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A volunteer talent ambassador for the Roanoke Regional Partnership, Courtney Proffitt grew up in nearby Clifton Forge and has moved back to the area as a remote worker. Photo by Don Petersen
May 30, 2023

Growing the talent pool

For tech worker Courtney Proffitt, summer 2020 was a transformative time. After roughly a decade away from her native Virginia, she found herself in an Airbnb rental on the outskirts of downtown Roanoke. “I was ready to try a new city after 10 years in Charleston,” recalls Proffitt, who earned her master’s degree from the […]

In 2013, Kathryn Fessler with Henrico County-based Altria Group co-founded Mosaic, an employee resource group for LGBTQ+ workers. It now has about 500 members across the company. Photo by Shandell Taylor
May 30, 2023

Pride in their work

When Kathryn Fessler interviewed with Altria Group Inc. in 2008, she was disappointed to learn that the Henrico County-based Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturing company didn’t have an employee resource group for LGBTQ+ employees. As an out lesbian, Fessler considered such groups a high priority when evaluating new workplaces, but she wound up taking the job […]

May 30, 2023

A severe case

When Staunton native Emma Harrison decided to pursue medicine, her grandfather asked his primary care doctor of several years, Dr. Katie Dunbar, to talk to Harrison about her profession. Harrison, then an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia, met with Dunbar, a physician at Carilion Clinic Family Medicine – Waynesboro, to discuss family medicine. […]

Students in Virginia Tech's College of Engineering fabricate semiconductors in a clean lab. Photo by Luke Hayes, courtesy Virginia Tech
Apr 21, 2023

Va. launching semiconductor workforce initiative

The commonwealth is launching a Virginia Alliance for Semiconductor Technology to foster a semiconductor industry workforce, funding its establishment with a $3.3 million Growth and Opportunity for Virginia (GO Virginia) grant. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the initiative Friday. In March, GO Virginia announced the $3.3 million grant to the program, then called the Virginia Nanotechnology [&hellip[...]

Tom Barkin speaks at the 2023 Investing in Rural America conference in Roanoke. Photo courtesy Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Apr 12, 2023

Innovation, capital key to rural growth, Barkin and Warner say

There’s hope for economic growth in rural areas despite their challenges, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Tom Barkin and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said Wednesday during the Fed’s 2023 Investing in Rural America conference in Roanoke. Rural areas could overcome economic development challenges, particularly housing shortages and lack of broadband access, with innovation, [...]

Apr 5, 2023

Governor would delay subminimum wage ban for disabled workers

RICHMOND, Va. ‒ Gov. Glenn Youngkin recently recommended the General Assembly accept an amended version of a bill that ends the practice of paying subminimum wage to certain Virginia workers with disabilities. A certificate exemption under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act allows employers to determine pay for disabled workers based on a productivity calculation […]

“It’s a war. Everyone is fighting for the same talent,” says Fran Randall, Richmond market leader for Forvis. About 300,000 U.S. auditors and accountants left the workforce since 2020. There were about 1.5 million auditors and accountants working nationally last year. Photo by Caroline Martin
Mar 30, 2023

Falling short

In the accounting field, the books are out of balance. Demand for the profession’s services is rising, which is one for the assets column, but on the debit side of the ledger, the number of people willing and able to provide those services is dropping so alarmingly that some firms are being forced to turn […]

Mar 24, 2023

Va. labor market stayed strong in February

Virginia’s labor market remained strong in February, although growth is slowing, according to employment data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Virginia had a net gain of 3,200 jobs in February. The Virginia state government employment was previously 12,000 jobs below the February 2020 level, but the state government nearly halved that deficit last […]

Virginia State Capitol. Courtesy Virginia Department of Historic Resources.
Mar 3, 2023

Bills to ensure workers paid sick days failed in Va. House

RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia General Assembly did not pass legislation this session to ensure paid sick days for employees, despite strong public support. A 2021 study by Christopher Newport University found almost 90% of people surveyed support paid sick leave. Both House and Senate versions of the bill updated the current law that state […]

Feb 27, 2023

Take a load off

One thing Brian Dail noticed as he spent a day and a half in February 2020 participating in step van manufacturer Morgan Olson’s new hire training in Loudon, Tennessee, was the physical strain. After the first hour, he told his colleagues, “‘Gosh, I’m not used to being on my feet. I’m ready to sit down.’” […]

Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black Chairman Victor Cardwell oversaw the 2022 merger that resulted in Virginia’s fifth largest law firm. Photo by Don Petersen
Feb 27, 2023

Resetting the bar

Two venerable Virginia law firms — Roanoke’s Woods Rogers PLC and Norfolk’s Vandeventer Black LLP — combined forces in July 2022, creating the state’s fifth largest firm, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC, based in Roanoke. It’s a true statewide firm, with branch offices in Norfolk, Richmond, Lynchburg and Charlottesville, in addition to locations in Kitty […]

More than 8,700 technology companies call Fairfax County home, making it one of the nation’s top industry hubs. Photo by Will Schermerhorn
Dec 29, 2022

‘Inferiority complex’ no more

As recently as 30 years ago, few people would have imagined that Fairfax County would grow to contain one of the most robust technology ecosystems in the nation, with thousands of tech-fueled firms, fed with workers trained by some of the state’s top universities. Bruce Caswell, president and CEO of McLean-based federal tech contractor Maximus […]

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