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Transportation 2025: PERRY MILLER

Miller started with Richmond International Airport’s commission in 2019. The airport marked record-breaking passenger traffic and cargo volume in 2024: 4.88 million passengers (up 2.7% from 2023) and 222.78 million pounds in cargo (up 7.84%).

Last year, the airport renovated its Federal Inspection Services facility, which has the capacity to support international travel. Design work is currently underway on two other major projects — a new aircraft rescue and firefighting station and a consolidated security screening checkpoint.

In June, RIC hit a record 456,000 monthly passengers and launched nonstop service to Bermuda — the airport’s first international route in over a decade. This summer, it was eyeing adding direct service to London’s Heathrow Airport.

Miller worked for more than 25 years in management positions in the Houston Airport System. He is the second past chair of the American Association of Airport Executives and serves on numerous other boards, including for the Henrico Sports and Entertainment Authority and ChamberRVA.

WHAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT ME:

While working at the Houston Airport System, I received mandatory CPR/first-aid training and all the annual refreshers. … I [have performed] the Heimlich maneuver on children on three separate occasions.

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Transportation 2025: MONICA BACKMON

This year, the NVTA released a draft action plan for a regionally connected Bus Rapid Transit system, identifying up to 28 potential routes in Northern Virginia. The authority has already committed more than $880 million toward five BRT segments.

Backmon was named the authority’s CEO in 2021, after having served as its executive director in 2014. Established by the state, the authority has invested more than $3.8 billion in 140 regional projects.

Backmon was one of 10 honorees for the Conference of Minority Officials’ Women Who Move the Nation recognition in 2024. In 2022, she received the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) D.C. chapter’s Woman of the Year Award and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Ronald F. Kirby Award for Collaborative Leadership.

The two-time graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign serves as a member-at-large on the WTS board of directors.

FIRST JOB: Church’s Chicken — I started as a cashier and later [became] a fry cook.

MOST VALUED POSSESSION: Time. It’s the most precious resource we have — once spent, it can’t be reclaimed.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2025: ED MORCHE

Morche, a industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, joined GTT in 2023 after serving as president of Lumen Technologies’ North American Enterprise

and Public Sector business. He worked at CenturyLink, which rebranded as Lumen in 2020, and Level 3 Communications, leading the consolidation of multiple commercial and technical organizations following Level 3’s merger with CenturyLink.

As CEO and a member of the board of directors for the approximately 2,200-employee global provider of secure cloud networking

solutions, Morche is focused on cementing GTT’s position in the managed secure access server edge (SASE) and network communications marketplace.

GTT unveiled its strategy for the year in March, saying it hopes to expand partnerships with cloud solution partners and increase its presence in key regions in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. It also hopes to enhance the EnvisionDX digital gateway to improve networking and security services.

Morche attended the Catholic University of America, where he received a bachelor’s degree and a graduate degree from the School of Architecture and Planning. Morche previously served as director on the Virginia Hospital Center’s foundation board.

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Economic Development 2025: BUDDY RIZER

After a career as a radio DJ, Rizer reinvented himself as an economic developer. He has headed Loudoun County’s economic development for 18 years and is best known for helping build the county’s Ashburn area into Data Center Alley, marketed as the world’s largest concentration of data centers.

Loudoun collects nearly $1 billion dollars in local tax revenue from the data center industry annually, amounting to a third of the county’s overall budget. And the county has landed about $30.5 billion in new commercial investment over the last five years, much of it from data centers.

Rizer serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council board and the GO Virginia Region 7 Council.

A Towson University alum, he has a master’s in business and economics from Longwood University. This year, he received the National Eagle Scout Association Outstanding Eagle Scout Award (NOESA), recognizing his career and civic contributions.

BOOK I’D RECOMMEND: I just finished “The Thinking Machine,” by Stephen Witt. It’s the fascinating story of Jensen Huang and Nvidia. As a plus, Loudoun County and Data Center Alley got a mention in the book!

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Economic Development 2025: CHRISTINA WINN

Before taking the reins in Prince William County in 2019, Winn was director of Arlington Economic Development’s Business Investment Group, where she played a major role in recruiting Amazon.com’s $2.5 billion-plus HQ2 East Coast headquarters.

Under her leadership, Prince William last year reported 51 project wins (including new projects, expansions and redevelopments) representing more than $2.3 billion in intended capital investment supporting 1,411 new and retained jobs in the county.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin joined Winn last September for the groundbreaking for American Type Culture Collection’s $54.6 million biosafety laboratory, which is expected to create 75 jobs.

In a recent setback to the county’s growing data centers sector, however, a judge in August voided the county’s approval of the Prince William Digital Gateway, which would be the world’s largest data center project if built.

