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Hyper Solutions expanding Henrico operations, creating 56 jobs

Henrico County-based , a digital infrastructure company that manufactures equipment used by , will invest $2 million to expand its operations and create 56 jobs.

Founded in 2022, Hyper manufactures power distribution equipment and modular systems. The company uses a network of partners to build its products and supplies customers around the world.

“Hyper Solutions’ in shows that digital infrastructure investments reverberate throughout ‘s economy and continue to bring new job opportunities to the commonwealth,” said in a statement. “Virginia remains committed to working with local and regional partners to ensure that our workers and families experience the economic benefits that come with increased demand for power distribution solutions.”

The governor’s office said all of Hyper’s products are engineered, designed, tested and built in the United States, providing Americans jobs from design and assembly to deployment and long-term service.

“We are proud to continue growing in Henrico County and grateful for the partnership and support from the commonwealth of Virginia,” Hyper Solutions CEO Vladimir Gulkarov said in a statement. “This expansion enables us to create meaningful jobs, strengthen local and national manufacturing ecosystems and help position Virginia as a leader in the future of digital infrastructure.”

The worked with the county to secure the project for Virginia and will support Hyper’s through the three-year Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides recruiting and training services as well as cash grant reimbursements for associated human resources costs after a company has had new employees on the payroll for at least 90 days.

Hyper did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In addition to its Henrico headquarters at 1540 E. Parham Road, Hyper has a customer experience site in Las Vegas and a sales office in Phoenix.

Flying Squirrels owner sues Thalhimer exec for defamation

 

SUMMARY:

  • Flying Squirrels Managing Partner Lou DiBella is suing and its principal, , for , seeking “tens of millions of dollars.”
  • Lawsuit alleges Guillot told Richmond EDA director DiBella threatened to kill Guillot and his family if Guillot did not sell DiBella a land parcel and that Guillot knew that statement was false.
  • Squirrels’ new stadium, , is anchor of $2.4 billion mixed-use development, which has suffered delays.

In a defamation lawsuit seeking “tens of millions of dollars,” Richmond Flying Squirrels President and Managing Partner Lou DiBella is suing Thalhimer Realty Partners Principal Jason Guillot and the firm, alleging Guillot told Richmond Authority Director Angie Rodgers in early April that DiBella had threatened to kill Guillot and his family if Guillot did not sell DiBella a certain parcel of land.

The suit, filed Thursday in , alleges that Guillot knew the statement was false when he made it.

“Many of the allegations in the lawsuit are inaccurate,” Guillot said in an email. “We look forward to setting the record straight.”  

According to the lawsuit, Guillot allegedly claimed that DiBella — who is managing partner of the limited partnership that owns the Squirrels Double-A minor league team, Navigators Baseball — threatened him during a conversation with DiBella’s business partner, Larry Botel, on April 7, the opening night of the Flying Squirrels’ new stadium, CarMax Park.

A long-awaited replacement for The Diamond, the team’s aging previous stadium, the new CarMax Park stadium is the centerpiece of the city’s $2.4 billion Diamond District redevelopment project headed up by Thalhimer.

The suit states that DiBella, Botel and the Squirrels “have been locked in contentious business dealings with Defendants, the City of Richmond, and the EDA for years over the Squirrels’ new stadium.” The complaint alleges the defendants defamed DiBella “to gain the upper hand in their business dealings.”

During a conversation with Botel, Guillot and DiBella present, DiBella brought up his concerns regarding a 0.8-acre parcel near the stadium and other concerns, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims that Guillot “responded with petty insults” and “continued in a diatribe against DiBella.”

As DiBella was leaving the conversation, according to the lawsuit, Guillot allegedly asked, “What, are you going to hit me?” DiBella says in the lawsuit that he responded, “Of course not, I would never do that. But if I did hit you, I’d hit you so hard, I’d hurt your whole family.”

DiBella’s suit says the last sentence was “an approximate quote from one of his favorite movies,” the 1982 comedy-drama “Diner,” and that DiBella “intended this as a joke.” (The direct quote from the movie is “I’ll hit you so hard, I’ll kill your whole family.”)

