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KATHERINE O’DONNELL

Katherine O’Donnell recalls the excitement around the Richmond area in the early 2000s when the convention center was underway, and she was interviewing for a role with Richmond Region Tourism. Some 22 years later, she remains just as excited about everything happening around the commonwealth’s capital. “It’s very rewarding knowing that our efforts inspire people to visit our community.” 

More visitors could be on the way. O’Donnell, who succeeded Jack Berry as Richmond Region Tourism president and CEO on July 1, led efforts to create a tourism improvement district (TID) for the Richmond region — the first in the state — which could generate as much as $8.2 million annually to support tourism promotion. The first year, she says, has been a great learning experience, and she’s optimistic TID funds will help the region attract more sporting events, meetings and conventions.

O’Donnell has also spearheaded efforts to make the Richmond area a more inclusive and welcoming destination. She launched OutRVA to welcome LGBTQ+ travelers to the region and BLK RVA to shine a light on Black-owned businesses. These programs, along with other efforts, are also an opportunity to “update outdated perceptions” people may have about the Richmond region.

While O’Donnell’s career has benefited from the positive developments happening in the region during the past two decades, she’s also been proud to raise her children in a community where she’s constantly inspired by the many people making a difference. “It’s been a joy to have a career I love.”


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FRAN RANDALL

In college, Fran Randall formulated her career goal: She wanted to specialize in international tax transactions. While she initially envisioned herself working at a law firm, Randall realized there were other career paths — and that her comfort working with and analyzing data made accounting a good fit.

One thing Randall never fathomed — all the places her career in accounting would take her, including trips in the past few years alone to Germany, England, Mexico, Spain, France and Singapore. “I’ve been able to visit countries that were not even on my bucket list.”

Also not on Randall’s bucket list? Leaving Ernst & Young after 17 years. While that decision was difficult, she says, a higher power was calling her elsewhere. After four years at RyanSharkey in Tysons, Randall joined Dixon Hughes Goodman (now Forvis Mazars after two mergers) in 2019, and, just over two years later, she was leading the company’s Richmond market.

While travel is a perk that Randall highlights when mentoring younger people to choose a career in accounting, she also touts the flexibility she’s long enjoyed — including standing calendar appointments to attend all of her daughter’s gymnastics and cheerleading events. “To be able to learn things every day, to be able to drive your day and your career and to be able to meet a lot of people, that’s what I really love.”


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KRISTIN BAUM

Kristin Baum has always been fascinated by the idea that things and places have a history. While antiquing with her mother, she’d contemplate how a prior owner used an item she found. That ability to see the world through another perspective has proven valuable in her career as an architect.

Once, while designing a building in Suffolk, Baum recalls, she was paid “the best compliment” by a client. “She said, ‘It’s like you put my brain on paper!’”

On paper, Baum’s path to architecture has been “pretty linear.” Her interest was sparked during childhood trips to historic renovation sites around Virginia with her aunt and interior designer uncle. After graduating from Virginia Tech with a degree in architecture, she landed her first job at GuernseyTingle, where she’s been ever since.

A career highlight, Baum says, has been mentoring the next generation of women, both at the firm and through the Greater Williamsburg Chamber of Commerce, where she’s been actively involved since 2011. She also loves finding excuses to return to Blacksburg to cheer on the Hokies or for recruiting events.

And some career achievements have brought her full circle. She won an award of excellence from the Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate for the renovation of the DoG Street Pub in Williamsburg. But she also loves designing new buildings for a similar reason.

“You’re creating a blank slate for somebody to make those memories,” Baum says.


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LAKSHMI WILLIAMS

Lakshmi Williams’ 30-plus-year career as a lawyer has run the gamut in terms of industries she’s worked with, including software, nonprofit, energy, and transportation. But she finds her role as general counsel and corporate secretary at toll road operator Transurban North America in Tysons, which she’s held for nearly a dozen years, to be particularly rewarding since transportation and traffic are such critical parts of our daily lives.

“You’d think that transportation is a bit sleepy [or something that just] needs to be done,” Williams says, “but it really couldn’t be further from the truth. Transportation really lies at the core of [current hot topics],” including autonomous vehicles and ride sharing. And Williams gets to be at the forefront of investigating these issues from a legal perspective.

Outside of her role at Transurban, Williams also served as chair of the board of directors of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and as a board adviser for the Association of Corporate Counsel Leadership Academy. She also serves on the board of directors for BlueDot, a tech company that provides geofencing for Transurban’s mobile tolling apps.

While some mid- and late-career professionals relish the idea of retiring early, Williams says she’s more motivated than ever by her work.

“I personally feel a sense of excitement about whatever this next stage is going to bring,” Williams says. “I’m ready to try to conquer whatever messy, complicated challenge is thrown at me.”


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YVONNE ALLMOND

For 30-plus years, Yvonne Allmond has taught free financial literacy classes — so long, in fact, that she typed some of her original class notes on a typewriter. While much has changed in that time, the basics haven’t, nor the need to help people navigate issues such as taking out loans, financing a business or obtaining a mortgage.

These courses often leave a lasting impression on attendees. “People recognize me in the grocery store,” she says. “One woman came up to me and said, ‘I have my house because of you!’”

