If it feels like robots took over our lives this past year, that’s because they have. Many of us have used ChatGPT to write an email, created an idealized self-portrait with Midjourney or seen a deepfake on X. Everyone has at least read marketing texts or emails created by a generative AI tool.
To different degrees, artificial intelligence is exciting, scary and unsettling. It can imitate our voices to the extent that a fake robocall using AI to spoof President Joe Biden’s voice in January fooled some New Hampshire primary voters. And AI software is so lightning fast that some companies are eyeing it to replace human information workers or at least to boost productivity in short-staffed departments. With each software update, it feels like AI threats to human jobs are getting closer. Eeek! Even Elmo is getting overwhelmed by the angst. After the “Sesame Street” Muppet tweeted “How is everyone doing?” in January, the nation responded with their anxieties and worries amid rising consumer prices and a looming high-stakes presidential election.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though.
Human therapists are still needed, along with plenty of other living, breathing professionals to provide us with well-founded, informed legal advice, perform surgery on us and educate our children.
This era may feel unique, but it isn’t drastically different from earlier periods. In 1932, people freaked out about an apocryphal robot that shot its creator — but no one really got shot; the inventor accidentally discharged the gun, burning his hand. Radio, television, automobiles and the internet have all provoked panics.
And no one should be shocked by that. We’re in the midst of an extraordinarily challenging post-pandemic period marked by political polarization and major shifts in work patterns, demands and structures.
But we will survive AI, just as most of us survived the internet, computers at work and other innovations.
Not everyone’s job will survive — some manufacturing and information jobs are in peril, for instance. That’s something that should concern all Virginians, not just those employed in those industries. But other jobs will emerge, especially for those who are willing and able to learn how to leverage AI and other innovative technologies.
In the past year, Virginia Business has written extensively about the impact of AI on the commonwealth’s workforce and companies. AI is already in use by health systems, chatbots are making searches faster and more accurate, and banks are using AI to catch fraudsters and hackers faster, as well as to handle routine customer service needs. Most of these tools are beneficial and will make work easier and more productive.
Workers have always had a lot asked of them — that’s true no matter your sector, level of experience or rung of the corporate ladder. Change can be difficult. Not everyone will be able to pivot to the newest booming industry. But many of us will adapt to the AI-powered workforce.
It will move fast, and we’ll need to be smart in calculating what career paths to take and how to harness the power of the bots. Many times, we will look to tech experts and government officials for guidance. In Virginia, Gov. Glenn Youngkin this year issued an executive order establishing guidelines for state databases and public schools in the use of AI, and state delegates and senators are studying uses of AI and governance needs.
Fortunately, we humans have plenty of company as we learn about AI’s risks and rewards at work and beyond, and yes, we will need each other’s company. And for now, only humans (and Muppets) can really provide that.
Richmond-based Atlantic Union Bank’s parent company announced Monday that the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors has approved its acquisition of Danville-based American National Bankshares, holding company of American National Bank and Trust. The Fed’s signoff was the last regulatory approval needed for the merger — announced in July 2023 — to close on April 1, according to Atlantic Union CEO John C. Asbury.
Before the Fed’s board issued its decision Friday, American National shareholders and the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Financial Institutions gave their approvals of the proposed acquisition.
“We are pleased to have received all of the regulatory and shareholder approvals necessary to close the merger, and we plan to close the transaction on April 1, 2024, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions,” Asbury said in a statement Monday.
The impending merger, which is expected to create a bank with total assets of $24.2 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023, $18.5 billion in deposits and gross loans of $16.5 billion, was initially expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2024, so the April 1 closing date represents a slight delay.
American National, which was founded in 1909, has 26 branches in Virginia and North Carolina and is Virginia’s ninth largest bank. It had $3.1 billion in assets as of June 30, 2023. Atlantic Union is the largest community bank headquartered in Virginia, with 109 branches, $20.6 billion in assets and $15.7 billion in deposits as of June 30, 2023. (McLean-based Capital One Financial is the largest bank headquartered in Virginia, with $36.8 billion in 2023 net revenue and $478.5 billion in total assets as of Dec. 31, 2023.)
Asbury said in an interview Monday with Virginia Business that the banks had the legal opportunity to close the deal 15 days after the Fed’s approval, in mid-March, but that it was preferable to close on the first of the month, and the closing date in April will not delay the planned systems conversion over Memorial Day weekend.
In July 2023, Asbury said that there was some overlap of the two banks’ branch locations in the Roanoke and Rocky Mount areas, which could lead to consolidation. “It makes no sense to have two branches operating. There will be some degree of [staffing] impact,” Asbury said, but, aside from those “pretty limited” examples of overlapping branches, “we certainly are not interested in limiting convenience” and closing more branches. He also said that there were no plans to close American National’s Danville headquarters, where Haley expects to maintain an office.
The Federal Reserve’s decision echoed Asbury’s comments, noting that Atlantic Union represented to the central bank’s board that “branch closings and consolidations may occur in connection with the proposed transaction. AUB [Atlantic Union Bank] asserts that any closures and consolidations would be due to geographic overlap between branches … [and] any consolidations should not have a significant effect on the services that customers of the consolidating branches currently receive.” The decision concludes that the combined bank would be stable and continue to face competitors in its markets.
Asbury said Monday that he expects to close seven branches total, including American National’s office in Christiansburg, which is within line of sight of Atlantic Union’s branch. In Rocky Mount, Atlantic Union’s downtown branch office will close, but the combined bank will keep American National’s Rocky Mount branch open because it is more active. A drive-through teller office at the shuttered downtown location will stay open, Asbury said. Other branches that are being consolidated are in West Salem, Cave Spring, Lynchburg, Danville and Greensboro, North Carolina.
He added that 70% of American National’s employees have been offered jobs in the combined bank, and the remaining 30% will be prioritized for jobs that arise in coming months. American National’s headquarters office in Danville will remain open, and Jeff Haley, American National’s president, CEO and chairman, will be based there as he serves as a consultant for the next two years, Asbury said.
