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Va. Chamber president and CEO to retire

Virginia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barry DuVal plans to retire in early 2025, the chamber announced Thursday.

DuVal became head of the chamber in April 2010. During his 14-year tenure, the business advocacy organization has grown from around 1,000 members to more than 32,000.

“During his tenure with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Barry DuVal has transformed the state chamber into the most influential business advocacy organization in the state,” Virginia Chamber 2024 Chairman Robert Duvall said in a statement.  “I want to express the appreciation of the board of directors for DuVal’s outstanding leadership. … He has raised the profile of the chamber, and its programs have greatly enhanced the business climate of Virginia.”

Before joining the Virginia Chamber, DuVal spent eight years at Kaufman & Canoles Consulting. From 1998 to 2002, he served as state secretary of commerce and trade. Prior to that, the Newport News native was mayor of that city for six years.

DuVal led the development of Blueprint Virginia, a long-term economic development plan for the state, in 2013, 2017 and 2021. The process included more than 100 business organizations and more than 7,000 business leaders collaborating to present policy recommendations to each new governor, with the goal of strengthening Virginia’s reputation as one of the top states for business, particularly in CNBC’s Top State for Business ranking, which Virginia topped for a record sixth time this year.

The chamber presented Blueprint Virginia 2030 in December 2021. Its objectives include improving broadband access, encouraging investment in transportation infrastructure and bolstering the number of health care professionals.

Virginia Economic Development Partnership President and CEO Jason El Koubi said in a statement: “As the leader of the Virginia Chamber and architect of Blueprint Virginia, Barry DuVal has been an essential partner to me and so many others in strengthening Virginia’s economic development and business climate. I am tremendously grateful for his guidance, collaboration and impact — and believe the foundation he helped establish will support even greater progress across every region of the commonwealth for many years to come.”

DuVal also oversaw the launch in January of the WiseChoice Healthcare Alliance, creating a consortium for small business owners to purchase affordable health insurance for their employees. Virginia Chamber partnered with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield for the alliance.

The chamber will immediately begin its search for DuVal’s successor and is working with the McCammon Group for the search. The chairman of the executive search committee is former PBMares CEO Alan Witt, also a past chair of the chamber and currently dean of Christopher Newport University’s Luter School of Business.

“It has been an honor to lead the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and I am proud of the accomplishments of the chamber during my tenure,” DuVal said in a statement. “It has all been made possible by the support of the board of directors, chamber investors and members of the Chamber of Commerce that represent the very best of the business community in the commonwealth. The state chamber staff and team members are dedicated professionals who have executed the mission that has allowed the chamber to succeed, and I wish to thank them for their dedication.”

Virginia Chamber elects Va. Natural Gas president as board chair

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce has elected Robert Duvall, president of Virginia Natural Gas, to chair its board of directors, the chamber announced Thursday.

Duvall succeeds Lakshmi Williams, North American general counsel of Transurban, who chaired the board in 2023. Duvall’s term as chair will last a year.

At Virginia Natural Gas, Duvall is responsible for the delivery of natural gas to more than 300,000 customers in southeastern Virginia and its system growth, expansion and community involvement. He is also senior vice president of Southern Company Gas, VNG’s Atlanta-based parent company, and a member of the Southern Company Gas management council.

“I look forward to working with Robert this year and am thankful for his commitment to the implementation of Blueprint Virginia 2030,” Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber, said in a statement. “Robert has been a vital member of the chamber’s board of directors and executive committee for many years and is a valued member of the business community in the commonwealth.”

A civil engineering graduate of Clemson University, Duvall started his career in 1984 as a distribution engineer at Atlanta Gas Light, a subsidiary of Southern Company Gas. From 2014 to 2016, he was VNG’s president, then served as Southern’s senior vice president of customer operations before returning to helm VNG in 2020.

“I am honored to embark on this journey with the Virginia Chamber and its over 30,000 members,” Duvall said in a statement. “Over the coming year, I look forward to prioritizing the key focus areas of progress: energy, infrastructure and the workforce. Together, we can build resilient foundations and cultivate a workforce to shape a thriving commonwealth for generations to come.”