On April 9, the lawsuit claims, Rodgers called DiBella and said Guillot had told her he “threatened to kill Guillot and his family if Guillot did not sell DiBella the 0.8-acre parcel.”

Parcel at lawsuit’s center

The parcel in question is part of the 67-acre Diamond District. The lawsuit states that the city and EDA kept the parcel when giving the Squirrels land for the stadium after DiBella proposed the Squirrels’ ownership build the stadium themselves. The city and EDA allegedly said the parcel was “earmarked for an ‘African American-owned food court’” that wouldn’t be a competitor to the Squirrels’ concessions and was needed to satisfy the requirement that 40% of the district be reserved for minority businesses.

According to the lawsuit, former Squirrels executive Todd Parnell told DiBella and Botel that he’d learned from a Thalhimer-affiliated broker that Thalhimer planned to put a bar named after him on the 0.8-acre parcel, which would directly compete with the Squirrels. A Thalhimer broker confirmed to the Squirrels’ broker that the firm was close to finalizing a deal for a 15,000-square-foot sports bar, according to the suit.

According to a May 21 email from Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, EAT Restaurant Partners leased 5,215 square feet of retail space in the Gateway Retail building at 3001 N. Arthur Ashe Blvd. The lawsuit cited a May 22 article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch that reported the restaurant group planned to put a sports bar on the property.

Diamond District 

The Diamond District project has been mired in delays.

In 2022, the city awarded the development contract to RVA Diamond Partners, a limited liability company that included Connecticut-based developer Republic Projects, Thalhimer Realty Partners of Loop Capital Holdings. In May 2023, Richmond City Council originally approved a development agreement with RVA Diamond Partners.

However, Republic Projects filed a lawsuit in July 2024 claiming that Thalhimer Realty Partners and Loop Capital cut Republic out of the development deal sometime between June 2023 and December 2023. Loop Capital said it had never signed any partnership agreement that was the subject of the suit. By November 2024, Thalhimer was the sole principal of Diamond District Partners.

The lawsuit alleges RVA Diamond Partners “lied when it represented … it had formed a development group with Thalhimer, Republic and Loop Capital capable of financing” the $627.6 million minimum investment for the Diamond District’s first phase.

The lawsuit claims Guillot’s motive for allegedly making a false statement about DiBella was to “create leverage for Thalhimer and the EDA in their business dealings with DiBella and the Squirrels” and that Guillot “sought to retaliate” for DiBella threatening to expose material misrepresentations that Guillot, Thalhimer and RVA Diamond Partners made to win the contract and in a meeting with Major League Baseball representatives in September 2023.

The city, EDA, Thalhimer Realty Partners and Diamond District Partners held a groundbreaking for the infrastructure of the Diamond District’s Phase 1A in April 2025. Construction on a nearby apartment complex with retail space and a parking garage is set to start in June.

DiBella requests a jury trial and is seeking “actual, presumed, and punitive damages of tens of millions of dollars in amounts to be specifically determined at trial,”; expenses such as attorneys’ fees; pre- and post-judgment interest; and a “narrowly tailored injunction” prohibiting Guillot and Thalhimer from repeating the alleged claim that DiBella threatened to kill Guillot and his family if Guillot did not sell DiBella the 0.8-acre parcel.

DiBella declined to comment through his attorney.

DiBella has won a defamation suit before. In December 2001, he sued Bernard Hopkins, then a professional boxer, in the Southern District of New York, and a jury in November 2002 returned a verdict in his favor on one of four libel claims, awarding DiBella $610,000.

CoStar facing multiple antitrust accusations in lawsuits 

County-based  is facing multiple federal lawsuits accusing the  data and analytics company of participating in monopolistic practices. 

Per court records, the company is facing three similar federal lawsuits, filed in in Virginia,  and Washington, D.C. All three filings seek jury trials and class action status. 

The Virginia case,  LLC d/b/a Grand & Co. v. Group, Inc., et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in April. The 79-page complaint by the plaintiff, Shapiro Hospitalities, claims CoStar violated federal antitrust laws. 