“We see Danville as a very good clustering of talent,” he added Monday. “So we will have people based in Danville in roles that we might otherwise hire in Richmond.”
Also of note in the deal, Asbury said, was the fact that the American National was healthy at the time the acquisition was announced. In the spring 2023, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank all suddenly collapsed, causing U.S. federal bank regulators and global regulators to take action to prevent the same from happening to other banks. The two Virginia banks’ July 2023 announcement was the first higher-profile regional bank merger following the crisis that didn’t involve a distressed institution, Asbury said Monday.
This is Atlantic Union’s third bank acquisition during Asbury’s tenure, which began in 2016. Asbury said Monday that he’s “always having conversations” with smaller regional banks “who could potentially be partners,” although it’s often over a long period.
“In the case of American National, I view this as having been a five-year conversation,” he said. “Do I think there may be more opportunities in the future? I would say yes … but it is not our highest priority.”
Dominion Energy announced Thursday it has reached an agreement with investment firm Stonepeak to sell a 50% noncontrolling stake in the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind commercial project off the Virginia Beach coast for nearly $3 billion.
If the sale is approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission and the North Carolina Utilities Commission, as well as federal regulatory agencies, Richmond-based Dominion will retain full operational control of construction and operations of the $9.8 billion CVOW project, which has received final federal approvals and is expected to start construction in May. The deal is expected to close by the end of this year, according to Dominion’s news release.
“The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project continues to proceed on time and on budget and consistent with our previously communicated timing and cost expectations,” Bob Blue, Dominion’s chair, president and CEO, said in a statement Thursday. “A competitive partnership process attracted high-quality interest, resulting in a compelling partner for CVOW. Stonepeak is one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors, with more than $61 billion in assets under management and an extensive track record of investment in large and complex energy infrastructure projects, including offshore wind. Their significant financial participation will benefit both our project and our customers.”
Under the deal announced Thursday, Dominion Energy expects to receive $3 billion — representing 50% of the offshore wind farm’s construction costs through the anticipated closing of the deal by Dec. 31, minus $145 million, the initial withholding amount. If total construction costs remain at the current budget of $9.8 billion or less, excluding financing costs, Dominion will get back $100 million from the withholding amount.
However, if construction costs more than $11.3 billion, the Fortune 500 utility will receive no money back from the withheld $145 million. If the project costs reach $11.3 billion, Stonepeak and Dominion would each contribute 50% of additional capital costs needed to fund construction, but if the project costs between $11.3 billion and $13.7 billion, Stonepeak would not be required to contribute more capital to pay the additional costs, although it has the option to do so, the announcement says.
In terms of structure, Stonepeak would invest in a newly formed subsidiary of Dominion Energy Virginia, which would be a public utility based in Virginia. The transaction is expected to improve Dominion’s estimated 2024 consolidated FFO-to-debt by approximately 1% and reduce the utility’s overall financing needs during construction, according to the announcement Thursday.
McGuireWoods and Morgan Lewis served as Dominion’s legal advisers on the deal, while Citi and Goldman Sachs acted as co-financial advisers for the utility.
The 2.6-gigawatt CVOW, the largest offshore wind farm in the U.S., is expected to power 660,000 homes once it is fully constructed in late 2026. CVOW will consist of 176 turbines and three offshore substations in a nearly 113,000-acre lease area off the coast of Virginia Beach. Vinson & Elkins served as legal adviser to Stonepeak, while Mizuho Securities USA, through its affiliate Greenhill & Co., and Santander US Capital Markets served as co-financial advisers.
Keeping finances solid
In September 2023, during Dominion’s second-quarter earnings report, the utility said it intended to sell a noncontrolling interest in the CVOW to lower risk in the project and solidify the company’s balance sheet. In November 2023, Dominion officials said during its third-quarter earnings call that it was in advanced stages of the process to find a co-investor. The utility also announced in November it had filed an adjustment with the SCC that would lower the levelized cost of electricity estimate for CVOW from $80 to $90 per megawatt hour (MWh) to $77/MWh.
“Dominion’s framework may be somewhat more appealing for an investor to potentially become a part owner of the project,” said Mike Doyle, a senior equity analyst for utilities at Edward Jones, in an interview with Utility Dive last November. However, he added that the lowered price was surprising, given that costs are rising across the U.S. offshore wind industry, as some developers have had to cancel existing power-purchase agreements due to higher project costs.
Speaking with Virginia Business on Thursday, Doyle said he was a little surprised by the Stonepeak deal, “given the state of the offshore wind industry in the United States” and its higher costs, and the cost-sharing agreement between Dominion and the investment firm is unusual. “This [deal] has a little different structure. It probably is more intriguing to the investor.”
The fact that Dominion has remained on budget with the wind farm is significant, Doyle said. “They’re doing better than most.” He also said he doesn’t expect to see any big regulatory difficulties, especially if CVOW’s expenses stay on course. “Virginia is pretty motivated to get this done. Regulators want to see it happen.”
In Thursday’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings report, Dominion reported $2 billion in net income for the calendar year 2023, up from $1.3 billion in 2022, and $14.39 billion in revenue for last year.
At start of trading Thursday, Dominion’s stock was at $45.62 a share, reaching a high of $46.96 before 10 a.m. and then fell to $44.88 before noon. As of 12:45 p.m., it was back up at $45.47 a share, a 1.78% decrease.
Stonepeak, which has 56 investments in 61 countries, specializes in infrastructure investments. In 2022, the firm raised about $14 billion, including $100 million from the Virginia Retirement System, to invest in assets such as telecommunications towers and warehouses. According to Stonepeak’s website, the firm invested in Dominion Midstream Partners, a limited partnership formed by Dominion to build its portfolio of natural gas assets, beginning in December 2016. In January 2019, Stonepeak realized its investment in Dominion, the site says.
