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byline: M.J. McAteer

DEBORAH JOHNSTON 

Deborah Johnston’s father inspired her career path. When she was a child, he encouraged her to pursue a job in nursing for the opportunities it could afford her.

“He said, ‘You’ll always have a job. You could join the Air Force and travel the world. But no matter what happens, you’ll always have a job, always be able to take care of yourself,’” Johnston recalls.

Johnston has worked as a nurse for more than 30 years, starting in the operating room before moving to the recovery room, and it has influenced her entrepreneurial ventures. In 1988, she founded home health care company Care Advantage Inc. and sold it in 2017. In 2013, she was featured on an episode of ABC’s “Secret Millionaire” TV show.

By the time her father needed hospice care in his old age, Johnston decided to create her own hospice company — Serenity First Hospice — in 2021. Choosing to put her father into hospice care was “difficult,” she says, but she eventually realized the positive impact the care had on him.

“I loved the things they did. They were good for him, and I said, ‘This is what I want to do. I want to help other people like people have helped my dad.’”

Johnston, who serves on the board of Virginia Health Workforce Development Authority, worries about nursing job retention and the well-being of nurses amid the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To reverse the “shrinking” trend, she adds, “health care workers need more accolades or acknowledgement” to help sustain them and the nursing field.

JYLINDA JOHNSON

Jylinda Johnson sees the world for what it could be.

That’s why she thrives in a role that requires her to solve complex problems facing the federal government.

Johnson oversees a 2,000-person team for General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of Reston-based Fortune 500 global aerospace and defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. Her team at GDIT provides IT mission support services to approximately 20 federal agencies.

One of her team’s impactful projects includes partnering with the U.S. Postal Service to distribute more than 85 million COVID testing kits.

Johnson’s father, also an engineer, inspired her to pursue her career path. Enduring the rigors of earning two engineering degrees taught her to have confidence in her ability to persevere and succeed. She graduated from the University of Virginia’s engineering school as the only Black woman in her undergraduate degree program.

“Getting up every day, striving for excellence and facing challenges head-on eventually led me to rise to where I am now,” Johnson says. “I know that other people looking to advance see that it’s possible by looking at me.”

Johnson is passionate about mentoring women and STEM students.

“Find a way to stand with confidence and lead with authenticity,” she says. “When you harness your power and bring all of the people you represent to the table, excellence shines through.”

GWEN HURT

Gwen Hurt spent more than 15 years working in the tech industry. Then, unexpectedly, days after being laid off from her job in 2013, Hurt and her daughter were in a car accident. During their months of recovery, Hurt decided to start her own winemaking business in 2014. Her daughter suggested she name it for her other passion — shoes.

Shoe Crazy specializes in softer wines that are smooth to drink.  “‘Soft Palate’ is a phrase I coined to describe the type of wine our customers were asking for — a wine that was lighter, sweeter and less harsh,” Hurt says.

Through major retailers like Total Wine & More, Sam’s Club and Walmart Inc., Shoe Crazy Wine’s products are now sold in 11 states and Washington, D.C., says Chief Financial Officer Edwin Gommers. Hurt plans to expand into more markets as well.

“Passion and tenacity are tantamount to surviving in any industry,” Hurt says. Those two traits helped her to launch her company eight years ago, and in the years since she also has produced wines for three other women of color. “Our goal, as always, is to support and help grow women in the industry.”

JENNIFER HUNTER

Education and mentorship are important to Jennifer Hunter.

“If you want to create change and create opportunities … you’ve got to bring people to the table,” she says. “And that means supporting folks, equipping them, preparing them and then pulling them to the table with you.”

Outside of mentoring others, she was appointed by former governors Bob McDonnell and Terry McAuliffe to two terms on Virginia State University’s board of visitors. “I do miss it,” Hunter says.

She also has served on the foundation board for the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development since 2012.

