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Virginia 500 Spotlight: Tyrone Noel

MY ADVICE FOR NEW COLLEGE GRADS: Dream big. You can only reach your full potential if you stretch yourself. Also, embrace failure, and learn from it.

A MOVIE THAT MADE AN IMPACT ON ME: “Moneyball.” Why? It takes courage to act.

IF I HAD A TIME MACHINE, I’D MEET: Martin Luther King Jr. I’m [intrigued] by his ability to be calm … during very intense and stressful times.

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: The Road to Hana in Maui.

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: The tax code. I would like to see more businesses and people migrate to our wonderful state.

DID YOU KNOW? A point guard for Courtland High School’s basketball team in his native Spotsylvania County, Noel made the game-winning shot in a 1999 regional semifinal against Prince William County’s Garfield High School. Noel also started as a wide receiver and defensive back on his high school football team and was a cornerback on Randolph-Macon College’s team.

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Carlos M. Brown

Brown assumed his current posts in January 2024 but joined the as a senior counsel in 2007. Previously he was a managing partner at Brown Martin and practiced law at McGuireWoods. With two degrees from the University of Virginia, Brown currently serves as U.Va.’s vice rector and chairs the Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s board.

FIRST JOB: Sales associate in the hardware department at Sears

WHY I CHOSE MY PROFESSION: I wanted to be an attorney because attorneys have broad influence in society. Attorneys touch all aspects of our society, whether it be in the courts, government, business or .

HOW I GIVE BACK: I try to give back by both being available to serve and accessible to mentor. One of my greatest joys was coaching football and my kids’ Destination Imagination teams.

THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE MY MENTOR GAVE ME: Mr. Roy, the trustee of the Charles B. Cross Citizenship for the City of Chesapeake, told me as he was giving me the college scholarship award, “Over the course of your life, people will say a lot of great and nice things about you. All of it will probably be true. However, no matter what you do, don’t let yourself believe it.”

PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT: Leading the legal team that assisted in executing a successful business review, where we divested over $21 billion in assets in five separate transactions in less than
12 months.

FAVORITE PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: Ghana

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Torrece Gregoire

Known as “ T” from her time on the Fox TV reality cooking competition series “Hell’s Kitchen,” Gregoire is chef-owner of her -based , Union 41, which opened in 2023. Before that, the Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts graduate was director of culinary operations at Draper Mercantile, based in Pulaski County, and served as executive chef at Radford University.

WHY I CHOSE MY PROFESSION: I just feel like this is what I was put here to do. It’s hard to describe, but I see flavor the way an artist sees color, which is sometimes very hard to understand. Sometimes I straddle the line of being insane or being a genius. It’s an ability that I wouldn’t trade, because it’s a gift that was specifically bestowed upon me by my grandmother, Ina Forbes.

HOW I GIVE BACK: The Boys and Girls Clubs is one of my nonprofit organizations that I do give my time and my resources to, because organizations like that kept me off the streets.

PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Opening my very first restaurant in St. Paul, Virginia, Ina + Forbes. It was a tribute to food, to the eyes and soul of my grandmother. We stayed open a year into COVID. We basically developed a meal delivery program from St. Paul all the way to Pound, Virginia, come back down to Abingdon, go down to South Boston. And then on Thursdays we would deliver from St. Paul to Hollins, up in the Roanoke area, and sometimes do some deliveries all the way to Hillsville. That was not sustainable, so we ended up having to close.

HOBBIES: Legos. I’m currently building a Batmobile, and then I’m getting ready to start on an automatic Volvo dump truck.

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Jeremy Bridges

In 2023, Bridges joined the HRSA, which represents companies in negotiations with International Longshoremen’s Association leaders in . He previously was vice president of labor relations at CMA-CGM America and worked for the Pacific Association on the West Coast. A James Madison University alum, he earned certification from the International Association of Maritime and Executives.

