Preliminary construction is underway for the Richmond-to-Raleigh passenger rail project, an estimated 162-mile route along the defunct CSX Transportation S-Line corridor that will speed up travel between the capitals of North Carolina and Virginia, as well as Washington, D.C., and the Northeast U.S.
“We have basically funded work to advance all of the preliminary engineering from downtown Richmond to downtown Raleigh,” says Jason Orthner, rail division director for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
With the first 18 miles of rail between Raleigh and Wake Forest now fully funded, construction has begun on the first grade separation at Durant Road in Raleigh, where an overhead highway bridge is replacing an at-grade railroad crossing so vehicle and train traffic can move at different heights rather than intersecting. The milestone was celebrated this summer at an event attended by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper.
With a design speed of 110 miles per hour, the new route is expected to cut travel time from Richmond to Raleigh — currently a minimum of 3.5 hours by rail and 2.5 hours by car — down to two hours.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity. The Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area is already one of our top five visitor origin markets,” says Katherine O’Donnell, president and CEO of Richmond Region Tourism. “So, any time there’s an easier or more seamless way for visitors to get here, we feel like that’s an opportunity for growth of tourism and business travel.”
Most visitors from North Carolina currently travel to Richmond by car, says O’Donnell. The new rail line isn’t likely to affect airport travel, according to Troy Bell, director of marketing and air service development for the Capital Region Airport Commission.
“Reliable rail between Richmond/Petersburg and Raleigh seems more likely to pull a few people off interstate highways than anything else,” Bell says.
The $6 billion to $7 billion project could be complete as early as the mid-2030s, Orthner says, but that timeline is heavily dependent on funding, particularly at the federal level.
“Building 162 miles of railroad takes time,” he says. “We hope to see some of these initial projects, including the grade separation of the first segment of track, start to come online in the next two to three years.”
This November, Petersburgvoters will decide the fate of a highly anticipated casino development that could transform the city’s struggling economy. If approved, the proposed $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia project will be built on an undeveloped 100-acre site off Interstate 95, offering easy access to East Coast travelers.
“I have worked for over two years to give Petersburg residents this once-in-a-generation opportunity,” says Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham. “We are one of the most fiscally distressed cities in the commonwealth, and this will give the city that revenue shot it has needed for quite some time.”
The proposed project is a joint venture between Baltimore-based real estate developer The Cordish Cos. and Bruce Smith Enterprise, a Virginia Beach-based development firm led by Norfolk native and Pro Football Hall of Famer Bruce Smith.
If approved, the casino’s first phase will span 200,000 square feet, featuring 1,000 slot machines and 23 table games. The full 400,000-square-foot project, to be completed two years after approvals, would include a 200-room hotel, 1,600 slot machines, 46 live-action table games, a 3,000-seat entertainment venue and eight food and entertainment establishments, three of which would be reserved for Petersburg businesses.
“Virginia is home for me, and I take my commitment to improve my communities and create jobs very seriously,” says Smith, noting that the development’s creation of 1,500 jobs with average salaries of $70,000 would significantly raise the city’s median household income, which was approximately $47,000 in 2022. The casino would bring in an estimated $240 million in local tax revenue in the first 10 years.
Nevertheless, the selection process for the development team was controversial. Just before the Virginia General Assembly approved Petersburg as the commonwealth’s fifth approved locality to host a casino, the city manager signed a letter of intent naming Bally’s as the city’s choice
of casino operator, setting off questions about potential political pressure. A week later, city officials abruptly reversed the decision in favor of Cordish, a choice Parham stands by as best for the city.
“Petersburg first” is the slogan of the development team, which has set up a local campaign office and scheduled vendor fairs in anticipation of a favorable vote. “We will work to help smaller contractors partner with larger contractors so they can get the kind of work that’s meaningful,” says Zed Smith, Cordish’s chief operating officer.
The Washington, D.C.-based company invested roughly $35 million to open the 55,000-square-foot facility to help centralize production of Cava’s signature packaged dips and spreads. First announced in September 2021, the Verona operation now serves 323 Cava restaurants across the country, with capacity to serve up to 750 locations. The facility features a low-emissions, energy-efficient carbon dioxide refrigeration system and high-pressure processing, a cold pasteurization technology that helps retain flavor and nutrition. Those equipment investments increased Cava’s initial capital outlay, but the company says it will save costs over time, eliminate third-party shipping and control a critical food safety step.
“We are really excited to welcome Cava to Augusta County and specifically our commerce park. Recruiting manufacturers is one of our top priorities, so Cava is a good fit for the county,” says Rebekah Castle, Augusta County’s director of economic development and marketing. “Around 22% of the county’s workforce is in manufacturing, so our local labor pool is well-trained to support Cava’s goals as well.”
As of May, the facility employed 32 Virginians, with plans to staff up to 52 employees working a couple of daily shifts, says Cava Chief Manufacturing Officer Chris Penny.
“We built the Verona facility with expansion in mind, including our physical footprint. We expect a very linear growth over the next five or so years, and plan to steadily invest more capital into the facility, whether storage [or] equipment, as we open new restaurants,” Penny explains.
The Augusta County facility is strategically located along the Interstate 81 corridor, an important artery for East Coast commerce.
Its break room “overlooks the mountains and has a beautiful sunset. We really wanted to design a welcoming environment for our employees and consider how they feel when they show up to work, as well as how we show up to them,” says Penny.
At full capacity, the facility can process more than 100,000 pounds of product a day, amounting to over 4 million pounds of tzatziki alone annually. The Verona facility joins an existing Laurel, Maryland, production hub, focused on Cava’s rapidly expanding retail business in grocery chains like Whole Foods Market and Giant.
