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byline: Joan Tupponce

‘Not a one-trick year’

The Hampton Roads area scored big in 2016 with localities landing business prospects ranging from a human resources management giant to a growing national coffee company.

“It was our best year since 2000, largely because of Automatic Data Processing (ADP) coming into Norfolk and ramping up, adding 1,800 jobs,” says Rick Weddle, president and CEO of the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance.

Weddle’s group, which works with 10 jurisdictions in the region, handled 38 active projects in 2016. Three projects it helped bring in — ADP in Norfolk, Sanjo FineBlanking in Virginia Beach and Peet’s Coffee in Suffolk — totaled 2,020 jobs with capital investments of more than $107 million.

“Our capital investments are up considerably from last year,” Weddle says. “The pipeline for projects is more robust. We are working on two additional projects that would account for an additional 660 jobs and $7.7 million in capital investment that will be announced in the first quarter of this year.”

Chuck Rigney, director of development for Norfolk, sums up 2016 as “an amazing year” with numerous major project announcements totaling more than $800 million in new investment and close to 6,000 jobs. “It was not a one-trick year. It was a multifaceted success story,” he says.

“Obviously it was several years of work culminating in a fantastic year.”

The city’s biggest win was ADP, a global provider of cloud-based human capital management solutions. ADP is investing more than $32.5 million and bringing more than 1,800 new jobs to downtown Norfolk. It will occupy 286,000 square feet of Class A office space in a formerly empty office tower. Once fully staffed, the facility will be one of ADP’s largest centers in the United States.

The first 220 employees are already in the building, which should be fully occupied by May (see related story on Page 20). “This is the biggest economic development deal the Hampton Roads region has seen in over 20 years,” Rigney says.

Other notable projects last year include the long-awaited Simon’s Norfolk Premium Outlets. The first phase of the $75 million retail center, which will eventually have about 90 stores, is expected to open this summer.

IKEA is constructing a 332,000-square-foot building near the outlet center on the other side of Interstate 64 and Northampton Boulevard. The store hopes to open in 2018. “That represents 500 construction jobs and 250 permanent positions,” Rigney says. “Everybody is excited about IKEA. It’s a big win for the region.”

The $40 million Waterside District being developed in downtown Norfolk by Baltimore-based Cordish Cos. is completely leased and on schedule to open in late April.

The Main Hotel and Conference Center, a $150 million public/private partnership that includes a 300-room luxury Hilton hotel, opens in April.

In Suffolk, one of the city’s biggest announcements involves West Coast-based flooring and tile importer Emser Tile, which will open a $16.25 million, 400,000-square-foot facility early this year. It will employ 98 people. “They needed a facility on the East Coast and did a port search,” says Kevin Hughes, the city’s director of economic development. “Their search got down to Virginia and the Port of Baltimore.”

The city’s strong cluster of food and beverage companies was a plus for Peet’s Coffee, another huge win. The California-based company is investing $58 million to establish a manufacturing site in the city. The 175,000-square-foot roastery will produce a variety of coffee and create 135 jobs.

Meanwhile, Virginia Beach added more than 1,500 jobs and more than $100 million in new capital investment last year.

Facebook and Microsoft (MAREA Cable) and Telefonica (BRUSA Cable) tapped the city as the mid-Atlantic landing site for the next generation of ultra-high-speed subsea telecommunications cables. The deal includes the construction of a 24,000-square-foot cable-landing center in Corporate Landing Business Park, a capital investment of more than $11 million.

“This project significantly advances Virginia Beach’s potential for future projects of this kind,” says Warren Harris, the city’s economic development director. “Additionally, we anticipate even more interest because the stronger telecom infrastructure will have great appeal to businesses that require big data.”

Virginia Beach-based Globalinx Data Center LLC sees the value in the cable project. It is buying 10 acres of land in Corporate Landing Business Park from the Virginia Beach Development Authority for $2 million. The company plans to develop a 138,000-square-foot international data center.

The city also has broken ground on the fourth phase of Town Center of Virginia Beach, a $42 million mixed-use project, and was selected by Barcelona-based Sanjo FineBlanking as its North American headquarters and manufacturing center. The $17.5 million investment is expected to create 75 jobs. Construction will start this month.

Newport News is getting a boost from the Newport News Shipbuilding North Yard and Foundry-Defense Production Zone project. Newport News Shipbuilding will build a new foundry for production of component parts, engineering and design for Virginia-class and Ohio-class submarines. A $750 million investment, the project is expected to create 1,000 jobs.

