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2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Torrece Gregoire
Known as “Chef T” from her time on the Fox TV reality cooking competition series “Hell’s Kitchen,” Gregoire is chef-owner of her Bristol-based restaurant, Union 41, which opened in 2023. Before that, the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts graduate was director of culinary operations at Draper Mercantile, based in [...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Carlos M. Brown
Brown assumed his current posts in January 2024 but joined the Fortune 500 utility as a senior counsel in 2007. Previously he was a managing partner at Brown Martin and practiced law at McGuireWoods. With two degrees from the University of Virginia, Brown currently serves as U.Va.’s vice rector and chairs the Virginia Museum o[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Jeremy Bridges
In 2023, Bridges joined the HRSA, which represents shipping companies in negotiations with International Longshoremen’s Association leaders in Hampton Roads. He previously was vice president of labor relations at CMA-CGM America and worked for the Pacific Maritime Association on the West Coast. A James Madison University alum,[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Mark Johnson
Johnson’s perhaps best known as a community leader in Hampton Roads. In 2011, he started work with SunTrust, after 17 years with the United Way, and in 2019, SunTrust and BB&T merged, creating Truist. In 2023, he was promoted to his current post, helping fund nonprofit community organizations. In 2022, he was honored at th[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Toni Stubbs
Stubbs was recognized in 2022 with the annual Women in Technology Award, presented by multiple cable telecommunications organizations. At Cox, Stubbs oversees network planning, engineering and telecommunications operations across the state, but she started with the company in Texas in 2005. She’s also Virginia chapter adviser [...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Rahni N. Jenkins
Jenkins has led the Geller Law Group’s operations and human resources since 2023, but she worked with the firm as a contract consultant beginning in 2020. Before that, Jenkins held leadership roles at the March of Dimes and advised Microsoft and other organizations. She holds DEI credentials from Cornell and is a doctoral cand[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Dana Weston Graves
In 2020, Graves joined Sentara as president of its Princess Anne Hospital, an acute-care facility in southern Virginia Beach. She was previously president and CEO of UNC Rockingham Health Care in North Carolina and has degrees from the University of North Carolina and Emory University. Graves also serves on the YMCA of South Ham[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Myra Goodman Smith
Last July, Smith announced her plans to retire in 2025 after 15 years at the helm of LMR, which among other programs offers an annual leadership training course known as Leadership Quest. A Richmond native, Smith spent more than two decades at United Way and is immediate past chair of the Jenkins Foundation, which funds [&hellip[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Clyde Clark Jr.
In addition to serving in Blue Ridge Bank’s middle market banking group, Clark is assistant treasurer of the Virginia Maritime Association board, board chair of the Urban League of Hampton Roads and past chair of the Chesapeake Economic Development Authority. Clark has worked in community banks for more than 30 years. FIRST JO[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Zenith Barrett
Since 2010, Barrett has worked in business and community engagement in western Virginia, both on the Western Virginia Workforce Development Board and at the regional Goodwill. In 2024, she became vice president of advancement, leading the nonprofit’s philanthropy, government affairs and engagement activities. FIRST JOB: I work[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Jennifer V. Montague
In 2023, Montague was named president and COO of Columbia Gas, after serving as parent company NiSource’s senior vice president and chief customer officer. Her time in the energy industry goes back decades, having previously worked at BP and Commonwealth Edison. Montague also serves on boards for the Virginia Chamber of Commer[...]
2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Shaun Buford
Buford joined radio giant Audacy in 2012 as director of sales, receiving the additional title of vice president in 2022. Before joining Audacy, he was sales manager for CBS/Viacom and New Jersey-based radio station WQXR. In April 2024, Buford and Audacy stepped in for the rescheduled Something in the Water and held a music festi[...]
