learned to not just react to whatever comes your way.
Aston
G. ROBERT ASTON JR.
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, TOWNEBANK, PORTSMOUTH
Aston, who co-founded TowneBank in 1998, began his banking career in 1964 and held leadership roles at Citizens Trust Co., Commerce Bank and BB&T of Virginia.
TowneBank has 2,700 employees, 1,800 of them in Virginia, and last year earned $411 million.
Aston is a board member for Virginia Wesleyan University, the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, Reinvent Hampton Roads and the GO Virginia Foundation. In 2019, he received the Urban League of Hampton Roads’ Martin Luther King Jr. Award, which recognizes community service, demonstrating King’s values and positive contributions to others.
He attended the National Installment Credit School at the University of Oklahoma and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Virginia and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Old Dominion University.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: The ability to improve the lives of others.
TOP FACTOR THAT HELPED COMPANY WEATHER THE PANDEMIC:Our culture of serving others and enriching lives.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen,” by Rita Gunther McGrath
Barkin
THOMAS BARKIN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND, RICHMOND
Since 2018, Barkin has led the Fed’s Fifth District, after 30 years at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. He also previously served as chairman of the Federal Reserve’s Bank of Atlanta. The Fifth District includes Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina and part of West Virginia, and Barkin’s areas of oversight are policy, bank regulation and supervision, and payment services.
Barkin sits on the powerful Federal Open Market Committee, which makes decisions about U.S. monetary policy. In May, he told CNBC and an Atlanta Rotary group that he thought inflationary pressures would subside in 2022 and that the Fed could wait on hitting employment and inflation goals before raising interest rates.
Closer to home, he has made it a priority for the Fed to bridge the economic gap between rural and urban areas, as well as finding solutions to racial economic disparities.
He serves on the Emory University board of trustees, U.S. Golf Association executive committee and the Greater Washington Partnership’s board. He received his bachelor’s degree, MBA and law degree from Harvard University.
Bentley
JEFF BENTLEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHWEST FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, HERNDON
After more than 30 years in consumer and commercial lending, Bentley joined Northwest Federal in 2014 as a senior vice president and was promoted three years later to lead the institution.
Bentley has overseen a period of growth for the state’s fourth largest credit union, which was founded in 1947. Last year, its assets grew from $3.6 billion to $4.1 billion. In July 2019, Northwest merged with Constellation Federal Credit Union, adding 8,000 new members.
Last year, the credit union wrote 1,560 Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses totaling $111 million.
Bentley also serves as the chairman of Northwest Federal’s philanthropic foundation, which focuses on children and college students. He also has served on the Montgomery County, Maryland, Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors.
Branch
VICTOR BRANCH
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RICHMOND MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, RICHMOND
The Richmond market president for Bank of America, Branch started his career in 1984 at BOA predecessor Sovran Bank. The Dinwiddie County native oversees roughly 2,000 area Bank of America employees, 25 branch offices and the bank’s Henrico County-based technology and operations center.
He serves on the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Venture Richmond, Virginia Historical Society and the Richmond Metropolitan YMCA, and was named in 2020 as a Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year.
Branch serves on the board of visitors for William & Mary, from which he received his bachelor’s degree in sociology.
FIRST JOB: Server at Shoney’s Restaurant in Petersburg.
HOBBY/PASSION:Working in my garden and jogging
PERSON I ADMIRE:My mentor at Bank of America, Mary DePillars, a trailblazer who opened doors for others to follow.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” by Bryan Stevenson
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA:I would change Virginia’s slow adaptation to change and move away from its steadfast commitment to traditions.
Based in Roanoke, Camden manages Truist’s operations in the western part of Virginia as one of 24 regional presidents within the bank’s 15-state footprint.
Truist was formed in 2019 by the merger of mega-banks BB&T and SunTrust Bank. It debuted at No. 217 on the Fortune 500 list and rose in rank to No. 119 this year. The bank earned nearly $4.5 billion in profits last year on $24.4 billion in revenue.
After the merger, Truist announced it planned to close two BB&T branches and one SunTrust location in Camden’s market, leaving about 20 branches in the Roanoke Valley.
A Richmond native, Camden earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hampden-Sydney College and attended the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management. He worked at Wachovia and Wells Fargo before joining SunTrust as a commercial banking executive for Virginia and the Carolinas in 2010. He was then named SunTrust’s president and CEO for its Savannah, Georgia, region in 2014.
Cassaday
STEPHAN Q. CASSADAY
FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CASSADAY & CO. INC, McLEAN
Cassaday’s been ranked as Barron’s No. 1 financial adviser in Virginia every year except one since 2014. In 1993, after more than a decade on Wall Street, Cassaday founded his firm, which manages $4.4 billion in assets and employs 65 people.
He and his wife, Mary, are major donors to Central Union Mission, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, PRS/Crisis Link, Salvation Army, Save the Children, Smile Train, So Others Might Eat, The Lamb Center, The House DC, the Washington Jesuit Academy, Wounded Warriors and Youth for Tomorrow.
He endowed a scholarship at his alma mater, Radford University, and sits on the board of directors for the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Focus on your key strengths and delegate everything else. Invest in people, practice radical inclusion and empower them to think like owners. Be vulnerable, admit your mistakes, make customers raving fans.
PERSON I ADMIRE:My wife. Elegant, beautiful inside and out, street-smart math teacher with poor taste in men. My best friend and adviser. I would be nothing without her.
A certified financial planner and the managing director for investments at his Wells Fargo Advisors firm, Caudron was named one of the top four advisers in Virginia by Barron’s this year and has been on the list since 2014.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology and an MBA from Georgetown University. A father of four, he has coached his kids’ sports teams, and his hobbies include tennis, platform tennis, skiing and cycling.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Be patient. Despite recent extraordinary gains in the stock market, long-term wealth accumulation is made gradually, by being diversified and patient during good times and bad.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: I enjoy helping others. Our clients look to us to help them with their investment planning to save and build portfolios toward financial independence. I am so honored when a client thanks me for the good work that we do in our team.
Chandler
THEODORE ‘TED’ L. CHANDLER
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, NEW RICHMOND VENTURES, RICHMOND
The former chairman and CEO of the now-defunct Fortune 500 title insurance group LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Chandler is the managing director of a venture capital firm he co-founded in 2011 with fellow Virginia 500 honorees Jim Ukrop and Bob Mooney.
NRV invests in early stage companies that have moved beyond proof of concept and show the potential for high growth. Chandler sits on the boards of several of the companies backed by NRV, including WealthForge and Health Warrior.
Chandler holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law, where he serves as a member of the advisory board.
He also sits on boards for the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and U.Va.’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and he co-chairs the Richmond and Hampton Roads regional collaborative RVA757 Connect. He has chaired the boards of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Partnership for Nonprofit Excellence, the Maymont Foundation and the Richmond Arts Foundation.
Chandra
RAVI CHANDRA
HEAD OF BRANCH MOBILE STRATEGY/BRANCH CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, BRANCH BANKING, WELLS FARGO & CO., CHARLOTTESVILLE
Chandra took on a new role for Wells Fargo after formerly serving as regional president of the company’s operations in Charlottesville, Roanoke, Blacksburg and parts of Central Virginia. Still based in Charlottesville, he now leads a national team of strategy consultants supporting the third-largest U.S. bank’s network of more than 5,100 branch locations.
Chandra started at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo in 1990 as a teller in San Jose, California. He worked his way up in positions in Oregon and Nevada before moving to Virginia.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge. Chandra serves on the board of directors for Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia and recently finished a four-year term on the Virginia Bankers Association board.
HOBBY/PASSION:Music is my passion. I used to be a DJ in high school. I also have passion around being a #girldad to my two daughters.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:We became owners of a new Peloton. I can’t get enough of it — sometimes two times a day.
DeVito
MICHAEL DeVITO
CEO, FREDDIE MAC, McLEAN
A veteran of Wells Fargo, DeVito took over in June as the head of Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. The government-backed entity, which buys bundles of mortgages from banks and other lenders so that they have enough cash to make more mortgages, is the company with the highest revenues in Virginia. In 2020, Freddie Mac saw a 12% decrease in revenue compared with 2019, bringing in $66.2 billion. In the second quarter of 2021, the company reported $3.7 billion in net income, an improvement from the previous four quarters.
A graduate of Ithaca College, DeVito was with Wells Fargo for 23 years, most recently serving as its executive vice president and head of home lending. He succeeded former CEO David Brickman, who left Freddie Mac in January to lead a commercial brokerage.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, started in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession to oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, was unconstitutional. The outcome meant that investors in the two companies lost their claim to $124 billion, and both firms’ stocks fell more than 30% after the ruling.
Di Rita
LAWRENCE ‘LARRY’ DI RITA
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, WASHINGTON, D.C.
In addition to being president of Bank of America’s Greater Washington market, Di Rita is the financial giant’s strategy and public policy executive. The company has 213,000 employees, including 4,000 in Virginia.
Di Rita earned degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He served as a Navy officer until 1994, leaving the military to join the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and later progressing to the staffs of U.S. Sens. Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison, as well as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Di Rita is secretary and treasurer of the Rumsfeld Foundation and is on the boards for the U.S. Navy Memorial and the Center for a New American Security, a think tank specializing in national security.
PERSON I ADMIRE:U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Sammy Perez. My college roommate who came from tiny Canutillo, Texas — pretty far from the nearest ocean — and rose to command of an aircraft carrier battle group. A man of true personal and professional integrity.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:The best way to persuade tends to be with data and a story, rather than just one or the other.
Edelman
RIC EDELMAN
FOUNDER, EDELMAN FINANCIAL ENGINES, FAIRFAX
This has been a momentous year for Edelman, who stepped down as chairman of his financial planning firm and also is finishing up his nearly 30-year radio show (while starting a new one this fall).
He will continue as a strategic adviser and member of the board of directors, as well as remaining the firm’s largest individual shareholder.
He founded the firm with his wife, Jean, in 1986 with the goal of educating people about money and has become a guru of personal finance, having written several bestsellers, including “The Truth About Money,” also the title of his PBS show that aired 2011 to 2013.
In 2018, Edelman’s company merged with Financial Engines, and the combined company manages $270 billion in assets for 1.3 million clients. It has 242 employees in Virginia and 1,500 worldwide. In recent months, he has advocated for investors to become more educated about cryptocurrency and to include it in their portfolios in spite of its volatility.
HOBBY/PASSION: My wife and I collect rare books on astronomy.
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I’d let governors run for re-election.
Edwards
ELENA EDWARDS
CEO, USA, ALLIANZ PARTNERS, HENRICO COUNTY
With 17 years in the insurance industry, Edwards was promoted last June to lead the German company’s U.S. business. Allianz, which sells travel insurance and provides international medical assistance, employs about 1,000 people in the Richmond area.
Edwards joined Allianz in 2019 as general manager of the U.S. unit, after holding executive roles at Genworth Financial and General Electric companies.
The travel industry took a huge hit in 2020 when the pandemic forced people to stay home. However, as restrictions began to be lifted this spring, Allianz started offering plans with epidemic coverage for COVID-19 or future pandemics. In May, Edwards won a Top Workplaces leadership award for the Richmond area based on employee surveys conducted anonymously.
Edwards studied mechanical engineering at Union College and earned an advanced degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a vice president of the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation board.
RICHARD FAIRBANK
Fairbank
CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP., McLEAN
With a background in banking and credit, Fairbank started Capital One in 1994. Today, it ranks 99th on the Fortune 500, although it saw a 6% decrease in revenues last year, recording $31.6 billion, while profits fell 51% to $2.7 billion. Capital One has nearly 52,000 employees worldwide.
Earlier this year, Capital One was hit with a $390 million federal civil penalty for willfully violating anti-money-laundering policy between 2008 and 2014.
Fairbank, who previously was head of banking for a national strategy consulting firm and chaired MasterCard International’s global board, is a billionaire and has not received a base salary since 1997.
In June, Fairbank told employees in an email that they could continue working remotely on Mondays and Fridays once the company’s offices reopen in the fall. The company will adopt a flexible hybrid model. Since last spring, the bank started closing branches, a plan hastened by the pandemic.
In July on a second-quarter earnings call, Fairbank said customers are paying higher rates on their credit cards this year, accompanied by purchase volume 25% higher than the second quarter of 2019.
Finnegan
ROB FINNEGAN
CEO, WEST CREEK FINANCIAL, GLEN ALLEN
Finnegan has been at the helm of the startup financial technology firm since 2017, as it rapidly started to increase its role in consumer leasing.
The company has been rapidly expanding since its founding in 2015. Within five years, it had exceeded $200 million in revenue, had partnered with more than 10,000 retailers and financed 200,000 customers’ purchases. West Creek uses machine learning and analytics to rate a borrower’s credit worthiness rather than relying solely on credit scores. The company also loans money for outright purchases and lease-to-own arrangements through retailers of furniture, mattresses, appliances and HVACs.
Finnegan, one of the co-founders, previously worked for 2nd Order Solutions, a consulting firm that uses data analytics to develop credit models. He also was with Capital One for 17 years, starting at its founding and holding several executive level posts. When he left, Finnegan was senior vice president of new account market and decision sciences. Before his career in finance, the University of Virginia alumnus was a systems engineer for Mitre Corp.
Frantz
MARK A. FRANTZ
GENERAL PARTNER AND CO-FOUNDER, BLUE DELTA CAPITAL PARTNERS, McLEAN
Blue Delta Capital is a venture capital fund that invests in federal government clients in the technology sector without taking an ownership interest. Frantz, who has an extensive background in investment and technology, co-founded the company in 2009.
He’s worked with or invested in dozens of companies, including Sourcefire, NetWitness, The Carlyle Group and Blackboard, and served as managing general partner of In-Q-Tel, a venture capital affiliated with the U.S. intelligence community. He also served on the board of CRSA Holdings Inc., which General Dynamics Corp. purchased in 2018 for $9.7 billion, and is currently on the board of ASGN Inc., the parent company of Apex and ECS Federal.
One of Blue Delta’s biggest deals recently was PAE’s $92 million purchase of intelligence analysis firm Metis Solutions in December, after the capital firm had begun partnering with Metis in 2016.
