For Dr. Todd Stravitz, February was an opportune time to make the largest gift in the history of Virginia Commonwealth University — a $104 million donation to support liver research.
The retired medical director of VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center, Stravitz is an heir to the Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc. fortune. His mother, Barbara Brunckhorst, died in late 2020. Her father, Frank Brunckhorst, founded the delicatessen products company, which is now based in Florida, in 1905.
“One of the things that she and I discussed when she knew that she was dying of this brain cancer is opening up the [Brunckhorst] Foundation to donate to medical causes,” Stravitz explains. “And since I knew nothing about neurosurgery or brain cancer, but I knew quite a bit about liver disease, that was really sort of what pushed me into it.”
A Virginia native who lives in Richmond, Stravitz is a co-executor of his mother’s estate. Her shares of the deli meats company are the subject of a still-pending court dispute between two branches of the family. Boar’s Head brings in approximately $1 billion in annual revenue.
Dr. Arun Sanyal (L) will be director of the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health. He has known Dr. Todd Stravitz (R) for more than 30 years. Photo courtesy Allen Jones/VCU Marketing
Although Barbara Brunckhorst’s philanthropic interests primarily lay in environmental causes, Stravitz’s donation will go toward establishing the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease and Metabolic Health, which VCU announced in December 2021, as well as establishing two endowed chairs at VCU’s School of Medicine. One chairmanship is named for Stravitz’s former colleague, Dr. Arun J. Sanyal, a gastroenterologist and liver specialist who has known Stravitz for more than three decades.
“He was one of our fellows going through specialized training,” Sanyal explains. “I actually taught him how to do a liver biopsy. But I’ll tell you, the thing that always struck me was his sincerity … and how important it was for him to put the patient first and to go the extra mile for each and every patient. Even when he was a researcher, he was just very thoughtful and very methodical.”
Sanyal will be director of the new institute, which will align and expand VCU Health’s existing liver disease departments that are spread among the School of Medicine’s internal medicine department, the transplant center, Massey Cancer Center and the Pauley Heart Center.
Currently a professor in the medical school specializing in transplant hepatology, Stravitz built his expertise in acute liver failure, which can cause a patient to bleed to death.
Liver disease is common in the United States — affecting about one in 10 people — but does not have a cure, other than liver transplant, Stravitz notes.
Stravitz’s patients at VCU, where he started as a fellow in 1990, ranged from a 4-year-old to people in their 80s. Many were memorable, Stravitz says, but he was most struck by those he met at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital, where he interned in the mid-1980s during the height of the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
Most liver patients he saw there were young “and often didn’t have any medical care,” Stravitz says. “Some of them were brought in from the street. That was what kind of shocked me into realizing that all of them were going to die, back in the ’80s. We had no treatment for these folks.”
The combination of a challenging disease and its surrounding social issues led to his specializing in liver disease and heading to VCU, which has been a cutting-edge leader in liver research since the 1970s and was one of the first three hospitals to transplant the liver of a living donor in 1998.
His interest in attending medical school, however, started even earlier. “My mother was a determined, intelligent, frustrated doctor herself,” Stravitz says. “She would have gone to medical school 60, 70 years ago, but my grandfather wanted her to go into the family business, which she did for a little bit, and then had a family.”
Brunckhorst gave her son an anatomy book when he was about 3 or 4 years old, he recalls, and “that’s where I got my interest in science and in human anatomy.” After graduating in 1982 from William & Mary, Stravitz earned his medical degree from New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine.
Stravitz says that scientists started studying liver disease only in the 1970s “and really caught traction from the ’90s on up, but research in human liver diseases was really relatively modern. The science [has] accelerated so tremendously around molecular biology and genetics, especially within the last 10 years.”
That makes it an optimal time “to seize the science by the horns and direct it to VCU for this project and for this gift,” Stravitz says. He’s particularly excited about gene therapy as an alternative to transplants, which often entail long waits for patients.
With the donation, VCU will be able to recruit 30 to 60 more researchers, faculty and staff members, as well as establish new degree programs at the graduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral levels.
Over the past decades, “we relied heavily on the National Institutes of Health … but NIH funding is very focused,” Stravitz says. “It doesn’t allow exploration so much. It’s a finite grant. You have three to five years to show what you have done with their money, and if you’ve not been productive and published, you might not get your next grant. That’s a lot to be looking over your shoulder all the time.”
With Stravitz’s gift, researchers and physicians will be able to focus on their work, rather than worrying about where the next grant will come from, he says. “I’m hoping that VCU, under Dr. Sanyal’s direction, can grab it and run with it, and explore things that haven’t been explored before.”
Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center has established an internship named for Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP Partner Rudene Mercer Haynes, the law firm announced last week.
“I am humbled by this honor and pledge to continue my support of the live-saving and life-changing work performed by the brilliant clinicians and researchers at VCU Massey Cancer Center every day,” Haynes said in a statement.
In the Rudene Mercer Haynes Clinical Trials Office Summer Internship, interns are meant to develop an appreciation for the role academic medicine has in cancer research and the impact of research on cancer disparities.
