The tech sector is growing in Northern Virginia, prompted by Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters in Arlington County and Google’s expansion in Fairfax and Loudoun counties as part of its $13 billion national growth plan.
Also, a new regional coalition, the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance, formed in September 2019, is bringing 10 localities’ economic development officials together just as some prominent faces change.
During the past year, Victor Hoskins, who as director of Arlington County Economic Development helped lead the successful effort to land Amazon, became president and CEO of Fairfax County’s Economic Development Authority. In January, Telly Tucker, former economic development director of Danville, replaced Hoskins in Arlington.
Christina Winn, who had been Arlington’s business investment director, became executive director of Prince William County Department of Economic Development. Alex Iams headed the Arlington department on an interim basis but joined the Fairfax County authority in December as senior vice president.
Fairfax
In addition to Google’s decision to relocate and expand offices within Reston to a new building on the Dulles Toll Road (read the story here), Fairfax County chalked up several gains in 2019, Hoskins says.
TEKSystems Inc., which specializes in IT staffing and operates locally in Falls Church, announced last year an addition of 840 jobs. Randstad North America, which has been in Tysons more than 30 years, announced plans to add 300 IT jobs in fiscal year 2020. Zantech IT Services Inc. is investing $317,853 to expand its corporate offices in Tysons.
And in January, education technology company Blackboard Inc. said it would move its global headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Reston, where the company already has offices. Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd. (IAI), Israel’s largest aerospace and defense company, announced it would expand its North American headquarters in a new location in the Dulles Technology Corridor.
Last April, Inova Health System dedicated its 438,000-square-foot, $150 million Inova Schar Cancer Institute, which anchors the 117-acre Merrifield campus.
Loudoun
Loudoun County continued to rack up data center acreage in 2019, building on its already-established 10 million square feet, through which roughly 70% of the world’s internet traffic flows. Google’s expansion plan calls for spending $600 million to develop two data center sites it purchased in 2017, a 91-acre parcel in Arcola Center and 57 acres in Stonewall Business Park.
Sure Power Inc., a provider of battery backup solutions for business, announced it was opening a new office in the county because “the proximity to Loudoun County’s expansive data center hub allows us to more efficiently provide critical power protection services,” Paul Merrick, the company’s founder and CEO, said in a statement.
The county had a good year attracting other sectors, too, according to Loudoun County Economic Development Executive Director Buddy Rizer. Satair, a wholly owned subsidiary of Airbus SE, announced in June that it would expand its customer service logistics center. The company plans to invest more than $10 million to move into a 250,000-square-foot facility. And biotech company Aperiomics Inc. selected Loudoun for its new 4,700-square-foot corporate headquarters.
Prince William
Prince William County already had about 4 million square feet of data center space in 2019. Then, in August, county officials announced plans to push that number to more than 5 million.
And the data center market isn’t the only bright spot in Virginia’s second-largest county by population.
Winn says Prince William attracts a variety of industries such as life sciences and advanced manufacturing because it has created a supportive ecosystem. “There’s a transportation network. You can have your headquarters, manufacturing and distribution all in the same area.”
Much of the development is in and around Manassas, including the county’s partnership with Holladay Properties, which will build a 30,000-square-foot commercial wet lab facility in Innovation Park, a hub for new technologies coming out of the George Mason University Science and Technology campus. American Type Culture Collection, which collects, stores and distributes tissue samples, launched its second headquarters expansion, a $22 million project, in November.
High Purity Systems Inc. announced in September that it expects to invest approximately $8.5 million to expand into a new 30,000-square-foot piping fabrication facility, and last spring Mu-Del Electronics LLC, a manufacturer of high-performance radio frequency and microwave-based systems, relocated to a 19,358-square-foot operations center in the Merritt I-66 Business Park.
Arlington
Even without Amazon HQ2, Arlington County had plenty to boast about in 2019.
Incentive Technology Group LLC, a cloud services provider, announced plans last April to invest $5.1 million in a 50,000-square-foot headquarters in Crystal City, says Marian Marquez, director of the Business Investment Group at Arlington Economic Development. The company, which was purchased by Fairfax-based consulting and technology services provider ICF International Inc. for $255 million in the first quarter of 2020, committed to adding more than 1,000 jobs.
Yext Inc., a New York-based online brand management company, said it would hire 500 people during the next five years at its new, 42,500-square-foot Rosslyn location.
And, Marquez says, the county is pleased to retain Public Broadcasting Service, which “was in a real estate search toward the end of last year but chose to stay in Crystal City.”
Also, the Drug Enforcement Administration will keep its headquarters in the county. The federal agency occupies more than 511,000 square feet of space and employs about 3,000 people.
But any discussion of deals in Arlington County often comes back to The Big Deal, Amazon HQ2. Amify, which “helps brands selling on Amazon maximize sales and profitability,” signed a three-year lease in August for a location just blocks away from the HQ2 site.
“They moved to be closer to Amazon,” Marquez says. “We expect to see more of that sort of thing.”
Alexandria
Alexandria laid plenty of groundwork for new projects in recent years, says Stephanie Landrum, president and CEO of the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership. “We celebrated when the deals were signed, but time passes while waiting for permits. This was the year we celebrated the actual groundbreakings.”
One big event was the December groundbreaking for the $320 million Potomac Yard Metro station. “This has been in the pipeline for two decades. … This is the piece of infrastructure that supports other projects” on the Alexandria/Arlington line near Amazon’s HQ2 campus, she says.
One of those projects is Virginia Tech’s forthcoming Innovation Campus. The $1 billion, 1 million-square-foot graduate campus will be part of a 65-acre mixed-use district planned and developed by Lionstone and real estate investment trust JBG Smith. This year, the university will offer classes at two temporary spaces in the Potomac Yard shopping center.
Ground was broken in July for a mixed-use project that will include an 80,000-square-foot Wegmans grocery store, 130,000 square feet of other retail space and 750 residential units at a 5-acre site near the city’s Eisenhower Avenue Metro.
On the Old Town waterfront, the CIM Group announced in December the redevelopment of the 12-story former Crowne Plaza Hotel into a residential condominium with a 13th-floor penthouse and rooftop deck. An adjacent parking lot will be developed into 41 town houses, and a performing arts theater will occupy the base of the tower.
Landrum, who, along with Victor Hoskins, was a co-winner of the Metropolitan Council of Government’s Collaborative Leadership Award in December, sees plenty of opportunities ahead. With the new NOVA alliance, “we’re operating as one regional group. Now we can chase the big projects together.”
With 21 companies listed on the Fortune 500, Virginia is home to many powerful and influential business leaders but naturally some are more involved in their communities and exert more pull in the state than others.
This year’s list of Virginia’s most influential businesspeople ranges from defense contractors, bankers and health system CEOs to a hotelier, a grocery chain operator, high-ranking tech executives and one global pop music superstar.
Some of the new additions to this year’s list include:
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Thomas Barkin
Perspecta Inc. President and CEO Mac Curtis
Amazon.com Inc. Vice President of HQ2 Workforce Development Ardine Williams
Platinum-selling recording artist Pharrell Williams
Read on to find out how each of these leaders is contributing to business and leaving their imprint on the commonwealth.
Nancy Howell Agee, president and CEO, Carilion Clinic Inc., Roanoke
Why she is influential: Agee, the former chair of the American Hospital Association, leads Carilion, which serves one million people and in fiscal 2018 employed 13,317 and drew revenue of $1.8 billion. Carilion has a significant effect not only on the Roanoke and New River valleys and 21 counties in the region, but also on Virginia. The health system has an economic impact on the state of $3.2 billion and 23,719 jobs, according to a January study by the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
Recent developments: This spring, Carilion is set to begin a $300 million, multiyear expansion of its flagship Roanoke Memorial Hospital. It’s the beginning of a $1 billion capital improvements initiative announced last year. Also in 2019, Modern Healthcare named Agee one of its Top 25 Women Leaders and she ranked No. 9 on its list of Most Influential Clinical Executives.
Neil Amin, CEO, Shamin Hotels, Chester
Why he is influential: Shamin Hotels, founded by Amin’s father and based in Chesterfield County, is the Richmond region’s largest hotel operator. In January, the company purchased its 60th hotel, the Hyatt Place Richmond Chester. An alum of Goldman Sachs & Co., Amin sits on several Virginia nonprofit boards, including Richmond Region Tourism and the Virginia Council on Economic Education.
Recent developments:In JanuaryShamin purchased the Richmond Times-Dispatch building in downtown Richmond, which the company will use as its new headquarters, while leasing space to the newspaper and other tenants. In Chesterfield, the company is building an upscale, 200-room hotel and conference center in the Stonebridge development. Construction started last fall on Shamin’s long-awaited Moxy Hotels by Marriott project in downtown Richmond, purchased in 2016. And Shamin is collaborating with local developer The Rebkee Co. to build a hotel next to a Henrico County-owned indoor sports arena scheduled to open in 2022 at Virginia Center Commons mall.
John C. Asbury, president and CEO, Atlantic Union Bankshares, Richmond
Why he is influential: Asbury transitioned from a career with large financial institutions to help build a regional Virginia bank. The plan coalesced with the acquisition of Reston-based Access National Bank, a $500 million deal that closed in February 2019. Asbury serves on boards such as the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Chamber RVA and the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.
