Albemarle seeks to expand region’s defense sector
It’s no secret: Albemarle County is banking on the $58 million purchase of 462 acres around a military spy outpost to anchor the region’s defense community. On May 24, the county Board of Supervisors approved a contract to acquire the undeveloped and former farmland tract along along Route 29 adjacent to Rivanna Station — [...]
Revivicor’s $100 million pig-organ facility moves forward
By early next year, Blacksburg-based Revivicor will be raising genetically modified pigs in Montgomery County, with plans to harvest their hearts and kidneys for xenotransplantation into human patients. Founded in 2003 as a spinoff company of PPL Therapeutics (the company that cloned Dolly the sheep seven years earlier), Revivic[...]
Finance | Insurance 2023: VIKRAM ‘VIK’ ATAL
Atal was appointed PRA’s president and CEO in March, after serving as a board member since 2015. He previously spent 27 years in leadership positions with Citigroup Inc. and was president and founder of Atal Advisers LLC, a business and strategy consulting firm. PRA Group, a global player in acquiring and collecting nonperform[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: JENNIFER BOYKIN
After receiving her bachelor’s degree in marine engineering from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and a master’s in engineering management from George Washington University, Boykin began her career at Newport News Shipbuilding in 1987 in the nuclear engineering division, moving up the ranks, before becoming president in 2017[...]
Professional Services 2023: GREG WALLIG
In June, Wallig added a new job title: head of public policy for Chicago-based global accounting firm Grant Thornton. He continues to lead Grant Thornton’s Washington, D.C.-Arlington office as well, a position he took in 2018, 13 years after joining the company. As public policy head, Wallig will develop Grant Thornton’s adv[...]
Satellite internet improves mobile health care
The Health Wagon got its start in 1980 when Sister Bernadette Kenny, a nurse practitioner, began dispensing free, much-needed health care to people in rural Appalachia from her Volkswagen Beetle. “She was thinking outside the box,” says Health Wagon President and CEO Teresa Tyson. Kenny served as inspiration, Tyson says, [...]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: WILLIAM W. ‘BILL’ LOVETTE
Lovette was Sauer Brands’ executive chairman and interim CEO in 2019, when Charlotte, North Carolina-based Falfurrias Capital Group purchased Richmond-based family-owned spice company C.F. Sauer. He then made way for Martin Kelly, who became president and CEO of the renamed Sauer Brands later that year. However, as of January,[...]
Real Estate 2023: ROBERT C. ‘BOB’ KETTLER
Coming from a long line of real estate developers, Kettler got his start in real estate in 1974, remodeling apartments while still a student at George Washington University. He left school to focus on work. Discovering a passion for community development, he founded real estate development company Kettler in 1977. Founded in 197[...]
Blue Ridge festival rocks on — for now
UPDATED SEPT. 11: The Blue Ridge Rock Festival was canceled on Sept. 9 due to severe weather, including storms and hail. The festival’s organizers said they would provide refund details early during the week of Sept. 11. The Blue Ridge Rock Festival is on track to sell out this year, with organizers expecting more than [&h[...]
Education 2023: JAVAUNE ADAMS-GASTON
Rising in prominence since Adams-Gaston became its leader in 2019, Norfolk State now ranks regularly in the top 20 historically Black colleges and universities, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. In 2021, Norfolk State received its largest single-donor gift, $40 million from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ex[...]
Real Estate 2023: STEVE LAWSON
A third-generation builder and developer, Lawson served as president of the 190-person multifamily real estate development, construction and management firm for 17 years, until he was named chairman in 2016. For more than two decades, Lawson has promoted equitable and affordable housing policies through leadership positions with[...]
Change management
Hands down, the most unintentionally funny of the alarmist stories about remote work must be the June “news” articles warning that by 2100, teleworking would result in a generation of obese, hunchbacked, prematurely aged people with swollen eyes, their hands permanently stuck in clawing gestures from using a mouse. Lest you [...]