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce elected a new executive committee and board members at its annual meeting Thursday in Richmond. Linda Stanley, managing director of First Citizens Bank, is first vice chair. Williams is immediate past chair, and Chris Kyle, vice president of Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel), is treasurer.

The rest of the board includes:

At-large officers

  • Gilbert Bland, CEO, Urban League of Hampton Roads
  • Janice Crawford, director, safety, security and loss prevention, Framatome
  • Ben Davenport, chairman, First Piedmont
  • Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer, Smithfield Foods
  • Mike Melo, CEO, ITA International
  • Jennifer Siciliano, chief external affairs officer, UVA Health
  • Eric Sisco, chairman, Virginia International Gateway
New members of the executive committee
  • Katharine Bond, vice president for public policy, alternative energy and economic development strategy, Dominion Energy
  • Brad Hall, vice president external affairs, Appalachian Power
  • Thomas Ransom, executive vice president, Virginia region, Truist Financial

New members of the board of directors

  • David B. Armstrong, president and co-founder, Monument Wealth Management, Alexandria
  • Sweeny Bansal, VP/general manager, Atlantic division, Virginia Labcorp, Richmond
  • Eric J. Finkbeiner, director, state and local government Affairs, SAIC, Reston
  • Eric Fletcher, senior vice president, Mary Washington Healthcare, Fredericksburg
  • Dr. William A. Hazel, senior deputy executive director, Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, Fairfax

Economic Development 2023: BARRY DuVAL

DuVal, who has led the Virginia Chamber since 2010, oversaw the launch this summer of the chamber’s WiseChoice Healthcare Alliance, a multiple employer welfare association to offer health care plans for small businesses. Made possible through new state legislation, WiseChoice was the first such self-funded health insurance consortium in Virginia.

A longtime advocate for Virginia’s businesses, DuVal served as Virginia’s secretary of commerce and trade from 1998 through 2002, a period when Virginia attracted 1,500 economic development projects with a combined $13.7 billion in investments. He also has served as mayor of Newport News, president and CEO of real estate firm DuVal Associates, and president and CEO of Kaufman & Canoles Consulting.

A graduate of James Madison University and American University’s Washington College of Law, DuVal led the creation of the chamber’s Blueprint Virginia, an economic development strategic plan intended to help guide elected officials’ decision-making for the next decade. DuVal and the chamber have also been active in advocating for a relocated FBI headquarters to be built in Virginia; the state is competing with Maryland for the agency’s new headquarters.

Virginia Chamber appoints Transurban exec as board chair

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce has elected Lakshmi Williams, North American general counsel for Transurban, to serve as the 2023 chair of the chamber’s board of directors. Her term will last one year.

Based at Transurban’s U.S. headquarters in Tysons, Williams joined the Virginia Chamber’s board in 2018 and has served on the executive board since 2019. She has also served in leadership roles, such as at-large officer on the executive committee and first vice chair. An Australian company, Transurban is one of the world’s largest operators and developers of toll roads, with operations in Australia, Canada and the United States.

“Lakshmi has been a vital member of the chamber’s board of directors and executive committee for several years and is a valued leader in the business community and the Northern Virginia region,” Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber, said in a statement. “I look forward to having Lakshmi serve in this leadership role and am grateful for her strong commitment to implementing Blueprint Virginia 2030 and ensuring Virginia continues to lead as the best state for business, talent and education.”

Williams earned her law degree from the University of Chicago Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree from Rice University. She also earned a certificate in executive management and leadership from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.

“I am thankful for the opportunity to serve and am eager to get to work on behalf of the more than 29,000 members of the Virginia Chamber alongside Barry, the chamber team and fellow board members,” Williams said in a statement. “Together we will work to promote Virginia as a top state to do business.”

The Virginia Chamber elected 14 new members at its annual meeting in Richmond. Virginia Natural Gas President Robert Duvall will serve as first vice chair. Fred Thompson Jr., chief administrative officer for Thompson Hospitality, is the chamber’s immediate past chair. Linda Stanley, senior vice president of corporate banking for First Citizens Bank, is treasurer.

