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byline: Kate Andrews

Charlottesville Chamber appoints 3 board members

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce appointed three new board members this month, who are starting three-year terms. They are Eric Mayberry of The Daily Progress, Jonathan Chasen of Wells Fargo Advisors and Rebecca Ivins of Hourigan.

Chasen is a private wealth financial adviser who started his career with the former Banc of America Investment Services Inc. (now part of Merrill Lynch) in Orange, and then joined Wachovia Securities in 2008, which now is Wells Fargo Advisors. The Virginia Commonwealth University graduate is a volunteer with Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle and Partner for Mental Health.

Ivins is client solutions manager for Hourigan, the Richmond-based construction company, and she previously was a business development manager at Gilbane Building Co. in Richmond and director of business development for JLL. She is a University of Akron alum.

Mayberry, a Wharton School of Finance and Commerce alumnus from the University of Pennsylvania, is president and director of local sales and marketing at The Daily Progress, having joined owner Lee Enterprises in 2019 as vice president of sales for the Omaha World-Herald in Nebraska. He previously worked in sales for Gatehouse Media’s Illinois group, Digital First Media and the News Journal Media Group in Delaware.

Four outgoing board members completed their service in December 2021, including Peter Caramanis of Royer Caramanis, Brinson White of Blue Ridge Title, Simone Alley of PVCC Educational Foundation and Antonio Rice of Jobs for Virginia Graduates.

Virginia Tech Carilion hires director of communications

Josh Meyer will join Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine as its director of communications, the school announced this week. A Virginia Tech alumnus, Meyer was most recently director of marketing and strategic communications for Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke.

“We are excited to have Josh join the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and help us elevate the message of how we are developing physician thought-leaders of tomorrow,” Dean Lee Learman said in a statement. “Josh’s knowledge of higher education and his connections to the region will facilitate our continued progress.”

Meyer previously worked at the University of North Carolina and at the Raleigh News & Observer and The Roanoke Times. He earned a master’s degree in journalism at UNC.

Son replaces father as Smith-Midland Corp. chairman

Rodney I. Smith, who worked at his family’s precast concrete company in Fauquier County for 62 years, has stepped down as Smith-Midland Corp.’s board chairman, making way for his son, Ashley B. Smith, who is also president and CEO.

The company, which manufactures, licenses, rents and sells precast concrete products, was founded in 1960 by Rodney Smith’s father, David G. Smith, as the Smith-Cattleguard Co., for its concrete cattleguard, which was the first one produced. By 1995, Smith-Midland was a publicly traded company with manufacturing facilities in North and South Carolina, as well as the Concrete Safety Systems subsidiary. Today, the company also owns Easi-Set Worldwide, which licenses Smith-Midland products.

Rodney Smith

“I am confident in the exceptional leadership of Ashley,” Rodney Smith said in a statement released last week. “In his 37 years with Smith-Midland, he has created an impressive culture of safety, continuous profitable improvement and historic growth. Ashley has continued the family legacy of innovation and I have no doubt he is well prepared for the chairman of the board of directors position and will continue to work hard to drive long-term shareholder return for Smith-Midland.”

In its third-quarter report in November 2021, the company reported $40.6 million in revenue last year, an increase from $32.8 million at the same period in 2020. Smith-Midland won a contract to provide rental highway barriers for the Interstate 64 Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion project last year.

“I believe that the company’s best days are ahead as we continue to gain scale and take share in our end markets,” Ashley Smith said in a statement. “We will carry on the legacy of hard work and dedication to develop differentiated, patented and proprietary products.”

 

 

ChildFund International taps next CEO

Isam Ghanim will replace Anne Lynam Goddard as president and CEO of ChildFund International, the Richmond-based global nonprofit announced Monday. Goddard is set to retire in May after 15 years leading the organization.

