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byline: Joan Tupponce

Lidl announcement boosts Arlington, Spotsylvania

Arlington officials say landing the U.S. headquarters of Lidl, a Germany-based discount supermarket chain, will help diversify the county’s economy.

One of the largest retailers in the world, Lidl operates nearly 10,000 stores in 26 European countries. It expects to begin opening stores in the U.S. in 2018. 

The company will invest $202 million in operations in Virginia. The total includes $77 million for the Arlington headquarters, where it will create 500 jobs, and $125 million for a regional headquarters and distribution center in Spotsylvania County, where it will employ 200 people.

Arlington competed ag­ainst North Carolina during the selection process. The win represents “a real opportunity to have the headquarters of a global company that is growing, has ambitious plans and is reputable,” says Christina Winn, director of the business investment group for Arlington Economic Development. “We look at Arlington as the perfect place to debut their operations.”

Lidl said three factors contributed to its decision to choose Arlington: the county’s young, educated workforce; the area’s regional transit options; and access to a major airport, Reagan National.

While Arlington continues to record one of the lowest unemployment rates in Virginia, federal budget cuts have affected the local economy.

“As we are continuing to diversify our economy, this was a perfect piece, a corporate headquarters that helps with our resiliency and sustainability and signals Arlington’s business-friendly orientation to companies all over the world,” Winn says.

Chris Yakabouski, chairman of the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors, says Lidl also will give his county a big boost. “This $80 billion organization will build the largest industrial structure in the Spotsylvania community,” he says.

Lidl’s U.S. president and CEO, Brendan Proctor, says the company will introduce U.S. shoppers to a different type of retail experience. “Our philosophy is simple: We are focused on offering customers top-quality products at the most competitive pricing in convenient locations,” he said in a statement to the press.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the two counties to secure the project. State incentives included $5 million in grants from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund and $2 million from the Virginia Economic Development Incentive Grant program.  The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors in July approved a $9.7 million incentive package for Lidl. The incentives include an up-front payment of $1.4 million from the county.

Continuous learner willing to stretch his comfort zone

SMALL NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

George P. Kite III
Call Federal Credit Union
Richmond

George Kite III was eyeing Wall Street after he graduated from Radford University until he and his father visited Call Federal Credit Union and serendipitously met its CEO, Roger Ball. “I didn’t know anything about credit unions at all, and he talked to me for about two hours,” Kite says.

Now 34, Kite serves as the credit union’s chief financial officer. Call Federal officials say he has helped the organization expand its services to meet its members’ needs. “Many of George’s strengths come from the fact that he is the epitome of a continuous learner — academically, from a business standpoint, and personally stretching his comfort zone,” says Call Federal board member Bill Poorbaugh.

Founded by tobacco giant Philip Morris USA in 1962, Call Federal now has $350 million in assets and 30,000 members. (The credit union’s name is derived from Philip Morris’ famous advertising slogan, “Call for Philip Morris.”)

Kite takes pride in keeping the credit union well-capitalized. Call Federal ended 2014 with a net worth ratio of 11.99 percent, nearly twice the regulatory requirement of 6 percent. It also saw extremely strong loan growth of 20 percent.

Kite embraces every opportunity the credit union presents to him. He stepped outside his financial duties to head Call Federal’s marketing from 2010 to 2014. “It was an interesting experience. I was using a different side of my brain,” he says. “The biggest thing I did was to bring in some top talent as well as a marketing manager.”

Jerry Dunnavant, vice president of strategic marketing for Access, a marketing and communications firm, worked with Kite on rebranding the credit union. “George has a keen understanding of the other components of business,” he says. “His financial acumen is strong, but his emotional intelligence is strong as well.”

Dunnavant was impressed with Kite’s attention to detail, especially during the early stages of the rebranding project. “He wanted to make sure the branding aspect is who they really are and not just a tagline. It’s really about living the brand for him,” Dunnavant says. “‘Passionately local banking’ describes the credit union and who they are, but I think it’s a reflection of who he is, too.”

Kite’s new responsibilities are human resources and training. “That’s a big challenge, but it’s rewarding,” he says. “I am able to see the bigger picture in terms of how our decisions affect the whole company. Instead of making a decision based on the balance sheet or numbers, I know these people now and their desire to develop with the organization. Knowing them and knowing what their concerns are makes me more attuned and aware as a manager. That impacts my decision making.”

