Virginia is full of interesting people, and when it comes to this year’s batch of 100 people to meet for 2024, the commonwealth continues to deliver a bevy of fascinating newsmakers, professionals and go-getters worthy of your valuable networking time.
In Virginia Business’ fifth annual list of people to meet in the new year, you’ll find up-and-coming entrepreneurs, influential attorneys, nonprofit leaders, educators and health care executives. And in addition to people you’d expect to see in the pages of a business magazine, you’ll also find some extraordinary folks to get to know: two best-selling novelists, a popular Minor League Baseball announcer, a Netflix-famous true crime podcaster, a viral country music sensation and a TikToker famous for imitating German film director Werner Herzog.
You’ll definitely find some people here you’ll want to introduce yourself to in 2024. As always, you can break the ice by saying you read about them in Virginia Business.
The Area Development Spring Consultants Forum is slated for June 10-12, 2024, at the Marriott Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Devoted to corporate site selection and relocation, the magazine typically holds two consultants’ forums annually in different locations.
Attendees will include influential decision-makers like site selection consultants, national developers and economic development professionals from across the U.S., says Jared Chalk, Hampton Roads Alliance’s chief business development officer.
Russell Young, the Port of Virginia’s vice president of port-centric logistics, explains, “It’s really an opportunity for us to tell our story, and in front of the right people.”
In spring 2019 and summer 2021, Area Development held a workshop and a consultants forum, respectively, in Richmond, but the June 2024 conference will be the first staged in Hampton Roads.
The Alliance, Port of Virginia and Virginia Beach city government collaborated to pitch the city to Area Development as the ideal location for its next forum, for which the Virginia Economic Development Partnership will be a co-host sponsor. The magazine has blocked off 340 room nights in the Marriott, but the team expects the real economic impact to come from the national site selection consultants who will be visiting the area.
Consultants could “see the opportunities that are here and, when they represent a client, put the Hampton Roads region and the Port of Virginia in front of them as an opportunity,” Young says.
Attracting “multiplier events” that allow regional representatives to network with multiple professionals and showcase Hampton Roads is one of the alliance’s regional economic development strategies, Chalk says.
“As national site selectors come here and really see this region and see the opportunities from the Port of Virginia all the way up to the Peninsula and some of the keyassets that we have … we want to make sure that these corporate relocation professionals really understand the strong, diverse economic development ecosystem that exists and understand the strong workforce that we’ve got in Hampton Roads,” he says.
Economic development organizations already have had success attracting such events. This year, the Southern Economic Development Council held its annual conference in Williamsburg. The Virginia Economic Developers Association held its spring and fall conferences in Newport News and Portsmouth, respectively, and co-hosted the Virginia Consultants Forum with VEDP and Area Development at the Oceanfront Marriott in May.
Dating back to Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner, Virginia has hosted its fair share of writers and creative types, a rich tradition that these Virginians carry into the present.
S.A. Cosby
Author Gloucester
Before his writing career took off, S.A. Cosby, who goes by Shawn, worked a lot of jobs similar to the characters in his novels — bouncer, forklift driver, landscaper, construction worker. It took a couple of decades and a lot of rejections until he caught a break, finding a Manhattan-based literary agent.
Today, Cosby’s a celebrated “Southern noir” author whose crime novels are set in familiar places in rural Virginia, like Mathews County, where he grew up, and Gloucester County.
His 2020 novel, “Blacktop Wasteland,” received critical acclaim; subsequent novels “Razorblade Tears” and “All the Sinners Bleed” have been New York Times bestsellers and landed on several “best of” reading lists, including former President Barack Obama’s.
The first time Obama singled out one of his novels was “surreal,” Cosby says, thinking he’d reached his pinnacle. “The second time, it makes you feel like, ‘OK, what is happening?’”
Barbara Kingsolver
Author and poet Washington County
Celebrated author Barbara Kingsolver grew up in Nicholas County, Kentucky, though she later learned of family roots in Virginia’s Washington County. She has also lived in the Republic of Congo, France, Arizona and the Canary Islands, but in 1993, a fellowship at then-Emory & Henry College brought her to Virginia, where the mother of two moved full-time in 2004.
Her novels generally center on social justice issues. Her most recent, “Demon Copperhead,” won a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for literature. A retelling of Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” set in Southwest Virginia, it tackles the opioids crisis and rural poverty. Her 1998 novel, “The Poisonwood Bible” was also a Pulitzer finalist.
In 2000, Kingsolver established the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, which awards a publishing contract and $25,000 to the author of an unpublished novel every other year.
