Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

byline: Virginia Business

100 People to Meet in 2024: Educators

As leaders in our K-12 and higher education workforce, these teachers, professors, deans and university administrators are passing on their knowledge to the next generation of Virginians.

William Kelly

President, Christopher Newport University
Newport News

William Kelly has built his career on public service and leadership, including serving as the U.S. Coast Guard Academy’s superintendent, his job before taking the reins at Christopher Newport University in July. A rear admiral before his military retirement this year, Kelly succeeds longtime CNU President Paul S. Trible Jr.

During his 36 years in the Coast Guard, Kelly and his wife, Angie, spent three years in Newport News. Now, at CNU, he looks to shape the next generation of leaders. “We want to open doors to as many students as possible so their lives can be transformed and they, in turn, can improve the lives of people in Virginia and around the world.”

Richard Moncure

Director of S.T.R.E.A.M., St. Margaret’s School
Tappahannock

Richard Moncure grew up in a family of watermen and ran a seafood restaurant until he saw the Rappahannock River was no longer providing a large enough catch to supply the business. Moncure pivoted into conservation, first helping Zambian tilapia farmers in the Peace Corps, and later serving as the first-ever tidal river steward for Friends of the Rappahannock. Now, he is educating the next generation about the river, as head of S.T.R.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, River, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) at St. Margaret’s, an-all girls’ school serving grades 8-12. Tapped for his new post in June, Moncure developed a prototype for the S.T.R.E.A.M. program during the pandemic, creating an outdoor classroom at Aylett Country Day School to connect kids to the region’s history through the river. Now he teaches his students the challenges of restoring the watershed through experiential learning.

Enric Ruiz-Geli

Professor of practice, Virginia Tech Honors College; principal and founding architect, Cloud 9
Blacksburg

As professor of practice at Virginia Tech’s Honors College, Spanish architect Enric Ruiz-Geli instructs students in transdisciplinary and experiential learning, drawing from the lessons learned in his wide-ranging career. His Barcelona-based firm, Cloud 9, has been involved in significant sustainable architecture projects around the world, including the Media-TIC building in Barcelona, named “Best Building in the World” at the World Architecture Festival 2011. At Virginia Tech, he’s part of the Honors SuperStudio faculty that teaches four interrelated topics. Ruiz-Geli’s focus has been on building greener buildings. Now the architectural and building fields are primed, he says, to be a solution to global warming.

Bevlee A. Watford

Associate dean of equity and engagement; executive director, Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity, Virginia Tech
Blacksburg

At age 10, Bevlee Watford was that rare child who met an engineer and discovered her life’s calling. A high school guidance counselor recommended Virginia Tech, where she earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in mining and industrial engineering and operations research. With few women and people of color in engineering when she began teaching at Clemson University, Watford became a role model and her office a magnet for students needing assistance to unlock their potential. She joined Virginia Tech’s faculty in 1992, and as a dean, she works to attract and retain a diverse group of students. In January, Watford was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Science Board, which advises on policy matters in science, engineering and related education. “To know I can contribute to finding new programs and discussing research to further our culture is amazing,” she says.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Go-Getters

Including startup founders, motivated executives and an Olympic cycling team’s leader, these folks don’t take no for an answer.

Eric Astor

Founder and CEO, Furnace Record Pressing
Alexandria

Eric Astor was a 15-year-old drummer living in Phoenix when he pressed his first album. “My band couldn’t find anyone to make a record for us, so I started a label and figured out how to do it myself,” says Astor.

Today, Astor is founder and CEO of Furnace Record Pressing, one of the nation’s largest vinyl record producers. Founded in 1996, Furnace employs 107 workers who use 14 presses to produce more than 25,000 vinyl records a day. The company expected to turn out more than 4 million records in 2023.

Furnace has had a long relationship with heavy metal legends Metallica; pressings for the band represent about 15% of Furnace’s output yearly, and in March, Metallica acquired a majority interest in the label for an undisclosed amount.

“There’s an appetite for vinyl,” says Astor. “As long as artists keep producing, people will keep buying.”

 

Paul Busch

Owner and mining engineer, R&R Remining and Reclamations
New Canton

Buckingham County resident Paul Busch has gold in his veins. A commercial miner, Busch owns R&R Remining and Reclamations (formerly Old Dawg Resources), the only company holding a permit to mine for gold in Virginia since the state’s last mines folded in the 1940s. (The General Assembly may review and update the state’s gold mining rules in its 2024 session, following a report last year by a study group.)

Busch currently operates on private land at the reopened Moss mine in Goochland County, where he processes mounds of contaminated tailings to separate remaining gold scraps from the toxic mercury that was used during mining decades ago. He delivers the mercury to a recycling center at Virginia Beach. “The state is happy, I get to do what I love to do, and the landowner is left with safer, cleaner property,” he says.

Nicola Cranmer

Founder and general manager, Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24 Women’s Pro Cycling Team
Roanoke

When Nicola Cranmer relocated base operations for her team of elite women cyclists from Idaho to Roanoke in 2022, she knew it was a great move. “Some of the nicest riding in the world, and the hills are perfect for training,” says Cranmer, a native of Salisbury, England.

Her medal-winning team has adopted various iterations of its name over the years, the most recent reflecting its partnership with Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, the region’s official destination marketing organization. Cranmer founded the team in 2005 with eyes locked on the 2012 London Olympics and has adjusted the team’s name in four-year cycles ever since. Team Twenty24 is currently racing toward the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Besides building professional cyclists and a pipeline for future Olympians, Cranmer promotes cycling’s overall benefits through her junior program, connecting girls age 17 and younger with leadership and scholarship opportunities.