Buchanan and Tazewell counties’ businesses will soon receive a needed signal boost, thanks to six cell towers under construction across the Route 460 corridor. The towers will increase wireless access along 20 miles of U.S. 460, from Red Ash in Tazewell to Vansant in Buchanan. It’s not a moment too soon, according to businesses that suffer daily from challenges caused by the current coverage gap.
“This four-lane highway provides access to two of our major industrial parks, as well as multiple town centers. When this new infrastructure is in place, these sites will become more marketable and the region [will be] more attractive to new business and industry,” Scotty Wampler, co-executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Coalition, which is responsible for the project, said in an email.
Upon completion of the six-tower Route 460 project, the VCC will have built a total of 17 towers throughout Southwest Virginia over a dozen-plus years.
Funding for the $3.6 million wireless project was secured from multiple sources, including the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority, The Thompson Charitable Foundation and the Virginia Department of Energy’s Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization program.
Cell coverage gaps have cost the 3,000-acre Southern Gap Business Park potential tenants, says Matthew Fields, executive director of the Buchanan County Industrial Development Authority, which owns the park. “This cell tower project is going to be a great recruiting tool for the park. If you’re trying to show property to prospects and they’re not able to make a call or get a text out, or you can’t reach them to give directions, they’re going to write us off immediately,” says Fields.
Paul’s Fan Co., which manufactures, installs and services ventilation systems throughout North America, is one such Southern Gap tenant. “We really, really need the help here in Southwest Virginia; not having cell coverage really affects our productivity,” says Todd Elswick, the company’s president. “We have trucks coming in and out; these drivers cannot find us because of the lack of good GPS, and then they have no way to communicate with us when they’re here because of the lack of cell coverage.”
Tazewell County’s Bluestone Business and Technology Park is the other industrial park affected.
Construction on all six towers, including service activation, should be complete by fall 2025, according to Wampler.
With several new and expanded facilities across the region, the greater Richmond area has become an attractive hub for amateur sporting events, bringing in hundreds of thousands of visitors and millions of dollars in added revenue.
The region’s amateur sportstourism generated $88.7 million in hospitality-related revenue in fiscal 2023, according to Jerrine Lee, vice president of sales for Richmond Region Tourism, which covers Richmond, Colonial Heights and the counties of Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover and New Kent. Three out of four event attendees came from more than 50 miles away, resulting in overnight stays.
Last year, the Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority — launched in 2022 to focus on local sports programming — transformed the former Virginia Center Commons mall into a 185,000-square-foot, flexible-use facility with capacity for 4,500 guests and 12 basketball or 24 volleyball courts, expanding the county’s portfolio from its existing outdoor sports facilities. In April, Henrico announced Shamin Hotels would build two hotels and two restaurants beside the center.
The new Henrico Sports & Events Center booked 46 weekends of tournaments in its first year, says Dennis Bickmeier, executive director of the Henrico Sports & Entertainment Authority.
The $50 million facility hit the ground running in March by hosting the Atlantic 10 women’s basketball tournament, a three-year contract. The facility’s inaugural events garnered $10 million in added economic impact during its first three months, according to Bickmeier.
Chesterfield County, meanwhile, is building on the 13-year-old River City Sportsplex, which the county purchased for $5.5 million in 2016. Four new synthetic turf fields will join River City’s existing dozen fields by September, allowing the complex to host 16-field tournaments or even two simultaneous tournaments. The department has also acquired Harry G. Daniel Park, with 14 previously privately owned diamond fields.
“River City has already had millions of dollars of economic impact on our local businesses, including hotels, restaurants and attractions,” says J.C. Poma, executive director for Chesterfield’s Sports, Visitation and Entertainment Department, formed in May 2023. “With up to 48 teams playing in a single sold-out tournament, multiplied by 30 or more weekends of tournaments, the impact to our hospitality community will be huge.”
In fiscal 2023, Chesterfield’s sports tourism added $1.8 million in local tax revenue and $116 million in direct revenue from 83 events; the county is on pace to exceed 150 events for fiscal 2024, says Poma.
In philanthropy as in business, Dwight Schar sees the wisdom in doubling down when the stakes — and the impact — of an investment are high.
In May 2023, three decades after their initial donation to the organization, Schar and his wife, Martha, made a $75 million matching gift to Falls Church-based Inova Health System. It was the largest donation the 68-year-old nonprofit health system had ever received, and the largest donation the Schars had ever made. The Schars have donated more than $126 million to Inova since 1993, including $50 million in 2015 to establish the Inova Schar Cancer Institute, the hospital system’s Fairfax County hub for cancer treatment and clinical trials, which opened in 2019.
“Health care is No. 1 in my books; there’s nothing more important you can offer the community,” Schar says. “The metropolitan Washington area has been very good to me and my business, so this is where I feel I can do the greatest good for the greatest number of people.”
The Northern Virginia philanthropist founded Reston-based Fortune 500 company NVR, one of the nation’s largest mortgage bankers and homebuilders, which operates under the Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Heartland Homes brands.
Schar, 82, retired as NVR’s chair in 2022, after having previously served also as CEO. Since its founding in 1980, NVR has grown to employ more than 6,000 people, and for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2023, it reported $9.79 billion in revenue. As of 2024, it has built homes in 36 metropolitan areas across 16 states, mainly on the East Coast.
“There are two issues in health care that affect every family: cancer, and heart and vascular health,” says Schar, whose mother died of cancer at age 58. “My mother raised six children by herself, and health care was not very accessible to us at that point in time.” Martha Schar herself recently had a heart valve replacement surgery, but for her husband, it’s just coincidence and not a surprising one, given that heart disease affects more Americans than any other condition.
“Despite enormous progress in diagnostic techniques and innovative drug, device and procedure treatment options, heart disease remains the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S.,” says Dr. Christopher O’Connor, president of Inova Schar Heart and Vascular. “Because of disparities in care related to the disparities in income and other social drivers of health in Northern Virginia, there is a significant variation in cardiovascular mortality rates that we hope to address with this gift.”
