Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

byline: Richard Foster

Ports strike is suspended as tentative agreement reached

On day three of a massive dockworkers’ strike that was resulting in runs at supermarkets on consumer goods like toilet paper, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) announced a tentative agreement had been reached and work would resume in ports from Maine to Texas.

On Thursday evening, the ILA and the U.S. Maritime Alliance released a joint statement, announcing that the striking dockworkers and their employers “have reached a tentative agreement on wages and have agreed to extend the Master Contract until January 15, 2025 to return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues. Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume.”

In a statement posted on X Thursday, President Joe Biden said, “I applaud the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance for coming together to reopen the East Coast and Gulf ports and ensure the availability of critical supplies for Hurricane Helene recovery and rebuilding. Collective bargaining works.”

Thursday evening, the Port of Virginia posted on its website that it was “in the process of bringing our terminals back online in an orderly and safe manner,” which will take about 24 hours, officials estimate. The first reservation for motor carrier pickup will be available 24 hours after union workers return to work, and “as a result, motor carriers are encouraged to plan for longer-than-usual queue times and waits. We appreciate the patience of our customers and partners throughout this process.” 

Rachel Shames, vice president of pricing and procurement for Norfolk-based logistics and trade compliance company CV International, said in an interview Tuesday that if the strike lasted “only a couple of days, we’ll avoid the worst of potential disruption.”

She noted that “May and June were very, very heavy shipping months, which was surprising, but it was really all because shippers were trying to get ahead of the situation. Some shippers are in better positions than others.”

Also, Shames said, “Since COVID, in particular, it’s been cycles of unpredictability. Basically, there’s not really a normal anymore in international shipping. It’s very volatile. So, in one sense, I think this is just another roadblock.”

Speaking Friday morning, after the strike’s suspension, Shames noted that although the wage dispute appears to be settled, “automation is the remaining sticking point.” However, “everybody’s excited we’ve got a few months of breathing room now,” she said. Moving forward, Shames expects about “two or three weeks of digging out” of the backlogged shipments, and some shippers could try to load more cargo in coming weeks before January 2025, when the temporary agreement ends.

“There’s hardly a ‘normal’ anymore,” Shames said. “That’s the shipping world — disruption.”

According to reports from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, port employers have offered the union dockworkers a 62% increase in wages over the six-year period of their next contract.

On Monday ahead of the strike, the ILA had been seeking a 61.5% pay increase. The USMX, which represents shipping employers such as Maersk’s APM Terminals, had previously proposed a 50% rise in wages, tripling employer contributions to worker retirement plans, strengthened health care options and “retaining … current language around automation and semi-automation.”

About 45,000 ILA union members hit picket lines just after midnight on Tuesday at the Port of Virginia and every other major port along the East and Gulf coasts, launching the ILA’s first U.S. port strike since 1977. The strike had sparked fears of long-term supply chain disruptions and added stress to the national economy in the month leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

During the contract extension period, the union and the USMX will continue negotiating the terms of the master contract, including previous sticking points such as overtime and ports automation.

In a statement Tuesday, ILA President Harold Daggett said that the union wants “absolute airtight language that there will be no automation or semi-automation.” In July, Daggett had posted on the union’s website that he had met with former President Donald Trump, who “promised to support the ILA in its opposition to automated terminals in the U.S.”

Two major East Coast ports — the Port of Virginia and the Port of New York and New Jersey — have semi-automated terminals. Labeled by National Review in 2022 as “America’s Most Automated Port,” the Port of Virginia has more than 90 semi-automated stacking cranes, many of which were installed nearly a decade ago.

The union dockworkers’ previous master contract had stated, “There shall be no implementation of semi-automated equipment or technology/automation until both parties agree to workforce protections and staffing levels.”

Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews contributed to this article.

What a difference a debate makes

Less than three months ago, President Joe Biden — you remember him, right? — stepped down from his bid for a second term and threw his support behind Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, radically redefining this fall’s presidential race.

Just before that happened, we were beginning to write this month’s cover story about the race, which at that time was shaping up to be a rematch between the oldest U.S. presidential candidates in history — less the Thrilla in Manila and more the Scuffle over the Scooters.

What a difference a debate makes.

Let’s not kid ourselves: None of the Trump-Biden debates in 2020 or 2024 were exactly Lincoln-Douglas affairs. It’s been quite a while since presidential debates were more about substance than soundbites and scoring points. But what the June 27 debate did do was illuminate the toll that age has taken on Biden, sparking efforts from within the Democratic Party’s most powerful players to seek his graceful exit from the campaign.

