byline: Virginia Business

When Democrats took control of the House of Delegates in 2020, Herring became the first woman and first African American to serve as majority leader. After Republicans retook the chamber following the 2021 elections, she became caucus chair but returned to her majority leader role when her party narrowly reassumed power this year.

Early experience with homelessness helped shape Herring’s outlook, and she attended George Mason University through the school’s Student Transition Empowerment Program, which assists disadvantaged students in transitioning to a college environment. Herring later became a lawyer and was first elected to the General Assembly in 2009. She served as chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia from 2012 to 2014.

In recent years, Herring has carried several of Democrats’ signature pieces of legislation, including bills to legalize marijuana possession and join Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon market. She has also been active in criminal justice reform issues.

As the head of Valley Health, Nantz oversees more than 6,000 employees and six hospitals, including two in West Virginia, as well as more than 70 medical practices and other facilities. The health system serves a population of more than 500,000 in the Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia and Maryland. It reported $77.8 million in revenue for fiscal 2023, after losing $71.8 million in revenue in 2022.

Before joining Valley Health in 2020, Nantz held executive roles at Bon Secours Mercy Health, including serving as chief administrative officer and president of the Atlantic Group, a role where he was responsible for 14 hospitals and other services in South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Florida.

Nantz has a degree in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s in health administration from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina.

In spring 2023, Valley Health and Anthem settled a $15 million lawsuit filed by the health system over unpaid reimbursements. The two entities managed to come to a consensus again in December 2023 and announced a five-year agreement ensuring in-network access to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield members, Valley Health providers and facilities.

After earning an MBA at the University of Manchester in England, Schiavon started work at the U.K.’s Admiral Group as an international pricing manager. The Italian executive has led Elephant Insurance, the Admiral Group’s U.S. care insurance segment, since 2017. 

In a 2023 financial report for the Admiral Group, Schiavon noted that substantial rate increases in recent years have led to an 18% reduction in vehicles insured by Elephant, a result of inflation.

Elephant Insurance reported a loss of about $25.6 million in 2023, down from about $46 million in 2022, and Admiral Group reported the subsidiary did not require an injection of capital last year. 

In January, Elephant Insurance moved to a smaller office space in Henrico County, a move driven by more employees choosing to work remotely since the pandemic.

PLUSES AND MINUSES OF WORKING FROM HOME: Working from home offers unique flexibility. I am often the first to wake in my home, and I can sometimes even get a few hours of work in before my family wakes. However, in-office time remains crucial for building relationships with colleagues, which is essential for the company’s long-term success.

A Buchanan County native, McClanahan has led the Virginia Tech Foundation since 2021. She was previously a state Supreme Court justice and president and dean of the Appalachian School of Law.

McClanahan, who fondly recalls attending 4-H Congress on the Virginia Tech campus as a teenager, also serves as a senior adviser to the dean of Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business and is an adjunct professor of finance.

In 2024, the Virginia Tech Foundation marked its 75th anniversary managing the university’s endowment and real estate holdings, valued at $2.8 billion. The foundation also owns the for-profit Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center.

A Virginia Chamber of Commerce board member, she received her bachelor’s degree from William & Mary and a law degree from the University of Dayton School of Law. McClanahan was Virginia’s chief deputy attorney general before becoming a state appeals court judge.

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: The Breaks of the Cumberlands, where the elk roam

WHAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT ME: I love to be at the barn with my donkey, Fiona, and my horses, Puddle Duck, Ranger and Dink.

Morris has spent nearly 30 years in organizations dedicated to protecting the environment, a passion she developed while teaching in Namibia. She saw how the health of the community she was working with in southwest Africa was impacted by the unhealthy environment. Morris heads a global staff of 4,000 in more than 70 countries and all U.S. states, where it works to combat climate change, protect lands and oceans, and find sustainable food system solutions that will allow the world to feed the growing population. Locally, The Nature Conservancy helps support nature-based economic and community development projects in Southwest Virginia through the Cumberland Forest Community Fund.

Morris earned a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University, then spent 23 years with Conservation International. She joined The Nature Conservancy, which calls itself the world’s largest conservation nonprofit, in 2020. She also is board chair of Enduring Earth, a collaboration with The Nature Conservancy, The Pew Charitable Trusts, World Wildlife Fund and ZomaLab to accelerate conservation worldwide by securing long-term investment in large-scale conservation projects.

Under Malone’s leadership, Groundworks is covering a lot of new ground; as of late June, the water management solutions company already had announced nine acquisitions this year. 

