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byline: Sydney Lake

Toronto acquisition firm buys Richmond software company

Volaris Group, a Toronto-based buyer and operator of vertical market software companies, announced last week it has acquired Richmond-based educational software company SoftChalk LLC.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Using the SoftChalk platform, instructors can develop custom course materials and interactive content, including quizzes and annotated text.

“The team at Volaris shares our vision for the power of educational technology making it a great home for the SoftChalk technology and team,” SoftChalk CEO Sue Evans said in a statement. “This move helps us further support innovation and product growth.”

Under the acquisition, SoftChalk will be integrated into Volaris Group software subsidiary AssetWorks.

“Expanding the Volaris portfolio of higher education software firms creates even more opportunities to share best-practices and encourage talent development across teams,” Trey Drake, Volaris Group leader, said in a statement. “Our approach to acquisitions, where we buy and hold companies forever, helps us develop lasting customer relationships which is critical as we continue to deliver on the immense responsibility that comes with supporting mission-critical education and learning technologies.”

 

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Virginia Rent Relief Program receiving extra $524M

Landlords and tenants have additional rental assistance on the way. On Tuesday, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that $524 million in federal funding will go toward the Virginia Rent Relief Program (RRP), funded through the Emergency Rental Assistance program.

“RRP is based on a unique, collaborative partnership between tenants and landlords to ensure both remain whole amid the pandemic,” Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball said in a statement. “Our priority remains keeping our families in stable housing while also ensuring landlords are receiving the payments they need.”

The RRP is a separate program from the Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program, which since June 2020 has distributed more than $83.7 million in nearly 25,000 rent and mortgage payments for Virginia households. RRP does not include mortgage relief funding.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have prioritized efforts to keep Virginians safely in their homes,” Northam said in a statement. “There continues to be an overwhelming need for additional relief to help those struggling to make ends meet. This new federal funding will provide an important lifeline to individuals and families, and bolster our ongoing work to address housing affordability in the commonwealth. I urge eligible households to act quickly and work with their landlords to seek rental assistance through this program.”

The program will be administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). Landlords must work with their tenants to apply for assistance. Tenants may be eligible for rent arrears payments back to April 1 of last year and up to three future payments.

 

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Manufacturer announces $10.7M expansion in Montgomery County

Motion control product manufacturer Moog Inc. will invest $10.7 million to transfer existing jobs and equipment from its Blacksburg facilities to a larger building in Montgomery County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. The investment will also create 75 jobs.

Founded more than 65 years ago, East Aurora, New York-based Moog Inc. designs, manufactures and integrates precision control components and systems  for applications in aerospace, defense, industrial and medical devices. The company operates in 26 countries and employs more than 1,200 people in Virginia.

“Moog is an important partner in the commonwealth, and it is exciting to see the company grow its capabilities in Montgomery County,” Northam said in a statement. “The New River Valley has outstanding institutions of higher education and a world-class workforce, and Moog’s continued investment is a testament to these assets. We are confident that this expansion will propel the company and the commonwealth’s aerospace industry forward.”

The investment will add 80,000 square feet to Moog Inc.’s operations.

“As we look to support our growing business in established and new markets, the focus has been on developing geographic centers of excellence with ready access to a diverse talent pool,” Janet Byrne-Safier, vice president of Moog’s power and data sector, said in a statement. “Moog places emphasis on retaining and developing its current workforce and new employees.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) worked with Montgomery County to secure the project for Virginia and will support Moog’s job creation through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program (VJIP). Moog was also recently selected to participate in VEDP’s Virginia Leaders in Export Trade (VALET) Program, which focuses on international export goals.

 

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PenFed expands partnership with The Washington Justice

Tysons-based PenFed Credit Union announced Tuesday it is expanding its partnership with The Washington Justice, the professional esports Overwatch League for the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., area, into a three-year sponsorship.

PenFed, which is one of the nation’s largest federal credit unions, will be featured as an official Jersey Patch Partner for the team and have a team-branded credit card. The credit union’s branding will appear on jerseys during competitions.

“The passion and enthusiasm of Justice players and fans is wonderful to witness, and we are excited to expand our partnership and welcome even more Justice fans as PenFed members this year,” PenFed Credit Union President and CEO James Schenck said in a statement. “The credit card will make history as the first esports team branded card.”

Established in 1935, PenFed serves 2.2 million members with more than $26 billion in assets. There are 20 Overwatch League teams, and The Washington Justice was established in 2018.

 

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SCHEV releases updated goals for higher ed in Va.

The State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) on Tuesday released an updated statewide strategic plan, which focuses on making higher education more “equitable, affordable and transformative.” 

The Pathways to Opportunity: The Virginia Plan for Higher Education (The Plan) is reviewed every six years. 