Biden’s debate performance was “the worst performance ever by a major party candidate in a general election presidential debate,” opined University of Virginia political sage Larry Sabato, though he was quick to qualify that didn’t “necessarily mean Trump turned in a good performance.”

Although Virginia was still trending blue, Biden was continuing to lose ground before Harris, 22 years his junior, took his place.

And then, on Sept. 10, following the first — and likely only — Trump-Harris debate, Trump’s campaign appeared to be going to the dogs. And cats.

The average American voter might not be able to remember exactly what the candidates said about abortion or supporting Ukraine, but they’ll likely remember this Trump quote about Haitian immigrants in Ohio: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating — they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

ABC News debate moderators were quick to point out that Springfield city officials say there’s no factual basis for the outré allegations, which, as it turns out, were based on a Facebook post about a rumor from a friend of a friend of the poster’s neighbor’s daughter. The person who wrote the original Facebook post has since disavowed it, but that hasn’t stopped Trump and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, from continuing to insist that it’s true, prompting everything from silly memes to school bomb threats.

Here in Virginia, the presidential race is a high-stakes matter, with the careers of tens of thousands of Virginian federal workers potentially on the line, along with another trade war with China and the future of renewable energy projects such as Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farms. Read more about what the Trump and Harris campaigns are saying about key issues of importance to Virginia, as well as the latest on this year’s congressional races, in our October cover story by freelance writer Mason Adams.

But lest you take the wrong message from this short column, consider this: After 2016, it’s probably best not to trust polls. The smart money would never rule out former President Donald J. Trump and his loyal base — just ask Franklin County entrepreneur Whitey Taylor, whose Trump Town store you can read about on our StartVirginia page this month. Housed in a former Boones Mill church with a giant Donald Trump standing next to its entrance, Trump Town draws MAGA merch buyers from far and wide. And Taylor expects he’ll still be selling Trump ballcaps for decades to come. 

$1 billion data center campus moves forward in Pittsylvania

With more than 70% of global internet traffic flowing through Virginia data centers — mostly in Loudoun County — the commonwealth is the world’s undisputed data center capital. And Tom Gallagher’s development group wants Pittsylvania County to claim a stake in that action.

Gallagher represents Anchorstone Advisors SOVA, the developer planning to build a potential $1 billion-plus data center campus on a 946-acre tract in Ringgold. During its July 16 meeting, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to rezone the tract for heavy industrial use to allow for the project. Construction could begin on the project’s first phase by mid-2025 to early 2026.

Currently, the only hyperscale data center campus in Southern Virginia is the 1.1-million-square-foot Microsoft data center complex in Boydton, about an hour east in Mecklenburg County.

“I think it’s a golden opportunity for [Pittsylvania] to get in on the game,” says Gallagher, who is also a principal in a $550 million mixed-use development proposed for Pittsylvania’s Axton area.

No tenant has been announced for the data center campus yet, but Pittsylvania’s economic development director, Matt Rowe, hopes Anchorstone’s project will be “the tip of the spear” for attracting more data centers southward.

“We recognize there’s tremendous opportunity for Southern Virginia when it comes to attracting hyperscale data centers,” Rowe says. “Northern Virginia is pretty much tapped out from a power standpoint [and] from a land standpoint, so we … become the next best option,” due to the region’s available land, low tax rates and proximity to subsea high-speed internet cables in Hampton Roads and QTS’s network access point in Henrico County.

“Counties like ours need the types of direct [tax] revenue that come from these projects,” says Rowe, “and we have the available land mass and space where they can do it at scale without impacting a lot of adjacent property owners.”

That said, some residents did express concerns to the county about potential increases in traffic, light and noise that might come from Anchorstone’s data center campus, which is expected to receive its data center use permit from the county Board of Zoning Appeals by year’s end.

Anchorstone has agreed to comply with county noise ordinances and to reduce light pollution, says Gallagher, noting that the campus also will have direct access to U.S. Route 58, so it won’t impact residential roads. “Most [residents] won’t even know it’s there.” 

How we assemble the Virginia 500

Welcome to our fifth annual edition of the Virginia 500!

For those who aren’t familiar with the Virginia 500, we like to say that it’s like the Fortune 500 but instead of companies, it’s about people — specifically, the most powerful Virginia executives and officials in business, nonprofits, higher education, government and politics.