Recent developments: The bank’s parent company announced a rebrand of Union Bank & Trust to Atlantic Union Bank in May 2019 and reported net income of $193.5 million last year. Headquartered in Richmond, the bank is expanding into additional office space in Henrico County to accommodate recent growth. In a January earnings call, Asbury said he hopes to “take advantage of the disruption caused by” the merger of SunTrust and BB&T into Truist Financial Corp. The governor appointed Asbury to the Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners last year, and in June he becomes chairman of the Virginia Bankers Association.
G. Robert Aston Jr., executive chairman, TowneBank, Portsmouth
Why he is influential: An industry veteran, Aston’s first banking job, in high school, paid $1.15 an hour. In April 1999, he co-founded TowneBank — now one of the biggest banks in the state and the largest regional bank in Hampton Roads, with 42 banking offices throughout Virginia and North Carolina, and $11.95 billion in total assets at the close of 2019.
Recent developments: It’s been a year since TowneBank saw a huge leap in earnings — a 52.62% increase from 2018 to 2019 that Aston attributed to strong performance and a merger with Paragon Commercial Corp. Though less dramatic, the bank’s growth continued last year, with a 3.73% increase in earnings to $138.78 million. The bank opened its first Greensboro, North Carolina, office, with further expansion on tap into the Tar Heel State.
Thomas Barkin, president and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Richmond
Photo by Caroline Martin
Why he is influential:Taking over leadership of the Richmond Fed in January 2018, Barkin is responsible for the bank’s monetary policy, bank supervision and regulation and oversees information technology for the Federal Reserve System. He also serves as an alternate member on the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed’s chief monetary policy body that sets interest rates. Before coming to the Fed, Barkin worked for 30 years for McKinsey & Co., the nation’s biggest management consulting firm, where he was a senior partner, recently serving stints as McKinsey’s chief financial officer and chief risk officer.
Recent developments:Barkin has used his clout to bring attention to the economic disparities in rural areas within his purview in the Fed’s Fifth District, which includes Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and the Carolinas. In October, the Richmond Fed hosted its first Investing in Rural America conference, focusing on issues such as economic development, education, workforce development, broadband and labor force participation. In particular, he lamented the closures of rural banks, hospitals and colleges, which he said have contributed to economic gaps and community isolation.
Gilbert T. Bland, chairman, The GilJoy Group, Virginia Beach
Why he is influential: Bland has owned a portfolio of more than 70 Burger King and Pizza Hut franchises for 35 years. He also serves on a variety of boards, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Randolph-Macon College, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Sentara Healthcare. For the last year and a half, he’s been president and CEO of the Urban League of Hampton Roads Inc.
Recent developments: In the wake of Gov. Ralph Northam’s blackface controversy last year, Bland served on a community advisory group to investigate the matter for Eastern Virginia Medical School. Since then, Northam tapped Bland for a new Virginia African American Advisory Board. In that role, he is one of 21 citizen members advising the governor on strengthening “economic, professional, cultural, educational and governmental links” between state government and the African American community.
Jennifer Boykin, president, Newport News Shipbuilding, and executive vice president, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News
Why she is influential: A marine engineer, Boykin is the first woman to serve as president of Newport News Shipbuilding, the largest industrial employer in Virginia. The division of Huntington Ingalls Industries grew to $4.72 billion in annual revenue in 2018. Boykin also maintains a strong presence in the business community and works to empower women and girls.
Recent developments: Newport News Shipbuilding landed a huge piece of business from General Dynamics when the defense contractor won a $22.2 billion contract from the Navy — the largest-ever awarded — in late 2019. Under the contract, Boykin will continue to ramp up the shipyard’s workforce to help build five high-tech, fast-attack submarines. Also in the last year, Boykin has stepped in to serve as chair of the United Way of the Virginia Peninsula’s annual drive.
Teresa Carlson, vice president, worldwide public sector, Amazon Web Services, Herndon
Why she is influential: The ever-expanding Amazon has shored up its presence in Northern Virginia with its HQ2 East Coast headquarters in Arlington. But Carlson, who spoke at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in October, has been a formidable presence for a decade. She founded the public-sector unit of Amazon Cloud Services. Its customer count, she said in an October interview with Computer Weekly, includes more than 5,000 government agencies, 10,000 educational institutions and 28,000 nonprofits.
Recent developments:While it grows across the globe, AWS is helping shepherd a state workforce development program in cloud computing announced by the governor in September. It offers educational programs for some K-12 school divisions, the Virginia Community College System and six four-year universities. That includes the launch of a cloud computing degree at Northern Virginia Community College and George Mason University.
Steve Case, chairman and CEO, Revolution LLC, Washington, D.C.
Why he is influential: Case is why everyone over a certain age knows “You’ve got mail!” The co-founder of America Online, Case now helms Revolution, an investment firm that backs startup businesses. He also is chairman of the Case Foundation and joined The Giving Pledge, affirming that he and wife Jean would give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
Recent developments: For the ninth time, Case is launching his Rise of the Rest road trip this April, awarding a startup company $100,000 at each of five stops in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri. Since 2014, Case has toured 43 cities. Also, in October, Rise of the Rest closed its second $150 million fund with investors such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Google’s Eric Schmidt and Spanx’s Sara Blakely.
C. Daniel Clemente, chairman and CEO, Clemente Development Co. Inc., Tysons
Why he is influential: A Northern Virginia developer since 1965, Dan Clemente has been an instrumental participant in the shaping of Tysons into its present-day status as perhaps the nation’s premiere experiment in urban placemaking. A former rector of George Mason University and chair of its board of trustees, Clemente serves on the board of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
Recent developments: The capstone of Clemente’s development career is close to fruition as Fairfax granted key approvals late last year for The View at Tysons, his $1.3 billion, 3 million-square-foot mixed-use, live-work-play development. Its plans include the appropriately named Iconic Tower, which, at 600 feet tall, will rise higher than the Washington Monument and will be the tallest building in Virginia.
Mac Curtis, president and CEO, Perspecta Inc., Chantilly
Photo by Will Schermerhorn
Why he is influential:A Virginia Military Institute alum and member of the Military Bowl’s board of directors, Curtis was named Executive of the Year in the greater than $300 million category at the Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards in November. Based in western Fairfax, Perspecta has more than 14,000 employees and won several big federal contracts last year, including an $824 million, five-year deal with the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and a $657 million extension on its Next Generation Enterprise Services (NGEN) contract to continue IT services for the U.S. Department of the Navy. The company also completed its first acquisition last July, purchasing Knight Point Systems, a cloud and cyber-focused IT company. In October, Amazon Data Services Inc. bought Perspecta’s 57-acre campus near Route 28, including its headquarters, which once was home to Ross Perot’s Electronic Data Systems Corp.
Recent developments:In February, Perspecta lost the NGEN contract to Reston-based Leidos, which was awarded an eight-year, $7.7 billion deal with team members IBM, Unisys and Verizon, beginning in 2022. The contract makesup more than 15% of Perspecta’s annual revenue.
Benjamin J. Davenport Jr., chairman, First Piedmont Corp. and Davenport Energy Inc., Chatham
Why he is influential: Davenport chairs two companies based in Southern Virginia: Davenport Energy, a petroleum products manufacturer founded by his father, and First Piedmont Corp., a waste-hauling, disposal and recycling company in Virginia and North Carolina. He also has served on numerous boards, including as former rector of Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors and currently as vice chairman of the Virginia Growth and Opportunity Board.
Recent developments: In January, Davenport was elected an at-large board member with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Also that month, Davenport Energy awarded 60 small grants from the ExxonMobil Educational Alliance to classrooms, teachers and students in its service area, including Pittsylvania County and Danville.
William B. “Bill” Downey, CEO, Riverside Health System, Newport News
Why he is influential:Downey oversees a health system with scores of service locations in eastern Virginia, from pediatric centers to retirement communities. They’re located from Hampton, through Williamsburg, into the Northern Neck and over to the Eastern Shore. Downey seems nearly as present, serving on the boards of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the Virginia Symphony and the Hampton Roads Economic Development Authority.
Recent developments:In February, Riverside marked the conclusion of a $55 million renovation and expansion to its Riverside Walter Reed Hospital in Gloucester. The health system also was cited by The Washington Post as a positive contrast to the University of Virginia Health System, where an examination found a high number of patients in dire straits because of medical billing. The report lauded a policy by Riverside that forgives bills exceeding annual household income.
Barry DuVal, president and CEO, Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Richmond
Photo by Caroline Martin
Why he is influential: Marking his 10th year as president and CEO of the state chamber, DuVal has raised the chamber’s membership from 847 members in 2010 to more than 26,000. A former state secretary of commerce and trade, he also served as mayor of Newport News and was president and CEO of Kaufman & Canoles Consulting LLC.