MOST MEANINGFUL JOB: My current role is, for several reasons. This is my first time running an organization as president, which has been a professional goal of mine since early in my career. I’m gratified by the ability to lead my team and see my philosophy and vision executed with success.

WHOSE FOOTSTEPS I’M FOLLOWING: I am following in my father’s footsteps. After serving as an officer in the Marine Corps, he started his business career in and logistics. He’s held a number of executive leadership positions in trucking and port operations.

MOST MEANINGFUL I’VE RECEIVED: I was awarded a full athletic scholarship to attend James Madison University. This was extremely meaningful because it recognized my hard work and dedication to academics and athletics. Moreover, it provided an opportunity to attend a top-tier university that may not have otherwise been available. This opportunity changed the trajectory of my life.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Keep an open mind and be adaptable! You never know when an opportunity will present itself and what it will look like. Furthermore, you have to be mentally prepared for change. That goes for both your professional and personal life.

HOBBIES: I am a big fan of the television show “Jeopardy!” and my friends and family have fun teasing me about it.

Top Five: February 2025 edition

1 | Richmond water crisis shuts down restaurants, businesses

Businesses “Dry January” became all too literal in , where city residents and businesses struggled with a outage that started Jan. 6, delaying the start of the General Assembly, and leaving the city without water for several days. (Jan. 8)

2 | Buc-ee’s estimates first Va. location to open in June

Texas-based Buc-ee’s projects it will open its first travel center in Virginia — a 74,000-square-foot Rockingham County location on June 30. (Jan. 2)

3 | Hundreds pack into Caesars Virginia on opening day

Caesars didn’t shortchange on spectacle for the opening of its $800 million Danville , the third permanent casino to open in the state. (Dec. 17, 2024)

4 | World’s first commercial fusion power plant planned for Chesterfield Commonwealth Fusion Systems

A Massachusetts-based fusion energy company, plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Chesterfield County. (Dec. 17, 2024)

5 | Martinsville doctor found guilty of 460+ counts of opioids distribution

A federal court jury in Abingdon found Dr. Joel Smithers, who previously practiced in , guilty of 466 federal counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances and of one count of maintaining a place for the purpose of illegally distributing controlled substances. (Jan. 7)

Out and About: February 2025 edition

1. and 2. , right, and first lady Melania watched fireworks at Trump National Golf Club Washington, D.C. in Sterling on Jan. 18, ahead of the 60th Presidential . (Photos by Matt Rourke/Associated Press and Alex Brandon/Associated Press)

3. L to R: Heng Yong and Chenxi Lu, attorneys at Williams Mullen; Tinh D. Phan, founder and
chairman, the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce; My Lan Tran, executive director, VACC; Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; Kajal Kapur, president of Kapur Energy Environment Economics; and Srini Bayireddy, president of Navitas Consulting, at the chamber’s Dec. 4, 2024, gala. The chamber presented Youngkin with its Champion of Economic Visionary . (Photo by Austin Stevens, Office of the Governor)

4. Linda Green, immediate past president of the Virginia Economic Developers Association, presented VEDA’s 2024 President’s Award to Mike Grundmann, senior vice president of talent solutions for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, at VEDA’s winter meeting in Dec. 5, 2024. (Photo courtesy VEDA)

5. Green Front Furniture Chief Operating Officer Dianne Cunningham poses with newly adopted puppy Gala and Green Front Den Crallé at the Dec. 7, 2024, Southside SPCA Holiday Gala in Farmville. Green Front sponsored the sold-out gala, which raised $50,000 for local shelter animals. (Photo courtesy Green Front Furniture)

Could Boeing HQ move be in the cards?

In May 2022, Virginia officials were in a buoyant mood as Fortune Global 500 and giant announced it would move its world from Chicago to County, with then-President and Dave Calhoun having conferred with Gov. Glenn Youngkin months ahead about the move.