The list is based on our staff research, not nominations, and we do not rank executives. We categorize leaders across 20 major sectors, including banking, federal contracting, health care, law and real estate. For the sake of expediency and organization, we condense related industries into these overarching categories. One example is the real estate section, which also includes architecture and engineering, construction, and development. An additional Virginia 500 section, Living Legends, recognizes lifetime achievement.

Much of the list is determined by position — if you’re the leader of a Virginia-based Fortune 1000 corporation, you’ll likely find yourself on the Virginia 500. Other factors we consider include career achievements; company revenue; number of employees; scope of responsibilities; personal wealth; community and industry involvement; and philanthropy.

Another important point: The Virginia 500 is journalism, not public relations or advertising. Our editors choose which organizations and leaders make the list and what we say about them. The Virginia 500 is not an award or an endorsement; it’s simply a recognition that a person holds a position of power and influence. Though most executives appreciate being named to the Virginia 500, a small number sometimes wish not to be included. There isn’t an opt-out process, however.

Because business along Virginia’s borders is fluid, we include some executives who have direct responsibility for Northern Virginia but who work in Washington, D.C. And while a host of federal officials call Northern Virginia home, we don’t include those whose focus is solely on national business and don’t play a role directly in Virginia’s interests.

Finally, we do not adjust the list for diversity or geography. Our aim with the Virginia 500 is to report an accurate picture of the most powerful leaders in Virginia. As such, this list skews white and male, reflecting the larger demographics of American business leadership.

Nationally, eight Black CEOs, including Toni Townes-Whitley of Reston’s SAIC, head up Fortune 500 companies this year, making up 1.6% of Fortune 500 leaders. By comparison, the Virginia 500 has 46 Black leaders, comprising 9.2% of the list. (Black or African people account for 13.6% of the U.S. population, according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau data.) People of color make up 14.6% of the 2024 Virginia 500.

As for gender, there are 105 women leaders on the Virginia 500, accounting for 21% of the list. Comparatively, women CEOs head up 52 Fortune 500 companies nationally, including three of Virginia’s 25 Fortune 500 companies.

It also shouldn’t come as a surprise that economic power in the Old Dominion is mostly clustered within the “Golden Crescent” of Northern Virginia (representing 40.2% of Virginia 500 leaders), Central Virginia (29.2%) and Hampton Roads (18.4%).

This year’s Virginia 500 had a 15.6% turnover rate, featuring 78 newcomers, most of whom succeeded retiring or exiting executives.

For those of us who haven’t ascended to the lofty heights of those represented here, there is an aspirational joy to reading about the career journeys of the leaders in these pages.

After all, there’s always next year. 

A BridgeTower to the future

On July 31, Virginia Business turned the page on a new chapter in our 38-year history as the magazine became part of the BridgeTower Media family of companies.

Headquartered in neighboring North Carolina, our new parent company is a portfolio company of Los Angeles private equity firm Transom Capital Group. BridgeTower owns 40-plus B2B media and research brands, including Virginia Lawyers Weekly and Best Companies Group, our partner for the annual Best Places to Work in Virginia awards program.

“It’s great to be able to add the core business audience in the nation’s best state for business to our growing portfolio,” BridgeTower Media President and CEO Hal Cohen said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “We see an opportunity to accelerate the growth of Virginia Business — and of business in Virginia — by leveraging the power of BridgeTower Media’s audience platform and best-in-class capabilities. We look forward to delivering even more value to readers and advertisers in the years ahead.”

Virginia Business’ former owner and publisher, Bernie Niemeier, sold the magazine to BridgeTower, taking a well-earned retirement following a business career that spanned six decades. Previously an executive for Media General, the now-defunct media company that founded Virginia Business in 1986 as the Old Dominion’s only statewide business publication, Bernie became the magazine’s publisher in 2007, purchased the business from Media General in 2009 and became its sole owner in 2017.

A 2018 Virginia Communications Hall of Fame inductee, Bernie was a well-known mainstay of the state’s business community and frequently could be seen representing the magazine at events across the commonwealth. During his 17-year tenure as Virginia Business’s publisher, the magazine introduced annual products like our Big Book issue and the Maritime Guide.

In a statement about the sale, Bernie said, “Hal and the BridgeTower Media team demonstrate again and again that they know exactly how to help media properties thrive in today’s digital world. I made this decision thoughtfully, and I know my team is in good hands. I look forward to seeing Virginia Business grow even further as it continues to serve the nation’s best state for business.”