Over the years, Kite has been able to grow in areas where he thought of himself as weak. “I have come out of my comfort zone of being a traditional, analytically oriented person to one who is more creative and can see the bigger picture,” he says.

His biggest reward is being able to put good people in positions where they can shine. His leadership philosophy is fundamental. “Hire really good people, craft a vision of what lies ahead, develop a strategy to get there, remove barriers and provide resources for them,” he says. “Uplift them and motivate them, and then get the hell out of their way.”

As a way to relax, he spends every other weekend with his father helping him run a small beef cattle farm in Nottoway County. “I like to get outside. That is how I recharge,” he says.

‘Making people feel good’ is executive’s primary goal

SMALL PRIVATE COMPANIES

Lori J. Overholt, CPA
VSA Resorts
Virginia Beach

Lori Overholt oversees her responsibilities at Virginia Beach-based VSA Resorts with one guiding principle: Always treat people well.

For inspiration, she turns to a quote from the poet Maya Angelou: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

“Making people feel good is our core line of business,” Overholt says.

With 2014 revenues of $4.7 million, VSA is a vacation ownership company, involved in the development, sales and marketing of timeshares.

Since starting with the company in 2005, Overholt, a Certified Public Accountant, has assumed the responsibilities of company president as well as CFO. She oversees three resorts in Virginia Beach: Ocean Sands, Ocean Key and The Atrium.

“I owned a timeshare before I came here,” she says, adding that she enjoys the vacation business. “Everybody around you is happy and enjoying themselves. We have had some owners for over 20 years. They love their timeshares.”

She feels that her experience as CFO helps her think more strategically in her role as president. “It helps me make decisions and guides me in the direction we need to go,” she says. “I’ve streamlined a lot of things. I’ve outsourced some of the repetitive tasks, and I’ve focused on customer service. That has made a huge difference in our results.”

Overholt continues to develop the company. In 2013 she started VSA Association Management, a new division that specializes in condo association management. She also purchased some property with plans to develop another resort in Virginia Beach. Under her guidance, the company has made major renovations and improvements to all three existing resorts to improve owner satisfaction.

Dawn Tayman, vice president of CapitalSource in Chevy Chase, Md., is impressed with the exterior transformation of the Ocean Sands. “Lori had this vision,” she says. “They pool their owners to see what they would like, and most of the owners said they would like to see balconies added. They made that come to fruition. I was really impressed.”

Tayman describes Overholt as professional and proactive. “She is real easy to work with. She runs a good, honest operation, and that means a lot,” she says.

The renovation at Ocean Sands was a definite challenge for Overholt. “That has been a huge project, but it’s a huge improvement, and everyone is loving it,” she says.

A graduate of the University of Virginia, Overholt started her career in public accounting, specializing in small business consulting. “I ended up seeing all aspects of the business,” she says.

Overholt found the past year very challenging because of human resources-related regulations and changes, including facets of the Affordable Care Act. “You have to focus on regulations and all the new changes, and that takes away from the core aspects of the business — worrying about what the customer wants,” she says.

In addition to her work at VSA, Overholt serves on the Task Force for Revenue Recognition for the Timeshare Industry for the American Institute of CPAs where she helps set industry standards.

“She is highly regarded technically in that group,” says David Rippy of Dixon Hughes Goodman in Virginia Beach. “She is a leader, not a follower. She looks at the landscape and says, ‘We can do this.’”

CFO kept his focus in deals that transformed company

PUBLICLY TRADED COMPANIES

James F. Woodward
Media General Inc.
Richmond

James Woodward never thought of himself as being cool under pressure, but people who work with him noticed his calm demeanor during Media General’s epic transformation.

“He keeps things in perspective,” says Stephen Theuer, partner at Deloitte & Touche in Richmond. “He remains calm. He moves things forward and is committed to doing it right.”

Woodward led the series of transactions that transformed Media General from a newspaper company with 18 television stations into the second-largest local broadcaster in the U.S. As a result, the company’s market capitalization rose from $200 million to $2.5 billion.

The company had revenue of $1.4 billion last year and employed 5,300 people.

Woodward believes his focus helped keep him calm through the sale of  63 daily and weekly newspapers (including the 165-year-old Richmond Times-Dispatch) to a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary and during mergers with TV station owners Young Broadcasting and LIN Media.

(Media General founded Virginia Business magazine in 1986. It was sold to Richmond-based Virginia Capital Partners LLC in 2009.)