The city made a number of announcements, including a $25.7 million investment from Printpack, a flexible packaging converter. It has plans for a 150,000-square-foot expansion of its manufacturing operation in Newport News. The project will create 50 jobs.

Florence Kingston, director of development of the Newport News Economic Development Authority, is particularly proud of the $7.2 million Brooks Crossing project where a grocery, Jim’s Local Market, opened in a former “food desert” in the city’s Southeast community.

Brooks Crossing is also home to the Newport News Shipbuilding Collaboration Project. Virginia Beach-based real estate company Armada Hoffler, in conjunction with former NFL quarterback Aaron Brooks, will build a 95,000-square-foot building with 80,000 of the square feet leased by the shipyard for design and engineering applications. 

Marketplace at Tech Center continues to grow as new retailers and restaurants open in the 250,000-square-foot retail center. It is part of Tech Center, the 100-acre mixed-use development in Newport News being developed by W.M. Jordan Co. The center also includes the 50-acre Tech Center Research Park where a research building will be constructed, building a nearly 200,000-square-foot speculative facility that will include 20 drop trailer locations, 28 docks and food-grade specifications. The $11 million investment is under construction.

In 2016, Hampton announced projects involving more than $83 million in capital investment and 498 new jobs.  The city’s largest deal: The $60 million acquisition, redevelopment and repositioning of the Riverdale Shopping Center, which will be renamed Riverpointe. Southeastern Development Associates will redevelop the 50-acre center, which will include a 123,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace.

Maximus, a contractor of program management and administrative services for government agencies, is investing $1.87 million to establish a customer support center in the city, a project expected to create 189 jobs.

Hampton also had several other redevelopment projects announced last year. The city’s historic National Guard Armory is being repurposed as a craft brewery, restaurant, distillery and live entertainment venue called the Vanguard.

In Chesapeake, the big news was the August announcement that Dollar Tree Inc. will spend $110 million to expand its headquarters, adding 600 new jobs over the next six years.  The discount retailer now has 14,000 stores following its $9.1 billion acquisition of Family Dollar. Virginia competed with North Carolina for the project, which also retains 825 jobs in Chesapeake.

Another major expansion involves 200 new jobs at Sutherland Global Services, which is investing $2.2 million in its Chesapeake facility. Before the May announcement, the company had 320 employees providing insurance business process outsourcing services.

Last year Portsmouth saw five multifamily investment projects come to fruition, including Harbor Vista, Sterling King One and Two, Tower 507 and the Seaboard Coastline Building with Legend Brewing leasing space on the ground floor of the Seaboard property and opening this year. 

In addition, Shenandoah Valley-based InterChange Group Inc., a provider of warehousing and third-party logistics, is building a nearly 200,000-square-foot speculative facility. The $11 million building is under construction.

An 1,800-job project

New Jersey-based human resources firm ADP had specific requirements in mind in seeking a location for a new customer service center.

“This is something that is taken very seriously by the company,” Nick Maniaci, ADP’s division vice president, says of the search process it started over a year ago. “We want to make sure the locations we select meet the very special criteria we have, such as a presence of veterans, a favorable business climate and diversity of employees.”

Employees at these ADP facilities help recruit customers and provide support to existing customers. “That is why it’s important that we had the right kinds of employees to work with our clients,” Maniaci says.

The company did its due diligence, checking demographics, the presence of education institutions and area amenities at each potential site.  “Once we processed this information we came up with a short list of locations that we felt were the strongest based on our criteria,” Maniaci says. 

ADP scouted four or five locations, primarily on the East Coast. “We whittled that down to three places,” Maniaci says. “Hands down, Norfolk was the place to build our center.”

The company actually considered Chesapeake and Norfolk. “We had a building that fit ADP’s need,” says Chuck Rigney, director of Norfolk’s development department. “It was a strong signal that Norfolk was doing good work making downtown an attractive place to be.”

ADP is investing $32.25 million in establishing its new facility in a 288,000-square-foot building at 2 Commercial Place in downtown Norfolk. The project will create 1,800 jobs. “This is the largest single job announcement in the region since the early 1990s and the largest job announcement in Norfolk by a private company in recent history,” Rigney says.

The company received a $5 million state grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund, an amount that was matched by the city. ADP also is eligible for a Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit from the state along with funding and services through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program for employee training.  