He adds, “It is critical that we transform cardiovascular care to address disparities and strengthen our ability to prevent and combat this deadly disease.”
‘Anywhere your heart beats’
The Schars’ record 2023 donation helps check a lot of boxes on Inova’s long wish list, including financial support for research, outreach, prevention and early diagnosis of cardiovascular ailments, hiring more health care professionals, and expanding specialty services.
Dwight and Martha Schar were inspired to give to Inova through the example set by the late Northern Virginia real estate developer Milt Peterson and his family. “The Petersons are really my idols in philanthropy,” Dwight Schar says. Photo by Jeneene Chatowsky
“This gift is not about doing big shiny things, but to help us focus on providing the very best patient-centered care and attracting the very best talent to provide that care,” says Sage Bolte, chief philanthropy officer and president of the Inova Health Foundation, the organization’s fundraising arm.
Initially called the Fairfax Hospital Association, Inova was founded in the 1950s to meet a pressing need for local hospital services for Fairfax County residents. Today, it provides more than 4 million patient visits a year and employs more than 24,000 people across five hospitals and dozens of other facilities, including 37 primary care clinics and Northern Virginia’s only state-designated and nationally verified Level 1 trauma center.
“Dwight and Martha’s commitment to ensuring that all individuals in the Northern Virginia region have access to world-class health care shows up in everything they do, even in their partnerships with some of the other organizations around. Their generosity is accelerating our ability to attract world-class physicians, nurses and researchers,” Bolte says.
The Schars’ latest donation will deepen resources for women’s cardiovascular health, Bolte adds. “Women have different symptoms. They show up differently with heart disease or heart failure, and we’ve now hired some experts to create a comprehensive women’s cardiac program that is going to be transformational for the way in which we’re able to care for women, especially premenopausal, menopausal and pregnant women.” Early detection and prevention of heart and vascular disease will also be a top priority, as well as reaching higher-risk communities lacking access to health care, according to Bolte.
Programmatic priorities, O’Connor says, also include advanced heart failure and lung disease care, minimally invasive cardiac surgery and interventions to reduce recovery time and improve quality of life, as well as development of vascular medicine and surgery innovations to reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, critical blockages of arteries in the lower limbs, and limb amputations. “These novel diagnostic and treatment techniques are having an immediate impact and will continue to be built out in the coming years,” says the physician.
The gift from the Schars has also enabled O’Connor’s team to pursue innovative platforms to predict and prevent disease progression through artificial intelligence and data analytics. “We are continuing to grow our use and understanding of telemedicine, remote monitoring, wearables and other technologies as they continue to evolve. These platforms are improving patient outcomes and resulting in better quality of life,” O’Connor says.
Finally, the donation will help Inova to make important capital investments in new labs, patient rooms and equipment, as the health system’s heart and vascular group expands its footprint at multiple locations, including Inova Alexandria Hospital’s new Landmark Mall location, Inova Fairfax Hospital and ambulatory care locations. “More surgical suites and rooms mean that more patients can be seen in a timely manner,” Bolte says.
The Schars’ May 2023 donation had another important effect for Inova — a seismic increase in gifts large and small. “The Schars’ pledge came with a community challenge to match their gift to ‘anywhere your heart beats,’” explains Bolte. “The Schars said, ‘Our heart has beaten for cancer and for heart and vascular. Your heart might beat for behavioral health. Give where your heart beats and meet that $75 million challenge by next May.’ As of the end of April [2024], we are just $7 million away, nearly double what we would normally raise in a year.”
Inspired giving
As with many business relationships, the Schars’ connection to Inova began with a personal one. Dwight Schar admired the community engagement of J. Knox Singleton, who was then president and CEO of Inova Health System and also was involved in organizations like United Way.
“At that point in my career, I was really broke, but I was drawn to help Inova,” says Schar. In 1990, NVR lost $261 million after interest rates skyrocketed and home sales dropped, and in 1992, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which it emerged from in 1993, the year the Schars made their first major donation to Inova.
In 2015, Schar was there to back Singleton — and Inova — at a critical moment. When rumors began to circulate that oil giant ExxonMobil was contemplating a move from its 117-acre Merrifield campus, Singleton took the opportunity to shop around the concept for a new multidisciplinary cancer and research center, reaching out to Schar and his friend and fellow real estate mogul Milt Peterson for help.
Schar and Peterson’s combined real estate acumen, political connections and financial backing proved critical in Inova’s $182.5 million purchase of the land from ExxonMobil in 2020, after leasing it in 2015.
Sage Bolte was executive director of Inova’s Life with Cancer and Patient Experience when the Schars made their $50 million gift in 2015. “It was exhilarating that someone saw the value in what we were doing and helped us make it that much better. It really energized staff and put a spotlight on how Inova was doing something different related to cancer care,” says Bolte.
That gift to Inova’s cancer program has paid substantial dividends, she adds. “It helped us build a comprehensive cancer program, where patients are seen by an entire multidisciplinary team, including psychosocial care, and get all their treatment in the same building. That is a very rare experience in community-based cancer care, which is usually very fragmented.”
The endowment also enabled Inova to create a fellowship program, grow its rosters of residents and oncology-certified nurses, and create an arts and healing program within the cancer program, among other outcomes. Another initiative supported by the Schars’ 2015 gift was standing up a molecular tumor board, a team of multi-disciplinary experts who make individualized cancer treatment recommendations for patients not responding to typical treatment regimens.
The eight-figure donation also ushered in an era of larger-than-ever individual donations to Inova’s cancer program, including a $20 million donation in 2019 from Virginia philanthropists Tina and Gary Mather; a $20 million donation in 2022 from Paul and Linda Saville; and, this April, a $20 million donation from the Peterson family.