John Park
Co-owner and co-founder, The JPG Agency Roanoke
John Park spent 19 years as a financial planner, but digital storytelling — especially about food — is his true calling. In 2018, Park co-founded his marketing agency to help restaurants and other small businesses with digital marketing and managing their social media presences. An avid foodie and food photographer, Park is perhaps best known for his “Hungry Asian” (@hungryasianrke) Instagram account, which has grown to more than 10,000 followers over the past decade. “I don’t consider myself an influencer,” Park says. “To me, it’s just a way to share my life and food journey, mainly through the Southeast.”
Courteney Stuart
Podcast host, “Small Town, Big Crime”; radio host, WINA Charlottesville
A longtime journalist and local radio news host, Courteney Stuart switched mediums several times while pursuing her love of investigative journalism, including stints in TV news, radio and podcasting. “I’ve sort of been cavorting through the media landscape in Charlottesville,” she says. “I love stories.”
In 2019, Stuart and her “Small Town, Big Crime” podcast co-host, Rachel Ryan, began investigating a notorious 1985 Virginia double murder. Jens Soering, then a University of Virginia student from Germany, was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend’s parents in their Bedford County home; his girlfriend and fellow U.Va. student, Elizabeth Haysom, was convicted of two counts of accessory before the fact. But there have long been questions about Soering’s guilt, even among some law enforcement officers, an angle Stuart and Ryan examined.
In November, Stuart was featured in Netflix’s “Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom,” which quickly shot to the streaming platform’s No. 1 show in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. A second podcast season, covering a new case, is coming soon.
Warner’s comments followed an email that day from FBI Director Christopher Wray to the agency’s entire workforce, saying that a former political appointee to the GSA overrode a three-person panel’s unanimous recommendation to build the FBI’s new headquarters in Springfield.
In a bipartisan statement, Warner, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and almost all of Virginia’s congressional delegation called for a reversal of the decision, condemning “political interference” in the site selection.
The location for the new headquarters, replacing the FBI’s aging J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C., has long been under discussion, with Virginia and Maryland officials competing for the new office, which is expected to bring in 750 to 1,000 jobs and an economic boost.
In a two-part site selection process, two career GSA officials and a longtime FBI official evaluated two locations in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and a location in Springfield, and the panelists unanimously recommended 58 acres in Springfield already owned by the GSA. However, during the second phase of site selection, a senior GSA executive appointed by the White House recommended the Maryland site.
Wray wrote in his email that upon reading a draft of that GSA executive’s report, FBI officials “expressed concern that elements of the site selection plan were not followed. In particular, the FBI observed that, at times, outside information was inserted into the process in a manner which appeared to disproportionately favor Greenbelt.”
FBI officials “raised a serious concern about the appearance of a lack of impartiality by the GSA senior executive,” Wray wrote. Without naming the executive, he noted that the person had worked for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which owns the Greenbelt property.
Nina M. Albert, WMATA’s former top real estate official, was named commissioner of GSA’s Public Buildings Service in 2021. However, Albert left the GSA in October and is now Washington, D.C.’s deputy mayor of planning and economic development. Albert’s representative did not return messages seeking comment.
Warner said he and other officials will call on the Biden administration for a general inspector review. “This whole process needs to be thrown out and restarted.”
From the commander of the world’s largest naval base to a viral, small-town country music sensation, these people are highly visible representatives of their communities and industries.
Oliver Anthony
Singer and songwriter Farmville
You would have had to be living under a big rock not to hear about the splash country-folk singer Oliver Anthony — the stage name of Farmville resident Christopher Anthony Lunsford — made this summer with his viral song “Rich Men North of Richmond.” Despite not having the same corporate backing as, say, Taylor Swift, Anthony’s populist-libertarian anthem about Washington, D.C., politicians hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in August, and as of early November, the song’s YouTube video had 89.5 million views. In September, Anthony signed with Nashville-based United Talent Agency and announced he will be recording his first full album in January — outdoors. He’s scheduled to play the ServPro Pavilion in Doswell on May 17, 2024.
Eric Bach
Broadcasting and media relations manager, Fredericksburg Nationals Fredericksburg
The voice of the Single-A Fredericksburg Nationals Minor League Baseball team, Eric Bach is, by the time you read this, relaxing in the offseason and traveling to see friends and family, as well as officiating high school and college basketball and football games. In the spring and summer, though, “it’s six games a week and it’s 132 games in sixish months,” he notes. “It’s 75-, 80-hour weeks during the season. But you know, we all are here because we love baseball, right?” As the only openly gay MiLB broadcaster in the nation, Bach is a rarity, a fact noted in a July feature about him in The New York Times. “Visibility is so important,” says Bach, who hopes to work one day for a major league team. “Just the fact that you’re existing in that space is pretty profound for a lot of people.”