The six-week internship will support rising third-years, fourth-years or prospective 2022 graduates interested in learning about clinical research. Interns will receive a $2,820 stipend based on 30 hours of commitments per week.
Haynes is a hiring partner of Hunton Andrews Kurth and serves on the Goals and Metrics Subcommittee of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee. In 2021, Haynes was one of The National Black Lawyers’ Top 100 lawyers. Haynes was also a recipient of the Virginia Business Women in Leadership Award in 2021.
She was part of the trio that created “Facts & Faith Fridays,” a series of weekly calls with the Black faith community to provide information on COVID-19, transmission, vaccination and improving outcomes. Both Dr. Anthony Fauci and first lady Jill Biden have joined the discussions.
In 2021, Haynes received the Humanitarian Award from the Richmond chapter of Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities. Additionally, she has served on the advisory board of the Massey Center since July 2020.
“Rudene Mercer Haynes embodies the spirit of service that VCU Massey Cancer holds as one of its guiding principles,” Tremayne D. Robertson, Massey’s director for diversity, equity and inclusion, said in a statement. “The interns selected to participate in the Rudene Mercer Haynes CTO Summer Internship will be expected live up to her standard of excellence, service and humor.”
The Mellon Foundation will award a combined $3.5 million to Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Community College System, VCU announced Tuesday.
“We are excited to continue our partnership on the Mellon Pathways Program and build upon the strong history of collaboration between VCU and the Virginia Community College System,” Deborah Noble-Triplett, senior vice provost for academic affairs at VCU and co-principal investigator of the grant, said in a statement. “This award will ensure the program remains strong and provides important continuity for our Mellon Pathways Program students as we welcome our first cohort to VCU.”
The grants will extend the Mellon Pathways to the Arts and Humanities Program until May 2025. VCCS will receive $1.98 million, and VCU almost $1.52 million. The program provides resources to arts and humanities students at Reynolds and John Tyler (becoming Brightpoint) community colleges who are transferring to VCU.
The Mellon Pathways program began in March 2018 with an initial $2.3 million from the Mellon Foundation. The first cohort entered community colleges in August 2019.
The program provides:
Advising on course selection, transfer logistics and financial aid
The ability for college students to take VCU coursework in their majors and participate in VCU events before they transfer
Career development panels and workshops, and creation of a professional ePortfolio
Funding and scholarships reserved for students in the program, like a stipend for Mellon Research Fellows
The new grants will allow the program to serve more students and provide Relevant, Experiential, Applied Learning (REAL) opportunities to transferred students through internships, mentorship and undergraduate research, with a focus on career planning and readiness.
AutoZone Inc. plans to build a $185.2 million warehouse and distribution center in New Kent County, creating 352 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in February. The 800,000-square-foot facility will serve as the auto parts company’s East Coast distribution operation. Based in Memphis, Tennessee, AutoZone has more than 6,000 stores nationwide and reported $14.6 billion in sales in fiscal 2021. The deal includes a $2.5 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund that former Gov. Ralph Northam approved to assist the county, and AutoZone is eligible for benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Development Zone grant program. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Churchill Downs Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire Peninsula Pacific Entertainment LLC, the parent company of Colonial Downs Group and Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums, for $2.48 billion, Churchill Downs announced in late February. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, although it is dependent on approval from the Virginia Racing Commission and similar entities in New York and Iowa. Pacific’s assets in Virginia include the Colonial Downs Racetrack in New Kent and six Rosie’s sites across the state, as well as The Rose, a $400 million gaming facility and hotel being built in Dumfries, set to open in late 2023. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Massachusetts-based scientific equipment and software supply company Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. will invest $97 million to expand its laboratory operations into three new locations in the greater Richmond area, a project expected to create more than 500 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in March. Two of the labs will be at the former Toys “R” Us store in western Henrico County, and the third will be at the VA Bio+Tech Park in downtown Richmond. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The University of Virginia Foundation wants to add a massive new mixed-use development with up to 1,400 homes to its North Fork industrial park property in Albemarle County, but concerns about water infrastructure could stop it in its tracks. In February, the foundation requested a rezoning of 172 acres of its approximately 540 acres from Planned Development Industrial Park to Neighborhood Model Development, to allow residential, commercial and retail uses. The Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority, though, has expressed concerns around the size and timing of the project. (The Daily Progress)
Virginia Commonwealth University received an unprecedented $104 million donation from Dr. Richard Todd Stravitz and his family’s Barbara Brunckhorst Foundation to support liver research, President Michael Rao announced in February. It’s the largest gift in VCU’s history and also believed to be the largest publicly shared gift to support liver research in the country. It will support the liver institute that VCU first announced in December 2021. The gift also establishes two endowed chairs for medicine and microbiology at the School of Medicine. Stravitz, whose maternal grandfather founded Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc., is a clinical professor at VCU and was medical director of liver transplantation at VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center for a decade. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Walgreens will invest $34.2 million to establish a micro-fulfillment center in Hanover County, a project expected to create 249 jobs, Gov. Glenn
