Manufacturing 2024: THOMAS E. ‘TEDDY’ GOTTWALD
Gottwald joined NewMarket, parent company of Afton Chemical and Ethyl, in 1984 and worked in its petroleum additives and former plastics businesses before succeeding his father, Bruce, as chairman of the board two decades later. NewMarket traces its roots to Ethyl Gasoline Corp., a company acquired in 1962 by Albemarle Paper Man[...]
Manufacturing 2024: ANDY GIRVIN
Girvin manages the largest factory for chemical manufacturer AdvanSix, which boasts approximately 750 workers. In 1994, he joined Honeywell as a project engineer, working as global asset manager for its resin and chemicals division, which was spun off into AdvanSix in 2016. In spring 2023, Girvin faced challenges, including near[...]
Manufacturing 2024: KAI FRIEDRICH
Friedrich joined Liebherr’s U.S. operations in 2021 as its managing director and director of the global company’s earthmoving and material- handling technology. He also serves as a divisional director for construction equipment. Friedrich has worked for the Swiss equipment manufacturer for two decades, previously serving in [...]
Education 2024: DONNA PRICE HENRY
Henry is the college’s first female chancellor since its founding in 1954 as a junior college with two buildings. She presides over a four-year liberal arts college encompassing 396 acres with 26 main buildings, attended by more than 1,900 students. Chancellor since 2013, Henry previously spent 16 years in a variety of positio[...]
Health Care 2024: MELINA DAVIS
The board of the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV), a trade organization that represents more than 30,000 physicians, physician assistants, residents and medical students, brought Davis on as its executive vice president in 2014 and made her its CEO four years later. During the Virginia General Assembly’s 2020 session, Davis[...]
Health Care 2024: SETH BLACKLEY
Blackley founded Evolent Health in 2011 with fellow Harvard Business School alums Frank Williams and Tom Peterson with a goal of providing technology to help health systems shifting to value-based care — where payment is connected to patient outcomes. In 2015, Evolent debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, raising $195 millio[...]
Manufacturing 2024: JON MOORE
Since 2019, Moore has served as president and CEO of tobacco products manufacturer Philip Morris USA, maker of Marlboro cigarettes. He has worked under parent company Altria Group since 2003, serving as vice president of its heated tobacco products division and director of marketing for NuMark, Altria’s early e-vapor subsidiar[...]
Law 2024: VICTOR O. CARDWELL
A native of Lynchburg, Cardwell was chair of the board of directors of Roanoke law firm Woods Rogers in 2022, a position he held onto after the merger of his firm and Norfolk’s Vandeventer Black that year. Cardwell, who became the first Black president of the Virginia Bar Association in 2022, continues as a leader […]
Telecommunications 2024: MATTHEW J. DESCH
Desch joined Iridium as CEO in 2006, took the company public in 2009 and subsequently replaced its first-generation network with new satellites that are expected to last into the mid-to-late 2030s. Iridium has been inventing new services and finding new partners since. In April, the global satellite communications company acquir[...]
Professional Services 2024: JEREMY BLANK
With nearly three decades under his belt at Deloitte, Blank was promoted in January from head of the Big Four global accounting firm’s Greater Washington market to a national role as U.S. tax chief strategy officer. In his new job, Blank oversees services for national and global tax clients, including specializations such as t[...]
Retail 2024: MICHAEL SEVER
Sever, a longtime Hershey employee, was named plant manager of the candymaker’s Stuarts Draft manufacturing facility in 2022. He had previously been site operations leader at the facility, which produces nut-based candies like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Almond Joy. The plant, which opened in 1982, is the second largest o[...]
Transportation 2024: WILLIAM E. ‘BILL’ WOODHOUR
A University of Delaware alumnus, Woodhour has devoted 32 years to Maersk Line, rising to president and CEO in 2016. Headquartered in Virginia with offices in Norfolk and Dulles, Maersk is the U.S. arm of Danish shipping giant A.P. Møller-Mærsk and has the largest U.S. flag fleet in commercial service. The company was in the [[...]