Recent developments:As a voice for the state’s businesses, DuVal has been a staunch defender of Virginia’s right-to-work laws, which prohibit required union membership as a condition of employment. Economic development officials cite right-to-work as a key advantage for Virginia in attracting new and expanding business. Earlier this year, DuVal launched “Virginians for Employee Free Choice,” a coalition to support right-to-work. Despite a Democratic majority in both General Assembly houses, an effort to repeal right-to-work failed during the 2020 session, dying in the House Appropriations Committee. In 2017, the chamber began work on Blueprint Virginia 2025, a plan to regain Virginia’s No. 1 ranking on CNBC’s annual Top States for Business list after seeing the commonwealth drop several spots in recent years. Last July, Virginia was No. 1 again.
James W. Dyke Jr., senior advisor, State Government Relations, McGuireWoods Consulting LLC, Tysons
Why he is influential: Dyke’s background in law and politics is wide-ranging. He served as secretary of education under former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and today, as a lobbyist, counts among his clients three Virginia universities — George Washington, Marymount and the foundation at George Mason.
Recent developments:A lawyer, Dyke is entering the third year of a three-year appointment to the board of visitors at Norfolk State University. Last year, he joined the board of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation. As a board member of GO Virginia, an influential, state-funded economic development initiative promoting regional collaboration and private-sector investment, Dyke has been advocating for the program’s full funding as included in Gov. Ralph Northam’s biennial budget.
Why he is influential:Over the air, on paper or in your earbuds, Edelman answers financial-planning questions in a relatable way. Aside from his podcasts, weekly radio show and books, Edelman has been chairman of the nation’s largest Registered Investment Adviser since his company’s 2017 merger with Financial Engines. Today, Edelman Financial Engines manages more than $213 billion in assets for 1.2 million clients across 170 offices.
Recent developments:Edelman Financial recently launched a Workplace Innovation division to help companies offer financial guidance to their employees. Edelman and his wife, Jean, have focused their philanthropy on furthering research to fight Alzheimer’s disease. In December, they pledged $2 million to back a documentary on Alzheimer’s research scheduled for release next year.
Richard Fairbank, chairman and CEO, Capital One Financial Corp., Tysons
Why he is influential: Fairbank co-founded McLean-based Capital One with Nigel Morris in 1994, and it now ranks No. 11 on the list of the nation’s largest banks by assets, and it’s the second-largest auto-financing company in the U.S. He also serves as chairman of MasterCard’s U.S. board of directors and as non-executive director of MasterCard International. A billionaire thanks to stock holdings, Fairbank has received no base salary from Capital One since 1997.
Recent developments: The bank’s revenues broke a record in 2019, reaching $28.2 billion, although that number is 1% lower than anticipated. And if that weren’t enough, last year pop superstar Taylor Swift signed a multiyear deal to becomeCapital One’s latest celebrity spokesperson.
Thomas F. Farrell II, chairman, CEO and president, Dominion Energy Inc., Richmond
Why he is influential: Farrell has led the state’s largest utility since 2006, but he also has wielded considerable influence on Richmond’s landscape, mostly through public-private partnerships. Last year, Dominion opened its sleek, 20-story headquarters building in downtown Richmond. And Farrell spent much of his local political capital over the last two years spearheading his NH District Corp.’s failed $1.5 billion Navy Hill downtown redevelopment plan, which would have included a replacement for the Richmond Coliseum.
Recent developments: One of the commonwealth’s most powerful business leaders, Farrell became chairman of the GO Virginia board in September. However, he has seen the limits of his influence greatly tested in the last six months. During the fall elections, several state Democrats — now the party in power — declared they would not take donations from Dominion. And in early February, despite promises of more than 9,000 jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment, Richmond City Council killed Farrell’s Navy Hill proposal. Nonetheless, Dominion and Farrell retain considerable influence, particularly in the state’s push toward carbon-free energy production, of which Dominion’s plans to build the nation’s largest wind farm off the Virginia Beach coast will play a central role.
Heywood Fralin, chairman, Medical Facilities of America Inc., Roanoke
Why he is influential: A former rector at the University of Virginia, Fralin holds sway across a range of disciplines, from the arts to science. His Medical Facilities of America has 42 locations in Virginia and North Carolina offering skilled nursing and rehab services. He’s chairman of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council and serves on the highly influential GO Virginia board. U.Va.’s Fralin Museum of Art is named after him and his wife, Cynthia.
Recent developments:Last year, Virginia Tech awarded Fralin its highest honor, the William H. Ruffner Medal, recognizing his service to the university, which included seven years on its board of visitors. He and his wife also made a $50 million gift to support the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, part of the Virginia Tech Carilion Health Sciences and Technology Campus in Roanoke.
Why he is influential:Haymore took over in 2018 as lead of the new global economic development, commerce and government relations group of Hunton Andrews Kurth — a law firm that resulted from a merger that year between Hunton & Williams and Andrews Kurth Kenyon. Haymore isn’t an attorney, but he has about 1,000 of them on hand. He’s called on for his considerable insight into Virginia government and policy, having worked in the administrations of three governors. He was commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services under Gov. Tim Kaine, and he was secretary of agriculture and forestry under governors Bob McDonnell and Terry McAuliffe, who named him secretary of commerce and trade. Haymore also serves on the board of visitors for Virginia Commonwealth University and the boards of the Washington Airports Task Force, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Virginia FREE.
Recent developments:When buzz built around McAuliffe’s possible presidential ambitions, Haymore stepped out to defend his former boss’s economic record in a Roanoke Times op-ed last year. Haymore worked publicly against a repeal of the right-to-work law that was under debate during the 2020 General Assembly session. He’s also helping with InvestSWVA, a new public-private initiative to boost workforce and economic development efforts in Southwest Virginia.
Victor Hoskins, president and CEO, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, Fairfax
Photo by Stephen Gosling
Why he is influential:Before moving to Fairfax last August, Hoskins played a key role in securing Amazon.com Inc.’s East Coast headquarters for Arlington County, where he led its economic development authority for close to five years. The $2.5 billion deal, expected to create 25,000 jobs by 2030, is said to be the nation’s largest economic development project, based on the number of jobs. It also caps a period for Hoskins that included bringing Nestlé USA’s and Lidl’s headquarters to Arlington, and retaining the headquarters for the Public Broadcasting System and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Recent developments: As Hoskins gets his feet wet in Fairfax, he and officials in nine other jurisdictions have formed the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance, which will help the region compete for large conventions and, overall, promote economic development cooperation. His focus is on workforce development and place-making, a process underway in Tysons, which is turning into a more walkable, urban environment with major multiuse developments. As the former deputy mayor of planning and economic development for Washington, D.C., Hoskins was instrumental in developing places like City Center, the Wharf and Union Market that attract young professionals. He’s likely to do the same in Fairfax.
Steve Johnson, president, Johnson Commercial Development, Bristol
Why he is influential: A significant player on the Southwest Virginia casino scene, Johnson hopes to develop a $200 million casino on 350 acres in Washington County near The Pinnacle, his 1 million-square-foot shopping venue in Bristol, Tennessee. A former Virginia Tech and NFL football player, he’s donated $1 million gifts to his alma mater and the United Way of Bristol in recent years.
Recent developments: There’s been friction between Johnson and the backers of the Hard Rock Bristol Resort and Casino, which has gathered more support among elected officials. In a February interview with the Bristol Herald Courier, Johnson accused Bristol City Manager Randy Eads and developers Jim McGlothlin and Clyde Stacy of “stealing” his idea for a casino in the region, which he said he mentioned to Eads in 2017. Despite numerous likely roadblocks, Johnson still planned to pursue his proposal with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
Dr. J. Stephen Jones, president and CEO, Inova Health System, Falls Church
Photo courtesy Inova Health System
Why he is influential:Jones left his position as president at Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Health Centers to take over at Inova in April 2018. He oversees a system in Northern Virginia and D.C. that includes five hospitals with more than 17,500 employees serving more than 2 million patients each year. “All of the pieces are in place for Inova to be the premier health system on the eastern seaboard,” Jones said upon taking the post. “Key to achieving this will be to build upon the strong research and academic programs already in place that help us attract top physicians.” Inova’s board cited his leadership in medical education and research and noted his national recognition in the fields of prostate and bladder cancer. In June 2018, the University of Virginia School of Medicine named Jones a professor of urology — strengthening ties between U.Va. and Inova’s Fairfax Medical Campus.
Recent developments:The $150 million Inova Schar Cancer Institute, which includes patient-focused cancer care and genomics research, opened in May 2019 as part of the 117-acre Inova Center for Personalized Health campus.
Howard Kern, president and CEO, Sentara Healthcare, Norfolk
Why he is influential: Kern leads a system that includes 12 hospitals with more than 28,000 employees and net annual revenue of $6.3 billion. Sentara’s health care centers primarily are clustered in Hampton Roads but also stretch into Northern Virginia and North Carolina. Sentara’s health plan, Optima, serves more than 500,000 people in Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio. Kern serves on numerous boards, including the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.
Recent developments:In April 2019, The CEO Forum Group’s magazine named Kern one of “10 CEOs Transforming Healthcare in America.” In November, Gov. Ralph Northam appointed him to the state Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates. Kern is also an ardent advocate for addressing social determinants of health, such as the conditions in which people live, work and learn. In October, Sentara announced it would donate $50 million towards a partnership with Local Initiatives Support Corp. to address social determinants of health in underserved Virginia communities. The$93.5 million Sentara Cancer Center opens this May.