A graduate of Alleghany College and the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned both an MBA and a law degree, Frantz was associate director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs during President George H.W. Bush’s term.
Gayner
THOMAS S. GAYNER
CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., GLEN ALLEN
Gayner oversees investing activities for Markel Corp., a Glen Allen-based Fortune 500 holding company that has nearly 19,000 employees worldwide.
Markel, which Gayner joined in 1990 to form Markel Gayner Asset Management, holds insurance, reinsurance and investment operations worldwide.
In 2019, it had a record year, with revenue rising 39.2% over the previous year to $9.35 billion. The pandemic appears to have slowed growth, with Markel reporting $9.7 billion in revenue during 2020.
“We are grateful and amazed by how our employees responded to the global pandemic and continued to serve the needs of our customers, trading partners, shareholders and each other,” Gayner wrote with Co-CEO Richard Whitt in announcing the 2020 financial report. “Markel enters 2021 well positioned to continue the momentum of our excellent fourth quarter.”
Before joining Markel, Gayner was a vice president of Davenport & Co. and a CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He sits on the boards of Graham Holdings LLC, Colfax Corp. and Cable One, where he serves as lead independent director. Gayner also is a member of the Virginia Retirement System’s Investment Advisory Committee, which is responsible for making investment recommendations to the state agency’s board.
Grinspoon
JEFF GRINSPOON
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PARTNER, VWG WEALTH MANAGEMENT AT HIGHTOWER ADVISORS, VIENNA
Grinspoon founded VWG in 2011 with two of his Morgan Stanley colleagues in response to the shift in wealth management services following the Great Recession. He started his career with Legg Mason.
This year, the firm, owned by Hightower Advisors, has more than $1.6 billion assets under management and has been ranked on Forbes’ Top 100 wealth advisers list. Grinspoon has also made Forbes’ and Barron’s top adviser rankings.
With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from the University of Maryland, he serves on the board for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. Grinspoon also has dedicated time toward charitable work for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Don’t be shy to apologize for something you’ve done wrong, and don’t be loud about something you’ve done right.
FIRST JOB: Selling credit card processing equipment
HOBBY/PASSION: My family is my passion.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Eating at a restaurant (been a long time)
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Code Breaker,” by Walter Isaacson
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Our health is the single most taken-for-granted thing.
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: A wider bridge coming over the Potomac
Hamilton
SIMON HAMILTON
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BAIRD/THE WISE INVESTOR GROUP, RESTON
In addition to overseeing Baird/The Wise Investor Group’s portfolio, Hamilton is also host of the small Reston firm’s “Wise Investor Show” and “Midweek Update” podcasts, which offer insights into how the market is behaving. Before joining the firm in 2007, Hamilton was vice president of investments at Smith Barney and previously filled the same role at Ferris, Baker Watts in Baltimore, his hometown. For several years, Hamilton has been named a top financial adviser by Financial Times, Forbes and Barron’s. In his spare time, he serves as Vienna Youth Soccer’s vice president of travel soccer.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:Seeing in real time how my efforts can produce both quantifiable and psychological positive outcomes for real people and their families
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: I was around the edges of everything. Smart, but not the smartest; on the sports teams, but not the best athlete; went to the “cool” parties, but wasn’t the first to be invited!
HOBBY/PASSION:Youth sports — I love coaching, organizing, and watching my kids and their friends compete.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE:I’m a simple man: a fine lager.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Baltimore Ravens
Harris
H. HITER HARRIS III
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, HARRIS WILLIAMS & CO., RICHMOND
Thirty years ago, Harris co-founded a global investment banking company specializing in mergers and acquisitions with a friend from Harvard Business School, Christopher Williams. Today the firm has more than 400 employees across eight global offices and operates as a subsidiary of PNC Financial Services.
The company, which advises companies buying or being sold to other corporations, promoted more than two dozen people to more senior positions in its offices in February, with particular focus on energy and health care sectors.
A Hampden-Sydney College alum who was a kicker on the football team, Harris serves on the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges board and the University of Richmond board of trustees. He also was inducted into the Greater Richmond Business Hall of Fame in 2015.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:Throughout Harris Williams, our professionals are dedicated to fostering long-lasting, trust-based relationships with clients and colleagues alike. Everything we do at Harris Williams is intended to foster lasting relationships. Watching those relationships deepen and grow over the past 30 years has brought me great joy and makes me very proud of what we have accomplished together.
Henderson
CHARLES R. HENDERSON JR.
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HAMPTON ROADS MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, NORFOLK
A West Virginia native who graduated from Hampden-Sydney College, Henderson has lived in Hampton Roads for four decades. He oversees Bank of America’s Hampton Roads business and also its charitable arm.
Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Henderson credited CEO Brian Moynihan’s leadership for assisting bank employees, including a freeze on all job reductions in 2020 and increased child care benefits.
The company has 213,000 employees, including 4,000 in Virginia, and recorded $85.5 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2020. A member of LISC Hampton Roads’ local advisory committee, Henderson also serves on the Virginia Bankers Association Education Foundation board.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Be willing to accept job assignments that may be outside of your comfort zone as a means of learning new skill sets and making connections.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: Charlie has been a champion of the nonprofit sector while driving growth for the bank over his 46-year career.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:Celebrating our grandson’s (Brooks) first birthday and the anticipation of the birth of our granddaughter
in October.
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Encourage more collaboration among municipalities to unleash the enormous
potential of our commonwealth.
Hodges
CECILIA A. HODGES
REGIONAL PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON, D.C., AND VIRGINIA, M&T BANK, VIENNA
Named the regional president of the Virginia and Washington, D.C., region for M&T in 2018, Hodges marked her 25th anniversary with the bank this year and oversees 60 regional branches.
A Virginia Tech graduate from Rocky Mount, she is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore board and has dedicated time to the region’s Easter Seals chapter and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. Hodges also has taken an active role in organizing charitable activities in Virginia and Greater Washington for M&T.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Bring your authentic best self to everything you do. Be kind and generous with your time and make every effort to be helpful to those you come in contact with.
FIRST JOB: Lifeguarding at the neighborhood pool was my first paid job. As a young child I swept a lot of floors and did odd jobs at my parents’ building supply business, and I did a lot of babysitting.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I’d like to see more robust economic opportunity and top-notch education for citizens in the rural parts of the state like where I grew up in Southwest Virginia.
D. JERMAINE JOHNSON
JERMAINE JOHNSON
GREATER WASHINGTON AND VIRGINIA REGIONAL PRESIDENT, PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP INC., VIENNA
Johnson was promoted last August to head PNC’s Greater Washington regional market, which includes Northern Virginia and neighboring Maryland counties.
He oversees retail, corporate and institutional banking, wealth management and community activities for one of the nation’s largest banks, with more than $560 billion in assets. In June, PNC closed on its $11.6 billion purchase of BBVA USA, bumping its ranking from the country’s ninth-largest bank to the fifth.
With a bachelor’s degree in finance from James Madison University, Johnson worked for Bank of America and GE Healthcare Financial Services in executive positions before joining PNC in 2005. Before assuming his current post, he was PNC’s executive vice president and market manager for corporate banking in greater Richmond and greater Maryland.
He serves on the board of directors for the Greater Washington Board of Trade and has been an audit committee member for the March of Dimes, and he is the 2021 chair of Junior Achievement’s Washington Business Hall of Fame, which will hold its induction event virtually in December.
BRIAN R. KAHN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FRANCHISE GROUP INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
Known partly for its employees dressed in Statue of Liberty costumes during tax season, Liberty Tax Inc. became known as Franchise Group in September 2019. Kahn soon became its CEO, steering the corporation through several deals as it shifted its model to focus on buying and investing in franchises and businesses that could be franchised.
In March, Franchise announced it had completed the purchase of Pet Supplies Plus for $700 million and that it had sold the Liberty Tax business to NextPoint Acquisition in a deal that included $182 million in cash and $67 million in shares of NextPoint.
Franchise’s other business lines include American Freight, the Vitamin Shoppe and Buddy’s Home Furnishings.
In May, Kahn purchased $36 million worth of shares in Franchise. He is also managing partner of Vintage Capital Management, an equity firm he founded
in 1998 in Orlando, Florida.
A Harvard graduate, he has served as chairman of the board for rent-to-own stores Buddy’s Home Furnishings, API Technologies Corp and White Electronic Designs Corp., and he was a director for Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises.
Lee
EVELYN LEE
GREATER WASHINGTON REGION PRESIDENT, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., WASHINGTON, D.C.
Lee manages the Greater Washington area, including Northern Virginia, for Truist, which formed from the SunTrust and BB&T merger, one of the biggest bank deals in recent years. A SunTrust executive for 19 years in several divisions, including senior living, not-for-profit and corporate banking, Lee is a William & Mary alumna. She also is a founding board member of the D.C. International Charter School and is on the executive committee of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
FIRST JOB: Working at a small local deli. I was on the 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, so I did the early morning baking through sandwich lunch prep.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Parting the Waters,” by Taylor Branch
Lucia
FRANK L. LUCIA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, DELTA DENTAL OF VIRGINIA INC., ROANOKE
A longtime health insurance leader, Lucia has been with Delta Dental’s Virginia branch since 2017. The nonprofit provides dental insurance for more than 2 million members and has 370 employees in the state. Delta Dental’s national foundation provided $1.1 billion in COVID-19 relief funding to help support dental care in underserved communities and also assisted dentists with low- and no-interest loans during the height of the pandemic. The Delta Dental Virginia Foundation contributed more than $4 million to organizations in the state to improve oral health in 2020.
Lucia moved to Roanoke from Wisconsin, where he had served as president of Dean Health Plan. A graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the University of Miami, he also is a CPA. Before joining Dean, Lucia worked with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, WR Grace Inc. and Cigna Corp.
During his time in Virginia, Lucia has devoted time to community organizations Verge, the Valleys Innovation Council and Virginia Health Catalyst.
FIRST JOB: Masonry apprentice. I carried cinder block.
HOBBY:Skiing, being outdoors, woodworking
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: In business and in life, there are certain things that simply can’t be rushed.
Paul Manning
PAUL B. MANNING
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PBM CAPITAL Group LLC, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Manning founded PBM Capital, a private equity firm, after selling his infant formula company, PBM Products LLC, for $800 million in 2010 to Perrigo. In recent years, he has become known as a significant philanthropist, donating $1 million in spring 2020 to establish the Manning Fund for COVID-19 Research, money that has gone to eight projects to research vaccines and treatment.
In 1997, Manning built his company from a $1 million investment into the world’s leading provider of private-label infant formula and then founded other companies, mostly related to health care. Manning has served on the boards of several startups in which his company has invested.
A University of Massachusetts alum, Manning made a $1 million gift to his alma mater to support commercializing scientific research projects, and he’s served on several committees at U.Va., including its most recent capital campaign. Manning also donated $100,000 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign, according to finance reports released in July.
Matheis
DENNIS A. MATHEIS
PRESIDENT, SENTARA HEALTH PLANS; EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, SENTARA HEALTHCARE, VIRGINIA BEACH
Matheis heads up Sentara’s health insurance plan, previously known as Optima Health, which covers more than 875,000 members and has 2,600 employees. Sentara is also the majority owner of Virginia Premier, a Medicaid managed-care organization that the health care system purchased in 2020 from the
VCU Health System.
A University of Kentucky alum, Matheis is on the executive committee of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the board of directors for the Virginia Association of Health Plans, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Norfolk Forum. He is also on the board of DarioHealth.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Develop your own personal plan. Focus on the next three years of your career, develop mile markers and periodically step back to ask yourself if you are on the right track to achieve your goals.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:A person’s health and well-being are critical to leading a happy and productive life. It is incredibly rewarding to be part of an organization whose primary focus is providing access to high quality health care, through both financing and delivery. I am especially passionate about helping to advance the affordability and quality of health services.
McDuffie
MARY McDUFFIE
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, VIENNA
McDuffie has worked at Navy Federal since 1999 and was promoted to CEO in 2018. She is the first woman in this role for Navy Federal, the world’s largest credit union, with 10.6 million members, 346 branches and $148 billion in assets.
Navy Federal was named No. 59 in 2021 on the 100 best companies to work for list by Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine, based on employee surveys. This is the credit union’s 10th consecutive appearance on the list.
A Wellesley College alumna, McDuffie was executive vice president of delivery channels and communications at Navy Federal, leading the marketing department and launching its mobile banking service. She was promoted to CFO and then quickly to CEO. Much of her focus has been on customer experience; the credit union developed its first mobile app under her leadership.
Previously, McDuffie was senior vice president of marketing for Star Systems Inc. and a senior manager at J. Walter Thompson Inc., a communications company.
McInerney
THOMAS McINERNEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC., RICHMOND
For the past five years, Genworth was in negotiations with Beijing-based China Oceanwide Holdings Group, which sought to acquire the company for $2.7 billion. In April, Genworth announced it had terminated the deal, which was delayed more than a dozen times.
McInerney, who joined Genworth Financial Inc. in January 2013 as its CEO, has overseen a challenging period for the Fortune 500 company, which offers long-term-care insurance and private mortgage insurance with nearly 4 million policy holders. He has spent his career in insurance since 1978 and was with ING Group, the Dutch multinational banking and financial services company, for 32 years.
Genworth began 2021 with an announcement that it was laying off employees and shaving $50 million in operating costs. Its net income was $178 million in 2020, short of 2019’s $343 million net income. McInerney said early this year that Genworth planned a public offering of its rebranded mortgage insurance business, Enact Holdings.
The company has faced challenges in both insurance markets, first through the housing market collapse and then with escalating costs for long-term care that predate McInerney’s leadership.
A graduate of Colgate University and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, he serves on Tuck’s board and also those of VA Ready and the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance.
McLaughlin
SHANE McLAUGHLIN
NORTHERN VIRGINIA REGION BANK PRESIDENT,WELLS FARGO & CO., LEESBURG
McLaughlin has worked for Wells Fargo since 2004, becoming a community bank president a decade ago and then being promoted in 2017 to head the Northern Virginia territory, which spans from Fairfax and Loudoun counties to Winchester and Culpeper. A Virginia Tech alumnus, McLaughlin is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington. He’s also on the advisory boards for Bright Beginnings Inc. and George Mason University’s College of Human Development and Education.
