2020 Virginia’s Fantastic 50
A list of Virginia’s fastest-growing companies, the 2020 Fantastic 50. Subscribe to Virginia Business. Get our daily e-newsletter.
Va. Beach contractor lands $782M Navy contract
Navy veteran Terry Spitzer has dedicated much of his career to manufacturing equipment to be used by his former U.S. Armed Forces branch. In April, Global Technical Systems (GTS), the Virginia Beach-based company Spitzer and his wife, Yusun, co-founded in 1997, landed a $782 million contract to manufacture equipment for the Navy[...]
Danville, Pittsylvania land on top ‘micropolitan’ list
A yin-and-yang approach has led to business success in the city of Danville and Pittsylvania County, which were collectively named the No. 6 micropolitan area in the nation by Site Selection Magazine in April. It’s the third time the region has landed in the top 10 list, which is based on economic development deals in [&he[...]
A catalyst for change
An unhappy customer was the engine for change at Alpha Omega Integration LLC — and is a major factor the Vienna-based information technology solutions company attributes to its success. Alpha Omega won an IT contract from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Information Resource Management in 2018. But three weeks la[...]
Cash crop?
Petunias, plants, strawberries, meat, tomatoes and more have been the primary revenue sources for Rolling Meadows Farms during the past 31 years. Tim Belcher took over the 400-acre Martinsville family farm in 1989 after his father retired. Now, the farm has a new product line and Belcher has high hopes that it could run neck [&h[...]
High-rise horizon
The numbers are mind-boggling. During the next decade, Amazon.com Inc. plans to develop about 6 million square feet of office space in Arlington County’s Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard areas to accommodate the mammoth e-tailer’s new HQ2 East Coast headquarters. That’s almost as large as the bigges[...]
A watershed moment
Only a few months ago, the economies of the historic port city of Norfolk and the greater Hampton Roads region, with which it is inextricably intertwined, were continuing to rebound after emerging from what Old Dominion University’s 2019 State of the Region report has called “the lost decade.” During the period from 20[...]
Charting growth
As the Virginia Chamber of Commerce marks its 25th year of celebrating the commonwealth’s 50 fastest-growing companies, this unfortunately will be the first year that Virginia’s Fantastic 50 award winners haven’t been recognized with an in-person event. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Fantast[...]
Leveraging the past
Vernon Green served 20 years, five months and 18 days in the Army, retiring in 2014 as a chief warrant officer after three deployments to Iraq and one to Kuwait. Today he heads his own information technology and cybersecurity business responsible for 10 major government projects. And he hires veterans like himself. During his ti[...]
On deck
There’s massive work underway in the Hampton Roads maritime industry, with much more on the horizon. The region is hiring, big-time. But are there enough qualified candidates to fill the jobs? Regional leaders want to get ahead of the question, they say, considering the window of opportunity and what’s at stake for t[...]
Charlottesville Chamber launches local economic recovery initiative
The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday announced the launch of Project Rebound, a local economic recovery initiative to address the COVID-19 economic crisis. The project, hosted by The Chamber and economic offices at the University of Virginia, Albemarle County and the city of Charlottesville, aims to bring together local businesses to discuss challenges […]
Regional group forms to bring in manufacturing jobs
Like many rural communities, Mecklenburg County relies on regional cooperation to boost its economy. A newly formed partnership — Virginia’s Manufacturing Region — is a regional coalition to market Southern Virginia as a top destination for manufacturing jobs. It’s a bit like a supergroup, with Virginia’s G[...]