As for what this all means for you, our readers, in the coming weeks you’ll see a revamped Virginia Business website and newly redesigned newsletters. Next year, we’ll begin launching new events and awards programs, while maintaining popular ones like Women in Leadership, Virginia’s Top Doctors and Best Places to Work. For our advertisers, we will be offering new opportunities to better help you reach your customers, and we’ll also be able to leverage BridgeTower’s national family of publications so you can put your message in front of far larger audiences.

And of course we will continue to deliver compelling, timely and informative coverage of Virginia’s business community to you through our daily news website, our monthly issues and annual special publications like the Virginia 500.

* * * *

Speaking of the Virginia 500, polybagged with this issue you’ll find the fifth annual edition of this annual special publication featuring our exclusive list of Virginia’s top 500 leaders in business, higher education, nonprofits, government and politics.

Divided into 21 categories, including a Living Legends section recognizing lifetime achievement, this year’s Virginia 500 features a new breakout section for the insurance industry, which has been separated from banking and finance.

Starting with the first edition in 2020, the Virginia 500 instantly became our most popular product with readers and advertisers in the magazine’s history.

With a word count roughly equal to four of our regular monthly issues, the Virginia 500 is a labor of love — emphasis on labor — for our editorial staff. We began work in earnest on the 500 in April, and five months later, through the hard work of a team of 16 writers and editors plus production staff, it’s now available on your device screens and in your mailbox.

Take your time to browse through our fascinating mini profiles of Virginia’s 500 most powerful and successful executives. We’re confident that you’ll come away not only with some useful business intelligence, but with a far better sense of the movers and shakers behind Virginia’s top industries.

Virginia’s Fortune 500 companies

This year, 24 Virginia companies made Fortune magazine’s 70th annual Fortune 500 list, which ranks the nation’s largest corporations by total revenue.

Several companies’ fortunes rose, with top-ranked Virginia company Freddie Mac moving up nine spots to No. 36 on the
overall Fortune 500, posting $108.05 billion in revenue last year.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s second-ranked company, beleaguered aerospace and defense contractor Boeing, rose six spots to No. 52 on the Fortune 500. Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun plans to step down amid ongoing scrutiny of production problems and fallout from a January incident in which a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max jet cabin in mid-air. Boeing agreed in July to plead guilty to federal fraud charges stemming from two fatal crashes.

Fellow aerospace and defense company RTX ranked No. 3 among Virginia companies on the Fortune 500, ascending two spots to No. 55.

Also notable this year was global hotelier Hilton, which jumped 42 spots to No. 389, cementing its post-pandemic turnaround after dropping off the Fortune 500 in 2021 and 2022.

The Virginia company with the biggest slide on this year’s Fortune 500 list was Fortune 500 IT company DXC Technology, which slipped 39 places to No. 294.  

Virginia is CNBC’s Top State for Business for record sixth time

Virginia regained its crown as the No. 1 state in CNBC’s annual America’s Top States for Business rankings released Thursday, winning the top spot for a record sixth time.

The cable business news network once again praised Virginia for having “the nation’s best education system and policies that give companies room — both literally and figuratively — to grow.” In particular, the Old Dominion ranked first place in the nation for education, third for infrastructure and fourth for artificial intelligence, with CNBC noting that the commonwealth is home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers, through which more than 70% of the world’s internet traffic travels.

“But where Virginia’s infrastructure really shines is in the wealth of shovel-ready sites the state offers for companies that want to build fast,” the network said. “The state’s economic development arm has certified dozens of sites across the commonwealth, promising that all utilities and infrastructure can be in place within 18 months.”

Virginia ranked fifth for business friendliness, with CNBC noting that the commonwealth wasn’t “friendly enough” to land a pet project of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a failed proposal to build a $2 billion arena in Alexandria for the Washington Capitals and Wizards. (Democratic state Sen. Louise Lucas, chairman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee and a key opponent of the deal, tweeted Thursday, “We wouldn’t be the number one state for business if we had wasted billions of taxpayer dollars on a vanity arena project. You’re welcome Wannabe VP Pick for Tyrannical Trump.”)

CNBC also pointed out that though the commonwealth was ranked No. 9 in the nation for workforce, it has a problem with outmigration, with “too many workers moving out [and] not enough moving in.” And it noted that while the commonwealth is rich in data centers, that’s caused a strain on the state’s power grid.