“This is a rare case about a company that has perpetrated an anticompetitive scheme so pernicious that its own customers openly lament how it has destroyed competition, leaving them no choice but to pay its supracompetitive prices,” the complaint alleges. 

The filing specifically alleges CoStar maintains monopoly power as the dominant provider of , or CRE, online listing and information in violation of Sections 1 and 2 of the . 

The complaint claims that CoStar has coerced the three largest CRE brokerages into noncompete agreements, limiting the sharing of information with CoStar competitors and effectively excluding any rival platform from “compet[ing] effectively without access to that information.” 

“By restraining customers’ ability to share their own CRE information with CoStar competitors, CoStar has created and maintained a dangerous probability that its attempt to monopolize will succeed,” the complaint states. 

Greg Asciolla, a partner at and counsel for Shapiro Hospitalities, said in a statement on the firm’s site that the case was filed because “commercial real estate brokers and firms are being squeezed by a system that leaves them with no real choice. 

“We believe CoStar used its dominant position to lock up customer data, shut out competition, and raise prices,” Asciolla said.  

Per court records, CoStar has filed a motion to stay the proceedings in the Shapiro case while it seeks to transfer the California case, Malm Inc. v. CoStar Group Inc., to Virginia. 

CoStar General Counsel Gene Boxer said in a statement that the “scattershot complaint lazily recycles debunked claims that make no sense” and that CoStar customers are able to share their own listings on other platforms per the written terms of use.

“The counterfactual complaint — brought by a plaintiff whose own listings undermines its case — is riddled with overheated hyperbole, factual errors, misleading characterizations, and fundamental misunderstandings of our business practices,” Boxer said. “CoStar will vigorously defend against these baseless allegations and will prevail.”

 

CoStar to acquire Zonda for $800M

CoStar Group plans to acquire homebuilding data and software firm for $800 million in cash, the County-based data and technology company announced Friday.

Zonda serves more than 3,000 customers, including homebuilders, developers, suppliers and lenders across North America. The company provides data, software and online marketplaces used for land , development planning, construction forecasting and home sales. Most of its revenue comes from subscriptions, and it reported 104% net customer retention.

Zonda also operates the NewHomeSource and Livabl online marketplaces for new-home buyers in the U.S. and Canada. said Zonda’s builder relationships, marketplace platforms and market data could create cross-selling opportunities across its commercial, residential, multifamily, lending and analytics businesses. CoStar owns and .

“This acquisition extends ‘s leadership into a major new segment of the real estate industry and strengthens our ability to provide clients with comprehensive information solutions across every major real estate segment,” CoStar CEO said in a statement. “We believe the combination will deliver deeper insights, workflow efficiencies and analytics to the homebuilding industry, while strengthening our core information offerings and significantly expanding our new home marketplace capabilities.”

The acquisition is expected to close in the second half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals.

CoStar pointed to the nearly $1 trillion annual value of U.S. residential construction as a key driver for the acquisition. The company said the acquisition is expected to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share in the first full year of ownership The merger will pair Zonda Envision, a home design platform with visualization and digital merchandising capabilities with Matterport’s 3D digital twin technology. CoStar acquired Matterport in March 2025.

In 2025, CoStar reported $3.2 billion in revenue, up 19% over 2024’s $2.7 billion. The company has 8,400 employees and 86 offices in 15 countries. Its websites attracted 131 million average monthly unique visitors during the first quarter of this year.

These Virginia CEOs rank among world’s most powerful women

Three -based CEOs once again made ‘s list of the world’s 100 Most Powerful Women in business for 2026, the publication announced this week.

Chair and CEO landed at No. 4 this year, down two spots from last year, when she was at No. 2. CEO of the Global Fortune 500 professional services and tech consulting firm since 2019 and chair since 2021, Sweet was previously Accenture’s North American CEO from 2015 to 2019. She works between offices in and Bethesda, Maryland.

According to Fortune, Accenture reported $69.7 billion in revenue for fiscal 2025, up about 7% year-over-year. This year, Sweet restructured parts of Accenture’s organization into one unit, and although the reorganization called for staff cuts, Accenture is simultaneously growing its workforce of more than 780,000 employees. The company also has embraced artificial intelligence to provide faster services, Fortune notes.