“This was a real team effort,” says Rigney of the cooperation the city received from businesses and local and state officials in landing the deal. “It’s a good example of how good projects and close cooperation can result in good things.”

The company liked Norfolk because of its talent pool, its local colleges and its large veteran population. Hampton Roads has one of the largest concentrations of military personnel in the U.S.

“Those are all the things that went into us saying, ‘this is the right place,’”  Maniaci says, noting that 33 veterans and 10 military spouses already have been hired in Norfolk.

ADP also was impressed with the investment taking place downtown, with projects such as The Main hotel and the revived Waterside District on the Elizabeth River scheduled to open soon.

ADP expects these amenities to help it attract employees, the majority of whom likely will be right out of college or have been in the workforce for only one or two years. “This area appeals to millennials,” Maniaci says. “We want to create an environment where our associates can grow and build on their careers. We want them to stay with us as long as possible.”

Once the site was picked, ADP needed to move quickly in setting up its new center. Its home is a building owned by Buddy Gadams, the head of Norfolk-based Marathon Development Group. “From our first talk to having the lease signed was about four and a half months,” Gadams says. “It was a rocket deal.”

ADP wanted to create a workspace that millennials would enjoy. The building was gutted and renovated by Richmond-based Hourigan Construction. ADP moved into its new quarters on Dec. 1 after renting temporary space in a nearby building.

The new ADP center includes a tech café and a gym, and it soon will have an onsite medical facility. “It’s a beautiful building,” Maniaci says, adding that employees like the space. “When you walk through, you often see foosball games going on near the cafeteria.”

The building also features gathering spaces where employees can brainstorm, as well as several training rooms using a variety of media. “Millennials learn differently than other generations,” Maniaci says. “They are more geared to digital learning and different media. We want happy, trained employees so we can provide clients with the best support possible.”

ADP is recruiting aggressively to fill Norfolk positions. In mid-January it had 450 employees at the new facility, but the number increases each week. “Anyone can go to norfolkjobs.adp.com to apply for a job,” Maniaci says. “That site is focused squarely on Norfolk.”

Maniaci was impressed with the cooperation the company received in moving to Norfolk. “It was very quick,” he says. “There wasn’t a lot of bureaucracy or holdups. We were able to partner with officials very well.”

Eastern Virginia’s recent deals

Company Location #Jobs
ADP Norfolk 1,800
Dollar Tree Inc. Chesapeake 600
Geico Corp. Virginia Beach 390
Sutherland Global Services Chesapeake 200
Movement Mortgage Norfolk 200
Maximus Hampton 189
Norfolk Southern Corp. Norfolk 166
Peet's Coffee Suffolk 135
Newport News Industrial Corp. Newport News 125
Emser Tile Suffolk 98

Source: Virginia Economic Development Partnership, 2016.

New jobs on the way

Southern Virginia has been hit hard in recent decades with the decline of U.S. textile, tobacco and furniture industries. Economic development projects announced last year, however, promise to create many new jobs.

Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., for example, announced eight projects during 2016, which are expected to create 281 jobs and bring $31.2 million of taxable investment.

New companies to the area include Starsprings, a springs manufacturer based in Sweden. The company invested $3.7 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing operation in Henry County. The project created 68 jobs.

North Carolina-based Performance Livestock and Feed Company Inc. is investing $42 million to establish a new feed production operation in Henry. The project, now under construction, is expected to create 32 jobs. The company will buy nearly $11 million in Virginia-grown grains and other feed ingredients.

Novatech Group, a Canadian manufacturer of door glass, steel doors, patio doors, retractable screens and insulated glass, invested $3 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing operation in Henry County. The company has leased a 100,000-square-foot facility to produce and distribute a variety of patio doors. It is expected to create 50 jobs.

“Seven of the eight announcements we had were direct leads to us,” says Mark Heath, CEO of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. “We appreciate companies that do their homework. They are looking for a community where they can have an ongoing relationship with the community and the economic development organization.”

He believes 2017 will be a good year, as well. “We are marketing a new 800-acre industrial park called Commonwealth Crossing Business Centre,” Heath says. “We haven’t been able to compete in that market up to this point. Companies interested in that type of site are larger capital investment projects. We are excited about being able to compete for some of those deals.”

Danville and Pittsylvania County also had some big wins in 2016. “We have had a busy year,” says Linwood Wright, public affairs and governmental consultant with the Danville Office of Economic Development.