Ghanim is currently president of Search for Common Ground, a $60 million nonprofit organization focused on ending global conflict, which he has led since 2018. Previously, he worked for ChildFund, formerly known as Christian Children’s Fund, as executive vice president for programs, as well as holding executive roles in Africa, Asia and the Americas. He started his career in international development with CARE Sudan, eventually working for the global organization in Somalia and India, as well as leading its regional learning program. Ghanim, who is from Sudan and received his master’s degree at the University of Khartoum, will rejoin ChildFund on March 1.

“Our decision was unanimous, and we are incredibly pleased to welcome Isam,” Lyn McDermid, ChildFund’s board chair, said in a statement. “He was a standout among the 100-plus candidates we considered, with his remarkable breadth of experience, diverse contributions, already-established credibility within ChildFund and the unprecedented growth he led at Search for Common Ground.”

The 83-year-old ChildFund, which had a $208.8 million operations budget in 2020, assisted 16.2 million children and family members in 24 countries last year, focusing on education, health care, workforce training and other initiatives. Ghanim was appointed after a six-month global search process led by Russell Reynolds, an international search firm.

“I am beyond thrilled to leave the leadership of ChildFund’s in Isam’s hands,” Goddard said in a statement. “Of course it is bittersweet, but I could not have hoped for a more fitting successor, someone who also knows and loves ChildFund. Make no mistake, though — Isam loves ChildFund enough to challenge it, and he won’t hesitate to do so. And that, especially, fills me with great hope for ChildFund’s future impact for children.”

VCU names new business school dean

Naomi Boyd, an associate dean from West Virginia University, has been hired as the dean of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, the Richmond university announced Monday.

Boyd will replace interim dean S. Douglas Pugh on July 1. She is currently associate dean for innovation, outreach and engagement, as well as the Fred T. Tattersall Chair of Finance in the Chambers College of Business and Economics at WVU. She also was associate editor of Financial Statistics and served on boards for the Journal of Financial Regulation and Compliance, and the Managerial Finance journal, and was a financial analyst for the chief economist at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. At West Virginia, Boyd started the Center for Financial Literacy and Education and a program that gives students the opportunity to manage an investment fund.

“I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Naomi Boyd to VCU. Dr. Boyd is a proven leader and a visionary with a strong commitment to academic excellence, transdisciplinary innovation and student-focused, experiential learning,” Fotis Sotiropoulos, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, said in a statement. “Her background, which spans academia, government, and industry, coupled with her impressive record of success in transforming student learning and supporting faculty to excel, make her the right person at the right time for VCU and the School of Business.”

A graduate of the University of Texas, Texas Tech University and George Washington University, Boyd said in a statement, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to engage with the community of Richmond to empower the School of Business to take VCU’s explicit commitment of creativity and harness it to produce the next generation of business leaders who are good corporate citizens, well versed in emerging technologies, with strong entrepreneurial roots.”

Heritage Foundation exec tapped as Va. diversity officer

Gov. Glenn Youngkin rounded out his Cabinet picks Wednesday by announcing Angela Sailor as his choice for the state’s chief diversity, opportunity and inclusion officer, a change in title from the Northam administration’s post.

Sailor is currently vice president of the Feulner Institute at the Heritage Foundation and chief of staff to the conservative research institute’s president, Kay Coles James. She also is a member of the U.S. State Department’s Senior Foreign Service Selection Board and has spent most of her career in the federal government, including serving in the White House Office of Public Liaison during President George W. Bush’s administration. Her focus was primarily on domestic policy impacting senior citizens and Black Americans, including education, housing, health care, small business and faith-based initiatives.

In an executive order, Youngkin changed the title of the cabinet post from chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer — held by Janice Underwood from 2019 until Jan. 14 — and replaced “equity” with “opportunity.” The position will now have a “stronger and more focused role on promoting ideas, policies and economic opportunities for disadvantaged Virginians, including Virginians living with disabilities and bringing Virginians of different faiths together.”

