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Diversity, equity and inclusion
Brought to you by Virginia Business and Bank of America, join us every other month for the Diversity Leadership Series — virtual fireside chats with a diverse group of Virginia business leaders sharing their insights and thoughts on leadership, their career paths, and diversity and equity. Our series kicked off on July 20 with[...]
Taking shape
Stu Shea, chairman, president and CEO of Herndon-based national security contractor Peraton Inc., is overseeing the integration of two recently acquired businesses that marked some of Virginia’s most significant business deals in 2021. Shea has been included in both editions of Virginia Business’ annual Virginia 500 issue, a[...]
Breaking down barriers
Maia Chaka, a health and physical education teacher at Virginia Beach’s Renaissance Academy, will be the National Football League’s first Black female referee, the league announced in March. A 2006 Norfolk State University alumna, Chaka has been officiating football since 2007, a journey that took her from high school games [...]
Authority of the port
In January, Stephen Edwards became the new CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, which oversees the Port of Virginia. The former CEO of Los Angeles-based TraPac, which operates container terminals in California and Florida, Edwards succeeds John Reinhart, who retired after seven years at the authority’s he[...]
Calling the shots
When the COVID-19 crisis began in early 2020, Dr. Danny Avula was the joint director of the Henrico County and Richmond health departments, a big job placing him in charge of public health for more than 560,000 residents. However, in early January, the scope of Avula’s responsibilities widened considerably after Virginia Gov. [...]
‘As resilient as you get’
After sealing the deal on Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion East Coast HQ2 headquarters as Arlington’s economic development director in late 2018, Victor Hoskins took his talents to the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) in August 2019. But instead of competing with his Northern Virginia neighbors when he t[...]
Disrupting racism
In the months after a blackface scandal threatened his governorship, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that he would appoint a chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer who would report directly to him — the first Cabinet-level position of its kind in any state in the nation. In September 2019, Janice Underwood took on the chal[...]
Representing the underdogs
Although it’s hard to think way back to January 2020, a time before a year of social unrest, pandemic and economic peril, that’s when Virginia’s legislature and executive branch became majority-Democrat for the first time since 1993. However, even if some Virginians forgot about this significant shift, Republican lawmakers[...]
‘No name but team’
Marcus Stephenson is living his dream. After a nearly 15-year career in sports entertainment marketing and content (including stints with World Wrestling Entertainment and the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team), Stephenson joined the Washington Football Team as its vice president of digital marketing and programming just one year a[...]
A sense of possibility
Luiz DaSilva became the inaugural executive director of Virginia’s Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) in March, returning to Virginia Tech after two years in Ireland, where he served as the director of CONNECT, a telecommunications research center at Trinity College Dublin involving 35 companies and 250 researchers from 10 Ir[...]
Executive profiles
We asked leaders in Virginia’s maritime and logistics industry for their thoughts on the Port of Virginia expansion and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on shipping. Click to expand photos. Interviews follow. VB: How will the Port of Virginia expansion impact Virginia’s economy? Adams: The Central Chapter encompasses the area around Richmond and is […]
A woman of science
Beakers and chemicals. Sparkles and high heels. An uncommon pairing for most is Miss America’s reality— something she’s working to normalize for young women. When Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier jumped back into the pageant world last year, she was initially stumped as to what she could do for the talent competition. A m[...]