At-large officers include:

  • Gilbert Bland, CEO, The GilJoy Group
  • Janice Crawford, director, safety, security and loss prevention, Framatome Inc.
  • Ben Davenport, chairman, First Piedmont Corp.
  • Tammy Finley, executive vice president, general counsel & corporate secretary, Advance Auto Parts Inc.
  • Mark Hourigan, CEO, Hourigan
  • Chris Kyle, vice president, Shenandoah Telecommunications
  • Stewart Leeth, chief sustainability officer, Smithfield Foods Inc.
  • Mike Melo, CEO, ITA International LLC
  • Jennifer Siciliano, chief external affairs officer, UVA Health
  • Eric Sisco, chairman, Virginia International Gateway Inc.

New members to the board of directors include:

  • Katharine Bates, president and CEO, Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Arlington
    Manmeet Bhatia, president and CEO, TMEIC Corp. Americas, Salem
    James E. Cook, vice president, strategic engagement & partnerships, The MITRE Corp., McLean
    Tom Curtin, senior vice president, Kaiser Permanente, McLean
    John Fox, owner, Fox Urban Farms LLC, Winchester
    Edmond E. Hughes, executive vice president and chief human resources officer, Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., Newport News
    Ronald J. Lauster Jr., president, W.M. Jordan Co. Inc., Newport News
    Aubrey Layne, executive vice president, governance and external affairs, Sentara Healthcare, Norfolk
    Tavis Maxwell, managing director, Capital One Financial Corp., Henrico County
    Joe Nolan, senior manager government affairs, Lockheed Martin Corp., Arlington
    Erik Rison, senior regional manager, government relations, WestRock Corp., Richmond
    Robert F. Shuford Jr., chairman, president and CEO, Old Point Financial Corp., Hampton
    Cathie J. Vick, chief development and public affairs officer, Port of Virginia, Norfolk
    Richmond Vincent Jr., president and CEO, Goodwill Industries of the Valleys, Roanoke

Barkin: Inflation improving but not yet low enough

With inflation decreasing but still not at its 2% target, the Federal Reserve still needs “to stay on the case,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Tom Barkin said Thursday at a conference hosted in Richmond by the Virginia Bankers Association and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

Inflation continued to slow in December 2022, decreasing to 6.5%, down from 7.1% in November, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Thursday, as gas prices and airfares lowered. The Fed’s increases in interest rates last year were done “quickly … but what we were doing was taking our foot off the gas,” Barkin said. “Now, it makes sense to steer more deliberately. The last two months’ inflation prints have been a step in the right direction, but I would caution that while the average dropped, the median stayed high.”

Following his speech, Barkin said that his preferred rate of inflation would be between 1.5% and 2.5%. “I think you have to be careful about declaring victory too soon,” he said, “because I think Fed credibility does matter.”

Barkin also noted a heterogeneity in business practices — some companies have reached their peaks in pricing, while others are still raising prices to improve their profit margins, which keeps inflation rates higher. That’s a different attitude from the past 20 years, when businesses kept costs from reaching customers whenever possible, he observed.

As for the forecasted 2023 recession — “the most predicted potential recession in memory,” Barkin said — “the data we’ve seen on spending, investment and employment keep pushing the timeline out, unless you are in housing or sell into a low-income customer base, or are a deal maker, or are dependent on digital advertising.”

One factor that seems to be easing is the labor shortage, at least in some sectors, Barkin said after his speech. “As I talk to employers, the pressures that were so serious a year ago on the labor side are easing, at least for professionals, who are increasingly nervous about [a] recession or layoffs in tech. For frontline service workers, [companies] have found ways to automate [to] become more efficient. [But] it feels to me that there’s significant wage pressures in the skilled trades — nurses, plumbers, truck drivers, carpenters — the demand is still very high and the supply is just not there.”

