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Tag: Virginia Business

Something phishy

About seven or eight years ago, I was sitting at my desk one morning when I received an urgent text from my then-boss.

She was holding a meeting, according to the text, and needed me to purchase $1,000 in electronic gift cards as a giveaway to the attendees as soon as possible.

Needless to say, this text didn’t pass the sniff test. For one thing, it didn’t sound at all like something my boss would request. For another, I wasn’t aware she had a meeting that morning. Then I checked the phone number it came from — it wasn’t hers, though the text had spoofed her name.

Soon thereafter, I started hearing from co-workers who received the same spurious text claiming to come from our organization’s executive director. To our credit, none of us were fooled, but not long after, I heard about another organization that did get scammed by this con.

Whether at work or in our personal lives, we are constantly barraged with relentless attempts to dupe us into handing over credit card or bank account numbers or sensitive login information. In the worst cases, bad actors can hold critical systems or data captive for increasingly large ransoms. Last year, the Southeastern U.S. saw the real impact of these cyber assaults in the form of long gas lines, panic buying and fuel shortages following the May 2021 ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline.

Criminal syndicates and hostile nation-states sponsor sophisticated cybercrime operations encompassing everything from ransomware hacker networks to scam telemarketing centers, corporate espionage and cyberattacks aimed at critical systems and infrastructure. Many of these attacks originate from China and Russia, as well as Turkey and even Brazil, often with government support.

In this issue’s cover story, “Cyberwar zone,” freelance writer Emily Freehling reports that the average ransom payment to cybercrooks has rocketed to a staggering $541,010. Plus, President Joe Biden and federal officials are warning businesses that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to retaliate against U.S. sanctions on Russia and support for Ukraine by launching cyberattacks on U.S. interests.

If you’ve been whistling past the graveyard, thinking that your business will escape the notice of the bad guys, maybe it’s time to take out a life insurance policy in the form of a cybersecurity review. Freehling’s article offers some expert suggestions for where to begin with hardening your company’s security measures.

Also in the May issue, we have an exclusive interview with 92-year-old media mogul, televangelist and Regent University founder Pat Robertson about his legacy and Regent’s impact and influence in producing hundreds of conservative leaders across politics, government, law and academia.

On Page 28, Virginia Business Associate Editor Robyn Sidersky talks with new Virginia Economic Development Partnership President and CEO Jason El Koubi about his role in landing some of Virginia’s largest economic development deals, as well as his plans for expanding on the work of his lauded predecessor, Stephen Moret.

Additionally, freelancer Jenny Kincaid Boone looks at why the hotel industry is eyeing a big tourism summer, despite inflation and high gas prices. M.J. McAteer writes about why attorneys at Virginia’s biggest law firms are busier than ever, and Carl Fincke reports on how Virginia Beach is seeking to grow its economy beyond tourism and military spending.

But before you read on, I just want to offer a friendly alert that our editorial staff and freelancers will be contacting many of your businesses over the next month or two to collect information about your top executives for our annual Virginia 500 issue, which compiles the state’s most powerful leaders in business, government and education.

We won’t be phishing — I promise. 

Virginia Business wins 11 state press awards

Virginia Business has won 11 awards in the Virginia Press Association’s 2021 News & Advertising Contest, the state organization announced this week. The annual contest recognizes excellence in design, writing, photography, illustrations and advertising in participating publications across Virginia for the previous calendar year. Judges for this year’s contest are from Pennsylvania’s press association.

The magazine won three first-place awards in the following categories:

  • Digital Advertising — Art Director Joel Smith’s digital ad for the Virginia CFO Awards was praised by judges for “use of color, emphasis on event date and time.”
  • Professional Services advertising — Smith and Account Manager Toni McCracken won for an ad for Glenn Industrial.
  • Special Sections or Special Editions — Editor Richard Foster, Smith and freelance designer Sarah Barton won for the 2021 edition of the Virginia 500, which judges said was “simply well done. From the cover through the capsules, there was a sense of a grand project. It was deep yet easy to navigate.”

The magazine also won six second-place awards, including:

Virginia Business also took third-place awards in the following categories:

  • Education, Churches and Organizations in advertising — Joel Smith and Account Manager Lindsey DiStanislao, for an ad for the Virginia Department of Veteran Services
  • Special Sections or Special Editions — Andrews, Foster and Smith for the 2021 Hampton Roads Business guide, which judges said was “very engaging from the cover on back.”

Virginia Business competed in the specialty publication category, which also includes the Washington Business Journal, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, Richmond magazine and Style Weekly.

The bigger picture

Welcome to the 10th edition of The Big Book.

Virginia Business Publisher Bernie Niemeier had the inspiration for this annual issue more than a decade ago when he was retrieving his mail and noted the heft of Vanity Fair’s jam-packed annual Hollywood issue.

“Why can’t we have a big book like this?” he thought to himself.

Why not, indeed?

In March 2013, Virginia Business debuted the first annual installment of The Big Book (“book” being publishing lingo for a magazine issue). It replaced the List of Leaders, a special annual issue that, since the 1990s, had included a series of charts tracking 18 industries.

In the intervening years, The Big Book has evolved into both an economic development yearbook of the past 12 months’ biggest deals across the commonwealth, as well as an indispensable annual business reference tool, providing information about the major corporate players in Virginia.