Robert C. “Bob” Kettler, CEO and owner, Kettler Inc., McLean
Why he is influential: The company that Bob Kettler founded in 1977 has developed more than 46,000 homes in 25 master-plan communities. Its work includes developing eight championship golf courses and 5 million square feet of commercial space as well as managing 20,000 apartments in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. The Washington Capitals’ training center bears his name.
Recent developments: Kettler is working with Ross Perot Jr.’s Hillwood Communities on three development projects with a build-out value of $200 million, including a 44-acre, 80-home, 200-plus town house project in Fredericksburg. As part of its expansion strategy, Kettler announced its first project in Florida in November, breaking ground on a 379-unit apartment community scheduled to open by the close of this year.
Justin G. Knight, president and CEO, Apple Hospitality REIT Inc., Richmond
Why he is influential:Knight is in his sixth year at the helm of Apple Hospitality, a REIT with a 233-hotel portfolio (mostly Marriotts and Hiltons) stretching into 34 states. An officer on the board of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, he serves on the boards of Southern Virginia University, the Valentine Museum and Venture Richmond.
Recent developments:Apple bought The Berkeley Hotel in Richmond for approximately $7 million in October, with plans to retain it as an independent hotel. As of the third quarter, Apple had spent $47 million on capital expenses and said it expected to invest $30 million to $40 million more by year’s end to improve properties including the Richmond Marriott. It’s also converting a Renaissance hotel in New York into an independent boutique hotel.
Roger A. Krone, chairman and CEO, Leidos, Reston
Why he is influential:A pilot and aerospace engineer whose career has taken him to General Dynamics, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, Krone has served as CEO atLeidos since 2014. The defense contractor reported$11.1 billion in revenue for 2019. His board service includes the Georgia Tech Foundation and WETA public television and radio stations, and in January he began a term with the Greater Washington Urban League.
Recent developments: Last year,Leidos marked the 50th anniversary of its founding by the late J. Robert Beyster, a Navy veteran and nuclear physicist. The company has continued to thrive under Krone, who oversaw the $1.65 billion acquisition of Dynetics Inc. in December and the $1 billion acquisition of the Security Detection and Automation businesses of L3Harris Technologies in February. That same month, Leidos landed a $7.7 billion, multiyear IT contract with the Navy.
John R. Lawson II, executive chairman, W.M. Jordan Co., Newport News
Why he is influential:Lawson served as president and CEO of the construction company his late father co-founded. In a leadership transition,Lawson became executive chairman in 2018, the same year he was named by Virginia Business magazine as the Virginia Business Person of the Year. He’s entrenched in community board service and leads a company that, at any given time, has 50 projects in the works, each worth an average of $50 million.
Recent developments: W.M. Jordan is constructing a 14-story mental health care facility in Norfolk for the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, which broke ground in September. But Lawson has been involved with the cause for years. His company is host to an annual golf tournament fundraiser, and he’s kicked off a capital campaign for the $214 million hospital, set to open in 2022.
Vincent J. Mastracco Jr., partner and co-chair of the Real Estate Strategies Group, Kaufman & Canoles, Norfolk
Why he is influential:Kaufman & Canoles celebrated its 100th anniversary last year and Mastracco has been practicing there for more than half its history. A noted business attorney and Hampton Roads community leader, he’s a member of myriad boards, including the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, which he chaired in 2018, the year VEDP played a pivotal role in landing Amazon HQ2.
Recent developments:Mastracco continues service on several boards, including as a trustee for Virginia Wesleyan University. In January, the governor reappointed him to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership board.
Terry McAuliffe, global strategy advisor, Centre for Information Policy Leadership, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Washington, D.C.
Photo by Stephen Gosling
Why he is influential: Virginia’s 72nd governor, moderate Democrat McAuliffe built his record on economic development, bringing in more than $20 billion in capital investment, and promoting Virginia on more than 35 trade and marketing missions to five continents. A multimillionaire businessman and prolific political fundraiser, McAuliffe is a former Democratic National Committee chair and a close friend and confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Recent developments: In April 2019, McAuliffe quashed speculation he would pursue the Democratic presidential nomination, telling The New York Times, “I would have loved to have run for president,” but thought that the field was too crowded and that Joe Biden had the centrist vote. In October, McAuliffe took a job as global strategy advisor for Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP’s international privacy and cybersecurity think tank. But don’t count him out politically — he was a familiar presence campaigning for state Democrats who won control of the General Assembly last fall. And in January, McAuliffe hired away Democratic Party of Virginia Executive Director Chris Bolling to oversee his PAC — a signal, politicos say, that McAuliffe’s seriously mulling a 2021 run for governor.
Why she is influential:After a 30-year career with PricewaterhouseCoopers, McClements was tapped to head the accounting firm’s mid-Atlantic practice in 2017, leading more than 4,000 employees in Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. She serves on the boards of the Wolf Trap Foundation, The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and the American Cancer Society.
Recent developments:Washingtonian magazine named McClements to its “Most Powerful Women in Washington” list in 2019. PwC also made headlines in December, signing a 15-year lease on four floors of a huge office redevelopment project at Mount Vernon Triangle in D.C. An ambassador of the company’s digital “upskilling” initiative, McClements said it would be an “innovative workspace.” A majority of PwC’s 2,600 employees in the region will relocate there.
Mary McDuffie, president and CEO, Navy Federal Credit Union, Vienna
Photo courtesy Navy Federal Credit Union
Why she is influential: With more than 18,000 employees, McDuffie leads the largest credit union in the world. It holds $112.09 billion in assets and serves nearly 9 million members. McDuffie started with Navy Federal as vice president of marketing in 1999, and about 20 years later became COO, before taking her current role as president and CEO in January 2019.
Recent developments:The credit union overhauled its mortgage application process, launching a tool called HomeSquad that gives members the ability to apply for mortgages online. Navy Federal also published a list of career opportunities for veterans transitioning to civilian life, Best Careers After Service, in partnership with Hire Heroes USA. In a New Year’s message, McDuffie touted growth: “We grew by more than 1 million members, and we opened 20 new branches, all while upholding our steadfast commitment to top-notch service to each individual member and the membership as a whole.” With more than 330 branches around the world, McDuffie has pledged to open another 20 branches in 2020 and work to improve the customer experience — a goal that she’s called the cornerstone of her mission.
Jim McGlothlin, chairman and CEO, The United Co., Bristol
Why he is influential: McGlothlin has been in the news lately for his partnership with former high school classmate Clyde Stacy (see Page 58) in the proposed Hard Rock Bristol Resort and Casino on the former Bristol Mall property. But McGlothlin’s background is in coal. In 1970, he and his father, along with five other investors, founded Grundy-based United Coal Co., which McGlothlin sold in 1997 and then repurchased in 2004, before selling it to a Ukrainian business group in 2009. The McGlothlin Foundation, his family’s philanthropic arm, contributed more than $5.2 million last year to organizations that provide food, shelter, clothing, education and health programs in Southwest Virginia.
Recent developments: Like other promoters of casinos in Virginia, McGlothlin has been waiting for the General Assembly to pass legislation legalizing casinos at five locations in the state. His $400 million project — in partnership with Hard Rock International — appears to have favor among legislators, as opposed to a more recently announced casino proposal at The Pinnacle in Washington County, proposed by Bristol developer Steve Johnson (see Page 53) and a North Carolina Cherokee Indian chief.
Stephen Moret, president and CEO, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Richmond
Why he is influential:If he never sealed another deal, Moret would be influential for his key role in landing Amazon’s $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters, which, with 25,000 jobs, has been described as the largest single economic development deal in U.S. history. However, as president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Moret remains a tireless promoter of Virginia as a great location for business. And initiatives such as VEDP’s new Virginia Talent Accelerator Program keep the deal announcements flowing.
Recent developments: Last July, Virginia regained its prestigious CNBC ranking as America’s top state for business, largely due to the state’s successful HQ2 pitch. In December, Virginia Business magazine named Moret its 2019 Virginia Business Person of the Year.
Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO, Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., Tysons
Why he is influential:Hilton’s leader since 2007, Nassetta graduated from the University of Virginia and serves on the McIntire School of Commerce’s advisory board. He’s also a member of CoStar Group Inc.’s board and is chairman of the World Travel & Tourism Council board. Hilton has a portfolio of 17 hotel brands and 6,110 properties worldwide. In 2018, the company announced it would cut its carbon emissions by 61% and halve its water consumption and produced waste by 2030.
Recent developments: Hilton expects to reach 1 million rooms soon, having added close to 470 hotels in 2019, its 100th year, and achieving 6.6% net unit growth. The company also started construction on nearly 87,000 rooms last year and opened more luxury properties than in any previous year.
Phebe Novakovic, chairman and CEO, General Dynamics, Falls Church
Why she is influential: A former CIA operative, Novakovic leads one of the largest aeronautical and defense companies in the world. More than 10% of its employees, about 12,000 of them, live in Virginia. The company posted revenue of $8.4 billion in 2019. Novakovic leads the Ford’s Theatre board and serves on the board of the health care and technology company Abbott Laboratories.