Rob Kupchak, Stonepeak’s senior managing director, said in a statement, “Having previously partnered with Dominion Energy, we look forward to extending our relationship through CVOW, which is a fitting addition to our global renewables strategy given its potential to provide meaningful renewable capacity to the U.S., advanced stage of development, and downside-protected fundamentals. Dominion Energy’s impressive track record building and operating large-scale infrastructure projects paired with Stonepeak’s experience successfully constructing offshore wind assets gives us confidence in CVOW’s path forward, and we are excited to partner with Dominion in delivering this critical renewable energy generation resource to its customers.”
Different from other partnerships
This deal goes against the trend seen in owner partnerships of other offshore wind farms along the East Coast, said Timothy Fox, a managing director with Washington, D.C.-based research firm ClearView Energy Partners.
“I would call this partnership an outlier,” he said, “because we’re seeing the splitting of projects among companies rather than a partnership,” like BP and Norway-based Equinor’s division of two offshore wind projects off New York that they had previously been 50-50 partners in. Similarly, New England utility Eversource Energy sold its 50% stake in two offshore wind projects off the New York coast to Global Infrastructure Partners, exiting its partnership with Ørsted, earlier this month.
A likely reason that Dominion Energy is bucking this trend by gaining a partner is “because Virginia’s regulatory structure is unique among the states pursuing offshore wind,” Fox said.
“Virginia policy allows the incumbent utility to develop the project and get a cost-of-service return, basically guaranteeing they get a percent return on their investment,” he said. “And the ratepayers in Virginia pay Dominion for the project, and a return. That’s not the case for any other project along the East Coast,” projects which are being developed by independent project developers who have greater risk.
Along with Dominion’s business model as the developer and power offtaker from the CVOW project, its delivery timeline guarantees likely helped seal the deal, according to Atin Jain, a senior associate with BloombergNEF.
“In tough market conditions, certainty trumps everything else. Dominion’s assurance of ‘on-budget’ and ‘on-time’ delivery for the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project likely did the trick in getting the deal rolling,” Jain said in a statement.
A study conducted by George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis found that the proposed $2 billion Alexandria sports arena and entertainment district supported by Gov. Glenn Youngkin would create more than 5,400 workforce-affordable housing units, far exceeding the city’s goals.
The report released this week was requested by JBG Smith Properties, the proposed project’s developer, which would bring Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s NHL and NBA teams — the Washington Capitals and Wizards — from their home stadium in Washington, D.C., to the City of Alexandria.
According to the report, authored by Terry Clower, director of the Center for Regional Analysis in GMU’s Schar School of Policy and Government, the proposed development would include 5,405 housing units completed between 2027 and 2036. The rental and purchasable residences qualify as “workforce housing,” meaning that they are expected to be affordable to people who make about 80% or 90% of the area median income, or between $66,000 to $154,000 annually.
The report noted that Alexandria is “currently far behind in its goal to produce 2,250 workforce-affordable housing units by 2030. The proposed [arena] development will dramatically support that goal in Phase 1 and will help the city exceed longer-term goals for workforce housing.”
Also, the arena’s developers plan to donate land that would support between 100 and 150 affordable housing units, as well as a new school, and contribute $25 million to the city’s affordable housing fund, the study says.
Evan Regan-Levine, JBG Smith’s chief strategy officer, said in an email Thursday that the company doesn’t have a specific housing unit count tied to the $25 million contribution, because “we do not know how the city will deploy the funds. … JBG Smith has separately committed to preserving the affordability of more than 500 affordable workforce housing units in Alexandria — with a specific focus on the Arlandria neighborhood near the site — to avoid displacement of existing vulnerable residents.”
Clower confirmed that JBG Smith requested the report in December 2023 and will pay for it. Although GMU is a state-funded public university, the Center for Regional Analysis is not funded by the state and receives funding via commissioned studies from state agencies, companies and other organizations. Nevertheless, Clower said, the center “takes as much rigor as the data will allow us” in conducting studies, and its researchers are “dispassionate” about the outcomes of study subjects like the arena deal.
“I’ve got too many years left to work to start selling my opinion,” Clower said in an interview Wednesday with Virginia Business.
On Thursday, JBG Smith’s chief strategy officer, Evan Regan-Levine, responded to Virginia Business’ questions about the report via email.
The developer asked the center to provide a third-party review of the HR&A Advisors fiscal and economic impact report produced for the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, Regan-Levine said. “We have significant investments around the proposed arena and, while we were involved in providing inputs for HR&A, we wanted another review. We know that George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis is a reputable group locally who is familiar with these kinds of analyses.”
Also, “the governor’s office encouraged us to have a third-party review, which they believed would highlight the veracity of the HR&A analysis,” Regan-Levine said. He added that JBG Smith did not give Clower a specific deadline, just “asked that the report be completed in a timely fashion,” and said that the firm did not have any expectations for a certain outcome in the report.
Clower started working on the report in December (“instead of Christmas break,” he added) following Youngkin’s Dec. 13, 2023, announcement of the proposed arena project with Monumental CEO Ted Leonsis.
Following that announcement, JBG Smith gave Clower the outlines of what they wanted covered by the study and provided information about the housing they expected to develop as part of the entertainment district, and Clower obtained information from the City of Alexandria about its workforce housing goals, he said.
Clower also received an earlier draft of the HR&A report that was released last week. The state’s secretary of finance, Stephen Emery Cummings, and his office also assisted Clower by providing some information about the deal and the way it would be funded by the state and private partners, Clower said, although he had no direct contact with the governor’s office.
Although Youngkin and Leonsis framed the arena proposal in December as nearly a done deal, with the support of Alexandria’s mayor and U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, the project has faced some state and local pushback. A bill introduced in the Virginia General Assembly this session to create a state authority for the project has faced opposition and challenges from Democratic state senators, who want to see the Republican governor agree to more of their priorities, including a $15 per hour minimum wage by 2026.