Two major announcements include Japanese-owned Kyocera SGS Precision Tool Inc. and England-based Overfinch, which manufactures Range Rover vehicles.

Kyocera SGS Precision Tool, a subsidiary of Kyocera Corp., is investing $9.5 million to establish a North American technology and strategic manufacturing hub in the Cyber Park owned by the Danville-Pittsylvania County Regional Industrial Facility Authority. The project will create 35 jobs.

“This announcement is another positive example of how the city, the county and their respective leadership can work closely together to recruit and attract high-quality companies such as Kyo­­­­­­cera,” says Matt Rowe, director of economic development for Pittsylvania County.

Overfinch expects to invest at least $8 million to establish a manufacturing operation in Cyber Park. The investment includes an assembly and conversion workshop, vehicle servicing, diagnostics and a parts warehouse. Virginia competed against California for the project, which will create 41 jobs.

Local officials say they won both projects because of the reputation of the area’s workforce.

“I think strategically it is our biggest incentive,” says Wright. “We have emphasized specific training in the areas of precision machining and are beginning a similar effort in computer sciences. We have invested more than $30 million in the region in precision machining to create a workforce pipeline that will supply a certified workforce.”

“We are putting the word out that, if you are looking for qualified workers, come to Danville,” adds Telly Tucker, the city’s director of economic development.

In addition to new companies coming to town, some existing firms are expanding.  JTI Leaf Services, for example, is investing $7 million to expand its tobacco processing facility in Danville. A new 110,000-square-foot storage facility opened late last year.

Pittsylvania County ended the year with $750 million of announced economic development investment as well as the creation of 270 jobs.

In addition to Kyocera and Overfinch it also saw the $7 million expansion of Gregory Lumber Inc., creating three jobs.

The sawmill company invested in construction and equipment such as an automated lumber sorting system. It also agreed to purchase almost $8 million in Virginia timber during the next three years.

In addition, Southern Power, a subsidiary of the Atlanta-based Southern Co., plans to develop 300 acres of land in Berry Hill Industrial Park for a natural gas generating facility.

“According to what the company submitted for air permits, it will generate 820 megawatts of electricity. The estimated capital investment for the project is around $600 million,” Rowe says. “During construction it will have about 800 to 1,000 people on site. The company is looking at around 25 permanent jobs with an average salary exceeding $60,000.”

Pittsylvania expects to make more announcements the first quarter of this year as well. “We are getting a lot of attention from companies overseas because of our workforce training,” Rowe says. “We are seeing a lot of prospects that find it cheaper to build here and use our workforce.”

Other areas of Southern Virginia saw an uptick in activity last year, especially from companies wanting to set up new operations quickly.

“It was fairly busy for us,” says Jeff Reed, executive director of Keysville-based Virginia’s Growth Alliance, which represents 10 counties (Amelia, Brunswick, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Greensville, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway and Prince Edward) and the city of Emporia. “We’re seeing a demand for product. Most people that are looking are in a ready-to-go mode. They are looking for existing buildings or pads.”

One of the region’s largest economic projects was Dominion Virginia Power’s $1.1 billion Brunswick County Power Station, which began generating electricity last April.

The 1,358-megawatt combined-cycle facility has 47 full-time employees and is not far from Dominion’s 1,588-megawatt, $1.3 billion Greensville County Power Station, which is under construction. The plant has 700 workers on site and should have close to 50 employees when complete.

Another boost to the area: Microsoft Corp. will invest $251.6 million to expand its data center site in Mecklenburg County, creating 44 jobs.

This is the fifth time the company has expanded the facility. The company has invested close to $2 billion in the facility and created more than 250 jobs since 2010.

Additionally, Firestone Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Virginia Solar, announced plans to build a new $35 million 200-acre solar facility that will be the first utility-scale solar generator of its kind in Buckingham County. The project is scheduled for completion this year.

This year also looks promising for the alliance. “We have some good things in the pipeline,” Reed says. “We hope to see announcements of some smaller types of projects in the first quarter. We are also seeing a lot of interest from Europe in foreign-directed investment.”

One of the alliance’s economic development challenges is lack of identity, Reed says, noting the organization is now five years old. “People don’t know who we are because we are so new. We are trying to have more strategic meetings with people who are end users to help us spread the word about the region.”

Virginia Wesleyan College charts course for growth

Norfolk-based Virginia Wesleyan College’s newly unveiled 10-year master plan focuses on increasing enrollment and adding new facilities.