Youngkin announced in late February. The 65,686-square-foot facility will be located at the Atlee Station Logistics Center and outfitted with automated machinery to allow a flexible operating model. Walgreens operates nearly 9,000 stores across the country and its territories, including 200 stores in Virginia, where it employs 4,600 people. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the county and the Greater Richmond Partnership to secure the project. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Alarm.com announced in late February it will expand its technology research and development division at its Tysons headquarters, investing $2.6 million and creating 180 jobs, according to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office. The technology company already has several hundred workers in Virginia, and the expansion is expected to create additional engineering positions within its research and development division. Alarm.com was named to Fortune magazine’s list of 100 Fastest Growing Companies in 2021, and the company’s platform that integrates with a growing variety of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has more than 8.4 million subscribers. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Reston-based Leidos Holdings Inc. won an $11.5 billion contract to consolidate and streamline the Department of Defense’s Fourth Estate information technology systems into one common network, the Pentagon announced in March. More than 380,000 employees comprise the Fourth Estate, the nickname for DOD’s nearly two dozen defense agencies and field activities outside the military services and intelligence community. Under the contract, the Fortune 500 government contractor is expected to unify the agencies on one Defense Information Systems Agency network, with a potential 10-year period of performance and a base ordering period through February 2026. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Reston-based cybersecurity firm Mandiant Inc. has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Google LLC in an all-cash transaction valued at $5.4 billion, the companies announced in March. If approved, it would be Google’s second-largest acquisition ever, behind the $12.5 billion Motorola deal in 2012. When the deal closes later this year, Mandiant will join Google Cloud.(VirginiaBusiness.com)
The $1.9 billion, all-cash acquisition of Falls Church-based government contractor PAE Inc. by an affiliate of Maryland-based aerospace defense contractor Amentum Services Inc. closed on Feb. 15. Founded 67 years ago, PAE was acquired by Lockheed Martin Corp. in 2006, sold to two other owners, and then became a publicly traded company in 2020 onthe Nasdaq. Following the sale, former PAE CEO John Heller was tapped as Amentum’s next CEO. He was set to take his new post March 28. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Tysons-based broadcast and digital media giant Tegna Inc. will be acquired in a $5.4 billion cash deal by an affiliate of New York hedge fund Standard General LP, the company announced in February. Standard General is one of Tegna’s largest shareholders and will team up with New York-based private equity firm Apollo Global Management to buy the media company for $24 per share in cash, with the deal set to close in the second half of the year. Tegna, which owns 64 TV stations in 51 U.S. markets, said the deal has an enterprise value of $8.6 billion, including the assumption of debt. The company was created in 2015 after Gannett Co. Inc., the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, spun off its broadcast and digital media divisions. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Washington Commanders NFL team is considering three sites in Virginia for a new stadium, which would serve as the centerpiece to a vast entertainment complex, according to planning documents prepared for the project. The Ashburn-based team is considering options in Sterling, Woodbridge and Dumfries, sites all at least 27 miles from Washington, D.C., and only the Sterling site would be accessible by Metro, assuming the Dulles extension on the Silver Line opens. The state’s efforts to lure the Commanders to the commonwealth have intensified, coinciding with the franchise’s rebrand in early February. (The Washington Post)
EASTERN VIRGINIA
Breeze Airways will expand flight offerings from Norfolk International Airport to Jacksonville, Florida; Los Angeles; Savannah, Georgia; and Las Vegas this summer. The new flights will range in price from $49 to $99 one-way, and increase based on customer comfort level. Breeze CEO David Neeleman said his company has five bases, including Norfolk. He says the expansion will also lead to more jobs. Breeze added flights to Long Island and Palm Beach, Florida, in February. (WAVY)
The most expensive Hampton Roads home sale on record happened in February for $9.5 million. A nearly 11,000-square-foot mansion on 3.7 acres overlooking Linkhorn Bay in Virginia Beach sold after about 18 months and was reduced from $11.8 million. The home features a saltwater pool, private sand beach and dock and was sold by former Virginia state Sen. and entrepreneur Jeff McWaters to Harbor Group International President T. Richard Litton Jr. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Demolition of the 65-year-old Ridley Place Housing Community in Newport News’ Southeast Community began in mid-February and is expected to take four months. The public housing complex will be replaced by a mixed-use, mixed-income development, including homes, commercial spaces, an early childhood center and a walking/biking trail and is part of a phased plan to revitalize the area. The $58 million Ridley project is funded by a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative. The city devoted an additional $26.7 million of its American Rescue Plan Act dollars for the project. (Daily Press)