Youngkin, however, signaled opposition to a minimum wage hike in January, saying he doesn’t think an increase is necessary and that the job market will take care of the issue without governmental input. Democrats in the House of Delegates and the state Senate passed a bill in February to increase the minimum wage, sending it to the governor’s desk. On Tuesday, Virginia’s AFL-CIO member unions went public with their opposition to the arena, saying the project wouldn’t provide needed protections for workers because the unions had not reached labor agreements with developers.
The House version of the bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee, where the Senate measure died quietly without being placed on the committee docket for a vote, a move by Sen. Louise Lucas, the finance committee’s powerful chair, who has raised multiple concerns about the proposed public funding of the project.
Although the House’s amended 2022-24 state budget does include language creating the sports authority, the Senate’s bill does not, setting up a battle over the matter in upcoming negotiations. The dueling budgets were passed by the legislative bodies Thursday.
Mary McDuffie, president and CEO of Vienna-based Navy Federal Credit Union, the nation’s largest credit union with $168.4 billion in assets and more than 13 million members, is retiring as of the end of February, and Chief Operating Officer Dietrich Kuhlmann will succeed her starting March 1, the credit union announced Wednesday.
According to the announcement, McDuffie, who became the credit union’s CEO in 2018, announced her retirement in September 2023, but Navy Federal did not send out a public announcement at the time. McDuffie has been with the credit union for 24 years.
Kuhlmann, meanwhile, was named COO in 2022, after joining the financial institution in 2019 as head of branch operations and then serving as chief real estate lending officer. He was also a member of the credit union’s board of directors from 2010 to 2012 and is a retired Navy rear admiral.
“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Dietrich in numerous capacities since he came on board at Navy Federal,” McDuffie said in a statement. “A leader of integrity with a powerful sense of duty and purpose, Dietrich also genuinely understands what our members need. I can think of no better individual to steer us into the next phase of growth and further our mission to serve Navy Federal Credit Union’s members and their families.”
Dietrich Kuhlmann
Kuhlmann is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, and he holds a master’s degree in engineering management from Catholic University of America. Before joining the credit union, he served 35 years in the Navy and the U.S. Department of Defense. He was a career submariner with a sub-specialty in financial management, working as programming division director on staff of the Chief of Naval Operations and overseeing the Navy’s $800 billion, five-year capital allocation process, according to Navy Federal’s announcement Wednesday.
“I’m tremendously grateful to be trusted with the responsibility to lead Navy Federal Credit Union,” Kuhlmann said in a statement. “This is an incredible opportunity to continue my career of service to our military community, and I’m eager to build upon the progress Mary has championed on behalf of our members as CEO.”
As Navy Federal’s first woman CEO, McDuffie led more than 22,000 employees. A Wellesley College alumna, she was senior vice president of marketing for electronic payments company Star Systems and started her career with ad agency J. Walter Thompson and serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore board. Her board term ends this year, according to the Richmond Fed.
The AFL-CIO’s Virginia member unions announced Tuesday that they oppose the proposed Alexandria arena for the Washington Capitols and Wizards teams and a surrounding entertainment district. The $2 billion deal has been promoted by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and some City of Alexandria officials, while receiving significant pushback from key Democratic state lawmakers and some Alexandria residents.
In a letter sent Tuesday to state senators who are considering a bill that would create a state authority to own and run the arena, the president of the Northern Virginia Labor Federation said the region’s AFL-CIO member unions “have decided to oppose the Potomac Yard Stadium Authority project” because the developers of the proposed project, JBG Smith Properties and financial adviser JPMorgan Chase, “declined to negotiate a LPA [labor peace agreement] or a PLA [project labor agreement]. We also do not have a signed PLA for the arena portion.”
A labor peace agreement, the letter from Northern Virginia AFL-CIO President Virginia Diamond states, “would ensure a fair process for hotel workers to freely decide whether they want to unionize. We also asked the developers to sign a project labor agreement … for construction workers that would support small minority- and women-owned businesses, promote local hiring from disadvantaged communities and provide career paths through apprenticeship training.
“We have consistently stated that given the huge public investment in the project, there must be a guarantee of good jobs for workers on the entire campus. We insisted that the wealth generated by the project must benefit all — not just those at the top.”
Diamond’s letter goes on to suggest that without the labor agreements, “there is likely to be wage theft, exploitation of immigrants and poverty wages among hospitality and construction workers.”
JBG Smith, the Bethesda, Maryland-based developer of the project, said in a statement Tuesday it was “disappointed and surprised” by the unions’ statement about the arena, which JBG Smith maintained would “create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs, most of which would be union jobs, and offer some of the strongest labor and worker protections of any project in Virginia’s history, especially during the construction phase.”
The company also said in its statement that it does not “own or operate hotels and will do nothing to stand in the way of any efforts by the eventual owner or operator of hotels in this project to enjoy productive conversations with organized labor. JBG Smith condemns wage fraud and theft practices of any kind, and we have a specific policy requiring the general contractor and subcontractors to thoroughly investigate and work with the relevant authorities and with JBG Smith on any allegations of wage fraud or theft.”
Diamond also wrote that Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the teams’ owners group, has union workers at its current arena in Washington, D.C., many of whom would move to the Alexandria campus if approved, “but we cannot leave our most vulnerable community members behind. Their work has dignity and they deserve to have their lives improved by this project. They deserve good wages, health care and retirement benefits, job safety and workplace rights so they can afford to live and work in our community.”
However, Youngkin said in a statement Tuesday evening that his administration and “the partners in this project have worked in good faith over the last few months to give union workers a substantial role in this project. Today, labor leadership backtracked on that progress and announced their opposition to a project that creates 30,000 jobs, including 12,000 construction-trade jobs.”
Virginia, Youngkin continued, “is a right-to-work state, and unreasonable demands from union leaders will not derail this project. I will continue to work with the General Assembly to complete this opportunity and bring $12 billion in economic contributions that will fund shared priorities in Virginia.”
