byline: Staff Reports

Trailblazers and leaders, these captains are taking the helm and steering forward, with some guiding their organizations into prosperous new waters.

 

 

Kristen Cavallo, CEO, The Martin Agency, Richmond

The Martin Agency’s first female chief, Kristen Cavallo was named AdAge’s executive of the year this spring and just a couple months later Adweek named her to its list of Women Trailblazers. Known for its venerable Geico ads, Martin has added accounts with UPS, Virginia Tourism, CarMax and Buffalo Wild Wings and others under her watch. But perhaps the bolder makeover was internal, with Cavallo overseeing a cultural shift that has focused on diversity, inclusion, closing the wage gap and doubling the company’s female representation. •

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Bryan Hill, County executive, Fairfax County, Fairfax

When Fairfax County hired Bryan Hill away from James City County in 2018, Supervisor Penelope Gross acknowledged in The Washington Post, “We may have to rein him in a bit.” Sure enough, Hill has had some clashes as he innovates and implements changes he deems necessary for the county’s future success. “I’m trying to get these people to understand: What the county did 30 years ago was great,” he told the Post, “but what do you want to do in the next 30 years?” •

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Alison McKee, President-elect, Virginia Bar Association; of counsel, Kaufman & Canoles PC, Virginia Beach

In January, Alison McKee will become president of the Virginia Bar Association, which focuses on lobbying, helping new attorneys network and leading public service initiatives. (The VBA is a separate body from the Virginia State Bar, which licenses attorneys.) A Long Island native who specializes in commercial law, McKee took time off from her practice while raising her four children but now advises lawyers to “keep their hand in and not take a total break.” •

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Jennifer Minear, Partner, McCandlish Holton, Richmond

One of the biggest challenges facing businesses is the increase in “inconsistent and arbitrary” visa application delays, says Jennifer Minear, who will become president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in June. The Cornell alumna leads the immigration group at Richmond-based McCandlish Holton — Sen. Tim Kaine’s old stomping grounds, where she has his old phone extension. Immigration will continue to face restrictions, she says, as the Trump administration “pushes the envelope of what’s legally possible.” •

They might be new to their positions, but they bring decades of experience and expertise to the table. Here’s a sampling of folks — some fresh faces, some familiar — who recently have taken on new leadership roles.

 

Brian Anderson, President and CEO, Chamber RVA, Richmond

If history is any indication, it’ll be worth getting to know Brian Anderson. For nearly three decades, Chamber RVA has seen only two chiefs: Jim Dunn, who spent 18 years leading Greater Richmond’s chamber of commerce, and Kim Scheeler, who retired in 2019 after 11 years. Anderson, who took the reins Sept. 30, should have plenty of stories. Strike up a conversation about his native state of South Carolina, his time in the Army or his nearly 20 years in the beverage industry. He arrives in Richmond after four years leading the Greater Columbus Georgia Chamber of Commerce. •

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David E. Bowles, Executive director, Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy, Norfolk

After more than 35 years with NASAs Langley Research Center, David Bowles is the first executive director of the Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy (VISA), a research enterprise of Old Dominion University that will partner with other universities to commercialize emerging technology. VISA will be based on the Eastern Shore and leverage the state’s expanding space facilities and growing capability to support advances in satellites and autonomous systems, the sensors they carry and the data they produce. Bowles sees similarities in his work at NASA and VISA — he’ll be using the same technology and systems, he says, “but focusing them on utilizing the tremendous ecosystem of capabilities, innovation and entrepreneurship in the commonwealth.” •

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Clark Casteel, President and CEO, Danville Regional Foundation, Danville

The Danville Regional Foundation didn’t have to look far when it hired its new president in May. Floyd native Casteel has been with DRF since 2008, when he started as a senior program officer. Funded by the sale of a public hospital 14 years ago, the foundation encourages revitalization and renewal in the city of Danville and surrounding counties by making long-term investments in, among other things, community wellness, economic opportunity and early childhood education. “Real change takes time,“ he says, “and we’re in the long-term transformation business, not the short-term happiness business.” •

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Elizabeth Cromwell, President and CEO, Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, Charlottesville

Elizabeth Cromwell joined the Charlottesville Regional Chamber as its leader in October 2018, after serving as president and CEO of the chamber in Frederick County, Maryland. Cromwell made a big impression when she brought a group of Frederick leaders to Charlottesville for the Tom Tom Festival in 2018, and in 2020 she plans to take a group of business leaders from Charlottesville to Charleston, South Carolina, as part of its Partners in Trust program. The cohort from Charlottesville will learn about workforce development, regional collaboration and equitable growth. •

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Sunny Kumar, CEO, SummitIG LLC, Dulles

Promoted to CEO of SummitIG in April, Sunny Kumar makes connections. His company, a dark fiber infrastructure provider, has built 550 miles of underground networks connecting to more than 100 data centers and 14 million square feet of space in Northern Virginia. His goal is to construct another 500 miles over the next three years to expand an already dense fiber footprint in a region that has become the world’s leading data center hub. SummitIG specializes in custom connectivity solutions for carriers, cloud providers, data center operators, large enterprises and government agencies. His goal is to offer customers greater flexibility in controlling their bandwidth requirements. •

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Perry J. Miller, President and CEO, Richmond International Airport, Richmond

Perry Miller’s the man to know if you’re going places. A two-time graduate of Texas Southern University who is pursuing a doctorate in management from Walden University, Miller is the new president of Richmond International Airport, which offers nonstop flights from seven major airlines and served 4.27 million passengers in fiscal year 2019. He came from Mississippi, where he served as the interim CEO of the Jackson Municipal Airport but spent his formative years helping to manage the complex Houston Airport System. “What people don’t know is that running an airport is like running a small city,” says Miller. •

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Dr. Andrew Mueller, President and CEO, Centra Health, Lynchburg

More than a half-million Virginians are served by the 70 locations of Lynchburg-based Centra Health. The regional nonprofit health system tapped a family physician, Dr. Andrew Mueller, as its new president and CEO this spring, citing his “health care leadership, deep industry knowledge and his primary care background.” Mueller graduated from medical school at the University of North Carolina and served as a flight surgeon in the Air Force. Before Centra, he led the largest market, in Greater Charlotte, of Novant Health. And he’s still seeing patients. •

