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Health Care 2024: LT. GEN. TELITA CROSLAND
Crosland is the fourth director of the Defense Health Agency, as well as the first African American to lead the agency, which the U.S. Department of Defense established in 2013. The DHA manages military hospitals and clinics, as well as TRICARE, the health insurance program for service members, their families and retirees. Sin[...]
Retail 2024: WILLIAM D. ‘BILL’ NASH
Nash began at CarMax in 1997 as an auction manager, working his way up to president and CEO in 2016. Founded in 1993 in Richmond as a subsidiary of electronics retailer Circuit City, Fortune 500 company CarMax is the country’s largest retailer of used cars, employing almost 30,000 people, including 3,300 in Virginia. Accor[...]
Law 2024: FARHAD AGHDAMI
Born in Tehran, Iran, in 1968, Aghdami came to the United States in 1971 when his father joined the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia as an anesthesiologist. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a history degree, Aghdami earned his law degree from Wake Forest University, and a master of laws degree in [...]
Real Estate 2024: JACKIE THIEL
Overseeing Long & Foster Real Estate’s 200-plus offices and more than 9,000 real estate agents across eight states and Washington, D.C., Thiel is responsible for the organization’s strategic business direction and operations. The company is owned by The Long and Foster Cos., a subsidiary of HomeServices of Americ[...]
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 […]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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 […]
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[...]
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[...]
