Retail 2024: RICK DREILING
Dreiling’s first year as Dollar Tree’s CEO has seen a continuation of some of the tumult that preceded his time leading the Fortune 500 discount retailer. The chain reported $30.6 billion in revenue in fiscal 2023, but a $1.7 billion loss in the fourth quarter. Following that poor performance, the company announced it would [...]
Economic Development 2024: STEPHANIE LANDRUM
Landrum has led the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership since 2015. She joined the partnership nearly 20 years ago, serving as acting executive director for two years before stepping up to senior vice president. Before coming to AEDP, Landrum was a project coordinator at Southeast Fairfax Development Corp. The site of Al[...]
Banking | Finance 2024: MARK A. FRANTZ
Co-founded by Frantz in 2009, Blue Delta is a venture capital firm that supports growth-stage companies providing technology solutions to the federal government. In April, Blue Delta announced it had invested $25 million in Maryland’s Herrick Technology Laboratories, a provider of software-defined radio (which relies on soft[...]
Nonprofits | Philanthropy 2024: TRAVIS STATON
The United Way of Southwest Virginia named its president and CEO, Staton, to lead Endless Opportunity, or EO, in February. EO is a new nonprofit, spun off of the United Way chapter, focused on workforce development programs. As EO’s leader, Staton manages a $10 million portfolio of grant-funded economic development, workforce [...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: CHRISTOPHER D. KASTNER
A graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Pepperdine University, Kastner was tapped as Huntington Ingalls Industries’ president and CEO in March 2022. HII reported revenue of $11.5 billion last year, a 7.3% increase from 2022, and a total project backlog of $43.1 billion as of Dec. 31, 2023. The Fortune 50[...]
Telecommunications 2024: J.D. MYERS II
Myers joined Cox Communications in 2006 as vice president of the company’s business services, steadily ascending through the ranks to his current position as senior vice president and region manager, east region. He leads the home and business telecommunications and cable TV provider’s day-to-day operations for much of the e[...]
Economic Development 2024: CAREN MERRICK
Years before she was appointed to serve in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration, Merrick and her husband, Phillip Merrick, founded webMethods, a software company that helped businesses connect data from disparate systems via the web. The company grew steadily from the mid-1990s tech boom until the business sold to Software AG [...]
Health Care 2024: STEVE ARNER
In July, just a little over a year after he was promoted to president of Carilion Clinic, Arner was tapped to succeed Nancy Howell Agee as the Roanoke-based health system’s CEO, effective Oct. 1. Agee, who is retiring and will take the title of CEO emeritus, had led the $2.4 billion not-for-profit health system since […[...]
Real Estate 2024: MILES LEON
As leader of one of the largest real estate development companies in the Southeastern United States, Leon is responsible for all company operations and new business development. Founded in 1906, the firm has a property management portfolio exceeding 30,000 multifamily units. Among other deals, the company is handling Texas con[...]
Law 2024: JOHN ‘JACK’ LAVOIE
Joining Cooley in 2008, Lavoie leads the firm’s real estate practice group. His practice centers on real estate transactions, including buying, selling, developing and leasing office, industrial and retail properties. Lavoie represents landlords, tenants, lenders and borrowers in the leasing, financing and repositioning of com[...]
Law 2024: A. BENJAMIN SPENCER
James Randolph Spencer was the first Black federal judge in Virginia and, later, the first Black chief judge serving on the Eastern District of Virginia bench. His wife, Margaret P. Spencer, was a 13th Judicial Circuit judge for 16 years, as well as a law professor at William & Mary. Their son Benjamin Spencer is […[...]
Transportation 2024: RANDY CLARKE
Clarke took leadership of WMATA in 2022 and since has been working to increase ridership and add fleets to the Metrorail and Metrobus. One of the transportation system’s biggest challenges has been its budget, with ridership way down from the pandemic and construction costs up during recent inflation. However, Metro avoided a [...]