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The great transformation
It’s been a year since Virginia recorded its first COVID-19 case, and nearly all of us have embraced new ways of living — and working. But with each passing day, a return to some semblance of normalcy feels closer to our reach. Even in the face of emerging coronavirus variants, there’s reason to be hopeful [&hellip[...]
Leadership lessons
Warren Thompson got his start as an entrepreneur at age 16, buying out his family’s hog business. It was a sideline enterprise his father had started at their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains to supplement his income as a teacher. Today, Thompson is the president and chairman of Reston-based Thompson Hospitality Corp., the[...]
Short and … sweet?
Even before the pandemic and ensuing recession took hold in Virginia, 2020 already had the makings for a novel year in the General Assembly. Having won majorities in both houses in the November 2019 elections, Democrats took back full control of the legislature for the first time in a generation. With Gov. Ralph Northam in [&hel[...]
War and peace
Like a lot of bosses in spring and summer 2020, Phebe Novakovic confronted challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic. It threatened lives and economies. Managers weren’t sure when some customers would be able to pay their bills. Employees were anxious; clients were understandably skittish. With travel shutting down, in-person [...]
Viva Virginia
Danville once stood tall as a driver of Virginia’s economy, an epicenter both for textile production at Dan River Mills and for tobacco when it was still the commonwealth’s golden leaf. Both industries came crashing down in the 2000s. A rising tide of public sentiment led to tobacco’s decline, and the federal q[...]
The big dig
With construction beginning this fall to expand the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), relief is on the way for travelers weary of sitting in traffic jams along one of south-eastern Virginia’s most congested corridors. The $3.8 billion expansion is the largest project in the history of the Virginia Department of Transport[...]
Is Trump good for business?
President Donald Trump entered the White House in 2017 with no political experience but a lifetime spent in business. Nearly four years later, with the incumbent Republican president up for reelection against Democrat Joe Biden, a former vice president who has been in politics for 50 years, Virginia voters are asking themselves:[...]
Moving the needle
A few years ago, Nadine Marsh-Carter and the staff of the small adoption agency she runs decided that to better represent the children they worked with, they needed board leadership that better reflected their clients. Founded 120 years ago, the Children’s Home Society of Virginia began with a focus on finding families to [...]
Virginia 500
Welcome to the inaugural edition of the Virginia 500 — The 2020 Power List. Read more about the power list and how we assembled the Virginia 500. Below you will find links to each of the 20 categories featuring the state’s top business leaders. Living Legends Agriculture Arts | Entertainment | Sports Economic Development[...]
(Re)open season
RELATED STORY: Busch Gardens set to reopen Aug. 6. Reclining against the Williamsburg greenery, the 180-foot-tall steel serpent awaits anyone brave enough to test their mettle against it. Measuring 3,300 feet in length and boasting a top speed of 73 miles per hour, it shares the name of a Roman temple dedicated to the gods: [&he[...]
The front line
Before the pandemic, disaster meant something different to most people — even hospital workers. “It’s preparing for worst-case scenarios,” says Dr. Sandy Simons, an emergency room physician at Bon Secours Richmond Community Hospital. “When you talk about disaster medicine, you train for a bomb going off.” A sin[...]
Sorry, we’re CLOSED
“April is the cruelest month,” T.S. Eliot wrote, but for the hospitality and tourism industries, the cruelty began in March. With conferences and conventions canceling reservations amid the pandemic, hotels and convention centers across the commonwealth have temporarily shut down operations, furloughing and laying off wo[...]