Siera Fountain

Graduate student, Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond

An artist and designer who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art from VCU and was an intern at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Siera Fountain is now back in Richmond as a product innovation graduate student at VCU’s da Vinci Center for Innovation. This year, in addition to winning a $3,500 first-place award from the American Marketing Association Richmond-Robert R. Barber Endowment Fund for Scholarship & Training, Fountain earned an entrepreneurship certificate from the da Vinci Center. And this past summer, she participated in a European Innovation Academy in Italy to create a product. There, Fountain was exposed to how she could use her art skills in the field of business and marketing. She now works as a graduate assistant at VCU’s Shift Retail Lab, designing promotions and assisting local entrepreneurs. “Gen Z people are very interested in authenticity and being able to put themselves into the product or the brand,” Fountain says.

Matt Ganyard

Placekicker, University of Virginia Cavaliers football team
Charlottesville

“At the end of the day, in the locker room, I like to think that I’m another one of the guys,” says Matt Ganyard, U.Va.’s 34-year-old placekicker. That’s no typo. Ganyard is not only the oldest college football player in Virginia; he’s the oldest in the NCAA. As an undergrad, he tried out for the team and failed, and after his 2011 graduation, went on to serve in the Marines Corps, where he was an elite Cobra helicopter pilot and kept kicking the football in his spare time. In 2022, Ganyard came back to Charlottesville to attend U.Va.’s Darden School of Business and joined the team as a walk-on in 2023. A father of two, Ganyard says he is thankful for his wife’s patience regarding his unusual extracurricular activity. In May, he will graduate from Darden and has accepted a position at Boston Consulting Group’s office in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Laura Godfrey

Serial entrepreneur
Roanoke

Laura Godfrey founded or co-founded five companies in the past two decades. Among those are Brandpoint Analytics, a software-as-a-service platform, and Bookelicious, an online resource that focuses on increasing child literacy by curating books for kids. Godfrey co-founded Bookelicious with Lea Anne Borders — the wife of Louis Borders, founder of the now-defunct Borders Group books and music retail chain.

Godfrey stepped aside from Bookelicious in late August — she remains an investor — to take on new projects; as a “fractional” executive, she lends her experience to companies getting off the ground.

“I really like learning while doing,” Godfrey says. “That’s what keeps me focused and busy … always learning new things, new experiences.”

Vanessa C. Hampton

Senior vice president and not-for-profit and government banking team lead, Truist Financial
Richmond

Today, Vanessa Hampton leads a team of bankers in Virginia who focus on large nonprofit clients like health care organizations and private foundations, and government agencies, but she’s been part of the banking industry for more than 20 years, beginning at BB&T, which merged with SunTrust to create Truist in 2019. She also spends a fair amount of time engaged with the Richmond community as a board member of YWCA Richmond and the Memorial Foundation for Children. A Radford University alum, Hampton enjoys the beach and traveling the world with her family.

Arketa Howard

Director of business and policy affairs in offshore wind, Crowley Maritime
Norfolk

A Norfolk State University alum who’s worked in project management, marketing and higher education, Arketa Howard was hired by Crowley in 2021 to work in the burgeoning offshore wind industry. She was still new to the field, but Howard started learning more about wind energy before her hiring, as part of the Virginia Maritime Association and the Hampton Roads Alliance. Now, she chairs the alliance’s Women of Offshore Wind group, founded in 2022. “We understand that women may not be represented a lot in certain spaces,” Howard says, “and what I love the most is our excitement when we see each other.” Outside of work, Howard is a marathon runner, averaging one race a year, and she supports her two children’s interests in art and sports.

Kevin Hubbard, Kristina Loftus and Matt Loftus

Co-founders, Rhoback
Charlottesville

The day after Kristina Loftus graduated with her MBA from the University of Virginia in 2017, she packed a wooden camper with high-performance activewear and hit the road promoting Rhoback, the privately held clothing company she co-founded in 2016 with her husband, Matt, and his best friend from his undergraduate days, Kevin Hubbard.

Kristina hauled their pop-up shop to retail venues along the East Coast, but she was never alone. Her dog, Bunker, rode by her side as the face of the fledgling brand. “Bunker is a Rhodesian Ridgeback, dogs that are bred to hunt lions,” she explains. “Rhoback takes its name from this breed that perpetually craves activity.”

Matt and Kevin joined Kristina when they could, but both were still holding other demanding full-time jobs — Matt as a financial consultant and Kevin as policy director of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Rules Committee, a position he worked up to since arriving on Capitol Hill as an intern in 2011. Both have since left those positions to commit full-time to Rhoback.

The brand offers a line of fast-wicking activewear for men and women. Its popular print designs range in theme from universities (U.Va. being first) to states and popular destinations.

Wendy P. Lewis

Richmond office managing partner, KPMG; chair, Virginia Board of Accountancy
Richmond

Although Wendy Lewis is a numbers person — she is, after all, the Richmond managing partner for Big Four accounting firm KPMG — she also is a self-professed people person who loves being involved in the community. In July, she became the first Black woman to become the Virginia Board of Accountancy’s chair, a post she will hold through June 30, 2024. Lewis says much of her job at KPMG and at VBA supports career development, particularly with training fellow accountants in technological advances such as artificial intelligence. Away from work, the beach lover, home cook and runner can also be found investing in playtime with her son, a fourth grader.

Peter Mann

Founder and CEO, Oransi
Radford

Peter Mann has had an eclectic career, serving in the Navy, marketing tech solutions for companies like Dell, and launching two flourishing companies in succession.