On Feb. 28, California-based Rocket Lab USA Inc. picked Wallops Island as the location to manufacture, assemble and launch its Neutron rocket, a move that’s expected to create as many as 250 jobs. A 250,000-square-foot complex will be built next to the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. Rocket Lab recently landed a $24 million contract from U.S. Space Force’s Systems Command in support of Neutron’s capability to aid national security and defense missions. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Health care workers resigned in droves as the pandemic raged. During the past two years, Sentara Healthcare has spent more than $310 million on employee raises, benefits, gifts and other compensation to attract and retain workers. Bon Secours spent $100 million in 2021 on market adjustment pay increases and more than $87 million in bonuses related to the pandemic. Riverside Health System employees received a pay increase of up to 17% in January. Sentara says its actions led to a below average turnover rate of 14.5%, compared with a national average of 19.5%. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Former Virginia Beach Economic Development Director Warren Harris will serve no jail time after admitting to embezzling nearly $79,479 from city taxpayers during his 11-year tenure. Harris, who served from 2007 to 2018, was sentenced in Circuit Court in February and is required to repay the city. Among the expenses he charged was a 2018 trip to Spain. The city changed its policy allowing department heads to approve their own expenses after Harris’ resignation. (The Virginian-Pilot)
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Kern
Sentara Healthcare President and CEO Howard P. Kern announced his retirement from the Norfolk-based health system in early February. Kern worked in hospital administration, finance and insurance for Sentara for 42 years and has led the $9.8 billion system since 2016. Sentara was listed as one of the nation’s top five large health systems in the 2021 annual ranking by Fortune and IBM Watson Health. It employs more than 1,200 physicians and 30,000 other people. Kern said he would continue in his position until his replacement starts later this year; a search for a new CEO is underway. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
ROANOKE / NEW RIVER VALLEY
A new $11 million Lowe’s warehouse and distribution center is expected to create 70 jobs in Roanoke County, the project’s developer announced Feb. 7. Lowe’s Cos. Inc. has hired Roanoke-based Cherney Development, in partnership with North Carolina-based Samet Corp., to build a 60,000-square-foot distribution warehouse and distribution center on an 8.45-acre site in Roanoke County’s Valley TechPark. Construction is expected to begin in the next few months and be completed within about a year. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is facing what it calls “greater uncertainty” after losing two crucial permits and the confidence of one of its five corporate partners. Yet developers of the natural gas pipeline are not giving up, they said Feb. 22 in a conference call with financial analysts. “We’re all hands on deck to find the right path forward for MVP,” said Thomas Karam, chairman and CEO of Equitrans Midstream Corp., the venture’s lead partner. Mountain Valley, which had hoped to complete the often-delayed project by this summer, no longer expects that to happen. (The Roanoke Times)
The location of the New River Valley’s proposed rail station has been narrowed to one of two sites, each of which are in proximity to the Uptown Christiansburg mall, based on work performed by the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority. The VPRA began a feasibility study this past fall to look at potential station locations in the New River Valley and then conducted a survey that ran from Dec. 22, 2021, to Jan. 31. Respondents’ general preferences were for the two Christiansburg mall sites. The start of the New River Valley service is not expected until at least 2025. (The Roanoke Times)
Virginia Tech leaders and donors broke ground Feb. 2 on the university’s $85 million, 100,000-square-foot Hitt Hall, which will house the Myers-Lawson School of Construction. The building, which is expected to be completed in spring 2024, will feature general assignment classrooms and a 600-seat multivenue dining facility. The Myers-Lawson School is a collaboration between the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the College of Engineering. The Virginia Tech board of visitors approved funding for the hall in August 2021. W.M. Jordan Co. is the construction manager, and the building is designed to obtain
or exceed the LEED Silver certification. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Officials from LewisGale Hospital Montgomery celebrated the groundbreaking of the facility’s new surgical wing Feb. 24 in Blacksburg. The hospital will add more than 7,500 square feet to its surgery department, including two new operating rooms, a 15-bed post-anesthesia care unit and additional storage space. Crews will also renovate 4,800 square feet of the existing surgery center. Construction is expected to finish in spring 2023. “What we’re trying to do is continue to stay with the community as it grows,” CEO Alan Fabian said. “We’re excited to provide services here at LewisGale Hospital Montgomery rather than have people travel outside of the area.” (The Roanoke Times)
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Maxey
Roanoke College President Michael C. Maxey was elected chair of the Council of Independent Colleges’ board of directors, the council announced Feb. 7. Maxey joined the board in January 2018 and became vice chair for programs in 2021. Maxey, who has been with Roanoke College since 1985, announced in September 2021 that he would be retiring from his college presidency at the end of this academic year. He has served the longest of any Roanoke College president, having assumed the role in 2007. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
The Blue Ridge Rock Festival — an event that brought a record crowd of 33,000 people to Pittsylvania County in 2021 — is steering down the road this year to a new venue at Virginia International Raceway in Halifax County. The new location was officially announced Feb. 18 when tickets went on sale for the four-day festival set Sept. 8-11. The event will be the largest on record for the road racing course tucked away in rural Alton. (Danville Register & Bee)
A spot next to the Olde Dominion Agricultural Complex in Chatham could be a good fit for a new hotel, according to a feasibility study released in February. The hotel would have easy accessibility because of its location along U.S. 29 and provide good proximity to four airports, including those in Danville, Lynchburg, and Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina, according to the study performed by Horwath HTL, an Atlanta-based hospitality consulting firm. The ag complex brings in more than 100,000 visitors per year for a variety of events, and a hotel there would face no direct competition from Chatham. (Danville Register & Bee)
