People – February 2017

EASTERN VIRGINIA
Annette Beuchler has been named CEO of the Obici Healthcare Foundation in Suffolk. She was director of programs and communications at The Rapides Foundation in Louisiana. (Inside Business)

Rebecca Kleinhample, named executive director of the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News. She had been interim director and was the museum’s development director before that. Kleinhample succeeds Page Hayhurst, who resigned to accept a position in South Carolina. (Daily Press)

An Eastern Virginia Medical School professor, Dr. Paul E. Marik, has been awarded the American College of Physicians Award for Outstanding Educator of Residents and Fellows. (Daily Press)

Douglas C. Smith, vice president of construction and sales at Hearndon Construction, has been installed as president of the Tidewater Builders Association for 2017. (Inside Business)

Thomas D. Sullivan, the founder of Toano-based flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc., resigned as a board member in December, regulatory filings showed. His resignation comes after Lumber Liquidators decided earlier that month to eliminate Sullivan’s position as a company employee. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Hampton Roads-based TowneBank has named Richmond attorney George P. Whitley as its senior executive vice president and chief legal officer. He was an attorney at LeClairRyan, where he focused on community banking. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Karen Abraham has been named Shenandoah University’s interim dean of the School of Health Professions. She began her new position Jan. 3 and will serve through the 2017-18 academic year. Abraham serves as the university’s fellow for academic excellence and professor of physical therapy. She succeeds Timothy Ford, who left the university to become chair of environmental health sciences in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. (The Northern Virginia Daily)

Ellen R. Fitzwater has been appointed chair of the F&M Bank Corp. board of directors. She has served on the board of the Timberville-based bank for 17 years. Fitzwater succeeds Thomas L. Cline, who retired after 25 years with the bank.  (The Northern Virginia Daily)

Cynthia Pritchard, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Augusta, has resigned to take the top job at Delaware Grantmakers Association in Wilmington, Del. Her departure is effective Feb. 10. Board Chairman Mark Frazier said the board would begin a search for her replacement over the next few months. (News Leader)

Triplett Tech Business and Technical Institute in Mount Jackson now is offering night classes for masonry and nursing. Masonry for Beginners will teach basic masonry skills with hands-on instruction from Jan. 17 to Feb. 22 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 6 to 9 p.m. The cost per student is $120. Nursing assistant classes will begin in February and will cost $800 per student. Triplett Tech Principal Connie Pangle said the school offers night classes for adults when they find a need or interest in a particular subject. (The Northern Virginia Daily)

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
South Hill-based CCB Bankshares Inc. has named Dan F. Stewart as executive vice president and chief credit officer. CCB is the parent company of Citizens Community Bank, which operates three branches in south central Virginia and three in northern North Carolina. Before joining the bank, Stewart was a team leader for Credit Risk Management LLC for five years. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Michael O. Walker plans to retire as CEO of Benchmark Bankshares Inc., the parent company of Kenbridge-based Benchmark Community Bank, in May. He’ll continue to serve as an adviser to the bank’s management and the board of directors. Benchmark Community Bank President Jay A. Stafford will succeed Walker as president and CEO. (News release)

The New Year means a new location for Danville-based Solex Architecture. Since establishing Solex three years ago, owner and architect Jeffrey Bond said the company grown to the point that it requires additional space. On Dec. 15, Bond and his team cut the ribbon and opened the doors at their new office. Solex now makes its permanent home at 641 Main St. in Danville. (Work It, SoVa)

Piedmont Access to Health Services Inc. (PATHS) has been awarded a $775,000 federal grant to open a community health center (FQHC) in South Bosto. PATHS  is one of only 75 organizations in the country to be awarded these funds. PATHS already operates four centers in Southside Virginia and one each in Martinsville, Danville, Chatham and Boydton. (The Gazette-Virginian)

ROANOKE/NEW RIVER VALLEY
  Kay Dunkley   has been named executive director of The Roanoke Higher Education Center. Dunkley, former director of the Virginia Tech Roanoke Center, succeeds Tom McKeon, who retired. (News release)

Marc Edwards, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, has been named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2016. (The Roanoke Times)

Draper Aden Associates announced new associates in the firm’s Blacksburg office:   Janet Frazier  , senior associate, program manager in the environmental division;  Brent Casteele , design engineer in the site development and infrastructure division; Ted Dean, program geolo  gist in the geotechnical division; and Mike Futrell, senior GIS administrator in the environmental division. (The Roanoke Times)

L. Nicole “Nikki” Griffin has joined Bank of Botetourt and Virginia Mountain Mortgage as vice president – mortgage loan officer. She is located in the Bank of Botetourt Office at Daleville Town Center. Griffin has worked for over seven years as the vice president and manager of Colonial Mortgage Co. LLC in Daleville. (The Roanoke Times)

Tom Lillard has been named Radford University’s associate vice president for University Advancement. Most recently, Lillard served as regional director of major gifts at Virginia Tech. (News release)

