Va. Beach makes economic development head permanent

Charles E. “Chuck” Rigney Sr. has worked in economic development all over Hampton Roads; in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton.

Last February, he joined Virginia Beach’s economic development team as a business development administrator and since June 2023, he has been the department’s interim director. Now he’ll keep the job permanently. The city announced his promotion Feb. 2 and Rigney will start his new role Thursday.

Rigney graduated from Old Dominion University, where he studied political science. He started his career in banking, then worked in commercial real estate for Virginia Beach-based The Breeden Co. and Virginia Beach-based Armada Hoffler. He was tapped as Virginia Beach’s interim director after the city’s previous economic development chief, Taylor Adams, left for a job in Nevada.

Prior to that, Rigney led Hampton’s economic development efforts from 2018 through 2022. He was assistant director for Norfolk economic development from 1997 to 2014, including serving as interim director from 2011 to 2013. In 2014, he was named Portsmouth’s director of economic development, but he left the post less than a year later to become economic development director for Norfolk in 2015, a position he held for three years.

“Chuck’s decades of experience leading economic development throughout Hampton Roads are an asset to our city,” Virginia Beach City Manager Patrick Duhaney said in a statement. “In his short time as interim [director], he has demonstrated his ability to lead the city’s department and successfully stepped in to manage major projects with critical deadlines, which include the Amazon facility, reevaluation of [the] Corporate Landing and Innovation business parks, and ongoing efforts to attract national and international businesses.”

Rigney said when he was leaving Hampton, he knew there would be an opening in Virginia Beach and had met Taylor Adams and was “impressed by his vision and the team he was interested in trying to build.”

One of his initial focuses will be to build out Virginia Beach’s economic development team, adding that there are at least three vacancies that “are going to be important hires for us. … We have a very good team, but we’re a little bit thin at the moment.”

Another priority is putting together a succession plan for the economic development team — not that Rigney, 67, plans to retire any time soon, he says.

One of the challenges he sees for the city is that it does not have large tracts of open land, so it has to be more strategic about the deals with lesser amounts of property. “We have to look at how can we be successful in being attractive with properties that may need more love than just a greenfield location,” he said. “Having worked in Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton, there are good ways and models and examples of how you can do that successfully.”

He’s also looking at areas such as Town Center as having a lot of potential to be the urban center of Virginia Beach. “I’m hoping I can be an important part of making progress toward the continuing success story of Town Center and growing it a lot before I leave,” he said.

But, he notes, the city’s “bread and butter” is tourism at the Oceanfront, and he’ll continue initiatives Adams started, such as bringing “action sports”  and amateur sporting events and activities to Virginia Beach. “I’ll be having a very close relationship with the [city] Convention & Visitors Bureau to continue the work they are doing,” he said.

He’s also hoping to “get traction on a true convention center hotel, which I think would be something of importance to the beach.”

One difference from Adams’ tenure is that Rigney won’t also be a deputy city manager, like Adams was. That role will be filled by Amanda Jarratt, another new hire, who will oversee the city departments of Agriculture, Economic Development, and Planning & Community Development, as well as the Convention & Visitors Bureau. Jarratt served as city manager of Franklin since January 2019 and will start her new role on April 4. Prior to Franklin, where she worked for 15 years, she was president and CEO of Franklin Southampton Economic Development. She has a bachelor’s degree from William & Mary and a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Rigney said he’s glad to have his focus be solely on economic development. “My whole focus is on helping our businesses grow successfully.”