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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[...]
Banking | Finance 2024: VIKRAM ‘VIK’ ATAL
PRA Group, a global business that acquires and collects on nonperforming loans, reported a net loss of $83.5 million in fiscal 2023, after reporting a net income of $117.1 million in 2022. In a letter to shareholders about 2023 numbers, Atal, explained that when he was named CEO in March 2023, his goal was to […]
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[...]
Living Legends 2024: CLYDE STACY
Stacy, a former coal mining executive who headed Rapoca Energy, founded Par Ventures in 2000. In 2018, he purchased the vacant Bristol Mall for $2.6 million through Par Ventures and partnered with high school chum Jim McGlothlin to build Virginia’s first casino. Stacy and McGlothlin were instrumental in changing state gambling[...]
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 […]
Government | Politics 2024: GLENN YOUNGKIN
Youngkin’s victory in the 2021 gubernatorial race catapulted the former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group into the national spotlight. Politicos quickly seized on the affable businessman as a potential alternative to Donald Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, a possibility Youngkin neither openly embraced nor disavo[...]
Banking | Finance 2024: DIETRICH KUHLMANN
Kuhlmann took the helm at the credit union March 1, replacing Mary McDuffie, who was Navy Federal’s first woman CEO. She retired after 25 years with the financial institution, including five as CEO. After retiring from the U.S. Navy as a rear admiral, Kuhlmann joined Navy Federal in 2019 as head of branch operations. He [&hell[...]
Living Legends 2024: RALPH SAMPSON
University of Virginia basketball legend Sampson already has made his stamp on state history. After winning three Naismith Awards as the National Player of the Year, the 7-foot-4 Sampson graduated from U.Va. in 1983 and played for the Houston Rockets through 1987. The Harrisonburg native won the NBA Rookie of the Year award in t[...]
Economic Development 2024: JONATHAN S. BELCHER
As leader of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority since 2006, Belcher has helped bring new jobs to Southwest Virginia through numerous economic development deals. Two notable job announcements in the past year have included 170 jobs at data center company Tate in its access floors division, announced in November[...]
Real Estate 2024: ALBERT G. ‘BEAU’ VAN METRE JR.
Van Metre’s late father founded his family real estate development company in 1955, partnering with B.B. Wills to build the first Van Metre Homes in Burke, a Fairfax County suburb. Beau Van Metre joined the company in 1963. In 2002, he was appointed vice chairman, and he became chairman in 2008. Today, the company has [&hellip[...]
Real Estate 2024: ROBERT C. ‘BOB’ KETTLER
While a student at George Washington University in 1974, Kettler got his start in real estate by remodeling apartments. A third-generation builder and the product of a long line of real estate developers, he left school to focus on work. After discovering a passion for community development, he founded real estate development co[...]
Banking | Finance 2024: VICTOR K. BRANCH
This year, Branch celebrates his 40th year at Bank of America. Since 2015, he has served as president of the bank’s Richmond market. He’s also chair of the Virginia Bankers Association board, which approved a merger with the Maryland Bankers Association to create the Mid-Atlantic Bankers Association holding company in July. [...]
