Sign In
Free Newsletter
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: LORI RAYA
In 2021, Raya became president of Kroger’s mid-Atlantic division, overseeing more than 100 stores in five states and 18,000 employees. She brings more than three decades in the grocery business to the job, mostly spent at Safeway and Albertsons, including as president of Safeway’s Vons division from 2012 to 2015. In [...]
Law 2023: A. BENJAMIN SPENCER
In 2020, Spencer became the first Black dean to lead William & Mary Law School. A year later, he was awarded the Marshall-Wythe School of Law Foundation Trustee Professorship. He previously held professorships and academic appointments at Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Law School, University of Virginia School of [...]
Law 2023: LAURA FOOTE REIFF
A longtime immigration advocate, Reiff has 30-plus years of experience representing businesses and organizations in the immigration and compliance field. She oversees more than 50 attorneys as co-managing shareholder of the firm’s Northern Virginia office, a regional hub for the global firm. She is also co-founder of Green[...]
Economic Development 2023: CHRISTINA WINN
Winn, who became Prince William’s economic development head in 2019, is president of the Virginia Economic Developers Association. She came to the county after leading Arlington Economic Development’s Business Investment Group, where she was a key member of the team that landed Amazon.com’s $2.5 billion-plus HQ[...]
Law 2023: THE HON. S. BERNARD GOODWYN
Born in 1961 in Southampton County, Goodwyn was appointed to the state bench by Gov. Tim Kaine in 2007 to fill the court vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy. In 2021, he was elected chief justice for a four-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2022, filling the vacancy created when Chief Justice […]
Education 2023: PETER BLAKE
Blake will leave quite a legacy when he steps down from his role as director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia at the end of the year. SCHEV is establishing a search committee for his replacement and will work with the state education secretary’s office and others. During Blake’s 11 years at [&hel[...]
Finance | Insurance 2023: MARK A. FRANTZ
Blue Delta Capital Partners is an equity firm dedicated to supporting growth-stage companies providing technology solutions to the federal government. Since co-founding the firm in 2009, Frantz has guided it in creating three funds, including a $215 million investment fund launched in December 2021. The newest fund offers $10 mi[...]
Professional Services 2023: CASSIE HARTOGS
In May, Hartogs was promoted to managing partner of tax people operations, a position in which she’s responsible for more than 3,800 tax professionals nationwide at professional services company BDO USA, the U.S. member firm of BDO Global, the world’s fifth largest accounting network. Based in McLean, Hartogs previou[...]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2023: ANDY EDMUNDS
When Hollywood productions like “Dopesick,” “Cold Mountain,” “Wonder Woman 1984” and others want to film in Virginia, they come to Edmunds to get the ball rolling. As director of the Virginia Film Office since 2011 — and the office’s locations manager for 14 years before that — Edmunds helps productions acc[...]
Nonprofits | Philanthropy 2023: LT. GEN. JAMES B. LASTER (USMC, RET.)
Toys for Tots is far more than a Christmastime charity. During its 2022 campaign, the foundation distributed more than 24.3 million toys, books and games to a record 9.9 million children in need during its 75th year. “There are approximately 11 million children in the U.S. who live at or below the poverty level,” says [&hell[...]
Media 2023: JOSH EASTRIGHT
Eastright began his nearly 25-year career at Bloomberg as a college intern studying political science at Amherst College and then worked for Bloomberg LP, focusing on energy and commodities markets. He later moved to Bloomberg New Energy Finance before shifting to Bloomberg Government. In 2018, Eastright was named CEO of Bloombe[...]
Agriculture 2023: MATTHEW J. LOHR
Lohr has worked in agriculture and public service for his entire career. As Virginia’s secretary of agriculture and forestry since January 2022, he manages an 810-employee department that oversees Virginia’s largest private sector, which has an annual economic impact of over $105 billion. A three-term state delegate [...]