As for the other Virginia-based business leaders on the list, Chairman and CEO Phebe Novakovic placed at No. 30 this year, up six spots from 2025. Fortune notes that the Reston-based defense giant in 2019 landed the Navy’s largest ever contract, a deal now worth up to $24.2 billion, to build nuclear submarines at the company’s Electric Boat subsidiary. Earlier this year, Novakovic was named chair of the Aerospace Industries Association’s board.

At No. 72 on this year’s list of the world’s most powerful women business leaders is Chair, CEO and President , who fell four spots from last year’s ranking and has dropped 47 places since 2024. While Fortune noted in 2025’s rankings that Falls Church-based NG had “faced some difficulties,” including recent losses on its stealth bomber production due to inflation, the defense contractor closed 2025 on an upswing, with $42 billion in revenue and a record $95.7 billion backlog. Also, Fortune noted that Warden has “become a prominent voice on Capitol Hill, testifying before Congress on government acquisition reform and advising cabinet officials on capacity.”

Dropping off the list is Toni Townes-Whitley, who was ranked at No. 82 as CEO of Reston-based Science Applications International Co. () on the 2025 list. In October 2025, however, she parted ways with SAIC. Jim Reagan, former Leidos chief financial officer, became interim CEO upon her departure and was named its permanent chief executive in February.

Fortune’s top-ranked most powerful woman business leader for 2026 is Citigroup Chair and CEO Jane Fraser.

Wall Street ends higher, Brent crude eases on reports of US-Iran truce extension

Summary:
  • US and Iran agree to 60-day ceasefire extension
  • S&P 500 and hit record closing highs
  • Brent crude oil prices dip amid concerns

NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday and European shares pared their losses following reports that the United States and Iran have reached an agreement to extend the ceasefire and launch negotiations, considered a welcome development after the two nations exchanged air strikes.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq registered their third consecutive sessions of record closing highs, while European shares, though off session lows, closed lower on the day.

The United States and Iran have agreed to a memorandum of understanding that extends the truce for another 60 days to allow for negotiations, according to sources familiar with the matter. But the agreement still needs the approval of U.S. President Donald Trump, and comes after Iran targeted a U.S. air base in Kuwait and the United States struck what it described as an Iranian drone complex near the Strait of Hormuz.

“There’s certainly been a degree of day-to-day volatility in markets as a result of geopolitical events,” said Bill Merz, head of Capital Market Research at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.

“But in spite of all the negative news and uncertainty around the Middle East, we’re seeing this intersection of fundamentals and market signals really sending a consistent message that growth is strong, growth-oriented assets continue to perform, and we’re at all-time highs,” Merz said.

A raft of economic data showed first-quarter U.S. GDP grew at a more sluggish pace than originally reported, the saving rate sank to its lowest level since June 2022, continued to heat up, and new orders for core-capital goods – a barometer for corporate spending plans – unexpectedly dropped.

The combination of weak GDP and rising price growth presents the U.S. , now under the chairmanship of Trump appointee , with a dilemma regarding the central bank’s monetary policy.

“What the numbers point to today is simply that we have a stagflation problem, and that’s a big problem for the Fed,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York. “We have growth that’s not that strong and rising inflation, and that suggests that a Fed (interest rate) hike is getting closer to reality as opposed to a rate cut.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 25.49 points, or 0.05%, to 50,669.77, the S&P 500 rose 43.42 points, or 0.58%, to 7,563.78 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 242.74 points, or 0.91%, to 26,917.47.

European shares dropped as U.S.-Iran developments kept risk appetite low, but pared steeper losses.

MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.87 points, or 0.26%, to 1,125.15.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.49%, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 12.10 points, or 0.48%.

Emerging market stocks fell 11.31 points, or 0.65%, to 1,727.82.

Oil prices were split. U.S. WTI edged higher, while Brent, more vulnerable to Strait of Hormuz traffic disruptions, dipped.

U.S. crude rose 0.25% to settle at $88.90 per barrel, while Brent settled at $93.71 per barrel, down 0.62% on the day.

turned lower following the weaker-than-expected U.S. economic data and news of the potential interim deal in the Iran war.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 2.8 basis points to 4.453%, from 4.481% late on Wednesday.