Monumental and JBG Smith also released a statement together Tuesday following the unions’ announcement: “As we have said from the outset, Monumental Sports & Entertainment and JBG Smith are committed to ensuring the development of a new sports and entertainment district that creates good-paying jobs, including quality union jobs. During near daily negotiations over the course of several months, this development partnership gave labor nearly everything it asked for including strong wages, benefits and training commitments, as well as efforts to prevent wage theft and misclassification. Our discussions went farther to specifically promote local hiring and opportunity for small, women-, minority- and veteran-owned businesses.”
Alexandria officials also released a statement Tuesday in response to the unions’ letter, emphasizing the city’s history of working with unions: “The City of Alexandria believes that pursuing the entertainment district, and the economic development opportunities it creates, is critical to the immediate and long-term growth of our community. We also believe successful pursuit of this opportunity includes recognition of the strength of a positive labor relationship and ensures this opportunity creates good-paying jobs, including quality union jobs.”
The city’s statement continues to say that it has reached three collective bargaining agreements with unionized city employees, as well as “our history of support for good jobs, higher wages, better benefits and safer workplaces throughout our community.
“We will continue to work with our partners to reach an agreement that benefits workers and achieves the intended goals of this project — including significant city return on investment to support city resources and services; reducing the tax burden on our residents; redevelopment of a currently underperforming and aging strip shopping center; and a catalyst for robust future economic growth for our city and our residents, including maximizing our investment in the Potomac Yard Metro station.”
JBG Smith’s statement added that the company has worked with community stakeholders to bring $215 million-plus in transportation investments into the immediate neighborhood of the proposed project, and “has voluntarily committed to preserving the affordability of 500+ housing units immediately around the site and is working to bring small, local, and minority-owned businesses to the project.”
The Coalition to Stop the Arena at Potomac Yard, a group of Alexandria residents opposing the project, praised the unions’ letter, adding, “They said ‘no’ to an arena where good, union jobs are not protected. They said ‘no’ to a deal that does not protect immigrant workers from wage theft and exploitation.”
Business groups’ support
Meanwhile, Virginia chambers and other business groups have largely backed the project, including the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Economic Developers Association. “The benefits of a project of this size will be felt well beyond the region, and we believe the entire commonwealth will benefit from this influx of jobs, revenue, and economic opportunity in Virginia,” VEDA President Linda Green said in a statement last week.
On Tuesday, the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce also threw its support behind the project. “This sports and entertainment district is a game-changer for our Black-owned business community,” chamber Chair Samuel Wiggins said in a statement. “It opens up new avenues for growth, collaboration and innovation. We’re looking at a future where our local businesses can flourish alongside global names, contributing to and benefiting from the economic vitality this district will bring.”
Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging, and Travel Association, wrote an op-ed column Tuesday in the Richmond Times-Dispatch saying that the arena and entertainment district would “turbocharge” tourism growth in the commonwealth.
Nonetheless, unions carry a lot of weight with Democratic lawmakers, some of whom have already voiced wariness or opposition to the arena authority bill that is needed for the project to move forward.
On Feb. 16, the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership released an economic and fiscal impact report conducted on the city’s behalf by HR&A Advisors, forecasting that the arena could generate up to $7.96 billion in annual economic output for the state and nearly 30,000 permanent jobs statewide if the arena is completed by 2028 on an accelerated construction schedule. However, local opponents argued there wasn’t enough transparency in the report, which included no revenue projections.
Meanwhile, according to a Washington Post report, the arena plan is stripped from one version of the state budget under consideration in the Virginia General Assembly. The state Senate would have to approve a House-originated bill to authorize creation of the state authority for the arena project, which would shoulder $1.35 billion of the project’s $2 billion cost with bonds. Sen. Louise Lucas, chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, stalled the Senate version of the state authority bill, citing concern over a possible risk to public funds.
An economic and fiscal impact analysis released Friday by the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership forecasts that the proposed Washington Capitals and Wizards arena in Alexandria could generate up to $7.96 billion in annual economic output for the state. Additionally, the report says the arena could be completed as soon as 2028 if its construction schedule is accelerated.
Opposed by some Democratic state lawmakers and Alexandria civic groups, the proposed 933,000-square-foot arena would be part of a 9.43 million-square-foot, $2 billion sports and entertainment complex.
As with many economic and fiscal impact reports generated on behalf of localities and economic development authorities, the report issued Friday was fairly rosy, with no negative financial risks included in its options — just lower benefits if the arena is delayed by a year to 2029 under the slower schedule. The report included only financial benefits and costs to the city and state, and did not include Capitals and Wizards owner Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s estimated benefits and costs.
According to the analysis, conducted by HR&A Advisors, the project could create between 345 and 2,535 construction jobs in Alexandria — depending on the construction schedule — and 2,380 construction jobs or up to 17,645 jobs in phase one. If the arena is built on a slower schedule, it would be finished in 2029, along with a music venue, arena parking garage, Wizards team facility and an office building.
Ongoing jobs created during phase one at the arena and other buildings would include 9,190 jobs in Alexandria under the 2029 completion schedule, HR&A estimates. If finished by 2028, the report anticipates 29,555 permanent statewide jobs, including 12,330 in Alexandria, echoing what Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in his December 2023 announcement of the proposal, calling it an opportunity to create up to 30,000 jobs for the state.
As for annual permanent labor income, the 2029 completion plan anticipates $2.387 billion, or $2.847 billion if the arena’s finished by 2028, and between $3.531 billion and $7.96 billion in annual economic impact.
The Alexandria Economic Development Partnership hosted a media question-and-answer session and report overview Friday morning with the HR&A researcher involved in producing the report in attendance, as well as a JBG Smith Properties representative and Monica Dixon, Monumental’s president of external affairs and chief administrative officer. The Zoom press briefing was held on background, restricting reporters from quoting participants.
Reporters asked why the Q&A was on background, as well as questions about job numbers and possible “doomsday scenarios,” in which public costs could outstrip tax revenue of the project.