In late February, Danville announced it had been chosen to join an initiative led by the National League of Cities and commit to increase economic inclusion and resilience for communities of color. As part of the Southern Cities Economic Inclusion initiative, Danville joins 15 other cities in the Southeast that will receive up to $30,000 in grant funding and opportunities to learn from national experts and other cities. Economic inclusion strategies involve intentional engagement by cities to implement policies and programs to expand the participation of businesses and residents of color in the economy. (WDBJ)
A subsidiary of Lowell, Arkansas-based transportation company J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. has acquired a subsidiary of Bassett-based home furniture and marketer Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. for $87 million. J.B. Hunt Transport Inc. finalized the purchase of Zenith Freight Lines LLC on Feb. 28, a deal funded by Hunt’s existing cash balance. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
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A familiar face will take the helm of the Danville Pittsylvania Chamber of Commerce in April. Anne Moore-Sparks will serve as the chamber’s next president and CEO, the chamber announced March 7. She replaces Alexis Ehrhardt, who left last year to become the University of Virginia’s executive director for state government relations. “Anne is well-known in the community and will bring her connections and strong interpersonal skills to the Chamber,” said John Settle, chair of the search committee. A Danville native, Moore-Sparks worked for the city school system as a community engagement and business partnership specialist, a teacher quality specialist and as director of the Danville Public Schools Education Foundation. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Martinsville-based ValleyStar Credit Union promoted three executives to C suite-level positions in mid-February. Justin Barnes was appointed the credit union’s chief lending officer, Mendy Shaffer was tapped as interim chief financial officer and Robert Sparrow is ValleyStar’s new chief risk officer. Barnes joined the credit union in 2018 and was most recently vice president of commercial lending. Shaffer joined ValleyStar in 2018 as vice president of accounting. Sparrow joined the credit union in 2013 and was most recently vice president of risk management. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Amazon.com Inc. will open a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Augusta County, creating 500 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Feb. 23. The facility at 32 Trader Road in Fishersville will open in spring 2023 and will pick, pack and ship bulky or larger-size items, such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment or rugs. Amazon has more than 30 fulfillment and sorting centers and delivery stations in Virginia. The first opened in Sterling in 2006. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Developer Echelon Resources Inc. of South Boston is proposing a residential and commercial complex for the 1900 and 2000 blocks of Valley Avenue in Winchester. According to information presented March 1 to the Winchester Planning Commission, Echelon intends to buy the 17.34 acres needed to accommodate the Winchester Grove mixed-use complex from its current owners — Virginia Apple Storage Services LLC and Elms Properties LLC. The property has a total assessed value of $5.76 million. Echelon would construct and manage seven buildings containing 440 apartments, 19,457 square feet of commercial and restaurant space and 13,038 square feet of indoor amenities. The rezoning will go before the Planning Commission, the Planning and Economic Development Committee and City Council. (The Winchester Star)
Harrisonburg City Council voted Feb. 22 to approve Simms Pointe, an 80-unit affordable housing development on Lucy Drive. The development is geared toward nonstudent housing. Neighbors of the property had encouraged the council to vote against the proposal, citing concerns with the traffic, safety and other impacts to the neighborhood, as well as questioning the character of the Ohio-based developer, Woda Cooper Development. The approved special-use permit requires the complex to include a 6-foot fence and at least a 10-foot-tall landscaping buffer along the southern boundary of the property (Daily News-Record)
The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors voted Feb. 23 to deny Pennsylvania-based Dynamic Energy Solutions’ request for a special-use permit to build a large-scale solar energy facility outside Dayton. The project would have encompassed about 22 acres of a 50.7-acre parcel on the west side of John Wayland Highway, southwest of Huffman Drive. Dayton Mayor Cary Jackson and the town manager, Angela Lawrence, had asked the board to deny the project, and one of the concerns board members had was that the proposed facility would have been located in Dayton‘s annexation area for future growth. (Daily News-Record)
The Winchester-Frederick County Tourism Board decided Feb. 17 that it would release $290,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to the Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau in two phases over the next two years. Since it is jointly funded by the governments of Winchester and Frederick County, the CVB will receive $160,000 in ARPA funds from the county and $130,000 from the city. The funds are intended to support new marketing initiatives to bolster local tourism and can be used for expenses such as print, broadcast and online advertising; video production; social media campaigns; and targeted promotions. (The Winchester Star)
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William
Brandy William was appointed the next president and CEO of United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley, effective March 15. William leads a staff of six at a United Way branch that has more than 50 community partners, 4,000 donors and 2,000 volunteers serving Winchester and the counties of Clarke, Frederick, Page and Shenandoah. She succeeds Nadine Bullock-Pottinga, who stepped down Dec. 31.