The 30-year bond yield fell 2.9 basis points to 4.9817% from 5.011% late on Wednesday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, fell 0.8 basis points to 4.025%, from 4.033% late on Wednesday.

The dollar edged lower in the wake of the largely disappointing economic data and the developments relating to the Iran war.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.27% to 99.02, with the euro up 0.19% at $1.1646.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.18% to 159.23.

In cryptocurrencies, fell 2.47% to $73,306.56. Ethereum declined 2.35% to $2,011.65.

reversed earlier losses. Spot gold rose 0.9% to $4,497.35 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 1.04% to $4,494.60 an ounce.

(Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper, Will Dunham and Wayne Cole)

 

HCA gets state approval for emergency room in Richmond

HCA plans to build a on Hull Street in after the state recently approved the project.

State Health Commissioner Cameron Webb approved a Certificate of Public Need request in April to establish a new medical care facility with one CT scanner. The health system plans to establish the at 3830 Hull Street Road in the Circle Plaza shopping center near the Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center and a few minutes’ drive from HCA’s Chippenham Hospital.

According to the application, HCA plans to remodel and modernize the existing 11,000-square-foot building on the site, which is zoned for medical clinic and office space.

The application states the facility will provide emergency services, CT imaging, X-rays, ultrasound, laboratory services, pediatric services and related outpatient emergency treatment. The filing also describes the ER as a satellite facility affiliated with Chippenham Hospital.

“Chippenham clearly needs additional CT capacity and South Richmond ER is an ideal location to improve access for Chippenham’s existing patients and reduce demand for Chippenham’s extraordinarily busy ER and CT services,” the application states.

HCA said in its November 2025 application that Chippenham performed more than 55,000 CT procedures in 2024, roughly 250% of the state’s planning standard, and that 2025 volumes were on pace to exceed 63,000 scans.

“We are pleased with the Virginia Department of Health’s approval of the new freestanding ER in South Richmond and appreciate the opportunity to address the region’s growing need for high-quality emergency care close to home,” spokesperson Wes Hester said in a statement.

Hester said details regarding the project’s overall cost, staffing levels, construction timeline and opening date have not yet been finalized. However, the state approval authorizes approximately $1 million in capital costs related to the project and lists a projected completion date of Dec. 27, 2028.

HCA said the South Richmond facility is part of a broader freestanding across Virginia, including the planned summer openings of the 15,000-square-foot Scott’s Walk ER in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood and the nearly 11,000-square-foot Chesterfield ER on Iron Bridge Road in Chesterfield County.

Part of Nashville-based , HCA Virginia operates 14 hospitals, 26 outpatient centers, eight freestanding emergency rooms and is affiliated with more than 3,100 physicians. With more than 300,000 employees, HCA has 190 hospitals and approximately 2,500 ambulatory sites of care in 19 states and the United Kingdom. It reported $75.6 billion in revenue in 2025, up from $70.6 billion in 2024.

Virginia Lottery head departs

Khalid Jones has ended his term as the ‘s executive director, he announced in a video posted on LinkedIn last week.

Tony R. Russell, most recently deputy executive director of ITS and operations at the lottery, has been named acting executive director.

Gov. Abigail ‘s office is responsible for appointing Jones’ permanent successor but did not immediately provide a timeline for the search when contacted Thursday for comment.

Jones, who was appointed executive director by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin in April 2024, wrote in his post that “the decision to step into a new journey has been one of the most difficult I’ve ever made. For two years, I have given all of myself to this agency and I hope that in doing so I have given more than I have taken. I look forward to talking about what’s next in store for me.” He did not say what his future plans are.

As head of the Lottery, Jones was responsible for the lottery and overseeing licensing and regulation of the state’s five and online betting.

An attorney who specialized in large-scale financial investigations and licensing, Jones previously held executive positions with investment firm SourceRock Partners and All American Licensing, a sports and entertainment marketing firm, and he also advised lottery organizations, including the Multi-State Lottery Association.