Though patriarch Milt Peterson passed away in 2021, the Peterson family continues with its legacy of giving to Inova, which has totaled $50 million. Jon Peterson is now CEO and chairman of Peterson Cos., the company founded by his father, Milt, in 1965. Peterson Cos. is responsible for notable developments such as Fairfax Corner, Fair Lakes, National Harbor, Burke Centre and Tysons McLean Office Park, in addition to other major projects in Northern Virginia and Maryland.
The Petersons’ 2024 donation earmarked $15 million to the Inova Life with Cancer program, which provides support for people with cancer and their families, and $5 million to support the $161 million expansion of Inova Fairfax Hospital’s emergency room to include more beds and a unit for acute behavioral health care, as well as a dedicated entrance for pediatric emergencies.
While the Petersons say the Schars’ landmark $75 million donation and challenge to match it inspired their recent gift, Dwight Schar says that it was Milt Peterson’s own early philanthropy that led him down the path of giving.
“The Petersons are really my idols in philanthropy. Milt was a very good friend and a real leader in the D.C. metropolitan area, and his children are carrying on with the same kind of leadership,” Schar says.
While Schar doesn’t micromanage his donations, he does pay attention to the finer details of the care Inova provides through his funding.
“One thing near and dear to my heart is that when you pull up to the cancer center and to the heart and vascular center, there’s free valet parking for everybody, so no one has to walk three or four blocks or hunt for a parking spot,” Schar says.
“The treatment is obviously the most important thing — you wouldn’t survive without it — but all these other little things make the experience that much more positive for patients. Being delivered to the front door, having ambassadors greet them with smiling faces and direct them where they need to go, it gives them a positive view of treatment.”
Ramon W. Breeden Jr., pictured with his wife, Lucy, donated $50 million to his alma mater, the University of Virginia, in 2023. He is founder and chairman of The Breeden Co., a Virginia Beach-based real estate management and development company. Photo courtesy The Breeden Co.
Philanthropic highlights
If health care is Schar’s top philanthropic priority, education runs a close second. Schar majored in education at Ashland University in Ohio, and started out as a junior high school teacher, stumbling into his real estate career via a side job selling homes in the mid-1960s, and then joined Ryan Homes to become a homebuilder. In 1980, he started NVR.
In 2006, the Schars donated $5 million to his home-state alma mater to help fund the construction of a new education building. In 2014, the couple went on to make the largest single gift in Elon University history, pledging $12 million to the private North Carolina university attended by their sons, Spencer and Stuart. Two years later, the Schars donated $10 million to what is now George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
“The cost of higher education is ridiculous now; only the affluent can afford to make that kind of an investment,” Schar says. “We have to figure out alternative ways to provide quality, affordable education.”
That also was a motivating force for other philanthropists who made significant donations to higher education institutions across the state over the past year. The University of Virginia, George Mason University and William & Mary all received significant gifts to boost the state institutions’ offerings and fund expansions and scholarships.
In September 2023, The Breeden Co.’s founder and chairman, Ramon W. Breeden Jr., gave U.Va. $50 million to be split between the university’s renovation and expansion of its McIntire School of Commerce and construction of a new athletics complex.
A 1956 McIntire graduate, Breeden almost had to drop out of U.Va. due to family financial hardships. The future Virginia Beach real estate magnate took on three part-time jobs to get through, though it meant the student-athlete had to leave the baseball team.
“The McIntire School broadened my education and gave me confidence in myself. I have many friends who attended Ivy League schools, and I can stand toe to toe with them in business, as I got just as good an education and, in some cases, better,” says Breeden, whose father worked his way up from sweeping floors to operating machines in an envelope factory. “McIntire taught me not to give up and to keep pushing on in life.”
Meanwhile, married U.Va. alums Kathleen and David LaCross added $50 million to their earlier gift of $44 million to the Darden School of Business in October 2023. With matching funds from the university, the total donation is more than $107 million, which will be used to pay for AI tech programming and a residential college at Darden. David LaCross, who founded a small California tech company that he sold in 1997, earned an MBA from Darden in 1978, and Kathleen LaCross graduated in 1976 from U.Va.’s College of Arts and Sciences.
In May 2023, the late Loudoun County businessman Donald G. Costello left George Mason $50 million, its largest individual gift. The donation established the Costello School of Business and created an endowment for undergraduate and graduate scholarships for business students.
In March, an anonymous William & Mary alumna donated $30 million to renovate and rename an out-of-use campus building in honor of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, the university’s chancellor. Gates Hall will house the Global Research Institute, the Institute for Integrative Conservation and the Whole of Government Center of Excellence.
Also, Inova wasn’t the only health care organization to receive a windfall in the past year. In September 2023, the Red Gates Foundation committed $50 million, to be disbursed over five years, to the Roanoke-based Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC in support of cancer and neuroscience research.
The Red Gates Foundation was established by the estate of Richmond philanthropist Bill Goodwin’s late son, Hunter, who died of cancer in 2020 at age 51. Hunter Goodwin’s parents and estate made a $250 million endowment in 2021 to kickstart a national cancer research foundation bringing together five leading cancer research institutes.
GENEROUS VIRGINIANS 2024
A heartfelt donation: Schars have donated more than $126 million to Inova since 1993
A 2021 agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States should reap benefits in Hampton Roads soon.
Dubbed AUKUS for the three participating nations, the international agreement calls for the U.S. and the U.K. to share nuclear propulsion technology with Australia, with the Royal Australian Navy set to acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, including three to five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s.
“AUKUS is a defense-focused alliance to promote economic prosperity and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific with Australia, which has always been one of our best allies, and the U.K., which has historic ties to Australia,” explains U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia. “Its goal is to develop joint capacity so we can promote stability and defer aggression by China or anyone else who wants to create trouble in the region.”