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Jeffrey Sadler , Housing and revitalization coordinator, Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp., Martinsville

As a housing planner, Jeffrey Sadler stresses quality of life, with dwelling options across age ranges and income levels. The certified economic developer, something of an expert on federal Opportunity Zones, fills a newly created position at the Martinsville-Henry EDC, funded by the housing-focused Harvest Foundation. Sadler was formerly in Richmond at the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Community Revitalization Office. He’s also the principal and lead consultant for Complete Community Economies LLC, which concentrates on revitalization. •

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Sarah Spangler, Vice president, customer success, xTuple, Norfolk

Sarah Spangler joined xTuple (pronounced X-TOOPLE) in May, helping restructure the enterprise resource planning company’s technical support, onboarding and implementation teams. What may surprise you is that she started out as a literature and writing teacher. “When I was teaching and doing coursework, I was always interested in technology,” Spangler says. “Messaging, tone, understanding your audience were all important.” She’s using those skills to work with customers, most of whom work in small and medium-size manufacturing companies. Workforce training also is an important part of Spangler’s job, because their customer service department needs workers with technical skills. •

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Janice Underwood, Director of diversity, equity and inclusion, Commonwealth of Virginia, Richmond

Virginia hired its first diversity chief — apparently the first such state Cabinet-level position in the nation — in September. Gov. Ralph Northam tapped Janice Underwood, who served as diversity director for Old Dominion University, to root out inequities and improve diversity efforts throughout state government. Underwood arrived in the wake of Northam’s much-publicized blackface scandal. But she’s focused on issues that go far beyond that event last February, keeping in mind the “systemic, institutional, baked-in problems that we’ve had for the last 400 years,” Underwood says. She’s putting together a coalition of allies and is beginning to plan a series of regional meetings she calls “working town halls.” •

Virginia has no dearth of creative, visionary entrepreneurs and businesspeople. Representing industries ranging from hemp farming to autonomous vehicles and blockchain, they’re moving the needle.

 

 

Steven Critchfield, President and CEO, MOVA Technologies; owner, West Main Development, Pulaski

Entrepreneur Steven Critchfield is still steeped in redevelopment projects to recycle old properties in Pulaski. But his MOVA Technologies is undertaking recycling of a different sort. It’s developing licensed technology from the invention of a late Virginia Tech researcher to capture and recycle particulate matter and gaseous pollutants from power plants and incinerators through a panel-bed filtration system. Isolated pollutants could then be repurposed, such as nitrogen harvested for fertilizer production. The technology, still in the proof of concept phase, is being further developed to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. •

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Ali Greenberg, Founder, The Broad, Richmond

Inspired by the energy of Richmond’s creative community — and especially its women — branding entrepreneur and world traveler Ali Greenberg founded The Broad, a downtown workspace, social club and community center designed for women and gender minorities. The Broad, opened last year, is a busy hive, with workshopping, networking and organizing. “We exist to make space for people who haven’t always had space made for them,” is Greenberg’s mantra. •

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Matt Hagan, Owner and farmer, Truharvest Farms, Christiansburg

The 2,000-acre Truharvest Farms, run by Matt Hagan, was once known for raising cattle. Hagan, however, recently invested heavily in growing industrial hemp, a traditional West Coast crop legalized for industrial commercial cultivation in Virginia this year. This farmer is used to taking risks. In his other life, he’s a two-time world champion Mopar Funny Car drag racer. While hemp can be used in such industries as textiles and biodiesel, Hagan’s big investment — at more than 85 acres, the largest plot in Virginia — comes from the perceived benefits of the plant’s oil, a low-THC variant of marijuana that he believes helps patients with joint pain, sleeping disorders, fibromyalgia and other illnesses. •

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Wendy Jiang, CEO, Tablee, Richmond

Wendy Jiang’s startup, Tablee, is based on a simple concept: a restaurant customer’s need to get their server’s attention. The Tablee Tap is a button that sends a signal to a waiter’s smartwatch when customers need water, fresh napkins or anything else. Jiang and her team, based in Richmond, were part of the Lighthouse Labs startup accelerator’s fall 2018 cohort. Tablee has since partnered with Performance Food Group and United Restaurant Group, which owns one of the largest TGI Friday’s franchises in the country. Tablee is in the process of raising seed money. Jiang says her experience as a server while attending William & Mary helped her realize the value of a device like Tap. •

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Rena Johnson, Farmer, Highland Dairy, Glade Spring

When the Swedish company DeLaval, a world leader in dairy farm products, needed to try out its new P-500 system for milking cows, it went to Highland Dairy, a family-owned operation in Washington County overseen by third-generation farmer Rena Johnson. The Scandinavian system replaced Highland’s 1970s-era equipment — housed in a specialized barn built by Rena’s father, Dave Johnson — and so far, so good. The new milking parlor is capable of handling 32 cows at a time, and the bovines have more room to move around. Like they say: happy cow, happy farm. •

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Diane Kees, COO, Micro Harmonics Corp., Fincastle

Diane Kees is quick to say that she’s part of a brother-sister team. She and her sibling, company CEO David Porterfield, co-founded Micro Harmonics, which makes millimeter-wave components for NASA and other customers. Micro Harmonics’ parts are used in automated vehicles, wireless communication and security scanners, among other uses. NASA employs them to help take images of the Earth’s ozone layer. This past year, MH was one of six companies accepted into RAMP, a Roanoke business accelerator that assists STEM-affiliated companies in testing and marketing their products. “Fincastle is very conveniently located just a few miles off of I-81,” she says. “We have access to students from Virginia Tech, Virginia Western Community College and Botetourt Technical Education Center just around the corner.” •

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Dan Larimer, Chief technology officer, Block.one, Blacksburg

