Recruitment pitch
The lowest U.S. unemployment rate in 50 years isn’t slowing down the companies honored as this year’s Best Places to Work in Virginia. The winners find plenty of applicants are attracted to their good pay and supportive cultures. For example, Burns & McDonnell, a global architecture, engineering and construction company [...]
Colonial Williamsburg hires Fleet
Former Philip Morris USA President and CEO Cliff Fleet took over as the ninth president and CEO of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation on Jan. 1. Virginia Business reported in September 2019 that Fleet’s predecessor, Mitchell Reiss, was stepping down after five years at the helm of the historic tourism foundation. Colonial Wi[...]
The Land of OZ
Anybody up for pickleball? Barrett Worthington and Megan Charity hope so. Business partners based in Charlottesville, Worthington and Charity are among Virginia’s opportunity zone pioneers. They hope to build an $8 million entertainment complex called Rally, containing a restaurant, beer garden and courts for pickleball — a [...]
A larger rotunda
Alita Robinson, a second-year University of Virginia student from Delaware, delivers a personal message when she calls potential donors seeking support for financial aid programs. “I always tell people the only reason I’m at U.Va. and have these opportunities … is because I got a scholarship,” says Robinson, who plans to[...]
‘We’re all Dynamites’
When employees join Dynamis Inc., they gain a new family. “We’re very supportive of each other,” Dynamis Recruiter Macaya Yao says. “I find that I’m really able to go to anyone in the company and ask for help and they’re willing to jump in and help out with whatever it is.” This familial vibe, an […]
Maritime Association turns 100, eyes expansion
In the Virginia Maritime Association’s 100th year, Ashley McLeod has a wish for inland businesses to recognize the impact of the Port of Virginia on the entire state. “One in 10 jobs in Virginia is related to maritime supply chains,” says McLeod, the association’s vice president for communications and marketing. “We wa[...]
The cherry on top
The camaraderie that makes Accounting Principals different is evident on an employee’s first day as they’re greeted by a desk decorated with bright, colorful signs trumpeting personalized welcoming messages. This “cherry-on-top” culture is what makes Accounting Principals a great place to work, says Jennifer Dodge, manag[...]
New GRTC chief sets Richmond transit priorities
After 25 years in the transportation industry, Julie Timm went back to school to get her MBA. “I wanted to understand the business world,” explains the new CEO of the Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC), the region’s municipal bus system. “Sometimes when transit people talk to our business partners, it’s like we’[...]
10th Annual Best Places to Work list
This is the 10th year that Virginia Business has compiled the Best Places to Work in Virginia list in collaboration with Pennsylvania-based Best Companies Group. Nearly 200 companies applied for inclusion on the 2020 list. A hundred companies were chosen in three categories: small (15-99 U.S. employees); midsize (100-249); and l[...]
Morgan Olson training program set to start in March
The Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, launched last fall by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, is set to begin its first big project in March, training an estimated 703 people to work at Morgan Olson LLC’s new plant in the Danville area at no cost to the employer. Many will train in classrooms and the welding [&[...]
Tax revenues trending up
Charlottesville’s consumer tax revenues continue to grow. The city’s meals tax alone brought in more than $12.2 million last year — up 3.66% from the year before. Sales tax dollars have also increased by 2.21%, approaching $11.9 million. Lodging tax revenue, at $5.7 million, shot up by almost 10% in a year in which the [&h[...]
Financial losses
When one of Caroline County’s two banks, Virginia National Bank, shut its doors six years ago, Gary Wilson, the county’s director of economic development, wanted to do something about it. He launched a widespread effort to find a second banking institution to open a branch in Caroline, which is sandwiched between Fredericksb[...]