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Closing the digital divide: It’s not optional
With the Senate’s passage of a massive infrastructure bill, there is rare and refreshing bipartisan consensus on the need to close the digital divide, which came into sharp focus during the pandemic. As much of daily life, including work and school, shifted online, underserved communities faced huge obstacles to productivi[...]
The Mailroom August 2021
More energy alternatives The “Rolling out the red carpet” article in your June issue outlined how economic development officials foresee the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project “becoming an East Coast hub” for offshore wind operations. It is also worth noting that solar and electric bus projects are progressing throug[...]
Hot time, summer in Virginia
Thus far, we’ve been spared from the heat wave that gripped Oregon, as well as the drought hitting California, not to mention western wildfires. But summer is still always a hot time here in Virginia. Looking back, it wasn’t until 1968 that the commonwealth passed liquor-by-the-drink legislation. In addition to slaki[...]
What’s good for HBCUs is good for Virginia business
Earlier this year, I issued a call for the commonwealth to confront and reassess its disproportionate support of its historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). I wrote a letter to the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the respective leadership of the General Assembly. At this juncture, I have not rec[...]
Seizing our future by creating value together
Here in Virginia and across the nation we are witnessing an unprecedented effort to create greater equity — in consideration, treatment, opportunity and investment — throughout our society. Media attention has focused intently on what governments are doing to evolve their policies, but businesses are rapidly transforming as [...]
Lessons from COVID-19
For most of us, March 13 marked the one-year anniversary of our worlds ceasing to operate normally. We remember institutions closing, schools shuttering, and that last day in the office. These pandemic times have compelled me to reflect, learn and remember. I was making ham biscuits for Easter when I heard Merle Haggard’s [...]
A supersized lesson
In late March, the shipping industry almost went sideways. In darkness and buffeted by sandstorm winds, the supersized 1,312-foot Ever Given container ship’s bow snagged a sandbar on a bank of the Suez Canal. Its stern drifted toward the other bank, leaving the ship diagonally blocking one of the world’s busiest wate[...]
Guest opinion: A pandemic game-changer
Each year, we lament the relative instability of the international shipping industry, analyzing unpredicted challenges and looking for signs of smoother sailing in the months ahead. It goes without saying that 2020 set a new bar for instability across the board. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread and lockdowns were implemented in t[...]
35 years of storytelling
My favorite day every month comes when a new issue of Virginia Business lands on my desk. Each magazine tracks emerging economic trends and the ongoing evolution of business leadership in the commonwealth. But for me, the impact is much more than just a good read about important business topics. Each issue of this magazine [&hel[...]
The Mailroom: Day of reckoning
In December, Virginia Business kindly published my letter calling for bipartisan cooperation to seek solutions to key issues facing the commonwealth — COVID, preparing our future workforce, universal broadband and providing better public safety services. I also said business leaders must demand that those seeking political office in 2021 should articulate how they will rise […]
A moment for change
Growing up in 1960s and ’70s Virginia, racism was always present, in forms direct and subtle. Each experience carried a message: to “know your place” and stay there. During my years as a student at Dinwiddie County High School, I remember being in the crowd when we hosted majority-Black Petersburg High School for a foo[...]
5 ways Va. can put people back to work and transform higher education
It’s tempting these days to believe that once COVID-19 is contained, the U.S. economy will bounce back quickly, replenishing jobs and incomes lost in the pandemic. Yet there are early warning signs that when the labor market fully reopens, some high-demand jobs may be hard to fill even with millions of Americans looking fo[...]