Nearly three years later, the mood is radically different. Calhoun is gone, following the January 2024 blowout of a Boeing jet’s door plug in midair, which led to federal investigations and cratering jet sales. Although the blowout didn’t claim any lives, the incident prompted further regulatory scrutiny of Boeing’s settlement with the government following two fatal crashes of 737 Max planes in 2018 and 2019. In September 2024 came the hiring of new Boeing CEO , who promptly announced he would be based in , close to the company’s troubled commercial aircraft division.

Now the question is whether Boeing’s headquarters will move west with Ortberg, who has purchased a home in Seattle, according to The Seattle Times.

Boeing did not respond to questions about its plans; also unclear is the status of a research and technology hub that the company pledged to build when it announced its move to Arlington, where about 400 employees currently work.

However, Boeing, which reported annual losses of $11.83 billion for 2024, has so far resisted talk of moving its from Arlington to Seattle. Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission allowed Boeing to block a stockholder’s attempt to bring the matter up for a vote during Boeing’s May 2024 annual shareholders meeting.

Either way, while Boeing’s headquarters move there was a nice feather in Northern Virginia’s cap, “it’s not that important” in terms of Virginia’s economy if Boeing moves out of the state, says Terry Clower, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis.

“It’s all about the company and its ghastly record.”

In the meantime, Boeing has finished much of its unpleasant business. In July 2024, in a case related to fatal crashes of two 737 Max jetliners, Boeing finalized its guilty plea to a federal criminal fraud conspiracy charge, under which it will pay at least $243.6 million in fines. And in November 2024, the company reached a deal to end a machinists’ strike that halted jet production for two months.

By January, Boeing was expected to have laid off about 10% of its 170,000-person workforce, including 68 employees across Virginia. Boeing would not specify how many of those employees were at each location, or whether any of those layoffs were related to a headquarters move.

“We are adjusting our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” a Boeing spokesperson said via email.

 

Some SWVA communities see younger population stabilize

In , the trend of among younger people appears to be slowing and even reversing in some counties.

The decline in the aged 25 to 44 in Wise and Lee counties has slowed during the first half of the 2020s compared with the early 2010s, according to University of Virginia for Public Service research based on census data. Russell and Scott counties have shown slight in their 25-to-44-year-old workforces, as has Washington County, although , Virginia, has seen a decline.

This trend is largely the result of and a tight labor market, says Hamilton Lombard, a Weldon Cooper Center demographer. Reece Miller with Holston Realty, 2024 president of the Bristol TN/VA Association of Realtors, agrees: “The reason we’re seeing it grow in some areas … is the COVID boom, the work from home revolution. People [are] able to bring a higher paying job, come to Southwest Virginia where there’s a low cost of living and still purchase a home or some land.”

From 2019 to 2022, there was a 30% increase — 309 people — in workers technically based in Washington, D.C., but working from Southwest Virginia, according to U.S. Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data.

Because that dataset excludes most federal workers, the actual number is likely higher, Lombard says.

Travis Staton, president and of Abingdon nonprofit EO, says he’s seen remote workers come to the region “because they don’t want the city life. They can work remotely, they are professionals, and they’re actually helping drive local economies.”

This influx of young professionals is helping diversify the regional economy, bringing in high-paying jobs in fields like tech, consulting and , “and that’s going to stimulate the economy a lot of ways,” Lombard says.

The migration has also fueled competition in Bristol’s housing market — and a shortage of residential units is at least part of the reason Bristol’s 25-to-44-year-old population hasn’t grown, while adjacent counties’ populations have. For instance, the city had only 2.77 months of inventory in November 2024, while a balanced real estate market should have about six months’ worth.

Bristol lacks land for new construction, Miller notes, and “the city’s kind of filled out as much as it really can. There’s not a ton of dead space,” he says, at least under current zoning policy.

Norfolk focuses on cruise and entertainment tourism

The “city surrounded by water” — Norfolk — is going through “an evolution, putting in necessary investments to stay on top of the times” as a destination, says Sean Washington, the city’s director of economic development. The city is expanding its cruise center to accommodate an influx of passengers year-round, has broken ground on a complex, and is sprucing up its arts and culture hub.