Wells Fargo is ranked No. 37 on the 2021 Fortune 500, and it recorded $1.95 trillion in assets in the past fiscal year.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Ensure you and your team have time for those important family moments.
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: Shy and spent all of my time playing basketball and running.
FIRST JOB: Round Hill Garden, gardener
PERSON I ADMIRE: I admire my wife because she discovered her passion in life and turned it into her career as a teacher.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM:Georgetown University Hoyas
FAVORITE BEVERAGE: San Pellegrino
Montgomery
JOSEPH W. ‘JOE’ MONTGOMERY
MANAGING DIRECTOR, INVESTMENTS, THE OPTIMAL SERVICE GROUP OF WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, WILLIAMSBURG
Montgomery has led The Optimal Service Group since its founding in 1975. The firm has 13 employees and has $17 billion under advisement.
A William & Mary graduate, Montgomery was co-captain of his college football team and was invited to the Philadelphia Eagles training camp, where he played center but didn’t make the final cut.
Montgomery has been named to top financial adviser lists and was inducted into Barron’s Advisor Hall of Fame in 2019. He topped Forbes magazine’s best wealth advisers list in Virginia the last two years.
He is a trustee of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation board and vice chair of the Virginia Retirement System board, and he has also served on boards at W&M.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Seeing the happiness that success brings to people and the good they can do when they succeed.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Visiting The Grove at the University of Mississippi. Didn’t know it was on my bucket list until I was there.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Price is only an issue in the absence of value.
SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Grass skiing
Mooney
J. ROBERT ‘BOB’ MOONEY
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, PHLOW CORP., RICHMOND
After decades in accounting and venture capital, Mooney joined Phlow Corp. last year and was instrumental in landing a $354 million federal contract to start a development pipeline for medications and pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States. The four-year contract has an additional $458 million in options. He also was a key organizer in the $20 million Series A financing that Phlow secured in 2021 from private equity investors.
Mooney, who served as CFO for Ethyl Corp. and William & Mary’s Mason School of Business, co-founded and served as managing director of venture capital firm New Richmond Ventures (NRV), along with fellow founders Ted Chandler, former chairman and CEO of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., and Jim Ukrop, former chairman and CEO of Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc.
A William & Mary alum, Mooney has strong ties to Richmond’s arts community and is vice chair emeritus of the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance board. He also raised funds for the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School and chairs the finance and investment committee at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. In August, he won Virginia Business’ Virginia CFO Award for small business.
Morris
NIGEL MORRIS
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, QED INVESTORS, ALEXANDRIA
A co-founder of Capital One Financial Services with Richard Fairbank, Morris was the McLean banking giant’s first president and chief operating officer. Now he manages the fintech venture capital firm he co-founded in 2007. Among its investments are stakes in Credit Karma, SoFi, NuBank and Avant.
Morris announced last June that his company was launching the Just Five program to tackle addiction and reduce its stigma. The issue hits close to home for the U.K. native, whose business partner, Greg Mazanec, died in 2019 after suffering from substance use disorder. QED is partnering with Operation Lighthouse, a nonprofit set up by Mazanec’s family.
“I say all the time that if I have a sore arm or a sore shoulder, I’ll come into work, and I’ll whine about it. But if I couldn’t sleep last night or I’m paranoid about going outside or I’ve been taking too many sleeping pills or drinking too much wine, I won’t talk about it,” Morris wrote in a June op-ed for TechCrunch about ending mental health stigmas in the tech industry. “I’ll say that I’m going to my doctor to get my shoulder fixed, but I won’t say that I’m going to talk to my therapist.”
Murray
JAMES B. MURRAY JR.
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, COURT SQUARE VENTURES; CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENTIAL PRECINCT, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Murray, who co-founded Court Square Ventures (named for Charlottesville’s downtown courthouse neighborhood) in 2000, finished his term as rector of alma mater University of Virginia, where he continues to serve on the board of visitors, in July.
He also is the co-founder of a nonprofit collaboration among U.Va., William & Mary, and other institutions, including presidential estates Montpelier and Monticello, that’s known as Presidential Precinct. It hosts leadership discussions about democracy and other broad topics for participants from around the world. Murray is a graduate of W&M’s law school and served on that university’s board of visitors.
Murray started Columbia Capital of Alexandria, a firm that manages more than $3 billion in investments, and he previously served on the Export-Import Bank of the United States advisory board, including as chair.
He also has been a guest lecturer at several universities, co-wrote the book “Wireless Nation: The Frenzied Launch of the Cellular Revolution in America,” and holds a U.S. patent for a wireless maritime ignition control system.
O’Neill
DANIEL J. O’NEILL JR.
REGIONAL PRESIDENT VIRGINIA-EAST, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., RICHMOND
After SunTrust and BB&T merged last year to create the sixth-largest bank in the nation, O’Neill was named president of Truist’s Virginia-East region, based in Richmond.
Having worked at SunTrust since 1990, O’Neill was previously president of the bank’s mid-Atlantic region and head of wholesale risk. Previously he was a Nasdaq trader for Merrill Lynch and was with Riggs National Bank and Citibank.
A graduate of College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business in New York, he also completed an advanced risk management program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
O’Neill also serves on the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Bankers Association boards. Last year, Truist partnered with Sentara Healthcare and the state to launch a COVID-19 emergency fund to provide free meals to families during the height of the pandemic, with Truist committing $500,000 toward the $2.6 million fund.
Pagnato and David Karp founded PagnatoKarp Partners to manage the assets of CEOs, wealth creators and families with ultra-high net worth. They had worked at High Tower Advisors and went on their own during the Great Recession, with the aim of providing more transparency.
They sold PagnatoKarp to Chicago-based Cresset Asset Management last year but retain leadership roles. The combined company had $13.8 billion in assets under management as of June, when the purchase took place. The transaction amount was not disclosed.
Pagnato, who was named Northern Virginia’s top wealth adviser by Forbes in 2021, graduated from Florida Atlantic University and began his career as a microbiologist looking for life in outer space for NASA and McDonnell Douglas. He then entered the financial industry and worked for 19 years at Merrill Lynch.
He has been a Barron’s and Forbes top financial adviser for decades, and Pagnato is also an advisory council member for the Stanford Center on Longevity based at Stanford University.
Ricketts
JEFF RICKETTS
PRESIDENT, ANTHEM BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD VIRGINIA, RICHMOND
Ricketts joined Anthem in 1984 and rose through the ranks to lead its Virginia operation in 2017. Anthem has 8,730 employees in the state and offers an array of health plans, including ones through the marketplace exchange for most of the state.
A James Madison alum, Ricketts is a Richmond native, “the son of a preacher who worked in the prison system,” he says. “Both of my parents taught me the value of hard work, staying grounded, taking responsibility for your actions and, most importantly, to help those in need.”
He’s also co-chair of Gov. Ralph Northam’s primary care task force and serves on several boards, including ChamberRVA, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Virginia Center for Health Innovation and Virginia Business Council.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: A fierce but fair competitor.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: People do what you incent them to do — and that does not always mean a monetary incentive, and it’s not necessarily positive incentives. Nothing good happens when incentives aren’t aligned with desired outcomes. This goes for life and in business.
Ryan
TOM RYAN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, LANGLEY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, NEWPORT NEWS
Langley, the state’s fifth-largest credit union, continues to grow its assets under Ryan’s leadership. Since he was tapped to lead the Hampton Roads credit union in 2012, assets have doubled from $1.7 billion to $3.9 billion, with a $400 million increase during the past year.
Membership has also grown from 165,000 to 295,000. Members had about $2.9 billion deposited with Langley and about $2.6 billion in loans in 2020.
Previously an executive vice president and chief operating officer for Digital Federal Credit Union, Ryan has 35 years of credit union experience.
He serves on the Boys & Girls Club of the Virginia Peninsula and Langley for Families Foundation boards. In 2020, the foundation and the credit union together donated $1.4 million, their largest annual amount ever, to Hampton Roads organizations, including the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank; scholarships for students at Hampton, Christopher Newport and Old Dominion universities; and local United Way funds. About $364,000 went to grants as a response to COVID-19.
Schaufeld
FREDRICK D. SCHAUFELD
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, SWAN & LEGEND VENTURE PARTNERS, LEESBURG
The founder of investment firm SWaN & Legend, Schaufeld is a partner in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics teams and Capital One Arena, and he is a part owner of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team.
Before starting SWaN in 2006, he founded Electronic Warranty Corp, which was acquired by Asurion in 2008 and is now called NEWAsurion. Schaufeld and his partner, Tony Nader, are credited with pulling Best Buy Corp. out of financial trouble by suggesting in 1996 that it sell comprehensive consumer warranties at much lower prices than competitors.
Schaufeld sits on numerous companies’ boards, including KIND, Sugar23, Noodle Partners, Custom Ink and José Andrés’ ThinkFood Group.
He and his wife, Karen, are active in organizations that support education, health, arts and the environment. They have endowed a scholarship fund at their alma mater, Lehigh University, which two of their three children also attended. In April, the Schaufelds, who own the Hill Top House Hotel property in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, got the green light for a demolition permit, allowing them to build a $139 million hotel expected to open in summer 2024.
Schenck
JAMES SCHENCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO, PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, McLEAN
Since Schenck became president of PenFed in 2017, its assets have grown from $17 billion to $27 billion, and membership has increased from 1.3 million to 2.2 million. During the past year, loan originations rose from $10.1 billion to $16.8 billion.
Founded in 1935, PenFed is the second-largest federal credit union based in Virginia.
Schenck is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and has an MBA from Harvard. In the Army, he flew Black Hawk helicopters in Korea and was a night vision instructor pilot. Assigned to the Pentagon, he served as a special assistant to the secretary of the Army and on the staff of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans.
He taught economics and finance at West Point and in 2015 Schenck was named one of HillVets Foundation’s 100 most influential veterans and recognized for the contributions PenFed makes to veterans. In 2020, PenFed’s charitable arm gave nearly $3 million to veterans and first responders who were impacted by the pandemic.
Schiavon
ALBERTO SCHIAVON
CEO, ELEPHANT INSURANCE SERVICES LLC, GLEN ALLEN
A native of Venice, Schiavon is an alum of University of Padova in Italy and Manchester Business School in England. He joined Elephant in 2017 to lead marketing and pricing and was promoted in less than a year to CEO. The Henrico-based insurance company has 602 employees, with 526 in Virginia, and it was recognized last year as one of the top workplaces in the Richmond area by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Elephant recently expanded into Georgia. The company also launched a new work-from-home discount in Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, rewarding policyholders who aren’t commuting as frequently.
In June, Elephant launched Helping Herd to donate $300,000 to organizations that were impacted by COVID-19 or are providing relief.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:We have a whitewater rafting expert on our leadership team at Elephant. She recently led a group of us on a wet but exhilarating ride on the James River. The experience was a blast!
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: I love visiting Hawaii because it has a great mix of nature, history, culture and diversity.
Shockley
CHRIS SHOCKLEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA CREDIT UNION, RICHMOND
Shockley, who grew up in Roanoke, began his banking career as a teller while attending Radford University. In 2003, he joined the state’s third-largest credit union, Virginia Credit Union, with more than 300,000 members and about $4.5 billion in total assets as of the end of 2020, becoming CEO in 2016. He chairs the Virginia Council on Economic Education board and is treasurer of the YMCA of Greater Richmond board.
Shockley also serves on the board of the Virginia-West Virginia chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a cause close to his heart after losing his sister to the disease.
VACU was named an outstanding organizational partner by the Association of Fundraising Professionals last year for its endowment of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Financial Success Center and contributions to a state employee financial wellness program. In July, the credit union was recognized by the Virginia Credit Union League for its financial education programs for youth and adults. During the height of the pandemic, VACU offered free online workshops for 60,000 people.
Shockley said trust, transparency and communication throughout the organization helped them weather the pandemic. “When you go through something like we experienced this past year, it tests you in ways you never imagined. I am so proud of my teammates’ determination and resolve in the face of complex challenges at work and in their personal lives.”
Snyder
PETE SNYDER
CEO, DISRUPTOR CAPITAL, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Snyder sought the Republican nomination for Virginia’s governor this year, placing second to fellow businessman Glenn Youngkin in the GOP’s unassembled convention in May.
Snyder, who founded Disruptor to invest in companies looking to break the usual mold, became prominent outside venture capital circles last year when he and his wife, Burson, founded the Virginia 30 Day Fund to send forgivable $3,000 loans to small businesses that needed help with cash flow gaps. As of January, the fund had raised more than $4 million and assisted 1,000 businesses.
A former Fox News contributor and William & Mary graduate, Snyder founded Arlington-based social media marketing firm New Media Strategies and sold it to Meredith Corp. for $30 million, later founding Disruptor.
Snyder invested in Media Group of America, founded by two Republican operatives, which publishes the Independent Journal Review. He also
has served on William & Mary’s board of visitors.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE:Tito’s Vodka, rocks. Two limes.
Stanchina
JOHN STANCHINA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, MARSH & McLENNAN AGENCY — MID-ATLANTIC LLC, RICHMOND
Marsh & McLennan subsidiary Rutherfoord hired Stanchina in 1994 to establish surety bond operations in Richmond. Until then, he had been in Charlotte, North Carolina, working for Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland.
In Richmond, Stanchina rose through the ranks as division manager, division president and president. He oversees the global professional services company’s mid-Atlantic hub of 11 states and serves on the agency’s strategic steering committee. Based in New York, Marsh & McLennan reported $17.2 billion in worldwide revenue last year, a 3% increase from 2019.
Marsh offers commercial property, casualty, personal lines and employee benefits to businesses and individuals across North America. This year, it acquired Greensboro, N.C.-basedCompass Financial Partners, which supplies retirement consulting and investment advice.
A graduate of Muskingum College in Ohio, Stanchina has served as a board member for the Young Presidents’ Organization, the Valentine Richmond History Center, Greater Richmond SCAN and Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School.
PERSON I ADMIRE: My dad. He always lived by certain principles — integrity, work hard and play hard, and the CEO was no more important than the janitor. He was also a student of business.
SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Snow ski. (I don’t want to be in a cast!)
