byline: Virginia Business

In the past 40 years, Haddad has spent his career building and shaping the Armada Hoffler construction and development company founded in 1979. In 1985, he started his career there as an on-site construction superintendent, quickly moving up to president of the firm’s construction arm.

Nine years later, before he’d even turned 30, Haddad was named president of the parent company. He became CEO in 1999, later spearheading the firm’s initial public offering and transition into a publicly traded REIT in 2013. 

The real estate giant, which was responsible for Virginia Beach’s Town Center as part of a public-private partnership, posted 2023 revenue of $667.2 million, an increase of 47% from 2022.

Haddad recently announced retirement plans for 2025, but until then, he will continue to shape the real estate giant’s path, taking over as executive chairman with the retirement of founder Daniel Hoffler this year. In 2025, he’ll hand the reins to President and COO Shawn Tibbetts.

Widely recognized for his philanthropic efforts, Haddad and his wife are co-founders and benefactors of the Louis & Mary Haddad Foundation to support disadvantaged and at-risk children.

Nyerges is now in his 18th year as director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, one of the nation’s top 10 comprehensive art museums. Free to all visitors, the museum opened in 1936 and has more than 545,000 square feet of galleries, event space and dining. In the works is a 170,000-square-foot, $190 million expansion to be named for longtime donors Jim and Frances McGlothlin of Bristol, although according to the museum, plans are still in the community input phase.

The new wing will include more space for African, Native American, modern European and 21st century art exhibits, as well as additional storage room for the museum’s growing permanent collection. Coming in October are two photography exhibits, and in April 2025, a traveling Impressionism exhibit arrives from the Dallas Museum of Art. 

Nyerges, a photographer, called a gift of more than 2,000 books on American and European photography received by the museum in 2022 “a transformative donation.”

Hailing from Rochester, New York, Nyerges graduated from George Washington University in 1982 with a master’s degree in museum studies.

After Clearstead Advisors, an Ohio-based financial advisory firm, acquired the assets of Norfolk-based Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management in April, Bernert’s job evolved from principal and portfolio manager to senior managing director for Clearstead Advisory Solutions, which is a division of Clearstead. 

Previously, WST boasted more than $5 billion of assets under management. Clearstead and its subsidiaries report about $44 billion in total assets under advisement, including $20 billion in total assets under management. The company has 225 employees and offices in nine cities. 

Bernert joined WST in 1995 and previously served as the firm’s director of research. While earning his degree in English literature at the University of Virginia, Bernert studied at Cambridge University. He also earned his MBA at U.Va. 

In May, the Virginia General Assembly appointed Bernert to the board of trustees of the Virginia Retirement System, an independent state agency that delivers retirement funds and other benefits to covered Virginia employees.

Bernert sits on several other boards, including the City of Norfolk Employees’ Retirement System, where he chairs the system’s investment committee.

In the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 ranking of the nation’s best law schools, Regent University ranked No. 108 — rising 17 places from the previous year.

Part of the private conservative Christian university founded by the late televangelist and cable TV magnate Pat Robertson, Regent’s law school prioritizes “mission over rankings,” Lingo stated in a news release, “but it’s still rewarding to see U.S. News recognize our success. And it’s even better to know that we’re doing it while remaining true to our distinctly Christian approach to legal education.”

Tapped to be the sixth dean of Regent University two years ago, Lingo previously served as the school’s associate dean for academic affairs. He also co-founded Regent University’s Robertson Center for Constitutional Law, which pairs scholarship and advocacy to advance principles like limited government, separation of powers and religious liberty, and serves as its executive director. In 2020, Lingo won the Faculty Excellence Award. 

In February, Lingo and Christopher T. Holinger, representing the Robertson Center, filed a friend of the court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that anti-abortion doctors have standing to challenge the abortion pill. In June, however, the justices ruled against the argument.

CEO of Fortune Global 500 firm Accenture since 2019 and its chair since 2021, Sweet has been on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list since 2016 — ranking No. 2 for 2022 and 2023 — and was named one of Time’s Time100: The Most Influential People of 2024. She also made Forbes’ 2023 list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.

Sweet joined Accenture in 2010 as its general counsel and served as its North American CEO from 2015 to 2019. Prior to joining Accenture, Sweet was a partner with law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

This year, she was a prominent face at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where she helped lead a generative AI bootcamp and did interviews with Axios and Bloomberg about the company’s AI strategy, which includes opening 10 generative AI innovation hubs worldwide.

A World Economic Forum trustee, Sweet also chairs women’s advocacy nonprofit Catalyst. 

Accenture’s fiscal 2023 revenue was $64.1 billion, up 4% from 2022. In March, Accenture cut its fiscal 2024 revenue forecast to 1% to 3% growth, down from 2% to 5%, citing lagging demand for IT and consulting services.

The Society for Human Resource Management’s leader since 2017, Taylor is a lawyer and human resources executive in charge of an association that represents nearly 340,000 member HR professionals in 180 countries.

Named one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by African American business and lifestyles publication Savoy magazine, Taylor is an expert on workplace topics and frequently testifies before Congress about issues impacting American workers. In July, Taylor wrote on LinkedIn that SHRM’s diversity initiative would be called I&D for inclusion and diversity, explaining that the term DEI, including “equity,” had become “polarized” politically.

Taylor previously served as president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and as an HR exec for IAC, Paramount Parks and Blockbuster Entertainment. He also was a partner at McGuireWoods, Virginia’s largest law firm, where he led its HR consulting business.

Taylor has master’s and law degrees from Drake University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami. He is a trustee for United Way Worldwide and serves on the corporate boards of XPO, Flores & Associates and Guild Education.

Franklin became CEO in 2023, succeeding his father, Wendell, who is now chairman of the real estate development, management and investment firm. Previously chief operating officer, Franklin oversees approximately 700 employees, as well as a portfolio of 200 properties in 10 states and Washington, D.C.

In 2013, Franklin, his father, Tom Johnston and Steve Cooper started The Franklin Johnston Group after leaving S.L. Nusbaum Realty. Johnston stepped down from the firm in June, and the two Franklins remain managing partners of the company, now the Franklin Group.

In fall 2023, Virginia Beach City Council greenlighted the company’s application for a conditional rezoning permit of agricultural land for an apartment project dubbed the Silos at Southern Pines. The company plans to build 176 units, including 53 that will be workforce housing offered at 25% below market rate.

Besides serving on the board of Virginia Beach’s Neptune Festival, Franklin is chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation board.

Weinstein leads a multifamily real estate development and management company founded by her father, Marcus Weinstein, in 1952. She joined the company in 1994 with her husband, Ivan Jecklin, who serves as co-president.

Weinstein Properties began as a developer of single-family homes in Richmond in the 1950s, expanding into apartments and commercial real estate in the 1960s and ’70s. Today, the company operates apartment communities in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, with a portfolio of more than 20,000 units. It employs over 600 people.

Weinstein’s parents are major philanthropists known for their support of the University of Richmond and the Carole and Marcus Weinstein Jewish Community Center. Allison Weinstein and her husband joined them in 2019 in giving $2 million to UR’s chaplaincy to fund student travel.

Weinstein previously worked in the recruiting and personnel department for a Chicago-based law firm. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1984 and her law degree there in 1987.