Barkin: To address inflation, U.S. must rethink labor

As the U.S. moves to a short-labor environment, it will be necessary for businesses, governments and nonprofits to reassess their approach to labor, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Tom Barkin said Friday in Richmond.

Speaking at the Virginia Chamber’s 2022 Virginia Economic Summit and Forum on International Trade, Barkin said that although the nation’s unemployment rate has dropped back to levels last seen before the pandemic, workforce participation has not risen to pre-pandemic numbers. In November, the national participation rate was at 62.1%, down from 63.4% in February 2020.

Although the Fed has increased interest rates by 0.75 points four times this year to address the 40-year-high inflation rate, that did not dampen job growth. The U.S. added 263,000 jobs in November, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics payroll numbers released Friday. That’s about three times the break-even level of workforce growth, meaning the U.S. is still adding jobs faster than workers, Barkin explained.

“The result has been historic labor market tightness,” he said, particularly in skilled trades. The labor shortage, in turn, has contributed to inflation, Barkin said. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, which measures the changes in the prices of goods and services compared to the same month a year ago, was at 6% overall in October, a near 40-year high.

“The unmatched outcome is fewer workers that would constrain our growth and pressure inflation — unless and until businesses and governments can deliver productivity enhancements [and] restructure incentives to bring more workers into the workforce,” he said.

By contrast, businesses had adapted to the growing labor force the U.S. experienced for decades, benefitting from the post-World War II baby boom, as well as other factors such as more women entering the workforce, more college-educated workers, better health allowing workers to live longer and historically high immigration levels. Businesses also benefitted from increased access to low-cost offshore labor over the past several decades.

Now, however, businesses must adapt to a labor shortage, Barkin said. “Employers are reconsidering working conditions, revising schedules and redesigning jobs to better match worker preferences.” Some, he noted, are partnering with community colleges to attract skilled trades workers.

Businesses also are taking active roles in reducing barriers to work by providing child care or housing support.

Within the Fed’s Fifth District (which includes Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Maryland), a steel company has hired full-time recruiters and started its own soft-skills training program, and a poultry provider has dropped drug tests and background checks from its hiring process, he said.

Although the labor shortage has led some businesses to raise pay to meet market demands, workers still could be vulnerable, Barkin noted. Employers who raise pay will demand higher productivity or raise prices, which will lessen demand and, eventually, jobs. The U.S. could also see an increase in offshoring and automation that reduces staffing needs.

Learning from others

Governments and nonprofits should consider playing a role in broadening the labor supply, exploring policies that encourage workforce participation and preparation, Barkin said.

Case studies from other countries show possibilities. In 2000, Canada and the U.S. had similar percentages of women participating in the labor force. Now, Canada’s women labor participation has risen five points, while the U.S. has seen a decline of one percentage point. In 2020, the U.S. women’s labor force participation rate was at 56.2%.

Declining availability of child care led directly to some mothers leaving the U.S. workforce during the pandemic, according to a report released in April by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, with 58% of all parents saying they left jobs because they couldn’t find or afford child care. Flexible work arrangements could ease pressure on parents, Barkin said, citing research from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

Another factor in the U.S.’s labor shortage is a decrease in workers ages 55 and above, which had a higher labor force participation rate in February 2020 than they do today. If that population was at the February 2020 rate today, there would be 1.4 million more older workers.

The U.S. has an employment-to-population ratio of 56% for adults ages 60 to 64. In Japan, though, the employment-to-population ratio for workers ages 60 to 64 is at 70%,  a 19.3-percentage-point rise from 2000. Some of this depends on overall better health among the Japanese population, but an end to mandatory retirement at certain ages and the addition of training programs for employers hoping to hire and retain senior workers have also helped, Barkin said.

Meanwhile, limits on immigration during the pandemic have caused a 500,000-person decline in prime working age immigrants in the U.S., Barkin said, an issue he thinks the federal government should address. “It’s worth exploring things like increased legal immigration, which would bring those with skills, work ethic and entrepreneurship into our workforce.”

