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Law 2024: BRADLEY J. LINGO
In the U.S. News & World Report’s 2024-25 ranking of the nation’s best law schools, Regent University ranked No. 108 — rising 17 places from the previous year. Part of the private conservative Christian university founded by the late televangelist and cable TV magnate Pat Robertson, Regent’s law school pr[...]
Living Legends 2024: LOUIS ‘LOU’ HADDAD
In the past 40 years, Haddad has spent his career building and shaping the Armada Hoffler construction and development company founded in 1979. In 1985, he started his career there as an on-site construction superintendent, quickly moving up to president of the firm’s construction arm. Nine years later, before he’d e[...]
Banking | Finance 2024: LAWRENCE ‘LARRY’ BERNERT III
After Clearstead Advisors, an Ohio-based financial advisory firm, acquired the assets of Norfolk-based Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management in April, Bernert’s job evolved from principal and portfolio manager to senior managing director for Clearstead Advisory Solutions, which is a division of Clearstead. Previou[...]
Real Estate 2024: W. TAYLOR FRANKLIN
Franklin became CEO in 2023, succeeding his father, Wendell, who is now chairman of the real estate development, management and investment firm. Previously chief operating officer, Franklin oversees approximately 700 employees, as well as a portfolio of 200 properties in 10 states and Washington, D.C. In 2013, Franklin, his fath[...]
Real Estate 2024: ALLISON WEINSTEIN
Weinstein leads a multifamily real estate development and management company founded by her father, Marcus Weinstein, in 1952. She joined the company in 1994 with her husband, Ivan Jecklin, who serves as co-president. Weinstein Properties began as a developer of single-family homes in Richmond in the 1950s, expanding into apartm[...]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2024: ALEX NYERGES
Nyerges is now in his 18th year as director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, one of the nation’s top 10 comprehensive art museums. Free to all visitors, the museum opened in 1936 and has more than 545,000 square feet of galleries, event space and dining. In the works is a 170,000-square-foot, $190 million […]
Professional Services 2024: JOHNNY C. TAYLOR JR.
The Society for Human Resource Management’s leader since 2017, Taylor is a lawyer and human resources executive in charge of an association that represents nearly 340,000 member HR professionals in 180 countries. Named one of the “300 Most Influential Executives in Corporate America” for 2024 by African American busine[...]
Professional Services 2024: JULIE SWEET
CEO of Fortune Global 500 firm Accenture since 2019 and its chair since 2021, Sweet has been on Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business list since 2016 — ranking No. 2 for 2022 and 2023 — and was named one of Time’s Time100: The Most Influential People of 2024. She also made Forbes’ 2023 list […]
Real Estate 2024: BRIAN F. BORTELL
Since starting his career with the company as an entry-level engineer and working his way up to his current role, Bortell has had a career with Timmons Group that’s spanned over three decades. As chairman and CEO, he sets the strategic direction for the 1,000-plus-person firm, including 700 in Virginia, and oversees its fo[...]
Hospitality | Tourism 2024: JANE KAMENSKY
Named president of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in October 2023, Kamensky started work in January. The nonprofit owns and operates Monticello, the mountaintop plantation of the third U.S. president. Kamensky previously served as the Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History at Harvard University and as the Carl and Lily[...]
Retail 2024: WARREN THOMPSON
Thompson’s start as an entrepreneur came as a teen, when he purchased and ran his family’s hog farm in Windsor. He now heads the largest minority-owned food and facilities management corporation in the nation, which he founded in 1992 with the purchase of 31 Bob’s Big Boy restaurants. Thompson Hospitality provi[...]
Living Legends 2024: DAVID BALDACCI
In his March-released thriller, “A Calamity of Souls,” Baldacci tackles justice, racism and the power of partnerships. Those concepts don’t just permeate the global bestselling author’s writing; they also reflect his values. A Richmond native, Baldacci frequently creates tales centered around justice, often incor[...]