In 2009, Mann founded his air purifier company, Oransi, in part seeking solutions to his son’s asthma. And now, after merging with an electric motor company, Oransi is making an effort to bring its manufacturing business back to Virginia. In 2021, the company bought a 156,000-square-foot factory in Radford that’s expected to create 100 jobs. “It’s been under development close to two years; we essentially had to create an entirely new supply chain that could compete with Chinese imports,” Mann says.

Cindy Yao

Chief financial officer and executive vice president, Markel Food Group
Richmond

A native of Shanghai, China, who speaks three Chinese dialects, Cindy Yao not only serves as CFO for Markel Food Group but as CEO for three of its subsidiaries operating in China. Yao came to the United States as an MBA student at the University of Rochester and earned her master’s degree in accounting at Virginia Tech. After working for Bausch & Lomb, in 2013 she joined Markel Food Group, a $350 million independent subsidiary of Fortune 500 insurance holding company Markel Group, with around 1,000 employees worldwide.

She’s also founding dean of Markel Business Systems Leadership University, an internal school she established to provide leadership coaching for a diverse group of employees.

“It not about the job we do, it’s the purpose each of us has in life, and my job is truly to help people to achieve their goals and the purpose in their life,” Yao says.

Chryssa Zizos

Founder and CEO, Live Wire Strategic Communications
Arlington County

Strategic communications and crisis management expert Chryssa Zizos believes flourishing in a competitive industry requires boldly trying new things. “People learn as much from failure as they do from success,” she notes.

Zizos founded Live Wire Strategic Communications 26 years ago in her Alexandria home. Now, with 10 employees, the company has served more than 100 clients, nearly half of them Fortune 500 firms. Looking to 2024, Zizos projects the firm will gross about $4.5 million in revenue.

“Our relationships are impressive,” says Zizos, pointing to notable clients such as Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, Accenture Federal Services and General Dynamics Information Technology.

“Our success comes from staying true to who we’ve been since the beginning: a boutique, high-touch strategic communications firm,” says Zizos. “We have a long runway ahead, and this team gets better every year.”

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Impact Makers

Whether shining a light on underserved people or helping startups get ahead, these impactful Virginians are changing the commonwealth for the better.

Eileen Brewer

Executive director, 757 Accelerate
Norfolk

With 20-plus years of experience working for tech companies in Silicon Valley, Eileen Brewer was promoted in May to executive director of 757 Accelerate, a Norfolk mentorship-based accelerator program for full-time founders of businesses with high-growth potential. She joined 757 Collab, 757 Accelerate’s parent organization, as director of strategic partnerships in January 2022.

In recent decades, Brewer also served as a mentor in the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen Exchange Program, a program that aids high-achieving women from the Middle East and Africa working in STEM careers and provides them with professional mentorship in Silicon Valley. As an international consultant, she focused on entrepreneurship and STEM training and built the first tech accelerator in Iraq.

Bonnie Chavez

CEO, Building Beloved Communities
Roanoke

When the world shifted to virtual meetings during the pandemic, not much changed for Bonnie Chavez. She’d launched her consulting business in 2018 and quickly decided that driving to meetings was a waste of time. “We became a virtual company before it was forced on everyone,” she recalls. A second-generation American, Chavez was working in the corporate world and trying to figure out her life’s purpose when she heard a sermon at church in her native New Mexico that referenced a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. about “beloved communities.” It was enough to inspire her to create a company focused on helping nonprofits thrive and assisting government agencies with project management. “I’m a nonprofit badass, and I love fighting for them,” she says. When not assisting nonprofits, she’s devoted to spending time with her partner and their two daughters as well as enjoying the outdoors and good coffee.

Erica Cole

CEO and founder, No Limbits
Richmond

In college, Erica Cole turned her hobby into a side gig by sewing costumes for friends. In 2018, while studying at the University of Iowa, Cole was in a car wreck that led to her left leg being amputated below the knee. Soon, she started tailoring her own clothes to accommodate her prosthetic. Demand from other people snowballed quickly.

“I was really embedded in this amputee community, altering clothes for other folks in that community,” says Cole, who went on to found No Limbits, a maker of adaptive clothing for people with disabilities.

Appearing on ABC’s “Shark Tank” last year, she received a $100,000 investment from sharks Mark Cuban and Emma Grede in exchange for 10% of her business. Cole moved her startup to Richmond after graduating from the local Lighthouse Labs accelerator. She’s now expanding into other adaptive apparel and is planning a Series A funding round in 2024.

Braden Croy

Program director, Dominion Energy Innovation Center
Ashland

As programmer of Dominion Energy’s startup incubator, Braden Croy says that he invents “creative collisions,” running pitch competitions and supporting clean energy-focused entrepreneurs at the coworking space just a stone’s throw from Ashland’s railroad tracks. The Virginia Tech grad joined DEIC in 2021, after having worked in real estate, hospitality consulting and risk management. A woodworker who also expends energy running after his three children, Croy says he loves mentoring innovators as they work in the fields of energy storage, carbon capture, electricity transmission and distribution, and grid management. The center also has workshops for agribusiness entrepreneurs, and DEIC’s Spark Virginia program awards $75,000 in grants to help energy entrepreneurs across the state.

Sue Deagle

Senior vice president and chief growth and client service officer, V2
McLean

Sue Deagle holds an important job at aerospace and defense contractor V2X, but outside of work, Deagle writes The Luminist newsletter, discussing loss and pain that applies not only to individuals but communities struggling with the pandemic and world conflict. She also speaks openly about her inner life — addressing her grief over the 2016 heart attack death of her husband, Mike. The Wall Street Journal wrote about Deagle’s decision to build a new, glass-filled house in Great Falls designed by New York-based Robert Young Architects that has helped her and her two children start a new life following Mike’s death. At work, too, her worldview is important, since V2X trains soldiers, sailors and airmen when they’re deployed, and Deagle says she also finds meaning in serving members of the military.