Sailor also served as deputy chief of staff to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Rod Paige during Bush’s first term, from 2001 to 2005, when she led No Child Left Behind and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) initiatives, among other duties. She has worked for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, advised the Republican National Committee on budget and constituent services, and was director of African American affairs for Bush’s 2000 campaign. A graduate of Central State University, Sailor also holds law and master’s degrees from the University of Memphis and American University.

The Heritage Foundation established the Feulner Institute in 2019 to “reinvigorate civic culture and our national purpose,” with a focus on the nation’s founders’ values and principles, according to an announcement by James, who named Sailor as its first vice president.

The state’s DEI officer post was created in 2019 by Gov. Ralph Northam, following the blackface scandal in February of that year, and in 2020, the General Assembly passed a bill making the post a permanent Cabinet-level position, which Northam signed into law. Virginia is the nation’s first state to create a DEI post in the governor’s Cabinet.

“The people of Virginia elected the most diverse leadership in the commonwealth’s history,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Virginia is big enough for the hopes and dreams of a diverse people. Angela Sailor’s experience in government, nonprofits and the private sector will guide us as we ensure that the government is working for all Virginians across our diverse commonwealth, especially when it comes to economic opportunity for all Virginians. In addition, I will introduce and support legislation to change the name of the office to the Diversity, Opportunity and Inclusion Office.”

Wiedefeld announces retirement as Metro CEO

Paul J. Wiedefeld, the general manager and CEO of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, plans to retire in six months, the transit authority board chairman announced Tuesday.

Wiedefeld was hired in November 2015 to lead the authority, which manages the Metrorail and Metrobus transportation systems in the Washington, D.C., region.

In a statement, Wiedefeld said, “Forty-plus years in transportation teaches you that there is no set mile marker for this decision, but given the seismic shifts happening in transit and the region, Metro needs a leader who can commit to several years of service and set a new course.”

WMATA has had trials and tribulations during Wiedefeld’s tenure, particularly stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, when rider numbers plunged by 90% in 2020 and still have not recovered. Metro projects to be carrying about 75% of its former passengers by 2024. The agency also has had to sideline more than half of its rail cars since October 2021 due to a safety defect, which causes their wheels to widen from their axles and possibly run off track.

Wiedefeld also has overseen massive expansion of the Metrorail system, including the Dulles-bound Silver Line, reconstructing the platform at the Reagan Washington National Airport, building a new station at Potomac Yard and a second entrance to Arlington’s Crystal City Metro station, projects either completed or in progress. Wiedefeld said he expects to continue focusing on moving Metro’s headquarters, restoring full rail and bus service and opening the Silver Line extension. He also is credited for emphasizing safety through the SafeTrack program and developing a $2 billion annual capital program for repairs.

Before joining WMATA, he was CEO of BWI Airport and the Maryland Transit Administration.

“There is no doubt that Paul Wiedefeld was the right man at the right time to guide Metro out of very dark days,” Board of Directors Chair Paul C. Smedberg said in a statement. “Paul is an extraordinary executive, and the board deeply appreciates his effective leadership and, most recently, his collaboration with us as we worked together to overcome an unprecedented set of challenges during the pandemic.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner issued a statement praising Wiedefeld’s work during the pandemic and overcoming other challenges. “As the WMATA Board of Directors searches for the next general manager and CEO, it must focus on finding candidates who are equally committed to maintaining transparency, cooperating with state, local and federal partners, and most importantly, prioritizing safety.”
Smedberg said the board will conduct a national search for Wiedefeld’s replacement and will discuss succession planning publicly at the board’s meeting on Feb. 10.

IT firm set to bring 125 jobs to Richmond

A Fairfax County-based software consulting and managed services company, Intact Technology, is creating a second presence in the state with a location in Richmond, an expansion expected to create 125 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday.