This year, Groundworks purchased businesses in Seattle, California and Texas, and expanded into Canada with its acquisition of a Calgary basement contractor.

The firm’s rapid growth garnered it a spot on Inc.’s 2023 Best in Business list in the construction category, and it has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list seven years in a row.

Founded by Malone in 2016, Groundworks has 71 offices across 36 states and Canada, and employs more than 5,500 people, including 1,000 in Virginia. The company provides residential foundation and water management solutions, including foundation repair, basement waterproofing, crawl space repair and encapsulation, plumbing, gutter installation and concrete lifting services, and soil stabilizing solutions for residential and commercial projects.

Malone also is managing partner of private equity firm Succession Capital Partners, which he founded in 2009. A Rotary International Ambassadorial Fellow, he has a master’s degree from Adam Smith School of Economics and Finance at Scotland’s University of Glasgow. 

Kroger tapped Mora to lead its mid-Atlantic division in August. She replaced Lori Raya, who retired after holding the role since 2021.

Mora joined Kroger in 2022 as vice president on special assignment supporting End-to-End Fresh, an initiative designed to get the freshest food to shoppers. She went on to serve as vice president for merchandising in the company’s Michigan division.

Before coming to Kroger, Mora worked for more than 26 years at Walmart, leaving in 2021 as a vice president managing a section of the mid-Atlantic region, according to her LinkedIn page.

Mora holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.

The company’s mid-Atlantic division operates more than 100 stores in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio, staffed by about 18,000 associates. It has 68 stores in Virginia.

In 2022, Kroger and Albertsons Cos. announced plans for a $24.6 billion merger agreement set to be completed in 2024. However, in February, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit aiming to stop the merger, alleging that it would reduce competition and lead to higher grocery prices. Nine attorneys general joined the complaint.

Ukrop’s family started a Virginia grocery chain in 1937, which became Richmond’s dominant supermarket brand before it was purchased in 2009 by Dutch retail conglomerate Ahold. The family retained its beloved prepared foods and bakery operations under the Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods brand.

Its baked goods and ready-to-eat meals were initially exclusively sold at Martin’s, but in 2017 they became regionally available at Kroger, Wegmans and other stores, and in 2020, Ukrop’s Market Hall opened in Richmond. In April 2023, Ukrop’s launched its first nationally distributed product with Kroger: a cinnamon crumb cake. Ukrop and his team have plans to launch more products with Kroger in the future.

Ukrop is heavily involved in supporting regional athletics. In the early 1980s, he helped build The Diamond, Richmond’s baseball stadium. These days, he is focused on swim access and safety in association with SwimRVA, which launched Learn to Swim programs in school systems. In 2019, the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business inducted Ukrop into its Alumni Hall of Fame. The 1969 graduate has served on UR’s board of trustees and the business school’s executive advisory council.

For Woodfin, heating and cooling is a family affair: His parents, John and Anne, started Woodfin Heating in 1977 to sell heating oil, growing it into one of the largest privately held HVAC-related businesses in Virginia. A Virginia Military Institute and University of Virginia Darden School of Business alum, Woodfin began working with his parents in 1995, when he joined the business as a retail manager. He took over the business in 2010 after his father’s death.

Woodfin Co. now provides HVAC installation and servicing, electrical and plumbing services, indoor air solutions, home security and fuel delivery. The company also owns a range of other businesses, including EMC Mechanical Services, which Woodfin also leads as CEO, and Capitol Heating and Cooling, as well as 20 convenience stores in the greater Richmond area.

Woodfin played on VMI’s varsity tennis team and still plays as a hobby. His other hobbies include watching NASCAR and go-kart racing.

Since 2011, Stanchina has led the mid-Atlantic region for Marsh McLennan Agency, which provides business insurance, employee health and benefits, retirement and private client insurance solutions.  

The region includes offices in Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Stanchina oversees more than 1,100 colleagues. 

Stanchina went to work at Rutherfoord Inc. in 1994 as a surety bond manager. In 2008, he became division president of the insurance brokerage’s Richmond office. Two years later, MMA purchased Rutherfoord. 

Stanchina graduated with a degree in accounting and art from Muskingum College (now Muskingum University) in 1987. He is an emeritus board member of the Anna Julia Cooper School and is 2024-25 board president for Greater Richmond SCAN, which works to prevent and treat child abuse and neglect. He also sits on the Risk Management and Insurance Advisory Council at Virginia Commonwealth University.