In short, it’s time for businesses, governments and even economists to reassess what they think they know about the labor market, Barkin said. “Increasingly, I worry that we’re moving to an environment where labor is short and not long. The situation can be managed — other countries have proven that — but it requires real intentionality.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the correct rise in Japan’s employment-to-population ratio increase among those ages 60 to 64 from 2000.

Youngkin promises biz-friendly climate for Va.

Talent, taxes and regulations, broadband access and energy are the top concerns for Virginia businesses, according to survey results gathered for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Blueprint Virginia 2030, an action plan for strengthening Virginia’s economy. And those are also priorities for Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, he said Friday in a speech during the Virginia Economic Summit & Forum on Trade in Richmond. 

“We … as Team Virginia have an opportunity to implement … our Day One game plan,” Youngkin said, “but also with the Blueprint Virginia 2023, we have a multiyear, if not multidecade, game for Virginia to win.

“When I read through the blueprint, I’m even more encouraged because I saw so many areas of overlap where all the conversations that I had getting ready to run for governor are backed up in the conversations that all of you had,” Youngkin told summit attendees.

Talent is the No. 1 concern of Virginia businesses, said Virginia Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Barry DuVal.

Workforce and education focus of plans

The majority of the 7,150 businesses, economic development and other stakeholders surveyed for Blueprint Virginia 2030 chose “workforce and education” as the area that would have the most impact on Virginia’s overall economic competitiveness. Only 40% of respondents agreed that “Virginia is doing a good job preparing the workforce that businesses need.”

“We should be thinking about a talent attraction campaign,” not only for worker retention, DuVal said, “but [also] bringing other people here to have more workers to fill those jobs we’re going to create.” 

The plurality (43%) of those surveyed said that if Virginia could make additional investments in education and workforce development programs, those investments should go toward internships, apprenticeships and other work-based learning programs. Twenty-two percent chose K-12 education.

Youngkin’s goal for workforce development is that every high school student will graduate either college-ready or career-ready, he said. The governor-elect plans to expand alternatives in the public school system, including offering career and technical education in all public schools.

“We need a statewide vision for building Virginia’s talent supply to ensure it aligns with the current and future needs of business,” Youngkin said, and to recognize regional advantages

Cybersecurity and information technology workers are one pressing need, DuVal said.

Partnerships between higher education programs and private industry are one way to ensure students graduate with necessary advanced degrees, Youngkin said. He will continue to support the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a workforce initiative created by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Virginia Community College System to provides customizable recruitment and training services at no cost to eligible companies that are expanding or locating within Virginia.

Virginia also needs people to fill vacant jobs, Youngkin said: “Jobs that sit unfilled don’t accomplish our goals” for economic growth.

Seventy percent of those surveyed agreed that “Virginia’s legal climate is a significant consideration in a business’s decision on whether to locate or expand here,” and 78% said they were concerned about an increasing burdensome regulatory landscape in Virginia.

The top answer for what the commonwealth could provide so that entrepreneurs, startups and small businesses can see more success was “a more appealing regulatory and tax structure.”

Said Youngkin: “My administration will in fact go to work slashing 25% of job-killing regulations.” The pace of permitting and licensing regulation needs to accelerate to match the pace of business, he added.

‘Comprehensive review’ of taxes wanted

The Chamber and Youngkin agree that Virginia has to address taxation to be competitive. The blueprint recommends that businesses work with the governor and General Assembly on a comprehensive review of the state’s tax system.

The state’s recently announced historic $2.6 billion surplus represents more taxation than state government needed, Youngkin said, meaning Virginians were overtaxed last year.

The state’s cost of living is driving people away, Youngkin said. He plans to double the state’s standard tax deduction, provide a one-time tax rebate, eliminate the grocery tax and suspend for one year the most recent increase in the gas tax.

“I strongly encourage Gov. Northam to include these provisions in his outgoing budget that he will introduce in two weeks” to the legislature, Youngkin said.

Investment in infrastructure

Every region except Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia responded that broadband was their top concentration for infrastructure investment, DuVal said.

Youngkin reiterated that he’s committed to investing in high-speed, affordable broadband access statewide, a point he made on the campaign trail this year. 