Virginia scored 1,595 out of a possible 2,500 points in the network’s Top States study, finishing in the top 50% or better in each of 10 major categories. The commonwealth came in second to North Carolina in 2023, but this year, the two states switched positions, with North Carolina ranking second. In 2022, Virginia ranked third overall.

In 2021, Virginia took the top spot in the annual rankings of business-friendly states for a second, consecutive time. Virginia also won the top ranking in 2019, 2011, 2009 and 2007, the first year CNBC began ranking the states. CNBC did not rank the states in 2020 due to the pandemic.

“How exciting and what an honor it is to have CNBC here recognizing Virginia as the top state for business,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said during a live interview from Virginia Beach on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday. “I think we work incredibly well together. Economic development is a team sport, and our administration has taken huge strides over the last 2 1/2 years to address some real areas of importance. Talent is always top of the list, and our talent accelerator is now rated the top talent accelerator in America.

“Business-ready sites and infrastructure continue to be a top need for businesses, and we’ve allocated $550 million over the last three years to make sure that we have shovel-ready sites. And then, finally, of course, power — our all-American, all-of-the above power plan is taking big strides. Yesterday, we announced a big step for a potential siting of a small modular reactor in Virginia to be the first.”

Youngkin added that he believes $5 billion in tax cuts in the first two years of his term were key to Virginia’s success in attracting and retaining companies. “We made Virginia’s business climate even better by streamlining regulations and cutting the red tape,” the governor said, adding that the state has 240,000 more people employed than it did before his term began in January 2022. He also noted that former members of the military — including 700,000 veterans living in Virginia — are “one of the things that make Virginia great.”

Asked if Virginia is in play this year in the presidential election, Youngkin said he believes it is, even though President Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points over former President Donald Trump in 2020. “The next year,” the governor said, “we’re able to win it by two.” Youngkin bypassed a question about whether he believed he was still a possible Trump vice presidential candidate pick, but said he is “very enthusiastic about the prospects for President Trump and whoever he chooses as his running mate.”

Highlighting the state’s divided government, House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott lauded Youngkin and Democratic legislators Sen. Louise Lucas and Del. Luke Torian, who chair the two legislative bodies’ finance committees. “We invested in our future — our children. Virginia is back on top,” Scott tweeted. “We raised minimum wages and gave teachers pay raises! More importantly, we protected reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy.”

CNBC based this year’s rankings on 128 metrics — up from 86 last year — across 10 categories: workforce; infrastructure; cost of doing business; economy; life, health and inclusion; technology and innovation; business friendliness; education; access to capital; and cost of living. Infrastructure was the most heavily weighted category this year.

“With six wins — and three in the last five years — Virginia is our most decorated state. It’s easy to see why,” CNBC special correspondent Scott Cohn said. “In both Republican and Democratic administrations, the state has shown how much it cares about business, and how carefully it can listen to companies. Plus, year after year, Virginia offers the training, talent, and the infrastructure for success.”

According to CNBC, Texas, Georgia and Florida rounded out the top five spots in this year’s rankings.

“Being named America’s Top State for Business is a testament to the incredible progress being made throughout the Commonwealth, not least by the many thousands of businesses who call Virginia home,” Virginia Economic Development Partnership President and CEO Jason El Koubi said in a statement. “This recognition is years in the making, and I am incredibly grateful to all of our state, regional and local partners that contributed to this distinction.”

Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and a former state secretary of commerce and trade, issued a statement as well: “Virginia’s ranking as the Top State for Business reaffirms our conviction that Virginia is the premier state for business. It highlights our strong education system, availability of business-ready sites and Virginia’s commitment to economic development and a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. This recognition also supports our strategic approach to grow Virginia’s position as the leading state for business through our targeted policy recommendations in Blueprint Virginia 2030.”

Another former state secretary of commerce and trade, Todd Haymore, now managing director of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Global Economic Development, Commerce, and Government Relations Group, said, “Over 25 years in public and private sector economic development, I’ve learned that the fundamentals like education, workforce, infrastructure and site readiness are what really matter, and that is where Virginia shines. Virginia is back in the top spot because we invest in the fundamentals, maintain a bipartisan commitment to pro-growth and pro-business policies, and because we have really smart, talented people working to create jobs and opportunity, from the governor’s office to the legislature, and from VEDP all the way down to the local level.”