 

Art Espey

Managing director, Lighthouse Labs
Richmond

Lighthouse Labs, an equity-free, early-stage startup accelerator launched in 2012, offers guidance to help tech founders on their entrepreneurial journeys, and Art Espey has been part of the process since 2015, as founding vice chair of Lighthouse’s board.

When Lighthouse’s former managing director, Paul Nolde, left in June to join 757 Collab in Hampton Roads, Espey was named as his replacement. In his new position, the serial entrepreneur and former Marine saw an opportunity to think big and reinvent Lighthouse’s work with founders, investors and the area’s innovation ecosystem.

“The [Interstate] 64 corridor from Charlottesville to Richmond to Hampton Roads represents a huge number of smart people collectively and collaboratively,” Espey says. “We’re a mega-region if we choose to be.”

A lifelong martial artist and avid reader, Espey also kayaks, backpacks and teaches yoga workshops.

Kathryn Fessler

Senior director of community impact and co-founder of Mosaic, Altria Group
Henrico County

Raised in Reading, Pennsylvania, Kathryn Fessler was the first person in her family to graduate from college. She went to the University of Richmond on a merit scholarship and studied English literature. Since 2008, she has worked for Altria Group, the Henrico County-based Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturer of Marlboro cigarettes.

A decade ago, Fessler took charge in co-founding Mosaic, an employee resource group for LGBTQ+ workers at Altria. It’s among a dozen similar affinity groups at the company, and it has about 500 members. In her role as senior director of community impact,  Fessler says she gets to help lead a team that is focused on the company’s investment and strengthening communities.

Michael Hemphill

Creator and host, Buzz; owner, Buzz4Good
Roanoke

A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Michael Hemphill moved to Virginia in 1997 when his wife was doing her residency in family medicine. Since then, Roanoke’s been his home and he’s helped tell the region’s stories throughout his career, including as a former reporter for The Roanoke Times, as a marketer, and now as host of the Blue Ridge PBS TV show “Buzz.” The show’s focus is on nonprofit groups in the Roanoke and New River Valley regions and the good they’re accomplishing. Hemphill also started Buzz4Good, a pro bono marketing company that helps attract volunteers and donors to nonprofit organizations. Outside of work, Hemphill enjoys traveling, and in 2015 he followed the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, catching soccer matches across 8,000 miles and five time zones.

Ryan Key

Customer projects designer and community engagement lead, Dominion Energy
Hampton

Although he’s a designer with a background in customer service, one of Ryan Key’s most significant roles at work is letting colleagues know about Pride, Dominion Energy’s LGBTQ+ employee resource group.

Having joined Dominion in 2015 as an intern and returning as an employee in 2017, Key first got involved in Pride in 2018, and now he’s one of the group’s leaders. He also aids in recruiting diverse candidates in his role as community engagement lead. Doing otherwise, he says, “would be casting people away that could potentially bring something new, something innovative. It only benefits the company to embrace everyone.”

In 2024, Key aims for Pride to have a larger presence in the community at career fairs and other events.

Michelle Maldonado

Delegate, Virginia House of Delegates
Manassas

Coming from a background of educators and military veterans, state Del. Michelle Maldonado believes in the importance of serving and helping others. A freshman Democratic legislator, she started her career as a tech lawyer but always looked for ways to uplift people. At AOL, Maldonado initiated programs to help workers whose first language wasn’t English improve their language skills to excel in their jobs. She later started a leadership and team development coaching company, Lucenscia. Elected to the House of Delegates in 2021, Maldonado established the Technology and Innovation Caucus in the General Assembly to educate legislators and the public about technology issues and is working on a statewide initiative to govern the use of artificial intelligence. “Our job is to really educate people, keep people safe and innovative at the same time,” she says. (Editor’s note: After this article went to press, Maldonado announced she would be entering the 10th Congressional District race to succeed U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton.)

Paul Nolde

Managing director, 757 Collab; market director, 757 Angels powered by VentureSouth
Norfolk

In May, Paul Nolde jumped from leading Richmond’s Lighthouse Labs accelerator to head up 757 Collab, the founder-focused innovation network that includes
757 Accelerate, 757 Startup Studios and 757 Angels. Nolde studied foreign affairs at the University of Virginia but got into wealth management banking, working for a string of banks including Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Nolde, who relishes the relationship management side of his job, was executive managing director at Lighthouse Labs before taking the reins at 757 Collab.

He’s excited about working with Hampton Roads investors to advance the entrepreneurial ecosystem. “There’s wealth here that is willing to take risks,” Nolde says. “When you marry the two together, it’s pretty compelling what a founder can find here.” 

Paul Rucker

iCubed Arts Research Fellow, curator for creative collaboration and assistant professor, Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond

A conceptual artist, composer and musician, Paul Rucker is also an obsessive collector of more than 20,000 historical items, most related to the history of slavery and racism in the South. “They’re primary source materials that act as evidence. … They act as documentation of historic events,” he says. Last year, he was awarded $2 million in grants from the Mellon Foundation and the Art for Justice Fund to turn his collection into Cary Forward, a Richmond museum, arts space and lending library focused on “the omitted histories of race and gender.”

The museum, which plans to provide residencies for local and international artists, as well as a banned book library, will open in 2025 on Richmond’s Cary Street. Rucker notes that the thoroughfare, which includes the Carytown shopping district and parts of VCU’s campus, is named for Archibald Cary, an 18th-century Colonial Virginia legislator who enslaved more than 200 people.