Dan Larimer, a Virginia native and graduate of Virginia Tech, is one of the co-founders of the blockchain software company Block.one, along with CEO Brendan Blumer. The startup has captured attention not only for its technology but also its backing by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. Its growth has been stunning, as shown in Bloomberg’s running of the numbers this spring: If you’d put an early $100,000 investment into Block.one, founded in 2016, you’d be looking at a $6.6 million return within the next three years, or 6,567%. Block.one announced in September that it would invest $10 million to build its U.S. headquarters in Arlington County while keeping its Blacksburg offices — where Larimer will continue to work. He also shared his knowledge and experience in November as a keynote speaker at Virginia Tech’s first Blocksburg Summit about blockchain technology. •

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Eman Pahlevani, COO and co-founder, Hungry Marketplace, Arlington

Eman Pahlevani’s Hungry Marketplace concept is so simple, it’s beautiful. The marketplace connects the Washington, D.C., region’s best chefs to private event planners and foodie gatherings and even finds a way to feed the hungry. The for-profit service was co-founded by Pahlevani and brother Shy, who also co-own a company, LiveSafe, that develops personal safety software; Hungry Marketplace has attracted celebrity investors like Jay-Z and Usher and is looking to expand into other  cities such as Boston and Philadelphia. And with the same philanthropic concept: Every two meals purchased generates one provided to a local food bank. •

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Paul Perrone, Founder and CEO, Perrone Robotics, Crozet

Earlier this year, Perrone Robotics partnered with regional transportation system JAUNT to place autonomous shuttles on the streets of Crozet as a pilot project. Company founder Paul Perrone expects to expand the shuttle’s footprint next year. Perrone has made agreements with two Fortune 100 companies to provide fleets of self-driving vehicles. The company also is partnering with a large transit authority and placing shuttles in other places across the country and a few areas internationally. “We’ll be transforming into a massive company based in Virginia, given the hot space we’re in,” Perrone says. •

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Michael Pittman, President and founder, Connected Solutions Group, Mechanicsville

Remember the BlackBerry? That was Michael Pittman’s ticket into the mobile business in the mid-2000s. He bought the phones used and flipped the refurbished devices on eBay for a profit. He recalled that story for Inc. magazine, which  this summer ranked the company he founded in 2015 at No. 8 on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies. Why? Connected Solutions Group has grown its revenues 12,701% since its start, hitting more than

$23 million last year. Pittman has found his sweet spot in bundling gadgets, routers, phones and tablets with the software that companies need. •

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Robert Pizzini, CEO and managing partner, iFLY Virginia Beach Indoor Skydiving, Virginia Beach

In 2015, five years after 26-year Navy veteran Pizzini retired with a Bronze Star, he started Virginia Beach’s iFLY, a simulated skydiving experience. The thrill venture was awarded the Virginia Beach 2018 Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year prize. Now Pizzini, who moonlights as a USA Hockey coach, is developing an indoor hockey arena called the Warrior Ice Center. “I’m leading this effort,” he says, “along with Rich Appleby, the president of the Hampton Roads Youth Hockey Association, and Ryan Croley, a retiring Navy SEAL captain who heads up our military connections.” •

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Louise Reed, CEO and founder, Afloat Inc., Richmond

Louise Reed started out at Duke University studying physics and then shifted to accounting, becoming a CPA in 2003. Last year, she started Afloat, a Richmond-based startup seeking to create a blockchain-based online marketplace for transferrable tax credits. The theory is that people who want to restore a farmhouse or start a business in a low-income area often don’t benefit from tax credits; they need cash. Large corporations would benefit from transferrable credits they could purchase. A blockchain database, she explains, creates a secure system for transferring credits. “The same part of me that was drawn to physics is drawn to this,” Reed says. •

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Sonu Singh, CEO, 1901 Group, Reston

Sonu Singh says everything about enterprise IT has changed over the last 30 years  — except how customers consume it. He is working to change that model by serving federal clients while sourcing talent from rural areas with a more affordable cost of living than Northern Virginia, where his 1901 Group is based. His company is expanding with the 45,000-square-foot Enterprise IT Operations Center in Blacksburg, where Singh grew up. Located in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, the center will house software engineering, security and operations teams to support cloud services. The facility is scheduled to open next spring. •

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Greg Twitt, Founder and CEO, Globalinx Data Centers, Virginia Beach

The fastest cable in the ocean runs at about 220 terabits a second, starting in Northern Spain and touching base in Virginia Beach, a data off-ramp of sorts, and its traffic engineer is Greg Twitt. He recalls his university days in Australia during the 1970s, when his computer programming was fueled by punched cards fed into machines. Now information flies through the ocean, where Twitt sells server space and access through his recently finished carrier-neutral data center. It’s located next to Texius, which operates the submarine cable from Spain and another from Brazil. Virginia’s data-center industry forms an ecosystem for business and enterprise, he says. As for the limit of what Globalinx can provide, he says, “It’s almost infinite — almost.” •

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Jason Wells, President, KYOCERA SGS Tech Hub LLC, Danville

Jason Wells declared his 30,000-square-foot facility Danville’s newest industrial citizen when it opened last year in Cyber Park. A subsidiary of global Kyocera SGS Precision Tools Inc., the Tech Hub develops tooling and machining solutions for a wide spectrum of industries. The $5 million facility with $4.5 million in initial capital equipment will create 40 jobs over the next five years. Wells, who holds multiple patents within the field of cutting tools, also is on the board of directors for the state’s Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing. •

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Katherine Wintsch, Founder and CEO, The Mom Complex, Richmond

Katherine Wintsch is the guru of motherhood. An adviser to Walmart, Playskool and  Johnson & Johnson who has been featured on NBC’s “Today“ show, she’s devoted herself to helping moms deal with stress. An alum of Richmond’s The Martin Agency, Wintsch launched The Mom Complex, a consulting and networking firm under the ad firm’s umbrella to promote products that help make the lives of mothers easier. In 2017, Wintsch spun off the company and recently wrote a maternal empowerment book, “Slay Like a Mother.” Named as a “Woman of the Decade” by the Women’s Economic Forum, she was tapped to be a guest speaker at the 2019 VA1 Virginia Tourism Summit in November. •

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Bobby Wright, President, Percolator, Norfolk

Norfolk developer Bobby Wright’s creative space venture may need a new name. Percolator is actually spilling out all over the city. Founded in 2017, it recently opened its fourth location in MacArthur Center, joining spaces on Granby Street and Monticello Avenue, all designed to house and nurture startup companies and serve anyone seeking a shared work area. The membership has benefits. Last year, Percolator startups began a partnership with Old Dominion University to help drive projects, some federally funded, to area entrepreneurs. “What really makes this unique is the collaborative environment that encourages small business owners to form relationships,” Wright says. •

Graduating from three leadership organizations in a year? Serving on multiple nonprofit boards? All in a day’s work for these impactful Virginians who use their influence to empower others.