William was previously a fundraising and development specialist for the American College of Radiology and the development director for the Lorton Community Action Center. (The Northern Virginia Daily)
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
The Appalachian Regional Commission announced on Feb. 22 funding for two projects in Southwest Virginia. The town of Lebanon will receive $500,000 for the Russell Theater Restoration Project to renovate and reopen the 5,590-square-foot Russell Theater. The restored theater is expected to attract businesses for live performances, concerts and other events. The second project, in the town of Wise, will also receive $500,000. The project will install 5,540 linear feet of sewer line to the Hamiltontown community located along Virginia State Route 758. (Bristol Herald Courier)
The Bristol Virginia Industrial Development Authority unanimously approved transferring a 2.88-acre tract of land at retail development The Falls to Georgia-based Tidal Wave Auto Spa Properties on Feb. 23. Tidal Wave Auto Spa Properties will develop a $5 million car wash project on its half of the parcel. Developer Martie Murphy said the company hopes to open it in the fourth quarter of this year. The business will employ 12 to 15 people. The company has pledged to grade the site and prepare the pad for an adjoining business, an unnamed fast food restaurant. (Bristol Herald Courier)
Project Fuse, a regional cooperative initiative to make Southwest Virginia a location of choice for remote employment, launched Feb. 18 with the release of a playbook to attract businesses. The Lonesome Pine Regional Industrial Facilities Authority commissioned the playbook with support from the state’s GO Virginia economic development initiative and the U.S. Economic Development Administration. InvestSWVA brought project members together. The study states that to attract businesses, localities need to have ubiquitous internet connectivity and reliable transportation networks; downtown office buildings with meeting space; affordable, diverse housing options in walkable areas; and established networks with academic partners. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Chicago-based custom sign manufacturer Signco Inc. will invest $650,000 to take over the former MC Signs facility at 334 Industrial Park Road in Bluefield, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced March 4. Signco, which is owned by Anthony Morrone and Vince Sclafani, designs, manufactures and installs signs for many industries, and the company has developed a new manufacturing process using 3D printing to make multidimensional LED letters. Signco expects to hire 19 workers at the facility. The company employs welders, painters, assemblers and computer numeric controlled (CNC) operators. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
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On Feb. 22, Hard Rock International Inc. announced Allie Evangelista had been appointed as its president of hotel and casino operations in Bristol. She most recently served three years as a vice president and general manager for Penn National Gaming Inc. operations. Evangelista joined the gaming industry in 2006 as an assistant slot operations manager in Missouri and worked her way up into vice president and managerial roles at casinos in Iowa and Ohio. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Carl Snodgrass, Wise County’s chief economic development professional for three decades, died on Feb. 3 at age 84. Snodgrass began working for the county in 1992 and remained active with its Industrial Development Authority projects. He was instrumental in recruiting Dominion Energy Inc. to build the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center, renovating the Inn at Wise, and creating the Lonesome Pine Business and Technology Park and bringing the Mineral Gap data center to it. He had served on Wise Town Council and as mayor. Before his county employment, Snodgrass helped launch the First State Bank, of which he became president. (The Coalfield Progress)
Virginia Commonwealth University’s inaugural chief operations officer is Michael Elliot, effective May 15, the system announced Monday.
“Operational excellence matters because it allows us to expand services into more communities,” Elliott said in a statement. “VCU Health is continuing an exciting journey of growth, and I am excited to strengthen our operational efficiency to better serve our patients, team members and the community at large.”
Elliott comes from Centra Health, where he is the senior vice president and chief transformation officer for Centra Health. In this role, he leads the health system’s strategy, business development, community health, government relations, and external affairs, as well as the Centra Foundation. Elliott developed and launched the system’s Community Health Department to focus on health equity and coordinated a community collaborative to carry out a regional COVID-19 vaccination and education campaign.
“Implementing this new COO role at the system level is a pivotal step as we continue to develop equitable, high-quality, cost-effective and integrated clinical programs across all our hospitals and clinics,” VCU Health System CEO Dr. Art Kellermann said in a statement. “Dr. Elliott has a strong record of improving the performance of integrated health systems that span the entire continuum of care, which made him stand out among a talented pool of candidates from across the country.”
From 2015 to 2020, Elliott served as Centra’s senior vice president and health system COO, and served as interim president and CEO for one of those years. Before that, Elliott served in several roles at Sentara Healthcare, where he started as a clinical pharmacist.
He holds a doctorate degree in pharmacy and a master’s in health administration from VCU. Elliott is a fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Elliott serves on several boards and committees including the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities and the American Hospital Association Community and Population Health Advisory Committee.
The city of Richmond announced Wednesday that six competing development teams have been chosen out of 15 applicants to continue in the competition to redevelop the Diamond District area near the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ stadium.
The city requested applications late last year for the 67.57-acre site, which would include a new AA baseball stadium and a more walkable multiuse development connecting the new stadium with the Scott’s Addition neighborhood and Virginia Commonwealth University’s athletic village. The teams announced Wednesday include:
Diamond District Gateway Partners
MAG Partners
Richmond Community Development Partners
RVA Diamond Partners
Vision300 Partners LLC
Weller Development Co. and LMXD
Specific details — including all of the people and companies backing the six competing development proposals — have not yet been provided by the city, but some were formed specifically for the project.
According to a person involved with Vision300 Partners, which formed in 2020, the entity is “a local and diverse group” that includes about 40 Richmond-area businesses and community organizations, including lead developer Freehold Communities, which has a presence in Richmond; developer Spy Rock Real Estate Group; building company Hourigan; staffing firm Astyra Corp.; Canterbury Enterprises; Shamin Hotels; lead architect HKS; and engineering firm Timmons Group. The group also includes the Metropolitan Business League, the Better Housing Coalition and the YMCA of Greater Richmond, as well as former NFL player Mike Robinson and former soccer pro Greg Simmonds, who are involved with youth sports.