Affordability and decreasing carbon emissions tied for the most responses in Hampton Roads when it came to energy, DuVal said. Northern Virginia’s top priority for energy was also decreasing carbon emissions, the key driver of climate change. The rest of the state was split between energy reliability and affordability.

Youngkin will take an “all of the above” approach to energy, he said, pursuing wind and solar, as well as “clean-burning fossil fuels” and nuclear energy.

“I think we have an exceptional opportunity to … distinguish ourselves in our capability to do nuclear power,” Youngkin said. “Sometimes I feel that we forgot that nuclear power is a [carbon-free] energy.”

Natural gas is part of ensuring reliable energy, he said. Columbia Gas Transmission’s Virginia Reliability Project to replace 48 miles of its existing natural gas pipeline system in Hampton Roads is vital, especially to Virginia’s offshore wind opportunities, he added.

The blueprint’s other areas of focus are health care and life sciences; innovation and technology; advanced manufacturing; housing; corporate sustainability and the environment; military and veteran affairs; and safety, preparedness and resiliency.

Former PBMares CEO named 2021 Chamber board chair

The Virginia Chamber of Commerce on Friday elected Alan Witt, former CEO of Newport News-based accounting and consulting firm PBMares LLP, to serve as its 2021 chair of the board of directors. He succeeds 2020 Chair Paige Clay, a senior partner with Mercer.

Witt has been a Virginia Chamber of Commerce board member since 2016 and an executive board member since 2017, also serving as vice chair-Hampton Roads, vice chair-finance and, most recently, first vice chair. Witt announced his retirement from PBMares on Jan. 5  after 42 years with the top 100 accounting and business consulting firm he co-founded. He had served as CEO since 1979.

Before his time with PBMares, Witt worked with Newport News-based Eggleston Smith after graduating from Christopher Newport College (now Christopher Newport University). On Jan. 14, CNU announced that Witt had been named as an executive in residence at its Luter School of Business.

“As businesses continue to recover from the challenges of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I look forward to serving as chair and working closely with board, executive committee and chamber team to build on the work of 2020 and continue to support initiatives that will foster long-term recovery and economic resiliency,” Witt said in a statement. “Together, we will continue to lead the charge in promoting policy initiatives that support a competitive, pro-business climate that is good not only for Virginia business but for all Virginians.”

The board of directors also elected 13 new members and chose as its first chair Fred Thompson, a business partner and chief administrative officer with Reston-based Thompson Hospitality Corp. Linda Stanley, market president of Charlottesville and senior vice president and market executive of Greater Virginia with Bank of America, was elected treasurer.

 

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Va. employment may not fully recover until 2023 to 2025

Virginia may not get back to full, pre-pandemic employment until 2023 to 2025, according to Moody’s Analytics employment forecasting, but Stephen Moret, president and CEO of Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) thinks that the commonwealth can recover sooner.

“We not only want to accelerate the path back to full, pre-pandemic employment and even growing beyond, we also want to ensure that every part of Virginia gets back to full strength,” Moret said during the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s 2020 Virginia Economic Summit & Forum on World Trade, hosted virtually on Friday, Dec. 4.

Forecasting by Moody’s suggests that while Northern Virginia, greater Richmond and Hampton Roads could get back to its pre-pandemic position by late 2023, rural or small metro regions in Virginia may not fully recover until 2025. 

“That’s a gap we’d like to close,” Moret says. 

The effects of the pandemic have not only varied by region, but by sector. While job recovery is expected, those in more blighted industries such as tourism and hospitality may require employment training to acquire skills needed to pursue different job opportunities post-pandemic, Moret says.

Stephen Moret

“As you think about getting back to full employment, in all likelihood when we do get back to full employment in 2023 or hopefully faster … Moody’s forecasts would suggest that even when we get back to the same amount of total jobs, the employment mix will be different,” Moret says. “[There will be] more positions in technology and business services and fewer positions in hospitality and certain sub sectors of retail.”