Kathy Albarado, CEO, Helios HR, Reston

Eighteen years after founding human capital management firm Helios HR, Kathy Albarado is working hard to make sure her clients are ready to “attract, retain and engage” employees in a “very, very tight” job market that will soon feel the influence of Amazon HQ2. Last year, Helios started its Human Capital Impact Forum, bringing 100 CEOs and human resources leaders together to discuss employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, and other workplace issues. Albarado also is deeply involved in a girls school in Honduras that offers room and board and a full education at no cost. Graduates, she says, “become the change [agents] in their country.” •

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Frazier Millner Armstrong, Executive director, Capital Trees, Richmond

You may recognize Frazier Millner Armstrong’s name from her previous marketing and communications work for the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Richmond Symphony, or perhaps from her service with Leadership Metro Richmond, VCU’s Robertson School of Media and Culture and as former chair of the Richmond YWCA board. She is also recipient of the YWCA’s Outstanding Women Award. Today, though, she leads Capital Trees, a Richmond-based urban greening organization that is preparing to launch The Low Line Green, phase two of the Low Line project which will remediate stormwater runoff from I-95 before it goes into the Canal and James River as well as horticulturally restore this historic and important public space.  Armstrong also planned multiple events continuing this spring to celebrate The Woman’s Club’s 125^th anniversary. If you’re a Richmonder, she’s a good person to know. •

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Ashley McLeod, Vice president of communications and membership, Virginia Maritime Association, Norfolk

The Virginia Maritime Association turns 100 on Feb. 13, but Ashley McLeod has many other projects on her agenda: helping with the association’s annual banquet, expanding its international trade symposium and starting a leadership certificate program that graduates its first class in May. McLeod became interested in ports after working for Norfolk’s sister city foundation. Her task now is to expand the group’s membership beyond Hampton Roads to other parts of the state, including new chapters in Southwest and Northern Virginia in 2020. “We want to hear the collective voice of the entire state,” she says. •

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J.D. Myers II, Senior vice president and region manager, Cox Communications Virginia and North Carolina, Chesapeake

For J.D. Myers, who grew up a military brat and became an Army officer, moving to the Hampton Roads area last year was “like having a flashback to my youth.” As the Virginia and North Carolina region manager for Cox, the Atlanta-based cable and telecommunications company, Myers is perpetually on the go, focusing on telehealth, home automation, cable infrastructure and even improving traffic and water management. One situation that he’s seen change lately is increased cooperation among localities in Hampton Roads, which before was “almost like having seven silos. The good news is that collaboration is starting to happen.” •

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Rhodes B. Ritenour, Vice president, external and regulatory affairs, Bon Secours Mercy Health, Richmond

Rhodes Ritenour has an impressive résumé: the state’s deputy attorney general for civil litigation, a policy worker in then-Gov. Mark Warner’s office and a former partner at McGuireWoods. Now, he works with Bon Secours’ mission services division, which is completing consolidation of services after a merger this year with Cincinnati-based Mercy Health. Ritenour was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 5; he and his wife, Alana, co-founded TheDiabetesSupportGroup.org, an online community focused on diabetes management. Next year, he hopes to bring sponsors into the support group, and the Ritenours hope to publish a children’s book series on diabetes, too. •

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Anna-Maria Schneider, Senior vice president, industry-government relations, Volkswagen Group of America, Herndon

Anna-Maria Schneider knows cars. More specifically, the car business — and how manufacturing connects with public policy. She’s spent nearly 27 years working in the industry, including Mitsubishi Motors North America and Toyota Motor North America. And for the past 11 years, she’s been chief lobbyist for Volkswagen Group of America — which includes luxury brands Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini. In her role, she’s also been called to serve on other boards, including the U.S. Capitol Historical Society, Virginia FREE and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. •

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Chris Stuart, Vice president, Top Guard Security, Norfolk

Top Guard Security is the state’s largest woman-owned business, with more than 1,000 people employed in professional security, including more than 300 veterans. Nicole Stuart serves as president, and her husband, Chris, is vice president. He’s proud of the business they founded, which marked “24 straight years of increased revenue and staff size” in 2019. Next year, they expect to add contracts in Philadelphia and San Diego. Aside from work, Chris graduated from Lead Virginia, LEAD Hampton Roads and LEAD Peninsula in 2014 and served on the Hampton City Council from 2010 to 2014. He and Nicole “flunked family planning,” Chris jokes. They have five children between the ages of 7 and 14. •

These are Virginians who feed and delight us, nourishing body and soul through dining, lodging, spirits, tourism and entertainment. 

 

Thomas Arrington, Founder, The Richmond Folk Feast, Richmond

Former French chef Thomas Arrington was delighted by the success of the 15th annual Richmond Folk Festival, held along the city’s waterfront in October. Seven years ago, the Performance Foodservice business development director started the annual Richmond Folk Feast, held a couple days before the festival, to help fund the event and also promote RVA’s thriving food scene. The Feast typically sells out within hours, and no wonder. It features scrumptious fare from the city’s best chefs — 23 in 2019 — and 80% of proceeds go to the Folk Festival. “We’ve raised more than $164,000 since 2012 to keep it a free event,” he says. •

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Paul Beyer, Founder and executive director, Tom Tom Summit & Festival, Charlottesville

