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Finance/Insurance: JEFF WRIGHT
With nearly two decades of experience in the insurance industry, Wright was promoted in February to CEO of Allianz Partners USA, a travel insurance and assistance company. He replaces Elena Edwards, who was promoted to chief markets officer at parent company Allianz Partners Group. Allianz has more than 19,000 workers globally, [...]
Finance/Insurance: MARY McDUFFIE
McDuffie accepted a vice president of marketing position at Navy Federal Credit Union in 1999 because she liked that the top mission of the world’s largest credit union was serving members — not padding shareholders’ pockets. “I was excited by Navy Federal’s commitment to serve those in uniform and their families and t[...]
Hospitality/Tourism: ROBERT GRAY
Gray’s grandparents moved to Philadelphia in the 1920s to escape racism in Virginia. Even so, Gray still got a taste of life at their former home, the 1,600-acre Pamunkey Indian Reservation in King William County, when his family visited there on holidays and in the summers. Gray, who holds a bachelor’s degree in physical th[...]
Retail/Wholesale: ANDREW CHOE
In April, Choe oversaw the opening of StarKist’s new global headquarters in Reston, with room for more than 70 corporate employees. Then-Gov. Ralph Northam announced in 2021 that the tuna and chicken purveyor would invest $3.6 million to move its corporate and administrative headquarters from Pittsburgh to Fairfax County. Choe[...]
Retail/Wholesale: SHANE SMITH
Smith’s first year as CEO of Smithfield Foods has been busy and filled with challenges. He took his post a few days after the company, the world’s largest pork product manufacturer and hog producer, announced it would stop slaughtering pigs in Smithfield, its hometown. He also scheduled the closing of Smithfield’s operatio[...]
2022 Virginia 500: Education
MAKOLA M. ABDULLAH PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY, ETTRICK JAVAUNE ADAMS-GASTON PRESIDENT, NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY, NORFOLK JONATHAN R. ALGER PRESIDENT, JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY, HARRISONBURG PETER BLAKE DIRECTOR, STATE COUNCIL OF HIGHER EDUCATION FOR VIRGINIA, RICHMOND LANCE R. COLLINS VICE PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA TECH INNOVATION CAMPUS, ALEXANDRIA [&[...]
Education: JONATHAN R. ALGER
As president of James Madison University, Alger led the public university’s $200 million fundraising campaign and the building of an 8,500-seat arena and academic buildings. He also oversaw the implementation of a COVID-19 vaccination campaign and the renaming of three academic buildings previously named for Confederates. In A[...]
Federal Contractors/Technology: AMY GILLILAND
In an industry in which many workers depend on security clearances, last year Gilliland launched “How are you, really?” an internal campaign to destigmatize mental health issues and encourage treatment among employees in need. With a workforce of more than 30,000, including 8,250 employees in Virginia, Gilliland says what ma[...]
Federal Contractors/Technology: CLAYTON P. TURNER
Turner launched his career at NASA in 1990 as a design engineer with the federal space agency’s Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment project. Over the years, he’s worked on many other projects, including the flight test of the Ares 1-X rocket and the entry, descent and landing segment for the 2012 Mars Curiosity rover missio[...]
Hospitality/Tourism: DOUG BRADBURN
In late 2017, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association announced Bradburn as their pick as president and CEO of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, the historic home of the first U.S. president and his wife, Martha Washington. Bradburn previously served as founding director for the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of G[...]
Nonprofits/Philanthropy: TIM ROSE
Rose has led U.Va.’s foundation, which was originally created as the U.Va. Real Estate Foundation, for around three decades. With bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Miami University, Rose came to U.Va. for his doctorate and also served as an assistant vice president for administration. The foundation provides real estate[...]
Retail/Wholesale: MICHAEL AKROP
Leesa executives wooed Akrop to the American-made mattress company in 2018, seeking his 15-plus years of experience in building up e-commerce startups like Vroom, which matches sellers and buyers of cars online, and Zappos.com, an online shoe retailer. “They put me up at a hotel right on the Oceanfront at a beautiful time of y[...]