As Media General transformed its business model, it went through two CEO changes and two recompositions of its board of directors in three years.

Media General now operates or services 71 television stations in 48 markets in addition to being an industry leader in digital media.

Woodward, a graduate of James Madison University, started his professional career at Media General in 1983. During the past 32 years, he has served in eight different roles, assuming responsibility for various operations including digital media and broadcast technology. 

He enjoys the challenge of accepting new responsibilities. “You have to have a strong sense of knowing what you don’t know. Then it becomes less threatening,” he says. “You can say to yourself ‘I don’t know this but I can solve this and figure it out.’”

When he became CFO, Media General was in a tough spot. He was tasked with figuring out how to turn a company with a heavy debt burden into a growing company with stable outlook.

“It was my biggest challenge because of the risk,” he says. “If it had not gone well, I don’t know what would have happened. Getting the company back to its financial health gives everyone from the shareholders to the guy that delivers the mail a sense of security. That was the most critical piece. Now it’s a very healthy company with a good share price. There is plenty of room to grow. We are not done yet.”

In 2014 Woodward won the Distinguished CFO Award from the Media Financial Management Association for his leadership in the company’s changes. The organization’s president and CEO, Mary Collins, and her board members were impressed with Woodward’s history.

“He is a gentleman, and I don’t use that word lightly,” she says. “He is kind, respectful and self-effacing. You look at the things the man has accomplished and he has every reason to be arrogant but he is not that way. He cares about the industry and his community.”

Woodward is the first to acknowledge that nobody “does this on their own.”

“I am blessed to work with terrific people,” he says. One of my jobs is to make those people around me wildly successful. That is a bit selfish, I know, because if I do that, I can be wildly successful.”

Thalhimer team

Mark Douglas and Eric Robison of Cushman & Wakefield|Thalhimer were driving forces behind some of the biggest commercial real estate deals in Central Virginia last year. Both won two top honors at the Greater Richmond Association for Commercial Real Estate’s 14th Annual Awards ceremony this spring. 

Douglas was recognized for best sale transaction/retail for the $130 million West Broad Marketplace assemblage and also with Austin Newman for the 168,500-square-foot, 10-year lease of Deep Run 3 to McKesson Medical-Surgical.

Robison received honors for best sale transaction/office for his work on the $40.6 million sale of the Highwoods suburban office portfolio and with Evan Magrill on the $31.2 million sale of a 502,395-square-foot industrial portfolio, known as the Enterchange in Hanover County and Colonial Heights. 

So, how do they get big deals done?

Douglas, a senior vice president with Thalhimer, is a self-described “people” person. At the mall, he “loves watching people,” a trait that serves him well.  “This business is very much a people business,” he says.

While focusing mainly on office brokerage, he often works with retail and land sales, too. He’s the first to admit that his work can be extremely challenging. Not only is commercial real estate ever changing but “you don’t make every deal,” he says.

Douglas’ biggest transaction last year — with a $34 million lease value — was the long-term office lease to McKesson Medical-Surgical. The company plans to relocate and expand its headquarters to the building, located off Mayland Drive in Henrico County. The move is expected to create 225 jobs.

Deep Run 3 was part of the former headquarters complex for the now defunct Circuit City Stores.

Asked about his most challenging deal, Douglas points to the complex assemblage of West Broad Marketplace. The 61-acre property now under construction on West Broad Street in the Short Pump corridor of Henrico had seven parcels and multiple owners within those parcels. That meant Douglas had to shuffle different landowners with different personalities. “You become a chameleon … and think on your feet,” he says.

No one was more impressed with Douglas’ work than West Broad Marketplace developer Jack Waghorn, president of NV Retail in Vienna. “Mark knows the Richmond market inside and out. He is one of the most professional brokers I have ever had the pleasure to work with,” he says. “His true strength is that he is a consummate communicator. He addresses issues and problems before they occur.”

One of the most unique aspects of the deal involved a parcel owned by a partnership. One of the three owners lived in a remote area of Costa Rica. “We were able to email her documents because it was more than a three-hour drive for her to get to the post office,” Douglas says.

The woman didn’t have a printer at home. “We had her take pictures of the signature pages of the contracts and amendments,” says Douglas, and then the woman posted her signature on Facebook on a secure page that wasn’t available to the public. 

