Shannon has overseen this division of UVA Health since 2021, starting as an interim chief executive and then as permanent CEO. With about 2,700 employees, UVA Community Health includes three Northern Virginia hospitals — Prince William Medical Center, Haymarket Medical Center and Culpeper Medical Center — as well as an integrated network of medical practices, cancer care and outpatient services. The university health system acquired Novant Health UVA Health in 2021, after running the system as a joint venture.

Shannon has more than three decades in health care and was a partner at Grant Thornton, where he helped lead the transition to integrate UVA Community Health into UVA Health.

In January, UVA Health announced a $2 million donation from The Cecil and Irene Hylton Foundation to support the Prince William Medical Center’s mother-baby unit upgrades. Plans include incorporating new clinical technology and equipment, like ultraviolet incubators and AI-powered diagnostic tools.

FAVORITE TEAM: Denver Broncos

MOST VALUED POSSESSION: Our cabin

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A former ER doctor, Just has been CEO of UVA Physicians Group since 2023. Founded in 1979, the nonprofit university-associated organization supports UVA Health physicians and providers at U.Va. Medical Center and numerous clinical practice group locations.

More than 1,100 University of Virginia clinical faculty members were dually employed by UPG and U.Va.’s medical school in fiscal 2024. UPG also has over 40 physicians in its clinical practice group and has 160-plus advanced practice providers.

Just previously served as president of Augusta Medical Group and vice president of Augusta Health beginning in 2018, and he was chair of the emergency medicine department for the health system as well.

In April, Just co-authored an op-ed addressing the controversy involving former UVA Health CEO Dr. K. Craig Kent’s resignation in February, after a group of 128 U.Va. physicians sent university leaders a letter expressing no confidence in Kent in 2024. He asked that officials and others “refrain from engaging in conjecture” after some current and former health system board members ascribed the physicians’ motivations, in part, to greed.

Just earned his medical degree and MBA from U.Va. and completed his residency at U.Va. Medical Center.

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Tugman became president and CEO of Centra Health in October 2024, after serving in an interim capacity since Amy Carrier’s departure in March 2024. The regional nonprofit health system serves more than 500,000 people and has four hospitals along with numerous primary care and specialty practices.

Tugman was previously CEO of Piedmont Community Health Plan, a Centra health insurance subsidiary that ended coverage this year. Earlier in his career, Tugman was vice president and general counsel for Lynchburg’s Fleet Laboratories.

Centra has several construction projects underway. The Centra Langhorne Medical Center, a five-story medical office building in Lynchburg, is expected to be completed by late 2025. Spread between Campbell County and Lynchburg, the Centra Simons Run Medical Campus, a collaboration between Centra and Lifepoint Health affiliates, is expected to open in 2026. The 72-bed Centra Behavioral Health Hospital and 50-bed Centra Rehabilitation Hospital comprising the campus will replace inpatient units at Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital.

The health system anticipates breaking ground on a five-story tower at its Lynchburg General Hospital in the fall.

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Stamp leads Fortune 500 pharma manufacturer Merck’s location in Elkton. A former analytical chemist at the start of his career, Stamp joined Merck in 1997 as a project engineer and worked his way up.

The company founded a plant in the Rockingham County town in 1941. To expand its human papillomavirus vaccine manufacturing capacity, in 2022 Merck completed a major expansion of its Elkton facility, where 1,200 employees work.

In March, the company opened a $1 billion vaccine manufacturing facility in Durham, North Carolina.

Also in March, a federal judge ruled in Merck’s favor in a lawsuit that accused the company of concealing the risks of Gardasil, an HPV vaccine. In June, the FDA approved Enflonsia for prevention of respiratory syncytial virus in infants. Merck reported more than $64.16 billion in 2024 sales, up from about $60.11 billion in 2023.

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPIEST: I like to fire up the smoker on the weekends — brisket and ribs are my go-to.

TRAITS I ADMIRE: When someone can read a room, understand what’s going on and respond in a thoughtful way, that makes a big difference in how teams work together.

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Smits joined Civica as head of its sterile injectable manufacturing facility in Petersburg in fall 2023. A group of U.S. hospitals and philanthropic organizations established Civica in 2018 to address chronic generic drug shortages, and the nonprofit is part of Petersburg’s pharmaceutical hub.

The Utah drugmaker received the occupancy permit for its $140 million, 140,000-square-foot Petersburg facility in late 2022. The facility isn’t manufacturing commercial drugs yet; Civica anticipates drugs from the facility will be available in 2026. The plant will produce three types of insulin, along with other drugs on the Food and Drug Administration’s shortages list. Civica currently has about 240 employees at the site but plans to hire approximately 300 for the facility.

Before joining Civica, Smits was Sage Therapeutics’ vice president of quality. Prior to that, she served as site quality head of Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.’s Massachusetts biologics operations.

She has a master’s degree from Utrecht University’s medical school and an MBA from Santa Clara University.

Civica expects to start building a roughly $25 million, 50,000-square-foot lab in Chesterfield County this year, with plans to hire about 50 employees for it.

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As the head of Valley Health, Nantz oversees about 6,000 employees and six hospitals, as well as more than 70 medical practices. The not-for-profit health system serves a population of more than 500,000 in the Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia and Maryland.

Before joining Valley Health in 2020, Nantz held executive roles at Bon Secours Mercy Health, including as chief administrative officer and president of the Atlantic Group, a role where he was responsible for 14 hospitals and other services in South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Florida.

Nantz has a degree in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s in health administration from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina. He chairs the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association’s board.

In May, the health system broke ground on the Valley Health Behavioral Health Pavilion on the Winchester Medical Center campus. The freestanding center will consolidate the health system’s mental health services offered in Winchester. Its expected completion is late summer 2026. In July, Nantz warned that Valley Health expects to lose more than $50 million in revenue following federal Medicaid cuts in a bill signed July 4 by President Donald Trump.

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Following its mission to promote the health of its Shenandoah Valley community, Augusta Health, which Mannix has led since 2008, launched its mobile medical unit to help expand access to primary medical care in April.

Mannix oversees roughly 2,400 employees (as of 2023) who work at the community-owned hospital, family practices and other outpatient facilities. The health system has expanded over the past year, with Shenandoah Valley Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and Rockingham Family Physicians joining the Augusta Medical Group.

After beginning her career as a surgical intensive care nurse at the University of Rochester, Mannix moved to health care management. She spent nearly two decades working for the Pennsylvania-based Guthrie Clinic, leaving in 2007 as president and chief operating officer of the Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital.

Mannix sits on the boards of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association and the Shenandoah Valley Partnership.

In July, during a congressional debate over cuts to Medicaid proposed in a federal budget bill, Mannix said in an interview with WHSV that about 70% of her health system’s patients rely on Medicare or Medicaid, which will cause a decrease in revenue for Augusta Health.

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