One promising aspect of the pandemic’s effects has been an accelerated focus on technology, e-commerce and data center expansions — which Moret says makes Virginia a leader in the technology sector. 

Leaning on technological advances in Virginia and looking forward to the post-pandemic period, Moret expects that more companies will move permanently to full-time, remote work. While some companies may adopt to a hybrid model of working part-time in-office and part-time at home, many will move to “pure remote work,” he says.

VEDP has been working with the Virginia Chamber on the chamber’s upcoming Blueprint Virginia 2030, a comprehensive long-range plan for Virginia businesses that is expected to be presented to the next governor of Virginia in 2022. VEDP’s proposals for the blueprint include increasing manufacturing, international trade and workforce development programs while establishing new supply chains and bringing internationally outsourced jobs back to the United States and Virginia.

VEDP anticipates that more companies will be seeking to relocate their manufacturing operations closer to customers, which Moret says will be “good news” for Virginia’s efforts to capture new supply chains. VEDP proposes a goal of increasing Virginia exports by 50% by 2035, which would add an additional $18 billion in export sales and 150,000 jobs — with an ultimate goal of pushing Virginia from No. 41 in exports per capita in the country to the top 20 states for exports by 2035.

In addition to VEDP’s Virginia Leaders in Export Trade (VALET) program, which helps companies work on international exporting growth strategies, the partnership also proposes increased involvement in workforce development programs including FastForward, VA Ready, G3, the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program and the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP).

“While we think most people will be able to go back to their previous occupations, if not their previous jobs, many folks will not only not be able to go back to their previous job, they won’t be able to go back to their previous occupation,” Moret says. “Roughly tens of thousands of Virginians will need to get reskilled and find new high-wage employment. That’s going to mean a very important role for the community college system as well as other workforce development initiatives in Virginia.” 

Co-chairs for the Blueprint Virginia 2030 project include Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) CEO Nazzic Keene and Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine.

Barry DuVal
Barry DuVal

The Virginia Chamber will engage businesses across the state and will invite CEOs to join its steering committee, as well as hosting regional meetings and special events to engage stakeholders in brainstorming goals for the long-range economic plan.

The initial focus of the blueprint will be on workforce development, education, transportation, infrastructure, health care, energy, entrepreneurship, manufacturing, sustainability and how to make Virginia the best state for veterans, Virginia Chamber President and CEO Barry DuVal said during the Economic Summit. 

“We’re excited about kicking off Blueprint Virginia 2030,” DuVal says. “The business community has so much at stake for the future of our commonwealth, and this is an opportunity for us to have fingerprints on recommendations.” 

 

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Va. Chamber Foundation, SCHEV launch work-based learning program

The Virginia Chamber Foundation and the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) on Tuesday launched the Virginia Talent and Opportunity Partnership (Virginia TOP), an initiative aimed at better connecting students, higher education institutions and employers through paid and credit-bearing internships and other work-based learning opportunities.

“Access to a talented, well-educated workforce continues to be one of the top priorities for businesses in Virginia. Through the Virginia TOP, we have the opportunity to foster greater connectivity between the education institutions and employers,” Virginia Chamber President and CEO Barry DuVal said in a statement. “Virginia TOP will strengthen the transition from learning to earning for all stakeholders throughout the commonwealth.”

The program will provide resources for employers, students (and parents of students) and higher education institutions to launch work-based learning programs. 

Virginia TOP, a public-private partnership, is funded through the Commonwealth Innovative Internship Fund and Program and is in its first stage of a multiyear rollout. The partnership will continue to develop resources for workforce training for in-demand jobs in Virginia. 

“The Innovative Internship Program … creates a new pathway for Virginia’s students, not only to meet current workforce needs and regional economic growth, but also to enhance job readiness and higher education affordability,” SCHEV Director Peter Blake said in a statement. “The Virginia Talent and Opportunity Partnership is a significant public-private partnership to help accomplish the goals of the program and complement other ongoing efforts to increase connectivity between students and employers around the commonwealth.”

More details about the program and additional resources will be released later this year, according to a Virginia Chamber Foundation statement.

 

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