Sign In
Free Newsletter
Playing defense
What’s in a name? Perhaps a lot if you’re riding on the coattails of Boeing Co. and Raytheon Technologies Corp. The May and June 2022 announcements that Fortune 100 contractors Boeing and Raytheon would move their corporate headquarters to Arlington County generated plenty of buzz, but they didn’t dazzle like the 2018 anno[...]
A titanic win
After enduring the exodus of companies like Burlington Mills and Daystrom Furniture over the past two decades, Halifax County is celebrating its biggest manufacturing announcement in decades — the arrival of Virginia’s first titanium demonstration facility. Last fall, Charlotte, North Carolina-based IperionX Ltd., a minerals[...]
Surgical precision
Like many other businesses, health care systems are constantly consolidating and forging partnerships to create synergy. In 2022, one of Virginia’s longest awaited agreements finally crystallized: a merger between Eastern Virginia Medical School and Old Dominion University. The creation of Eastern Virginia Health Sciences Cent[...]
A time to build
The Shenandoah Valley Partnership had more economic development activity than “anyone anticipated in 2022,” says Jay Langston, the partnership’s executive director. During the calendar year, the partnership saw close to $140 million in investment and 520 jobs. In Fishersville, Amazon.com Inc. is building a $120 million, [...]
Paying it forward
In the last year, Virginia philanthropists continued making generous donations toward health care research, while others maintained their longstanding support of art museums. Leading the pack were two nine-figure donations for medical research. In February 2022, Dr. Todd Stravitz, who built his expertise researching and treating[...]
A ‘golden unicorn’
Chesterfield County Economic Development Director Garrett Hart and Managing Director Matt McLaren had no idea which global client a site selection consultant was representing when the county was approached in November 2021 to discuss a potential major economic development megaproject. “All we knew is that they were in manufact[...]
Take a load off
One thing Brian Dail noticed as he spent a day and a half in February 2020 participating in step van manufacturer Morgan Olson’s new hire training in Loudon, Tennessee, was the physical strain. After the first hour, he told his colleagues, “‘Gosh, I’m not used to being on my feet. I’m ready to sit down.’” […[...]
Ready for launch
Virginia’s version of the business accelerator doesn’t always rely on the traditional model of sponsorship by angel investors who provide capital for startups, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Here in the commonwealth, “it’s more founder-focused,” and accelerators are often run by nonprofit[...]
Ups and downs
Compared with the previous two years, 2022 was less of a roller coaster for the housing market in Virginia, but it still presented challenges for many would-be first-time homebuyers. As inflation rates grew, peaking at a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022, the Federal Reserve increased interest rates rapidly. Inflation fell to 6.[...]
Making the grade
For Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, this is the state’s rebuilding era. Although his Democratic predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam, trumpeted Virginia’s unprecedented consecutive two-time run as CNBC’s Top State for Business, Youngkin has been critical of the state missing out to our Southern neighboring states on big manufactu[...]
Resetting the bar
Two venerable Virginia law firms — Roanoke’s Woods Rogers PLC and Norfolk’s Vandeventer Black LLP — combined forces in July 2022, creating the state’s fifth largest firm, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC, based in Roanoke. It’s a true statewide firm, with branch offices in Norfolk, Richmond, Lynchburg and Charlotte[...]
On the move
Megan Baker, economic development director, Roanoke County In October 2022, Baker was hired to step into the big shoes of Jill Loope, the county’s longtime economic development director who is set to retire in July. A North Carolina State and Indiana University graduate, Baker came to the Roanoke Valley from the Atlanta area, where she […]
