byline: Virginia Business

The Virginia Port Authority runs the Port of Virginia, which is one of the state’s chief economic drivers. In fiscal 2022, the port’s output sales hit $124.1 billion, up from $100.1 billion in 2021. Mean-while, Edwards and other port leaders have stayed focused on finishing the $1.4 billion dredging and widening project in the port’s channels, easing the path for enormous freighters arriving in Hampton Roads. In March, the widening phase was completed, and the deepening phase was expected to be finished in August 2025.

Edwards joined the port in 2021 after serving as CEO of TraPac, Global Container Terminals and Ports America. He sits on the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s board.

Beginning in late March, the Port of Virginia handled more freight than usual after a freighter collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, leading to the bridge’s collapse and a temporary blockage of the Port of Baltimore. Much of the cargo originally headed to Baltimore was rerouted to Virginia, and Edwards said in May he estimated at least 15,000 to 20,000 extra container loads arrived in Virginia in the spring.

Broadfoot has been with Electro-Mechanical since 2009. He was promoted from chief operating officer to CEO when founder Russell Leonard retired in 2021.

Operating in Bristol, Virginia, for 65 years, Electro-Mechanical’s divisions include Line Power, Federal Pacific, Mafesa and Mirus International. With five manufacturing facilities, including a repair and service division, the company has almost 1 million square feet of manufacturing facilities in Bristol, Canada and Mexico.

In March 2023, the company announced it was expanding its presence in Bristol and in Mexico. The expansion will provide its Federal Pacific division with added manufacturing space for improved production capabilities in Bristol.

The company also plans to relocate its Mexico-based manufacturing arm, Mafesa, to a new, larger site: a 106,000-square-foot facility for manufacturing, and distribution space for low- and medium-voltage transformers.

Prior to joining Electro-Mechanical, Broadfoot was an executive at Thomas & Betts and Newell Rubbermaid and worked for Boeing and German car parts manufacturer ZF Friedrichshafen AG. He has a bachelor’s degree in industrial management and an MBA from the University of North Alabama.

A former Navy fighter pilot with a Harvard MBA, Carroll parlayed his financial management expertise into running one of the largest independent hotel operators in the country.

Founded in 2000, Crestline Hotels and Resorts operates more than 17,600 rooms in 28 states and Washington, D.C. Recently, the company was selected to manage the luxury Kimpton Alton Hotel Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco and the Hotel Indigo Asheville Downtown in North Carolina.

Carroll joined Crestline in 2004 as senior vice president and treasurer, after holding various financial positions at Dell. He was promoted to chief financial officer in 2006 and chief operating officer in 2009, before becoming the hotel management company’s president and CEO in 2010. Carroll also was involved in the formation and growth of Playa Hotels and Resorts, an international private equity real estate venture.

Crestline has about 5,000 employees and operates 125 hotels under 32 brands, including Marriott, Hyatt Hotels and InterContinental Hotels Group. It’s an indirect subsidiary of the Barceló Group, based in Mallorca, Spain.

Carroll sits on the boards of the American Hotel & Lodging Association and Virginia Beach-based real estate investment trust Armada Hoffler Properties.

Rotman frequently pens advice to folks trying to build companies. “Getting a startup to ‘work’ isn’t simply about doing one thing well,” Rotman wrote in a post on X, where he tweets as @fintechjunkie. “Most startups are extremely complex and require many interconnected parts to all function in concert.”

He should know. For 17 years, Rotman has helped lead QED Investors, a fintech venture capital firm.

Nigel Morris, the co-founder of Capital One Financial Services, recruited Rotman right out of the University of Virginia, where he earned a bachelor’s in applied mathematics and a master’s degree in systems engineering. Morris brought Rotman to Signet Bank, where the credit card behemoth was started and then spun off.

Rotman spent 13 years with Capital One, leaving in 2005 as senior vice president of installment loans. After leaving, he helped to launch EduCap, a private student loan company, before again partnering with Morris in 2007 to found QED Investors.

“For 30 years, I’ve been trying to get escape velocity, but wherever I turn, there’s Frank Rotman,” Morris said on a recent episode of podcast “This Week in Fintech.”

Marron started at ePlus, a provider of IT assets and financing services, in 2005. Marron became president and CEO in 2016 and a member of the company’s board in 2018.

This January, ePlus announced that it had acquired the assets of Denver-based IT solutions provider PEAK Resources. In February, ePlus announced the availability of AI Ignite, a comprehensive suite of AI solutions. In June, ePlus announced the launch of Azure Recover, a fully managed disaster recovery solution.

In fiscal 2024, ePlus reported $2.2 billion in net sales, up from $2 billion in fiscal 2023.

