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A diversified portfolio
From tea to trucks to technology, an eclectic blend of industries settled into the Roanoke/New River Valley region in 2020. Some companies brought new operations to the region, while others expanded existing facilities. Traditional Medicinals kicked off 2020 with its January announcement of a new facility in Franklin County, man[...]
35 years of storytelling
My favorite day every month comes when a new issue of Virginia Business lands on my desk. Each magazine tracks emerging economic trends and the ongoing evolution of business leadership in the commonwealth. But for me, the impact is much more than just a good read about important business topics. Each issue of this magazine [&hel[...]
Unbound giving
Fitting with the unprecedented year that was 2020, philanthropic donations in Virginia pivoted during the past year, with an overwhelming focus placed on COVID-19 relief and social justice support. “Like the disease, the economic disease that has hit our Main Street knows no bounds,” Charlottesville-based venture capitalist [...]
‘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[...]
Heavy hitters
Just as Zoom conferences and cloud computing have transformed our pandemic-era work lives, so too is technology changing the nature of influence. That evolution is perhaps best evidenced by the addition of Reston-based MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor to Virginia Business’ 2021 list of the 50 most influential Virginians. Saylor may not spend his time huddled […]
A sampling of Virginia’s major road projects
HAMPTON ROADS Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion Project Crews broke ground in October 2020 on the $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT) expansion — the largest project in Virginia Department of Transportation history. The project will increase tunnel and interstate capacity along 9.9 miles of Interstate 64 betwee[...]
Emergency test
Health systems found themselves at a crossroads in 2020. Their services were in demand more than ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but elective surgical procedures and other appointments were postponed — necessitating layoffs and furloughs last spring, including between 200 and 250 Ballad Health employees furloughed in Southw[...]
Remote learning
For Virginia’s college students and faculty, 2020 was the year of Zoom. For the institutions themselves, though, it was a year that brought economic heartbreak and difficult decisions, although it also had a few brighter spots. Many universities faced budget crises due to the costs of housing refunds and moving classes online,[...]
Rolling forward
Once a big economic development is announced, it can be years before it comes to fruition. But that wasn’t the case with Mack Trucks Inc., one of North America’s largest producers of heavy-duty trucks, which took only nine months from announcement to starting full production of medium-duty trucks in the Roanoke Valley. In Ja[...]
The VirginiaBusiness.com Top Five
The top trending stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Jan. 16 to Feb. 15 included the news that Herndon-based national security contractor Peraton was following up its $3.4 billion cash acquisition of Northrop Grumman’s federal IT and mission support services business by purchasing Perspecta. Perspecta to be acquired for $7.1B in all-cash deal: Following sale rumors, the […]
A new landmark for Alexandria
Mark Jinks sees the unoccupied, former site of Landmark Mall as a blemish on Alexandria. “When everybody drives by, they’re like, ‘What’s going on here? It’s closed. Why doesn’t the city do something?’” says Jinks, the city manager of Alexandria. After working for 16 years to see the 52-acre site redeveloped, Jin[...]
Shooting for the moon
Heading into 2020, plenty of signs pointed to sunny skies ahead for Leidos Holdings Inc. A few years earlier, the Reston-based science, engineering and technology company had become an IT behemoth. It doubled in size after its 2016 acquisition of Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Information Systems & Global Solutions business segme[...]