X.J. Meng, University Distinguished Professor of Molecular Virology at Virginia Tech, has received a State Council of Higher Education for Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award. (News release)

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
 Maggie Bishop  has been named interim executive director of Believe in Bristol. She succeeds Christina Blevins, who accepted a position with the Community Development Department for the city of Bristol, Tenn. (Bristol Herald Courier)

 Kelly June Bremner , Michael Kevin Hamed and Walter  Hammo nd Smith were among recipients of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia’s 2017 Outstanding Faculty Awards. Smith, assistant professor of biology at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, was the “Rising Star” recipient. Bremner is a theater professor at Emory & Henry College, and Hamed teaches biology at Virginia Highlands Community College in Abingdon. (News release)

Nicole Drewitz-Crockett has been awarded the 2016 H. Hiter Harris Rising Star Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by the Virginia Foundation of Independent Colleges. She is an English professor at Emory & Henry College. (News release)  

Roger Roe, owner of Roger’s Trucking in Abingdon, received the Workforce Development Services Chancellor’s Award from Virginia’s Community Colleges for partnering with Virginia Highlands Community College to create a Commercial Drivers License Program to meet the region’s workforce needs. (News release)

Christmas came four days early for Bristol, Tenn.’s United Way when Virginia-based developer Steve Johnson donated $1 million to the charity’s endowment fund on Dec. 21. Johnson made another $1 million donation earlier that month to Virginia Tech’s Indoor Practice Facility. Johnson played football at Virginia Tech and went on to play for several seasons in the NFL. Currently, he is the developer behind The Pinnacle, a 250-acre, one-million-square-foot, regional shopping center in Bristol, Tenn. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Ángel Cabrera, president of Fairfax-based George Mason University, has been elected to serve as a director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Cabrera, who began his Fed duties in January, is one of nine directors at the Richmond bank. (The Associated Press) 

Loudoun County Administrator  Tim Hemstreet  has been awarded the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce’s Champion of Economic Visionary Award for 2016. (News release)

 Robert W. Lazaro Jr.  and David G. Speck were named to the Me tropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Lazaro is acting executive director of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission and the former mayor of Purcellville. Speck is managing director of the Speck-Caudron Investment Group of Wells Fargo Advisors. He formerly was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and Alexandria City Council. (News release)

George Nash Jr. has joined Branch and Associates in its Herndon office as the director of preconstruction. Nash previously worked for Facchina Construction Co., based in La Plata, Md., where his most recent role was director of business development. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Interstate Hotels & Resorts, an Arlington-based global hotel management company, has named Brett Stewart senior vice president, development and capital markets. Before joining Interstate, Stewart was vice president, strategy and capital markets, for DiamondRock Hospitality Co., a real estate investment trust based in Bethesda, Md. (VirginiaBusiness.com)  

Web software pioneer Unanet said in December it is moving from its current location in Dulles to a 24,000-square-foot facility in the Loudoun Gateway office park in Sterling. The company said the $7.3 million investment will result in a larger space that allows it to add 100 employees over the next few years. Founded in 1988 by CEO Fran Craig, Unanet has had its headquarters in Loudoun since 2003. The company serves more than 1,000 organizations nationwide, including government contractors located in the nation’s capital area. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

CENTRAL VIRGINIA
Andreas Addison has joined Richmond-based Dominion Payroll Services as director of strategy and engagement. Addison, who also represents the 1st District in Richmond’s City Council, previously held positions with city government, Circuit City and Wells Fargo. (News release)

Jeffrey Lacker, the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, will retire in October. Lacker joined the Richmond Fed in 1989 and has led the bank since 2004. (News release)
Jonathan D. Urick has joined McGuireWoods’ appellate practice in Richmond. He is one of seven former Supreme Court law clerks in the firm’s litigation practices. During the Supreme Court’s 2015-2016 term, Urick clerked for Antonin Scalia until the justice’s death in February, then joined Clarence Thomas’ chambers. (News release)

Richmond-based CPA firm Keiter announced that Gary G. Wallace has been named Tax Practice leader and will also serve on the firm’s executive committee. Before joining Keiter, he was chief financial officer for The Riverstone Group LLC and CCA Industries Inc. Jennifer F. Flinchum, who previously was Tax Practice leader, will head a new practice at Keiter, Family Executive & Entrepreneurial Advisory Services.  (VirginiaBusiness.com)

A Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation report on providing rail service to Bedford projects the line would boost ridership by 7 percent on the planned Lynchburg-to-Roanoke route, a relatively low estimate that has disappointed advocates for a Bedford stop. The state agency’s study estimated costs for the station to be between $5.7 million and $11.4 million, depending on the final site and platform design. DRPT estimates that Roanoke’s new rail service, scheduled to begin in late 2017, will generate about 38,000 passengers per year. The study was commissioned by the town of Bedford and compiled by engineering firm Wendel. (The News & Advance)