Altogether, he spent 22 months putting the transaction together. “One person not participating in that assemblage could have blown up the whole thing, but everybody was fantastic.”

Douglas says retail development is “on fire” now, especially heading out to Short Pump and Route 288. “We are going to run out of tenants,” he says, with development outpacing the number of retailers who want space.

Despite the complications, Douglas, 53, enjoys real estate. “It’s the thrill of victory, of making the deal,” he says. “And I have to put my four daughters through college.” 

Eric Robison
Growing up, Robison, 40, always participated in sports, playing soccer and basketball in high school. He relished the excitement and competitive nature of the game. He finds the same qualities in commercial real estate. “I wasn’t going to make it as a professional athlete, and this is the closest thing to sports that I have found. We do this as a team, and that appeals to me.”

As senior vice president of Capital Markets Group, Robison focuses on selling investment properties. He likens his work to a roller coaster. “You never want to get too high or too low. You have the opportunity to win some really big, exciting deals and sometimes you lose them,” he says. “You have to stay somewhat even keeled to be successful.”

Michael Pruitt of Pruitt Associates in Henrico says Robison is client-focused. “I think Eric is hands down one of the best brokers in the business,” he says. “He’s a man of great character, and he is very hard working. He understands and has thorough knowledge of the market he works in.”

Robison’s largest deal in 2014 was the disposition of 11 suburban office buildings in the Highwoods Property Trust in and around the Innsbrook Corporate Center in Henrico.  “Highwoods was a great property to sell and a great client. We got a lot of interest,” he says.

Yet a deal for the sale of the 12-story Mutual Building, a historic property in downtown Richmond, turned out to be the most challenging. When he began working on the sale, the building had a tenant, the Christian Barton law firm, that occupied the top four floors. The buyer wanted to develop the property into apartments, but the tenant did not want to leave.

“The buyer couldn’t pass up owning the building because of the potential it had,” Robison says. “He was willing to take on the risk of taking the tenant through the lease term (Christian Barton is still there) and then develop the apartments or find an alternative after the lease was up.”

He believes that business investment sales will continue to be strong even if there are minor increases in interest rates. “Even though our market size is a little smaller and not as deep as Washington, D.C., Charlotte or Raleigh, more investors are looking at our market,” says Robison.

He enjoys bringing in new investors from other parts of the country that might not have Richmond on their radar. “It’s great to have them invest for the first time and see them be successful afterward.”

Entrepreneur makes a pitch at the White House

Entrepreneurs are used to giving their elevator speeches to potential investors. Few startup founders, however, get the chance to explain their businesses at the White House.

Aazia Mickens-Dessaso, the co-founder of Hampton-based FreePing, was invited to attend a White House conference in May, “Start The Spark: Emerging Global Entrepreneurs.” The event brought together entrepreneurs from around the world, highlighting the importance of startups in finding innovative solutions to issues such as poverty and climate change.

“It’s one thing to visit the White House and quite another to be a guest of the president,” says Mickens-Dessaso, 27. “I got to shake the president’s hand and have conversations with him about youth and women.”

She started FreePing last year with business partner Britni Jones. The software company provides free streams of information to prepaid mobile phone subscribers in emerging markets.

“It’s mostly utility information, such as bus schedules and emergency alerts,” she says. The free content is provided using a “missed-call” practice Mickens-Dessaso observed in Brazil as a foreign languages and area studies fellow with U.S. Department of Education.

“It’s an intentionally dropped phone call that people with prepaid cards use so they don’t use their data,” she says. “They call, let it ring and then hang up.” The callers can then get information texted to them. “Incoming text messages for prepaid users are typically free,” she says

She is introducing Free-Ping in Brazil, South Africa and Kenya. The company’s customers include international nonprofit organizations and retailers that pay a monthly fee.

After her fellowship, Mickens-Dessaso pitched the idea for her company at the startup competition in Hampton, “Start! Peninsula 2.0,” in 2013. “We were one of the top three winners of that competition, and we received a small investment amount,” she says. “Last year we started the company at the Peninsula Technology Incubator.”

Mickens-Dessaso and the other entrepreneurs at the White House were questioned by investors from the ABC television series “Shark Tank.” “We received questions from all of them,” she says. “The most vocal was Mark Cuban [the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks pro basketball team].”

Cuban told her that Free-Ping was a great idea. “He also commented on the usability of the product and that we were in the right markets,” she says. “He discussed a few partnerships we should pursue, like Facebook.”

