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Real Estate 2023: BRIAN F. BORTELL
Bortell has been with Timmons Group for over three decades, starting his career with the company as an entry-level engineer and working his way up into his current role. He sets the strategic direction for the 1,000-plus-person firm and oversees its four operating divisions and 18 offices across the U.S. Under Bortell’s leader[...]
Finance | Insurance 2023: MICHAEL DeVITO
Freddie Mac’s leader since June 2021, DeVito has spent the past two years focused on advancing affordable housing, practicing risk management excellence, growing talent and delivering strong financial results. A government-sponsored enterprise that buys mortgages and packages them as mortgage-backed securities, the Federal Hom[...]
Finance | Insurance 2023: JERMAINE JOHNSON
Johnson has led Virginia and Washington, D.C., metro area operations for Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. since August 2020, 15 years after he joined the bank. A graduate of James Madison University, Johnson has more than two decades of experience in the banking industry. Before coming to PNC, he worked in port[...]
Law 2023: CARL TOBIAS
As Williams endowed chair for the University of Richmond School of Law since 2004, Tobias is a prolific writer and scholar, with an emphasis on federal judicial selection. He has authored more than 200 Law Review articles in some of the country’s top law journals, including the Stanford, Columbia, California and Cornell law re[...]
2023 Virginia 500: Agriculture
George C. Freeman III CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, UNIVERSAL CORP., RICHMOND Corwin Heatwole FOUNDING FARMER AND CEO, FARMER FOCUS, HARRISONBURG Neil A. Houff PRESIDENT AND TRANSLOADING OPERATIONS MANAGER, HOUFF CORP., WEYERS CAVE John King PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA POULTRY GROWERS COOPERATIVE, HINTON Matthew J. Lohr SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY, COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, […][...]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: SHANE SMITH
Smith became CEO of Smithfield Foods in 2021, just as Smithfield, the world’s largest pork product manufacturer and hog producer, said it would end slaughter operations in its hometown of Smithfield, the country’s self-proclaimed “ham capital.” Now, Smith is trying to navigate tricky financial waters as conservative po[...]
Government | Politics 2023: ROB WITTMAN
Elected to Congress in 2007, Republican Wittman represents parts of Richmond’s suburbs, as well as the Peninsula and regions east of Fredericksburg on the Chesapeake Bay. As of January, he chairs the House Armed Services Committee, and serves on the Natural Resources Committee. Although Wittman has co-sponsored bipartisan legi[...]
Law 2023: VICTOR O. CARDWELL
Cardwell grew up in a family that highly valued education, and after his sister went to law school, so did he. A University of Virginia and Washington and Lee law graduate, Cardwell now is one of the leaders at the state’s fifth largest law firm, which formed in 2022 with the merger of Vandeventer Black […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: DAVID GUM
Gum’s company, whose apple products east of the Mississippi are sold mostly under the White House Foods label, has been family-owned since 1908. Owned by the Armstrongs for 98 years, National Fruit was purchased by Gum in 2006, although he worked at the company since he was 20. The Gum family also owns Winchester-based furnitu[...]
How we assemble the Virginia 500
When I give my elevator speech about the Virginia 500, it usually starts this way: It’s like the Fortune 500, but instead of companies, it’s about people. Unlike the Fortune 500, which ranks companies by gross revenues, this is a more subjective list. Compiled via staff research, we catalog Virginia’s 500 most powerful lea[...]
Law 2023: DANIEL C. SUMMERLIN III
A Roanoke native, Summerlin practices law in areas ranging from administrative and regulatory — with an emphasis on environmental law — to labor and employment and litigation, as well as leading the direction of Virginia’s fifth largest law firm. Additionally, he counsels clients on government investigations and white-coll[...]
Energy 2023: ROBERT M. ‘BOB’ BLUE
Dominion’s CEO since 2020, Blue leads the Fortune 500 utility’s 17,000 employees, serving nearly 7 million customers in 13 states. Dominion also is powering ahead on its $9.8 billion, 176-turbine offshore wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach. Upon its projected 2026 completion, it will produce 2.6 gigawatts of energy, s[...]