The net fiscal impact on the state, the report estimates, could reach $760.6 million total over 30 years in the accelerated building schedule, or $187.5 million in the slower scenario. That includes one-time construction impacts, as well as sales-and-use tax spending, business and personal income taxes and hotel taxes. The report anticipates a 10% admissions (ticket) tax on arena and performance venue events, which Washington, D.C., does not charge.
Monumental hired CSL International in 2023 to develop a business model related to the operations of a new arena, according to the report. CSL estimates the arena can hold as many as 221 events annually, up from Capital One Arena’s average of 216 events annually pre-pandemic, including a high of 228 events in 2018.
According to HR&A’s report, the arena’s operational costs would reach $292 million annually in its first year, 2028, under the faster schedule. That would include $248 million in stadium operations, with the remainder of the budget going toward headquarters operations and performing arts.
Rendering of a potential $2 billion, 9 million-square-foot entertainment complex that would include a new arena for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards team overlooking the Potomac River in Alexandria
Some numbers in the report were redacted for public release, including estimated annual retail sales at the existing Potomac Yard shopping center in 2023, and proposed parking, limited service and sports retail revenues per game, although the total spending is $116 million per game, according to Monumental.
HR&A Advisors was hired in June 2023 by Alexandria Economic Development Partnership to conduct an economic and fiscal impact analysis of the arena development, according to the analysis provided Friday. HR&A, the report notes, was not involved with discussion of underwriting or financing of the project, or non-tax revenue that could result, such as parking revenue from a publicly owned garage, or naming rights.
The revenue projections were extrapolated to 2063, at the same growth rate to match Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s contemplated lease term with state authority.
Alexandria civic groups opposing public funds for the project and anticipated traffic and infrastructure pressures were not appeased by the released report.
“This still isn’t the transparency we have called for,” said Brian Hess, an Alexandria-based lobbyist and nonprofit executive director who leads the Sports Fans Coalition, which previously pushed back against public funding of a proposed Washington Commanders stadium in Virginia. “They have redacted significant pieces of information that leaves their conclusions dubious at best — especially when D.C.’s released report says almost the opposite. Economic consensus still says these kinds of deals don’t work, and nothing about this report suggests this arena will be the exception.”
Andrew Macdonald, a former vice mayor for the City of Alexandria who is part of the Coalition to Stop the Arena at Potomac Yard, said in a statement that he wonders “why has it taken the city until now to release this report, such as it is. It talks a lot about ‘economic output’ but very little about revenue projections.
“There is still a lot we don’t know,” Macdonald added. “The real economic benefits and costs are still unclear. There should be an independent cost-benefit analysis of the project, and the public should be able to review it and decide if they want any arena in Virginia. The commonwealth also needs to release any economic studies they have. We still don’t have all the information we need. This bill should not be passed by the General Assembly.”
Among the endorsements of the project following the release of the economic analysis was the Virginia Economic Developers Association (VEDA), which represents more than 600 economic development professionals in the state.
“We place great weight on the approval process utilized for this project by the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment (MEI) commission,” VEDA President Linda Green, vice president of economic development at the Danville-based Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, said in a statement. “The benefits of a project of this size will be felt well beyond the region, and we believe the entire commonwealth will benefit from this influx of jobs, revenue, and economic opportunity in Virginia.”
Meanwhile, according to a Washington Post report, the arena plan is stripped from one version of the state budget under consideration in the Virginia General Assembly. The state Senate would also have to approve a House-originated bill to authorize creation of the state authority for the arena project, which would shoulder $1.35 billion of the project’s $2 billion cost with bonds.
Opponents say that the public bonds of more than $1 billion to fund the project — anticipated to be repaid by tax revenue generated by the arena and other businesses — could put a burden on Alexandria taxpayers and others in the state, if spending and tax revenue don’t live up to backers’ expectations, which could be caused by unforeseen circumstances such as an economic downturn or another pandemic.
The House-originated bill that would create the arena authority currently includes a reenactment clause. If the wording remains in place when the measure is signed by the governor, the authority bill would have to be voted on and passed a second time in the 2025 session by both legislative bodies for the authority to become law — in effect, delaying work by at least a year on a new arena.
That, said Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell in an interview this week, “could cause a problem” for Monumental.
Carrie Hunt is leaving at the end of the month as president and CEO of the Virginia Credit Union League, and Chief Operating Officer Karima Freeman will serve as interim head of the trade association, VACUL announced Tuesday.
Hunt, a seasoned political lobbyist, is leaving to become chief advocacy officer of America’s Credit Unions, a new national trade association formed through the merger of the Credit Union National Association and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU). She starts in that role March 1, according to a VACUL news release from December 2023.
Freeman, who has been with VACUL for 23 years, manages membership services and works with credit unions on dues, as well as overseeing accounting, human resources and IT functions for the league.
“Karima is a proven leader with decades-long relationships within the Virginia credit union system and a deep knowledge of the league’s operations,” NextMark Credit Union CEO Joe Thomas, VACUL board chairman, said in a statement.
Karima Freeman
“Each of us at the league is committed to the success of Virginia’s credit unions,” Freeman said. “I’m proud of what we accomplish through the support and engagement of our member credit unions.”
The league is the Virginia trade association for credit unions and includes 102 member-owned, not-for-profit credit unions headquartered in the commonwealth among its membership. VACUL offers training and operation resources for members, as well as lobbying the state legislature and other governmental bodies on behalf of the industry.
Hunt, a William & Mary law graduate, joined VACUL in 2021, and before that, was executive vice president of government affairs and general counsel for NAFCU, managing its legislative, political, regulatory, compliance and research divisions. In 2019 and 2020, she was named to The Hill’s top Washington, D.C., lobbyists list.
A bill that would establish a state authority for the proposed Alexandria basketball and hockey arena is not on the Virginia State Senate’s Finance and Appropriations Committee’s docket “because [Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s] proposal is not ready for prime time,” wrote Sen. Louise Lucas, the committee’s powerful chair.
According to a video released by Senate Majority Leader Scott A. Surovell on Monday, Lucas, D-Portsmouth, said in a media interview that “as far as [she’s] concerned,” the deal — proposed by Monumental Sports & Entertainment CEO Ted Leonsis and championed by the governor — is dead.