Mickens-Dessaso and Jones hope to expand their staff, which currently has only three employees. “We are looking to hire a few more developers,” she says,

She would like to expand her customer base as well. “Retailers have picked up on the value of this for the distribution of their content,” she says.

She has seen added interest from investors and potential customers since the White House conference. “I am optimistic,” she says.

Mary Baldwin to become university in 2016

There is nothing simple about changing an organization’s name, especially when it has been in business since 1842. Just ask the administrators at Mary Baldwin College. On Aug. 31, 2016, the institution will become Mary Baldwin University. “It reflects who we are today,” says Crista Cabe, the school’s vice president for communication, marketing and public affairs. 

Mary Baldwin is working on a plan that will include updating highway and campus signage, establishing a new URL along with website and email addresses, amending key documents, creating a new logo, updating its official seal and developing branded merchandise. “There is an awful lot to do,” Cabe says.

The school has changed its name before at several points of its evolution. Founded as Augusta Female Seminary in 1842, it became Mary Baldwin Seminary in 1895 and then Mary Baldwin College in 1923 when baccalaureate degrees were first granted.

Now, Mary Baldwin has two campuses (in Staunton and Fishersville) and 12 other regional locations throughout Virginia. Its five programmatic components include a residential women’s college, the Murphy Deming College of Health Sciences and master’s and doctoral degree programs. “This isn’t just a discreet liberal arts college. It’s a complex institution,” Cabe says. “In many people’s minds, colleges and universities are the same.”

But there are differences. Colleges typically offer only four-year bachelor’s degrees. Universities generally also offer a variety of graduate degrees and include more than one major academic unit. 

Mary Baldwin falls into the small university category, offering several niche programs in addition to a traditional residential college, Cabe says. “There are a host of institutions such as Mary Baldwin and Washington & Lee that fall in between a small college and big university.”

Before deciding to change the name, the school surveyed segments of the Mary Baldwin community, including students, faculty, staff and alumni. Seventy percent of the faculty and staff and 68 percent of current students were in favor of the name change. “Most of the students I have spoken with are very excited about it,” Cabe says.

Students graduating after the vote to change the name but before it is legally adopted (those graduating in 2015 and 2016) will be offered the opportunity to order replacement diplomas bearing the name “Mary Baldwin University” free of charge.

The school’s four-year, undergraduate residential col­­l­­­­­­ege for women will be called Mary Baldwin College for Women. The name pays tribute to an early graduate who later led the institution through the Civil War. “Mary Baldwin as a person, leader and historical figure means a great deal to our community,” Cabe says. “We thought it was important to keep the historic name.”

Expansion to create 190 jobs in Henry County

Clients of eBay Enterprise are expected to see faster delivery across North America when the company completes a 400,000-square-foot expansion in Henry County. The company expects to invest $5.8 million in the project, creating more than 190 full-time jobs.

“As eBay Enterprise continues to grow, they are adding jobs, which is helpful to our community,” says Mark Heath, president and CEO of the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation. “They have found a sweet spot with labor here, and that is one of the reasons they are growing.”

The expansion will provide automated fulfillment services as well as warehouse management and freight solutions for eBay Enterprise clients, including Bath & Body Works, Stein Mart and The Company Store.  The company receives merchandise from client companies, fills orders and ships goods to customers.

The addition of 190 employees will take the company’s full-time workforce to more than 500, according to Heath. “That makes them the largest nonmanufacturing company here, employment-wise,” he says.

Once a hub for furniture and textile manufacturing, Martinsville frequently has recorded the highest unemployment rate in Virginia in recent years. In March, Martinsville’s jobless rate stood at 9.8 percent while Henry’s rate was 7.4 percent. The March unemployment rate for the entire commonwealth was 4.9 percent.

The incentive package offered to eBay Enterprise includes assistance from the Virginia Jobs Investment Program and a $710,000 grant from the state Tobacco Commission.  In addition, Henry County will provide Enterprise Zone incentives in the form of rebates on county taxes — 100 percent in the first year and 50 percent for four years thereafter.

The company will take over the second of two buildings — it already occupies the first — on a former textile site known as Rich Acres in Ridgeway. The new facility will expand eBay Enterprise’s local presence to six buildings and increase its total footprint to 1.3 million square feet.

“We will add material handling equipment and some automation to ensure our success,” says Kim Smith Glisson, the company’s director of operations.