Becky Sawyer

Executive vice president and chief people officer, Sentara Health
Norfolk

Becky Sawyer’s focus for 2024 revolves around several priorities to attract, retain and engage a diverse and talented workforce at Sentara’s facilities, despite ongoing staffing challenges throughout the health care industry. Promoted in 2017 as the first woman to lead human resources for the health system’s 31,000-person workforce, Sawyer says that among her key focuses are staff burnout and mental health, issues that present challenges for the health care industry overall. Her plans, she says, include prioritizing “internal support systems to boost overall well-being, improve safety in the workplace and decrease burnout.”

Sawyer has been with the health system for more than two decades, previously leading HR departments at nine hospitals and for Sentara’s health insurance plan. She serves on the board for Virginia Ready, the nonprofit workforce initiative started by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Virginia first lady Suzanne Youngkin.

Hunter Walsh

Director, 757 Startup Studios
Norfolk

You could say Hunter Walsh believes in forging long-term relationships.

A newlywed, he met his wife when they were preschoolers. His family’s roots in Virginia date back to the 1800s, and he started his career working in sales and marketing for his family’s Cullipher Farm, an agritourism destination in Virginia Beach, before going on to work in membership development for the Hampton Roads Chamber. In 2021, Walsh, a James Madison University alumnus who has an MBA from Virginia Wesleyan University, became founding director of 757 Collab’s 757 Startup Studios, a program that provides rent-free workspaces for qualifying startups. Next year,

757 Startup Studios plans to expand its influence, rolling out tech assistance for all types of entrepreneurs and engaging in more community events.

Richard Wintsch

Executive director, Startup Virginia
Richmond

Hailing from Geneva, Richard Wintsch spent years in private banking and working for ChamberRVA before the Swiss native landed at Startup Virginia, where he’s now executive director. He attended James Madison University on a golf scholarship, where he met his wife, Katherine, a nationally recognized expert on motherhood and consultant to Fortune 500 companies. A nonprofit incubator and entrepreneurial hub, Startup Virginia this year won a gold award for entrepreneurship from the International Economic Development Council. Wintsch thinks the startup scene has made tremendous progress not only in Central Virginia, but across the state. “I believe we have a good infrastructure for high-growth businesses,” he says. “The foundations are in place for us to continue to improve.”

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

STARTVIRGINIA: HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA December 2023

A consortium of Hampton Roads startup business programs, 757 ScaleUp Alliance, received a $1.2 million federal grant to promote job growth in emerging industries. The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded the grant as part of $53 million in funding through its Build to Scale program, which aims to provide financial resources to entrepreneurs and startups. Norfolk-based 757 Collab plans to work other area startup programs, including Innovate Hampton Roads, Black Brand and the Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center, under the new umbrella organization 757 Scaleup Alliance. The grant, to be matched by $1.2 million in local funds, will help 757 Collabfund programming for 30 founders in industries like health care, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, logistics and robotics. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Qnovia, a Richmond startup focused on smoking cessation technology, has entered a drug-development partnership with the University of  Virginia to advance new inhaled-drug candidates for treating bacterial infections of the lungs. Under the collaboration agreement, U.Va. School of Medicine doctors will combine Qnovia’s RespiRX drug-delivery platform with the university’s proprietary portfolio of antimicrobial peptides to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria. RespiRx is a handheld aerosol medical device that delivers drugs quickly. Its first aim was to deliver nicotine to help people quit smoking, but this deal expands its application. Qnovia said the deal adds two assets to its development pipeline: QN-05 for the treatment of pneumonia and QN-06 for the treatment of pulmonary infection for individuals exposed to the causative agent in anthrax. (Richmond Inno)

On Nov. 6, Arlington County health-tech company Surescripts announced it has acquired Minneapolis-based analytics startup ActiveRadar in a deal Surescripts says adds an important dimension to its electronic prescription service for health systems and pharmacies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Surescripts facilitates the sharing of health information to improve care and cut down costs. Surescripts counts about 700 employees across three offices in Arlington, Oregon and North Carolina. (DC Inno)

Charlottesville’s Vali Cyber announced Sept. 26 it had raised $15 million in seed funding to expand its operations. The round was led by Arlington’s Grotech Ventures and Pittsburgh’s 412 Venture Fund and included participation from Pittsburgh’s Riverfront Ventures, Tampa’s Florida Funders and other unnamed strategic investors. Founded in 2020, Vali Cyber is focused on cybersecurity related to Linux operating systems. It offers a security platform called ZeroLock that provides a lockdown capability, threat detection and automated recovery features while consuming fewer resources than other Linux security tools. (Richmond Inno)

Arlington-based VerticalApps, which uses automation technologies such as artificial intelligence to streamline how federal agencies operate, has been acquired by a Vienna-based government contractor. Effective Nov. 1, VerticalApps became a wholly owned subsidiary of MindPetal. The companies say they will accelerate the modernization of federal agencies through the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics and data science. Founded in 2010, the startup develops software and data management solutions and specializes in intelligent automation, which applies automation technologies to making decisions and predictions and analyzing data. (ARL Now)

New York-based food delivery company Wonder Group has gotten a cash infusion from Nestlé, which has its U.S. headquarters in Arlington County, as the startup looks to sell high-tech kitchen equipment and prepared ingredients to businesses such as hotels, hospitals and sports arenas. The deal includes a $100 million investment from Nestlé, along with a strategic partnership, according to sources familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because financial terms of the deal are not public. The startup, which was valued at about $3.5 billion when it closed a $350 million funding round in June, was founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur and former Walmart e-commerce chief Marc Lore. (CNBC)

100 People to Meet in 2024: New Folks

They might be new to their positions, but they bring decades of experience and new vantage points to the table. Here’s a sampling of Virginians — some fresh faces, some familiar — who are taking on significant new roles.