Whether you’re a company looking to locate in Virginia or you’re an established presence here, it’s an excellent annual deskside resource. Need to know the top law, accounting or commercial real estate firms in Virginia? The Big Book’s got you covered. What are the biggest public and private companies? We’ve got that too. Need to get the lay of the land and know who the commonwealth’s top movers and shakers are? Consult our list of the 50 most influential Virginians.

But The Big Book consists of more than just lists and reference material.

In this year’s issue, you’ll also find a timely feature article from freelance writer Greg Weatherford about how the shortage of available, ready-to-build industrial sites is seriously hampering Virginia’s ability to compete with other states for many of the biggest economic development prizes.

Additionally, longtime Virginia Business writer Gary Robertson brings you an up-to-date report about how Virginia Military Institute, the nation’s oldest state-run military college, is meeting the challenges of one of the most pivotal times in its history, following a state-ordered investigation that found evidence of a “racist and sexist culture” at VMI.

And Virginia Business Associate Editor Robyn Sidersky writes in this issue about how the commercial real estate market for office space may be forever changed by the pandemic.

As you read through this year’s Big Book, themes will emerge. You’ll notice references to the labor crunches of the Great Resignation, the transformative nature of remote work, and the uncertainty that still plagues a business landscape that is grappling with 40-year inflationary highs and ongoing supply chain problems, as well as the potential for more COVID variants.

But what also comes across is the resilience of Virginia’s economy, buoyed by the strength of its many Fortune 1000 companies and the massive federal spending that fuels government contractors in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

There’s also Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters underway in Arlington and four new casinos under development in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth. Meanwhile, the commonwealth’s higher education institutions are prepping for tomorrow’s workforce and emerging technologies, led by the Virginia Tech Talent Investment Program.

These are some of the many reasons that Virginia in 2021 became the first state to be named CNBC’s Top State for Business twice in a row.

And if it happens for a third time, you’ll read about it in next year’s Big Book. 

Virginia Business wins national journalism awards

Virginia Business won two national journalism awards Wednesday during The Alliance of Area Business Publishers’ (AABP) 2021 Editorial Excellence Awards ceremony.

Virginia Business Publisher Bernie Niemeier placed gold in the Commentary category for his monthly OurView column. His winning columns included a July 2020 column, “It’s time to speak up,” which exhorted the business community to stand up against systemic racism and inequality. The other winning columns penned by Niemeier were a May/June 2020 piece about the need for government to regulate business and a September 2020 column about why federal antitrust legislation should be updated in light of Big Tech.

“This publisher doesn’t shout, but offers reasoned, thoughtful explanations for his viewpoints, taking the side of his community as a whole, not of any particular faction,” the judges said in their remarks for Niemeier’s gold award.

Virginia Business also received a silver award for Best Ancillary Publication category for the magazine’s 2020 Hampton Roads Business guide, overseen by Deputy Editor Kate Andrews.

Praising the special annual publication, the judges wrote, “Strong, efficient tables and graphics present facts in an accessible way and well-edited photographs enhance the content. Stories offer fascinating information about local business topics and about the community overall.”

The awards were judged by faculty members from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. The awards ceremony was held virtually as part of the AABP’s three-day annual conference.

Founded in 1979, AABP is a Norwalk, Connecticut-based nonprofit organization representing 70 regional and local business publications in the United States, Canada, Australia and Puerto Rico, with a combined circulation of more than 1.2 million business professionals.

Virginia Business wins four VPA awards

Virginia Business received four Virginia Press Association journalism awards this week, including two first-place prizes for news writing and magazine cover design in the specialty publications division.

Deputy Editor Rich Griset placed first in the news writing portfolio category for three stories he wrote in 2020, including: Firing up Fairfax, a profile of Fairfax County that focused on its business prospects in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic; (Re)open season, which turned the spotlight on businesses across the state struggling to stay afloat during the state’s shutdown; and The new normal, a look at how commercial real estate firms adapted offices to keep employees safe as they returned to work mid-pandemic.

Art Director Joel Smith won first place for his front cover designs in the August, October and November 2020 issues — hailed by the judges as “very creative covers that go beyond the usual look of business publications.” Smith assembled a photo illustration for the November 2020 cover, depicting Virginia’s potential future as a commercial casino home; October’s illustration of a cartoon cardinal with a Trumpian hairdo was art directed by Smith and illustrated by Chris Danger; and August’s cover photo of Busch Gardens Williamsburg President Kevin Lembke was shot by Caroline Martin.

Virginia Business Editor Richard Foster received second place for headline writing, which the judges said were “strong and clean plays on words.” Among Foster’s submitted headlines were “The New Dominion” atop the January 2020 cover story about Virginia Democrats retaking control of the General Assembly after nearly 30 years. Griset snagged third place in business and financial writing for his August 2020 story (Re)open season, which judges praised for providing a broad account of “how businesses are, and aren’t, reopening in the time of virus.”

Griset also won VPA awards for work he did before joining Virginia Business, including three first-place awards in business and financial writing, feature story writing and feature story portfolio at Chesterfield Observer, and a second-place prize for feature story portfolio at Style Weekly.