Paul Beyer started Charlottesville’s Tom Tom Summit & Festival in 2012, creating an annual event that is a bit like Austin’s South by Southwest. Similar to the Texas festival, Tom Tom attracts prominent musicians, artists and speakers — including John Cleese and Dan Rather — along with thousands of attendees each April. A Charlottesville native, Beyer studied screenwriting and history, worked for his family’s custom homes business and serves on the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce board. Next year’s summit will focus on a theme of “Civic Innovation for 21st Century Cities,” and the Tom Tom Foundation will also host conferences about town and gown relationships, health and education equity and criminal justice reform. •

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Matthew Bousquet, Executive chef, 1799 at The Clifton, Charlottesville

The Michelin-starred 1799 at The Clifton is touted as one of Virginia’s most romantic dining experiences, and chef Matthew Bousquet is serving up food in the newly retooled restaurant that matches the 18th-century ambience, as shown by 1799’s recent Wine Spectator Award for Excellence. The Northern California expat says that he wants to continue to source local ingredients, highlighting the regional cuisine of Virginia’s Piedmont: “These are the types of dishes, flavors and wines served on the estate when it was built for Thomas Jefferson’s daughter and husband, Martha and Thomas Mann Randolph, in 1799.” •

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Kimberly Christner, President and CEO, Cornerstone Hospitality, Williamsburg

Boutique hotels are having a moment in Virginia, especially in towns with historic properties. Kimberly Christner and Cornerstone Hospitality are behind several projects, including the Sessions Hotel in downtown Bristol, which is expected to open in January or February, and the Western Front Hotel, which opened last year in Saint Paul in Southwest Virginia. Christner, who has worked in the hotel business since 1993, says these projects and others “capitalize on the economic engine that is Southwest Virginia and the mountains, getting off the beaten trail.” In 2020, Christner has several projects in the works: historic hotels in Danville and South Boston, plus plans outside the state. •

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Hal Craddock, Partner, Creative Boutique Hotels, Henrico

Hal Craddock sees hospitality as a tool for community and downtown redevelopment. His latest venture with Creative Boutique Hotels, a partnership with Cornerstone Hospitality, will celebrate the birth of country music in Bristol. The Sessions Hotel, opening early next year, will feature 70 boutique rooms, indoor and outdoor music space and a restaurant in century-old buildings that once housed a grocery store, a candy factory and a mill. Craddock’s also helping renovate the historic John Randolph Hotel in South Boston. He retired in 2015 as a principal with an architectural firm in Lynchburg, where he was honored for his downtown and riverfront projects. •

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Frank Estremera, Executive chef, The National Conference Center, Leesburg

Frank Estremera’s career began when he was 11 working in his family’s restaurant in Peru. Now he serves 1,000 meals daily for The National. Estremera immigrated to the U.S. when he was 18 and is known for his culinary experimentation and his initiatives to expand local farm-to-table programs. The same week he began work as The National’s executive chef, he was named heavyweight champion of DISHED 2018, an annual charity cooking contest sponsored by the Dulles Regional Chamber of Commerce. But many will know him for providing free meals to furloughed federal workers and their families during the government shutdown last January. It made him proud, he says, “that I was able to give back through food.” •

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Roben Farzad, Host of public radio’s “Full Disclosure,” Richmond

Roben Farzad is one of those folks who has insatiable curiosity; he wants to learn who works in which building and what they’re up to. An Iranian immigrant whose family arrived in Miami in 1978, Farzad let his curiosity about a shuttered hotel — The Mutiny — develop into his first book, “Hotel Scarface,” a nonfiction work tracing the confluence of cocaine dealers, beautiful women and the “Miami Vice” cast, among others. (He says there is a “good chance” that his book will be adapted into a TV series in 2020.) Farzad is also an accomplished business journalist who hosts the “Full Disclosure” VPM radio show and podcast. Focusing on business, policy, media, tech and culture, the show soon will start airing three times a week. •

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Nicholas Jordan, Founder, managing partner, Capitol Bridge Holdings, Arlington

Nicholas Jordan’s advisory and consulting firm offers professional services that range from cybersecurity and data management to independent medical reviews and medical coding. Now he’s branching into a new area: hospitality. His company recently acquired the Delaplane Cellars vineyard in northern Fauquier County. Capitol Bridge is a minority-owned small business with clients including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Jordan previously worked on Wall Street and Capitol Hill and for Deloitte Consulting. In 2012, he launched a holding company with interests in an array of consulting and investment enterprises. •

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Kurt Krause, President and CEO, VisitNorfolk, Norfolk

As the new head of Norfolk’s convention and visitor’s bureau, Krause assumes the role of city hospitality director. The Virginia Tech graduate brings a diverse résumé — he’s worked for his alma mater, as well as Marriott International Hotels, and he was part of the federal team that organized the Transportation Security Administration, an assignment that won him the 9/11 Medal for Service. It was while he was with at Gold Key|PHR Hotels and Resorts, overseeing the opening of Norfolk’s The Main hotel, that he fell in love with Norfolk. Ask him and he’ll tell you all about it. •

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Gareth Moore, CEO, Virginia Distillery Co., Lovingston

With its focus on traditional distilling mixed with innovative blending and finishing methods, Virginia Distillery Co. has helped to lead Virginia’s craft whiskey renaissance. Credit CEO Moore who, with mother Angela, took over his late father George’s distilling dream in 2013, two years before it opened. VDC’s signature Virginia-Highland Malt Whisky copped the World Whiskies Awards’ prestigious “Best American Single Malt” prize in 2017, prompting the Scotch Whisky Association to sue the company over its use of the phrase, “Highland Whisky.” It was all in a day’s work for Moore, no stranger to the politics of drink as the president of the Virginia Distillery Association, which lobbies the General Assembly on behalf of the industry. •

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Kate Pittman, Executive director, ViBe Creative District, Virginia Beach

Kate Pittman’s job is to think outside the boardwalk. As the first executive director of the ViBe Creative District, her role is to promote “a creative industries district” by the oceanfront. She works with 60 members who support the nonprofit’s goal of boosting the local economy through such promotions as First Friday, Second Saturday and other arts-inspired pop-up events. ViBe partnered with music superstar Pharrell Williams’ creative team to plan an Art Walk as part of the Virginia Beach native’s wildly successful Something in the Water festival. “Our nonprofit has been working to revitalize Virginia Beach through the arts for the last four years, and Pharrell’s vision for Something in the Water catapulted us to a new level,” she says. The festival will return next year. Also new in 2020, the district will unveil four large-scale intersection artworks designed by local artists and installed in stone pavers as part of Virginia Beach›s 19th Street infrastructure streetscape project. •