She added that it was a mistake not to involve the Democratic legislative leadership — particularly Surovell and House Speaker Don Scott — in discussions about the proposed arena before it was announced as close to a done deal in December 2023.
Lucas doesn’t have the final word on the measure, but her disapproval puts the arena’s backers at a significant disadvantage.
Her tweet and statement came after Youngkin lashed out at Democrats in a speech over the weekend at Washington and Lee University. Despite sounding a note of compromise and concession after Democrats regained control of the General Assembly in the 2023 legislative elections, Youngkin told students Saturday that the Democratic Party does “not believe in — nor do they want — a strong America.”
Virginia Democrats were irritated by Youngkin’s statements, which took place during W&L’s 28th annual Mock Convention, an event at which Donald Trump Jr. also appeared. Youngkin’s comments added on to earlier concerns voiced in December by Lucas and others, who are concerned that the state would be left with massive debt from the proposed arena, as well as major traffic and infrastructure challenges.
In a Dec. 19, 2023, tweet, Lucas said the deal did not have her support. “Anyone who thinks I am going to approve an arena in Northern Virginia using state tax dollars before we deliver on toll relief and for public schools in Hampton Roads must think I have dumbass written on my forehead.”
SB 718, which was sponsored by Surovell on Youngkin’s behalf, would establish the Virginia Sports and Entertainment Authority and Financing Fund, which would own the land and buildings on the proposed $2 billion sports and entertainment campus in Alexandria, centered around a new arena for the Washington Capitals and Washington Wizards.
“The governor is confident at the end of the day that the General Assembly will come together because this project is good for the entire commonwealth,” Youngkin’s communications director, Rob Damschen, said in a statement Monday. “It creates 30,000 jobs and unlocks billions in new revenue that can be used to fund expanded toll relief in Portsmouth, increased funding for I-81, and new money for education for rural and urban school divisions across the commonwealth.”
Monica Dixon, president of external affairs and chief administrative officer for Monumental, also said Monday, “We are encouraged by the momentum from Friday when the House bill passed with a 17-3 margin. We have had healthy discussions with members across the General Assembly and [city council] in Alexandria, and we are eager to work with the lawmakers in Richmond to provide all information they might need to feel comfortable about this deal. This project will deliver tremendous benefits for the City of Alexandria and the entire commonwealth of Virginia, including tens of thousands of new jobs and billions in revenue and economic impact.”
In December 2023, Youngkin and team owner Ted Leonsis unveiled plans that had been under private discussion among state and city officials. While some business and political leaders voiced excitement and praise for the project, which would move the NHL and NBA pro teams from Washington, D.C., to Alexandria, some state Democrats — notably Lucas — and many Alexandria residents expressed everything from worries and doubts to outright opposition, particularly regarding how it would add to area transportation demands and whether Virginia could be left paying the bill for the pricy arena.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks with reporters after an event where he and Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards NBA basketball team and Washington Capitals HNL hockey team, announce plans for a new sports stadium for the teams, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, in Alexandria, Va. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has reached a tentative agreement with the parent company of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals to move those teams from the District of Columbia to what he called a new “visionary sports and entertainment venue” in northern Virginia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
On Jan. 19, Surovell’s bill was referred to the Senate Finance Committee, but as Lucas said Saturday, it has not been placed on the docket for a vote. The House version of the bill, however, is still in action, and if it survives a floor vote in the House, that bill will come up for a vote in the Senate.
Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor and director of the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, said Monday that he thinks “greater deference and a sweeter deal are necessary to make this package happen. At some point, if Youngkin wants this deal, he will have to bend on important Democratic priorities, including more funding for education.”
Indeed, Surovell said Monday that the governor has not been willing to work with Democrats on most of their priorities, including retail sales of cannabis and raising the minimum wage. The possibility of giving Metro more state funding is the exception, he noted.
Given Youngkin’s speech over the weekend, Farnsworth said, “it is not clear that the governor is willing to do what it takes to get a deal through the Democratic majority legislature. A governor cannot operate like a CEO when there is divided partisan control in Richmond.”
In addition to the lack of discussion about Democrats’ legislative priorities, the governor’s speech “gave a lot of people concern whether he’s interested in working with us or not,” Surovell noted. Lucas said she views this situation as showing Youngkin’s “lack of respect.”
David Ramadan, a former Republican delegate and now a professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, retweeted Youngkin’s tweet Sunday that shows the governor saying that Democrats “are content to concede, to compromise away, to abandon the very foundations that made America exceptional.” In response, Ramadan, who is working for the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce in lobbying for the arena, wrote, “This is a perfect example of what NOT to do in the middle of a legislative session — period.”
From health care to real estate and law, artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly bigger part of many industries, with executives rolling out new tools and updating policies. Like other businesses, banks and credit unions too have been exploring this electronic frontier, although they’re pairing technological progress with caution.
Even if you’re new to the topic, you probably have heard of ChatGPT, the trailblazing generative AI chatbot launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It was a big deal, gathering more than 100 million monthly users just two months after launch, but ChatGPT is just the tip of the iceberg. Artificial intelligence has been developing in many forms for decades.
When it comes to technology in use or under consideration at financial institutions, most AI tools are focused on behind-the-scenes work.
With the notable exception of Bank of America’s Erica — an AI-powered virtual assistant launched in 2018 that helps customers find banking information via voice and text — financial institutions’ new tools are not personalized but can make customer service faster and more efficient, detect malware reliably and prequalify customers for loans, among other tasks.
While the possibilities for AI seem endless, banks and credit unions have to balance that sense of adventure with the weighty responsibility of keeping their customers’ sensitive financial and personal information secure.