According to Intact Technology CEO Jesse White, the company is exploring options in Richmond’s Shockoe Bottom neighborhood. “Our application process has begun,” he added in a statement later Wednesday. “We are looking for dynamic individuals wanting to start or enhance their career in IT. The anticipated start date will be early May with eight weeks (paid) of intensive IT training. One of the unique aspects of Intact’s hiring is that it is not about the experience, not that we don’t value it, but it is about the individual and their potential — the ability to adapt to different situations and to take up the challenge to learn. We value empathy over expertise, listening over speaking, execution over analysis, and challenge over comfort. This opportunity is for people who are creative, passionate, resilient, self-motivated and strive to positively impact those around them.”

The firm, which moved its headquarters from Maryland to Reston in 2020, will invest $1.5 million in the city, the governor’s office said. In October 2021, Intact Technology announced it would expand its headquarters, creating 40 jobs. The state competed with Maryland and Washington, D.C., for the Richmond project, Northam said in a statement.

“Virginia has emerged as one of North America’s premier locations for the tech sector due to our competitive operating costs, top-ranked higher education system and skilled workforce,” Northam said in a statement. “Intact Technology’s decision to open a second location speaks volumes to the many industry advantages offered by the commonwealth, and we look forward to the company’s success in the city of Richmond with this new venture.”

Intact has been named to the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Tech 100 list, and it also has appeared for five consecutive years on The Washington Post’s Top Workplace rankings, since 2016.

In securing the project, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the city and the Greater Richmond Partnership, and Northam approved a $350,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the city of Richmond. Intact Tech is eligible for state benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, and the Virginia Jobs Investment Program will support employee training at no cost to the company.

Northam calls state of emergency to increase hospital staffing

With an all-time high number of Virginians hospitalized for COVID-19 on Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam issued  a 30-day executive order Monday to expand the number of available hospital beds, increase staffing capacity at hospitals and nursing homes, and allow public health agencies greater flexibility.

“It is painful to see the number of COVID cases rising,” Northam said at what he promised to be his final COVID press conference before leaving office Saturday, after conducting more than 70 updates over the past two years.

Although the fast-moving omicron variant of COVID is widely viewed as a less-lethal variety, the vast majority of Virginians hospitalized with the coronavirus are not vaccinated, Northam said, citing current numbers from Ballad Health that 91% of current COVID patients in its hospitals and 97% of those on ventilators have not received shots. There are more positive cases among people who are vaccinated, but in general, their cases are not severe enough to require hospitalization. Northam urged anyone who can to get vaccinated.

Last week, the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians urged Northam to declare an emergency to open more testing sites run by the Virginia Department of Health; the governor said nine sites that will be adjacent to vaccination centers will offer PCR tests, and he said a federal plan to provide free rapid tests will help satisfy current demand.

“This virus has shown that it can mutate efficiently, but humans have shown we can fight back. We’re going to have to live with this disease,” Northam said. “Everyone who can needs to be vaccinated.” He said that the decision to declare a state of emergency was made over the weekend following Friday’s single-day high of 3,329 hospitalizations reported by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association. In conversations with health systems around the state, the governor said that hospital administrators said they needed a loosening of state statutes regarding medical practice, allowing more people to be able to work in hospitals in Virginia. Many hospitals around the country are suffering from staff shortages, in part due to COVID and career burnout.

The emergency order directs the state health commissioner to waive normal bed licensing requirements, allows hospitals to increase their licensed bed capacity and mandates increased coordination between hospitals and local medical services agencies.

The order also directs actions intended to boost staff in hospitals and nursing homes. It allows providers with an active out-of-state license to practice in Virginia, authorizes physician assistants with two or more years of clinical experience to practice without a written supervisory agreement, increases provider-to-patient ratios and provides certain liability protections to health care workers acting in good faith.

Additionally, the order makes the transfer of patients to state-operated psychiatric hospitals more flexible.

