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Armada Hoffler’s next CEO to assume role Jan. 1

Shawn Tibbetts, Properties’ president, chief operating officer and designate, will become CEO on Jan. 1, 2025, earlier than previously announced.

The -based announced in February that it expected to name Tibbetts as CEO in spring 2025, upon current CEO ‘s retirement from the position. At that time, Armada Hoffler also added the role of president to Tibbetts‘ COO position.

On Monday, though, the announced Tibbetts will assume the role at the beginning of the new year. Armada Hoffler’s board of directors also expects to appoint him to the board when he becomes CEO.

“We’ve been working on this for quite some time, and we became comfortable, and the board became comfortable, with the fact that we had completed the task ahead of schedule or in enough time and accomplished the primary goals of the succession plan to allow this to happen at the beginning of the year,” Tibbetts told Virginia Business in an interview Tuesday.

“The truth is,” he added, “it’s a much cleaner break. It’s easier for us to kind of hit that inflection point and take off … in concert with our fiscal year, which starts on Jan. 1.”

Armada Hoffler might not name a new COO to succeed Tibbetts, he said, and is currently reviewing its organizational design.

Haddad will remain executive chairman of the board upon his retirement from the CEO role. He succeeded Armada founder Daniel Hoffler as executive chairman, and Hoffler now serves as executive chairman emeritus.

“This exciting step represents the continuation of a seamless transition plan that was the product of significant planning and forethought,” Eva Teig Hardy, lead independent director of the company’s board of directors, said in a statement.

Tibbetts joined Armada as COO in 2019 after serving as president and COO of the Port of Virginia, where he spent nine years. Since joining Hoffler, Tibbetts has grown the company’s portfolio net operating income by 45% and overseen the execution of $1.2 billion of transactions.

Tibbetts holds an undergraduate degree from James Madison University and an MBA from William & Mary and completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. Tibbetts is a member of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors.

Louis Haddad

Under Haddad’s 25-year tenure as CEO, Armada completed its initial public offering and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 2013. Haddad oversaw the company’s completion of Virginia Beach’s Town Center, part of a public-private partnership, and under his leadership, Armada’s portfolio grew to span eight states, with an enterprise value of $2.6 billion.

“I am proud of everything we have collectively accomplished throughout my 40-year career with this incredible company,” Haddad said in a statement. “I am confident that Shawn, who is an exceptional leader, will guide Armada Hoffler to amazing accomplishments in the years ahead.”

As he assumes leadership of the company, Tibbetts said he is excited to work with Armada Hoffler’s talent and its platform, building on Hoffler and Haddad’s work to continue growing the company.

“We have a company that’s now 45 years old, almost 46 years old,” Tibbetts said. “We’ve been public since 2013, and it’s been a heck of a ride to this point, and looking forward to this next chapter, [we’re] kind of adjusting the dials a little bit and leveraging our DNA to create the next chapter of this story — the quality story, as I’m calling it. Quality of our balance sheet, quality of our income stream and becoming a little more intentional and focused with our actions in the public market.”

Founded in 1979, Armada Hoffler operates in eight mid-Atlantic states. As of this summer, it had 6.2 million rental square feet in its portfolio and an estimated $630.5 million of projects in its development pipeline. The REIT has over 160 employees.

Volkswagen’s U.S. subsidiary names new president and CEO

Rivian Automotive’s Kjell Gruner will become the new president and of on Dec. 12, the -headquartered subsidiary of the German announced Tuesday.

Gruner succeeds Pablo Di Si, who “has stepped down … on his own request,” according to a news release. Di Si assumed the role in September 2022, when Scott Keogh became president and CEO of vehicle brand Scout. Until Dec. 12, Gerrit Spengler, the America subsidiary’s chief human resources officer, will serve as interim CEO.

Business publications in Germany and the U.S. reported that Di Si may lose his job because he didn’t meet his profit projections, chiefly because of “lackluster sales” of VW’s electric vehicles in the United States, TheStreet reported earlier in the month.

Gruner, who will also be CEO of Volkswagen Brand North America, has more than 25 years of automobile industry experience. He was most recently chief commercial officer and president of business growth at electric vehicle company Rivian Automotive.

On Nov. 12, Rivian and Volkswagen announced their new joint venture, in which Volkswagen plans to invest up to $5.8 billion. The two companies expect to deliver Rivian’s R2 — a five-seat SUV — in the first half of 2026 and to launch Volkswagen models with Rivian’s electrical architecture and software technology stack as early as 2027.

