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Tag: women-owned business

2024 Virginia Women in Leadership Awards: Leading Ladies

For the fourth annual Women in Leadership Awards, Virginia Business hosted a photo shoot at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where eight of this year’s winners struck poses for Richmond photographer James Lee.

Given the surroundings, Lee took inspiration from the museum’s collection and other artwork in staging the photos. The results display a different side of these powerful and accomplished leaders.

Over the past four years, Virginia Business has introduced readers to many outstanding executives through the Women in Leadership Awards, including 2024’s impressive cohort of 38 women, chosen from a pool of more than 250 nominees.

All winners work in Virginia and hold C-suite or equivalent positions. They also have demonstrated extraordinary professional achievements, including breaking glass ceilings, mentoring others, engaging in civic work and bringing their leadership skills to nonprofit and company boards.

Most also have been willing to take risks in their careers. It takes guts, after all, to be a woman leader. Women still run just 10.4% of Fortune 500 companies, and, astoundingly, 2023 was the first year that there were more women CEOs of S&P 500 companies than S&P CEOs named John.

In the pages ahead, you’ll read about the fascinating journeys that this year’s cohort of Virginia executives took to leadership and success. Please join us in congratulating the 2024 winners of the Virginia Business Women in Leadership Awards!

LARGE EMPLOYER

YVONNE ALLMOND
Executive vice president and community financial engagement officer, TowneBank, Norfolk

MELODY BARNES
Executive director, University of Virginia Karsh Institute of Democracy, Charlottesville

JUDY BARRETT
Senior vice president, private banking, TowneBank, Norfolk

SAGE BOLTE
President and chief philanthropy officer, Inova Health Foundation, Fairfax

CAPRICE BRAGG
Chief strategy officer and deputy director for strategic planning, government and board relations, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

ERICA CARTER
Regional leader and principal, Kimley-Horn, Reston

RUTH ANN CLARK
Managing director, mid-Atlantic region and aerospace, defense and government services industry manager, JPMorgan Chase, McLean

PAT DAVIS-HAGENS
Market president, Bon Secours Mercy Health Hampton Roads, Suffolk

MELODY DICKERSON
Senior vice president for hospital operations and chief nursing officer, VHC Health, Arlington County

MELISSA FRYE
Senior program director, General Dynamics Information Technology, Reston

CANDICE LING
Federal sector leader, Microsoft Federal, Arlington County

LYN McDERMID
Secretary of administration, Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond

PAULA PANDO
President, Reynolds Community College, Richmond

FRAN RANDALL
Partner, Richmond market leader and national tax practice leader for international tax services, Forvis Mazars, Richmond

MONICA SCHMUDE
Virginia president, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Richmond

AMY SEBRING
Executive vice president and chief operating officer, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg 

SARAH STRASSHEIM
Chief financial officer, data and technology, Dentsu, Keswick

NICOLE STUART
President, Top Guard Security, Norfolk

DANA WESTON GRAVES
President, Sentara Princess Anne Hospital, Virginia Beach

MIDSIZE EMPLOYER

TIFFANY FRANKS
President, Averett University, Danville

CONNIE NYHOLM
Owner and CEO, Virginia International Raceway, Alton

LINDA RABBITT
Founder and executive chairman, Rand Construction, Alexandria

JACQUELINE ROGERS
Chief communications and operating officer, Capital Square, Glen Allen 

MARGARET SHAIA
CEO, Acoustical Sheetmetal Co. (ASC), Virginia Beach 

LAKSHMI WILLIAMS
General counsel, corporate secretary, Transurban North America, Tysons

SMALL EMPLOYER

SHAZA ANDERSEN
CEO, Trustar Bank, Great Falls

ALISON BANZIGER
Founder and CEO, xScion, McLean

KRISTIN BAUM
Principal and board chairman, GuernseyTingle, Williamsburg

JULIE COONS
President and CEO, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Tysons

LYNNE HUGHES
Founder and CEO, Comfort Zone Camp, Richmond

ELIZABETH ANN McCLANAHAN
CEO, Virginia Tech Foundation, Blacksburg

CARRIE McCONNELL
President, Ridge View Bank, Roanoke

KATHERINE O’DONNELL
President and CEO, Richmond Region Tourism, Richmond

DALAL SALOMON
CEO/founding partner, Salomon & Ludwin, Richmond 

RONDA SCHRENK
CEO, U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, Herndon