It was because of a job in college that Allmond changed her major from pre-med to finance. While proofreading banking rules and regulations for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Allmond realized she lacked basic financial knowledge and knew she wasn’t alone. “Financial health is as important as your blood pressure,” she says. “Most of us didn’t talk about money growing up.”

In her educational outreach role, Allmond has prioritized minority professionals, women-owned businesses and religious nonprofits because people in these communities often don’t feel confident going into a bank for help and are often targets for scams. In her wide range of civic involvement, Allmond is likewise focused on broadening access — for example, she serves on the board of the Virginia Opera, which is on a mission to bring a new generation to the opera. 

“Giving back,” she says, “is very important if you’ve been privileged enough to be exposed to things that others have not.”


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CAPRICE BRAGG

Caprice Bragg first visited the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on a weekday in 2017 while interviewing for the role she’d eventually land. The Chinese “Terracotta Army” exhibit was on display, and she recalls how the museum’s atrium was filled with light and people. “I really was struck by how busy the museum was and how accessible it was,” she says.

It’s been seven years since Bragg’s first visit, but she still steals away at lunchtime or caps off her day by walking through one of the galleries. In addition to the “extraordinary privilege and joy” she feels working at the museum, she loves seeing people of all ages discover and connect with exhibits. “Art can be a conduit for self-discovery and history and community,” she says. 

A gratifying day might involve working with members of the museum’s two boards, along with senior leadership or committee members, to address a complicated issue or strategic objective that supports the museum’s mission. Bragg also works with colleagues on a wide range of projects, like completing a strategic plan for the museum or hosting member travel programs. 

It’s a far cry from practicing tax law, where her career began. Bragg credits a mentor with sparking her career pivot; she got hooked on philanthropy working at the Cleveland Foundation, followed by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Now, she’s connected a childhood love of art and museums with her background in law. “If you’re fortunate enough, you can bridge one dream with another.” 


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JILL VOGEL

Jill Vogel thought that her clerkship in political law would “merely be a short indulgence,” and then she’d go back to “real work.” But it turned out that she loved that area of the law more than insurance, family and criminal law, and now the former state senator has dedicated her entire career to it. 

“In my view, [political law] is the most satisfying, challenging and dynamic area of law,” Vogel says. “Since the day I started our firm, the practice of law, has never felt like work again.”

Aside from serving as a managing partner at her law practice, Vogel was also the first woman to serve as chief counsel for the Republican National Committee, was a Republican Virginia state senator from 2008 to 2024, and was the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor in 2017. She also previously served as deputy general counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. During her time in the Virginia Senate, her legislative focuses included public education, services for children with autism, and health care access.

Vogel’s advice to other women pursuing leadership in law is to not settle.

“Women often compromise and make decisions around career and family that seem rigid and forced, especially when they work in a highly competitive environment,” Vogel says. “There is so much satisfaction in hard work on your own terms, and it applies equally at every career stage.”


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PAULA PANDO

If there’s an overarching theme to Paula Pando’s presidency of Reynolds Community College, she says, it’s removing barriers to completing degrees for the 15,000-plus students who attend classes each year at the college’s various campuses. Such efforts have included opening food pantries, providing mental health services and establishing the Finish Line Fund, which provides tuition support and emergency assistance payments aimed at helping students graduate.

“We see life getting in the way of really smart people who don’t have a lot of resources,” says Pando, who became Reynolds’ president in 2018.

Another initiative, specifically aimed at helping male students of color return to finish degrees, ultimately saw 600 students come back to campus. “We worked our hearts out,” she says of the team effort.

The daughter of Chilean immigrants, Pando saw firsthand the sacrifices her parents made so she could pursue higher education. But she’d never considered a career in the field until a work study opportunity at New Jersey’s Stockton University as an undergraduate. “It turned a light on to a career I didn’t know existed and pursued with everything.”

Pando is passionate about minority-serving institutions in urban areas, and she’s driven by a profound belief that community colleges serve an important role in democratizing access to education. She’s also a perpetual learner; Pando has twice been selected for the Aspen Institute’s Presidents Fellowship and is currently participating in the yearlong program to refine her strategies for Reynolds.

Away from work, she enjoys cooking. “It’s my way to show love to family and friends.”


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LYN McDERMID

Lyn McDermid briefly debated whether she wanted to go back to work when the opportunity arose to join Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration. She had already retired twice from chief information officer jobs, first at Dominion Resources (now Dominion Energy) and later for the Federal Reserve.

But the chance to serve as secretary of administration to improve processes in the commonwealth — from state parks to mental health institutions to the Department of Motor Vehicles — was too intriguing to pass up. And “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” McDermid says. 

In a career spanning private sector and government, McDermid has always had women mentors. In fact, a woman she worked with encouraged McDermid to apply to the Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding — where she was the first woman accepted. Growing up as a self-described “Army brat” was also formative: “Moving 14 times before graduating high school,” she says, “gave me the resilience that seems to help with business.”

Be it for customers and shareholders of a Fortune 500 company or citizens of the commonwealth, McDermid says, she’s always felt a call to serve. It was “a real privilege” to work for the Federal Reserve as it navigated the financial crisis, she says, while her other personal career highlights include mentoring young women and launching the Women in Technology group in Central Virginia.

But a different feeling of responsibility defines her latest career chapter: “Having the opportunity to truly serve the public has been a pinnacle of my career and a crescendo.”


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