byline: Virginia Business

Bringing more than 25 years of engineering and architecture industry experience, including 10 years of corporate operational leadership, Stone joined Dewberry in 2008 as the company’s chief operating officer. In 2010, he became CEO.

Stone came to Dewberry from O’Brien & Gere, where he held several corporate leadership positions. Dewberry has more than 2,500 employees in 60 locations. In 2023, the company made more than $711 million in revenue. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to decide a $43 million trademark infringement lawsuit between Dewberry and Atlanta’s Dewberry Group. Lower courts have decided in Fairfax-based Dewberry’s favor.

In June, Dewberry was awarded an $810 million federal contract to deliver logistics planning and construction services to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A water/wastewater engineer with technical expertise in design-build programs, Stone is a licensed professional engineer in 18 states and Washington, D.C., and a member of the Society of American Military Engineers.

It’s been a bumpy year for Rao and VCU, first with an ongoing dispute over VCU Health paying $73 million to exit a redevelopment project, followed in the spring by demands from some students for Rao’s removal following a violent clash between VCU police and pro-Palestinian protesters.

Former Gov. Doug Wilder called for Rao, who is president and board chair of the VCU Health System, to resign after news of the failed project and payout, and former VCU Health CEO Dr. Art Kellermann resigned at Rau’s request. In June, the state legislature’s Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission declared that the university president has too much room to influence the health system’s operations and recommended changes to its leadership structure.

VCU has more than 28,000 students across more than 220 degree and certificate programs. Rao became its president in 2009. He formerly was president of Mission College in California, chancellor of Montana State University-Northern and president of Central Michigan University. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Florida and a doctorate from the University of Florida. 

Founder of The Miller Group, the developer for Fairwinds Landing, Miller is guiding the development of the 111-acre project at Norfolk Southern’s Lambert’s Point Docks in Norfolk.

The $500 million development will transform the former docks into a marine logistics center supporting the growth of offshore wind, shipbuilding and intermodal transportation. 

The 31,167-square-foot operations and maintenance center will serve as the hub for monitoring maritime activities, asset performance, strategic planning and regulatory compliance. 

The project, a joint venture including The Miller Group, Balicore Construction and Fairlead Integrated, could create more than 200 local construction and engineering jobs. In 2023, Newport News Shipbuilding started production at a satellite campus at Fairwinds Landing; 150 employees are expected to be hired by the end of 2024.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has allocated more than $39.2 million to the City of Norfolk and Fairwinds Landing to turn the marine terminal into an offshore wind logistics facility supporting Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project that is under construction.

A 1977 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Miller serves as vice chair of the military school’s foundation.

Joining the company at its subsidiary Philip Morris USA in 1994, Gifford became CEO of Fortune 500 tobacco products manufacturer Altria Group in 2020. He has held various executive posts at Altria for nearly three decades.

Among Altria’s operating companies, in addition to Philip Morris USA, are U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, John Middleton, Helix Innovations and NJOY.

In June, Altria gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market four menthol-flavored e-cigarettes — the first non-tobacco flavored e-cigarette products to be approved. Altria’s NJOY ACE already was the sole pod-based e-vapor product to secure FDA authorization to market four of its tobacco-flavored products.

Also in June, Altria subsidiary Helix Innovations filed premarket applications with the FDA for its on! Plus oral nicotine patches, which it says is larger than the leading tobacco-derived nicotine brands’ pouches. Altria manufactures its current line of on! pouches at its Philip Morris USA plant in south Richmond.

Gifford pledged to advance more women into leadership as a Catalyst CEO Champion for Change, a global organization that promotes women-friendly workplaces.

Hodges has worked in the banking industry for more than 37 years. 

Leading the greater Washington, D.C., and Virginia regions since 2018, Hodges manages teams in more than 60 branches, and she’s also well known for her community service, including for the Washington, D.C.-area Easterseals chapter and Women Giving Back, which supports women and children in crisis. Hodges also serves as treasurer for the Greater Washington Board of Trade’s board of directors.

Hodges grew up in Rocky Mount, where her parents ran Ideal Building Supply, a construction supplies store. From there, Hodges headed to Virginia Tech, where she majored in management, graduating in 1986. 

