Sign In
Free Newsletter
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 […]
Energy
EDWARD H. ‘ED’ BAINE PRESIDENT, DOMINION ENERGY VIRGINIA, RICHMOND Baine is an example of the American dream made real. He grew up poor, working on his family’s tobacco farm in Lunenburg County, where, he says, he learned the value of hard work, dedication and responsibility. He subsequently applied that lesson during his more than […]
Health care
NANCY HOWELL AGEE PRESIDENT AND CEO, CARILION CLINIC, ROANOKE Agee leads Carilion Clinic, a nonprofit integrated health system that serves more than 1 million people in Virginia and West Virginia and is the Roanoke Valley’s largest employer. Agee began her career in health care as a nurse, then moved into leadership roles at Carilion. As […]
Law
FARHAD AGHDAMI MANAGING PARTNER, RICHMOND OFFICE, WILLIAMS MULLEN, RICHMOND In his 22-year career with Williams Mullen, the state’s third-largest law firm, Aghdami has focused on high-net-worth individuals and families, middle-market business owners, institutional fiduciaries and charitable entities. An expert in wealth transfer tax and business succession, he has published numerous articles on private-wealth law. He […][...]
Aiming for the max score
As we assembled this second annual edition of the Virginia 500, I found myself visualizing a dartboard — with 500 darts. In choosing the top 500 Virginia executives and power players in business, higher education and government/politics, several are guaranteed to strike the inner bull’s-eye. I’m certain we can all agree that the leaders of […]
Manufacturing
R. MARCUS ‘MARC’ AMMEN CEO, UNIVERSAL FIBER SYSTEMS LLC, BRISTOL Ammen has led the Bristol-based fiber manufacturer for 12 years, overseeing its two business units — Universal Fiber, which makes solution-dyed, synthetic filament-based fibers, and Premiere Fibers Inc., based in North Carolina, which produces manmade fibers. Founded in 1969, the company also has manufacturing facilities […][...]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports
TONY BENNETT DEAN AND MARKEL FAMILIES MEN’S HEAD BASKETBALL COACH, VIRGINIA CAVALIERS MEN’S BASKETBALL, CHARLOTTESVILLE The University of Virginia men’s basketball team fell victim to a positive COVID-19 test in March, forcing it to withdraw from the ACC Tournament — a “gut punch,” Bennett called it. The team was cleared in time to play in […]
Living Legends
FRANK BATTEN JR. CHAIRMAN, DOMINION ENTERPRISES, NORFOLK Batten’s 13-year quest to sell his family’s newspaper holdings was accomplished in May 2021, when Paxton Media Group announced it was purchasing the Landmark Community Newspaper group of 47 daily and weekly newspapers. Landmark had previously sold off The Virginian-Pilot and The Roanoke Times, where Batten once worked […]
Big deals
CENTRAL VIRGINIA Chesterfield County: Carvana, an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars, plans to invest $25 million to establish a 191,000-square-foot vehicle inspection and reconditioning facility in the county with the potential to create more than 400 jobs. The project, announced in 2019, was delayed by the pa[...]
Virginia’s Fortune 500 companies
Once again, Virginia is well represented on the Fortune 500, with 22 companies from the commonwealth making this year’s list, which ranks the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States by total revenue. Mortgage finance company Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (“Freddie Mac”) continues to top Virginia&#[...]
A second, more nuanced victory for Virginia
In July, Virginia retained its place as CNBC’s Top State for Business, becoming the first state to achieve the honor twice in a row and five times in all. And yet, the commonwealth feels worlds away from July 2019, the last time the cable business news network released its rankings. Two years ago, Northern Virginia [&helli[...]