New River Valley group seeks train service

In the 1960s, a half dozen passenger trains passed through the New River Valley daily, but none have made the trip in recent decades. That situation could change if a group called New River Valley Rail 2020 achieves its goal.

With Amtrak trains scheduled to arrive in Roanoke in 2017, the group hopes the commonwealth will support service to the New River Valley, which includes the city of Radford and the counties of Montgomery (including the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg), Floyd, Pulaski and Giles.

The first phase of construction enabling passenger rail service to Roanoke is underway. Amtrak service there will be an extension of the successful Northeast regional train already serving Lynchburg. It will provide a same-seat trip from Roanoke to Lynchburg, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and other cities up to Boston.  

Driving the push for passenger rail service is the region’s growth and its large number of college students. “There are over 100,000 people in Montgomery County,” says Ray Smoot, co-chair of the steering committee, who is a retired chief executive of the Virginia Tech Foundation. “It’s one of the fastest-growing counties in the state.” In the last census, Montgomery became the most populated Virginia county west of Albemarle County.

Smoot also notes that the region has the highest college student per-capita rate in the state. “There are approximately 30,000 students at Virginia Tech and approximately 10,000 at Radford,” he says. “We estimate that about 70 percent of those students live within 30 miles of the Northeast corridor between here and New York or Boston.”

Currently many students drive to and from school on Interstate 81. “There is so much congestion on that road,” Smoot says. “It’s a real challenge for them. Amtrak would be an alternative means of transportation.”

The railroad infrastructure, owned by Norfolk Southern Corp., is currently in place in the New River Valley. “The tough part is already done,” Smoot says. “The railroad will have to determine what kind of improvements will be needed to re-establish passenger service. We will need one or two station facilities to board the trains.”

A planning committee, made up of senior officials from the region along with Radford University and Virginia Tech, has gained support from Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (both Democrats), U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-9th District), state Sens. John Edwards (D-Roanoke) and Ben Chafin (R-Lebanon) and Delegates Joseph Yost (R-Pearisburg), Nick Rush (R-Christiansburg) and Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke).

“We have had good bipartisan support from elected officials,” Smoot says.

Former consultant takes the wheel at Trailways

Sheila Ryba stepped into her role as president and CEO of Fairfax-based Trailways Transportation System in March with respect for the bus company’s history and an eye toward the future. “Trailways had a great name, a great brand and a great reputation. To be able to take it to the next level is quite a challenge but also quite a lot of fun,” she says.

The company is solidifying its strategic plan. “We are re-evaluating now, talking about what our goals look like,” she says. “I’m coming in as a new CEO with an organization that has been around for a long time. I hope I can bring fresh ideas and perspectives to how Trailways is currently operating and will be operating in the future.”

Before accepting the position, Ryba owned a consulting firm in Durham, N.C., specializing in business development, lobbying, fund development and strategic planning. She also had led several nonprofit organizations, including the John Avery Boys & Girls Club in Durham and the San Diego County (California) chapter of the American Heart Association.

The Trailways position offered Ryba an opportunity to work in a for-profit environment. “It also gave me the opportunity to continue to grow and learn things, and that’s important to me,” she says. “Transportation has always been an interest of mine. It’s an economic generator. It plays a vital role in the growth of cities and communities.”

Trailways, founded in 1936 in Chicago, will celebrate its 80th anniversary next February. In the early days, the company provided bus service  to rural areas that had limited means of transportation. Today it serves more than 1,000 destinations through North America and parts of Europe, carrying more than 16 million passengers annually. It is also a charter bus company as well.

Trailways buses actually are operated by 70 independently owned and operated motorcoach companies, which pay licenses to use the name in North America and Europe. Trailways does not disclose its revenue figures.

All of the companies under the Trailways umbrella are safety certified by the Department of Defense. “There are over 4,000 motorcoach companies around the country, but only 400-plus are DOD safety certified,” Ryba says. “We are the safest motorcoach company on the road. We don’t take just any bus company. We really take a look at the organization’s safety record, how they are operating their business and see if it’s a good fit for us.”

Ryba’s goal for the company is straightforward. “I would like for Trailways to be the leader in the bus and travel industry in all areas, from technology to safety,” she says. “It all starts with providing the best experience possible. A lot of people prefer not to fly, and we are an affordable option. I think more and more people are turning to the bus industry.”