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Marcus Silva, President and CEO, Villagio Hospitality Group, Manassas

The Farm Brew LIVE campus takes up 12 acres in Prince William County’s Innovation Park, and founder Marcus Silva has all your entertainment needs covered. “It’s equal parts premium food place, live music venue, beer garden and craft brewery,” he says. 2 Silos, started with Forrest Morgan, serves the suds, the upcoming Black Sheep restaurant — housed in a converted dairy barn and due to open in December — feeds guests, and the featured musical performers are regional favorites. Silva also owns two Clifton restaurants, Trattoria Village and Little Villagio, and is slated in 2020 to launch Villagio Events, a full-service catering company. •

When Virginia regained the No. 1 ranking on CNBC’s annual Top States for Business list this year, one of the factors that put the Old Dominion over the top was our “wealth of colleges and universities,” lauded by CNBC as “the best in the nation.” These are some of the educators, researchers and administrators who helped the commonwealth earn that reputation.

Mark Blanks, Director, Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, Blacksburg

Mark Blanks holds a private pilot’s license and has worked in a variety of roles, including aircraft technician, in the aviation industry. But his career has taken off in the development of unmanned flight. He leads Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, an FAA-designated test site that works as a bridge between regulators and industry to advance the use of drones. One example is the launch this fall of the nation’s first residential drone package delivery system in Christiansburg, a partnership with Google’s parent company that makes deliveries typically “in less than 10 minutes from time of order.”  •

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Shannon Blevins, Vice chancellor, Office of Economic Development and Strategic Initiatives, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Wise

In 2020, Shannon Blevins has plenty going on, from the college’s fifth SWVA Economic Forum in May to the opening of the Clinch River Ecological Education Center. A 2008 Lead Virginia graduate, Blevins works to bring economic opportunities to the Southwest region. Next summer, the recently opened Oxbow Center will host its first cybersecurity accelerator program. Southwest Virginia is often depicted as having a lack of jobs and opportunity, but Blevins says that the economic forum is “a celebration of place” and the talented people and assets that make the region unique.  •

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Mary Lou Bourne, Director, technology information and economic development, James Madison University, Harrisonburg

Mary Lou Bourne didn’t expect to come back to Harrisonburg, where she grew up, because her husband, Jeff, works in college athletics, a notoriously transitory field. But since he became JMU’s athletic director, she has found a home for her work as an entrepreneurial eco­system “quarterback,” encouraging new businesses to grow in the Shenandoah Valley. She started as an entrepreneur herself and has served on numerous economic development organizations, including GO Virginia and Virginia’s University-Based Economic Development. “Connecting people is my favorite part of the job,” she says. “I’m very careful about the introductions I make.” •

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Tom Dingus, Executive director, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Blacksburg

The literal road to the future runs through Blacksburg, where the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has become a major research hub for auto safety, smart roads and self-driving vehicles. The institute has been around for 30 years, and for three-quarters of that time, it’s been led by Tom Dingus, who holds an endowed chair in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics. Dingus brings a background in psychology, engineering, human factors and computer-aided design — a perfect combination for transportation technology. In a welcome note about the institute, Dingus touts its 500 employees, $110 million infrastructure, $45 million in research each year and “the largest group of driving safety researchers in the world.” •

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Gregory Fairchild, Associate dean for Washington, D.C., area initiatives and academic director of public policy and entrepreneurship, University of Virginia, Arlington

Named the Poets & Quants 2017 MBA Professor of the Year, Gregory Fairchild has left the classroom at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business to oversee U.Va. programs in the Washington, D.C., area. He’s not at liberty yet to discuss specifics but does say there will be “exciting new developments” in 2020 in Northern Virginia, where Darden opened a facility in Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood. Also in the works is a School of Medicine campus at Inova Fairfax Hospital, expected to open in 2021.  •

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Mark Gignac, Executive director, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, Danville

Mark Gignac operated businesses in Danville for 30 years before taking that experience to the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research. The state-supported institute collaborates with academia and industry to diversify Southern Virginia’s economy. Initiatives range from workforce development programs such as GO TEC to the new Plant Endophyte Research Center, which studies beneficial soil bacteria to find sustainable agricultural solutions. In 2021, a 51,250-square-foot Center for Manufacturing Advancement is scheduled to help launch new or expanding manufacturing companies. The diversity of IALR’s work is reflected in a recent event titled “Unraveling the Mystery of Hemp Testing.” • 

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Graham Henshaw, Executive director, William & Mary’s Alan B. Miller Entrepreneurship Center, Williamsburg

An entrepreneur turned educator, Graham Henshaw thinks it’s important for students to develop an entrepreneurial mindset regardless of their career goals. It takes more than domain expertise to change the world, he says. That’s why William & Mary’s Miller Center has added a new central campus location for its entrepreneurship hub to engage and encourage more students to learn to think like entrepreneurs. The center also will manage Launchpad, the regional business incubator for James City and York counties and the city of Williamsburg, offering a shared environment that he says will produce unique learning experiences resulting from “collisions between these two audiences.”  •

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Karen Jackson, Interim executive director, New College Institute, Martinsville

The New College Institute, funded by the state, works to boost access to higher-education opportunities for students in Southern Virginia. Leading the charge anew is Karen Jackson, who served as secretary of technology under Gov. Terry McAuliffe. NCI’s board of directors appointed Jackson in June as interim executive director. How good is she? “We have found Babe Ruth,” state Sen. Bill Stanley, the board’s president, said of her qualifications, the Martinsville Bulletin reported. Jackson is a graduate of Christopher Newport University and holds a master’s in business administration from William & Mary. She also serves as president of the technology consultancy Apogee Strategic Partners. •