Jody Alexander

President and CEO, YMCA of Greater Richmond
Richmond

Jody Alexander was only 5 when she began swimming lessons at a YMCA in Ohio, but that first dip in the pool sparked a 34-year career. In June, Alexander took the reins at the YMCA of Greater Richmond, where she oversees 17 branches serving more than 200,000 residents.

The Y was central in Alexander’s childhood, so her first job as a swim coach while a student at the University of Toledo was a natural fit. “It’s been full circle, from taking swim lessons to becoming CEO,” she says. The largest provider of child care in Virginia, the YMCA is also a major employer for first-time job seekers ages 16 to 22. “Even if our employees don’t make a career of the YMCA, we can launch them on a great trajectory.” 

Jeremy Bridges

President, Hampton Roads Shipping Association
Norfolk

Jeremy Bridges started at the HRSA in May, succeeding Roger Giesinger, who led the Norfolk-based trade association for 28 years. The Chesapeake native returned to Hampton Roads after spending years in Southern California working for shipping giant CMA-CGM America as vice president of labor relations and also as an area managing director of the Pacific Maritime Association.

A James Madison University alum with a degree in finance, the former linebacker and tight end on the school’s football team maintains a strong interest in rooting for the Dukes and enjoys home gardening.

Dr. John Jane Jr.

Neurosurgery chair, Carilion Clinic
Roanoke

In June, Dr. John Jane left his hometown of Charlottesville — where he spent all but six years of his life — and moved west, becoming Carilion Clinic’s first head of neurosurgery and chair of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine’s new neurosurgery department, which is pending state approval. In these positions, he’ll be working closely with researchers at Virginia Tech and the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. Although Tech already had a small neurosurgery program, the new department will provide training for more new neurosurgeons, who are in high demand, Jane notes. “We are actively training residents and hoping to grow the program and train more neurosurgeons, and those are among our aspirational goals,” he says. “It is a gem of a department, and I am one of the blessed people on this planet.”

Tyrone Noel

Hampton Roads market president, Bank of America; greater Virginia market executive, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Williamsburg

As Virginia market executive for Merrill Lynch, Noel’s territory covers Charlottesville to Virginia Beach. In September, he was named the Hampton Roads market president of Bank of America, where he leads 500 employees across eight business lines, while continuing with Merrill Lynch. His strategy for both positions remains the same: delivering for the community and making Hampton Roads a great place for employees through recognition, mentoring and promotions.

Noel is passionate about helping people realize their abilities: “We do noble work. We really do help clients change their lives, whether it’s as simple as saving for their first car or something more profound like selling their business.”

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Angels

Helping the sick, giving the disadvantaged hope and protecting the environment, these Virginians put others’ needs ahead of their own, making the commonwealth a better place.

Dr. Victor Agbeibor

St. Francis Family Medicine Residency Program director, Bon Secours
Midlothian

Dr. Victor Agbeibor has trained 300-plus residents over his career. In June, he also started consulting for the American Academy of Family Physicians’ Residency Program Solutions, helping to develop new residency programs.

A Ghana native, Agbeibor completed medical school in Russia, participating in a Soviet Union scholarship program for people from developing countries before completing his residency in Oklahoma, choosing a program focused on medical missions training. He then completed general surgery training in Nashville, Tennessee.

Now living in Williamsburg, he and his wife met during their residencies. In 2005, they founded their Amani Medical Foundation, through which they’re building a not-for-profit 125-bed children’s hospital in Ghana. In October, Agbeibor took eight Bon Secours doctors and residents on a medical mission to Ghana.

In 2024, he will lead the St. Francis program’s expansion into Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital, and he plans to lead missions to Bolivia and Haiti.

Maureen McNamara Best

Executive director, Local Environmental Agriculture Project
Roanoke

Maureen McNamara Best has been interested in all aspects of the food system since she gardened alongside her mother as a child. Today, as executive director of Roanoke nonprofit LEAP, she focuses on how people interact with food availability and how to nurture an equitable food and farming system that prioritizes health and abundance for everyone. A Bloomberg Fellow, Best studies food, community and health at Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her organization runs a mobile farmers market that stops in 16 area neighborhoods that have limited access to fresh produce, offering 50% discounts for SNAP and Medicaid participants. “With more visibility in the community,” she says, “we finally have space to grow.”

Dr. Neal Kassell

Founder and chairman, Focused Ultrasound Foundation
Charlottesville

Previously neurosurgery co-chair at the University of Virginia’s medical school, Dr. Neal Kassell created the Focused Ultrasound Foundation in 2006 to advance the development and adoption of focused ultrasound, a noninvasive medical treatment that has more than 180 clinical uses, including treating Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer. By the end of 2022, the foundation provided $14.9 million for 131 completed preclinical studies, and as of 2022, it had 24 research partner institutions and organizations across seven countries.

In 1988, Kassell operated on future President Joe Biden’s two life-threatening brain aneurysms. In 2016, the University of Pennsylvania double graduate joined the Blue Ribbon Panel for Biden’s Cancer Moonshot, and in 2019 declared his former patient was “every bit as sharp as he was 31 years ago.”

Amy Sampson

President and CEO, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters
Norfolk

Although she is CHKD’s new CEO, Amy Sampson is no stranger to the children’s hospital, having worked there 34 years. In 2024, her priorities include four key areas, she says: quality and safety, workforce development, growth and innovation and financial stability.

In 2022, the pediatric hospital system opened its Children’s Pavilion in Norfolk, a 60-bed inpatient mental health facility for children and adolescents. It’s the most important effort she’s been involved with in recent years, Sampson says: “That is really going to transform mental health services for children in our region and beyond, and I think we’re going to become a beacon for mental health care for children around the United States.”