Virginia’s category rankings in the 2024 CNBC Top States for Business were as follows:
  • First place — Education
  • Third — Infrastructure
  • Fifth — Business friendliness
  • Eighth — Access to capital
  • Ninth — Workforce
  • 10th — Economy
  • 15th — Technology and innovation
  • 19th — Cost of living
  • 19th — Quality of life
  • 24th — Cost of doing business

Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews contributed to this article.

Dominion Energy issues RFP for small modular reactor at North Anna

At an event with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other state officials at its North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County, Dominion Energy announced plans Wednesday to potentially develop a small modular reactor (SMR) at North Anna.

Dominion officials said they were issuing a request for proposals for the SMR from nuclear technology companies, stressing that it was not a commitment to build an SMR at North Anna, but the first step in evaluating the feasibility of doing so.

The terms of the RFP are being kept private, according to Dominion, but a group of SMR manufacturers have been notified of the request.

“For over 50 years, nuclear power has been the most reliable workhorse of Virginia’s electric fleet, generating 40% of our power and with zero carbon emissions,” said Dominion Energy Chair, President and CEO Robert M. Blue. “As Virginia’s need for reliable and clean power grows, SMRs could play a pivotal role in an ‘all-of-the-above’ approach to our energy future. Along with offshore wind, solar and battery storage, SMRs have the potential to be an important part of Virginia’s growing clean energy mix.”

In a statement, Youngkin said, “The commonwealth’s potential to unleash and foster a rich energy economy is limitless. To meet the power demands of the future, it is imperative we continue to explore emerging technologies that will provide Virginians access to the reliable, affordable and clean energy they deserve. In alignment with our all-American, all-of-the-above energy plan, small nuclear reactors will play a critical role in harnessing this potential and positioning Virginia to be a leading nuclear innovation hub.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill July 10, 2024, at the North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County, joined by Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Virginia lawmakers and representatives of Dominion Energy. Photo by Kate Andrews | Virginia Business
Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed a bill July 10, 2024, at the North Anna nuclear power plant in Louisa County, joined by Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Virginia lawmakers and representatives of Dominion Energy. Photo by Kate Andrews | Virginia Business

Under a tent by the 50-year-old North Anna nuclear power station, Youngkin signed SB 454, a state Senate bill with bipartisan support that permits Dominion to petition the State Corporation Commission at any time by the end of 2029 for the approval of a rate adjustment clause to recover development costs for an SMR.

Legislators in Southwest Virginia and Youngkin have been bullish on the prospect of building a SMR in Virginia as part of the Virginia Clean Economy Act passed in 2020, which requires the state’s two major electric utilities — Dominion and Appalachian Power — to shift to carbon-free, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power for electricity generation in the next 26 years. Youngkin has pushed for VCEA to allow natural gas and nuclear energy to be part of the state’s energy production; in 2022, he announced a goal to build an SMR in Southwest Virginia in the next decade.

Located between Richmond and Charlottesville, North Anna is far from Southwest Virginia, but Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, was still enthusiastic about Wednesday’s announcement, which he attended. “We’re going to get there with Southwest. We realized we may be second or third down the line.”

Kilgore said he hopes the state’s first SMR — a smaller, less expensive version of a large nuclear power plant, producing up to 300 megawatts per unit, about one-third of the capacity of conventional nuclear reactors — will take less than 10 years to develop and build. However, as of 2023, only China and Russia had successfully built operational SMRs.

Asked if he had any views on non-U.S.-based companies bidding for Dominion’s RFP, Youngkin said Wednesday he expects the utility “will have a wide-open technology request for proposals, and then they will work to make sure that they have the very best. I have to say … that U.S. companies are at the forefront right now of providing the technology and small modular reactors, and that’s who I’d expect to win.” He added that Virginia nuclear companies sometimes are part of joint projects in developing SMRs.

“The process of designing and building an SMR is a multipurpose team,” he added. “I believe that there will be Virginia companies deeply involved. I also expect companies that will be building these reactors in the future will very much want to locate here in Virginia.”

Blue noted in the presentation that he is “unabashedly” a cheerleader for nuclear energy, which produces about 90% of the zero-carbon energy Dominion produces annually, as well as 40% of all energy produced by the utility, at its North Anna and Surry nuclear plants.

He said that Dominion hopes to develop the state’s first SMR at North Anna in the 2030s, and added that the law signed Wednesday caps SMR development cost recovery to no more than $1.40 per month for a typical residential customer.