Recent developments: Last year, General Dynamics won a record $22.2 billion Navy contract to build nine, and possibly 10, fast-attack submarines. On the commercial side, Novakovic expects to deliver 150 of its Gulfstream jets in 2020 and will see its new model, the G700, take its first flight. Forbes ranked Novakovic as No. 24 on its list of the World’s Most Powerful Women last year — four spots below Oprah Winfrey.
Mike Petters, president and CEO, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News
Why he is influential: Petters is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who leads the country’s largest military shipbuilder. Based in Virginia with its Newport News shipbuilding division, Huntington Ingalls employs more than 41,000 people and posted $8.2 billion in revenue in 2018. Petters, a Navy veteran and former reservist, serves on the executive committee of the Aerospace Industries Association board of governors and the board of the National Association of Manufacturers.
Recent developments: Last year, NBC’s “Today” show featured Petters discussing his early childhood education advocacy with his wife, Nancy, a preschool teacher. In February, Petters announced that Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding has an “unprecedented backlog” of $46.5 billion worth of work to carry out in the next decade. Huntington announced the acquisition of underwater drones manufacturer Hydroid Inc. And it will reap benefits as a subcontractor for General Dynamics’ record $22.2 billion Navy submarine-building contract.
Gary Philbin, president and CEO, Dollar Tree Stores Inc., Chesapeake
Why he is influential: After nearly 15 years with Dollar Tree, Philbin was tapped to lead the newly purchased Family Dollar Stores in 2015. The $9.1 billion acquisition was a turning point and Philbin helped guide the critical transition. In 2017, he ascended to president and CEO of Dollar Tree, which runs more than 5,000 stores in 48 states and five Canadian provinces and reported net sales of $22.82 billion in 2018.
Recent developments: Dollar Tree has been consolidating into new Chesapeake headquarters. Its stock price struggled in early 2020, as tariffs increased expenses. In a November earnings call, Philbin noted a focus on store renovations and workforce growth. The company aimed to bring on 25,000 associates with a national hiring event in October and held another in January focused on store leadership. Dollar Tree said it promoted about 28,000 associates to new positions in 2019.
John F. Reinhart, CEO and executive director, Virginia Port Authority, Norfolk
Why he is influential: The Port of Virginia, which VPA operates, is a major driver of Virginia’s economy and the third-busiest port on the East Coast, holding a 12.9% market share in 2018. A recent study by William & Mary found that the port generated an impact of $92 billion in fiscal year 2018. Reinhart, CEO since 2014, has led a massive effort to widen and deepen the port’s harbors since 2015.
Recent developments:In December, VPA started the $350 million dredging project to create the East Coast’s deepest port, scheduled for completion by 2024. The port also plans to use $15.5 million in federal funds to increase capacity at its Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal.
Buddy Rizer, executive director, economic development, Loudoun County
Why he is influential: The man nicknamed the “Godfather of Data Center Alley”has been Loudoun’s economic development director since 2007. At the time, the county was home to America Online, which set up shop there in 1997, and Loudoun has since built on its existing tech infrastructure. Ashburn is now the top data center market in the world, with about 70% of all internet traffic running through its 70-plus data centers.
Recent developments: In 2019, Google began developing two data centers in Arcola Center and Stonewall Business Park, investing $600 million in the county. This year, Rizer says his department will review the data center cluster’s branding and how to build its visibility. Aside from the tech sector, Loudoun’s agribusinesses are big contributors to the county’s economy; farms, wineries and breweries generated an economic impact of $413.6 million in 2018.
Steven C. Smith, president and CEO, Food City, Abingdon
Why he is influential: Smith leads Food City, a supermarket chain with $2.5 billion in annual revenues, with more than 16,000 employees working at 123 locations across Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia. It operates under the Food City and Super Dollar Supermarkets brands. Smith serves on the boards of GO Virginia, the Food Industry Association and TOPCO Associates LLC.
Recent developments: Over the last year, Food City has been the focus of news reports revealing that a Knoxville, Tennessee, Food City pharmacy purchased one million OxyContin pills in 2008 alone and acquired 8.5 million oxycodone pills within a six-year period. Tennessee’s attorney general is suing the pharmaceutical supplier, alleging RICO violations. Food City, which has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing, has said it’s “proactively working” with drug enforcement and pharmaceutical experts to refine dispensing practices at its100-plus pharmacies.
Clyde Stacy, CEO, Par Ventures LLC, Bristol
Why he is influential: Stacy is an investor in local businesses and properties around Bristol, most notably the Bristol Mall, which his Par Ventures purchased for $2.6 million in 2018. He and fellow Southwest Virginia native Jim McGlothlin (see Page 56) plan to turn the mall into the Hard Rock Bristol Resort and Casino – pending the expected legalization of casinos by the General Assembly. Before starting Par Ventures, Stacy was head of Rapoca Energy Co., a coal mining company based in Bristol.
Recent developments: Bristol Mall is currently home to CBD processing facility Dharma Pharmaceuticals, in which Par Ventures holds a financial interest. In January, Dharma became the first company licensed by the Board of Pharmacy in Virginia to process CBD oil.
Bruce L. Thompson, CEO, Gold Key | PHR, Virginia Beach
Why he is influential: Thompson started two companies, Professional Hospitality Resources and Gold Key Resorts, in the hotel, ski resort and vacation ownership sectors, beginning in 1986. But most Virginians know Thompson for his remake of Virginia Beach’s oceanfront, which started in 2011 and has led to the newly refurbished Cavalier Hotel and the $125 million Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront, opening in March. He’s also been active in civic service, raising more than $5 million for ALS research and securing funding for a fully accessible park at the oceanfront.
Recent developments: The opening of the Marriott property — a 305-room hotel with more than 25,000 square feet of meeting space — and the completion of the 42 Ocean condominium project mark the conclusion of phase two of Thompson’s $350 million master plan for the neighborhood. Next up: another hotel, which will complete the all-in-one resort.
Warren Thompson, founder, president and chairman, Thompson Hospitality, Reston
Why he is influential: Thompson runs the largest minority-owned food and facilities management company in the country, with 5,500 employees and revenue of $760 million. A graduate of Hampden-Sydney College and U.Va.’s Darden School of Business, Thompson founded the company in 1992 with the purchase of 31 Big Boy restaurants. Black Enterprise ranks Thompson on its list of the nation’s largest black-owned companies, noting the company’s contracts with 20 historically black colleges and universities.
Recent developments:Thompson was named to the board of directors for Indianapolis-based Duke Realty Corp. last year. Since acquiring a majority stake in the Matchbox pizza restaurant chain in 2018, Thompson has been working to expand the chain; its first franchise location recently opened in Charlottesville. Thompson also plans to open a Homewood Suites near its headquarters this year, using it to help train Thompson food-service employees.
Jim VandeHei, co-founder and CEO, Axios Media Inc., Arlington
Why he is influential: The former co-founder and CEO of Politico, VandeHei now runs Axios, which, since its 2016 founding, attracts 7 million to 10 million unique visitors a month. Axios’ email newsletters are a must for busy people who rely on its signature “smart brevity” to deliver political, business, media and technology news with a bottom-line focus on “why it matters.” In challenging times for media, Axios generated $25 million in 2018 revenue and reportedly garnered $150,000 weekly newsletter sponsorships in 2019.
Recent developments: At the close of last year, Axios was poised to raise another $20 million in venture capital, upping its valuation to $200 million. And in March, Axios begins airing the third season of its HBO documentary series.
Kathy Warden, president and CEO, Northrop Grumman Corp., Falls Church
Why she is influential: Warden has now been at the helm of the federal defense contractor for more than a year, having started as CEO and president on Jan. 1, 2019. She joined Northrup Grumman in 2008 and previously worked for General Dynamics and the Veridian Corp. She chairs the board of directors at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and also serves on James Madison University’s board of visitors.
Recent developments: Northrop Grumman, like other big defense contractors, has benefited from a double-digit increase in classified program work last year at the Pentagon. Warden said in January that “restricted” work accounted for more than a quarter of the company’s $33.8 billion in 2019 sales. Outside of the office, Warden has been named to Merck’s board of directors, effective in mid-March.
Howard A. Willard III, chairman and CEO, Altria Group Inc., Richmond
Why he is influential: Willard is in his second year as chairman and CEO of Altria Group, the country’s largest tobacco company and the parent of Philip Morris USA, which he joined in 1992. Altria contributes millions of dollars to the Richmond region in arts, cultural and educational contributions. Beyond cigarettes, the company holds large investments in two closely watched categories: e-cigarettes and cannabis. Revenues in 2019 were down 1% to $25.11 billion.
Recent developments: In November, Willard attended a tense White House meeting with President Trump about vaping. A partial federal crackdown on flavored e-cigarettes took effect in February. Willard expects the category to decline, he said in January, and Altria was hammered for its $12.8 billion investment in Juul, which it now values at $4.2 billion, due to lawsuits and health concerns about teen vaping. Of Altria’s $1.8 billion investment in Cronos Group, a Canadian cannabis company, Willard said, “The U.S. cannabis market, if reasonably regulated and legalized at the federal level, presents a tremendous opportunity.”