“We want to increase [the number of residential students] from 850 to 1,000 students and take enrollment from 1,400 to 1,700,” Scott Miller, the college’s president, says.

The institution-wide planning process began in July 2015 when Miller took office. “I felt that it was really important to elaborate where we have been, where we are now and where we go in the future,” he says.

The college shared a draft of the master plan last year with stakeholders ranging from the board of trustees to Virginia Beach City Council. (Of the school’s 300 acres, 292 are in Virginia Beach.)

One of the college’s top priorities is the construction of the 40,000-square-foot Greer Environmental Sciences Center. It is on target for completion this June or July.

“An anonymous donor provided all the funds to construct, furnish and equip the building,” says Miller, noting that the center is named after former Virginia Wesleyan President Billy Greer who retired in 2015.

Other projects include the development of high-end apartments or condos on a 12-acre, school-owned tract of land across from the campus.

“It will accommodate the campus community [from upper level students to faculty] as well as the community as a whole,” Miller says. “Staff from Norfolk Academy and Chesapeake Bay Academy, which sit on either side of the college, said they were also interested in living there.”

The Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center is another facility scheduled to be built in the next three years. Susan Goode, a member of the board of trustees, and her husband David, the retired president and CEO of Norfolk Southern Corp., donated $5 million in seed money toward the project.

Another philanthropic couple, Joan and Macon Brock, gave an additional $5 million, Miller says. Joan Brock is also a member of the board of trustees. Macon Brock is chairman and co-founder of Chesapeake-based Dollar Tree Inc.

“We now have gifts and pledges of $12.7 million,” Miller says. “When we hit $14 million sometime in 2017, then we will start the architectural design and construction.”

Within the next five years the college will also build three additional townhouses for student housing as it increases its total enrollment by 300 students.

The master plan is very doable, Miller says. “This isn’t some pie-in-the-sky project. The process alone has excited and energized donors and the campus community.”

Staunton groups work on plans for innovation lab

Christina Cain is hoping to create a culture of innovation in Staunton. “We want to prepare people to meet the future needs of enterprise,” says Cain, executive director of the Staunton Creative Community Fund (SCCF).

Her organization plans to create an innovation lab, tentatively called The Reactor. It would provide a place for entrepreneurs to get financial, educational and technical assistance in getting startup companies off the ground.

In addition to co-working space, the lab would include “maker space” to develop product prototypes.

SCCF has been working on the lab for about a year. Its core partners in the project include: Staunton Makerspace, Mary Baldwin University, the city of Staunton, Skylar Innovations and the Staunton Downtown Development Association. “We have been talking about a physical place to be a catalyst for ingenuity and creativity when it comes to business,” Cain says.

She wants to ensure that the lab will be more than a co-working space. “One of the things that those co-working spaces don’t do is provide the intuitive and qualitative resources you need to get a business started,” she says.

The project now is in a planning phase after two of its partners received grants. Creative Community Fund was awarded a $40,000 grant through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development in November. In addition, Staunton Downtown Development Association got a $12,500 Virginia Main Street grant in October. Both grants will support a feasibility study to help locate a building and hire a team of architects.

“The grants will help us pay for the real, hard costs of getting this initiative into a building in Staunton,” Cain says, adding that there are quite a few structures in the city that would be a good fit.
SCCF also has an initiative that helps people invest in the community. “Those dollars can be used as leverage to raise more money,” Cain says.

One of the most important aspects of the project is the opportunity it presents for collaboration among community groups, she adds. “We will have the chance to show how well a wide variety of organizations can get things done in a public-private partnership.”

NCI leader has a long history with organization

Leanna Blevins was part of New College Institute before it became a state entity in 2006.  Now she leads NCI as its executive director.

Blevins, formerly NCI’s chief academic officer, had been acting executive director since 2015. She received her permanent appointment in December.

“I wanted to be part of building something new and different that would help transform the Martinsville community by providing opportunities for the people that live there,” she says in explaining how in 2004 she became involved in the educational initiative that led to the creation of NCI. “It’s not very often that you get a chance to build an organization from the ground up.”

NCI is a multi-university, higher-education center. It provides access to degree programs, certifications and other educational projects such as experiential learning opportunities. “We do that through partner universities. We don’t offer degrees ourselves,” Blevins says.