Separating wheat from chaff
Fairfax-based Apple Federal Credit Union is a member of Curql Collective, a capital fund through which credit unions invest in fintech companies developing AI tools, says the credit union’s chief information officer, John Wyatt. Photo by Will Schermerhorn
Fairfax-based Apple Federal Credit Union, which had more than $4.3 billion in assets and 242,473 members at the end of 2023, is among the top 10 largest credit unions based in Virginia, and it’s also an early AI adopter among credit unions, with several applications currently in place and others in the wings.
John Wyatt, the credit union’s chief information officer, says Apple FCU uses a tool called Zest AI that provides more information on loan seekers than the traditional FICO credit scoring model. It opens doors to borrowers who may have previously had a difficult time getting approved for a loan through no fault of their own.
“We’re looking for … that hidden prime borrower that may not have the credit history that you would need to have a high FICO score,” he says. “What we’re trying to do is qualify more members for loans.”
Another product, CrowdStrike Falcon, helps the credit union examine behavioral indicators to bolster cybersecurity. “It can detect, isolate and respond to threats in real time,” Wyatt explains, as opposed to traditional malware-detection programs, which can take up to three or four months to detect a pattern. By that time, bad actors could have done their damage and moved on to new targets.
Apple FCU is a member of the Curql Collective, a technology capital fund that connects fintech companies creating AI-powered tools with credit unions for investment. In turn, Apple and other members decide which new tools would be appropriate for their organizations. In the past year, with more AI-driven products and entrepreneurs available, Curql (pronounced “circle”) provides a helpful filter for what’s worthwhile and what isn’t, Wyatt says.
“We get first look at vendors that have products that meet the needs of credit unions, and we go to conferences where they actually bring people in to talk about their products. We evaluate them, and we can vote on them and … fund them or not,” he says. “You kind of see what’s coming down the pipeline.”
Wyatt also attended a December 2023 AI innovation conference at which some of the bigger players like Microsoft and Midjourney rolled out new tools and updates. “Things are changing every three, four days,” Wyatt says. “You kind of have to stay ahead of it, and the hype around it is way beyond the peak of inflated expectations.”
In Virginia Beach, Chartway Federal Credit Union has two AI-powered projects underway that are set to go live in March, says Rob Keatts, Chartway’s executive vice president and chief strategy officer. One is Experian’s custom credit score program powered by AI. The other is a customer- facing telephone banking system that will use a “conversational AI bot” that will allow customers to “call in and just check your balance or move money between your own accounts,” Keatts explains. “And for whatever reason, it is extremely popular with people.”
Interestingly, the demographic breakdown of phone banking shows it is most popular among Chartway’s members over age 50 and its youngest members, in their 20s, Keatts notes. Gen Xers and millennials tend to prefer mobile banking, according to statistics pulled by Chartway’s analytics consultants in late 2022.
Last year, Chartway started Chartway Ventures, a credit union-backed venture capital fund to invest in fintech startups, similar to Curql. It helps Keatts learn more about what tools are under development, as well as what is worth investing in — since part of a credit union’s charter is managing its customers’ money responsibly.
“Being a member-owned cooperative credit union, it’s truly our members’ money,” Keatts says. “We really do look to see [if] we’re going to put out x amount for this product, what are we getting back? And then, from a cybersecurity standpoint, everything goes through our standard security checks before we go live. We do a deep dive into the background of the organization we’re partnering with. We don’t put any sensitive information into a public large-language model like a ChatGPT.”
Keatts also learns about new tools and gets recommendations through relationships with other credit unions and attending events where fintech startups present their products.
Both Wyatt and Keatts note that the size of their financial institutions — sitting in the top 10 largest credit unions based in Virginia — allows them to invest in and explore AI tools more easily than smaller credit unions or smaller banks can.
Big banks, bigger investments
On the leading edge of AI use in the finance sector, however, are the nation’s largest banks, among them McLean-based Capital One Financial and Bank of America. Unlike Apple and Chartway, these banking giants build their own tech in-house in addition to collaborating with third parties.
Capital One’s mobile app and fraud detection tools, among other products, use AI and machine learning, and the bank has created a framework to “manage and mitigate risks associated with AI,” its chief scientist and head of enterprise AI, Prem Natarajan, said during congressional testimony in November 2023. “We have a wide range of tools for managing risk relating to AI, including model risk management, credit risk, strategic risk, third-party risk, data management [and] compliance risk.”
Beyond tools in use by the bank, Capital One has invested in broader educational efforts, including its internal Tech College, which provides training to its employees on machine learning-based systems and products.
Meanwhile, as of July 2023 more than 38 million Bank of America customers engaged with virtual assistant Erica to manage their bank accounts through 1.5 billion interactions — making requests like “Replace my credit card,” or “What’s my FICO score?”
In Virginia, 27% of Bank of America clients used Erica as of October 2023, up from 22% a year earlier. In September 2023, using the same proprietary AI and machine- learning capabilities as Erica, Bank of America launched an AI chat function for corporate and commercial clients to manage their finances on its CashPro platform.
Like the credit unions, Bank of America is focused on security of its customers’ sensitive information when developing new products.
“Our approach has never been to … chase the shiny objects,” says Nikki Katz, Bank of America’s Los Angeles-based head of digital. “We’re always looking at it from the perspective of, ‘How does this translate to client benefit?’”
Digital banking is in more demand than ever, as during the pandemic, many banks and credit unions customers moved to online, phone or mobile banking options.
Tom Durkin, global product head of CashPro in Global Transaction Services at Bank of America, says expectations for digital banking “really hit the business community a lot harder, as they had to adapt and leverage some of these capabilities. I think those things factored into expectations … coming off the pandemic, in terms of accessibility to information and the ability to get access.”
Although Bank of America was the first bank to launch a virtual assistant, back in 2018 — an eon ago in technological terms — innovations related to Erica are still going forward even as customer usage increases, Katz notes.
“There’s definitely climbing interest in this space, and we’re continuing to see new applications, whether it’s helping our clients stay on top of their cash flow or changes to their recurring charges,” she says. “As there’s more investment in the space, we’re going to examine opportunities to evolve and improve that client experience and our associate experience with it.”
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