Ardine Williams, vice president of HQ2 workforce development, Amazon.com Inc., Arlington County
Photo by Will Schermerhorn
Why she is influential:Williams is responsible for building the 25,000-person workforce that will be hired during the next decade for Amazon’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters in Arlington. She’s been a highly visible representative for the e-tail Goliath, appearing at events with Gov. Northam, offering advice to thousands of job seekers at Amazon’s outdoor career fair and delivering the November keynote address at George Mason University’s Annual Symposium of the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy. A tech industry veteran who also worked for Hewlett-Packard and Intel Corp., Williams formerly oversaw global talent acquisition for Amazon Web Services.
Recent developments:With three more years to go before Amazon’s two, 22-story HQ2 towers are built, the company had already hired more than 600 employees for HQ2 by mid-February. Many of them are housed in three floors of leased offices that the company has nicknamed “base camp,” decorated with a tongue-in-cheek mural depicting an Amazon delivery truck trekking up a Himalayan-esque peak. HQ2 hires will range from programmers and software developers to employees in consumer affairs, advertising, law, finance and public relations.
Pharrell Williams, Grammy-winning recording artist and performer, developer and founder of the Something in the Water festival, Virginia Beach
Photo by Lionel Hahn/Sipa via AP Images
Why he is influential:Williams, who is behind some of the biggest hip-hop and pop hits of the past decade — perhaps you’ve heard “Happy”? — has never forgotten his Virginia Beach roots. Last November, the music superstar turned up at a City Council meeting to speak on behalf of the proposed $325 million Atlantic Park development — slated to include a surf park, 3,500-seat entertainment venue and residential and retail space — on which he is partnering with Venture Realty Group. He also debuted the wildly successful Something in the Water music festival last April, which delivered an economic impact of $24.11 million to the region.
Recent developments: Something in the Water comes back to the beach in late April with a three-day concert featuring dozens of superstar artists, among them Post Malone, Foo Fighters, Chance the Rapper and, naturally, Williams. And Williams will narrate TV ads for Virginia Beach’s spring tourism campaign, which will feature his new song, “Virginia.” As for Atlantic Park, Virginia Beach City Council gave it the go-ahead in November, with construction set to start in a couple of years on the former Dome site.
Jaffray Woodriff, co-founder and CEO, Quantitative Investment Management, Charlottesville
Photo by Mark Rhodes
Why he is influential:A University of Virginia alumnus, Woodriff co-founded his $3 billion hedge fund, which is run in his hometown of Charlottesville, in 2003. Last January, Woodriff and his wife, Merrill, a fellow Wahoo, pledged $120 million to U.Va. through their nonprofit Quantitative Foundation to launch a new School of Data Science. It is the largest gift of its kind to the university. Woodriff also has supported more than 60 startups (including 40 around Charlottesville) as an angel investor, under his Felton Group LLC family office. Most focus on clean energy, machine learning and scalable technology.
Recent developments:Woodriff’s Center of Developing Entrepreneurs (CODE) building is under construction on the west end of Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall, and startups funded by Woodriff have already claimed five of the building’s nine floors. Completion is scheduled for next summer. Last September, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) approved the creation of U.Va.’s School of Data Science, which will offer interdisciplinary courses on artificial intelligence, machine learning and ethical responsibility.
Catching the big one matters, but a lot of little successes can mean a lot, too. In Southwest Virginia, small triumphs have accumulated over the past year, in addition to larger announcements.
Last April, Polycap LLC, a Toronto-based manufacturer of specialty caps and closures, announced it would invest$7.7 million in Lebanon, establishing its first U.S. facility. Paul’s Fan Co., a fan manufacturer based in Buchanan County, is expanding its operations and establishing a new operation in Lee County, it announced last November. (Read story here.)
“In terms of traditional, industrial type of announcements … Polycap and Paul’s Fan Co. were probably the two largest this year, so they’re certainly going to have an impact,” says Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA).
Polycap and Paul’s Fans expect to add a total of 103 jobs, and Lawrence Brothers, a heavy metal fabricator in Bluefield, added a new laser and announced plans to hire 28 more workers.
The Sykes Wise-Intuit facility, a customer service call center for the maker of QuickBooks and TurboTax, and for the managed health care corporation Centene, added 300 workers, growing its local workforce to 937 employees.
Farther from the coalfields, Scholle IPN, which manufactures plastic bags in box containers, announced plans last March to add 42 jobs and invest $10.29 million in Smyth County.
Some new ventures seem nearer the cutting edge. Appalachian Biomass Processing, expected to open this spring in Wythe County, is the state’s first commercial hemp-processing facility. Carbon Research and Development Co., in Wise County, manufactures commercial-grade graphene, a carbon sheet 200 times stronger than steel that’s an efficient conductor of electricity. The company also has opened a Graphene Research Center in the Lonesome Pine Regional Business and Technology Park.
VCEDA is also seeing a bigger-than-expected impact from its seed capital grants, which provide up to $10,000 to startups no more than a year old with fewer than 10 full-time employees. VCEDA approved 35 grants in 2019, and the companies that received them plan to create 104 full-time jobs and 105 part-time jobs. “That’s a pretty big impact, when you add it all up,” Belcher says.
The grants program began in 2017. So far, out of the 70 companies that have received seed capital funding, only two have failed.
“I think that’s probably because we make them work pretty closely with the small business development office and really do their homework before they ever even apply,” Belcher says. “It’s a very good return investment. It’s been a much better return on investment than you would have on a lot of larger projects.”
Finding workers
The tight labor market is a common challenge for employers across the commonwealth right now, but it’s a fairly new problem for Southwest Virginia, which has been no stranger to double-digit unemployment after massive coal mining layoffs.
Wise County, for instance, had more than 17% unemployment in 1995, and it was above 10% as recently as 2013. However, the current unemployment rate across the region is between 3% and 4%, says Rachel Patton, business services director with the Southwest Virginia Workforce Development Board. “As we’ve gotten into a tighter labor market, we’re looking for those pockets of workers that we can train to help regional businesses fill those needs.”
Companies are hiring students just out of high school and people fresh out of prison, helping them adjust or readjust to the working world, Patton says.
Layoffs of miners — seen with the 2019 closures of Blackjewel LLC’s mines in Wise and Lee counties, as well as others in adjoining states — still affect the region, but today local workers have more opportunities for new jobs.
Despite the low unemployment rate, some employers, such as manufacturers paying higher salaries, seem to have no problem finding workers, in part because some residents are underemployed or have low-paying jobs, Patton notes.
Jackie Estep, sales and marketing manager for Paul’s Fan Co., says her company hasn’t had any trouble finding applicants for its new Lee County facility.
While the Southwest Virginia Workforce Development Board is focused on building the workforce that’s already in Southwest Virginia, InvestSWVA is a public-private marketing initiative that’s all about attracting investment from outside the region and transforming abandoned coal fields.
“Our plan is simple: Market the region, attract new business investment and bring the jobs of the future to Southwest Virginia,” says Will Payne, InvestSWVA’s project lead and managing partner of Coalfield Strategies, a marketing consulting firm.
With funding from sources including the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission and Georgia-based internet provider Point Broadband, InvestSWVA is working to promote the region as a tech hub with room for data centers.
Small-to-medium employers seem to be the region’s sweet spot, Belcher says. It’s a lesson Southwest Virginia may have learned the hard way.
“I think if we could get enough quantity of those,” he says, “that kind of spreads the risk out more than if you put all your eggs in one basket with one employer that, if it went out of business or had a massive layoff or something like that, would have a devastating impact — not unlike [when] you had a major closing in the coal mine industry.”
Tysons-based Park Hotels & Resorts acquired Chesapeake Lodging Trust for $2.5 billion last year. Park’s 66-hotel portfolio now includes former Chesapeake properties such as the Hyatt Regency Boston. Photo courtesy Park Hotels & Resorts Inc.
In September 2019, Tysons-based Park Hotels & Resorts Inc. completed its $2.5 billion purchase of Chesapeake Lodging Trust, the largest acquisition in the state last year. Park’s hotel portfolio now includes 66 properties with more than 35,000 rooms, and the company has expanded into San Francisco, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles and other leading markets.
Another notable deal last year was GateHouse Media’s $2.3 billion merger with McLean-based Gannett Co., forming the largest newspaper company in the country and continuing the consolidation of the media industry. Gannett, the parent company of USA Today, and its 100 dailies now belong to a combined company under the Gannett name with New Media Investment Group, owner of GateHouse’s media properties. After the approval of the deal in November, one in five U.S. newspapers belong to the Gannett group.
In June, Tysons-based DXC Technology acquired Luxoft Holding Inc., a software engineering and digital strategy firm, for more than $2 billion, after announcing the deal last January.
DXC has had an active two years, spinning off the federal contractor now known as Perspecta Inc., which has provided network services to the Navy but recently lost that contract to another Fairfax County company, Leidos Holding Inc.
In December 2019, Leidos purchased Dynetics Inc., an aerospace and defense company, for $1.65 billion, and in February, the company announced the $1 billion purchase of L3Harris Technologies’ Security & Detection Systems and MacDonald Humfrey Automation. Two days later, the Navy awarded Leidos its $7.73 billion NGEN-R contract to update the Navy Marine Corps Intranet and provide other IT services. Also in December, the Reston-based company received a $6.52 billion contract from the Department of Defense for IT services and a joint award for the $4 billion Hanford Mission Essential Services Contract.
