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Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2024: ERIK H. NEIL
Since joining the Chrysler Museum in 2014, Neil has guided the museum’s growth. In 2022, his position was endowed through a $34 million donation from Virginia Beach philanthropist Joan Brock that also included donated artwork. From December 2023 through April, the Chrysler hosted the U.S. debut of Sir Paul McCartney’s photog[...]
Retail 2024: VINCE SHEEHY IV
Sheehy carries on his father’s legacy as an auto dealer, manning the largest dealership group in Virginia and No. 33 in the nation, according to Auto News’ list of Top 150 dealership groups. His late father, Vincent Sheehy III, founded Sheehy Ford in Maryland in 1965 as a suburban business near the newly built Capital [&hell[...]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2024: TONY BENNETT
After another winning season, Bennett signed a contract extension in May that would take him through the end of the 2029-30 season, with an extra year added if he remains Virginia’s men’s basketball coach as of April 30, 2026. A former point guard for the Charlotte Hornets, Bennett celebrated 16 years with the Cavaliers this[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: MEHUL P. SANGHANI
Reston-based federal contractor Octo was founded in 2006 by Virginia Tech alum Sanghani, who remains its CEO after IBM purchased Octo in 2022 from Arlington Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum. Octo is now part of IBM Consulting’s U.S. public and federal market arm, employing about 1,500 workers. Sanghani was born in India[...]
Health Care 2024: MICHAEL J. FRIEDLANDER
As founder and head of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, Friedlander leads 40 research teams with more than 450 faculty, staff and students working together to solve major health challenges, including brain disorders, heart disease and cancer. Under his leadership, the institute, which was founded in 2010, has bee[...]
Economic Development 2024: JAY A. LANGSTON
In the last two years, the four-employee Shenandoah Valley Partnership was involved with more than $300 million in economic development deals representing nearly 500 new jobs in the region. It’s helped create almost 3,000 jobs in the past five years. Langston has led the regional economic development organization since 2018, a[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2024: JEREMY WENSINGER
In June, Wensinger replaced outgoing president and CEO Chuck Prow at aerospace and defense contractor V2X. The move was part of a “board-led succession planning process,” the company stated in a press release. Wensinger also serves on V2X’s board of directors. The change follows the move of V2X’s headquarters from Colora[...]
Health Care 2024: RONY THOMAS
Bill Anderson, who founded the Eastern Virginia Tissue Bank in 1982, died in a car accident in 2002 at the age of 50. His death left the organization now known as LifeNet with an uncertain future, Thomas said in a 2023 speech. Under Thomas’ leadership since 2004, the nonprofit that provides organ, tissue and cell […]
Health Care 2024: PAT DAVIS-HAGENS
Davis-Hagens speaks enthusiastically about the construction of the Harbour View Medical Center, an $80 million, 98,000-square-foot hospital scheduled for completion in Suffolk in spring 2025. Davis-Hagens is passionate about expanding access to care, and the new hospital, as the former nurse has pointed out, will allow residents[...]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2024: ANDY EDMUNDS
Edmunds originally began his career in the music industry. As a musician and song writer, he produced a video for MTV, and thus began his love affair with film production. Today, he’s Virginia’s go-to guy for movie and TV projects being filmed in the state. As director of the Virginia Film Office since 2011, Edmunds [&hellip[...]
Education 2024: ANNE M. KRESS
After starting her post-secondary education career as a faculty member teaching English, Kress now presides over Virginia’s largest community college — and one of the nation’s largest — with more than 70,000 students across six campuses, including NOVA’s Medical Education Campus in Springfield. Her tenure began in 20[...]
Nonprofits | Philanthropy 2024: DEBORAH M. DiCROCE
After spending more than 35 years as a university professor and college president in Virginia, DiCroce has led the Hampton Roads Community Foundation for more than a decade. The foundation is the largest grant and scholarship provider in southeastern Virginia, distributing more than $23 million in 2022. For the 2023-24 school ye[...]