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Reduce the humidity in July and get back to being more business-friendly politically.
Stevenson
KEVIN P. STEVENSON
PRESIDENT, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER,PRA GROUP INC., NORFOLK
Stevenson helped start the 25-year-old debt-purchasing company and has served in a number of roles, becoming president and CEO in 2017. It earned $1.1 billion last year, up from 2019’s $1 billion in total revenue.
A former controller with Household Recovery Services and Household Bank, Stevenson says the same thing makes him passionate about his work today as it did at the start of PRA: to do things the right way for the right reason and focus on the long term.
Last year, PRA opened a call center in Danville, and it has offices in North and South America, Europe and Brisbane, Australia. It employs 4,000 people worldwide, with 1,600 based in Virginia.
Stevenson studied accounting at The Ohio State University and has volunteered his time with the Greater Norfolk Corp. and Equi-Kids, an organization that provides therapeutic horseback riding.
FIRST JOB: Flipping burgers at McDonald’s. My first full-time job out of college was in financial and regulatory reporting for Household Bank.
HOBBY/PASSION: Motorcycles
FAVORITE APP: Waze
FAVORITE VACATION: Motorcycle vacation: Tail of the Dragon and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Get on a horse.
Tope
JANET N. TOPE
REGION BANK PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA EAST, WELLS FARGO & CO., RICHMOND
Tope joined Wells Fargo 33 years ago after graduating from Florida State University with a business degree. In 2016, she was promoted to her current role as president of the region that covers Richmond, the Peninsula and Hampton Roads. Ranked 37th on the Fortune 500 in 2021, Wells Fargo reported $80.3 billion in revenue last year.
Tope sits on several boards, including the Virginia Bankers Association, the Richmond Forum and Communities in Schools of Richmond. She also is a member of the Regional Leadership Circle of the Greater Richmond Partnership.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Never stray from your values/principles. You can add value just by listening and asking questions.
FIRST JOB: Retail sales
PERSON I ADMIRE:My husband, Doug. He is an amazing husband and father and is a true example of someone who sees the good in others. He encourages and supports — showing confidence in others when they may not be sure what they could accomplish. He models ethical values like no one I have seen and sets an example for others to strive to achieve. He is the voice of reason in most any situation, and I admire his strong character.
Whitt
RICHARD R. ‘RICHIE’ WHITT III
CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., RICHMOND
Having joined Markel 20 years ago, Whitt has been controller, chief administrative officer of the company’s international operations, chief financial officer and co-chief operating officer. He also led the company’s international operations in London for two years before returning to Richmond in 2005. Whitt became Markel’s co-CEO in 2016, serving alongside Thomas S. Gayner. A Virginia Tech alum, his first job after graduating was with KPMG, where he was a senior auditor.
A Fortune 500 holding company for insurance, reinsurance and investments with 64 offices in 16 countries, Markel employs nearly 19,000 people. Its subsidiary, Markel Ventures, invests in companies outside the insurance marketplace, and in 2020, it acquired Lansing Building Products.
Markel was coming off a banner year in 2019, having earned $2.1 billion in income, which was more than the four previous years combined, and nearly double any single previous year.
The pandemic took its toll, though Markel reported $1.2 billion in comprehensive income in 2020.
Whitt serves on the boards of the Virginia Tech Foundation and St. John’s University School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science.
Woodriff
JAFFRAY WOODRIFF
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, QUANTITATIVE INVESTMENT Management LLC, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Woodriff said he first became interested in data science as a child, describing a game he played then. “I would obsessively roll a pair of dice to see seven win, and six and eight duke it out,” the U.Va. alum said in his bio for the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science, which he and his wife, Merrill, who’s also a U.Va. grad, were instrumental in founding.
In 2003, Woodriff parlayed that obsession into creating his $3 billion hedge fund, which uses data science to manage investments. Woodriff has supported dozens of startup companies. Before founding QIM, he was a director at Société Générale, a French multinational investment bank.
The Woodriffs set up the private family foundation Quantitative Foundation that makes philanthropic gifts, including the largest private gift in U.Va.’s history. In 2019 they pledged $120 million to build on U.Va.’s Data Science Institute, which became the School of Data Science last year.
A native of Charlottesville, Woodriff is also behind the Woodriff Center of Developing Entrepreneurs (CODE) building, a 170,000-square-foot space for early-stage tech startups, coworking and other businesses, on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. It’s expected to be completed this year.
What keeps a person working at an age when most of us are happy to let others take care of business? These overachieving Virginians, all over age 80, have remained hard at work mostly for one or more of three reasons.
The first is being able to continue work with family. Retirement is rarely mandatory if you or your progenitors founded the company, which is the case for many of these dynamos.
The second is their desire to make their communities a better place, whether through their businesses or charitable good deeds, but usually both.
And last, but certainly not least, most take undiminished pleasure in continuing to wheel and deal.
Meet eight* outstanding octogenarian Virginians who aren’t yet done making their mark on the commonwealth.
*The online version of this story includes a bonus ninth profile of nonagenarian Norfolk real estate magnate Harvey Lindsay Jr.
“You’ve got to give up everything to achieve success. You’ve got to have that dedication.”-Ramon W. Breeden Illustration by Vicente Martí
RAMON W. BREEDEN JR. | 87 President and CEO, The Breeden Co., Virginia Beach
“My hobby is really my business,” says Ramon W. Breeden Jr. “I’m thinking about it in the middle of the night.”
That level of intensity wouldn’t surprise anyone who has ever worked with the real estate magnate, who has been a go-getter from the get-go. The Richmond native grew up in modest circumstances and went to the University of Virginia on a baseball scholarship. When his parents couldn’t afford to keep him in school, Breeden wasn’t deterred, taking on odd jobs to finance his own education. He began his career as a math teacher but, desiring to be in charge of his own destiny, Breeden soon turned to real estate development and mortgage financing, founding The Breeden Co. in 1961.
In the 60 years since, The Breeden Co. has owned, managed or developed more than 15,000 apartments, 1,700 single-family homes and 2 million-plus square feet of retail and office space, mostly in Virginia. It now focuses on high-density, mixed-use projects, and its business continues to expand at a rate of 12% to 15% annually, says Breeden, who continues to work full time. “Why not?” he says about his schedule. “I’m healthy. I’m fit.”
Breeden’s son, Torrey, has worked with him in the family business for more than 20 years.
In his down time, Ramon Breeden likes to fly and still pilots his company’s corporate airplanes and helicopters. Over the years, he also served on the board of the former Commerce Bank in Virginia Beach and was a director of Branch Banking & Trust (BB&T) Co. of Virginia (now part of Truist Financial Corp.).
He also has remained involved with higher education, variously serving U.Va. as a member of the McIntire Foundation Board and the McIntire Advisory Board. Some
of his considerable energies have gone into supporting his local SPCA and United Way, as well. “I never think about doing more,” Breeden says of the prodigious number of things
he already does. “I think about doing [it] the right way.”
“Don’t borrow money you don’t know how to pay back.” -Daniel Clemente. Illustration by Vicente Martí
DAN CLEMENTE | 84 Chairman and CEO, Clemente Development Co. Inc.,Vienna
When he is working, Dan Clemente doesn’t stop. “It’s 24 hours a day,” he says. “I don’t do anything else.”
With that schedule, unsurprisingly, Clemente has accomplished a lot. He started out in the 1960s as a lawyer specializing in bankruptcies, eventually becoming a nationally known expert on bank failures. He subsequently parlayed that knowledge into founding banks in Arlington and Springfield.
But at heart, Clemente is a developer. Perhaps it was in his blood, since his grandfather was in the development business in New York City with former President Donald Trump’s father, Fred. Clemente’s inaugural project was Virginia’s first-ever condominium complex, the Tower Villas in Arlington, built in 1974. Condos were such a new concept in that era, Clemente says, that state and local officials didn’t even know what a condominium was.
From that first foray into the housing market, Clemente went on to become one of the largest commercial and residential developers in Northern Virginia, and the many projects that he has undertaken in the past 40 years have helped shape the NoVa landscape, most dramatically at Tysons. There, Clemente has been a prime force behind the transformation of the former small town crossroads into an edge city. In recent years, he has been planning a $1.3 billion mixed-use project, The View at Tysons. Currently delayed because of the pandemic, the project includes plans for the tallest building in Virginia. Clemente’s wife, Juliann, serves as president of the company.
Clemente has also carved out time to be active on the civic front. Most notably, he was instrumental in the creation of George Mason University, for which he later served as a rector and chairman of the board of trustees. He has sat on many prestigious commissions, and is currently a board member of the powerful and influential Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
So, what is the secret to Clemente’s impressive productivity? Taking time off to smell the roses between projects. “Historically, I’ll not do something for six to eight months,” he says, taking that time to travel and get “educated on how the world works.” It’s a yin-yang approach to building a career, but it’s worked for him. “It helps keep me balanced,” he says.
“Get as much education as you possibly can, [but] a lot of good fortune comes to those who work the hardest.” -W. HEYWOOD FRALIN Illustration by Vicente Martí
W. HEYWOOD FRALIN | 80 Chairman, Medical Facilities of
America Inc.; chairman, Retirement Unlimited Inc., Roanoke
“As long as it is fun, I plan to continue.” That’s how Heywood Fralin sums up his decision to keep working full time as chairman of not one, but two, large businesses, both dedicated to senior care. With COVID-19 targeting older adults, Fralin has led his businesses through extremely difficult times of late.
“We faced a tremendous number of challenges,” he says, but, thankfully, the vaccinations have brought “very positive results.”
Fralin’s work ethic was shaped early. As a child, he was expected to do his chores before doing anything else, and by age 13, he was delivering newspapers. “I had a morning route delivering
121 papers,” Fralin recalls. “I had to get up at 4:30 or 5 every morning.” But he didn’t mind. In fact, the job was his idea. “These kinds of things are good lessons for kids,” he says. “It gives them a drive to succeed.”
Fralin’s 60-year-plus career certainly makes him the poster child for that view. After training as a lawyer, the Roanoke native joined the family businesses, and under his guidance both expanded exponentially: MFA Inc., which offers nursing and rehabilitation services, now has about 40 locations, and Retirement Unlimited Inc. operates 10 senior living communities. Fralin’s son William has taken over as president and CEO of both companies.
The senior Fralin is well known across the commonwealth for his civic and charitable endeavors. He serves on both the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, and he has served on the boards of visitors at his alma mater, the University of Virginia, as well as for Virginia Tech. He and his wife, Cynthia, have been outstandingly generous to both schools. In 2012, they donated their collection of American art to U.Va., which subsequently renamed its art museum in their honor. Six years later, it was Virginia Tech’s turn, when the Fralins, along with the Horace G. Fralin Charitable Trust, donated $50 million to the university for a biomedical research institute. Most recently, the Fralins gave U.Va. $5 million to endow the head football coach’s position.
Looking back at his illustrious career, Fralin says, “The best part of any job is the relationships with the employees and the friendships you develop.”
“Know everything you could possibly know about property and then work like hell.” BARBARA FRIED Illustration by Vicente Martí
BARBARA FRIED | 85 President, The Fried Cos. Inc.,Crozet
“I used to really enjoy rezoning,” says Barbara Fried. That’s not a claim that many folks could probably make, but after 45 years in the real estate development and management business, Fried still finds “the prospect of something new always exciting.”
Fried’s company, based out of the family farm in Crozet with offices in Greene County, focuses on building residential and office complexes, shopping centers and industrial parks, many in the Charlottesville market. It handles about $100 million in new construction projects every year and also manages properties, although it sold off many of its holdings before the 2008-09 real estate crash, Fried says.
An exception to that selloff was Olde Towne Pet Resort, a luxe boarding operation for dogs and cats with three locations in the D.C. metro area. An ardent animal lover, Fried also sponsors a therapeutic riding program on her farm. For most of her long career, Fried ran the pet spa and other enterprises in tandem with her late husband, Mark.
“He was the gas, and I was the brakes,” she says, but since his death in 2010, she had to keep her feet on both pedals. Helping her steer the company into the future are her daughter, Leah, and nephew David Lesser. But Fried remains central to everything the company does. Chief Financial Officer Steve Rotter says he copies her on every email.
Although he says he spares her the gory details occasionally when the company faces “a particular hurdle” or a new project, he consults Fried, and “they bounce ideas back and forth. Forty years of experience can’t be learned in a book necessarily,” Rotter says.
“If you decide to accept a position, give it all you got.” VINCENT MASTRACCO
Other than a stint as a federal law clerk in New York City when he was starting out, Vince Mastracco has practiced business law in Norfolk for more than 55 years. He began his career locally as the second lawyer in what was the solo practice of Leroy T. Canoles Jr. “I wrote to Canoles and told him I wanted to come home and work in Norfolk. Canoles said, ‘I don’t know, we’ll see how we do,’” Mastracco recalls.
How they did, as it turned out, was gangbusters. Their business prospered and grew along with the Hampton Roads region. In 1981, the practice merged with another firm to become Kaufman & Canoles, which now has eight offices and about 100 attorneys. “Timing was on our side,” Mastracco says.
Timing, though, deserves little credit for the game-changing role Mastracco has played in the region as a civic leader and lawyer specializing in mergers, acquisitions and financing. He has been involved in mega-projects such as Chesapeake’s Jordan Bridge, the Midtown Tunnel and the Hilton Norfolk The Main hotel.
As a senior attorney, Mastracco decides when he wants to work these days, offering a flexibility that has allowed him to serve on several boards and commissions, including the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the Sentara Foundation, Eastern Virginia Medical School Foundation and Virginia Wesleyan University. As the former chairman of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, his influence extended to Northern Virginia, where VEDP played a significant role in bringing Amazon.com Inc.’s East Coast HQ2 to Arlington.
“You want to make sure to be part of something that is productive and good for the community,” Mastracco says. As both a lawyer and a citizen activist, he checks both boxes.
“Be honest and do the right thing, and life will treat you well.” JIM McGLOTHLIN
JIM McGLOTHLIN | 80 Chairman and CEO, The United Co., Bristol
Jim McGlothlin tried to retire when he was 62. “It wasn’t much fun,” he says. “I missed making deals and working with my associates.”