It’s also making improvements to its airport, Washington says, to “make the traveler’s experience as efficient and convenient as possible. … Now, it’s a lot of dollars, but it’s necessary that it is invested in the overall experience of the traveler.”

The amount of the city’s investment in various projects is not unusual, Washington says. But the timing of it is compressed because “so many of our older assets needed work at once.”

The Nauticus ‘s plunge into the year-round cruise business is set to launch Feb. 11.

The 12-deck Carnival Sunshine setting sail weekly from Norfolk to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Caribbean holds about 3,300 people.

“So, every weekend, 3,300 people are arriving and 3,300 people are disembarking,” says Stephen Kirkland, executive director of Nauticus museum. “They’ll be shopping, eating, staying in hotels. We expect people to be driving in and people will be flying into the Norfolk airport. We hope people driving will stop on the way in or the way home” and visit other Virginia attractions.

About 300,000 passengers are expected to move through Norfolk annually, starting this year. Roughly $12 million in enhancements will go into making that traffic flow smoothly. The city is footing the bill.

The 80,000-square-foot facility that is home to Virginia’s only cruise ship program shares its space with Nauticus’ Maritime Discovery Center, Sail Nauticus — a Nauticus Foundation program for underserved youth, and the historic Battleship Wisconsin, one of the largest battleships ever built by the U.S. Navy.

One of the key improvements to the city-owned cruise center, according to Kirkland, is the replacement of cramped elevators and escalators with a sloped circular ramp that will make boarding and exiting ships more efficient. “People, luggage. Everything from Xerox paper to lobster tails needs to have a quick turnaround. Every five minutes saved helps,” he says.

Work also is being done to improve U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities to handle the increasing number of passengers. Kirkland says mobile customs kiosks are being added for efficiency.

An outdoor terrace area at the center is being enclosed to provide air-conditioned seating space for about 600 passengers waiting to board. That’s expected to be completed this fall.

Chrysler Hall will shut down for a full season to allow a full renovation, says Sean Washington, Norfolk’s director of economic development. Photo by Mark Rhodes

Norfolk is already a of call for several cruise lines, Kirkland notes. “It works well. Ships arrive during week and people take tours of Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown” and of Norfolk itself, he says.

Still, the booming cruise line industry has been meeting with resistance at overcrowded of call around the globe. Some residents in Yorktown protested a Princess pilot program that would have brought thousands of tourists to its small port, so those plans were put on hold.

“We’ve not had any real concerns here in Norfolk, but we do recognize that this heightened cruise activity needs to be carefully balanced with other priorities in the community,” says Kirkland, who has met with local businesses owners, hoteliers and civic league leaders.

Carnival began sailing from Norfolk in 2002, and in 2023 operated a six-month cruise schedule from May to October. A total of 250,000 cruise passenger visits last year made it the busiest season in the city’s history.  Norfolk’s expansion is a sign of how the cruise industry has changed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Kirkland adds. Before, cruises were mostly out of New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. “There are more ports now. They’re bringing the ships to the people.”

Doubling down

Last year, Norfolk took its first step toward joining three other Virginia cities in the casino business. In October 2024, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Boyd Gaming, its corporate partner, broke ground on a commercial casino resort on the north bank of the Elizabeth River, near Harbor Park. This came after multiple delays following city voters approving a casino referendum in 2020, as well as a change in the business partnership.

Plans for the $750 million Norfolk resort call for a 200-room hotel, eight food and beverage outlets, and a casino floor with 1,500 slot machines and 50 table games.

It is expected to open in late 2027, but in the meantime, a temporary casino will be built on the property, which is expected to open in November, says David Strow, spokesman for Boyd Gaming. “The transitional facility will be at the front of the site, using a minimum amount of space. We want to leave ourselves plenty of room” for the permanent casino, he notes.

