Out and About – December 2025

1. The Nov. 7 opening day of the Lego Store‘s new Short Pump Town Center location attracted throngs of kids young and old. (Photo courtesy the Lego Group)

2. Atlantic Union Bank executives and their families attended American Banker’s Most Powerful Women in Banking awards gala Oct. 23 in New York, where bank President and Chief Operating Officer Maria Tedesco was honored as one of 2025’s Women to Watch. L to R: Tom McDowell; Bank Operations Executive Ronda McDowell; Executive Administrator Lucy Whitmer; Wendy Asbury; CEO John Asbury; Tedesco; Leah Tedesco; Chief Human Resources Officer Clare Miller; Head of Corporate Communications Beth Shivak; and General Counsel Rachael Lape. (Photo courtesy Atlantic Union Bank)

3. More than 200 people showed up for the Nov. 6 opening of the Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia‘s recruitment center in Petersburg. L to R: Petersburg council member W. Howard Myers; casino Marketing Vice President Cheryl Brown; Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham; casino General Manager Penny Parayo; council member Darrin Hill; casino human resources VP Trish Truck; council member Arnold Westbrook; and Metropolitan Business League Board Chair Nickkol Lewis. (Photo courtesy Live! Casino Virginia)

4. John Mengucci, president and CEO of Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor CACI International, was honored as an executive of the year at the Nov. 5 Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards, held at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner. (Photo courtesy Northern Virginia Chamber and Professional Services Council)

5. Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and their spouses, Adam Spanberger and first lady of Virginia Suzanne Youngkin, met Nov. 6 to discuss the gubernatorial transition. (Photo courtesy Spanberger transition team)

On Nov. 6 at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Virginia Business held the Virginia Icon Honors awards luncheon, recognizing the lifetime achievements of Virginia leaders in business and higher education. Photos by Matthew R.O. Brown for Virginia Business.

6. Victor Branch, Bank of America‘s Richmond market president, receives his Virginia Icon Honors award from Virginia Business Associate Publisher and Editor Richard Foster.

7. L to R: McCleskey CEO Cheryl McLeskey, former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Virginia Icon Honors awardee Barbara M. Wolcott, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices RW Towne Realty.

8. L to R: 2025 Icon Honors honorees Aubrey Layne of Sentara Health; former PBMares CEO Alan Witt; Crutchfield CEO Bill Crutchfield; UVA Community Health CEO Erik Shannon; Capital Square co-CEO Louis Rogers; Divaris Group Chairman and CEO Gerald Divaris; Berkshire Hathaway Homeservices RW Towne Realty CEO Barbara Wolcott; Williams Mullen Chairman Emeritus Thomas Frantz; Bank of America Richmond Market President Victor Branch; Regent University Chancellor Gordon Robertson; Genworth CEO Tom McInerney; Joe Montgomery of The Optimal Service Group of Wells Fargo Advisors; University of Mary Washington President Troy Paino; and Knox Singleton of Opportunity Scholars.

9. Anna Hickey, dean of Christopher Newport University‘s Luter School of Business

10. WTVR CBS 6 News Richmond evening news anchor GeNienne Samuels emceed the Virginia Icons Honors awards luncheon.