Sign In
Free Newsletter
Thicker than water
“It isn’t personal. It’s just business.” Those phrases are too often used in the commercial world, but they just don’t apply when talking about most family-run enterprises. The business of running these companies is deeply personal. The priorities of family businesses “go well beyond financial concerns,” says B[...]
Staying strong
No one could have predicted 2020 would bring such dramatic changes. Civil unrest after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, coupled with a once-in-a-century pandemic, is accelerating social and economic changes around the country, including in the Richmond region. Once the capital of the Confederacy, Richmond began[...]
Sailing for the horizon
Tariff wars and the COVID-19 pandemic delivered a one-two punch to the Port of Virginia, but officials are focusing on the positive as expansions are completed at the port’s two largest terminals, and a dredging project to make Virginia the East Coast’s deepest port is running ahead of schedule. The third-largest East Coast [...]
![Lisa A. Bertini, owner of Virginia Beach-based Bertini Law PC, was forced to furlough her associate and receptionist due to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic. “It was unsettling,” she says. “I was worried about [paying] rent and meeting payroll.” Photo by Mark Rhodes](https://virginiabusiness.com/files/1/2020/08/Bertini-VaBus-Sept2020-5010.jpg)
Law and disorder
The coronavirus pandemic shutdowns led some Virginia law firms to furlough employees and cut pay. Will an onslaught of COVID-19-related litigation be enough to prevent another wave of cutbacks? Bill Van Buren, president and chairman of Norfolk-based Kaufman & Canoles PC, estimates that staffing levels at law firms throughout[...]
Pipeline to progress?
Although Dominion Energy Inc. has pulled the plug on its $8 billion-plus Atlantic Coast Pipeline, natural gas remains a linchpin in the Richmond-based utility’s plan to shift from coal to renewable energy sources like wind and solar for electricity generation. Dominion announced over the Fourth of July weekend that it was aban[...]
Tech talent factory
Lance R. Collins was hired to lead Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus in one world, but he begins work Aug. 1 in another. But the Innovation Campus’ new vice president and executive director sees the disruption fueled by the pandemic and recession as only sharpening the mission of Tech’s initiative to create a te[...]
Commercial real estate firms
Subscribe to Virginia Business. Get our daily e-newsletter.
The new normal
For those returning to the office after months of working remotely, the novel coronavirus has turned the workplace into a potential microbial minefield. What danger lurks on the surface of the break room table? What invisible pathogens spread silently through the vents of the HVAC system? And what of the frequently used door han[...]
Blurred lines?
The battle between banks and credit unions is flaring up again and it could wind up before the Supreme Court of Virginia. Bankers say nonprofit credit unions are morphing into roles that look like traditional banks, becoming larger than many community banks while facing lighter tax and regulatory burdens, giving the credit union[...]
The mouse that roars
Arlington County encompasses an area of just 26 square miles, making it geographically the smallest self-governing county in America. But in many ways, it is the mouse that roars. In November 2018, Arlington snagged the biggest economic prize in Virginia — and possibly U.S. — history when Amazon.com Inc. announced it would b[...]
Legislative Briefing
Virginia lawmakers considered an array of bills impacting businesses and the state economy. Here’s a look at some key actions taken during the 2020 session: Casinos Virginia lawmakers passed legislation opening the door for casinos but only in five localities: Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond. A study by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review […]
Gifts of healing
When tech entrepreneur Pete Snyder and his wife, Burson, returned home to Charlottesville from taking their 5-year-old daughter to Walt Disney World this spring, they came home to a business community struggling after COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. “Our view is we’re at war right now,” Snyder says. “It has two fronts: One [...]
