byline: Virginia Business

The notorious co-owner of the Washington Commanders has had a rough two years, coming under NFL and congressional scrutiny for the team’s allegedly “toxic workplace culture,” including accusations of sexual harassment by Snyder himself.

After becoming majority owner of the NFL team in 1999, Snyder last year became its sole owner. He also acquired the most expensive house in Virginia, a $48 million residence once part of Mount Vernon, last fall.

But when the NFL fined the team $10 million in 2021 after former female employees said they were harassed by team executives, Snyder ceded responsibility for overseeing the team’s day-to-day operations to his wife, Tanya, and named her co-CEO.

In June, The Washington Post reported that a former employee who was paid a $1.6 million settlement had accused Snyder of sexually harassing and assaulting her during a 2009 business trip.

In July, Snyder testified before a congressional committee investigating reports of misconduct in the team’s head offices.

Amid mounting scandals, key state lawmakers in June backed away from supporting legislation for incentives to lure the team’s new stadium from Maryland, but there’s still a possibility the project could land in Prince William or Loudoun counties.

Marron joined ePlus Inc. in 2005 as senior vice president of sales after spending four years at NetIQ, where he served as senior vice president of worldwide sales and services. He became ePlus’ chief operating officer in 2010, rising to president and CEO six years later. Marron joined ePlus’ board in 2018.

Founded in 1990, the technology solutions provider went public in 1996 and has more than 1,500 employees. CRN ranked ePlus No. 30 on its 2022 Solution Provider 500 List. ePlus serves 3,000 customers, helping with digital innovation, network modernization and technological investments.

For fiscal 2022, the company reported $1.82 billion in net sales, a 16% increase over the previous year. In July, ePlus purchased Texas-based Future Com Ltd., a hardware, software, support and consulting company, expanding ePlus’ cybersecurity capabilities.

Marron holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Montclair State University in New Jersey.

Montgomery is crazy for football.

“I think it’s one of the best sports around because of the uniqueness of the camaraderie, the teammates, the working together,” says the former All-American William & Mary football team co-captain who played center under coach Lou Holtz. Montgomery was invited to the Philadelphia Eagles training camp but didn’t make the NFL team’s final cut.

These days, Montgomery thinks not ending up a professional ball player may have been “the luckiest thing that ever happened.” He’s heard too many horror stories of players who developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Instead, Montgomery went to work in Lynchburg for an investment advisory firm managed by a William & Mary alum. After a few years, Montgomery was sent to open a new branch in Williamsburg that became the Optimal Service Group of Wells Fargo Advisors. It has about $18 billion in funds under advisement.

Montgomery is ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ 2022 Best-In-State Wealth Advisors list for the southern half of Virginia. He was inducted into the Barron’s Advisor Hall of Fame in 2019.

In September, Weihrauch takes over as CEO of Mars Inc., the privately held global candy and pet food manufacturer known for brands like M&Ms.

Formerly global president for Mars Petcare, the company’s pet food manufacturing and veterinary care division, Weihrauch has big shoes to fill. During the eight-year tenure of his predecessor, Grant Reid, Mars’ sales grew by more than 50%. The company, which employs about 130,000 people worldwide, reported nearly $45 billion in 2021 revenue.

A Denmark native, Weihrauch joined Mars in 2000 as European brand leader for Snickers. He later moved from England to the Czech Republic to become general manager of Mars’ confectionery business in Europe. Later Weihrauch was promoted to lead the Mars Food business in Europe. In 2014, he became president of Mars Petcare, which runs an international network of 2,000 pet hospitals, roughly half of which are operated by U.S. subsidiary Banfield Pet Hospital.   

Weihrauch received his degree in business economics and an MBA from Aalborg University in Denmark. He also holds a master’s degree in international marketing from Strathclyde Business School in Scotland.

A native of Poland, Lagunionek has maintained a low profile since moving to the United States to start work in June 2021 as president and CEO of Lidl US, the U.S. arm of the German discount grocery chain.

Even when headlines broke that Lidl US had named its fourth leader since the German discounter established its U.S. headquarters in Arlington in 2017, scant details about Lagunionek floated to the surface. What is known: He previously served as CEO of Lidl’s Poland division for a decade. In 2015, Lagunionek moved to Germany to join the board of Lidl International, where he helped oversee Lidl’s development in other countries.

In June 2021, Lagunionek inherited a stronger market when he succeeded Johannes Fieber as U.S. head, after some difficulty during the grocer’s U.S. rollout, which included larger and more expensive-to-operate stores than those in Europe, as well as competition from other discount grocers. Fieber helped steady the ship by streamlining its marketing and expansion strategies, which included Lidl’s purchase of 27 Best Market stores in 2018.

Lidl US, which ranked as a top 5 U.S. grocer in USA Today’s 2022 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards, operates 150 stores across nine East Coast states. In June, Lidl opened its 34th store in Virginia in McLean.

Being the first Black person to lead any organization comes with “immeasurable pressure and challenges,” Miller says.

Since 2019, he has led the Capital Region Airport Commission, which has 164 employees and projects $51.9 million in fiscal 2022 revenue. Under Miller’s leadership, Richmond International Airport has completed more than $56 million in capital improvements, including a six-gate, $38 million extension of Concourse A. The airport is also planning a $7 million construction of a facility to accommodate international commercial flights.

Miller admires Air Force Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., who commanded the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, for demonstrating that challenges of leadership are “not insurmountable. Performance and achievement are the result of single-minded determination despite the emotional, psychological and physical effects of the incomparably more difficult task of leadership.”

Miller is vice chair of the American Association of Airport Executives and president of its Southeast chapter.  He was named Virginia Airport Manager of the Year for 2021 by the state aviation board. He also serves on aviation advisory boards for Hampton and Texas Southern universities, as well as Richmond Region Tourism’s board.