“We recognize there is a lot of interest in transforming this area based on the number of responses received,” said a statement from Vision300, noting that its proposal would align with the city government’s Richmond 300 master plan. “We’re a diverse group of local Richmond leaders who care deeply about the city’s development, design, youth development, community investment and wellness. Each of us is working in multiple ways to create a better future. We see this project as an opportunity to bring local government, business, and nonprofits together to move the region forward.”
MAG Partners is a woman-owned urban real estate company based in New York City; Weller Development Co. is a Baltimore-based real estate development firm, and LMXD is a mixed-income development-focused affiliate of L+M Development Partners Inc., a real estate development firm based in New York.
Richmond City Councilor Katherine Jordan, who represents the district where the development would take place and is one of two city councilors on the advisory panel, said Thursday that she wouldn’t provide further information on the three other partnerships in order to keep the process competitive. However, she said that the panelists were “intrigued by teams with local partners,” and that to her knowledge, all six groups have local members now.
Brambly Park Winery opened in Richmond’s popular Scott’s Addition neighborhood in summer 2020, offering an outdoor gathering area and an indoor events space. Photo by Shandell Taylor
According to the city, these six groups must provide additional requested information about their proposals by April 25 at 3 p.m. to continue the process. The new intermediary step is intended to obtain more detailed plans for the city’s evaluation panel — a group of 10 city and VCU representatives — to review. The application requests details on financing, project goals, development team organizational charts and a fully outlined project plan with deadlines and benchmarks, among other information.
The city expects to further narrow down the group of applicants during the week of May 9 and expects to host a public meeting during the week of May 24. Finalists will then submit their final formal requests by the week of June 6, and the panel will announce its preferred development team later in the month. At that point, Richmond City Council will vote on the final plan, which must pass with seven out of nine votes.
Jordan said that the council vote required seven votes instead of a simple majority because the development involves the transfer of city-owned land.
Rob Long, owner of the River City Roll bowling alley and president of the Greater Scott’s Addition Association, says that his group has held off on hearing from applicants so far, preferring to wait until the list of 15 was winnowed down. “I think now that we have a shortlist, all six finalists will sit down and get our input,” he said Wednesday in an interview with Virginia Business. “Our job as an association is to offer whatever guidance we can to make this neighborhood better, keep the current character of the neighborhood intact.”
Business owners in Scott’s Addition, which has quickly pivoted from a mostly industrial community to a mixed-use residential, retail and office neighborhood over the past decade, are interested mainly in the project bringing a “world-class ballpark” with an experienced builder, as well as broader community uses for that stadium when the Flying Squirrels aren’t playing home games. “VCU and the Squirrels want that,” Long said.
Other key priorities business owners have identified for the project, Long said, include affordable housing, green space and walkability from the stadium to the Scott’s Addition neighborhood — an often perilous journey across multiple lanes of traffic on Arthur Ashe Boulevard — as well as allowing locally owned businesses to take priority over national chains in the development. “We welcome conversations with all six groups.”
Jordan noted that the proposed Cordish Cos. casino project at the Bow Tie Cinemas property off Arthur Ashe Boulevard, a project she opposed and was ultimately passed over in favor of the One Casino + Resort on the South Side, was different from the Diamond District, which has been discussed extensively during the Richmond 300 planning sessions and other meetings to redevelop the area.
“I would say the primary difference from the [North Side] casino is [that] people love the Squirrels,” she said. “To me, we’ve got the buy-in for these uses. The casino didn’t have that. It was problematic from the start.”
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System named James Siegel, who has served as the interim chief financial officer since June 2021, its permanent CFO on Thursday.
“James has done an exemplary job leading us through financially challenging times, while positioning the system for financial success in the future,” Dr. Art Kellermann, CEO of VCU Health System and senior vice president for VCU Health Sciences, said in a statement. “He exemplifies our values, and his depth of expertise and leadership will position us for success in the years to come.”
Siegel joined VCU Health in April 2020 as vice president of financial planning and analysis. He previously was Virginia Premier’s vice president of finance and budget. Before that, he held finance and operational leadership roles with Bon Secours for 18 years.
“VCU Health has undergone many positive changes over the last several years that will continue to elevate the health system for decades,” Siegel said in a statement. “Witnessing the strength and compassion of the entire health system team and their unwavering commitment to patients and the community made it easy for me to say, ‘This is a health system and team I want to be a part of.’”
Siegel also worked with KPMG LLP and the Virginia State Auditor’s Office. He was also a noncommissioned officer in the U.S. Army.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from Longwood College and is a certified public accountant and certified internal auditor in Virginia.
Dr. Richard Todd Stravitz and his family’s Barbara Brunckhorst Foundation gave an unprecedented $104 million donation to Virginia Commonwealth University to support liver research, VCU President Michael Rao announced Tuesday during his State of the University address.
Dr. R. Todd Stravitz, courtesy VCU
The largest gift in VCU’s history, it’s also believed to be the largest publicly shared gift to support liver research in the U.S. It will support the liver institute that VCU announced it was creating in December 2021.
The gift also establishes two endowed chairs at VCU’s School of Medicine: the Arun J. Sanyal Endowed Professor of Medicine and the Phillip B. Hylemon Endowed Professor of Medicine and Microbiology.