KIM SNYDER
CEO and founder, KlariVis, Roanoke

JILL VOGEL
Managing partner, Holtzman Vogel Baran Torchinsky and Josefiak, Haymarket

JENNIFER WEST
Shareholder and president, Spotts Fain, Richmond

RELATED STORIES

AWS boosts women-led startups

Nessle co-founder and CEO Carly Buxton and her chief technology officer have passed up salaries and dipped into their savings to keep the Richmond-based tech business running since its 2019 launch.

The Nessle platform connects new parents with real-time tailored support. To keep Nessle running, Buxton applied for grants and participated in two previous accelerators. Now, she hopes that Nessle’s inclusion in Amazon Web Services’ Impact Accelerator for Women Founders will provide the startup with a needed boost.

Nessle and Alexandria-based Cleare, which started out developing software to consolidate state and local daycare compliance regulations into an interactive dashboard, were among 25 women-led startups announced in September that won spots in the AWS accelerator’s second cohort. More than 1,200 companies applied. The accelerator’s first cohort, announced in June, focused on Black founders; the third cohort, for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, will be announced in early 2023.

For the second cohort, companies had to be more than 51% women-led, with a CEO and CTO. They must also have a launched or fully developed product, be fewer than 5 years old and have raised no more than $500,000 from investors. Participants receive $125,000 cash and $100,000 in credits for AWS’ cloud computing platform.

The accelerator began Oct. 3 in Seattle with a week of training for CEOs and CTOs on topics including customer growth, product road mapping and storytelling.

It culminates in an investor pitch event Dec. 9 in San Francisco. In between, the cohort participated in remote workshops two to three times a week for up to six hours. Businesses also heard from investors and successful company founders and were matched with technical and business mentors. They also can book time with other experts.

Through the accelerator, Buxton has been able to work on upping Nessle’s game in cybersecurity, branding and social media, and pitching to investors. “We’re [also] really exploring … trying to develop a partnership playbook and what that looks like for us,” Buxton says. 

Cleare co-founder and CEO Tisia X.V. Saffold started her company with the goal of expanding the platform to assist other industries beyond child care. AWS’ accelerator has allowed Cleare to test and build its product. Saffold says it also sharpened her thinking about her customers, their behaviors and her go-to-market strategies.

“It really has just given us a lot of cushion to be able to spread our wings,” Saffold says

Truist invests $7M in Virginia Community Capital

Virginia Community Capital received a $7 million investment from Truist Financial Corp. to support the organization’s Economic Equity Fund, a loan fund to expand access to capital and technical assistance for women- and minority-owned small businesses.

VCC’s equity fund was launched in 2021 in response to the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women- and minority-owned businesses in the state. The investment from Truist will allow VCC to enhance the fund’s mission to drive equitable economic growth in underserved communities across the state, VCC said in a news release Monday. VCC has loaned more than $6.1 million to borrowers through the fund so far, with additional loans in process. 

“Truist’s significant investment in the Economic Equity Fund shows their commitment to our shared mission of increasing access to capital and resources for Virginia’s historically underestimated small business owners,” VCC President and CEO Amir Kirkwood said in a statement. “We are grateful for their partnership, and we look forward to further supporting the aspirations of the commonwealth’s women- and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color)-led small businesses together.” 

The investment is part of a $120 million joint commitment from Truist and the Truist Foundation to support small businesses nationwide, with a focus on minority- and women-owned businesses.

“This investment will provide women- and minority-owned businesses with access to capital and training that can be used to inspire and build better lives and communities,” Thomas Ransom, Virginia regional president for Truist, said in a statement. “Our partnership with VCC will support entrepreneurs and help unlock new opportunities for growth in communities across the commonwealth.” 

Established in 2006 by a bipartisan group of state legislators to serve low-to-moderate-income communities, VCC is a $275 million community development financial institution with offices in Christiansburg, Norfolk and Richmond.

Truist is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has assets totaling more than $548 billion as of Sept. 30.