NCI has faculty in residence from universities such as Longwood, Averett, U.Va., James Madison, Radford and Virginia State. “Students come here to complete years three and four of their bachelor’s degrees and also their master’s degrees,” Blevins says. “We partner with the Virginia Community College System for the first two years of education.”

Nearly 400 students have completed bachelor’s and master’s degrees at NCI in the past decade.

Nationally, enrollment in post-secondary education is down. In fall 2016, overall enrollment declined 1.4 percent from the previous year, according to National Student Clearinghouse research data.

“Enrollment is down in our degree program, but it’s up in programs where you don’t have to commit to a degree,” Blevins says. “We expect programs such as certificate programs and endorsements will rise, and we will see a leveling off in degree programs.”

The main opportunity for NCI, she says, “lies in combining the best of traditional higher education with the best practices of inventive post-secondary offerings. We have a real opportunity to do some creative programs that will be relevant to what the commonwealth needs as far as employment.”

In addition to classroom courses, NCI offers online classes as well as hybrid programs with a mix of online work and video conferencing.  “We offer a variety of options,” Blevins says. “We are working with our university partners to give people ways to get access to education in smaller, bite-size pieces. That is our challenge and our opportunity.”

Inova begins investment, accelerator programs

Hooks Johnston and Pete Jobse are leading two initiatives that have the same goal: Using innovation to improve patient outcomes and health-care operations at Falls Church-based Inova Health System.

They are the managing directors of Inova Strategic Investments and the Inova Personalized Health Accelerator. 

“Our goal is to seek out the latest technologies and get them quickly into the point of care at all of our facilities,” says Johnston, a co-founder and former general partner of the Vienna-based venture capital firm Valhalla Partners, which manages two funds totaling $440 million and has investments in 43 companies.

Jobse is the former CEO of the Herndon-based Center for Innovative Technology. At CIT, he created and led the Mach37 Cyber-Accelerator, the first cyber security-focused accelerator in the U.S.

Johnston and Jobse see the Inova initiatives as compelling career challenges. They could help make the “world a better place and provide significant value to the health system in improving patient outcome and driving economic development in Virginia,” Johnston says.

Inova Strategic Investments will invest in funds specializing in health-care and related technology ventures. It also will invest in companies aligned with Inova’s priorities, such as advanced analytics, innovations in safety and advances in information technology.

Inova Personalized Health Accelerator will assist in the development of startups focused on improving patient care, predicting and preventing disease, lowering costs and improving health outcomes.
“We are using a very panoramic view to take the health system to the forefront of technology,” Johnston says.

Inova Strategic Investments is expected to be up and running early this year. It has inherited a portfolio of six investments “We have made one investment already and we have two deals in the pipeline,” Jobse says.

He expects to see companies in the accelerator program working on data analytics and the next generation of health-related and diagnostic-related devices as well as sensor-based technology. “We also anticipate seeing devices such as sensor systems like the Apple watch that can be used to remotely monitor patients” after they have had operations, Jobse says.

Both programs are housed in the 117-acre Inova Center for Personalized Health campus, the former ExxonMobil headquarters located in Fairfax County. The health system bought the property in 2015 for $180 million.

The right fit

NuWave Solutions LLC is constantly on the lookout for employees who fit its culture.

“We are very specific with who we hire. We look for people that want to grow with the company and stay with us,” says Ryan Legge, executive vice president. “We look for self-motivated folks that strive to better their skills as well as the profile of the company.”

NuWave provides data analytics to public-sector customers. “What we look to do is help leaders improve efficiency, agility and productivity for their organization,” Legge says.

When they started NuWave in 1999, founders Howard Block, Mark Keyser and Rob Castle wanted to create a family-oriented corporate culture. “They wanted to give employees a voice in how the company runs,” Legge says.

With that goal in mind, the company offers employees leadership training. It also has an employee advisory council where NuWave leaders can solicit employees’ opinions on certain matters. “If we are going to entertain policy change, we will run it by this group,” Legge says.

The company also provides expenses-paid company trips for employees and their guests to places such as Cancun, the Bahamas, Florida and Las Vegas. “We also have a holiday party, company summer picnic, roving happy hours, birthday gift packages and new-hire welcome gifts,” Legge says.

Benefits include a program in which each employee can expense one lunch a month with another employee who is on a different project. “That helps all of our consultants get to know each other both professionally and personally,” Legge says.