In 2009, M&T Bank acquired Provident Bank, where Hodges worked as managing director. Hodges then became the real estate banking group vice president and later rose to market president for Central and Southern Virginia. New York-based M&T Bank operates in 12 states and had assets of $208.3 billion at the end of 2023.

Hodges serves on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore branch, with her current term ending in 2025.

Noel became president of Bank of America’s Hampton Roads market in September 2023, replacing Frank Castellanos, who is the Merrill market executive for the greater Washington, D.C., area. In this role, Noel leads 500 employees across eight business lines and oversees the bank’s efforts to grow “by fostering local connections and identifying opportunities to grow and deepen client relationships.”

Additionally, Noel continues to serve as Merrill Wealth Management market executive for greater Virginia, serving Charlottesville, Newport News, Norfolk, Richmond, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg. He has held that role since February 2023.

In 2011, Noel joined Merrill, Bank of America’s investment and wealth management division, as a financial adviser. He serves as a mentor through the Merrill Women’s Exchange and Black Professional Group and is a member of the company’s Black Executive Leadership Council.

Noel, who has a degree in management from the University of Phoenix, lives in Williamsburg with his wife and son.

HOW I UNWIND FROM WORK: Texas hold ’em

ADVICE FOR NEW COLLEGE GRADUATES: Dream big. You can only reach your full potential if you stretch yourself.

FAVORITE TEAM: Dallas Cowboys

In his second stint at the helm of Virginia Natural Gas, Duvall is responsible for delivering natural gas to more than 310,000 customers across southeastern Virginia.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Clemson University, Duvall began his career in 1984 as a distribution engineer at Atlanta Gas Light, a subsidiary of VNG’s Atlanta-based parent company, Southern Company Gas. He previously served as VNG’s president from 2014 to 2016, then became Southern’s senior vice president of customer operations; he became president of VNG again in 2020.

Currently, VNG, which has said it intends to reach net-zero direct greenhouse emissions by 2050, is focusing its attention on renewable gas, launching a five-year pilot program in 2023 that aims to integrate renewable natural gas into its distribution systems. In June, VNG announced a $620,000 investment in workforce development efforts in southeastern Virginia.

Duvall is currently vice chair for the Hampton Roads Alliance’s board. A graduate of the CIVIC Leadership Institute, Duvall has served on boards for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance.

Named CEO in 2022, Faulkner previously served as chief operating officer and president of property management for Breeden, which has about 425 employees
in Virginia.

Previously, Faulkner was president and COO of Lawton Lumber, and also worked for American Coating Technologies and Procter & Gamble. As Breeden’s CEO, he oversees a real estate development and property management company founded more than 60 years ago by Chairman Ramon W. Breeden Jr.

In April, Norfolk city officials announced that The Breeden Co. and design firm Work Program Architects are spearheading a project to build a mixed-use development at the former Greyhound bus station in the city’s NEON District. The development off Brambleton Avenue will be called Houndstooth and will include 220 residential units, a parking garage, a gym, a recreation room and a rooftop deck. The $35 million capital investment is expected to create
more than 300 construction jobs. 

Faulkner chairs the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s board.

Molivadas has been in commercial real estate for more than 30 years. He previously was senior vice president at Spaulding & Slye Colliers, which was acquired by JLL in 2005, and he became JLL’s mid-Atlantic market director in 2018. Before that, he was a project manager for Clark Construction and a project director for Quadrangle Development.

JLL, a global commercial real estate and investment management company, reported 2023 revenue of $20.9 billion. Molivadas oversees approximately 1,500 employees in the greater Washington, D.C., region, and he was named the head of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for JLL’s eastern region.

Molivadas was instrumental in JLL’s project management of the construction of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, and the sale of a 534-unit housing building in Arlington County near Amazon.com’s HQ2. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern Methodist University and is a member of Alexandria general contractor Landivar & Associates’ advisory board.

ADVICE FOR NEW COLLEGE GRADUATES: You must be curious, continuously seek to learn and improve, and push yourself into uncomfortable places, as that is where you will learn and grow the most.