Mark Uren

President and CEO, United Way of South Hampton Roads
Norfolk

Although he’s a newcomer to Hampton Roads, Mark Uren has been with the United Way since 2013, previously serving as vice president of resource development in Forsyth County, Georgia, in the exurbs of Atlanta. Over the next several months, Uren’s plans include examining how the organization can focus on kids and education, as well as making a bigger regional splash. “What are the needs in the community where are we best positioned to make an impact? And how can we really double down in those areas?” he asks. Away from work, Uren has been a daily runner for the past 20 years, noting that it’s not only how he decompresses; it’s also when he does his best thinking.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

100 People to Meet in 2024: Hosts

Nourishing and delighting us, these Virginians welcome us to their communities through food, hospitality and entertainment.

Chris Albrecht

Senior vice president and general manager, Caesars Virginia
Danville

In May, the temporary Caesars Virginia casino opened in Danville, led by General Manager Chris Albrecht. A Florida native, Albrecht has worked for Caesars Entertainment for 18 years and is also overseeing the construction of the $650 million permanent casino resort underway in Danville’s Schoolfield neighborhood, formerly a hub for textile manufacturing. “We’ve had really strong demand” for casino jobs, Albrecht says, adding that when the permanent casino opens in late 2024, “we’ll have three times as many table game dealers” — 400 to 500 employees serving 90 poker tables. Albrecht earned his MBA from UCLA and his bachelor’s degree in finance at MIT, but joining a poker club in business school made him take notice of the gaming industry, he says.

Ann Butler

Owner, 21 Spoons
Chesterfield County

Ann Butler opened her small, local cuisine-focused restaurant in a Midlothian shopping center in early 2021, mainly to fill unused space while the pandemic forced her to put on hold Edible Education, her business offering cooking classes to kids. So, she started 21 Spoons as a pop-up, and then in March, Southern Living magazine named it Virginia’s best locally owned restaurant — a pleasant surprise for Butler. “I’m not a 27-year-old male chef opening a restaurant.” Indeed, she is 61 now, and recommends, “Just really do follow your passion.” Butler, who also sells “Kitchen a la Cart” portable teaching kitchens, has put Edible Education up for sale so she can focus on her 21 Spoons and Kitchen a la Cart businesses.

John Haggai

CEO and president, Burtons Grill & Bar
Richmond

If you’ve eaten at an Outback Steakhouse in Virginia, chances are John Haggai was behind its opening. He started working at the Australian-themed restaurant as a busboy in 1989 while still in high school and worked his way up to management, becoming a partner before he left in 2010. He then co-founded Richmond’s Tazza Kitchen, which now has six locations throughout Virginia and the Carolinas.

Haggai took over as CEO of the growing Boston-based Burtons Grill chain in 2022, setting as a parameter that he would stay in Richmond instead of moving north, and now there’s a Burtons location in the city’s Carytown shopping district. Though it specializes in American fare, Burtons is also committed to allergy-free offerings.

“It’s food people crave and love,” Haggai says, “and it’s warm hospitality. It’s reliable.”

Caitlin Horton

Head winemaker, Horton Vineyards
Gordonsville

At 29, Caitlin Horton is Virginia’s youngest head winemaker and one of a minority of women to hold that title. “Grandma grows the grapes, and my mom is vice president and general manager. I didn’t realize it was special until later in life, to be a female-run winery in an industry that is mainly a boys’ club,” she says. Under Horton’s direction, her 40-year-old Orange County family winery yields 400 tons of grapes annually, including 18 varietals ranging from Virginia classics like viognier to lesser-known grapes like the Portuguese tinta cão. As a third-generation vintner, Horton is influenced by tradition but also driven to innovation, introducing experimental wines such as her steampunk-themed Gears & Lace line.

Check out the other 100 People to Meet in 2024.

Legal Elite 2023: Legal Services/ Pro Bono Q&A

Title: Director of pro bono activities

Other legal specialties: I started out as a staff attorney with two legal aid organizations before becoming a sole practitioner handling a general civil caseload, focusing on litigation. 

Education: Bachelor’s degree, University at Albany, State University of New York; law degree, George Washington University National Law Center

Family: Married to David Beckerman, vocational rehabilitation counselor with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; two adult children, Lena and Gabriel

Career mentors: I have been inspired by so many attorneys who have dedicated their careers to public service work. This includes my first supervisor, Dale Pittman, who confirmed that my decision to become a public interest lawyer was the correct one — and fun!

What do you do for fun? My favorite activities are probably walking, listening to audiobooks, eating chocolate, watching movies, traveling and spending time with friends.

Who do you serve and what pro bono work is most in demand? Our clients are low-income and poverty-level residents of Fairfax County who have various civil legal problems. We have a number of different programs addressing specific legal needs, including Wills on Wheels (drafting end of life documents for seniors and those who are disabled), Neighborhood Outreach Program (providing legal information, advice and referral information to individuals), Family Legal Assistance Project (serving clients with contested family law issues) and others. 

How do you get attorneys interested in pro bono work? I try to connect individually with new and continuing attorneys and discuss the various opportunities, as well as speaking at larger group events. We regularly present continuing legal education programs, where the course is free in exchange for a certain amount of related pro bono work. We also try to work with various interest groups, such as bar committees, with an expertise in the substantive matter where there is a need.

Check out the rest of the 2023 Legal Elite. 