The new casino originally was to be named Head Waters Resort & Casino, but “it will have a different brand,” Strow says. A new name has not been announced.

“We’re looking to be a best-in-market facility. We want to attract people not only from the Hampton Roads region but from other states, other markets,” Strow says. The new casino “will create hundreds of new jobs. It will create tax revenues and purchasing opportunities for local business.”

Once it opens, the Norfolk casino will join the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino , Rivers Casino Portsmouth, and Danville’s Caesars Virginia, as well as Petersburg’s Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia, which is expected to open in 2026.

The region already has plenty of reasons for people to visit, Strow adds. “Our hope is to add to that experience. We could partner down the road with cruise ship traffic. That could be an opportunity. We believe there are synergies to partnering with others in the community.”

To give people even more reason to visit, Norfolk is sprucing up its entertainment venues. At the end of this season, the Chrysler Hall performing arts theater, which features Broadway shows such as “Mamma Mia!” and “Tina – The Tina Turner Musical,” will shut down for one full season.

The upgrade will make loading and unloading theater sets quicker, Washington says. Currently, “we can’t turn the shows as fast as we want to.”

After the lights are back up at Chrysler Hall, the city plans to close the Scope Arena for renovations, Washington says. “We’ll do them back-to-back, then have them both back online.”

The Scope Plaza — the shared space between Scope and Chrysler — has been underused, Washington adds, and the overhaul of the buildings will provide an excuse for more outdoor entertainment. In August 2024, thousands of music fans showed up to the plaza for the Cousinz Festival, a one-day music event with headliners Erykah Badu, Larry June and Jermaine Dupri, and organizers announced the festival will return in 2025.

Plans for the city-owned former Military Circle mall property also are shaping up. Washington says the project will center on a tournament-caliber ice rink complex, plus residential, retail and hotel space. “If we want to have sports tourism, we don’t want to duplicate what’s being done in surrounding cities,” such as Virginia Beach’s emphasis on volleyball, Washington says.

There’s also still discussion about what should happen at the struggling MacArthur Center mall, which was purchased by the city in 2023 for approximately $18 million. Washington says MacArthur Center is ready “for some big developments.” As of late 2024, the city has completed studies and met with developers, he notes. “There’s a lot of great momentum. Everybody was highly impressed with the city and are wanting to move forward.”

Taking off

All the visitors attracted to the area have “dramatically increased demand” at Norfolk International Airport, says Mark Perryman, president and of the Norfolk Airport Authority, which runs the airport.

Traffic has increased from 4.1 million passengers in 2022 to 4.86 million in 2024 at an airport that “hasn’t had major improvements other than upgrading parking structures” in more than 20 years, according to Perryman. But that’s changing.

To prepare the airport for the coming decades, a billion-dollar improvement project is underway to update critical infrastructure and add amenities. Among the biggest changes is a new $400 million departures terminal, with groundbreaking expected in summer 2026.

Already completed is an update of the airport’s primary runway, which returned to full service in December 2024, following the replacement of older concrete surfaces with easier-to-maintain asphalt. A new 80-space “park-and-wait” area opened just in time for the 2024 Christmas rush, and three additional gates in Concourse A are expected to be finished by November.

Other projects include a new U.S. Customs Inspection facility, which will replace one that is more than 25 years old, and by summer a new moving walkway connecting parking decks is expected to be operational, Perryman says.

Also in the works is a 165-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel, connected directly to the terminal. It’s set to be open in early 2026, Perryman says, and it fulfills a long-term need.

“Norfolk and Virginia Beach have a shortage of hotel rooms. We don’t have anything really close to the airport — the closest hotel is about three miles away. This will be nice for early flights and late arrivals,” he says.

Another big project is a $200 million consolidated rental car facility scheduled for groundbreaking this year. The new facility will be more efficient, Perryman says. Rental cars will be serviced on site, and “we need the parking spaces” the rental car companies have been using in the parking garages.