Winn graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and earned a master’s degree in real estate development from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

She is a member of the George Mason University President’s Innovation Advisory Council.

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Banking | Finance 2025: WOODRIFF, JAFFRAY

Last year, the University of Virginia opened the School of Data Science building, which was funded with a portion of a $120 million gift made in 2019 from the Quantitative Foundation, the family foundation of Woodriff and his wife, Merrill, who are both alumni. It still marks the largest individual private grant in U.Va.’s history.

In December 2024, the university announced the Quantitative Foundation had committed another $20 million, this time ear- marked to expand the data science school’s research, scholarship and teaching capabilities, while “enhancing a budding entrepre- neurial ecosystem on Grounds.”

Before studying at U.Va., Woodriff became obsessed with baseball statistics. As he grew older, he decided to channel that fixation into something practical, landing on financial markets. In 2003, Woodriff and two partners co-founded QIM, a Charlottesville hedge fund that uses machine learning techniques to predict financial market shifts.

Woodriff also invests in startups through the Felton Group, his family office. In November 2024, the Felton Group led a $3 million seed round for RIIG Technology, a Charlottesville- based tech startup led by former U.S. Rep. Denver Riggleman.

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Economic Development 2025: TELLY TUCKER

Tucker spent six years as Danville’s economic development director before leaving to serve the same role in Arlington County, where he helped land Boeing’s corporate headquarters relocation. But the pull of Southern Virginia is strong for Tucker, who left in 2022 to become president of Danville’s Institute for Advanced Learning and Research, a regional economic development and workforce development organization.

In fiscal 2024, over 6,000 middle school students participated in IALR’s Great Opportunities in Technology and Engineering Careers (GO TEC) program. The IALR is also home to the Navy’s Accelerated Training in Defense Manufacturing program, which trains workers for defense industry manufacturing jobs.

A former middle school teacher, Tucker is a James Madison University alum and accomplished pianist who once performed for President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton. He serves on boards for the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance, which he chairs, as well as Mid-Atlantic Communities, Danville Industrial Development and Goodwill Industries of the Valleys.

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Economic Development 2025: JASON EL KOUBI

Leader of the state’s economic development arm since 2022, El Koubi oversees numerous initiatives designed to attract business expansions and relocations in the commonwealth.

El Koubi joined VEDP as executive vice president in 2017 under his predecessor, Stephen Moret. During his time at VEDP, El Koubi has played key roles in landing blockbuster deals like Amazon.com’s $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters in Arlington County and Lego Group’s $1 billion manufacturing campus under construction in Chesterfield County.

A graduate of Louisiana State University and the London School of Economics and Political Science, El Koubi previously led the former Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce in Louisiana, and helped lead the Louisiana Economic Development organization to attract more than $28 billion in capital investment.

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Economic Development 2025: JONATHAN S. BELCHER

Leader of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority since 2006, Belcher has helped bring new jobs to Southwest Virginia through numerous economic development deals.

In April, VCEDA announced it closed a $1.3 million loan with Lawrence Brothers, a Tazewell County manufacturing company, for an expansion expected to create several dozen new jobs. Last year, VCEDA loaned $3.2 million to the Norton Industrial Development Authority to assist with construction of a new facility for Wrap Technologies at Norton’s Intersection Business and Industry Park anticipated to create 126 jobs.

Belcher also heads up the Virginia Coalfields Expressway Authority, a political subdivision that advocates for the proposed, long-delayed four-lane highway connecting Southwest Virginia with southern West Virginia.

Belcher has a law degree from William & Mary and a bachelor’s degree in real estate from Morehead State University.

WHAT I DO FOR FUN: Maintaining, restoring and driving classic cars

STREAMING SHOW I’VE ENJOYED: “Jay Leno’s Garage”

WHAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN

ABOUT ME: When I graduated from William & Mary Law School in 1993 at age 21, I was the youngest graduate anyone there could remember.

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Banking | Finance 2025: SCHAUFELD, FREDRICK D.

After graduating from Lehigh University in 1981, Schaufeld sold extended warranties to auto dealers while going through law school. When he learned his employer hadn’t actually taken out policies on all his clients, Schaufeld quit his classes and went into business for himself, creating National Electronics Warranty. In 2008, the company was acquired by Asurion.

In 2006, Schaufeld partnered with Cliff White and Tony Nader to form a company initially known as SWaN Investors. The venture capital firm’s investments have included Cava, Custom Ink and Kind Healthy Snacks.

Schaufeld is also a partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals and the Washington Wizards. Additionally, Schaufeld is a partner in the long-delayed Hill Top House Hotel project in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

Schaufeld sits on numerous company boards, including DuraStat and Telos. He also serves on the Wolf Trap Foundation’s board and is an emeritus member of the Inova Health Foundation Board of Trustees.

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