“Kjell Gruner is an absolute expert for the U.S. market,” Gunnar Kilian, group board member for human resources at Volkswagen, said in a statement. “He has over 25 years of experience in the automotive industry and extensive know-how in exploiting and expediting growth opportunities in North America …

“Volkswagen AG is indebted to his predecessor, Pablo Di Si,” Kilian continued. “His outstanding commitment was of central importance in realigning our business in South America. He subsequently laid the foundation for the positive development of our North American strategy.”

Gruner began his career as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in 1997. He held management positions at Porsche in Stuttgart, Germany, before moving to the strategy department of DaimlerChrysler in 2004. In 2006, he headed Mercedes-Benz Cars’ strategy department. Four years later, he returned to Porsche as its global chief marketing officer, and in 2020, he became president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America.

In the first nine months of this year, Volkswagen delivered 769,000 vehicles, according to a news release, an increase of more than 7% compared with 2023.

Volkswagen Group of America has approximately 10,000 employees in the U.S. and sells its vehicles through a network of about 1,000 independent dealers.

Based in Wolfsburg, Germany, the Volkswagen Group has 114 production facilities across 17 European countries and 10 countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. The car maker has about 684,000 employees worldwide. Its vehicles are sold in more than 150 countries. In 2023, Volkswagen reported 322.3 billion euros — about $341.37 billion — in sales revenue.

ODEC announces next president and CEO

Chris Cosby will become president and of ‘s on Feb. 1, 2025.

Cosby succeeds John C. Lee, who has been ‘s president and CEO since Sept. 8, 2023, initially serving in an interim capacity. ODEC announced Lee’s retirement, effective Feb. 1, on Monday. He will serve as a senior adviser to the member-owned cooperative after his retirement.

Lee previously served as ODEC’s chairman of the board and also was president and CEO of Mecklenburg (an ODEC member) and of Mecklenburg’s Empower Broadband subsidiary.

“Chris Cosby will do an excellent job as ODEC’s next president and CEO, and he could not be better suited to lead this organization as our industry moves into unprecedented times,” Lee said in a statement.

Cosby is currently ODEC’s chief operating officer. Since joining ODEC in 2018, he has served as senior vice president of power supply, vice president of regulatory affairs and director of asset management.

“I am honored and thrilled to be selected as ODEC’s next president and CEO,” Cosby said in a statement. “ODEC’s operational excellence and unparalleled commitment to serving its members make ODEC one the nation’s most successful [generation and transmission cooperatives].”

Before joining ODEC, Cosby held varying positions at General Electric, Dominion and Alstom Power. Prior to his career in the industry, Cosby served on active duty in the U.S. Navy as an officer and pilot, flying the P-3 Orion, for 10 years. Cosby deployed throughout Western Europe, South America, Iceland and Puerto Rico.

“I am honored and thrilled to be selected as ODEC’s next president and CEO,” Cosby said in a statement, citing “ODEC’s operational excellence and unparalleled commitment to serving its members.”

He holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical from the U.S. Naval Academy.

ODEC is a not-for-profit, member-owned power supply cooperative. The cooperative has 11 member electric distribution cooperatives that supply to 1.5 million in 70 counties across Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.

Clearstead Advisors, LLC : Jean Heath

Clearstead is pleased to announce that Jean Heath, CIMA®, has been named Senior Managing Director, Advisor Solutions National Sales and will lead sales efforts for the firm’s Advisor Solutions offering through Clearstead Advisory Solutions, a division of Clearstead Advisors, with offices in Norfolk and Roanoke, Virginia, as well as Raleigh, North Carolina. Before joining Clearstead, Ms. Heath served as Managing Director, Head of Asset Manager Network at Envestnet, Inc., after initially serving as a Managing Director of Enterprise Consulting, RIA Network. She was also previously a key member of the National Accounts team at Brinker Capital, successfully led a new business line, Brinker Investment Services, among other sales, marketing, and product development achievements. Throughout her career, Ms. Heath has demonstrated strong performance and deep relationships with Registered Investment Advisors (“RIAs”), regional bank trusts and regional broker dealers because of her nearly 20 years in sales, national accounts and product innovation with Brinker Capital. These attributes make her a valuable addition to the Clearstead team. Ms. Heath is currently a member of the Board of the Money Management Institute and holds the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) designation.

Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature from New Jersey City University

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Miyares declares run for 2nd term as Va. AG

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares declared Monday he will run for a second term in 2025, leaving Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears a clear path to the nomination for governor.

, who is prohibited by state law from serving consecutive terms as governor, endorsed both candidates following Miyares’ announcement. A former delegate and son of a Cuban refugee, Miyares is the first Hispanic person elected to statewide office in Virginia. He defeated Democratic incumbent Mark Herring in 2021’s sweep of Virginia’s top three statewide offices, along with Earle-Sears and Youngkin.

Miyares will likely face either former state Del. Jay Jones or Shannon Taylor, ‘s commonwealth’s attorney, on the Democratic side.

Earle-Sears announced in September her candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor, following U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s declaration in November 2023 that she would seek the Democratic nomination. Miyares was also rumored to be considering a bid for governor, but his announcement Monday keeps Earle-Sears, the state’s first Black woman and immigrant to serve in a statewide office in Virginia, from having to run a potentially expensive primary campaign to win the GOP nomination. is unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

“In 2021 Winsome, Jason, and I ran as a team, and we have served Virginians as a team,” Youngkin said in a statement endorsing Earle-Sears and Miyares. “In 2025, Winsome and Jason will once again lead the Republican team as candidates for governor and . Both have been indispensable partners to advance our shared, commonsense conservative policies that have made Virginia the best state in America for business, backed the blue and cracked down on crime, stood strong for our military and veterans, and transformed education by raising teacher pay, re-establishing academic excellence, and empowering parents in their child’s education and life.”

 

Inova pays $2.37M to settle False Claims Act allegations

Three Health entities have agreed to pay more than $2.37 million to settle claims that Inova submitted claims containing falsified information.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced on Friday the agreement with Foundation, Inova Services and Inova Physician Partners, settling the allegations.

The -based Northern Virginia regional health care system submitted written disclosures to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Virginia ‘s Office stating that between Jan. 1, 2020, and Aug. 31, 2020, it submitted claims to Medicaid for reimbursement — including resubmitted claims  — for sterilization and hysterectomy procedures containing improperly modified documentation. One or more Inova employees improperly modified the documentation or requested the modifications, according to the disclosure, resulting in falsified information in the claims.

After an internal investigation, Inova “took remedial actions” and agreed that more than $1.58 million it’d received from Medicaid was improper, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

In a statement, Inova said: “Inova identified an error in how certain Medicaid claims were submitted for reimbursement and we promptly self-reported and took corrective action to resolve the matter. As noted in the [] press release, ‘Inova received full credit under the Justice Department’s guidelines for taking disclosure, cooperation and remediation into account in False Claims cases.’”

The civil claims settled are allegations only, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and no determination of civil liability has been made.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General and the Control Unit in the Virginia Office of the Attorney General coordinated on the case, according to a news release.

has more than 24,000 employees across its five hospital campuses and multiple other care facilities, including Northern Virginia’s only Level 1 trauma center. The system treats more than 1 million patients a year, with more than 4 million patient visits annually.

Va. casinos report $57M in October revenue

Gaming revenues for Virginia’s three casinos totaled $57.04 million in October, according to data the released Friday.

Last month, the temporary : Future Home of Hard Rock reported about $13.41 million in adjusted gaming revenues (wagers minus winnings), of which about $11.16 million came from its 898 slots and about $2.26 million from its 29 table games. The Virginia Lottery Board approved HR Bristol’s license in April 2022, and the Bristol casino’s temporary facility opened in July 2022, making it the first operating casino in Virginia. The permanent casino resort opened Thursday.

After the lottery board approved its license in November 2022, opened as Virginia’s first permanent casino in January 2023. In October, the casino generated more than $17.72 million from its 1,419 slots and over $7.70 million from its 85 table games, for a total AGR of $25.42 million.

The temporary in Danville, which received its casino license in April 2023 and opened in May 2023, reported $18.21 million in AGR last month. Approximately $13.39 million of that came from its 826 slots, and more than $4.81 million came from its 36 table games. The $750 million permanent facility is set to open Dec. 12.

October’s casino gaming revenues were a $481,535 increase from the $56.56 million reported for September.