Sprinkled among the larger projects are smaller improvements to make airport travel more pleasant, including new seating, phone chargers and more vending machines.

For all these improvements, Perryman notes that the airport is mainly covering costs itself. “We don’t receive any tax money from any municipalities — not from the general revenue, not from property taxes.”

The airport receives some grant money but, for the most part, “we use user fees to support ourselves,” he says. The Norfolk Airport Authority had $98 million in total revenue in fiscal 2024, up from $87 million the prior fiscal year. Hotel and rental car companies, meanwhile, are providing their own financing for their projects. Perryman’s also looking ahead to increased cruise travel and its impact on the airport.

“How do we get people between the airport and the port?” he asks. “We don’t have the capacity with taxis, Uber and Lyft. We’re looking at having dedicated shuttles.”

It’s all part of making the Norfolk “the best flying experience possible,” he says. “We want to make our piece of it as customer-friendly as possible.”

Norfolk at a glance

Located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, Norfolk’s vast waterfront acreage has earned it the nickname of “the Mermaid City.” Home to Naval Station Norfolk — the world’s largest naval base — the city has capitalized on its strategic location as a hub for both and international shipping. However, Norfolk has grown beyond its maritime roots, developing a vibrant food and entertainment scene. The third most populous city in Virginia (behind Virginia Beach and Chesapeake), Norfolk is also a higher education powerhouse, home to Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University, Eastern Virginia Medical School (now part of ODU), Tidewater Community College, ECPI University and Tidewater Tech.


230,930

Major attractions
Tourist attractions in the Mermaid City include Nauticus maritime museum, which just reopened after a $21.5 million renovation, and the Battleship Wisconsin. Norfolk Botanical Garden has 60 different gardens and offers a popular holiday lights display. The Chrysler Museum of Art, the Barry Art Museum at ODU, which is undergoing a significant expansion, and the Glass Light Hotel & Gallery collectively have the largest collection of glass to be viewed for free in the world.

Professional sports
Norfolk Tides Minor League Baseball (Baltimore Orioles affiliate)
Norfolk Admirals East Coast Hockey League

Top convention hotels
Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel 45,570 square feet of event space, 466 rooms
Norfolk Waterside Marriott 68,879 square feet of event space, 407 rooms
Hilton Norfolk The Main 60,000 square feet of event space, 300 rooms

Top employers
U.S. Department of Defense (10,000-plus employees)
Sentara Health (7,500 to 9,999 employees)
Norfolk Public Schools (7,500 to 9,999 employees)
Norfolk city government (2,500 to 4,999 employees)
Old Dominion University (2,500 to 4,999 employees)

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Mark Johnson

Johnson’s perhaps best known as a community leader in . In 2011, he started work with SunTrust, after 17 years with the United Way, and in 2019, SunTrust and BB&T merged, creating . In 2023, he was promoted to his current post, helping fund nonprofit community organizations. In 2022, he was honored at the UNCF Mayors’ Masked Ball in Hampton for his service to the community.

MY MOST MEANINGFUL JOB: I have dedicated the majority of my career to community development, beginning with my service to United Way. This experience allowed me to cultivate leadership skills and build strategic partnerships, ultimately leading to my current role.

WHOSE FOOTSTEPS I’M FOLLOWING: It has been a true honor to follow in my father’s footsteps, as he dedicated most of his career to serving as a community development banker, inspiring me to carry forward his legacy of impact and service.

HOW I GIVE BACK: As an executive leader, I see my role as an opportunity to educate, empower and equip the next generation with the knowledge and tools to shape the future. This commitment extends to serving on local nonprofit boards and supporting small businesses.

MOST MEANINGFUL : I have been incredibly honored to receive numerous throughout my career, but one that stands out is the Wall of Distinction award. This prestigious recognition from my high school celebrates alumni for their outstanding accomplishments in athletics, academics and professional success. Being included among such remarkable individuals is very humbling.