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Arlington residents sue over ‘missing middle’ zoning
Ten Arlington County residents filed a lawsuit against the county in April that claims Arlington’s new “missing middle” zoning ordinance was passed in March without proper notice and violates Virginia law. “Missing middle” refers to the range of options that fall between affordable housing and single-family homes, incl[...]
REBECCA GELLER
Thirteen years ago, Rebecca Geller was a corporate lawyer who wanted more flexibility to work remotely so she could balance her work and family life. That aspiration led her in 2011 to found The Geller Law Group, a law firm dedicated to helping women like her balance parenting and their careers. Today, the firm employs […[...]
LAURA KOTTKAMP
As the executive director of three foundations at Virginia Commonwealth University, Laura Kottkamp considers herself to be a steward of both the city of Richmond and the commonwealth. Her work encompasses the university’s foundation, as well as those for the engineering college and the business school — managing and investi[...]
U.Va. Wise launches master’s degree in education
Like the rest of the country, Virginia’s public schools are suffering from a teacher shortage. In the 2022-23 academic year, there were 3,573 vacancies statewide, and more teachers are working with only provisional licenses, which don’t require teacher preparation courses. In Southwest Virginia, though, educators are signing[...]
FOR THE RECORD JULY 2023
CENTRAL VIRGINIA Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc. completed its acquisition of e-vapor maker NJOY Holdings Inc. for approximately $2.75 billion, the tobacco giant announced June 1. NJOY is now a fully owned subsidiary; its new president and CEO is Shannon Leistra, who previously served as senior vice president and consumer experience officer at Altria Client […]
Nurse training partnership to help with instructor shortages
Shenandoah University, Valley Health and the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association have teamed up to tackle the Shenandoah Valley region’s nursing shortage by creating a program that can be replicated statewide. Called NextGen Nurses, the program will use semi-retired and retiring nurses as preceptors — experienced [...]
AUTUMN R. VISSER
It’s relatively uncommon for an in-house corporate counsel to move to private practice, but Autumn Visser made this transition and has steadily ascended to leadership at Roanoke law firm Woods Rogers, which merged with Vandeventer Black last year. She joined Woods Rogers in 2014 as an associate attorney and is now a principal,[...]
SUSAN R. RALSTON
Susan R. Ralston inspires people to do more than they think they are capable of. With more than 38 years of experience as a bank executive, she also holds an associate coaching certification from the International Coach Federation, which she uses as a work and life coach at the bank, helping employees set healthy boundaries [&he[...]
GRETA J. HARRIS
Greta J. Harris, a passionate affordable housing advocate, is the first Black woman to lead the Richmond region’s largest nonprofit community development corporation. Originally an architect, Harris shifted her focus to nonprofit community development after being laid off from her career as an architect in 1988. “That initia[...]
CASSIE HARTOGS
Cassie Hartogs became a partner at her regional accounting network when she was 33 and has continued to rise in the leadership ranks over the past 18 years. In May, Hartogs became BDO’s tax people operations managing partner, working with more than 3,800 tax professionals across the U.S. and streamlining operations and client [...]
AMY CARRIER
Amy Carrier is the first woman to lead Centra Health, where she oversees 7,300 employees and the operations of 50 medical care locations, including four hospitals. Since becoming Centra’s CEO in 2021, Carrier has overseen the creation and implementation of a $500 million modernization plan — the largest in the organization�[...]
StartVirginia: Heard around Virginia
Activation Capital, a Richmond-based innovation incubator, will redevelop a 102,000-square-foot innovation center in the Bio+Tech Park in downtown Richmond. The 34-acre Bio+Tech Park is a commercial life sciences hub adjacent to VCU Medical Center and has more than 70 companies, research institutes and state/federal laboratories on its campus. Announced June 2, the $53 million center […]