Almost 20 years later, the head of The United Co. (formerly United Coal Co.) is still making deals and still finds it “a thrill to work with really good people.”
After starting his career as a lawyer, McGlothlin, almost on a whim, bid on a floundering coal company. With the help of some partners, including his father, he turned it into a rousing success. In short order, United Coal was producing a million and a half tons of coal annually and brokering almost three times that much. McGlothlin eventually became sole owner of the renamed United Co., which diversified into mine ownership as well as oil and gas holdings in Texas. Never averse to trying something new, McGlothlin also has opened RV parks in Florida, South Carolina and Mississippi.
His latest deal is one of his biggest — McGlothlin and his high school classmate and fellow coal baron Clyde Stacy spearheaded an effort to bring a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to Bristol, a project that local voters overwhelmingly approved last November.
Plans call for the $400 million casino to open as soon as late 2022 on the site of the former Bristol Mall, which is owned by Stacy.
The venture is expected to employ about 2,000 people in the region. “We need these jobs really badly,” McGlothlin says, noting that unlike coal industry jobs, card dealers can’t be outsourced to China. For their efforts to bring the gambling complex to Bristol, McGlothlin and Stacy were recently named Bristolians of the Year by the Bristol Herald Courier.
“It’s a good way to leave our mark, to help the people in our region and our city,” McGlothlin says.
“Bet on the jockey, not the horse.” JIM UKROP
JIM UKROP | 83 Managing director and co-founder,New Richmond Ventures LLC, Richmond
“I don’t hunt, I don’t fish, I don’t go to Florida, and I threw my golf clubs in the ocean, so I have to do something,” Jim Ukrop responds facetiously when asked why he still works. Besides, he adds, “I do what I like to do. It’s not a job.”
What Ukrop calls “not a job” is being “the idea guy” for New Richmond Ventures, the five-person venture capital firm he helped establish in 2012 to help area startup companies.
“I connect the dots,” says Ukrop, who possesses a wealth of connections from a lifetime as one of Richmond’s most prominent businesspeople. “I could never read a balance sheet. I have someone else do that.
I give advice and counsel.”
Before becoming a venture capitalist, Ukrop was president, CEO and chairman of Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc., the eponymous chain of grocery stores that his family operated in the Richmond area from 1937 to 2010. He was an idea guy then too, introducing new concepts such as customer loyalty cards and prepared foods. “No one else had that” at the time, he says proudly.
In 2010, the Ukrop family sold the grocery stores and divested from First Market Bank (now Atlantic Union Bank), which Ukrop co-founded and chaired. Those sales freed up time for his heavy involvement with nonprofits. He has served on more than 20 community boards and has volunteered in a variety of capacities for his alma mater, William & Mary.
Ukrop still is active in several community organizations but is especially passionate about Virginia Learns, a statewide advisory council of business leaders that focuses on K-12 education.
Too many children, Ukrop says, “have already dropped out in their minds way before high school. That’s poor public policy.” Unlike some people of a certain age, he loves younger people, including millennials, he says. Their arrival on the scene means “one less person who likes fruit cake, one less person who likes Smithfield ham, and one less bigot.”
“Be determined to learn all you can.” RICHARD WALLER JR.
RICHARD WALLER JR. | 83 Owner, Waller & Co. Jewelers, Richmond Richard Waller Jr. started working at age 7.
Every day after school, he would go directly to the family watch-repair business, M.C. Waller & Sons, where his job was to wipe down the glass showcase, inside and out. “I made 10 cents a day, and I always had extra money in my pocket,” he remembers.
Fast-forward 76 years, and both Waller and the showcase can still be found at the rechristened Waller & Co. Jewelers on East Broad Street in Richmond. Waller is the third generation of his family to work in the business, which was founded by his grandfather in 1900 as a watch repair business. He has been joined in the enterprise by members of the family’s fourth generation, including sons David and Richard III and his daughter-in-law, Kim. The shop has morphed into a full-inventory jewelry store and a go-to place for members of Black fraternities and sororities in search of Hellenic-themed items, including everything from necklaces, rings and earrings to umbrellas and knee socks.
Last May, about 100 Black university students and members of Greek organizations helped pick up the pieces after the store, one of the oldest Black family-owned businesses in Virginia, suffered damage and theft during racial justice protests that sparked looting and vandalism. After helping with repairs, many of the volunteers took out their wallets to buy merchandise.
Waller was only 17 when he took over the business after the death of his father. He had five younger sisters to support, and “you do whatever is necessary,” he says. He subsequently became a master jeweler and watchmaker.
“I still have a callus from winding 150 watches every morning,” he says. Most watches these days are digital, but Waller also repairs crystals and vintage timepieces, and most days he arrives at the store at 8:15 a.m. for its 10 a.m. opening.
He doesn’t have to be an early bird, but he wants to be there. “I enjoy what I do,” he says.
Bonus profile:
“Try to work with a firm that has a good reputation. Reputation means so much.” HARVEY L. LINDSAY JR
HARVEY L. LINDSAY JR., 92, chairman, Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, Norfolk
Harvey L. Lindsay Jr. has worked in real estate for a whopping 66 years, but he hasn’t tired of it yet. He continues to come in every day to try to get listings and help make deals.
“I just love the business,” he says, explaining his longevity on the job. Part of the reason for that sentiment is that real estate always has been a family affair for him. After a stint as a Marine serving in the Korean conflict in the early 1950s, he joined his father’s real estate firm.
“My dad was a great real estate man and did a lot of great things,” he says. Today, family remains central to Lindsay and to the business. His sons, Robert M. “Bob” King and William E. King, two sons-in-law, two grandsons and a nephew join him in selling, leasing, managing, financing and developing commercial properties, primarily in Hampton Roads. Lindsay’s definition of family extends into his community, where he has a distinguished history of pursuing social justice.
In the 1950s, he chaired a citizens advisory committee that pushed to reopen Norfolk public schools that had closed instead of integrating. At various times since, he has volunteered for the United Way and served on the board of Eastern Virginia Medical School (then known as the Medical College of Hampton Roads) along with being active in civic institutions such as the former Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. He currently sits on the boards of the General Douglas MacArthur Foundation and the Harbor’s Edge Foundation.
In 2018, the CIVIC Leadership Institute presented Lindsay with its Darden Award for Regional Leadership in honor of “his optimism, his regional vision and his commitment to justice for all.” The following year, Old Dominion University recognized his business acumen by naming its real estate program after him. Lindsay’s wife, Frances, passed away three years ago, and he’s had a difficult time coping with the loss.
“Coming in to work helped me through that,” he says, in no small part because it has allowed him to keep “building things that will be of benefit to people in our city and our region.”
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ATLANTIC UNION BANKSHARES, RICHMOND
A Radford native, Asbury transitioned from a career with large financial institutions to help build a regional bank. After successful mergers in 2018 and 2019, Atlantic Union expanded its footprint in Northern Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina, making it the largest regional bank headquartered in Virginia. With 149 branches and 1,933 employees, it took in $649.6 million in revenue last year, and $193.5 million in net income.
Asbury’s leadership was instrumental in navigating Atlantic Union through the challenges of the pandemic. With the launch of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, it launched a digital platform for its customers to apply, helping more than 11,400 small businesses obtain PPP loans totaling more than $1.7 billion.
In June, Asbury was named chairman of the board of directors for the Virginia Bankers Association.
EDUCATION: Virginia Tech (B.S.), William & Mary (MBA)
HOBBY/PASSION: My lifelong passion is flying — my youthful dream was to be a military pilot but I was disqualified due to my eyesight. I did eventually earn my private pilot certificate, though I am now inactive. One day I hope to return to this!
Aston
G. ROBERT ASTON JR.
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, TOWNEBANK, PORTSMOUTH
An industry veteran, Aston co-founded TowneBank in 1999, and helped it grow to become one of the biggest banks in the state and the largest regional bank in Hampton Roads.
Starting out at Citizens Trust, Aston moved on to become president of Commerce Bank. His board positions and philanthropic work have included serving as a director for the GO Virginia Foundation and the Hampton Roads Business Roundtable, as well as vice chairman of Reinvent Hampton Roads and director and chairman of the board of trustees for the Nansemond-Suffolk Academy.
With 42 offices throughout Virginia and North Carolina and 2,800 employees, TowneBank had $11.95 billion in total assets at the close of 2019; its revenue for fiscal year 2019 was $658 million.
In July, TowneBank and Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters purchased the former Norfolk Southern Tower in downtown Norfolk for $30 million.
BEST ADVICE: Your worth is determined by the value you bring to others.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth,” by Chris Zook and James Allen
THOMAS BARKIN
Barkin
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND, RICHMOND
A native of Tampa, Florida, Barkin leads the Fed’s Fifth District, which includes Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and part of West Virginia. His responsibilities include monetary policy, bank supervision and regulation, and payment services. He came to the Fed in 2018 after retiring from global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
Barkin has made it a priority for the Fed to bridge the economic gap between rural and urban areas. Last fall, he sponsored a multistate conference series on the topic, focused on education, workforce development, community investment and broadband expansion.
In June, Barkin was part of a virtual panel
hosted by Virginia Tech that discussed the role
of higher education institutions in rebuilding the economy. In August, he wrote an essay affirming the Fed’s commitment to finding solutions to racial economic disparities.
He serves on the Emory University board of trustees, U.S. Golf Association Executive Committee and the Greater Washington Partnership.
EDUCATION: Harvard University (B.A., J.D., MBA)
FAVORITE APP: Chick-fil-A
FAVORITE SONG: At work, “Money, Money, Money,” by ABBA; at home, anything by Flo Rida
Bentley
JEFF BENTLEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHWEST FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, HERNDON
Bentley began his career at Herndon-based Northwest Federal in 2014 as the senior vice president of lending/chief lending officer, bringing 30-plus years of experience in consumer and commercial lending, accounting, sales and third-party management.
He introduced several strategic initiatives to Northwest Federal, including an indirect lending program that resulted in significant growth, and the Community Partners program, which has expanded the credit union’s philanthropic activities.
As the fourth-largest credit union in Virginia and one of the top 60 credit unions in the nation, Northwest Federal has nearly 250,000 members and $3.5 billion in assets.
Last year, Northwest Federal finalized its merger with Constellation Federal Credit Union, adding $223 million in assets, a full-service branch in Reston and a limited-access branch in Bethesda, Maryland. This year, Northwest Federal expanded by opening its ninth and tenth branches in Arlington and Loudoun counties, respectively.
As of early June, Northwest Federal had secured $59 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans for the small businesses it serves and had another $58 million pending.
VICTOR BRANCH
Branch
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RICHMOND MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, RICHMOND
Bank of America’s Richmond market president since 2015, Branch is the multinational investment bank and financial service company’s leader in the area.
He also leads Bank of America’s local social responsibility work to help the area address social and economic challenges, managing an annual
$4 million corporate foundation and marketing sponsorship budget.
Branch serves on the William & Mary board of visitors, serves on the board of directors for the Virginia Gateway Economic Development Alliance and serves on the executive committee for Housing Opportunities Made Equal.
With $91.2 billion in revenue, 66 million clients and 210,000 employees worldwide, Charlotte-based Bank of America is the second-largest banking institution in the country and is ranked 25th on the Fortune 500. In the first quarter of 2020, Bank of America posted a net income of $4 billion, with revenue for the quarter coming to $22.8 billion.
EDUCATION: William & Mary (B.A.)
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT YOU: “Victor is tough but fair. He is determined and resilient.”
FAVORITE SONG: “Greatest Love of All,” by Whitney Houston
Brickman
DAVID BRICKMAN
CEO, FREDDIE MAC, MCLEAN
Last year, Brickman, who grew up in New York City, was named CEO of Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. A public government-sponsored enterprise, it is one of the nation’s largest providers of mortgage financing. Ranked No. 41 on the Fortune 500, it’s also the company with the highest revenues in Virginia, bringing in $75.1 billion in 2019.
Previously, Brickman was Freddie Mac’s president, responsible for its single-family, multifamily and capital markets, as well as the information technology and operations areas that support them. Before then, Brickman presided over a period of major growth as its head of multifamily, raising annual production from $16 billion in 2010 to almost $80 billion in 2018.
Brickman is the key architect of Freddie Mac’s multifamily financing products, including its Capital Markets Execution and K-Deal program, Reference Bill ARM, fixed-to-float suite of products, and Performance-Based PC, for which he holds a U.S. patent.
In the first quarter of 2020, Freddie Mac stabilized liquidity in its mortgage market, but pandemic-related losses drove its income down. It produced $622 million in the first quarter of 2020, down from nearly $2.5 billion in fourth quarter 2019 and almost $1.7 billion from a year ago.
Camden, Truist’s regional president for the Virginia-West region, is the company’s senior leader in the market.
A 33-year veteran of the banking industry, Camden previously served as president and CEO of the Savannah, Georgia, region for SunTrust Bank. Camden joined SunTrust in 2010 after serving as a top executive at Wachovia Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. While in Savannah, Camden served on the board of directors of America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia and Goodwill Industries of Coastal Empire.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist is the nation’s largest financial services holding company and sixth-largest bank, serving approximately 10 million clients and operating more than 2,000 branches in 15 states. Truist is ranked 217th on the Fortune 500. It was created last year by the $66 billion merger of Atlanta-based SunTrust and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T. The merger was completed in December, but operations will continue under the BB&T and SunTrust names until the banking systems are combined, which could take as long as two years.
Case
STEVE CASE
FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, REVOLUTION LLC, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Case will forever be best known as the former chairman and CEO of the pioneering publicly traded internet company America Online, which he co-founded in 1985. AOL merged with Time Warner Cable in 2000 — a deal valued at $350 billion — and Case served as executive chairman of Time Warner (now WarnerMedia) until 2005.
That’s when the native Hawaiian co-founded Washington, D.C.-based investment company Revolution LLC, which has funded Sweetgreen, Tempus, Tala, DraftKings and Clear. Since its inception, Revolution has invested nearly $1 billion in growth-stage companies.
Revolution is known for its annual Rise of the Rest $100,000 pitch competition, which tours several cities in the nation, seeking a startup that will receive a $100,000 investment from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.