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Dr. Karen C. Johnston, Associate vice president for clinical and translational research, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Dr. Karen C. Johnston helps take laboratory research findings “from bench to bedside” to improve patient care. The neurology professor at the School of Medicine oversees translational research at U.Va. and is part of a team that will take those efforts statewide. Translational research, she says, “is any research that takes some type of discovery and uses it to improve human health.” The Integrated Translational Health Research Institute of Virginia (iTHRIV) was awarded a National Institutes of Health grant to put new science and data science tools into the hands of researchers across the state. In addition to U.Va., the team includes Inova Health System, Virginia Tech, Carilion Clinic and other partners. “We are supporting the most innovative research that will improve the health of the people of the commonwealth,” she says. A classic example of this work, she says, “is taking a discovery in the laboratory — such as a new compound — to research in patients.” • 

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Latitia D. McCane, Director of education, The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News

Latitia McCane is looking to Generation Z to transform shipbuilding for the digital age. The Apprentice School partnered with New Horizons Regional Education Centers in August to pilot a pre-apprenticeship program called Youth Builders. The program provides math enrichment, workplace mentoring and other trade-related training for high school students to increase their chances of qualifying for a paid apprenticeship. McCane was named last year to lead the school, which has about 800 students, and to craft a strategic vision for a second centennial that will include “a new era of i-Apprenticeship” for future shipbuilders.•

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Brandy Salmon, Managing director, Virginia Tech Innovation Campus; associate vice president for clinical and translational research, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and Alexandria

In a university setting, the possibilities for collaboration between researchers, startups and industry can be fruitful but complicated. Brandy Salmon, who oversees Virginia Tech’s LINK and LAUNCH programs, helps to make the connections. She brings Tech innovators together with investors and entrepreneurs and, as the interim managing director of the school’s planned $1.1 billion Innovation Campus in Alexandria, will mediate collaborations between students, faculty and neighboring Amazon.com Inc., among other companies. •

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Travis Williams, Chief flight instructor, Averett University, Danville

Travis Williams grew up in the sky. His grandfather was a pilot who owned a plane, and Williams learned to fly at a young age. His aviation students at Averett University probably didn’t have that immersive experience, so they need a good teacher. Under Williams’ oversight, the flight school’s record is impressive, with dozens of graduates who are now working pilots in a field that is experiencing shortages. Averett recently partnered with the Virginia Space Grant Consortium to host the Flightways Flight Academy, teaching local high school students how to fly, too. •

Whether promoting history and the arts, building community or providing vital services, these people make Virginia a better place through their passion and vision.

Ed Beardsley, Founder and president, SPARC; owner, The Plaid Turnip restaurant, Suffolk

Ed Beardsley’s popular Suffolk restaurant, the Plaid Turnip, will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2020, and he’s planning a second, Art’s Kitchen, within the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts. “There’s a third concept on the drawing board, too,” he teases. The entrepreneur’s main focus, however, is guiding SPARC, a nonprofit arts organization he founded to revitalize the heart of Suffolk (not to be confused with the unrelated Richmond performing arts school of the same name). Beardsley wants Suffolk City Council to declare the downtown area an arts and cultural district: “This will create the opportunity for large-scale  public art projects which will foster excitement and a sense of identity to downtown.” •

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John Allen, CEO, Elite Meet, Virginia Beach

John Allen has formed two new ventures that grew out of his success using social media to raise funds for Elite Meet, a nonprofit he co-founded that helps fighter pilots and special ops veterans find civilian jobs. The feedback he received about the way he told his story as a former Navy SEAL drew so many queries that he formed NachoMedia, a boutique firm that helps others craft authentic, yet vulnerable narratives that are “not macho.” Likewise, questions on how to become a SEAL led to a mentorship side business called Operators Association, which offers advice for aspiring SEALS, Green Berets or Rangers, as well as merchandise sales. •

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Julia Boas, Events director, Roanoke Outside Foundation, Roanoke

If Richmond has “America’s Friendliest Marathon,” Roanoke can claim the nation’s toughest: The Foot Levelers Blue Ridge Marathon offers more than 7,000 feet in elevation changes. Julia Boas has organized the April race since 2014, and it has become a major financial boon, she says, contributing $5 million to the local economy over the past decade. But more importantly, the marathon has highlighted Roanoke’s downtown and surrounding mountains to “change the narrative of our region,” Boas says. Today, the foundation is involved with a pro cyclocross race and music and beer festivals. Proceeds from the events let the foundation, started by the Roanoke Region Partnership a decade ago, develop trails and improve local parks. •

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Jamie Bosket, President and CEO, Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Richmond

When the 188-year-old Virginia Historical Society reinvented itself as the Virginia Museum of History & Culture last year, it was more than a name change. The 36-year-old Bosket, a New Yorker who previously was vice president for guest experience at George Washington’s Mount Vernon, moved south to shake up one of America’s oldest historical institutions. Since taking the museum’s helm in early 2017, Bosket has declared an agenda to engage all Virginians, including those who were left out in the past. In 2020, the museum will feature exhibits on early female activism in Virginia, rock music on television and the legacy of enslaved cooks. “I am committed to leading the VMHC into a future that is far more inclusive than its past,” he says. •

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Duron Chavis, Manager of community engagement, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond

Duron Chavis is a bit like Richmond’s own Johnny Appleseed. His first official foray into urban gardening was in 2012, when he worked with South Side Richmond residents to build the McDonough Community Garden, which is still active. Today, Chavis leads the Ginter Urban Gardener program to help people develop community gardens across the Richmond region, a project that also helps address food insecurity in low-income neighborhoods. In 2020, Chavis says his focus will continue on the city’s North Side, developing resilient greenspaces, growing healthy food and addressing stormwater management. You also may see Chavis at Richmond’s Happily Natural Day festival, a celebration of African ancestry, health and wellness, which he started in 2003. •

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Valerie Cassel Oliver, Curator of modern and contemporary art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