Virginia Business wins three national journalism awards

Virginia Business won three national journalism awards June 21, placing silver in three categories at The Alliance of Area Business Publishers’ (AABP) 2024 Editorial Excellence Awards ceremony, held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The magazine took home a silver award in the Best Magazine Cover Category for the November 2023 cover, an AI-generated photorealistic illustration of a robot sitting at an office workstation that accompanied a cover story about how businesses are adopting generative artificial intelligence platforms in their work. Virginia Business Editor and Chief Content Officer Richard Foster created the image with Adobe Firefly, and Art Director Joel Smith provided typography.

“The intense image is unsettling and immediately conveys the tone of concern for the future of local workplaces and the implementation of AI,” the judges wrote about the cover illustration. “The type and design choices are simple and subtle. The cover implores thought as well as an emotional reaction.”

Cavallo
Kristen Cavallo was 2023 Virginia Business Person of the Year

Associate Editor Katherine Schulte placed silver in the Best Personality Profile category for medium-size business publications for her December 2023 profile of Kristen Cavallo, the 2023 Virginia Business Person of the Year and then CEO of The Martin Agency and MullenLowe Global.

”This story starts with a hike up Mount Kilimanjaro, then takes readers along on a journey through the career of advertising CEO Kristen Cavallo. With robust reporting from the people around Cavallo and plenty of industry details, the writer builds a well-structured story about both the person and the business — two markers of a successful profile,’ the judges wrote about Schulte’s work.

Additionally, Virginia Business received a silver award in the Best Recurring Feature category among medium-size business publications for the magazine’s Virginia 500 Spotlight page, which highlights a single executive from the Virginia 500 Power List each month.

”A clever setup with offbeat questions gives these short features an unpredictable edge,” the judges wrote. “Asking about a first job, favorite vacation spot or ‘something they’d never do again’ enriches the interview and humanizes the subject. Even the photos are unexpected and thus, especially charming.”

The awards were judged by faculty members from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Each award category was judged by a panel of three judges. The awards ceremony was held as part of AABP’s three-day annual conference.

Founded in 1979, AABP is a Norwalk, Connecticut-based nonprofit organization representing 54 regional and local business publications in the United States, Canada, and Australia, with a combined readership of more than 2.4 million business professionals.

Virginia Business announces 2024 Va. CFO Awards winners

Virginia Business recognized some of the state’s top chief financial officers from nonprofits and businesses across the commonwealth Thursday at its 2024 Virginia CFO Awards ceremony.

This year’s Virginia CFO Awards black-tie banquet — the largest annual gathering of CFOs in Virginia — was held at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.

“Being nominated for these awards is no small achievement,” Virginia Business President and Publisher Bernie Niemeier said during the awards ceremony. “All nominees are winners in their own right, helping to lead their companies to excellence around the commonwealth and in some cases the nation and globally.”

Nineteen CFOs from around the commonwealth were nominated in three award categories, representing a variety of nonprofits, government agencies and for-profit businesses, public and private. Organizations represented included universities, health care systems, construction firms. law firms and manufacturers.

Winners and finalists for the magazine’s 18th annual Virginia CFO Awards were:

  • 2024 NONPROFIT/GOVERNMENT VIRGINIA CFO OF THE YEAR: John Zabrowski III – VHC Health; Finalists: Jackson Green – Goodwill Industries of the Valleys; Heather Hardiman – Tidewater Community College; Courtney Jarrett – Shenandoah University; Juanita Parks – Williamsburg Landing
  • 2024 SMALL COMPANY VIRGINIA CFO OF THE YEAR: Joel Flax – Cohen Investment Group; Finalists: Anna Amirsoltani – Cassaday & Company Inc.; BJ Brown – The Law Office of Craig A Brown; Colleen Murphy – Walsh Electric; Chris Plyler – Credit Control Corp.
  • 2024 LARGE COMPANY VIRGINIA CFO OF THE YEAR: Sean Daily – CAES; Finalists: Matt Greiner – Weidmuller USA; Barbara Holcomb – Sentry Equipment and Erectors; Paul Huckfeldt – Hooker Furnishings; Angie Loew – Breeden Construction; Holly Powell – Carpenter; Chip Thomas – Marsh McLennan Agency; Bob Wills, The Branch Group; Dale Young – RecruitMilitary

The three winners will be profiled in the August 2024 issue of Virginia Business.