Midlothian lighting company promotes exec to CFO
Midlothian-based lighting and home decor company Shades of Light promoted Sean Acton to chief financial officer on Thursday. Acton was the company’s controller for about two years, and he will continue to oversee the accounting team until the company hires an accounting manager. Acton will take on oversight of the purchasing, [...]
Intelsat donates space artifact to Smithsonian
McLean-based satellite operator Intelsat Corp. has donated the launch backup of the first commercial communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The company donated the ground spare of the Intelsat 1 satellite, also known as Early Bird. Intelsat 1 was launched on April 6[...]
Roanoke Times union pickets over wages, mileage
The Roanoke Times’ newsroom union staged its first-ever picket line briefly Monday as a message to the newspaper’s owners, Lee Enterprises, which the union says won’t budge on requested salary and mileage reimbursement increases. Alison Graham, vice chair of the Timesland News Guild and a staff writer at The Ro[...]
Former deputy defense secretary named to lead NDIA
Former Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist will serve as the next president and CEO of the National Defense Industrial Association. An Arlington-based national security industry association, the NDIA on Thursday announced Norquist’s new position, which he will start May 1. Norquist has more than 30 years of experien[...]
Primed for affordable housing
Virginia Housing CEO Susan Dewey says Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion-plus HQ2 East Coast headquarters under construction in Arlington created a “launching pad” for awareness of the link between adequate, affordable workforce housing and economic development. Although Amazon expects to pay its 25,000 HQ2 employees generousl[...]
Greater Washington Partnership CEO steps down
Greater Washington Partnership CEO JB Holston has left the organization he has led since September 2020. Holston’s last day was Thursday, Nina Sharma, a partnership spokesperson confirmed to Virginia Business. It comes one day after the alliance of business and community leaders from Baltimore through Richmond announced a [...]
Hotel workers must complete anti-human trafficking training
RICHMOND, Va. — After a few lawmakers missed time during the session due to COVID-19, Del. Shelly A. Simonds, D-Newport News, said she was thrilled to see all 100 members of the House unanimously pass a bill requiring hotels to provide human trafficking training for employees. “It was really exciting for me to watch the [...]
Va. Energy seeks applications for mine reclamation projects
Companies with three or more years of mining and reclamation experience may apply for a chance to bid on the state’s Abandoned Mine Land projects, the Virginia Department of Energy announced this week. Projects involve removing safety hazards and environmental issues resulting from coal mining before 1977. Applicants will [...]
Legislators nipped Va.’s budding cannabis industry, advocates say
RICHMOND, Va. — Jacob Williamson grows, makes and sells hemp-based CBD products through his family’s Hens and Hemp farm. He went through the permitting process to be a hemp farmer when it became legal in 2019, but now he is leaving the industry. “We can’t keep up with the multimillion-dollar cannabis industry com[...]
Stihl Inc. names new president and CEO
Virginia Beach-based chainsaw and outdoor power equipment manufacturer Stihl Inc. has appointed Terrence “Terry” Horan as the company’s president and CEO effective April 1, the company announced in a news release Thursday. Stihl Inc. is the largest subsidiary of the global Stihl Group and employs more than 3,000 U.S. w[...]
Ridge View banks on Roanoke region
Drawn by the Blue Ridge’s “blue-collar atmosphere,” a new bank has set up shop in the Roanoke region. Ridge View Bank, a division of Pennsylvania-based CNB Bank, opened for business in October 2021 and plans to be headquartered in the city of Roanoke next year. “We’re not ready to disclose the exact location yet,” sa[...]
Private accounts
One of Terrell Strayhorn’s first assignments as Virginia Union University’s provost was to win final approval for graduate programs seen as a key mechanism for enrollment growth. It was the early months of the pandemic, he recalls, and the Richmond university was also “knee deep” in the reaffirmation of its accreditation[...]