Valerie Cassel Oliver came to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in July 2017, working to fuel meaningful conversations and ensure that the VMFA reflects dynamic, innovative, current work that will have staying power. “You’re sort of writing history as it happens, all the time, as a contemporary curator,” Oliver says. “It’s perpetual motion.” A major goal for the museum is to bolster its collection with work by black artists. It did so in a big way in September, when Oliver joined in the Times Square unveiling of “Rumors of War” by celebrated artist Kehinde Wiley. The work is an equestrian statue with a modern, young black person at the reins, a cultural twist on Richmond’s Confederate statues on Monument Avenue. When the statue is installed in its permanent home this month in front of the museum on the newly named Arthur Ashe Boulevard, it will be a certain conversation starter.  •

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Debbie Irwin, Executive director, Staunton Creative Community Fund, Staunton

Since 2008, the nonprofit Staunton Creative Community Fund has been an invaluable resource for small businesses, aiding area entrepreneurs with initial funding, workforce training and access. Under Debbie Irwin’s leadership, the fund is fully invested in the new Shenandoah Valley Innovation Roadmap, which helps new thinkers market products and services, and she’s got big plans in store, although details are currently under wraps. “In partnership with several other organizations, we are building a regionwide acceleration program,” Irwin says. “One that is different than the [kinds] we have seen in the state so far.”  •

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Allyson Rothrock, President, The Harvest Foundation, Martinsville

In 2002, Memorial Hospital was sold in Martinsville, and the Harvest Foundation was started with the proceeds to address local health, education and community concerns. Allyson Rothrock has been with the foundation from its start, and she faces a big year: the opening of the Clinical Simulation Lab at the Martinsville campus of Sovah Health and two programs providing child care and affordable housing. Also, after a survey of more than 2,500 parents in Martinsville and Henry County, the foundation is creating a plan for an early-education system.  •

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Travis Staton, President and CEO, United Way of Southwest Virginia, Abingdon

Travis Staton is a native of Southwest Virginia, the region whose vitality is the focus of his life’s work. As head of the United Way, he led a shift in the organization’s role to a more regional approach through eight mergers, and now oversees the nonprofit’s operations for nearly 20% of the state. He’s responsible for an initiative called Ignite that focuses on a cradle-to-career continuum to build a talent pipeline from schools to the workforce. In 2018, Charity Navigator ranked his organization among the 10 best United Way chapters of more than 1,100 nationwide and in October, it became one of 6,000 nonprofits across the globe to reach GuideStar’s Platinum level for its commitment to transparency. •

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Teresa Owens Tyson, Executive director, The Health Wagon, Wise

Teresa Owens Tyson has devoted much of her life to bringing assistance to the medically underserved in 11 Southwest Virginia cities and counties, running a group of mobile and stationary free and Medicaid clinics. She was also integral in bringing the annual Remote Area Medical (RAM) free clinic to Wise in 1999. Next July, it will be run by Health Wagon as the Move Mountains Medical Mission. Her work has been recognized by, among others, the United Nations, the Virginia Nurses Association and former President George H.W. Bush, who honored her with one of his “Daily Point of Light” awards in 2014.   •

Be it residential or commercial, historic renovation or new construction, from small-scale, mixed-use developments to massive interstate highway projects, these are some of the many professionals who are leaving their imprint on Virginia’s landscape.

Luke Allison, Entrepreneur, Pulaski

Luke Allison is team leader for a group of 20 motivated millennials known around Pulaski as the Tribe  or the Crew. They’re investing in commercial ventures, as well as buying and refurbishing blighted houses they rent to local workers and Virginia Tech graduate students. About a dozen have formed a property group called Kethanos, which has bought about 15 houses, surpassing $1 million in appraisals. They take advantage of a collective skill set to solve any problems that arise. “Cooperation and optimism are our strengths,” says Allison, 27, a Tech graduate. He also works with Steven Critchfield at MOVA and West Main Development, which in October unveiled renovated apartments and businesses that are the first phase of a downtown revitalization project. Allison also is beginning to work on a second-chance program to provide housing for former inmates to keep them from becoming homeless, “but also to help close the gap between prison release and being a working member of society.” •

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Daniel  Huertas, CEO, Washington Capital Partners, Falls Church

As he saw property values crash in the 2008 Great Recession, Daniel Huertas launched his career as a hard money lender. Seeing opportunity in the steep losses, he co-founded a company that provides investment services for real estate developers in the Washington, D.C., region. A native of Ecuador, Huertas initially worked full time originating traditional mortgages and flipping houses on the side. But he saw a need for investment capital, and what started as a skeleton operation has grown to a firm with 48 full-time employees that has originated more than 1,750 loans and provided $645 million in capital. •

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Dave McCormack, President, Waukeshaw Development, Petersburg

Dave McCormack has worked as a writer and musician, but these days you probably know him best as a developer who renovates and adapts historic buildings in Virginia’s small towns. Based in Petersburg, McCormack started Trapezium Brewing Co. there and Beale’s Brewery in Bedford, along with numerous residential projects from Cape Charles (where he lives with his family) to Madison Heights, often started in rundown, occasionally termite-infested industrial buildings. Next on McCormack’s agenda: a boutique hotel in Bedford and a second Beale’s Brewery location in York County.  •

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Lucas Thornton, Managing partner, Hist:Re Partners LLC, Roanoke

Lucas Thornton hails from Fincastle, north of Roanoke, and he decided after graduating from the University of Virginia in 2006 to be a big fish in a small pond. “Guys like me have to make a living,” he says, and after studying landscape architecture, urbanism and philosophy, Thornton became “a real estate guy.” Fellow millennials seek to create lives for themselves in urban settings, but with technological advances connecting people, they don’t have to be located in major metropolitan areas, he says. Thornton’s development company is completing the headquarters for Pinnacle Financial Partners and, in the first quarter of 2020, Hist:Re plans to break ground on a multiuse development at Campbell Court.  • 

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David Yergin-Doniger, President, WG Construction, Manassas

David Yergin-Doniger is president of a construction company responsible for high-profile projects in Northern Virginia, such as the widening of Interstate 66 and work on pedestrian tunnels for the related Outside of the Beltway project. But he’s also building the next generation of skilled workers through his roles as president of the Heavy Construction Contractors Association and founder of its Leadership Institute for industry professionals. In addition to workshops, the group provides community service that has totaled nearly $1 million in charitable construction improvements in the region. Members also raise money for scholarships and work with students through SkillsUSA. •