“As you talk about how to create more equitable opportunities for all, education plays such a key role in that,” Hunter says.

In her career working for the lobbying and compliance arm of Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturer Altria Group Inc., she has been proud of her involvement in efforts to prevent underage tobacco use and to help adults to choose to quit tobacco products. Examples, she says, include supporting state legislation to raise the smoking age to 21, supporting U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning labels and public health information campaigns.

“One of the real points of pride that I have is that cigarette rates today amongst underage users [are] the lowest recorded in a generation,” Hunter says.

NANCY HOWELL AGEE

NANCY HOWELL AGEE

President and CEO, Carilion Clinic, Roanoke

Nancy Howell Agee calls herself “a bit of a unicorn” because, as a woman and a nurse, the odds of her ever heading a health care system were poor. When asked about obstacles she faced along the way to becoming CEO and president of Carilion Clinic health system, she quips, “Do we have all day?”

But Agee had a restless mind, a drive to be a decision maker and the mindset of “try — what’s the worst that can happen?” The result? For more than a decade, she has led the $2.4 billion, seven-hospital system, which serves more than 1 million patients in the Roanoke and New River valleys.

Before becoming the leader of Carilion in 2011, Agee was its chief operating officer, a role she used to help transform the clinic into a patient-centered, physician-led organization. She also co-led the forging of a partnership with Virginia Tech to create a medical school that has graduated more than 400 doctors since it opened in 2010. A graduate of the University of Virginia’s nursing school, Agee was a hands-on health care worker for decades before entering administration.

“I’m passionate about health care, and I’m passionate about education,” she says. Since assuming Carilion’s top job, Agee has kept the system operating in the black, even amid the difficult days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her administrative ability has been recognized with a slew of honors, including being named 2017 Virginia Business Person of the Year. In January, her expertise was recognized once again when she was named to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s medical advisory team.

MARY ANN GILMER

Workforce development and community betterment are key goals of Roanoke-based Goodwill Industries of the Valleys. And Mary Ann Gilmer, the nonprofit’s chief strategy and people officer, is furthering its mission through GoodCare, a medical workforce training program.

The program connects Roanoke Valley residents to workforce training in health care — something that has become even more important amid the COVID-19 pandemic and high industry turnover. The program aids participants with support for needs such as child care and transportation.

To bolster GoodCare, Gilmer built relationships with community colleges, adult education centers, area nonprofits and other stakeholders. Though the program originated from a federal grant six years ago, Goodwill plans to fund the program’s continuation.

Among her other duties, Gilmer has been responsible for executing the organization’s strategic plan and helping Goodwill pivot to virtual operations for clients and staff amid the pandemic.

“We provided coaching and support to [employees and clients] for emergency assistance as they needed it,” Gilmer says. “Just a friendly voice on the other end of the phone to say, ‘We’re still here, you’re still a part of our organization.’”

After COVID-19 restrictions lessened, 76% of laid-off employees in the Goodwill’s retail stores returned, and staffing is back to “pre-pandemic levels,” according to the nonprofit’s president and CEO, Richmond Vincent Jr.

Gilmer reflects fondly on the partnerships the organization has built in her region and the local enthusiasm Goodwill has seen for its goal to eliminate poverty. “We were, I think, really amazed at the support when we socialized our strategic plan,” Gilmer says. “People are hungry for Goodwill to do more.”

CATHY UNDERWOOD

Cathy Underwood says her greatest strength is her ability to build relationships in the construction industry.

She’s done that while working her entire 22-year career for Branch Builds, a subsidiary of The Branch Group, a Roanoke-based construction company.

As president, Underwood leads Branch Builds’ commercial construction projects across Virginia and in neighboring states.

In 2000, Underwood graduated with her master’s degree in biological systems engineering from Virginia Tech. She thought she would eventually transition into an engineering role but fell in love with the construction side of the business. Ultimately, Underwood landed at the top in 2020.