Kaine, who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, was instrumental in passing provisions to implement and strengthen the agreement, which he says will create jobs in Virginia over the next decade.
AUKUS has two pillars, the first laying out a roadmap for Australia to develop the capacity to operate, build and maintain nuclear subs over the next 30 years. As a signatory to the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Australia currently does not have a well-developed nuclear industry, but the U.S. and the U.K. have shared nuclear propulsion technology for more than 60 years and now share that information with Australia under the new agreement.
Nuclear-powered submarines, being quiet, faster and less detectable, are highly preferred to diesel-powered subs, Kaine says.
The second pillar of AUKUS is more of a carte blanche for collaboration among the three nations in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, hypersonic capabilities and aerospace investments, and that in particular excites Kaine.
“I think there are going to be a lot of opportunities for Virginia companies and universities on this more open-ended ‘pillar two’ side,” he says. “We have a lot of innovators in Virginia. I think there’s a role for Virginia companies that have space assets. There will be a lot of opportunities to innovate in some of these areas like cyber and AI, and there’s going to be some great opportunities for Virginia businesses in that as well.”
What’s happening now
With decades of nuclear shipbuilding experience, HII is already collaborating with leading defense companies in the U.K. to support AUKUS and has engaged with more than 200 Australian companies hoping to qualify to become HII suppliers, according to Michael Lempke, who heads HII’s Australia business efforts.
While the greater goals of AUKUS are defense-oriented, the agreement is “an unprecedented opportunity for the integration and expansion of industrial capacity” across the three nations, explains Lempke. “We are well-positioned to leverage our longstanding expertise in nuclear shipbuilding, workforce development, supply chain analytics, industrial maintenance and sustainment, and other related defense technologies to support our trilateral partners.”
Quality Maritime Surveyors (QMS), based in the suburbs of Adelaide, Australia, is one of the pioneering companies to take the plunge into Virginia’s waters. The company, run by CEO Crystal Kennedy and her husband, Director Shaun Kennedy, specializes in nondestructive testing and inspection of materials used in marine vessels, typically metals.
In mid-April, QMS announced it would start a training school for Australian shipbuilders in Norfolk temporarily, with plans to find a permanent facility in Newport News, so Australian students can learn from Hampton Roads experts. Although the Kennedys opened a U.S. head office in Thomasville, Georgia, in February, this is their first venture in Virginia.
“We put about 10,000 miles on the car in the little bit of time we were here, visiting potential partners and locations,” Crystal Kennedy says. “There were many places chasing us to lay our heads there, but Virginia really, really shone bright for us, especially Hampton Roads with its naval center of excellence.”
AUKUS’ success hinges on preparing a skilled workforce capable of supporting Australia’s long road to sovereign nuclear-powered submarines, Lempke notes, and HII is already partnering with several academic institutions in Australia toward that objective.
QMS is also part of this larger international effort, Crystal Kennedy says, and she hopes the Newport News facility, where hundreds of Australian technicians will be trained each year, will be open and operating by the end of the year.
“As of right now, America has different standards from Australia and the U.K., so we need to train people in all the procedures and requirements as we start to share information and [are] able to test any components in the whole of the trilateral agreement,” she says. “So, there won’t be any sending back parts or not being able to fulfill needs in the supply chain because the technicians coming out of our training facility will already have that knowledge.”
An Australian maritime company announced Tuesday it will set up a submarine and shipbuilding training institution in Norfolk for the short term and will seek a permanent home in Newport News.
Quality Maritime Surveyors (QMS), based in the suburbs of Adelaide, Australia, is one of the pioneering companies to take the plunge into Virginia’s waters, following a 2021 agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Dubbed AUKUS for the three participating nations, the international agreement calls for the U.S. and the U.K. to share nuclear propulsion technology with Australia, with the Royal Australian Navy set to acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, including three to five Virginia-class submarines in the 2030s.
QMS, run by CEO Crystal Kennedy and her husband, Director Shaun Kennedy, specializes in nondestructive testing and inspection of materials used in marine vessels, typically metals.
Speaking to Virginia Business in March, the Kennedys said they planned to start a training school for Australian shipbuilders in Newport News so they can learn from Hampton Roads experts. Although the Kennedys opened a U.S. head office in Thomasville, Georgia, in February, this is their first venture in Virginia.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, QMS will be located temporarily at the Hampton Roads Alliance’s IDEA Lab in Norfolk’s World Trade Center, while the couple seeks a permanent location in Newport News.
“We put about 10,000 miles on the car in the little bit of time we were here, visiting potential partners and locations,” Crystal Kennedy said in March. “There were many places chasing us to lay our heads there, but Virginia really, really shone bright for us, especially Hampton Roads with its naval center of excellence.
“Our expansion into Hampton Roads marks an exciting chapter for QMS,” Kennedy added in a statement Tuesday. “We are thrilled to bring our decades of experience and innovative training solutions to the U.S., where we aim to support local maritime technicians and contribute to the advancement of safety, efficiency and technological innovation within the shipbuilding industry.”
Doug Smith, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Alliance, added in his own statement that QMS’ expansion “will undoubtedly strengthen our regional shipbuilding ecosystem and contribute to the success of initiatives like the AUKUS submarine program.”
What AUKUS could do
AUKUS is expected to bring in more business for Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), the Fortune 500 shipbuilder and parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding, and more Australian shipbuilders could set up shop in Virginia.
“AUKUS is a defense-focused alliance to promote economic prosperity and regional stability in the Indo-Pacific with Australia, which has always been one of our best allies, and the U.K., which has historic ties to Australia,” explained U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, in a March interview with Virginia Business. “Its goal is to develop joint capacity so we can promote stability and defer aggression by China or anyone else who wants to create trouble in the region.”
Kaine, who serves on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, was instrumental in passing provisions to implement and strengthen the agreement, which he said will create jobs in Virginia over the next decade.