Virginia law assesses a graduated tax on a casino’s adjusted gaming revenue. For the month of October, taxes from casino AGRs totaled about $11.54 million.

Under Virginia law, 6% of a casino operator’s AGR goes to its host locality until the operator passes $200 million in AGR for the year, at which point the host locality’s tax rate rises to 7%. If an operator passes $400 million in AGR in the calendar year, that rises to 8%.

For October, Portsmouth received 7% of the Rivers Casino Portsmouth’s AGR, getting more than $1.78 million. Danville received 6% of the Caesars Virginia casino’s adjusted gaming revenue, amounting to roughly $1.1 million. For the Bristol casino, 6% of its adjusted gaming revenue — $804,831 last month — goes to the Regional Improvement Commission, which the General Assembly established to distribute Bristol casino tax funds throughout Southwest Virginia.

The Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund receives 0.8% of total taxes — about $92,313 last month. The Family and Children’s Trust Fund, which funds family violence prevention and treatment programs, receives 0.2% of the monthly total, which was approximately $23,078 in October.

The team behind the delayed Norfolk casino — which has had a change in ownership and in name — held a groundbreaking ceremony for the casino Oct. 30. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe remains a partner, but Boyd Gaming replaced Tennessee investor Jon Yarbrough. The entities have scrapped the name HeadWaters Resort & Casino and now refer to it as the Norfolk Casino Resort.

In November, more than 80% of Petersburg voters said yes to the city’s .

Smithfield Foods to pay $2M to settle child labor claims

A subsidiary of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations it hired children to work at a meat packaging plant in .

According to the , Smithfield’s operation in Minnesota allegedly employed at least 11 children between the ages of 14 and 17 during the audit period of April 2021 through April 2023, three of whom started working for Smithfield when they were 14.

All 11 children “performed hazardous work for Smithfield, including: working near chemicals or other hazardous substances; operating -driven machinery, including meat grinders, slicers and power-driven conveyor belts; and operating nonautomatic elevators, lifts or hoisting machines, including motorized pallet jacks and lift pallet jacks,” the department said in a Nov. 14 news release.

Nine of the children are alleged to have worked at night after the hours allowed by state law, according to the news release. Smithfield Packaged Meats is located in St. James, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis. Smithfield agreed to pay the $2 million within 30 days of the consent order.

“It is unacceptable for a company to employ minor children to perform hazardous work late at night. This illegal behavior impacts children’s , safety and well-being and their ability to focus on their education and their future. Combating unlawful in Minnesota is a priority for DLI and it will continue to devote resources to addressing and resolving these violations,” Minnesota DLI Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach said in a statement. “DLI’s resolution with Smithfield sends a strong message to employers, including in the meat processing industry, that child violations will not be tolerated in Minnesota.”

Smithfield issued a statement Thursday: “Smithfield contested DLI’s claims and denies that we knowingly hired anyone under the age of 18 to work in our St. James facility. We have not admitted liability as part of this ; however, in the interest of preventing the distraction of prolonged litigation, we have agreed to settle this matter.”

According to Smithfield, it screens all new hires through E-Verify, the system that validates hiring eligibility of U.S. citizens and noncitizens based on records available to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

“Each of the 11 alleged underage individuals passed the E-Verify system by using false identification,” Smithfield said. “Each used a different name to obtain employment with Smithfield than the name by which DLI identified them to Smithfield.”

The company says it has taken steps to enforce prohibition of the employment of minors, including additional signage, HR training, and inspection protocols for temporary workers and employees of third-party sanitation contractors.

The largest producer in the United States, Smithfield has about 35,000 employees nationwide, according to a company spokesperson.

In Virginia, the U.S. Department of Labor announced in September 2023 it was investigating Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods facilities in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore over allegations of child labor violations recounted in a New York Times story last year. It appeared to be the first time that the federal agency had attempted to hold companies liable for alleged child labor violations by a subcontractor. A Department of Labor spokesperson said Friday that the investigations are still open.

According to the Times story, a 14-year-old Guatemalan boy’s arm was permanently injured in a 2022 conveyor belt incident at a Perdue plant in Accomack, where he was hired to work by a cleaning contractor. In May, a federal court approved a consent order between Fayette Industrial, a Tennessee cleaning contractor that was contracted for overnight sanitation shifts in Perdue’s plants in Accomack, and the federal Department of Labor, with nearly $650,000 in penalties.

