As head of the state’s tourism agency since 2012, McClenny has seen the industry through ups and downs. In the wake of the pandemic, she helped secure federal dollars to assist statewide tourism rebound.
In 2021, 102 million visitors spent $25.2 billion in Virginia, according to a study released by the agency last fall, still
down from 2019’s pre-pandemic tourism spending of $29.1 billion. Spending grew across all sectors, however, driven by strong room demand and increases in prices of key commodities, especially in lodging and transportation.
A Southampton County native, McClenny previously ran the Virginia Film Office, a branch of the tourism agency, for more than two decades, bringing high-profile TV and movie projects, like Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” to the commonwealth. She received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
In 2022, McClenny received the Chairman’s Award from Richmond Region Tourism for her work supporting the growth of Virginia’s tourism industry. She also serves on the board of Travel South USA, a destination marketing organization for the Southern United States.
Culbreth began working for cabinets manufacturer American Woodmark in 2014 as chief financial officer and was named president and CEO in 2020. The company’s cabinet brands include American Woodmark, Shenandoah Cabinetry, Timberlake Cabinetry and Waypoint Living Spaces.
In April, American Woodmark reported its net sales increased 11.3% year-over-year in fiscal 2023 to $2.06 billion. Last year, the company announced its plan to invest $65 million to build out its stock kitchen and bath cabinet capacity for East Coast markets, expanding manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Mexico.
Culbreth holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Virginia Tech and an MBA from Washington University. Prior to joining American Woodmark, he worked for Shell Oil and held executive positions at Robert Bosch and Newell Brands. He serves on the finance department advisory board for Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business and sits on the board of directors of Flexsteel Industries.
In 1976, Culpeper Wood Preservers started from a single location in Culpeper. Today, the company is a leading manufacturer of pressure-treated lumber products for the residential, commercial, industrial and marine markets, with 17 locations around the East Coast and in Indiana and Tennessee. A 1990 East Carolina University graduate who was recruited by the Chicago White Sox, Jenkins pitched for Minor League Baseball teams for six years and worked as a coach and scout. Then he left baseball for a career in lumber. He joined Culpeper 17 years ago and became president in 2016.
In November 2022, Culpeper acquired H.M. Stauffer & Sons, a fourth-generation family business in Leola, Pennsylvania, increasing its reach in that state. Also, the company purchased Massachusetts-based Northeast Treaters in July 2022, as well as properties in Tennessee in 2022 and in Maryland and Massachusetts in 2021. The company employs about 600 people.
The Martin Agency‘s CEO since 2017, Cavallo was named global head of MullenLowe Group in November 2022 and now holds both jobs, overseeing 13 companies with 4,000 employees worldwide.
She previously was president and chief strategy and growth officer of MullenLowe U.S. before leading Martin. Cavallo was named Ad Age’s Executive of the Year in 2019. Adweek named Martin, which counts Geico, UPS, Old Navy and Royal Caribbean among its clients, its Agency of the Year in 2020, 2021 and 2022. This year, Martin and MullenLowe Global were both named Agency of the Year by Ad Age and The One Club, respectively. In March, Fast Company named Martin as one of the most innovative companies in advertising.
Adweek estimated that Martin brought in $28 million in new accounts in 2022, a 30% increase in revenue.
Cavallo earned an MBA from George Mason University and is a James Madison University alumna. She serves on the Cameron K. Gallagher Foundation’s board and is active in ACT Responsible, a campaign affiliated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications.
Clay joined the human resources and operations firm, one of Marsh McLennan‘s global businesses, in 2011 and uses her expertise in talent assessment and development, organizational design and strategy creation to serve clients in Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
Prior to working at Mercer, Clay was senior vice president of global human resources for Encore Capital Group and vice president and head of human resources for Capital One Financial. She has degrees from Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University.
A former chair of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, she still serves on its board and is an advisory board member for Virginia Tech’s Apex Center for Entrepreneurs.
Mercer employs 25,000 people worldwide, with almost 100 employees in Virginia. Its client base includes manufacturing, health care, higher education, insurance and financial services businesses. In March, Mercer acquired Leapgen, a Minneapolis-based HR tech consulting firm with McDonald’s and Adobe among its clients.
Also this year, the company’s work design team was recognized in the talent analytics category for Best Advance in Practical AI at the HR Tech Awards, and Clay received directorship certification from the National Association of Corporate Directors.
In 2017, Harmon became the leader of Virginia’s oldest law firm, which had 266 lawyers in Virginia as of March. A nationally recognized trial lawyer, he brings in millions of dollars representing Fortune 500 companies in bet-the-company litigation actions and has represented giants like DuPont, CSX Transportation and UPS Ground Freight.
In the past year, Harmon and the firm have been eyeing expansion in Atlanta, California, Chicago, New York and Texas. “We are looking to grow and aggressively looking to talk to firms who are of the mindset,” Harmon told Bloomberg Law in March.
A West Point graduate, Harmon earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. The Gulf War veteran and father of four serves on the Pro Bono Institute’s board of trustees and does volunteer and ministry work in prisons.
HOW I CHOSE MY CAREER: My late wife went to law school first and, after some prayer and thought, I decided to after she completed it.
HOW I BALANCE WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE: Early on in my career, I set my priorities — my faith and family, then work — and I have endeavored to stick to them.
As Greater Washington market executive for Merrill, the wealth management arm of Bank of America, Francisco Castellanos leads the D.C. market’s nearly 150 financial advisers, overseeing some $31 billion in client assets. He was named to the position late last year, having previously been Merrill’s Greater Virginia market executive and for 18 months also serving as Hampton Roads market president for Bank of America.
A native of Cuba, the former Foreign Service officer is vice chair of Merrill’s Hispanic Latino Advisory Council. He holds a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University.
Merrill parent Bank of America boasts 217,000 employees worldwide, including about 4,100
in Virginia. The $95 billion company reported $25.2 billion in revenue for the second quarter of 2023, up from $22.7 billion last year. In the first quarter of 2023, the company reported a record in net new clients for its wealth and investment management business, with 14,500 net new relationships.
Baker leads Fortune 500 pharma manufacturer Merck’s vaccine operations in Elkton, managing hundreds of scientists, engineers who support the manufacturing, validation and process development of medicines to protect people from disease.
Before Merck, Baker spent seven years at Biopharm Project Solutions. Baker joined Merck in 2008 as a process engineer and held engineering management jobs in West Point, Pennsylvania, and Lucerne, Switzerland, before coming to Elkton. The drug company has made significant investment in stages over the past few years to expand its Elkton plant, where it produces vaccines.
Last year, Merck, which posted $59.3 billion in annual revenue, completed a 120,000-square-foot expansion at Elkton, adding 150 jobs at the site to further increase manufacturing of the company’s human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines for global distribution.
Baker earned an MBA in executive leadership from James Madison University in 2019 and holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and philosophy from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.
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