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Finance | Insurance
JOHN ASBURY PRESIDENT AND CEO, ATLANTIC UNION BANKSHARES, RICHMOND A native of Radford who graduated from Virginia Tech and received his MBA at William & Mary, Asbury now leads the largest regional bank headquartered in Virginia. Atlantic Union, which employs 1,839 people in Virginia, reported $677 million in revenue in 2020. It also has $19.6 […]
Hospitality | Tourism
NEIL P. AMIN CEO, SHAMIN HOTELS, RICHMOND The past year has been a bit of a mixed bag for Amin and Shamin Hotels, one of the United States’ largest independent hoteliers. Shamin, which owns more than 60 hotels, saw its Hilton Richmond Hotel and Spa in Short Pump enter receivership in January after falling behind on […]
Transportation
ED ALDRIDGE PRESIDENT, CMA CGM AMERICA LLP AND APL NORTH AMERICA, NORFOLK Aldridge took over as president of CMA CGM America in June 2020, and he has served as president of CMA CGM subsidiary North America, the nation’s oldest ocean carrier, since 2017. In February, the French company announced the $36 million expansion of its […]
Virginia Business 3.0
Welcome to the second annual edition of the Virginia 500. Last year’s inaugural publication, published in the depths of a pandemic-constrained economy, was quite a surprise — in fact, it was the most successful new product launch in the history of Virginia Business. Publishing a directory of the commonwealth’s most powerful and influential leaders fits […]
Real Estate
J. SCOTT ADAMS REGIONAL PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA AND RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC., NORFOLK Asked to name one thing he’d change about Virginia, Adams says he’d like to see more collaboration between the commonwealth and North Carolina. Chances are that has at least a little to do with the fact that in fall 2020, […]
Federal Contractors | Technology
CRAIG P. ABOD PRESIDENT, CARAHSOFT TECHNOLOGY CORP., RESTON Abod has built Carahsoft into a $6 billion company over the past 17 years. With 1,900 employees, Abod has led Carahsoft to become a top-ranked General Services Administration schedule and NASA’s Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) contract holder that provides solutions to more than 3,000 prime contractors, […]
Professional Services
RAND BLAZER PRESIDENT, APEX SYSTEMS LLC, FAIRFAX COUNTY Blazer has been with Apex Systems since 2007, after nearly 30 years with KPMG US LLC. The former U.S. Army captain has helped Apex, based in Glen Allen, grow into a firm with roughly 2,640 employees across the state. Apex and its parent company, ASGN Inc., together […]
Nonprofits | Philanthropy
SHERRIE ARMSTRONG PRESIDENT AND CEO, COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR A GREATER RICHMOND, RICHMOND Historians will likely focus on two things regarding 2020: COVID-19 and protesters hitting the streets to demand racial justice. Under Armstrong’s leadership, the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond worked to address both the pandemic and social justice. The philanthropic organization manages more […][...]
Media
DOUG DAVIS SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND REGIONAL MANAGER, NEXSTAR MEDIA INC., PORTSMOUTH Davis is the point person in Virginia for the country’s largest broadcast television group. Based in Portsmouth, home to WAVY and WVBT’s studios, the New Jersey native came up through the sales and management side of the business, serving in account executive, sales […]
Government | Politics
HALA AYALA DELEGATE, VIRGINIA HOUSE OF DELEGATES; DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR,PRINCE WILLIAM County Part of the new guard of Democratic state lawmakers, Ayala won her seat in the House of Delegates in 2017 by defeating a five-term GOP incumbent. This spring, she beat a full field of opponents to win the Democratic nomination for […]
Education
MAKOLA M. ABDULLAH PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY, ETTRICK While many college presidents enjoy basketball, few have Abdullah’s moves. In March, a video of him tying up an opponent went viral, receiving millions of views and appearing on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” Abdullah has overseen dramatic turnarounds at Virginia State University since he became its 14th president in […][...]
Retail | Wholesale
MICHAEL AKROP CEO, LEESA SLEEP LLC, VIRGINIA BEACH Akrop, who was Leesa Sleep’s president and chief operating officer, earned a promotion in January, becoming the online mattress retailer’s CEO. He has an extensive background in digital startups, having logged nearly a decade at Zappos, the online shoe retailer, and then two years at Vroom, a […]