AUKUS has two pillars, the first laying out a roadmap for Australia to develop the capacity to operate, build and maintain nuclear subs over the next 30 years. As a signatory to the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Australia currently does not have a well-developed nuclear industry, but the U.S. and the U.K. have shared nuclear propulsion technology for more than 60 years and now share that information with Australia under the new agreement.
Nuclear-powered submarines, being quiet, faster and less detectable, are highly preferred to diesel-powered subs, Kaine said.
The second pillar of AUKUS is more of a carte blanche for collaboration among the three nations in cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, hypersonic capabilities and aerospace investments, and that in particular excites Kaine.
“I think there are going to be a lot of opportunities for Virginia companies and universities on this more open-ended ‘pillar two’ side,” he said. “We have a lot of innovators in Virginia. I think there’s a role for Virginia companies that have space assets. There will be a lot of opportunities to innovate in some of these areas like cyber and AI, and there’s going to be some great opportunities for Virginia businesses in that as well.”
Collaborations in Virginia
With decades of nuclear shipbuilding experience, HII is already collaborating with leading defense companies in the U.K. to support AUKUS and has engaged with more than 200 Australian companies hoping to qualify to become HII suppliers, according to Michael Lempke, who heads HII’s Australia business efforts.
While the greater goals of AUKUS are defense-oriented, the agreement is “an unprecedented opportunity for the integration and expansion of industrial capacity” across the three nations, explained Lempke. “We are well-positioned to leverage our longstanding expertise in nuclear shipbuilding, workforce development, supply chain analytics, industrial maintenance and sustainment, and other related defense technologies to support our trilateral partners.”
AUKUS’ success hinges on preparing a skilled workforce capable of supporting Australia’s long road to sovereign nuclear-powered submarines, Lempke notes, and HII is already partnering with several academic institutions in Australia toward that objective.
QMS is also part of this larger international effort, Crystal Kennedy said in March, and she hopes the Newport News facility, where hundreds of Australian technicians will be trained each year, will be open and operating by the end of the year.
“As of right now, America has different standards from Australia and the U.K., so we need to train people in all the procedures and requirements as we start to share information and [are] able to test any components in the whole of the trilateral agreement,” she said. “So, there won’t be any sending back parts or not being able to fulfill needs in the supply chain because the technicians coming out of our training facility will already have that knowledge.”
This February, during Black History Month, Virginia Business is pleased to honor 17 distinguished leaders from across the commonwealth in our second annual Virginia Black Business LeadersAwards. This year’s cohort of honorees represent industries ranging from advertising, architecture, defense contracting, finance and health care to higher education and nonprofits.
Our editors chose this year’s winners from a pool of 60 nominated executives submitted by our readers and last year’s honorees. Nominees were scored on factors including overall career achievement, community impact and mentorship. Additionally, we have named Salamander Resorts CEO Sheila Johnson to our Virginia Black Business Leaders Hall of Fame, celebrating the first Black woman billionaire’s long, successful career and leadership in media, sports and hospitality. Check out her interview here.
With each of these 10 men and seven women, you’ll read about how they achieved success and what they’re doing to pass their wisdom on to younger generations. One common thread among our winning leaders is that they care a great deal about people — whether it’s employees, customers, family, students or mentees — and often put them ahead of the bottom line.
Acknowledging the history of their forebears, including family members who struggled amid the Jim Crow South and parents who immigrated to the United States, this group of executives is looking forward while remembering where they came from.
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2024 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards!
Abdullah
MAKOLA ABDULLAH
PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY, ETTRICK
Abdullah set his sights on a career in education because of his mother, who was a psychologist and adjunct professor, and an aunt who was a teacher. “I thought it was the coolest thing ever to help people become the best version of themselves,” he says.
Since arriving at VSU in 2016, that could be Abdullah’s job description. He admits that given social media and technology, students today are different than in his day. The solution, he says, is to work harder to keep their attention.
A graduate of Howard University and Northwestern University, Abdullah is part of President Joe Biden’s HBCU advisory board and chairs the Association of Public & Land-grant Universities board. He says that having a good support system is key — including the “best wife in the world,” Ahkinyala Cobb-Abdullah, a dean at Virginia Union University.
Ashton
KENDRICK ASHTON
CO-FOUNDER AND CO-CEO, THE ST. JAMES GROUP, RESTON
Ashton is the first to tell you he loves to work, taking energy and satisfaction from what he does. “What appeals to me is the opportunity The St. James creates for people of all ages to increase their abilities and perform better, while creating a community that ranges from 3-year-olds to 90-year-olds.”
He and his friend and business partner, Craig Dixon, opened St. James’ namesake sports, wellness and entertainment complex in Springfield in 2018.
After earning a law degree and MBA at the University of Chicago, he was a founding member and managing director of Perella Weinberg Partners, a financial services firm. Ashton is also a board member of Canadian cannabinoid company The Cronos Group and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
Bibbs
JIM BIBBS
CHIEF HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER, LIFENET HEALTH, VIRGINIA BEACH
Bibbs has had a storied career in human resources, with more than 20 years of leadership experience at the Port of Virginia and North Carolina-based health care company Quintiles, now part of IQVIA. In 2020, he joined LifeNet, the 40-year-old not-for-profit organization that helps match patients with organ, tissue and cell transplants.
“I’m at a great point in my career, to work for an organization that does such great things for humanity,” Bibbs says. “The people we serve are going from one difficult moment to a better one, whether it’s receiving regenerative tissue or an organ transplant. It’s a very good feeling to be a part of something that’s bigger than me.”
Bibbs previously served as chair for the Urban League of Hampton Roads and the Hampton Roads Chamber.