Case and his wife, Jean, founded the Case Foundation in 1997, which invests in organizations focused on internet and entrepreneurial approaches. Jean Case is a native Virginian and chairman of the board for the National Geographic Society.
In 2018, the Cases sold their McLean estate, the childhood home of Jackie Kennedy, which they bought in 2005 for $24.5 million. The Cases still own Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison.
THEODORE L. ‘TED’ CHANDLER
Chandler
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, NEW RICHMOND VENTURES, RICHMOND
Chandler, along with Jim Ukrop and Bob Mooney, in 2011 founded startup investment firm New Richmond Ventures (NRV). During its first five years, NRV raised approximately $54 million, and in 2017 the firm launched the $33 million NRV Early Stage Growth Fund LP to invest in high-growth companies.
A University of Richmond School of Law grad, Chandler started his career with Richmond-based law firm Williams Mullen, where he worked for more than 22 years. Before co-founding NRV, he was president and CEO of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., one of the largest title insurance groups in the U.S. In 2008, the insurance giant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and several of its subsidiaries were acquired.
Chandler has served on the boards of several NRV investment companies, including WealthForge, Territory, ICX Media, Ario, Moonlighting, Red’s All Natural LLC and Health Warrior.
He currently serves on the boards of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, the University of Richmond School of Law, the Richmond Performing Arts Center and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. He also co-chairs the RVA + Hampton Roads Collaborative, which focuses on infrastructure and economic development in the regions.
Chandra
RAVI CHANDRA
PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA WEST REGION, WELLS FARGO & CO., CHARLOTTESVILLE
Chandra, who formerly served as Wells Fargo’s Charlottesville regional president, took his current position overseeing Ashland, Mechanicsville and Western Henrico, as well as markets in Charlottesville, Roanoke, Blacksburg and Lynchburg, in 2017.
He serves on the boards of the Virginia Bankers Association, the Brooks Family YMCA and SCAN of Northern Virginia.
Ranked 30th on the Fortune 500, Wells Fargo is the world’s fourth-largest bank in the nation by total assets.
During the pandemic, Wells Fargo struggled to get applications open for its customers during the first round of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program loans. Eventually, the bank made PPP loans available to 179,000 customers, totaling $10 billion. In July, Wells Fargo announced that it was donating $400 million from its PPP processing fees to support small businesses.
EDUCATION: California State University, Northridge (B.A.)
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Japanese whisky and bourbon on the weekends, flavored sparkling water all the time!
SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN: I will never eat meat again.
LAWRENCE ‘LARRY’ DI RITA
Di Rita
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, WASHINGTON D.C.
Di Rita, a close aide to then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was named Bank of America’s Washington, D.C., market president in May 2019.
Di Rita joined Bank of America in 2006 after a career working on Capitol Hill and for the Department of Defense in military and civilian assignments. He is a board director for the Rumsfeld Foundation and the U.S. Navy Memorial. He also sits on the boards of The Economic Club, the U.S.
Navy Memorial, the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Atlantic Council.
With $91.2 billion in revenue, 66 million clients and 210,000 employees worldwide, Charlotte-based Bank of America is the second-largest banking institution in the country and is ranked 25th on the Fortune 500. In the first quarter of 2020, Bank of America posted a net income of $4 billion, with revenue for the quarter coming to $22.8 billion.
EDUCATION: U.S. Naval Academy (B.S.), Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (M.A.)
HOBBY/PASSION: My family, reading, squash (the sport, not the vegetable), biking
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: The World Series Champion Washington Nationals should be everyone’s favorite team.
McDuffie
MARY McDUFFIE
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, VIENNA
McDuffie, formerly Navy Federal Credit Union’s chief operating officer, was named CEO of the world’s largest credit union in 2018.
The credit union serves more than 9 million clients at 300 branches worldwide. Its net income in 2018 was $1.55 billion. Last year, Navy Federal was ranked 29th on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.
Since joining Navy Federal in 1999, McDuffie has held various executive roles and was instrumental in developing the credit union’s government shutdown paycheck loan relief program. Espousing a “digital first” mindset, she also oversaw the launch of the credit union’s first mobile banking app.
The Wellesley College alum has worked with a wide array of clients, including the U.S. Marine Corps, IBM, Kodak, Unilever and Freddie Mac. Prior to joining Navy Federal, McDuffie worked for electronic payment network Star Systems and began her career at
J. Walter Thompson ad agency.
In 2018, Navy Federal announced partnerships with the National Hockey League and ESPN, and in early 2019, the credit union passed a milestone of $100 billion in assets.
In her New Year’s message, McDuffie said that the credit union had grown by more than 1 million members in 2019 and opened 20 new branches. She said Navy Federal planned to open 20 more in 2020.
RIC EDELMAN
Edelman
FOUNDER, EDELMAN FINANCIAL ENGINES, FAIRFAX
In 1987, Edelman and his wife, Jean, founded Edelman Financial Engines, which offers financial planning and investment management services and employs more than 1,500 people worldwide, with 250 employees in Virginia.
Edelman is a New York Times best-selling author of 10 books about personal finance, including “Rescue Your Money” and “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Wealth.”
Edelman produces his own radio show, “The Ric Edelman Show,” and hosted a 2011-13 PBS syndicated television show, “The Truth About Money,” covering financial and economic topics ranging from investment planning to retirement planning.
As a figure in the investment world, Edelman has been named the No. 1 U.S. independent financial adviser by Barron’s and in 2016 Forbes named him one of the nation’s top 10 financial advisers. He currently serves on the boards of the Stanford Center for Longevity and the Milken Institute.
In 2017, the Edelmans donated $25 million to nonprofit XPRISE for Alzheimer’s research and two years later donated $10 million to their alma mater, New Jersey’s Rowan University, to launch a scholarship program for its College of Communication & Creative Arts students. The couple have contributed more than $36 million to the university.
Edwards
ELENA EDWARDS
CEO, ALLIANZ PARTNERS, HENRICO COUNTY
Henrico County-based travel insurance company Allianz Partners in June promoted Edwards to CEO of the German company’s U.S.business unit. The company employs approximately 1,000 people in the Richmond region.
Edwards joined Allianz Partners in 2019 as the U.S. branch’s general manager. Before leading Allianz, she held executive positions at Richmond-based insurance company Genworth Financial and had a 30-year career at General Electric companies, including 17 in the insurance industry.
Allianz Partners has operations centers in 35 countries, with 45 million customers each year in the U.S. The company also offers tuition insurance, event ticket protection, registration protection and travel assistance services. Allianz Partners is a subsidiary of Munich, Germany-based insurance company Allianz SE, which had the equivalent of more than $2.5 trillion assets under management in 2019.
In the Richmond area, Edwards has volunteered on several nonprofit boards and is a vice president of the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation Board. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Union College.
RICHARD FAIRBANK
Fairbank
CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP., TYSONS
Fairbank, a billionaire businessman and co-founder of Capital One, grew the American bank holding company from a startup to become the 11th-largest bank in the country by assets 26 years later.
Ranked 97th on the Fortune 500, Capital One is one of the largest publicly traded companies in the nation, specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking and savings accounts. Though revenues climbed by more than 4% in 2019, Capital One’s earnings fell 8% from the previous year. Fairbanks stood by the figures, calling them “solid results,” and touted his company’s investment in digital offerings as a sign of its future success.
Since the pandemic hit, Capital One has weathered blistering criticism for its delayed and uneven initial rollout in issuing Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses. The company rolled out its PPP application nearly two weeks after the program began, on the same day that the U.S. Small Business Administration said it had exhausted its initial $349 billion allocation from Congress. As of July, Capital One had processed an aggregate of 15,062 PPP loans.
Finnegan
ROB FINNEGAN
CEO, WEST CREEK FINANCIAL, GLEN ALLEN
Finnegan in 2017 was named CEO of the Henrico County-based financial technology firm focused on consumer leasing. West Creek Financial specializes in leasing furniture, appliances, electronics and other items for retail partners across the U.S. It uses big data and artificial intelligence to optimize underwriting. In late 2019, Pollen Street Capital made a $150 million credit facility (long-term loan) to West Creek, which brought the company’s lending capacity to $250 million. In 2019, the firm had more than $200 million in revenue.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from the University of Virginia, he worked as a systems engineer for Mitre Corp. In 1994, however, he joined Capital One Financial Corp. (the year it was founded), serving in several executive leadership roles, including head of decision sciences.
For nearly eight years prior to West Creek Financial, Finnegan was managing partner of Richmond-based 2nd Order Solutions, which builds machine learning models to develop credit strategies for companies. He co-founded West Creek Financial and was a board member before becoming CEO.
MARK A. FRANTZ
Frantz
GENERAL PARTNER AND CO-FOUNDER, BLUE DELTA CAPITAL PARTNERS, MCLEAN
In 2009, Frantz co-founded the McLean-based growth capital firm, which serves federal government clients. He has been involved with the firm’s largest investments, including 42Six (acquired by CSC), Pacific Architects and Engineers (acquisition by Platinum Equity) and KTSi (acquired by Scitor Corp.).
He was also a member of the board for CRSA Holdings Inc., which was acquired by General Dynamics Corp. in 2018 for $9.7 billion. He currently serves on the board of ASGN Inc., which operates professional service companies such as Apex and ECS Federal.
Before his time with Blue Delta, he worked with several investment companies, including The Carlyle Group, In-Q-Tel and RedShift Ventures. Locally, he has co-chaired the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s annual cybersecurity summit.
The University of Pittsburgh law grad also previously served as associate director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs for President George H.W. Bush and as the economic and technology policy adviser to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.
Gayner
THOMAS S. GAYNER
CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., GLEN ALLEN
Gayner oversees investing activities for the Markel Corp., a Glen Allen-based Fortune 500 holding company for insurance, reinsurance and investment operations around the globe. He also oversees investing for Markel Ventures’ wide range of industrial and services businesses.
In 1990, Gayner joined Markel to form Markel Gayner Asset Management, which provided equity investment counsel to Markel Corp. and outside clients. Prior to joining Markel, Gayner served as vice president of Davenport & Co. and as a CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
He serves as the chairman of the board for Davis Series Mutual Funds as well as on the boards of the Colfax Corp., Graham Holdings and Cable One. He is a trustee of the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond and a member of the Investment Advisory Committee of the Virginia Retirement System.
Markel had a banner 2019. Not only did revenue for fiscal year 2019 rise 39.2% over the previous year to $9.53 billion, but Markel jumped 106 spots on the Fortune 500, from No. 441 to No. 335.
JEFF GRINSPOON
Grinspoon
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PARTNER, VWG WEALTH MANAGEMENT AT HIGHTOWER ADVISORS, VIENNA
Grinspoon in 2011 started the Vienna-based firm, which manages $1.3 billion in custodied assets. In his role as managing director and partner, he works with business owners and executives to manage liquidity and execute wealth transfers.
With more than 20 years of experience, Grinspoon started his career with Legg Mason as a financial adviser and worked with Morgan Stanley for more than 10 years. He, along with Rick Weeks and John Verfurth, left Morgan Stanley in 2011 to form VWG Wealth Management after seeing a major shift in wealth management services following the 2008 Great Recession.
This University of Maryland graduate now serves on the board of advisers for his alma mater’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. His philanthropic work is focused on fundraising for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
This year he was ranked on Forbes’ Best-in-State Wealth Advisor list and has made Barron’s Top 100 Independent Advisors list three times.
Hamilton
SIMON HAMILTON
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BAIRD/THE WISE INVESTOR GROUP, RESTON
With more than 25 years of experience, Hamilton is one of Baird/The Wise Investor Group’s three partners, overseeing the team’s portfolio management department. He specializes in investment policy, security selection, asset allocation and client management decision making. He joined Baird/The Wise Investor Group in 2007. Prior to that, he was vice president of investments at Smith Barney and in 2003 served in the same role with Baltimore-based investment banking firm Ferris, Baker Watts.
FAVORITE APP: CellarTracker. I’ve started a light wine collection over the past few years and this app helps search and review wines.
FIRST JOB: Busing tables at Phillips Seafood at the Harborplace in Baltimore
FAVORITE SONG: “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” by The Rolling Stones
HOBBY/PASSION: I have three daughters and I’m heavily involved in supporting their passion for soccer. I’ve coached youth soccer for the past 10 years and have been on the board of Vienna Youth Soccer for seven years.
H. HITER HARRIS III
Harris
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, HARRIS WILLIAMS, RICHMOND
In 1991, Harris co-founded global investment banking firm Harris Williams, which specializes in merger and acquisition advisory services.
Harris has assisted clients locate buyers in areas including consumer products, health care, building products, industrial manufacturing, natural resources and media. Today, Harris Williams has 10 dedicated industry groups and employs more than 350 people in its eight offices in the U.S. and Europe.
Aside from his investment work, Harris serves on the board of petroleum additives giant NewMarket Corp. The former Hampden-Sydney College football player has served on the board of his alma mater — and instead of pursuing a professional football career, attended Harvard Business School. Harris has also served on boards for many Virginia organizations, including Hampden-Sydney College, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, the University of Richmond and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation.
Henderson
CHARLES R. HENDERSON JR.
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HAMPTON ROADS MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, NORFOLK
Henderson, a West Virginia native who’s lived in Hampton Roads for four decades, has long held his position as president of Bank of America’s Hampton Roads market, and is also in charge of
its charitable arm.
A graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, Henderson is a trustee of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and a board member of the Virginia Bankers Association.
With $91.2 billion in revenue, 66 million clients and 210,000 employees worldwide, Charlotte-based Bank of America is the second-largest banking institution in the country and ranks 25th on the Fortune 500.
EDUCATION: Hampden-Sydney College (B.A.), Virginia Bankers School of Retail Management, Stonier Graduate School of Banking
SOMETHING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Encourage more collaboration among municipalities to unleash the enormous potential of our commonwealth
RECENT NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: The recent birth
of my first grandchild
JERMAINE JOHNSON
Johnson
GREATER WASHINGTON AND VIRGINIA REGIONAL PRESIDENT, PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP INC., SPRINGFIELD
In August, Johnson started his new position as the head of Greater Washington operations for Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. He has big shoes to fill, taking over the post from Richard Bynum, a prominent D.C.-area business leader who this year was promoted to a larger corporate role.