In December 2025, Jones was named lead director of the Consortium, a multijurisdictional lottery game administered by the directors of its 12 original lotteries, including Virginia.

In fiscal 2025, the state lottery broke its sales record, generating $5.8 billion in sales, and income from operations totaled $901.5 million. wagers totaled more than $7.2 billion, and the state’s three operating casinos generated nearly $850 million in adjusted revenue. In the past year, both Norfolk and Petersburg have opened temporary casinos while permanent resorts are under construction. Also, $868.2 million in proceeds were transferred to a state fund that supports public education.

Russell, the agency’s acting executive director, has been with the lottery since 2013 and previously held senior leadership positions at Kroger and FedEx.

The lottery didn’t respond immediately to requests for comment Thursday.

Spanberger removes Virginia Tech’s rector from board

SUMMARY:
  • Roanoke attorney John Rocovich is ‘s first removal from a state university board.
  • Governor’s letter says he “violated” state code of conduct for boards but does not specify alleged actions
  • Ed Baine appointed to serve out final year of Rocovich’s board term; board members to elect new
  • President Tim Sands announced departure in April

John Rocovich, a Roanoke-based lawyer, has been removed as rector of Tech, according to a letter from Gov. Abigail .

She wrote in the May 27 letter that his conduct “violated the Code of Conduct for Commonwealth Appointees to Boards, Authorities, & Commissions, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors’ Code of Ethics, and the governing statutes requiring board members to act in accordance with the best interests of Virginia Tech.”

Dominion Energy Virginia President Ed Baine, whose term on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors was set to end June 30, has been appointed to complete Rocovich’s term, which ends June 30, 2027. Baine was previously the university’s rector. According to the governor’s office, the board members will elect a new rector.

Although Spanberger did not specify how Rocovich, who was appointed by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, allegedly violated the codes and statutes listed, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia’s junior senator, voiced concern last month about the motivation behind Virginia Tech President Tim Sands’ departure.

“I think there is a desire by certain members on that board to force him out,” Kaine said during an April 10 news conference, “even though he doesn’t deserve to be treated like that, so that the board can pick a president before Gov. Spanberger is able to put this administration’s stamp on the Virginia Tech board. And so, I urge Gov. Spanberger to get to the bottom of this and to not allow yet again a Virginia public university to be politicized with political schemes used to oust qualified leadership.”

Governors are the only officials in Virginia allowed to remove members from the state’s public university boards, which have hiring and firing power over institutions’ presidents.

Sands, who took office in 2014, announced in April he planned to step down in coming months and intended to stay in office until a successor was in place.

Spanberger also announced that Sharon Brickhouse Martin, who was set to start a term on Virginia Tech’s board July 1, has been immediately appointed to fill Baine’s open term ending June 30, after which she will start her four-year term. Martin is vice president of health services integration at VHC Health and a member of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association Board.

“The governor has informed us of this action. We have no additional comment,” Virginia Tech spokesperson Mark Owczarski said in a statement Thursday. Rocovich, a partner at Moss & Rocovich in Roanoke, did not immediately return calls for comment Thursday.

On April 20, the governor announced her four appointees to the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, including: Microsoft Senior Account Manager Christopher Ramos, Hanbury Architects Principal and CEO Emeritus Jane Cady Rathbone, Greycore Ventures founder and Managing Partner Mehul Sanghani and Martin.

Spanberger noted at the time in a statement that she had made her selections in advance of the July 1 start date of the new board terms because Rocovich had committed to place her nominees on the presidential search committee.

Wrangling over university boards

According to the governor’s office, Rocovich is the first board member Spanberger has removed, although just before taking office in January, she asked five University of Virginia board members appointed by the Republican Youngkin to resign. U.Va.’s then-rector and vice rector, Rachel Sheridan and Porter Wilkinson, were among the five who resigned the day before Spanberger’s inauguration.

In 2025, Youngkin removed one of his own appointees to U.Va.’s board, Atlanta businessman Bert Ellis, an outspoken conservative who was vocal about his opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the university, but also was at the heart of several public disputes among board members.