Burton
DEBORAH BURTON
VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY BASED PROGRAMS, UMFS, NEWPORT NEWS
A former social worker who joined United Methodist Family Services of Virginia in 1995, Burton now oversees UMFS’ community-based programs serving children in foster care and families across the state.
A Norfolk State University alum, Burton knew she wanted to be in a helping field. She first did residential care, then moved to the state Department of Social Services, where she worked with children in foster care. At UMFS, she continues that work. “It’s an honor to be out in the community and be an advocate for those without voices.”
Burton, who loves being a mother, has come to two conclusions, the first being that her gifts and talents aren’t for her but to influence those coming up behind her. She’s also a strong advocate of self-care, taking time off to rest and recharge.
Dixon
CRAIG DIXON
CO-FOUNDER AND CO-CEO, THE ST. JAMES GROUP, RESTON
In the 2010s, Dixon and his business partner and friend, Kendrick Ashton (see entry, Page 22), identified an access problem for adults and children in the Washington, D.C., area who wanted to be active — facilities for different sports and activities were scattered all over the region. In 2018, they opened The St. James, a 450,000-square-foot sports, wellness and entertainment complex, in Springfield, later adding smaller, more streamlined versions in Reston and Bethesda, Maryland.
The son of Jamaican immigrants, Dixon grew up in a family focused on entrepreneurship and education. Dixon earned bachelor’s and law degrees from William & Mary, where he and Ashton met as roommates. He’s also a member of Vivid Seats’ board of directors and was senior counsel for Smithfield Foods.
Dixon says he’s learned the importance of relationships in business and to keep going regardless of challenges.
Foster
MOSES FOSTER JR.
PRESIDENT AND CEO, WEST CARY GROUP, RICHMOND
In 2007, Foster founded West Cary Group, a marketing, communications and advertising agency, fulfilling a lifelong dream to run and grow a company. Under Foster’s direction, the firm serves big-name clients like New York Life, Richmond International Airport and Foster’s former employer, Capital One.
Foster also serves on the MCV Foundation’s board and is director emeritus for NextUp RVA, a nonprofit that recruits business leaders to mentor underserved Richmond Public Schools students. West Cary Group has won numerous awards for its creative work and has been recognized as a top workplace.
“One of my proudest moments was when an employee shared with me that she was buying her first house. This dream I had of running a company had matured to the point it allowed someone to buy a home,” Foster says.
Gandy has handled money her entire career, starting with her first job as a part-time bank teller as an undergrad at the University of North Carolina. Today, she’s an executive at Chevy Chase Trust, a top-ranked investment firm with over $35 billion in assets under management.
Gandy is also chairman of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the first Black woman to lead the organization’s board in its 100-year history.
“My parents came up in an era where career options for African Americans were limited, and my father, a teacher, said, ‘You now have opportunities not open to me.’ That’s one of the reasons banking appealed to me,” Gandy says. “I often hear, ‘There aren’t enough of us in the wealth management field.’ People think that you have to come from a wealthy family or have connections to be successful, and that’s not the case.”
Grinnage
KYM GRINNAGE
REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, GRAY TELEVISION; GENERAL MANAGER, WWBT NBC12, RICHMOND
Grinnage has been a news junkie since childhood, tuning into the nightly news with his grandmother. Today, as general manager of Richmond’s longtime NBC affiliate, he’s leading the people who report the news every day — although it was a sacrifice at first.
“I took a pay cut to come from New York and start all over in Richmond as a junior account executive, but getting hired at NBC12 33 years ago was one of the best things that ever happened to me,” he says.
Also, Grinnage adds, “It’s been good for the community to see a Black man leading a major TV station. Not only is it aspirational for a lot of people, but people feel their voice can be heard and projected back into the community.”
Grinnage is chair-elect of the Virginia Association of Broadcasters and was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame in 2020.
Hines
LINDA HINES
VIRGINIA MEDICAID MARKET PRESIDENT, HUMANA, MIDLOTHIAN
Hines saw firsthand growing up in rural Virginia the challenges her community had accessing health care, and she made it her life’s purpose to improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations in the commonwealth.
“People had to drive 50, 60 miles to get care. No one was there to help them navigate the health care system or show them how to lead a healthy life,” recalls Hines.
Having earned two nursing degrees and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University, Hines received VCU’s top nursing achievement award in 2022 in recognition of her 25-year career in managed care leadership. In October 2023, she joined Humana as the Virginia Medicaid regional president, after serving in a similar role for Sentara Health.
Hines is also a board member for the nonprofit Rx Partnership and the VCU School of Business Foundation.
Hussein
MOHAMED HUSSEIN
CEO, PGLS, ARLINGTON COUNTY
Growing up in Northern Virginia with parents who spoke Somali and Arabic, Hussein was exposed to multiple languages from birth. Six years studying Arabic in Saudi Arabia helped him further polish his linguistic skills. So, in 2013, when he was 24, Hussein started Piedmont Global Language Solutions (PGLS), offering translation, interpretation and language training services. By 2021, the company’s revenue grew to $30 million, and it now has 120 full-time employees and more than 10,000 contract workers.
PGLS wasn’t even Hussein’s first entrepreneurial endeavor, a fact he attributes to his love of building and taking chances. “Building is easy; scaling is harder,” he says. “Taking something from a handful of employees to a several hundred-person operation is the challenge.”
In addition to running PGLS, Hussein works with organizations to connect with youths and other entrepreneurs.
Isom
PAMELA ISOM
CEO AND FOUNDER, ISADVICE & CONSULTING, DUMFRIES
When President Joe Biden issued an executive order last October aimed at ensuring America’s leadership in harnessing the potential — and mitigating the risks — of artificial intelligence, Isom’s company was already there, guiding the safer use of ethical AI.