Legal Elite 2023: Young Lawyer

Rachel W. Adams
Thompson McMullan, Richmond

Brandon S. Allred
Kaufman & Canoles, Norfolk

Hannane Amanpour
McCandlish Lillard, Fairfax

Carly M. Anderson
Cooper Ginsberg Gray, Fairfax

Peter S. Askin
ThompsonMcMullan, Richmond

John Baker
Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers, Norfolk

Yolanda Beasley
Morris, Crawford & Currin, Chesapeake

Clark J. Belote
Kaufman & Canoles, Norfolk

R. Patrick Bolling
Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, Roanoke

Genevieve C. Bradley
Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin, Richmond

Charles L. Brewer II
Hunton Andrews Kurth, Richmond

Alexandra Bailee Brumfield
Cooper Ginsberg Gray, Fairfax

Siobhan Canty
Protorae Law, Tysons

Meredith Renegar Carlson
Willcox & Savage, Norfolk

Justin D. deBettencourt
Reed Smith, Tysons

Katie DeCoster
Sands Anderson, Christiansburg

Melissa Ann Dragone
Masterman Krogmann, McLean

Alexandra Lee Ellmauer
Byrne Canaan Law, Richmond

Cindy S. Foster
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Glen Allen

Bailey Gifford
Cooper Hurley Injury Lawyers, Virginia Beach

Emily Gindhart
Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver, Harrisonburg

Alicha M. Grubb
Gentry Locke Attorneys, Roanoke

David J. Gundlach
Sands Anderson, Richmond

Ryan A. Hanson
Williams Mullen, Virginia Beach

Ashley T. Hart
Flora Pettit, Charlottesville

Kang He
McGuireWoods, Tysons

Alicia A. Hilger
Glasser and Glasser, Norfolk

Mary C. Huff
Blankingship & Keith, Fairfax

Sarah C. Jessee
Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, Roanoke

Kristen R. Jurjevich
Pender & Coward, Virginia Beach

Scott A. Krystiniak
Wolcott Rivers Gates, Virginia Beach

Morgan A. Lambert
Kaufman & Canoles, Virginia Beach

Tia-Marie Lane
Byrne Canaan Law, Richmond

Kambria Taryn Lannetti
Hancock Daniel, Fairfax

Katherine Skilling Larkin
Wimbish Gentile McCray & Roeber, Richmond

Alexander Thomas Lewis
Cooper Ginsberg Gray, Fairfax

Angela London
Odin Feldman Pittleman, Reston

Angela R. MacFarlane
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Glen Allen

Danielle A. Matie
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Glen Allen

Joel R. McClellan
Marks & Harrison, Richmond

Jennifer McGovern
Parrish Snead Franklin Simpson, Fredericksburg

P. Bradenham Michelle IV
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Glen Allen

Laura Lee Miller
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Glen Allen

Nicholas Mirra
Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, Roanoke

Marcus K. Mitchell
Garriott Maurer, Virginia Beach

Arian Noori
Melone Hatley, Reston

Gaela Normile
Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, Norfolk

Quinn B. Novak
Florance Gordon Brown, Richmond

Blaire Hawkins O’Brien
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Richmond

T. Duggan O’Dea
Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, Richmond

John P. O’Malley
Thompson McMullan, Richmond

Elizabeth O. Papoulakos
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Glen Allen

Shannon Peak
Shannon & Wright, Alexandria

Tyler A. Rankin
Byrne Canaan Law, Richmond

James B. Rixey III
Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black, Norfolk

Shevarma T. Robertson
Hancock Daniel, Glen Allen

Eva C. Roffis
McCandlish Holton, Richmond

Tyler Rosa
Williams Mullen, Virginia Beach

Daniel P. Rose
Litten & Sipe, Harrisonburg

Hunter Wesley Routten
Glasser and Glasser, Norfolk

Seth Royster
Shannon & Wright, Alexandria

Kathryne M. Shaw
Boleman Law Firm, Virginia Beach

Jessica Sherwood
Melone Hatley, Virginia Beach

J. Westwood Smithers III
Marks & Harrison, Richmond

Vanessa Macias Stillman
Midgett Preti Olansen, Virginia Beach

Julia K. Stitely
Melone Hatley, Virginia Beach

Kerry K. Stolz
Pender & Coward, Virginia Beach

William B. Tew
Willcox & Savage, Norfolk

Benjamin H. Traynham
Hancock Daniel, Richmond

Evan Xavier Tucker
McGuire Woods, Richmond

Erin M. Vincent
Willcox & Savage, Norfolk

Danielle Wang
Sands Anderson, Richmond

Eileen Waters
McAngus Goudelock & Courie, Richmond

Megan N. Watson
McCandlish Holton, Richmond

Daniel J. Webster
Boleman Law Firm, Richmond

Britton R. Wight
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Alexandria

Benjamin A. Wills
Kaufman & Canoles, Richmond

W. Benjamin Woody
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman, Alexandria

Sandra Zegarra
Cordell & Cordell, Falls Church

Check out the rest of the 2023 Legal Elite. 

Virginia 500 Spotlight: VICTOR O. CARDWELL

PERSONAL MOTTO: Every day is a new opportunity to do something good and to help someone succeed.

FIRST JOB: I worked at a fast-food restaurant for about three days in high school. They wanted me to shave my baby-hair mustache, but my parents would not let me. They thought it was too soon for me to start shaving … and they were right!

MOST VALUED POSSESSION: My family and friends

HOW I UNWIND FROM WORK: I try to unwind with exercise and reading, but I am a work in progress.

SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN: Take any day for granted. It is a beautiful world and ever-changing — let’s enjoy it.

DID YOU KNOW?  A former University of Virginia football player, Cardwell earned his law degree from Washington and Lee. He leads the state’s fifth largest law firm, which formed in 2022 with the merger of Vandeventer Black and Woods Rogers. Cardwell previously served as Woods Rogers’ chair and was the firm’s first Black partner. He served as president of the Virginia Bar Association in 2022.