Cynthia V. Bailey, counsel to the governor, noted that people with out-of-state medical licenses will be able to work in Virginia, for instance, under the state of emergency. Northam said that he has spoken to Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, who takes office at noon Saturday. A Republican, Youngkin has said that he and Attorney General-elect Jason Miyares will challenge President Joe Biden’s COVID vaccination mandates on employers, but Youngkin has also promoted vaccination and getting booster shots six months after the first two doses.

Youngkin, Northam said Monday, “has communicated too with the hospitals. We want this [transition] process to be consistent and be on the same sheet of music.”

Sen. Kaine back in D.C. after being stuck on I-95 for 27 hours

This story was updated Jan. 4 at 4:20 p.m.

After being stranded with hundreds of other motorists on Interstate 95 for nearly 27 hours, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine arrived at his office in Washington, D.C., just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to CNBC.

The 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday morning that he had been stuck on Interstate 95 overnight, since 1 p.m. Monday, penned between tractor-trailer trucks. According to the Virginia Department of Transportation, the highway was closed in both directions over a 50-mile stretch between exits 152 and 104 between Prince William and Caroline counties due to winter weather, stranding hundreds of people in cars overnight north and south of Fredericksburg.

Kaine told Washington, D.C.-area radio station WTOP, “This has been a miserable experience, but at some point I kind of made the switch from a miserable travel experience to kind of a survival project.”

“I started my normal 2 hour drive to DC at 1pm yesterday,” Virginia’s junior U.S. senator wrote just before 9 a.m. Tuesday while stranded just north of Fredericksburg in Stafford County. “19 hours later, I’m still not near the Capitol.” He posted a photo from his vehicle showing three trucks stopped in front of him. Just before 10 a.m., a staff member in Kaine’s Senate office said he had made some progress and had hoped to be in Washington, D.C., by noon. Meanwhile, WTOP reported that hundreds of vehicles were at a “standstill” overnight, although some were making their way off southbound I-95 on Exit 152 for Dumfries Road. The snarl was caused after tractor-trailers jackknifed in the winter storm, according to Associated Press reports.

Drivers reported being stranded without food in below-freezing temperatures and Kaine described on Facebook how one family making their way from Florida had walked among the vehicles passing out oranges. NBC News correspondent Josh Lederman was also among those stranded.

VDOT’s Fredericksburg district Twitter account reported power outages, multiple vehicle crashes and closed lanes beginning around noon Monday, as heavy snow fell across the state. Early Tuesday, the department reported that crews were mobilizing to take people stranded on the highway to alternate routes, using exits in Garrisonville, Carmel Church and Ladysmith to move them.

“We know many travelers have been stuck on Interstate 95 in our region for extraordinary periods of time over the past 24 hours, in some cases since Monday morning. This is unprecedented, and we continue to steadily move stopped trucks to make progress toward restoring lanes. In addition to clearing the trucks, we are treating for snow and several inches of ice that has accumulated around them to ensure that when the lanes reopen, motorists can safely proceed to their destination,” Marcie Parker, VDOT Fredericksburg district engineer, said in a statement.

Gov. Ralph Northam tweeted Tuesday morning that his team has been working with multiple state agencies — including Virginia State Police, VDOT and the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to respond to the situation. “State and local emergency personnel are continuing to clear downed trees, assist disabled vehicles and re-route drivers,” he wrote. “An emergency message is going to all stranded drivers connecting them to support, and the state is working with localities to open warming shelters as needed.”

People responding to Northam’s tweets described a dire situation, with one man saying he’s been stuck in his car for more than 18 hours without insulin and others asking why the Virginia National Guard has not been deployed. (Northam told WTOP Tuesday morning that the National Guard was available but had not been called.) About 8 p.m. Monday, VDOT Fredericksburg tweeted that their staff didn’t have a timetable or an educated guess on when traffic would resume on I-95.

“Please know our crews don’t stop,” the tweet read. “Crews will work 24/7 until ALL state-maintained roads are safe for travel.”