The company also invests heavily in training, providing a certification bonus program, tuition reimbursement and a tailored training plan. It is converting its headquarters into an Analytics Center of Excellence. It will serve as an innovation lab as well as a training center where employees can train and try out new technologies. “We can also demonstrate the latest technology for clients,” Legge says.  

NuWave mainly works with the U.S. Department of Defense and federal civilian departments, such as the U.S. Department of Justice and the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Customers also include local and state governments.

One of its largest customers is the U.S. Army. NuWave provides it with enterprise business intelligence and data analytics. “In the project we are leading, we are pulling data from 50-plus data sources across the Army into one application so senior Army leaders can make more informed decisions,” says Legge.

For years, NuWave remained small with only about 15 employees. That situation began to change about five years ago. “We started to have more customers come to us for work,” Legge says. “Expanding was always with the intent of growing the right way.”

It now has about 50 employees, 90 percent of whom work at its McLean headquarters. The remaining 10 percent work at its Columbia, Md., location, which NuWave opened seven years ago. “We are proud of the fact that, when employees join the company, they stay with us for a long time,” Legge says.

Finding employees with the right credentials can be a challenge, he adds. “Many of our employees have security clearances, and there is a small pool of applicants that already have a security clearance,” he says.

In the last five years NuWave has averaged 10 to 20 percent annual revenue growth. Business can fluctuate, however, because of government spending cuts. Federal, local and state governments can alter their spending habits as well as the products they use. “Also a different administration can make things fluctuate,” Legge says.

Since its founding, the company has encouraged employees to give back to the community. It supports several local and national organizations through its charitable giving. They include Operation Renewed Hope Foundation (supporting homeless veterans), Lungevity (combating lung cancer) and Mission of Mercy a (mobile health-care clinic). The company provides Christmas gifts to needy Fairfax County school children.

“We pick charities that are dear to our hearts,” Legge says. “Employees can come up with programs as well. We love to see employees get passionate about charities.”

Growing well

From day one, Dynamis Inc. founders John Milam and John Braun were passionate about building a company that emphasizes the well-being of employees. “We work hard every day to keep our people happy so they want to be here,” says Milam, the company’s CEO. Braun is Dynamis’ president.

The Fairfax-based company custom designs software for incident response and management systems. Its main customers are the U.S. departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Dynamis has about 50 employees in locations ranging from Hawaii to Germany.

Before they started the company in 2008, Milam had been a defense consultant, and Braun was a legislative consultant. “The services we provide are high-end ana­lytics,” Milam says. “We had clients that needed the kind of analytical support that was creative and flexible.”

The company provides decision support for its customers. “Our customers have to make decisions such as what to do, how to do it and when to do it,” Milam says. “We help them with those decisions.”

The company is trying to increase its international business. One of its customers is the Brazilian government. It used a Dynamis information management system in planning logistics and keeping track of first responders during three major events — the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Summer Olympics and the July visit of Pope Francis.

“It gives them an operating picture of all the venues they want to defend,” Milam says of the software. “They have a visual understanding of where their threats are. They now have a national incident management command and control system.”

The Belgian Interior Ministry recently chose Dynamis to develop a customized nationwide incident and crisis management system based on the company’s Cobra platform. Cobra software tools support facility operations and help manage special events, emergencies and disasters.

The company expected to end 2016 with about $25 million in revenue. “[In 2017,] we are looking at $30 million,” Milam says.

Milam and Braun view their growing revenue as a result of happy employees doing their best work. The company has been on the Best Places list four times since 2011. “We don’t believe in work/life balance because that pits work against life. We believe in work/life integration,” Milam says.

He and Braun made a decision early on not to grow rapidly but to grow well. “We wanted to have a definitive culture and to build the back-office functions so when we got successful on the business development side, we could execute our contracts,” Milam says. 

To improve employee skills, Dynamis created the School of Athens, a forum for training and professional development. “We are trying to create a school where people can learn enough about themselves and the business to become thought leaders in our community,” says Milam, noting Dynamis is an ancient Greek word meaning heart, drive and spirit.

The school provides sessions, mostly taught by employees, on subjects ranging from corporate goals and values to technical skills. The company also has a mentoring program where employees are coached either one-on-one or in group sessions.

“We spend time talking about what we do, soliciting feedback on questions such as: Is the work interesting, is it challenging?” Milam says.

Many discussions take place in The Pit, an open semi-circle area at the company’s headquarters with six big, easy chairs and a white board. “We sit together and discuss issues of interest or concern,” Milam says. “We talk about everything from a project someone is working on to getting the best interest rate for your home.”

