People – May 2018

NORTHERN VIRGINIA 
Jim Corcoran is stepping down in mid-June as president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Stacy Stathopoulos, chief operating officer, and Michael Forehand, senior vice president, will co-manage day-to-day operations during the transition. (Washington Business Journal) 

Dr. J. Stephen Jones, a urological oncologist, has been named the new CEO of Falls Church-based Inova Health System. Jones was the president of Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Health Centers. Jones succeeds longtime Inova CEO Knox Singleton. (VirginiaBusiness.com) 

Kristi Ausberry has been named director of finance at Falls Church-based Evans Inc. Ausberry brings more than a decade of financial leadership experience to Evans, having led day-to-day finance operations at her prior firm as controller. (News release) 

Mark and Vicki Fedor, owners of North Gate Vineyard in Loudoun County, announced that they reached an agreement for it to be acquired by Mike Wheeler and Nate Walsh of Walsh Family Wine. Wheeler and Walsh own Bethany Ridge Vineyard and Twin Notch Farm in Loudoun. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Loudoun Times-Mirror) 

EASTERN VIRGINIA
Huntington Ingalls Industries promoted Jeanne Callahan to corporate vice president, internal audit, and David “Chip” Wasson to corporate vice president, corporate strategy. Callahan has served as director, business management, contracts and government compliance, since HII formed in 2011 and has worked at Newport News Shipbuilding since 1991. Wasson was director, corporate strategy. He joined HII in January 2017. (News release)

Suffolk-based TowneBank changed its management with President and Chief Banking Officer J. Morgan Davis assuming the role of CEO. Founding Chairman and CEO Robert Aston Jr. transitioned to the newly created position of executive chairman of the board. Davis, also one of the bank’s founding officers, has previously worked as president and CEO of Towne Financial Services and as president of TowneBank of Virginia Beach. (Daily Press)

Bon Secours has named Paul Gaden as the chief executive officer to oversee operations for Bon Secours Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth and Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center in Norfolk. He returns to Bon Secours and to Hampton Roads after serving as the CEO of Providence Portland Medical Center and Oregon Eastern Region. (News release)

David White has been named executive vice president of the Virginia Maritime Association in Norfolk. White had been vice president of the association since 2008. He took over from Arthur W. Moye Jr., who will become director of external affairs until his retirement in December 2018. (Virginia Business)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Robert D. Aguirre has been named dean of James Madison University’s College of Arts and Letters. Aguirre currently is senior associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit.  Aguirre brings to the job more than 28 years of experience as a liberal arts educator, specifically in literary and cultural studies, and has worked in academic administration at WSU for the past decade. His appointment at the Harrisonburg-based school is effective July 16. (News release)

Timothy Diette has been appointed senior adviser to the president for strategic analysis at Washington & Lee University. Diette has been associate dean of the Lexington-based university’s Williams School of Commerce, Economics, and Politics. The appointment is effective July 1. (News release) 

Mike Gochenour has been named publisher of The Winchester Star. He succeeds Thomas T. Byrd, who was the publisher of the daily newspaper for 37 years. The appointment followed the sale of Byrd Newspapers to Ogden Newspapers in April. Gochenour will continue his role as publisher of The Northern Virginia Daily in Strasburg, dividing his time between the two offices. He says there are no plans to combine the newspapers. (The Winchester Star)

Tim Miller has been named vice president for student affairs at JMU. Miller is currently the associate dean of students at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he has overseen the creation of the Center for Student Engagement and is responsible for many co-curricular aspects of student life. His appointment is effective June 1. (News release) 

SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
Rhonda Dark has been named the new executive director of The Arc of Southside. She replaces Tonya Milling, who became executive director of The Arc of Virginia. Dark was previously quality support manager with The Arc of North Carolina. (Danville Register & Bee) 

SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Thomas T. Cullen has been sworn in as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Cullen is the former deputy criminal chief for the U.S. attorney’s office in Roanoke and a former assistant U.S. attorney in the Western District of North Carolina. He was most recently a partner at Woods Rogers PLC in Roanoke. (News release) 

Robyn Lee has been hired as program director of GO Virginia Region One, which serves the cities of Bristol, Galax and Norton and the counties of Bland, Buchanan, Carroll, Dickenson, Grayson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington, Wise and Wythe. Lee previously led Opportunity SWVA, a network of small business and entrepreneurship support organizations covering a 19-county area. (Bristol Herald Courier) 

Kim Farris-Luke, president and owner of Farris Funeral Service & Crematory in Abingdon, has been named president-elect of the board of directors of Selected Independent Funeral Homes. Farris-Luke will be the first female president since the organization’s inception 100 years ago. She will be installed during the organization’s annual meeting in October. (Bristol Herald Courier) 

ROANOKE/NEW RIVER VALLEY
Charles W. Steger of Blacksburg, president emeritus of Virginia Tech, has been appointed to the Virginia Commission on Higher Education.  (News release) 

Virginia Tech alumnus David Calhoun has donated $20 million to the school’s Honors College. Calhoun, who lives in Sunapee, N.H., is senior managing director for Blackstone Group LP and the former CEO of Nielsen Holdings. (Virginiabusiness.com) 

CENTRAL VIRGINIA 
Bon Secours Virginia Health System has named   Dr. Roberta C. Bogaev   as c hief cardiologist and  Dr. Robert A. Lancey  as chief cardiac surg eon of the  Bon Secours Heart and Vascular program across Virginia.  Bogaev and Lancey will report to  Dr. John McCurley , chief medical officer at Bon Secours Virginia, with Francine Barr, CEO of St. Mary’s Hos  pital, holding executive responsibility for cardiovascular services. (VirginiaBusiness.com) 

Allison Linney, founder and president of Charlottesville-based communications and management consulting firm Allison Partners, has been selected by the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce to receive the 2018 Small Business Person of the Year award. (The Daily Progress)

Aashir Nasim has been named vice president for inclusive excellence at Virginia Commonwealth University. Nasim was interim senior vice provost for faculty affairs and director of the VCU Institute for Inclusion, Inquiry & Innovation, also known as iCubed. (Richmond Free Press)

David K. Paylor has been reappointed by Gov. Ralph Northam as director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the state agency at the center of the impassioned debate over the state’s handling of a pair of natural gas pipeline projects. Paylor has defended the DEQ’s actions, calling the regulatory process for the projects “the most rigorous for any pipeline in Virginia history.” (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Ryan White has joined Pinnacle Financial Partners as a financial adviser in Lynchburg as part of the Tennessee-based company’s expansion in Virginia. White previously was a market manager for the South Central Virginia region for BB&T. Pinnacle entered Virginia last year with its acquisition of BNC Bancorp. (News release)