“I try to show up humble, and I don’t lead with ego,” she says. “I think great leaders allow people to empower those around them to do bigger and better things.”

Many of the men she worked with took her under their wings to help her learn the industry and ultimately advance her career.

Even today, Underwood says she’s often the only woman in the room, but she doesn’t let that bother her.

“I tell women — and men, for that matter — to find a mentor,” she says. “I just believe it’s advisable to navigate one’s career with advocates and mentors along the way.”

JOANIE EILAND

Joanie Eiland recalls wishing she had a woman mentor in the early days of her career — so she became one.

“I think we process things differently and experience things differently. And there’s nobody to talk to,” Eiland says.

On mentoring others, she calls it a joy “to be there for the firsts — whether they are collaborations, contracts or wins.”

“It’s very rewarding to share the joy in those victories,” she says.

Eiland built her career as owner and president of John D. Eiland Co.,
a wholesaler of Anheuser-Busch beers, from 1993 until she sold the company in 2006. Since 1995, she also has been president of Elk Trucking, which she founded.

Working for her formerly family-owned company was “the foundation of everything I have done,” she says.

Community involvement matters to Eiland as much as mentorship, and she’s been a champion for business and education. She currently serves as vice chair for GO Virginia’s Region 8 council, working to support economic development backing for public and private initiatives, including workforce development, across the Shenandoah Valley.

Eiland also sponsored a capstone project for James Madison University’s computer information systems students.

“As a company I have tried to sponsor as many things as I can within the community,” Eiland says. “I feel like community involvement is critical in any business or endeavor.”

JESSICA BUTTERWORTH

There are male-dominated industries, and then there’s Jessica Butterworth’s office, where she is in charge of 145 engineering workers for Colliers’ Real Estate Management Services (REMS). Every last one is male.

“It’s very different to be a female lead of engineering,” Butterworth says, in a gentle understatement. Her job entails overseeing 750,000 square feet of Class A office space leased by federal agencies in Virginia and North Carolina, as well as scheduling, maintenance, code compliance, billing and seeking new business.

“No two days are alike,” says Butterworth, who started her career at Colliers in 2007 as an office manager. She quickly made her way up the corporate ladder in property management and building services, and last year, she was named a partner.

She credits her rise to the support she received from Colliers’ leadership — assistance that she passes along now that she is a boss. “Jessica always puts her team first,” says Chief Engineer Cyril Connaughton. “She makes everyone feel appreciated and valued.”

Butterworth admits that she can be “a bit of a workaholic,” but she recognizes the importance of getting work-life balance right, too. In her down time, that often means providing taxi service for her two sons and volunteering with their Boy Scouts troop.

To women who hope to emulate her success, she says, “Don’t be afraid to go into a line of business that’s predominantly men.”

NAKIA MADRY-SMITH

Few people can say they sing in a choir with Pharrell Williams.

Or that they’ve performed on Netflix, “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “Good Morning America” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

But Nakia Madry-Smith has done all those things. Yet, she still finds time to connect with the community, representing Old Dominion University regionally as director of ODU Peninsula Center. The university’s higher education center in Hampton offers undergraduate degree completion classes, graduate classes and certificate programs.

“ODU has been a blessing because they are so supportive, and I don’t feel as if I have to choose between pursuing my dreams and pursuing my goals of impacting students at ODU,” she says. “I can do both.”

Madry-Smith says she can be her authentic self while easily shifting between meetings and stages around Virginia and the globe. She is a member of Williams’ Voices of Fire and two local bands, The Fuzz Band and Rocky 7. She’s traveled to war zones on three tours to perform for U.S. troops.

Her career as a musician helps her connect with students who have big dreams of their own. “I try to live my life in a way that demonstrates possibilities for students, so that they’re not bound by misperceptions or limitations,” she says.

“It’s important for youth to see representation of themselves in leadership, so they know that they too can achieve their goals.”