In Youngkin’s letter to Ellis, he wrote, “Your conduct on many occasions has violated the Commonwealth’s Code of Conduct for our Boards and Commissions and the Board of Visitors’ Statement of Visitor Responsibilities.”

Youngkin appointed former Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, a Republican firebrand who served during President Donald Trump’s first term, to fill Ellis’ seat, which sparked further controversy among Virginia Senate Democrats.

The Democratic-controlled state Senate Privileges & Elections Committee in June 2025 declined to confirm Cuccinelli and seven other Youngkin university board appointees to U.Va., George Mason University and Virginia Military Institute. At the time, Democratic Sen. Adam Ebbin said that the nominees were “not good choices” and that he had observed “a disturbing pattern of conduct” on George Mason’s board, showing disrespect for President Gregory Washington in public comments.

In 2025, U.Va. President Jim Ryan stepped down while the university was under investigation by the Department of Justice for its DEI practices, and VMI’s board voted not to renew the contract of Superintendent Cedric Wins, the first Black person to lead the military academy. A VMI alumnus and retired major general hired in 2021 following a state investigation into allegations of racism at the institute, Wins came under fire from conservative alumni for the DEI programs he put in place.

Wins slammed the board’s decision as “a partisan choice that abandons the values of honor, integrity and excellence upon which VMI was built.”

Although Ryan’s resignation took place while the Trump administration took aim at multiple universities over their DEI policies and conduct related to pro-Palestine protests on campuses, the former U.Va. president alleged last November in a letter to the university’s faculty senate that he believed conservative board members had influenced the series of events leading up to his June 2025 resignation.

He wrote that some board members were “complicit” in the push for him to resign. Sheridan, Wilkinson and board member and major university donor Paul Manning dealt directly with the DOJ, while he was advised to not engage with federal investigators, Ryan wrote.

The Youngkin administration fought in court the Senate committee’s decision to reject 22 university board appointees but lost on appeal, giving Spanberger the right to fill the seats upon taking office. Spanberger, meanwhile, asked U.Va.’s presidential search committee to pause its efforts until she took office and could name new appointees to fill its empty seats. However, they moved forward and named Darden School of Business Dean Scott Beardsley as the next president in December 2025.

Ultimately, Spanberger filled 27 board seats at U.Va., George Mason and VMI upon taking office in January, and she has more seats to fill July 1.

Fed’s Musalem says rate hike may be needed if inflation doesn’t ease

May 28 (Reuters) – St. Louis President on Thursday said the central bank may need to increase its policy rate if does not resume easing within the next six months, adding his voice to an increasingly hawkish cohort of Fed policymakers just as takes the reins as Fed chair.

“If we don’t see disinflation in the next one to two quarters, that would concern me,” Musalem said at a Central Bank of Iceland and economic conference in Reykjavik as he laid out scenarios that in his view may require a Fed . “Right now my view is that the risks have tilted more towards the inflation side than the side.”

U.S. inflation increased at its fastest pace in three years in April, data published Thursday by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis showed, with the personal consumption expenditures price index rising 3.8% from a year earlier on higher amid the war with Iran.

Musalem said he could see a world where a rate cut could be needed later this year, if for instance growth slows and the labor market, now stable, begins to weaken again. Unemployment was 4.3% in April and economists expect it to stay there this month.

But he made clear that he is more worried about the opposite scenario, especially if inflation expectations continue to drift higher or remain elevated, a signal that the public doesn’t believe the Fed will beat back inflation and that the worries could become self-fulfilling.

“I see risks that inflation may not converge to target as we would like,” he said. “So we need to be very vigilant.”

Musalem’s hawkish remarks followed a speech in which he warned of the risks of banking on AI’s potential for boosting productivity, and therefore pushing down on inflation, before there is clear evidence it is doing so.

Warsh, who was sworn in as Fed chair less than a week ago, has said he believes AI will be a strong disinflationary force, a view that suggests he could support the easier monetary policy that President Donald Trump says the economy needs and that he expects Warsh to deliver.

The Fed has kept its policy rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range all year and financial markets are pricing in a better-than-even chance of a rate hike by the end of 2026. Central bankers next meet to set policy in mid-June.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )