100 People to Meet in 2025: Rainmakers

These are the professionals who attract and grow businesses and tourism, making the commonwealth wealthier.

Tyler Caveness

Founder and principal, Caveness Investment Advisory, Roanoke

Roanoke native Tyler Caveness left the Star City to play football at Harvard, where he helped the Crimson win two Ivy League championships and earned a bachelor’s degree in economics.

After graduation, he worked as a human capital management and technology implementation consultant before founding Caveness Investment Advisory, a boutique wealth management practice, in his hometown. A licensed investment advisor, Caveness provides investment, income-tax administration and alternative financing strategies for the self-employed.

Active in the community, Caveness serves on the boards for Virginia Credit Union and North Cross School, where he’s a past president of the alumni board.

John Hagy

Director, RAMP (Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program), Roanoke

John Hagy is wrapping up his first year as director of RAMP, the Roanoke tech startup program founded in 2017 with funding from GO Virginia, the City of Roanoke and Virginia Western Community College.

A University of Virginia grad, Hagy is a Roanoke native, but he had left his hometown to work for the CIA, Deloitte, a startup and the investment side of the University of North Carolina’s angel investment network.

In his new job, Hagy serves as support for startups because he says that’s where the most “innovative and meaningful changes in how things are done” come from. “The core of monumental improvements to people’s daily lives and businesses’ daily opportunities come from startups.”

Edward Harris

CEO, Visit Williamsburg, Williamsburg

Edward Harris took the helm of Williamsburg’s tourism destination organization in June, but it’s not his first time dreaming up reasons for tourists to come to historic destinations. Before coming to Virginia, he held similar roles in Lancaster and Valley Forge in Pennsylvania.

He’s also held marketing roles at athletic wear company Under Armour and shoe brand Converse. The Philadelphia native notes that 2025 will be an important buildup year to 2026, the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding. That means many festivities and visitors to Williamsburg, and it also will bring the opening of the city’s new youth sports facility.

Harris says one of the things he’s most excited about in his new role is that Williamsburg is a 12-month destination.

Aisha Johnson

Business manager, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Roanoke County

The throughline of Aisha Johnson’s career has been “bringing information to people that can benefit them,” she says. Johnson initially worked as a TV reporter before joining the City of Roanoke, where she found her way to economic development. After working at Branch Group for about two years, she joined VEDP in June.

Johnson works with VEDP’s regional talent solutions and business outreach team, covering Roanoke, Charlottesville and surrounding areas. The team provides Virginia Jobs Investment Program grants to eligible businesses, helps businesses connect with talent and travels to conduct business outreach.

In 2018, Johnson was appointed to the Virginia Council on Women, where she has served as council secretary and chaired subcommittees. Her second term will end in August 2025.

Todd O’Leary

President and CEO, Visit Alexandria, Alexandria

Visit Alexandria’s new CEO did what many people have dreamed of doing: working for the Mouse, that is, working at Walt Disney World. He interned as part of Disney’s college training program, learning the theme park business on the ground in Orlando, Florida.

While he didn’t stay in theme parks, O’Leary has remained in the tourism industry, working for the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau, the San Francisco Travel Association and Sonoma County Tourism, before coming to Alexandria earlier this year.

As he settles into his new role, he’s looking to the future, leading strategic planning to envision what Visit Alexandria will focus on over the next five to 10 years. Outside of work, he and his husband love to travel, even with all of O’Leary’s behind-the-scenes knowledge.

Tara Palacios

BizLaunch director, Arlington Economic Development, Arlington County

After she got laid off from a marketing job in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2001, Tara Palacios leaned on her experience to land at Arlington Economic Development the same year. In early 2002, she helped start BizLaunch, the county’s economic development program that focuses on aiding small business owners. Today, BizLaunch has helped more than 75,000 Arlington businesses, and the organization has expanded to include six staffers and a rewards program to incentivize shopping local.

Pupatella, a Neapolitan-style pizza restaurant, is one BizLaunch success story, having grown from a food cart to 10 brick-and-mortar locations, including eight in Virginia. “I equate it to helping people live their dreams … of self-sustainability, wealth bridging and being economically independent,” Palacios says.

Josh Summits

Director, Fredericksburg Economic Development and Tourism, Fredericksburg

Josh Summits has worked in local government for nearly two decades and now has the top economic development job in the City of Fredericksburg.

Before that, he spent about five years in neighboring Stafford County. A native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Summits earned degrees in urban planning, which has come in handy when he’s involved in project development, he says.

Although Fredericksburg has more historic appeal than some localities in Northern Virginia, Summits still works with many local, regional and national developers to bring more mixed-use, higher density development to some corridors of the city. He’s also gotten a crash course in data center development as the data center boom moves south from Loudoun and Prince William counties.

Check out the rest of our 100 People to Meet in 2025.