“The events of 2020 — COVID-19, social justice reforms and concerns about a civil society — reinforce the need for this plan,” SCHEV Director Peter Blake said in a statement. “Now more than ever, the commonwealth should aspire to a system of higher education that is equitable, affordable and transformative.”

The goals of the updated plan include removing barriers to access for Black, Hispanic, Native American and rural students; developing cost saving initiatives for students; and increasing social, cultural and economic well-being.

The next step of the process in updating The Plan is developing action plans. A timeline has not been released, but the major goal of the plan is to have 70% educational attainment by 2030.

 

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McLean satellite operator eyes Chapter 11 emergence

McLean-based satellite operator Intelsat Corp. announced Friday it has the support of creditors to financially restructure under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would decrease the company’s debt from nearly $15 billion to $7 billion.

“Today’s filings and the significant consensus already achieved on the plan pave the way for the company’s emergence from the Chapter 11 proceedings in the second half of 2021,” according to Intelsat’s Friday statement.

The company first announced its intent to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020. The plan is pending before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Part of the reason for the bankruptcy filing was to spend money on a program that would allow it to build 5G infrastructure under the Federal Communications Commission order in support of a build-out of 5G wireless infrastructure in the U.S., known as the 5G Fast Plan, according to a company statement. Intelsat has to clear its C-band spectrum in order to support 5G, which offers faster data rates and fewer delays in transmitting data.

Intelsat was founded in 1964 and provides video and broadband services.

 

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SML Chamber names member relations, events manager

The Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday that it has hired Erin Stanley as its member relations and events manager, effective March 1.

Stanley has previously worked in advertising, marketing, sales and business development with The Roanoke Times, Laker Media and WSLS-10. In the chamber’s newly created role, she will oversee member relations initiatives, including recruitment and membership engagement. She will also oversee chamber events throughout the year.

The Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce has more than 600 members and works to promote tourism and business development in the region.

 

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Va. Beach insurance company names president, VP

Virginia Beach-based insurance company Core Assurance Partners Inc. announced Tuesday that Zack Brandau has been named as president and Will Russell has been named as vice president.

Brandau, a founding principal of the firm, will oversee the firm’s daily operations and growth initiatives. He succeeds Doug Russell, who had served as president since 2017. Brandau earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing from George Mason University.

Will Russell will continue working with clients while developing new partnerships in the maritime, construction and real estate industries. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Hampden-Sydney College.

Core Assurance Partners is an insurance, surety and risk management firm founded in 2017.

 

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Virginia Tech Innovation Campus director named to National Academy of Engineering

Virginia Tech announced Monday that Lance R. Collins, vice president and executive director of the university’s Innovation Campus, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for 2021.

The former Joseph Silbert Dean of Engineering at Cornell University was named as head of Tech’s Innovation Campus in February 2020. He had led Cornell’s college of engineering since 2010 and joined the university as a professor in 2002; he was part of the leadership team at Cornell that bid to partner with New York City to build Cornell Tech, which opened in 2017. 

He will be inducted in a ceremony on Oct. 3, bringing the organization’s membership to 2,355 people. Leidos Holdings Inc. Chairman and CEO Roger A. Krone will also be inducted in October.

“I am excited, humbled and honored by the opportunity to join leaders at the National Academy of Engineering,” Collins said in a statement. “I share this honor with the mentors, colleagues and students at Cornell who guided me and supported my research and ideas. It infuses me with energy as we move forward to build partnerships and create a new model of graduate education at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.”

Collins spent 11 years as an assistant professor, associate professor and professor of chemical engineering at Penn State University before his time at Cornell. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He has produced more than 100 publications from his research and has supervised 16 Ph.D. students during his career.

He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. All of his degrees are in chemical engineering. 

Construction on the Innovation Campus, located in Alexandria in close proximity to Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters, will take approximately 10 years to complete. It will enroll up to 750 master’s candidates and hundreds of doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows.

 

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Virginia Tech professor named as engineering fellow

Virginia Tech announced Monday that biomedical engineering and mechanics professor Raffaella De Vita has been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows.

The institute’s membership includes more than 2,000 fellows who are recognized leaders in the medical and biological fields. De Vita has been with Virginia Tech since 2006 as a visiting professor and since 2007 as a full-time faculty member. She is the associate department head and the director of the Soft Tissue Research: Experiments, Theory and Computation by Hokies (STRETCH) Lab. De Vita conducts research on characterizing the mechanical properties of soft biological systems. 

In 2012, De Vita earned the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and in 2017 received the Alumni Award for Outreach Excellence from Virginia Tech. In 2013 and 2019 she received the Excellence in Access and Inclusion Award. 

She earned her bachelor’s degree in mathematics from University of Naples II and her master’s degree and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

 

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