Founded in January 2023, IsAdvice & Consulting is the result of Isom’s decades in the private and public sector, including serving as executive director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Artificial Intelligence and Technology Office. “I saw opportunities to blend AI and cybersecurity to solve some challenges, especially around equity, opportunity and sustainability,” she says. “I’m passionate about equity.”
Among her influences, Isom cites Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and her mother, who taught her to embrace fear and move forward. Support and encouragement for her vision of entrepreneurship came from her husband and grown daughter.
Myers
J.D. MYERS II
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/EAST REGION MANAGER, COX COMMUNICATIONS, CHESAPEAKE
A military brat and Army veteran, Myers says that the communications industry is the hottest business to be in as the federal government extends broadband to last miles, so no one is left technologically behind. After joining Cox in 2006, he’s now in charge of the telecommunications and cable provider’s East Coast operations.
Myers traces his personal communication style to MLK and JFK, citing their “phenomenal ability to energize, galvanize and share a vision,” but when it comes to how he looks at the world, it’s his parents he thanks. He believes that the best leaders are also teachers.
“It’s not enough to have a seat at the table, you also have to know how to ‘eat’ — to bring value, to ensure your voice is heard and come prepared to make an impression to maintain your seat.”
Noel
TYRONE NOEL
HAMPTON ROADS MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA; GREATER VIRGINIA MARKET EXECUTIVE, MERRILL LYNCH WEALTH MANAGEMENT, WILLIAMSBURG
In September 2023, Noel took over the Hampton Roads territory for Bank of America, combining the role with his work as Merrill Lynch’s market executive. He has been involved with financial services for more than 20 years.
“My first job in finance helped a lot of people get their first homes, then my pursuit as a financial adviser let me help them stay in their homes,” says Noel. “Leading a team of 106 advisers across the area, I love knowing that we are helping put their kids through college or pass their wealth to their children.”
Noel demonstrates a strong commitment to service both in and outside the workplace, serving as a mentor through the Merrill Women’s Exchange and Black professionals’ group, while engaging in nonprofit work throughout the state, including the Boys & Girls Clubs and various food banks.
Pinnock
BURT PINNOCK
PRINCIPAL AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, BASKERVILL, RICHMOND
Pinnock quips that he’s had an interesting career arc: first as an intern at Baskervill, then starting his own architecture firm, and finally returning as board chair at Baskervill, which was founded in 1897.
Pinnock is keenly aware that his firm wasn’t always on the right side of history, having built the former monument to Confederate President Jefferson Davis in Richmond. “Selecting me as chairman of its board says a lot about who we are as a company and who we want to be, compared to where we started,” he says.
The Virginia Tech grad is also practice leader of the company’s civic and cultural division. Pinnock continues his commitment to the Storefront for Community Design, a Richmond nonprofit he founded to engage the next generation of designers.
Pollock-Berry
DEBBIE POLLOCK-BERRY
CHIEF PEOPLE AND CULTURE OFFICER, PLEZi NUTRITION, ASHBURN
Although she’s held her position for less than a year, Pollock-Berry is all-in with PLEZi Nutrition, and not just because former first lady Michelle Obama is a co-founder and strategic partner of the startup. It was the company’s mission focused on the health and well-being of children that attracted her.
Pollock-Berry credits her leadership style to her former boss at AOL, Dave Harmon, but insists it’s her co-workers and employees who most influence her now. Rather than treat people as she’d want to be treated — her mother’s advice — she prefers to take the time to get to know people to find out how they want to be treated “because everyone is different.”
Her own advice to employees is to work hard and play hard. “My goal is to be profitable and to create a culture where everyone wants to work because they believe in the mission.”
Purvis
SHAWN PURVIS
PRESIDENT AND CEO, QINETIQ US, McLEAN
A 27-year defense contracting industry veteran, Purvis has held leadership roles at Northrop Grumman, Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and Lockheed Martin. Now, she leads the U.S. operations of British aerospace company QinetiQ, a job she started in 2022.
Heading up what she considers a disruptor company, Purvis likes to create an organizational mindset that encourages employees “to see beauty in chaos,” and she values diversity and inclusivity over hierarchy.
“I love challenging the status quo, to learn from existing innovations and improve on them to solve hard problems for our customers,” says Purvis, who earned a master’s degree in information systems from George Mason University.
In 2022, she was honored with the distinguished alumni award by GMU’s College of Engineering and Computing. She is a former member of GMU’s board of visitors.
Swann
ALEXIS SWANN
PRESIDENT – PENINSULA AND WILLIAMSBURG, TOWNEBANK, NEWPORT NEWS
After a long and successful career at Wells Fargo, and years of being wooed, Swann joined TowneBank as president for the bank’s Williamsburg and Peninsula regional operations in 2019.
At TowneBank, Swann wears her “numbers and people hats” to help her team develop and grow, engage with the community for their banking needs and use her business acumen to grow the bank’s market share. “Ultimately, we help people to achieve their dreams by aligning their finances.”
Outside of work, the William & Mary MBA graduate volunteers with the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula and Habitat for Humanity. She also advocates for financial literacy in various community settings.
Virginia is full of interesting people, and when it comes to this year’s batch of 100 people to meet for 2024, the commonwealth continues to deliver a bevy of fascinating newsmakers, professionals and go-getters worthy of your valuable networking time.
In Virginia Business’ fifth annual list of people to meet in the new year, you’ll find up-and-coming entrepreneurs, influential attorneys, nonprofit leaders, educators and health care executives. And in addition to people you’d expect to see in the pages of a business magazine, you’ll also find some extraordinary folks to get to know: two best-selling novelists, a popular Minor League Baseball announcer, a Netflix-famous true crime podcaster, a viral country music sensation and a TikToker famous for imitating German film director Werner Herzog.
You’ll definitely find some people here you’ll want to introduce yourself to in 2024. As always, you can break the ice by saying you read about them in Virginia Business.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Sign In
Free Newsletter