The company’s benefit package includes a tuition reimbursement plan and a wellness program. A personal trainer comes in weekly to meet with employees, and the company also provides a masseuse as needed. 

Milam believes management’s job is to make sure employees are happy in their work. “If you have an employee with something out of whack, the manager has to work on it,” he says.

The company’s 10,000-square-foot headquarters has an additional benefit for employees. “The best thing about this building is that it has a veranda on one side with a table, deck, chairs, etc.,” says Milam. “A lot of people go out there and work. We have a lot of meetings out there. It’s a relaxing atmosphere.”

Triple crown

top large employer

Accounting Principals officials describe their employees as a very loyal group. “Our voluntary turnover is almost nonexistent,” says Jennifer Dodge, managing director for the  professional recruitment and staffing company’s Richmond market. “We have a very tenured team here in Richmond.”

Some employees in the Richmond office, which includes the professional firm’s Ajilon and Parker + Lynch divisions, have been on the payroll for 20 years. “Our retention is well above what you would typically see in this industry, and our clients benefit strongly from the knowledge, the network and the relationships that are retained through our phenomenal people,” Dodge says.

She credits the company’s ability to retain employees to its culture. “We treat our employees like family. We all take care of each other, and this starts with the tone at the top,” she says. “Our executive leadership team truly cares about our employees and their families.” 

Accounting Principals has ranked first among large employers three times in the five years it has been a Best Places to Work in Virginia winner.

This year marks Accounting Principals’ 20th anniversary in the Richmond market. The firm provides executive search, professional consulting and temporary staffing services through its divisions.

Accounting Principals, for example, specializes in accounting staffing, while Ajilon focuses on corporate office recruiting. Parker + Lynch, on the other hand, provides executive search and professional consulting services.

The company traces its roots to Accounting Solutions, which started with a handful of offices in 1991. That company was sold to Accounting Principals in 2005, which in turn became a part of The Adecco Group in 2010. Adecco, based near Zurich, Switzerland, is the world’s largest staffing firm in the world and a Fortune Global 500 company.

“We were lucky enough to have been acquired by a much larger parent company, which is a global leader in professional recruitment with over 50 years in this business,” says Dodge.

Adecco has more than 33,000 employees worldwide. Its 2015 annual report lists the company’s annual revenue at 22 billion euros (a little more than $22 billion at the current conversion rate).

Accounting Principals has more than 75 locations and about 1,000 employees nationwide. The Richmond office has about 20 employees. 

Dodge says that, with its acquisition by Adecco, Accounting Principals now has the best traits of local and global companies. “We have been able to keep the local relationships, feel and culture that have made us so successful, but we are now backed by the resources of a global leader,” she says, adding, “One of the biggest changes was an enhanced benefit package.”

For example, Accounting Principals provides a wellness benefit that pays for portions of gym memberships, yoga classes and personal trainer sessions as well as smoking cessation and weight-loss classes.

The company also has sales contests offering employees substantial rewards. “We have given away BMWs and huge trips in our sales contests,” Dodge says.

The firm has several corporate initiatives that support nonprofit organizations and encourage employees to give back to the community. “I love our Win4Youth program,” Dodge says. Win4Youth is a foundation run by Adecco that contributes $1 for every kilometer achieved by employees participating together in physical fitness activities. 

“This encourages teambuilding, fitness and philanthropy all in one,” Dodge says. “We conduct multiple events throughout the year and give hundreds of thousands of dollars to children’s charities through this program. We pay for about 60 colleagues to travel, train and compete in international races as ambassadors of this program.”

Employees also can volunteer as a team to help other local causes three to five times a year. “We invite our clients to join us in our volunteer efforts,” Dodge says. “We have helped build homes for Habitat for Humanity, prepared and delivered meals for FeedMore and spent time conducting classes for Junior Achievement. We do this just about every year. We also give one volunteer day to every employee to volunteer, individually, for the cause of their choice.” 

The company’s goal is “doing the right thing and doing right by its people,” Dodge says. “We are a great place to work because of all of our people, our shared values and the way we treat each other. We really do follow the Golden Rule in everything we do.”

Even though employees work hard, they “also have a lot of fun, and we enjoy what we do,” Dodge adds. “We can be a bunch of goofballs sometimes, and we get very creative in finding different ways to have fun and lighten things up when we’ve been working too hard.”