In Hampton Roads, the big news was a pair of massive Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) contracts. In November, Reston-based General Dynamics Corp. won the largest Navy contract ever awarded, $22.2 billion, to produce nuclear submarines. (See story here.) It’s a deal that benefits the company’s Electric Boat unit as well as Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding, which was also awarded a $14.9 billion contract to produce nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the Navy.
Newport News Shipbuilding, which has hired about 10,000 people since 2016, is expected to deliver five submarines between 2025 and 2029. NNS works with General Dynamics’ Electric Boat, based in Rhode Island, to manufacture different elements of the attack submarines, which are later assembled.
Another potential deal that may have a considerable butterfly effect is Ethos Capital’s $1.135 billion purchase of the Public Interest Registry, a Reston-based not-for-profit created by the Internet Society in 2002 to manage the .org domain. Some tech experts worry that the proposed sale to a private equity firm could raise costs for nonprofit organizations using the .org domain, especially since the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved a contract last June to eliminate the .org domain price cap of $9.93 a year.
Ethos, founded by Erik Brooks, the former managing partner of investment fund Abry Partners, has said it will not raise prices by more than 10% a year. In late January, ICANN delayed a decision to deny or allow the sale until April, following a request by California’s attorney general.
When President Donald Trump stepped onstage at a General Dynamics Corp.-run factory last spring, an American flag and four M1 Abrams battle tanks served as his backdrop.
“God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood played. Employees of the Lima, Ohio, plant chanted, “USA, USA!” and Trump smiled.
“Well, you better love me,” he said. “I kept this place open.”
While it’s debatable whether Trump can personally take credit for saving the factory, annual defense spending has risen about 13% over the course of his administration, strengthening the fortunes of contractors such as Virginia-based General Dynamics, a Fortune 500 company that makes warships, combat vehicles and Gulfstream jets. (U.S. military spending still isn’t back to the levels seen during its 2009-11 boom years, however.)
The Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, also known as the Lima Army Tank Plant, is owned by the Army and run by General Dynamics Land Systems. The only factory making armored tanks in the United States, the Lima plant has faced an uncertain future in recent years. In 2015, following an urgent request from a bipartisan group of more than 170 congresspeople, President Barack Obama allocated $445 million to upgrade the M1 Abrams tank and sustain the Lima plant.
And two months before Trump’s 2019 visit, General Dynamics announced it had landed a $714 million contract with the Army to upgrade 174 tanks — on top of a 100-tank upgrade order it won in 2018.
Trump said he came to the plant to celebrate. “And the awesome M1 Abrams tank is once again thundering down the assembly line,” he said. “There’s nothing like it in the world.”
In the days surrounding Trump’s visit, General Dynamics stock hit all-time highs. Since the 2016 election, its share price has grown 9.1%, from $168.55 after Election Day to around $183 on Jan. 29, the day of its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results conference call.
Loren Thompson, chief operating officer of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, says the president wasn’t overselling — about his administration’s role in the plant’s comeback or the manufacturing standards held by General Dynamics.
“It’s one of the biggest aeronautical and defense companies in the world,” says Thompson, whose nonprofit think tank receives contributions from companies including General Dynamics, for whom he consults. “Its business jets are top of the line. Its submarines are unsurpassed. And its tank remains the global leader in terms of performance.”
The big bang
If the company’s year opened with a first-quarter pop, it closed with a giant bang. Fourth-quarter profits in 2019 were up 12% over the year before, the company reported in its Jan. 29 call with analysts.
A good chunk of that money flows into the commonwealth, where 11% of General Dynamics employees (11,995 of them) reside — about 8,860 workers in the Northern Virginia suburbs and the rest in the Norfolk area.
In December 2019, General Dynamics won the largest Navy contract ever awarded, a $22.2 billion multiyear order for nine (or potentially 10) nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarines capable of launching Tomahawk missiles.
“This contract allows for our shipbuilding team, our suppliers and our employees to plan ahead so that we can continue to deliver submarines of unmatched quality, stealth and lethality,” Kevin M. Graney, president of General Dynamics Electric Boat, said in a statement.
“This is a really good news story,” Chairwoman and CEO PhebeN. Novakovic said of the division that won the contract, during the conference call in January. She cited the award’s effect on the division’s backlog, which rose 66% to $44.2 billion, and fourth-quarter revenue in the division, which increased nearly 12% to $9.2 billion.
“Suffice it to say that we are poised to support our Navy customers,” said Novakovic, a former CIA operative who’s led General Dynamics since 2013 and ranked No. 24 on the 2019 Forbes list of the World’s Most Powerful Women List. (She’s ranked four slots behind Oprah Winfrey and 16 places ahead of Queen Elizabeth II.)
IT growth
The Navy contract also illustrates the massive impact General Dynamics has on Virginia, where Newport News Shipbuilding is the subcontractor for the project.
General Dynamics maintains its headquarters in Northern Virginia, where two of its 10 business units also are based — GD Information Technology in Falls Church and GD Mission Systems in Fair Lakes, outside of Fairfax.
The IT division drew big attention in 2018, when General Dynamics acquired Falls Church-based IT services company CSRA for $9.6 billion. CSRA had posted $5 billion in revenue the year before its acquisition.
In early 2019, former Morningstar analyst Keith Schoonmaker said in a note: “The CSRA deal roughly doubles the size of its existing IT business,” making General Dynamics “one of the largest IT contractors for the U.S. government.”
The move was a sign of the “ongoing transition” in the defense industry to bring data and analytics into its fold, says Robin Lineberger, a principal at Deloitte LLC who leads its Global and U.S. Aerospace and Defense practice.
Based in Northern Virginia, Lineberger declines to comment in detail on General Dynamics because it is a Deloitte client. But the IT acquisition was a “capacity build,” he says. “They believe there’s going to be value in the future.”
In the fourth quarter of 2019, General Dynamics landed IT business including an $800 million contract to serve state health insurance, $355 million worth of intelligence services to classified customers and a $150 million contract with the Homeland Security data center.
The company’s backlog in that sector has grown. “We are encouraged, but there is work to be done,” Novakovic said in January, reporting 2019 revenue of $8.4 billion, with $628 million in operating earnings.
Revenue (Gulf)stream
General Dynamics’ other Virginia-based division, Mission Systems, employed 13,799 workers in 2018, a company spokesman said, and reported 2019 gross revenue of $4.9 billion and operating revenue of $683 million.
Overall, General Dynamics has grown its revenue — from $36.2 billion in 2018 to$39.4 billion in 2019. Novakovic said the company expects to bring in $40.7 billion in 2020, with an 11.9% operating margin.
About 25% of the company’s revenue in 2019 came from its commercial area of business, Gulfstream jets. That sector is experiencing a transition and faces a different pool of competitors than it sees from its defense business.
“What makes General Dynamics different from most big military contractors is that it has a robust commercial profit line,” the Lexington Institute’s Thompson says. “I think it’s a strength that they are diversified, because when military demand is down, commercial demand is often up, and vice versa.”
In October 2019, General Dynamics introduced the Gulfstream G700, which will be the largest business jet of its kind, a company spokesman said. Its first flight is scheduled for 2020.
Deliveries of the Gulfstream G600 started in the third quarter. Novakovic said she expects about 150 aircraft deliveries this year, as the G650 ramps down and the 600 and 500 models ramp up.
The company reported aerospace revenue at $9.8 billion and operating earnings at $1.5 billion in 2019.
But its Gulfstream business aside, General Dynamics is most closely tied to defense, and the whims of politics and new administrations can present challenges. “There’s always the danger that the customer could do something unexpected,” Thompson says.
Take the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle. General Dynamics ended up the sole bidder by an October deadline in a competition to build the prototype to replace the Army’s Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, Defense News reported. Citing issues with competitive bidding, however, the Army said it was going to re-evaluate the program, leaving General Dynamics with nothing to show for the work.
But, Thompson says, “there are few companies that are as effective at working the Washington political process as General Dynamics is.”
In their 2020 outlook released in December 2019, analysts at Goldman Sachs & Co. listed General Dynamics as a “top pick” in the industry.
Although 2020 is an election year, Noah Poponak and his team at Goldman Sachs wrote, “the weighted average of those potential election outcomes is favorable for the sector.” They noted that geopolitics was a fundamental driver over U.S. politics and predicted continued growth in the defense budget.
Looking at the overall environment is promising, says Lineberger, who recently published Deloitte’s 2020 outlook on the aerospace and defense industry.
“Any major defense organization should be pleased with the defense budgets,” he says. “Under the current administration it appears sustainable at those levels, and perhaps some low single-digit growth.”
Amazon.com Inc. had hired about 400 workers for its HQ2 East Coast headquarters by the start of 2020. Photo by Stephen Gosling
Following Amazon.com Inc.’s November 2018 announcement that the online retail giant would locate its $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters in Arlington County, the company filled 2019 with hiring announcements, commercial real estate deals and a new push toward regional collaboration in Northern Virginia.