“Words cannot capture my feelings of gratitude for the transformative gift of Dr. Todd Stravitz and the Barbara Brunckhorst Foundation,” Rao said in a statement. “Todd has made history with his incredible leadership and generosity to VCU, supporting an institute that will forever change VCU and catalyze its commitment to our work with the human liver and metabolism. This gift firmly puts the needs of patients first.”
Stravitz is a clinical professor in VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine. Before retiring in 2020, Stravitz served as medical director of liver transplantation at VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center for a decade. His mother, Barbara Brunckhorst, who died in November 2020, was the daughter of Frank Brunckhorst, founder of Florida-based deli meat company Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc. Stravitz’s father, noted Virginia Beach-based sculptor Richard Stravitz, is the retired chairman of Boar’s Head. The two branches of the family that control Boar’s Head entered into a court battle last year in a dispute over Barbara Brunckhorst’s shares in the company, which is privately owned and reportedly brings in about $1 billion in annual revenue. Stravitz and his sister were appointed co-executors of her estate.
For the fiscal year ending 2019, the Barbara Brunckhorst Foundation reported a total revenue of $14.5 million and charitable disbursements of $7.66 million. In each year between 2018 and 2020, the Brunckhorst Foundation donated at least $780,000 to the Sierra Club Foundation, $475,000 to the Southern Environmental Law Center, $400,000 to the Nature Conservancy, $325,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund and $225,000 to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“As a world-class researcher himself, Todd Stravitz exemplifies the power of medical research to make the world a better place,” said Dr. Arun J. Sanyal, a professor in the VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine, who will serve as director of the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease & Metabolic Health. “With his generous, future-focused gift, Todd is ensuring that VCU’s capacity to attract outstanding minds and produce future scientific leaders is very strong for generations to come.”
About 1 in 10 Americans have some type of liver disease, according to Cleveland Clinic. The institute will align the work of VCU entities already dealing with liver disease or its effects on other organs, including the hepatology and research teams in VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine, VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center, the Massey Cancer Center and VCU Health’s Pauley Heart Center. The institute will grow research and health care teams for liver-related clinical specialties and will be able to recruit 30 to 60 researchers, faculty and staff.
Dr. Arun J. Sanyal, a professor in the VCU School of Medicine’s Department of Internal Medicine, will serve as the institute’s director. He holds the Z. Reno Vlahcevic Research Professorship in Gastroenterology, which honors his mentor, who died in 2000.
Stravitz’s gift allows VCU to accelerate the institute’s goals, including investing in microbiome research, gene editing approaches, data analytics and other tools to develop solutions to liver diseases; investing in new degree programs at the graduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral levels; and including other disciplines like engineering, pharmacy, social work and business.
Naomi Boyd, an associate dean from West Virginia University, has been hired as the dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, the Richmond university announced Monday.
Boyd will replace interim dean S. Douglas Pugh on July 1. She is currently associate dean for innovation, outreach and engagement, as well as the Fred T. Tattersall Chair of Finance in the Chambers College of Business and Economics at WVU. She also was associate editor of Financial Statistics and served on boards for the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, and the Managerial Finance journal, and was a financial analyst for the chief economist at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. At West Virginia, Boyd started the Center for Financial Literacy and Education and a program that gives students the opportunity to manage an investment fund.
“I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Naomi Boyd to VCU. Dr. Boyd is a proven leader and a visionary with a strong commitment to academic excellence, transdisciplinary innovation and student-focused, experiential learning,” Fotis Sotiropoulos, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement. “Her background, which spans academia, government, and industry, coupled with her impressive record of success in transforming student learning and supporting faculty to excel, make her the right person at the right time for VCU and the School of Business.”
A graduate of the University of Texas, Texas Tech University and George Washington University, Boyd said in a statement, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to engage with the community of Richmond to empower the School of Business to take VCU’s explicit commitment of creativity and harness it to produce the next generation of business leaders who are good corporate citizens, well versed in emerging technologies, with strong entrepreneurial roots.”
Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday that former U.S. Labor Department Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management George “Bryan” Slater is his pick for Virginia’s secretary of labor.
“Workforce development will play a crucial part of jumpstarting our economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bryan’s experience and leadership will be critical to the development of talent, training of workers and protection of Virginia’s right-to-work laws that will attract investment to Virginia,” Youngkin said in a statement.
Slater served as assistant secretary for administration and management for the U.S. Labor Department beginning in 2017, and beforehand as assistant secretary of administration for the U.S. Transportation Department. In George W. Bush administration, Slater was White House liaison for the U.S. Labor Department, and in the George H.W. Bush administration, he served as a congressional relations officer for the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department.
Slater was the commonwealth’s secretary of administration for former Gov. James Gilmore. Prior to his governorship, when Gilmore was attorney general, Slater served as director of administration for his office.
Slater has also served as executive director of the Republican Party of Georgia.
He has served in senior positions for several nonprofit organizations, including Americans United for Life, Freedom Partners Shared Services and Generation Opportunity.
Slater received the 2007 Innovation in Government Award from Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and has served on VCU’s board of visitors.
He received his associate degree from Ferrum College and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond.
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