Johnson joined PNC in 2005, following positions at Bank of America and GE Healthcare. In his previous role at PNC as executive vice president and market manager for Corporate Banking in Greater Richmond and Greater Maryland, Johnson led large corporate and government contracting segments.
In his new position, Johnson will oversee community affairs, community development banking and corporate social responsibility, as well as diversity and inclusion initiatives. It is his responsibility locally to implement PNC’s $1 billion commitment to end systemic racism and support economic empowerment of African Americans and low- and moderate-income communities.
Ranked No. 151 on the Fortune 500, PNC is the ninth-largest bank in the country by assets, with more than $430 billion. It has nearly 2,500 branches, more than eight million customers and more than 52,000 employees.
BRIAN R. KAHN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FRANCHISE GROUP INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
It’s been a transformative year for Franchise Group, which changed its name from Liberty Tax Inc., in September 2019. It signaled a strategic shift for the company, which now focuses on buying and investing in franchises and franchise-able businesses.
Kahn, who became CEO a month later, not only leads Franchise Group (which reported $2.1 billion in 2019 revenue), but also has a stake in it through the Orlando-based equity firm he founded in 1998, Vintage Capital Management, where he serves as managing partner.
Vintage Capital invests in the consumer, defense and manufacturing sectors — and last year reportedly offered more than $460 million to buy Red Robin. That didn’t happen, and Vintage has dropped its stock in the burger chain from about 12% to 5%.
As for Franchise Group, the company ramped up for its new direction by acquiring Buddy’s Home Furnishings and announcing a $208 million acquisition of The Vitamin Shoppe and its more than 750 stores. It also bought Sears Outlet and American Freight stores, rebranding approximately 300 stores this year into American Freight – Furniture, Mattress and Appliance.
Kahn, a graduate of Harvard University, also serves as director of Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises.
Lee
EVELYN LEE
GREATER WASHINGTON REGION PRESIDENT, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., WASHINGTON, D.C.
Lee oversees the D.C. region, including much of Northern Virginia, for Truist. She previously worked at SunTrust for 19 years and served as senior vice president and head of senior living/aging services for the wholesale banking practice.
A founding member of the DC International School, Lee served as board chair and then as treasurer and continues to sit on the public charter school’s finance and facilities committees. She is also past treasurer of the board of the World Affairs Council of D.C.
Last year it was announced that Atlanta-based SunTrust was merging with Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T to create the nation’s sixth-largest bank in a $66 billion deal. The merger was completed in December, but operations will continue under the BB&T and SunTrust names until the banking systems are combined, which could take as long as two years.
Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Fortune 500 company is the nation’s largest financial services holding company, serving approximately 10 million households and operating more than 2,000 branches in 15 states.
FRANK LUCIA
Lucia
PRESIDENT AND CEO, DELTA DENTAL OF VIRGINIA INC., ROANOKE
After more than 10 years of leading Dean Health Plan Inc. in Madison, Wisconsin, Lucia moved to Roanoke in late 2017 to head up Delta Dental of Virginia Inc., which offers dental plans to more than 2 million members across the state. Lucia also has served on the board of directors of the Delta Dental Plans Association, which includes 39 Delta Dental member companies providing coverage to a total of 68 million people.
Before his time with Dean Health Plan, Lucia worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers, WR Grace Inc. and Cigna Corp., including Cigna Dental. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Binghamton University and his master’s degree in business administration from the University of Miami. Outside of work, Lucia serves as a board director for the Valleys Innovation Council, which works to help New River Valley and Roanoke businesses grow.
Through its nonprofit foundation, Delta Dental of Virginia in May donated $3 million to 4,500 dentists in its network to cover expenses related to the coronavirus pandemic, including personal protective equipment.
Manning
PAUL MANNING
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PBM CAPITAL GROUP, CHARLOTTESVILLE
In the wake of the pandemic, Charlottesville-area businessman and investor Manning donated $1 million to the University of Virginia to establish The Manning Fund for COVID-19 Research, which will support the university’s efforts to commercialize coronavirus-related research projects. Manning is a longtime donor to the university, having made several $1 million-plus donations in the past.
Manning also has served on the U.Va. Strategic Planning Committee, the U.Va. Health Foundation, the U.Va. President’s Advisory Committee and the university’s Honor the Future campaign executive committee.
Manning founded Charlottesville-based private equity firm PBM Capital Group LLC in 2010, funding it with proceeds from the $800 million sale of his infant formula company, PBM Products LLC, which supplied store-brand infant formulas to national retailers. The company was sold in 2010 to Perrigo, a Dublin, Ireland-based pharmaceutical company. Manning served on Perrigo’s board of directors after the sale.
Manning also has sat on the board of PBM Capital, which includes AveXis, Dova Pharmaceuticals and Verrica Pharmaceuticals in its investment portfolio.
Matheis
DENNIS A. MATHEIS
PRESIDENT, OPTIMA HEALTH PLAN; EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, SENTARA HEALTHCARE VIRGINIA BEACH
After serving as senior vice president and other executive roles at Anthem Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri, Matheis became president and CEO of Optima Health, the insurance division of Sentara Healthcare, in 2018. The plan serves more than 850,000 members and includes 26,000 providers.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Matheis worked as a CPA before entering the health care industry. In addition to his duties at Optima, he serves as an executive vice president at Sentara. In July, Matheis joined the board of DarioHealth Corp. and is on the executive committee of the Virginia Association of Health Plans and the board of directors of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
He is also involved with the nonprofit Norfolk Forum. Earlier in the year, Optima Health announced it would waive costs of coronavirus testing and treatment from April through June 7, and last year, Optima bought an 80% stake in VCU Health System’s Virginia Premier insurance provider.
THOMAS McINERNEY
McInerney
PRESIDENT AND CEO, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC., RICHMOND
McInerney leads Fortune 500 insurance holding company Genworth Financial Inc. After getting his start in the business as an insurance underwriter at Connecticut-based Aetna Inc., McInerney held a variety of senior and leadership roles at Aetna Financial Services and Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation ING Groep NV.
In 2012, McInerney was named president and CEO of Genworth as the company’s U.S. mortgage insurance business was still struggling from the housing downturn. He serves on the board of the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance and is a member of the American Council of Life Insurers, where he has served on its CEO steering committee and board.
Recently, McInerney has been at the helm during Beijing-based China Oceanwide Holdings Group’s long-delayed attempts to acquire Genworth.
Since Oceanwide agreed to buy Genworth for $2.7 billion in 2016, the acquisition’s closing has been delayed 15 times, in part due to federal and state regulatory hurdles. Genworth, which sells home mortgage and long-term care insurance, announced in June that the deal would be delayed again. In July, Genworth agreed to pay $775 million to settle a dispute with French insurer AXA.
McLaughlin
SHANE McLAUGHLIN
REGION BANK PRESIDENT, NORTHERN VIRGINIA REGION, WELLS FARGO & CO., LEESBURG
McLaughlin is responsible for territory that stretches through Fairfax County to Loudoun, Culpeper and Winchester, comprising 65 branches and 740 employees.
Having previously served for 13 years at Wells Fargo as an area president, financial sales leader and financial specialist, McLaughlin has held his current position since 2017. He’s a Leadership Greater Washington alum and serves as an adviser for Bright Beginnings Inc., a nonprofit preschool learning center for children of families undergoing housing crises.
Ranked 30th on the Fortune 500, Wells Fargo is the world’s fourth-largest bank by market capitalization and the fourth-largest bank in the nation by total assets.
EDUCATION: Virginia Tech (B.S.)
FAVORITE APP: Waze, to beat the Northern
Virginia traffic
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “How to Be an Antiracist,” by Ibram X. Kendi
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: I may never get the opportunity to spend time with my three daughters like I have over the past three months.
JOSEPH W. ‘JOE’ MONTGOMERY
Montgomery
MANAGING DIRECTOR, INVESTMENTS, THE OPTIMAL SERVICE GROUP OF WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, WILLIAMSBURG
Montgomery joined the $13.6 billion practice in 1975, heading up its Williamsburg office.
As a regular on Barron’s top financial advisers list, Montgomery in 2019 was added to the Barron’s Advisor Hall of Fame — open only to those who have been recognized as a Top 100 adviser for 10 years running. This year he was named No. 1 in Virginia on Forbes’ Best State Wealth Advisors list.
Despite his financial acumen, Montgomery started out pursuing a career in football. A former All-American William & Mary football team captain, Montgomery played center under the legendary coach Lou Holtz, who went on to coach the New York Jets. Montgomery himself was invited to the Philadelphia Eagles training camp but didn’t make the team’s final cut.
In 2017, Montgomery received the prestigious Gerald R. Ford Legends Award, recognizing former collegiate or professional centers who have gone on to make significant contributions in football and/or business. He was president of W&M’s Society of the Alumni and a member of the W&M board of visitors.
He serves on the boards of the Virginia Capitol Foundation, the Virginia Retirement System and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Mooney
BOB MOONEY
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, NEW RICHMOND VENTURES, RICHMOND
In 2011, Mooney, along with Jim Ukrop and Ted Chandler, founded startup investment firm New Richmond Ventures (NRV). During its first five years, NRV raised approximately $54 million and in 2017 the firm launched the $33 million NRV Early Stage Growth Fund LP to invest in high-growth companies.
Before co-founding NRV, Mooney was chief financial officer at Richmond-based fuel additive company Ethyl Corp. In the early 2000s Mooney also founded an electronic marketplace for chemical companies, which raised $35 million in startup capital and was quickly acquired by a Texas company.
As chair of CenterStage Foundation, Mooney was integral in the renovation and expansion of Richmond’s Carpenter Theatre, now part of the Dominion Energy Center. He and his wife, Sally, are longtime arts supporters, involved with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation. (Mooney met art luminaries such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein on several occasions.)
Before his career with Ethyl, Mooney worked for 30 years with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers), making partner in less than a decade. He was also the chief financial officer for William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting.
NIGEL MORRIS
Morris
CO-FOUNDER, MANAGING PARTNER, QED INVESTORS, ALEXANDRIA
In 1994, Morris co-founded McLean-based Capital One Financial Services with Richard Fairbank, serving as the bank’s first president and chief operating officer until he left in 2004. Today the banking giant employs 48,800 workers and reported $28.2 billion in 2019 revenues.
Morris, a native of England, went on in 2007 to co-found Alexandria-based fintech venture capital firm QED Investors, which has invested in large fintech companies including Credit Karma, NuBank, Avant and SoFi. In February, QED completed a $350 million round of funding and announced that Credit Karma was being bought by Intuit Inc. for $7.1 billion.
Morris has served on the boards of Capital One, The Economist, Brookings, National Geographic, Klarna, Braintree, TransUnion and London Business School (from which he earned his MBA). Today, he is chairman of ClearScore and Mission Lane, and serves on the boards of Red Ventures, AvidXchange, MediaMath, Prosper and Zopa.
A graduate of the University of East London and London Business School, Morris also serves as a senior adviser at General Atlantic, a New York-based growth equity firm that provides support for global growth companies.
Murray
JAMES B. MURRAY JR.
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, COURT SQUARE VENTURES, CHARLOTTESVILLE
In 2000, Murray co-founded Court Square Ventures, a Charlottesville-based venture capital firm that specializes in telecommunications, information technology and media technology investments. Before co-founding Court Square, he was the founder, chairman and managing director of Columbia Capital of Alexandria, which now manages more than $3 billion in investments.
In the Charlottesville area, Murray is highly involved with his alma mater, the University of Virginia, and currently serves as rector on its board of visitors. In 2012, he co-founded the President Precinct, a nonprofit collaboration among U.Va., William & Mary and other organizations to host leadership programming on topics including economic opportunity and civic engagement. Murray also has served on the board of visitors for W&M (from which he earned his law degree) and was its vice rector from 1993 to 1994.
Murray also served on the advisory board of the Export–Import Bank of the United States and was its chairman from 2010 to 2011. Currently, he also is managing partner of timber investment management Greenmount Timber Partners LLC.
O’Neill, Truist’s regional president for Virginia-East, oversees banking operations from Hampton Roads to Central Virginia. Having previously served as SunTrust’s mid-Atlantic region president and president of its Greater Washington and Maryland division, O’Neill was named to his current position in December. He has more than 33 years of banking experience, with 28 of those years at SunTrust.
O’Neill is an active member of numerous boards, including the Greater Washington Board of Trade, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Bankers Association.
Pagnato
PAUL A. PAGNATO
FOUNDER AND CEO, PAGNATOKARP; CO-CHAIRMAN, CRESSET ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC, RESTON
Ranked the top wealth adviser in Virginia for two years running by Forbes, Pagnato started out as a microbiologist working for NASA and McDonnell Douglas on efforts to seek microbial life in outer space.
When E.T. didn’t phone, he switched careers and worked at Merrill Lynch for nearly 20 years, establishing its Washington, D.C.-based private banking and investment office. He founded PagnatoKarp during the Great Recession, he says, “in reaction to the lack of transparency in the industry. Our desire was to create a new paradigm for wealth management by democratizing the family office.”
In June, Chicago-based Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired PagnatoKarp, which now has $9.5 billion in assets under management. Pagnato became co-chairman of Cresset during the acquisition. At his firm, he works with CEO founders, entrepreneurs and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.
Frequently interviewed by media outlets such as CNBC, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes, Pagnato also founded the TrueFiduciary Institute, a nonprofit organization that works to provide digital financial education to students, individuals and advisers.
He serves on several boards, including the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, FAU Foundation, Envel and TrueFiduciary Institute.
MICHAEL A. PIZZI
Pizzi
CEO, E-TRADE FINANCIAL CORP., ARLINGTON
Pizzi, who formerly served as chief operating officer for the financial services company, took the helm of Arlington-based E-Trade Financial Corp. in August 2019. He is also a member of its board of directors and president of E-Trade Bank.
Before joining E-Trade, a bank that offers an electronic trading platform for financial assets, Pizzi worked in asset/liability management at Lehman Brothers and First Maryland Bank. He joined E-Trade in 2003 and has served in several executive roles there, including chief financial officer and chief risk officer.
In February, New York City-based wealth management company Morgan Stanley announced that it would acquire E-Trade under a $13 billion definitive agreement expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2020.
