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Education 2024: JAVAUNE ADAMS-GASTON
Under Adams-Gaston’s leadership since 2019, Norfolk State has racked up achievements ranging from regularly ranking among U.S. News & World Report’s top 20 historically Black colleges and universities to attaining a 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commi[...]
Hospitality | Tourism 2024: ROY CORBY
Rivers Casino Portsmouth made history in January 2023, becoming the first permanent casino to open in Virginia. The 250,000-square-foot, $340 million casino created 1,300 permanent jobs locally. It had almost $250 million in gaming revenue in its first year of operation, generating an estimated $42 million in state and local tax[...]
Education 2024: TIMOTHY SANDS
Sands became the land-grant university’s 16th president in 2014 after serving as interim president at Purdue University. He signed a contract in August 2022 to stay on as president through the 2027 academic year. Sands has been leading development of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus, a $1 billion campus in Alexandri[...]
Manufacturing 2024: ROBERT H. SPILMAN JR.
Spilman has led Bassett Furniture as CEO since 2000, also becoming the company’s board chairman in 2016. He has been with the home furniture manufacturer and seller for four decades and succeeded his father, Robert H. Spilman Sr., as CEO. The company, with almost 90 locations nationally, reported a 19.6% decrease in net sa[...]
Real Estate 2024: MAGGIE REED
In April 2022, Gilbane Building tapped Reed to lead the business unit for its Richmond office. One of the construction company’s youngest vice presidents, she has managed over $1 billion in contracts during her career. She is responsible for driving sales and supervising more than 70 employees. In July, the Richmond Flying[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: STEPHEN TRUNDLE
Trundle has led Tysons-based home security tech company Alarm.com since May 2003, coming aboard from its founding parent company, MicroStrategy, where he served as chief technology officer. MicroStrategy sold the spinoff security business to investors in 2009, and Alarm.com, which now has 2,000 employees, went public in 2015. Al[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: THEODORE ‘TED’ COLBERT III
Colbert was named the head of Boeing’s defense, space and security sector in 2022. Colbert restructured the defense program, but Boeing is still years behind schedule on aircraft and tanker deliveries; his unit logged nearly $1 billion in losses in 2023 alone. In January, a Boeing official said that they plan to get the un[...]
Hospitality | Tourism 2024: CHRISTY S. COLEMAN
As head of the foundation administering two museums of early American history, Coleman is at the forefront of educators weaving a nuanced and inclusive story of American history. She is the first woman and the first person of color to serve as executive director of the state agency that operates Jamestown Settlement and the Amer[...]
Manufacturing 2024: BRADFORD ‘BRAD’ BEAUCHAMP
Beauchamp joined Carpenter in 2008 as national sales manager of its chemicals division. Twelve years later, he was promoted to CEO. Founded in 1950, Carpenter employs more than 6,500 people at its 70-plus locations worldwide. The company manufactures polyurethane foams and related fibers and chemicals for a wide range of industr[...]
Law 2024: JOHN P. FISHWICK JR.
One of Roanoke’s best-known attorneys, Fishwick also is a familiar face to national news viewers. A former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia nominated during the Obama administration, Fishwick regularly appears on national news outlets like MSNBC, Fox News and NBC News as a legal expert opining on current [...]
Economic Development 2024: BARRY DuVAL
A former state secretary of commerce and trade, DuVal has led the Virginia Chamber of Commerce for 14 years, during which time the business advocacy organization has grown from around 1,000 members to more than 29,000. DuVal and the chamber recently released the Blueprint Virginia 2030 plan, a strategy for positioning the common[...]
Education 2024: LT. GEN. DARRELL K. WILLIAMS (U.S. ARMY, RET.)
Williams served more than 37 years in the U.S. military and in 2022 became president of Hampton University, a private, historically Black university founded in 1868 — and Williams’ alma mater. A retired Army lieutenant general, Williams was the first Black director of the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics A[...]
