100 People to Meet in 2025: Hosts

Nourishing and delighting us, these Virginians welcome us to their communities through food, hospitality and entertainment.

Patrick Cavanagh

Owner and CEO, Norfolk Admirals, Norfolk

Patrick Cavanagh’s first experience with Norfolk’s minor league hockey team, the Admirals, was as a player in 1989, the team’s inaugural season. Two years later, the Admirals won their first East Coast Hockey League championship.

Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Cavanagh says his favorite place in the world is Hampton Roads, his home of 35 years. His love affair with hockey, inspired by the “Miracle on Ice” 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team, started on the ice, but led to his calling the shots.

In 2019, he bought the Admirals team and became its owner and CEO. Cavanagh also owns Chilled Ponds Ice Sports Complex, where he supports youth hockey. “Hockey has been such a front and center part of my life for as long as I can remember,” he says.

Paul Cooper

CEO, Retro Hospitality, Richmond

Over its 13 years in existence, Retro Hospitality has been involved with some of Virginia’s largest historic adaptive reuse projects. Paul Cooper sits at the helm of the hotel consulting and management firm, which is the largest operator of boutique hotels in Virginia, including Richmond’s Quirk Hotel, Staunton’s Blackburn Inn and Conference Center, The Hotel Petersburg and several other revamped historic properties around the state.

Cooper previously served as Shenandoah Valley regional chairman for the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association, and is on the association’s state board and chairs the VRLTA foundation. Before founding Retro, he had a 25-year hospitality career and was head of development at Coakley and Williams, a general contractor based in Maryland.

Robey Martin and Scott Wise

Hosts, “Eat It, VIRGINIA!,” Richmond

Scott Wise wouldn’t call himself a foodie, even though he’s co-hosted “Eat It, Virginia!” a podcast about all-things-food, for five years. “But I have the podcasting equipment, so Robey is stuck with me,” jokes Wise, who’s the digital director at Richmond’s WTVR CBS 6. 

Back around 2017, a coworker at the station introduced Wise to Robey Martin, a veteran of local food journalism. The pair decided to launch a show for the station’s Facebook page that followed Martin visiting soon-to-open restaurants. That program evolved into the podcast, which features the duo chatting with people who work in the food industry and visiting restaurants in Richmond and throughout Virginia.

For Martin, part of the appeal of doing the podcast is getting the opportunity to put a spotlight on the hardworking, talented folks who work in food. “People don’t put a face to their steak,” she says. 

Steve Powell

President, Buckingham Branch Railroad, Dillwyn

As president of Buckingham Branch Railroad, Steve Powell oversees all aspects of the short line railroad’s operation, including its four-day-a-week passenger excursions from Staunton through the Shenandoah Valley.

Buckingham Branch launched the Virginia Scenic Railway, the state’s only regularly scheduled sightseeing tourist train, in 2022 as a way for people to enjoy the railroad. The railroad plans to expand the service to other areas in 2025.

A Richmond native with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, Powell worked for Goodyear in Oklahoma and North Carolina for a decade before deciding to return to Virginia in 1998, when he joined Buckingham Branch as assistant to the president. Powell moved through the ranks to become senior vice president in 2009 and president in 2011.

Terrence “Pusha T” Thornton

Rapper; co-founder, Cousinz Festival, Norfolk

One half of the iconic rap duo Clipse, Pusha T is decades into his music career but isn’t going anywhere.

The four-time Grammy nominee, whose given name is Terrence Thornton, is working on a new album with his brother, Gene Thornton, aka No Malice, due out this year, according to Rolling Stone.

Aside from that, Pusha is now a brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton, with his old pal and fellow Hampton Roads native Pharrell Williams, who is now the fashion house’s men’s creative director.

Back at home in Virginia, Pusha helped organize the inaugural Cousinz Festival, a one-day hip hop block party that brought thousands to Scope Plaza in downtown Norfolk in August. The festival featured Erykah Badu and Jermaine Dupri as its headliners.

Jan Van Haute

Chef proprietor, Inn at Vaucluse Spring, Stephens City

The Shenandoah Valley has always been a destination for nature lovers, but with the Inn at Vaucluse Spring, Belgian-born chef Jan Van Haute wants to put it on the culinary map.

Van Haute has worked in two Michelin-starred restaurants, served in kitchens on four continents, and dazzled dignitaries as executive chef of the Belgian Embassy, but the ambitious $4.5 million overhaul of a 1785 manor looks to be his crowning achievement.

“I looked for a property that wasn’t limited to four walls, that could grow into something bigger,” the chef says. 

When complete in late 2025, the Inn at Vaucluse Spring will include a luxury hotel, two restaurants, a spa and kitchen gardens, all situated on 44 wooded acres blessed with a natural spring. The tasting menu will blend European and Appalachian traditions, “bringing back old dishes from the Blue Ridge Mountains,” Van Haute says.

Check out the rest of our 100 People to Meet in 2025.