Hiring for Amazon’s estimated 25,000 HQ2 employees started in April 2019, and more than 600 workers were on board by early this year. Demolition to start construction on HQ2 started this January, and the e-tailer announced late last year it would give Arlington County $20 million to develop affordable housing. Washington, D.C. metro leaders have long decried the lack of workforce housing in the region, and costs are anticipated to rise as Amazon moves into town.
To address these concerns, Amazon and developer JBG Smith Properties promised a community benefits deal in their negotiation with the county for the construction of Metropolitan Park, its first office project in Pentagon City. The $20 million will go to Arlington’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund, which subsidizes residences for lower-income people.
Amazon also inspired the September launch of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance, which groups the 10 competitive regional counties and cities into one organization to promote economic growth, transportation, education and affordable housing. NOVA EDA also will work with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and other regional alliances.
In Pittsylvania County and Danville, VEDP and local economic development staff members scurried to land delivery van maker Morgan Olson LLC to fill an assembly line plant soon to be vacated by Swedish home-goods manufacturer Ikea. It was a major save, creating 703 positions — 400 more than Ikea, which shut down work in December. In February, Morgan Olson President and CEO Mike Ownbey upped that estimate to about 1,000 new jobs.
The story was different in Richmond, where the proposed $1.5 billion Navy Hill redevelopment project ran into public and political resistance. Despite the backing of Dominion Energy President and CEO Tom Farrell, head of the NH District Corp., and Mayor Levar Stoney, Richmond City Council killed the project in early February. Several Council members expressed concern and an independent advisory board deemed the project too expensive and risky for the city.
Nonetheless, it’s possible that the project could go back to the drawing board, as City Council asked the mayor to seek competing proposals for the redevelopment project.
2019 also was dominated by discussions of casino and gaming projects proposed across the state, as the General Assembly considered legislation that would open the commonwealth to a limited number of casinos — a potential boon for economically challenged localities and the state.
Lance Collins, dean of engineering at Cornell University, will become executive director of Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus in August. Photo courtesy Virginia Tech
Virginia’s colleges and universities are expanding their programs and facilities to other regions, and some went global with major fundraising goals.
Virginia Tech is set to start classes this fall in Alexandria, where it soon will break ground on its Innovation Campus, a $1 billion project that promises to produce in-demand computer science and engineering graduates just a short distance from Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion HQ2. This fall, the Blacksburg university will open a temporary space in an Alexandria strip mall, with more than 200 graduate-level student attending classes full- and part-time.
Although Tech’s Northern Virginia expansion is the biggest so far, George Mason University also plans to grow its Arlington campus from 700,000 square feet to 1.2 million, spending an estimated $250 million. In November 2019, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that the state will give 11 colleges and universities additional funding through the Tech Talent Investment Program as part of an effort to produce 31,000 more computer science students during the next 20 years.
Virginia Tech will account for more than half of those students, committing to award 5,911 bachelor’s degrees and 10,324 master’s degrees. Mason has committed to producing 2,277 computer science undergraduates and 5,328 graduates, and the University of Virginia promised to produce 3,416 bachelor’s degrees above its baseline.
In February, Virginia Tech hired Lance R. Collins, Cornell University’s dean of engineering, as the first vice president and executive director of the Innovation Campus, and the university selected SmithGroup, a Detroit-based architecture and planning firm, to design the campus’s first academic building, a 300,000-square-foot structure. George Mason in February put out a call for proposals to develop its $250 million Institute for Digital InnovAtion (IDIA), set to open in 2025 in Arlington.
In October 2019, U.Va. launched the public phase of its most ambitious fundraising push, its $5 billion “Honor the Future” campaign.
At the launch event — featuring singer Tony Bennett, introduced by men’s basketball Coach Tony Bennett — the university announced it had already raised $2.75 billion, including several record-breaking individual donations. President James E. Ryan declared his goal to have U.Va. become the nation’s top public university by 2030. The $5 billion target already ties the universities of Washington and Michigan for the highest fundraising campaign goal at a public university.
Also last year, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia granted approval for U.Va.’s 12th school, the School of Data Science, which is funded in part by a $120 million gift announced in January 2019 from the philanthropic foundation of U.Va. alums Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff.
In Lynchburg, Liberty University marked an enrollment record of 111,000 students thanks to its online courses. And after years of fighting debt, the university’s endowment now tops $2 billion, according to the Christian school’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr.
Falwell received some unwanted scrutiny last year as reports by Politico Magazine and Reuters questioned whether some of Liberty’s financial resources were being used to benefit his family and friends. The firebrand Falwell, a conservative icon, vehemently denied the allegations. In January, he appeared at a news conference with West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, urging conservative Virginia counties to secede to the neighboring state. The waggishly dubbed “Vexit” is necessary, Falwell said, because the state’s newly elected Democratic-majority General Assembly, “through their elitism and radicalism, have left a nearly unrecognizable state in their wake.”
The $3.3 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion is the largest construction project in the history of the Virginia Department of Transportation. In February 2019, Hampton Roads Connector Partners, a joint venture led by New York-based Dragados USA, won the design-build contract for the project, which is expected to be completed by November 2025. The expansion will add two-lane tunnels and widen the four-lane sections of Interstate 64 in
Hampton between Settlers Landing Road and the Phoebus shoreline. It will also widen the four-lane section of I-64 in Norfolk between the Willoughby shoreline and I-564 interchange. VDOT plans to buy property on Willoughby Spit for construction staging. The Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission primarily is funding the project, with state and federal support. The state estimates that the project will generate $4.6 billion in economic investments and 28,000 jobs.
NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Connectivity on interstates 495 and 95
Virginia and road operator company Transurban have invested $1 billion in a public-private partnership to reduce traffic congestion and improve connectivity on interstates 495 and 95 in Northern Virginia. The projects include a 2.5-mile extension of I-495 express lanes to the American Legion Bridge and the Maryland border. (In December, Virginia and Maryland entered into a pact to replace the American Legion Bridge by 2025.) There will also be a new auxiliary lane to reduce bottleneck traffic on the Occoquan Bridge. The auxiliary lane will connect the southbound Route 123 ramp onto I-95 with the westbound off-ramp of Prince William Parkway. The project also will add a reversible ramp to improve access to Potomac Mills and Sentara Virginia Medical Center. The fourth project will extend the I-95 express lanes in Fredericksburg by 10 miles to increase the highway’s capacity by 66% during its peak hours.
SHENANDOAH/ SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Establish funding for improving I-81
Localities along the Interstate 81 corridor saw a 2.1% regional fuels tax bump starting last July. The approximately $150 million in revenue generated by the tax will go toward $2.2 billion worth of improvements recommended for I-81 by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Gov. Ralph Northam opted for a fuels tax as opposed to tolls after months of debate in the 2019 General Assembly. The funding will go to improvements regarding major safety and reliability concerns on the 325 miles between the Tennessee and West Virginia borders. Projects will include widening the highway, curb improvements and adding auxiliary lanes.
The Northpark Business Center in Roanoke County sold for $3.2 million on Feb. 17, Roanoke-based Waldvogel Commercial Properties Inc. announced this week.
The 34,318-square-foot office park is located at 6701-6711 Peters Creek Road and was sold by Mechanical Development Co. Inc. The property consists of two single-story buildings that were more than 50% occupied at the time of the sale. Tenants at the time of the sale include ABS Lincs Va. Inc., Bright Personnel and Business Consultants Inc., Old Dominion Eye Foundation, The NEED Project, Professional Network Services, Schwartz & Associates PA and Encompass.
Krista H. Vannoy and Michael M. Waldvogel represented the buyer, Fralin Properties LLC in the transaction.
Northpark was not listed for sale when the transaction occurred.
Developed in 1989, Northpark is located less than a mile from Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport.
Property leasing will be handled by Waldvogel Commercial Properties, which provides commercial and industrial sales, leasing and property management in Southwest Virginia.
“The purchaser plans some updates and overall improvements and we anticipate a lease up to a market rate of occupancy,” says Krista H. Vannoy of Waldvogel Commercial Properties.
Richmond-based packaging company Liqui-Box Corp. completed its acquisition of London-based international packaging business DS Smith plc’s plastics division to create a combined company with 35 manufacturing facilities and approximately 3,000 employees, the company announced Thursday.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but media reports last fall stated that the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority was investigating the proposed merger, which was then valued at €522.5 million, or $585 million, to ensure it didn’t harm competition.
DS Smith’s flexible packaging and Worldwide Dispensers business will become a part of the Liqui-Box brand. Its injection molded products and foam products will become three newly branded and independently operated businesses called Corplex, DW Reusables and Engineered Foam Products.
“We’re excited to complete this transformational acquisition and welcome the DS Smith Plastics employees to our team,” Liqui-Box CEO Ken Swanson said in a statement. “The new structure and brand identity of these businesses further supports our strategy and commitment to lead the way with sustainable packaging solutions.
Liqui-Box was founded more than 60 years ago and is a portfolio company of Stamford, Connecticut-based financial services company Olympus Partners. Olympus manages more than $8.5 billion on behalf of corporation pension funds, endowment funds and state-sponsored retirement programs.
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