Specialty coils manufacturer to expand in Chesterfield

Super Radiator Coils, an and company based in , will invest $22 million to expand in , creating an estimated 160 jobs, ‘s office announced Friday.

The company will upgrade machinery and add about 80,000 square feet to its existing approximately 160,000-square-foot facility at 451 Southlake Blvd.

The plant has about 400 employees, and the 160 new jobs will be office and shop positions, according to company vice president Matt Holland, who runs its Richmond division. Office positions include engineering, management and supervision, procurement and administrative roles, and shop manufacturing positions include equipment operators, welders, brazers and entry-level assembly roles.

Super Radiator Coils has previously expanded the facility three times, most recently in 2022. The company announced its most recent expansion, representing a $9 million investment, in March 2021.

“This expansion builds on a 44-year history of Super Radiator Coils in the commonwealth and strengthens Virginia’s position as a leader in advanced manufacturing,” Youngkin said in a statement.

Super Radiator Coils manufactures heat exchangers and specialty coils for generation, commercial and industrial HVAC, data center cooling, military and other industrial uses.

“I’m hugely proud of the growth of our Chesterfield facility over the last 40-plus years,” Super Radiator Coils President and Rob Holt said in a statement. “And this latest expansion will allow us to continue our mission of unleashing the power of thermodynamics to improve our world. … We take our role as a growing Central Virginia employer seriously and can’t wait to see the impact of this latest growth.”

The company has two other manufacturing facilities — one in Chaska, Minnesota, and one in Phoenix. Virginia competed with Minnesota and Arizona for the expansion project, according to a news release.

The Virginia Partnership worked with Chesterfield County to secure the project. Youngkin approved a $610,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the county. VEDP will support Super Radiator Coils through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a collaboration between VEDP and the Virginia Community College System that provides free customizable recruitment and training services.

Paragon Systems fined $52M for alleged fraud

Herndon-based agreed Tuesday to pay $52 million to resolve allegations by the U.S. that Paragon used its own subsidiaries to fraudulently win set-aside contracts, violating the False Claims and Anti- acts.

The company is one of the federal government’s largest providers of security, fire and emergency response and mission support services, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s news release, and former top officials at Paragon allegedly directed female relatives and friends to “serve as figurehead owners of purported small businesses” to win set-aside contracts from the Department of Homeland Security that were meant to go to woman-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, as well as other types of small businesses.

In 2020, Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services (SCIS) rebranded under its subsidiary Paragon Systems’ name. Paragon is a subsidiary of the Swedish security giant Securitas, which announced in September it had set a provision of $53 million to pay the costs.

“The investigation relates to alleged misconduct by certain former employees and to Paragon’s relationship with various small business entities which were a direct or indirect party to contracts with the U.S. government starting around 2012,” Securitas said in a statement then. “Paragon is cooperating fully with the investigation.” According to a news release Thursday, the settlement will be paid throughout 2025.

In the alleged scheme, Paragon executives controlled Maryland-based limited liability companies Athena Services International and Athena Joint Venture Services, and these purported small businesses “surreptitiously paid substantial sums of money” — more than 300 payments totaling more than $11 million — as “consulting payments” to the former Paragon executives.

According to the DOJ, Paragon’s president, vice president of business development, vice president of operations, compliance manager and contracts manager were allegedly involved.

“Those who fraudulently procure, or assist others to fraudulently procure, small business set-aside contracts will be held accountable,” Principal Deputy Assistant Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement. “When ineligible companies obtain contracts reserved for veteran owned or socially or economically disadvantaged businesses, they prevent the small business community from receiving the contracting opportunities that Congress intended.”

Athena Services International and Athena Joint Venture Services and their owner, Alisa Silverman, along with Paragon, agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to resolve their liability, as well as the allegations that ASI improperly received a Paycheck Protection Program loan that was forgiven in full. The DOJ filed a complaint against another purported small business, Patronus Systems, and its owner, Mabel O’Quinn, the news release said.

“This settlement is the largest civil recovery in over a decade by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG),” DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari said. “The settlement sends a clear message that the federal government will continue to investigate and prosecute , waste and abuse to protect small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans and other socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. I am grateful for the continued partnership with the Department of Justice and for the who initiated the complaint.”

Whistleblower Todd Pattison is set to receive more than $9 million as part of the settlement, the DOJ said.