Marron formerly served as senior vice president of worldwide sales and service for Net IQ and was general manager of worldwide channel sales for Computer Associates International. He is a graduate of Montclair State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science.

Crosland is the fourth director of the Defense Health Agency, as well as the first African American to lead the agency, which the U.S. Department of Defense established in 2013. The DHA manages military hospitals and clinics, as well as TRICARE, the health insurance program for service members, their families and retirees. 

Since taking the helm of the DHA in January 2023, Crosland has emphasized using technology to improve patient care. In March, the DHA unveiled new digital health care tools, which include allowing patients to schedule appointments and engage with wellness programs at five military hospitals, including the Naval Medical Center Portsmouth.

Crosland is a 1989 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. She earned her medical degree and a master’s in public health from the Uniformed Services University, and a master’s from the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.

Crosland began her career as a medical corps officer in 1993. She went on to serve as deputy chief of staff for operations at the U.S. Army Medical Command and as deputy surgeon general for the U.S. Army.

Born in Tehran, Iran, in 1968, Aghdami came to the United States in 1971 when his father joined the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia as an anesthesiologist.

After graduating from the University of Virginia with a history degree, Aghdami earned his law degree from Wake Forest University, and a master of laws degree in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center.

Aghdami joined Williams Mullen, the state’s third largest law firm, in 1999 and was promoted to managing partner of the Richmond office in 2015. His practice focuses on wealth transfer tax planning, business succession planning, income tax planning and fiduciary litigation. His client list includes high net-worth individuals and families, middle-market business owners, charitable entities and others.

Aghdami serves as chair for Venture Richmond and sits on the boards of the Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation. He is the co-author of three tax treatises.

In June, Richmond-based Commonwealth Commercial Partners announced Williams Mullen had extended its lease at a 15-story office building known as the Williams Mullen Center in downtown Richmond until 2035.

Overseeing Long & Foster Real Estate’s 200-plus offices and more than 9,000 real estate agents across eight states and Washington, D.C., Thiel is responsible for the organization’s strategic business direction and operations. The company is owned by The Long and Foster Cos., a subsidiary of HomeServices of America,
a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate.

Thiel began her career in real estate with Richmond’s Bowers, Nelms & Fonville, which was purchased by Long & Foster in 1998.

In April, HomeServices of America, which purchased Long & Foster Cos. in 2017, settled a $250 million class-action lawsuit over commissions. Among the defendants were several HomeServices subsidiaries, including Long & Foster.

Before her promotion to president, Thiel was executive vice president of general brokerage operations, where she focused on sales and business growth, recruitment strategies, agent development and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Bringing 30-plus years of industry experience, Thiel became company president in 2023.

In 2023 the company sold $22 billion in real estate and completed 38,000 real estate transactions.

Thiel earned her bachelor’s degree in education from Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.

Archer’s career began after earning a business degree from Virginia Tech in 1969, followed immediately by military service and a tour in Vietnam.

Upon his discharge in 1972, Archer was named general manager and vice president of Blue Ridge Beverage, the wholesale beer, wine and nonalcoholic distributorship his family has owned and operated since 1959. He became chairman and CEO in 2001. Jacqueline Archer, his sister, was promoted to president and CEO in November 2023, after having served as president and chief operating officer. The business employs about 520 people.

Along the way, Archer retired from the Army Reserve in 1999 after 30 years of service. He was inducted into the Army ROTC Hall of Fame in 2021 and received the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Distinguished Alumni award in 2020.

Archer serves on the boards of the Virginia War Memorial Foundation and the Roanoke Higher Education Center Foundation. He and his wife, Sandra, have three children.

HOBBY/PASSION: Photography. My wife and I enjoy world travel, and I personally drive people crazy with my camera.

BOOK THAT MADE AN IMPACT ON ME: “Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975,” by Max Hastings

Nash began at CarMax in 1997 as an auction manager, working his way up to president and CEO in 2016. Founded in 1993 in Richmond as a subsidiary of electronics retailer Circuit City, Fortune 500 company CarMax is the country’s largest retailer of used cars, employing almost 30,000 people, including 3,300 in Virginia.

According to its 2023 fiscal year earnings report, CarMax earned $29.6 billion in net sales and operating revenues, down 6.9% from 2022, and CarMax Auto Finance income decreased 36.1% year-over-year due to a decline in margin percentage and a $43.6 million increase in loan losses.

Used vehicle sales were still down as of May 31 compared with the same period in 2023, as were wholesale vehicle sales, but Nash noted in a statement that he is encouraged by recent trends, “including continued year-over-year price declines, improvements in vehicle value stability and ongoing growth in upper funnel demand.”  

A 1991 graduate of James Madison University, Nash started out working in payroll and accounting at Circuit City.

HOW I UNWIND FROM WORK: Spending time with family, being active outdoors and exercising