At that time, E-Trade had 5.2 million client accounts and more than $360 billion in retail client assets; Morgan Stanley had 3 million accounts and more than $2.7 trillion in client assets. As of June 30, 2019, E-Trade’s subsidiary online trading platform, E-Trade Bank, had the second highest amount of deposits among Virginia banks at $40.7 billion.
Ricketts
JEFF RICKETTS
PRESIDENT, ANTHEM BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD Virginia, RICHMOND
A Richmond native, Ricketts was named president of Anthem in Virginia in 2017, but he’s been with the insurance company since 1984 and previously served as regional vice president of sales. Aside from work, he’s kept a busy volunteer schedule serving on Venture Richmond, the Virginia Business Council, as chair of his March of Dimes chapter and on the executive committee of the Virginia Association of Health Plans. Ricketts has also gone on volunteering trips to Ecuador and India, and in April, Anthem’s foundation committed $1.9 million to Virginia COVID-19 economic relief.
EDUCATION: James Madison University (B.A.)
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Future Is Faster Than You Think: How Converging Technologies Are Transforming Business, Industries, and Our Lives,” by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Beer — IPAs (the hoppier the better)
FIRST JOB: Painting houses. I had my own paint contracting company. It was a great job that helped me pay for college, but I’m glad I chose a different path.
TOM RYAN
Ryan
PRESIDENT AND CEO, LANGLEY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, NEWPORT NEWS
Ryan, president and CEO of Langley since 2012, previously served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Digital Federal Credit Union. With more than 30 years of credit union experience, he has seen Langley’s assets grow from $1.7 billion to $3.5 billion during his tenure.
The fifth-largest credit union in Virginia, Langley has more than 20 branches in the Hampton Roads area. Its membership has grown from 165,000 to 280,000 since Ryan took over.
One of the 100 largest federal credit unions in the country, Langley will celebrate its 85th anniversary in 2021. In January 2019, Norfolk-based Old Dominion University Credit Union completed its merger with Langley, bringing on more than 3,000 members.
Late last year, Langley formed a joint venture with Newport News-based Garrett Realty Partners to form Garrett Mortgage. The goal of the joint venture is to offer homebuyers a seamless process in buying and financing a home.
Ryan serves on the board of directors for Langley for Families Foundation, a community charity launched by the credit union in 2014, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Virginia Peninsula’s board, Credit Union Student Choice and Callahan & Associates Inc.
Schaufeld
FREDRICK D. SCHAUFELD
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, SWAN & LEGEND VENTURE PARTNERS, LEESBURG
Schaufeld in 2006 co-founded investment firm SWaN & Legend, which invests in consumer brands, content, digital commerce, retail, restaurants and wellness companies. He is also a partner in Monumental Sports and Entertainment (which owns the Capital One Arena and teams including the Washington Capitals and Wizards); the Washington Nationals; e-sports company Team Liquid and the Professional Fighters League.
Before founding SWaN, Schaufeld founded and led NEW Corp., which was acquired by cell phone warranty company Asurion Corp. (now NEWAsurion) in 2008. NEWAsurion reported approximately $6 billion in revenue in 2019.
Schaufeld sits on the boards of retail companies including The Noodle Cos., Custom Ink and Framebridge. He also is a member of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and the Schaufeld Family Heart Center of the Inova Loudoun Hospital is named for his family’s donations.
Schaufeld and his wife, Karen, ran into roadblocks when they purchased a dilapidated Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, hotel for $10 million in 2007 and tried to renovate it, a move opposed by some neighbors. The couple plans to move forward with the project this year after the state passed a law overriding land-use regulations in the small town.
JAMES SCHENCK
Schenck
PRESIDENT AND CEO, PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, MCLEAN
Schenck, an Army veteran, has led PenFed’s asset growth from $17 billion when he started as CEO in 2014 to more than $25 billion, and increased its membership from 1.3 million to 2 million. He has also generated $856 million in net worth — a 45% increase — in his first five years at the helm of the nation’s second-largest federal credit union.
In 2017, Schenck was elected the National Credit Union Hero of the Year; the following year he earned the Large Business Philanthropist of the Year Award for greater Alexandria. He’s also CEO of the PenFed Foundation, which has raised more than $35 million to help military veterans.
PenFed has 2,700 employees worldwide and had a fiscal year 2019 revenue of $1.03 billion. In honor of reaching its two million members milestone this year, PenFed donated $2 million to local charities and veterans.
EDUCATION: U.S. Military Academy at West Point (B.S.), Harvard Business School (MBA)
HOBBY/PASSION: During his military career, Schenck flew Black Hawk helicopters in Korea and trained other Army aviators as a night vision goggle instructor pilot. Schenck is still an avid pilot and recently completed an orientation flight in an F-16 fighter jet.
Schiavon
ALBERTO SCHIAVON
CEO, ELEPHANT INSURANCE SERVICES LLC, GLEN ALLEN
Schiavon, a native of Venice, Italy, previously worked for Elephant’s United Kingdom-based parent company Admiral Group before coming to Henrico to head up marketing and pricing at Elephant in March 2017. Schiavon was named CEO of the direct-to-consumer insurance company eight months later. He oversees 675 employees at the auto, motorcycle and home insurer. Recently, Elephant expanded its services to drivers in Ohio and will soon insure drivers in Georgia. During the pandemic, Schiavon sent 95% of his employees home to telework.
EDUCATION: University of Padova, Italy (B.S.); Manchester Business School, England (MBA)
FIRST JOB: My very first job was tutoring young students in math. It was very rewarding to see them learn new skills, gain confidence in their abilities and improve their scores.
HOBBY: Virginia has amazing state parks. My wife and I love to spend our weekends hiking in these parks, breathing fresh air and relaxing in the beauty of nature.
CHRIS SHOCKLEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA CREDIT UNION, RICHMOND
Shockley
Shockley was named CEO in 2016 after joining Virginia Credit Union in 2003 as senior vice president of member services. The Roanoke native previously worked for 14 years in retail banking in Virginia and North Carolina, beginning his career as a bank teller during college.
Shockley, who lost his sister to multiple sclerosis, serves on the board of trustees for the Virginia-West Virginia chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He also serves on the boards of the Virginia Council on Economic Education and the YMCA of Greater Richmond.
Virginia Credit Union is the state’s third-largest credit union, with more than 300,000 members and $3.7 billion in assets.
In 2019, Virginia Credit Union acquired Joyner Fine Properties, expanding its real estate options and homeowner services. The credit union also announced it would donate $5 million to fund two endowments at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, promoting financial wellness.
Recently, the credit union has been involved in a dispute with the Virginia Bankers Association over whether the credit union can offer membership to the Medical Society of Virginia’s 10,000 members. In July, the SCC heard the case, which could be appealed to the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Snyder
PETER A. ‘PETE’ SNYDER
CEO, DISRUPTOR CAPITAL, CHARLOTTESVILLE
During the early months of the pandemic, serial entrepreneur Pete Snyder and his wife, Burson, founded the Virginia 30 Day Fund, which makes forgivable $3,000 “lifeline” loans to small businesses struggling with the 2020 economic crisis. The couple seeded the fund with $100,000, which grew to more than $2 million as of mid-June.
Snyder is also the CEO of angel capital investment company Disruptor Capital, which has invested in Virginia businesses including Alexandria-based advertising testing company Echelon Insights and Richmond-based men’s clothing brand Ledbury. Before Disruptor Capital, Snyder was the CEO and founder of social media marketing firm New Media Strategies.
The former Republican Party of Virginia finance chairman in 2013 lost the Republican primary convention for Virginia lieutenant governor but is considering a 2021 run for governor.
FAVORITE APP: Spotify (I’m a music junkie.)
SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN: Encourage an eating competition while at dinner with Kobayashi (the six-time Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest winner). It happened. I lost. Never again.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Good decisions have exponential impact, whereas bad decisions compound themselves. Every. Single. Time.
JOHN STANCHINA
Stanchina
PRESIDENT AND CEO, MARSH & MCLENNAN AGENCY – MID-ATLANTIC LLC, RICHMOND
Stanchina joined Marsh & McLennan subsidiary Rutherfoord in 1994 as division manager of Rutherfoord’s Richmond office. Stanchina eventually became president of the Richmond division and, in 2011, he became president of Rutherfoord, which specializes in risk management and insurance brokerage.
In 2019, Marsh & McLennan Agency reported $16.7 billion in revenue — an 11% increase from the previous year. It employs 76,000 people and advises clients in 130 countries. Stanchina is responsible for the firm’s 11-state mid-Atlantic hub and is a member of the firm’s strategic steering committee.
In the Richmond community, Stanchina is involved with the Young Presidents’ Organization, Greater Richmond SCAN and The Valentine museum, for which he previously served as chairman of the board of trustees. He is also a founding director of Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School in Richmond.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: You can never know enough, and you need a diverse set of opinions to arrive at the best decision.
Stevenson
KEVIN P. STEVENSON
PRESIDENT, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, PRA GROUP INC., NORFOLK
In June 2017, Stevenson became the president and CEO of Norfolk-based PRA Group Inc., which in 2019 had a record-breaking year with $1 billion in total revenue. This was a 12% increase from the previous year. As one of the largest debt buyers in the world, PRA employs approximately 4,500 people in 18 countries. In 2015, the company invested $2 million to expand its Norfolk headquarters by 100 additional employees. The company now spans four buildings in Riverside Corporate Center. In June, PRA opened a new location in Danville, where it is investing $11 million and creating at least 300 jobs in the near future.
Stevenson co-founded PRA Group in 1996, serving in a number of roles, including executive vice president, chief financial and administrative officer, treasurer and assistant secretary. He was president and chief administration officer before his promotion. Prior to joining PRA Group, he held controller positions with Household Recovery Services and Household Bank.
In Eastern Virginia, Stevenson has served on the boards of the Greater Norfolk Corp., Equi Kids and the Sandler Center Foundation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Ohio State University.
JANET TOPE
Tope
REGION BANK PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA EAST, WELLS FARGO & CO., RICHMOND
The former greater Richmond area president for Wells Fargo, Tope became president for parts of the Richmond, Peninsula and Hampton Roads regions in 2016.
Tope has held positions in retail banking, business banking, credit and small business. She has served on numerous boards, including Communities in Schools of Richmond.
Ranked 30th on the Fortune 500, Wells Fargo is the world’s fourth-largest bank by market capitalization and the fourth-largest bank in the nation by total assets.
EDUCATION: Florida State University (B.S.)
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: James Patterson books
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Florida Gators
ONE THING YOU WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Nothing. Virginia is a great place to raise children and has so much to offer as far as recreation, culture, arts, restaurants, business and diversity. I could think of no better place to live.
Whitt
RICHARD R. WHITT III
CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., GLEN ALLEN
Whitt oversees insurance and reinsurance operations as co-CEO at Markel Corp., a Glen Allen-based Fortune 500 insurance holding company with 73 offices in 21 countries. Previously, he served as Markel’s president and co-chief operating officer.
After beginning his professional career with KPMG International Cooperative, Whitt joined Markel in finance in 1991. Three years later, he was promoted to controller of Markel Corp., then in 2001, he became vice president, treasurer and controller. He then served as executive vice president and chief administration officer for Markel’s international operations for two years in London before returning to Richmond in 2005 to become Markel’s CFO.
Over the past 20 years, Markel has been highly active in mergers and acquisitions and Whitt has been centrally involved in all major transactions. In 2012, he spearheaded the $3.2 billion acquisition of Bermuda-based insurer Alterra Capital Holdings Ltd.
Whitt serves on the board of the Richmond World Affairs Council.
JAFFRAY WOODRIFF
Woodriff
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, QUANTITATIVE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, CHARLOTTESVILLE
A University of Virginia alum, Woodriff in 2003 co-founded $3 billion hedge fund Quantitative Investment Management, which uses data science to manage investments. Woodriff also invests in startups through his Charlottesville-based Felton Group LLC family office.
In 2019, he and his wife, Merrill, a fellow Wahoo, pledged $120 million to U.Va. (the largest private gift in the university’s history) through the Quantitative Foundation to launch the U.Va. School of Data Science. It will build on degree programs previously offered by U.Va.’s Data Science Institute.
As an angel investor, Woodriff has supported more than 60 startups, 40 of which are based around Charlottesville. Most of the companies he invests in are focused on clean energy, machine learning and scalable technology.
On Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, the Woodriff Center of Developing Entrepreneurs is under construction, with completion scheduled for summer 2021. It will include 170,000 square feet of office and retail space and an auditorium that can seat up to 225 people. The building is expected to host more than 600 people in early-stage tech startups, coworking spaces and larger business headquarters.
Richmond-based seed-stage accelerator Lighthouse Labs is partnering with the Health Innovation Consortium (HIC) to start a health-focused startup accelerator program in Virginia, the groups announced Thursday. Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU Health and Richmond-based nonprofit Activation Capital created HIC, which launched in January 2019 to bring health care ideas to the market.
“Health systems, particularly academic health systems like VCU, are looking for innovative solutions involving every aspect of health care — its delivery to consumers, its technology and its business models,” Peter Buckley, interim VCU Health System CEO and VCU Health Sciences interim senior vice president, said in a statement. “The Health Innovation Consortium was designed to facilitate, support and scale health innovation. By partnering with Lighthouse Labs … we have the opportunity to attract and engage with the most promising new technologies in the country that can improve the health of our community.”
The program is scheduled to run from Aug. 24 to Nov. 13. Selected companies will participate in a three-month-long health-focused accelerator program to brainstorm and pitch ideas for developing digital health technology and medical devices. Participating companies will receive $20,000 in venture funding and access to advisory services through Global Accelerator Network (GAN), Kaleo Legal and Startup Virginia.
Applications for spots in the accelerator program open Friday and will close on June 14. Finalists will be notified by June 29, and interviews will take place in July before the program begins Aug. 24.
“Innovation is needed now more than ever,” Erin Powell, executive director of Lighthouse Labs, said in a statement. “The fall cohort by Health Innovation Consortium and Lighthouse Labs will provide traction for the most promising, high-potential startups to begin making an immediate impact in health-related industries.”
Founded in 2012, Lighthouse Labs has invested $20,000 in each of the 48 startup companies it has funded.
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