Angela Costello
Vice president of communications and marketing, Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. Norfolk
A longtime marketing strategist who started her own video company in 1989, Angela Costello is using her skills to build interest in VIPC, the state’s tech innovation not-for-profit corporation, which connects entrepreneurs with funding, training and mentors. An aviation lover, Costello is a licensed pilot who flies drones too. A graduate of Virginia Wesleyan University and the Harvard Kennedy School, Costello is a certified chaplain. In 2017, her virtual reality company, SwivelVR, produced what was billed as the first live VR concert, which allowed fans to watch and interact with a streaming concert by rock band Matchbox Twenty.
Capt. Janet Days
Commander, Naval Station Norfolk Norfolk
Capt. Janet Days is the first African American commanding officer of the world’s largest naval base, a post she assumed in February. As a career surface warfare officer, her role as commanding officer of the Norfolk base, which employs 89,000 active-duty military personnel and 52,000 civilian employees, involves ensuring that the Navy’s operational forces have the necessary infrastructure and support for training and operations.
Days comes from a family with a long tradition of military service and values continuing that legacy. Off base, she enjoys traveling with her husband to jazz concerts and is an avid reader.
“I love what I do, and that matters,” she says. “I’ve been serving for a while and could have retired by now, but I’m not ready to yet. If there’s an opportunity to advocate, coach and mentor, I’ll continue to do that.”
Robby Demeria
Chief corporate affairs officer, Phlow Richmond
A former Virginia deputy secretary of commerce for technology and innovation, Robby Demeria joined Phlow in 2020 as its chief of staff, becoming the pharma company’s chief corporate affairs officer this year. He’s also inaugural board chair of the Alliance for Building Better Medicine, a cluster of advanced pharmaceutical manufacturers and researchers developing a production hub in the Richmond and Petersburg region. So far, the companies collectively are bringing $500 million in investments to the effort, creating about 350 jobs, Demeria notes proudly. Phlow has a $354 million federal contract to create a domestic supply chain for essential pharmaceutical drugs and ingredients. With its new factories scheduled to be online in early 2024, Phlow has potential to earn a six-year extension on its contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which expires in May 2024.
Hayley DeRoche
Writer and @sadbeige TikTok creator; branch manager, Richmond Public Library Petersburg
A Richmond Public Library librarian and mom of two, Hayley DeRoche still squeezes in time to create satirical “sad beige clothing for sad beige children” videos for the more than 300,000 followers of the TikTok account she started in 2021 and its accompanying Instagram.
A reaction to marketing of neutral-colored children’s clothes modeled by somber kids, DeRoche’s videos feature catalog pictures and her imitation of stoic German filmmaker Werner Herzog in voiceovers like, “I call this one ‘the faceless misery of existential dread romper.’ $70. Available in cinnamon.” In November, the unthinkable happened: Herzog acknowledged DeRoche’s videos and declared, “A little bit of self-irony is not bad at all, anyway.”
The Petersburg resident has written several humor pieces for McSweeney’s and authored “Hello Lovelies!: A Novel,” an audiobook satirizing mommy blogs. As of early October, DeRoche had a novel and a picture book out for submission.
John Fishwick Jr.
Attorney and owner, Fishwick & Associates Roanoke
Lawyer John Fishwick Jr. has become a go-to legal commentator on former President Donald Trump’s court cases over the past year, as well as other high-profile legal matters, including the infamous Murdaugh murders in South Carolina. A former U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Fishwick jokes, “Some of the big dogs must not have answered their cell phones,” when he got his first cable news invitation. But with a background in civil rights, federal criminal law and personal injury law, Fishwick is accomplished in his field. Outside of work, he’s an avid tennis player and is aiming to get Congress to rename a federal courthouse in Roanoke for the late civil rights attorney Reuben E. Lawson. “That’s not an easy thing,” Fishwick says, “but we’re in for the long haul.”
Stephen Kirkland
Executive director, Nauticus Norfolk
Stephen Kirkland used to spend his days as a cruise director on Carnival Cruise Line’s ships traveling around the world. Now he brings cruise ships into Norfolk, an initiative that will majorly expand in 2024 and 2025, when Carnival plans to operate year-round from the cruise terminal in Norfolk. Kirkland built Norfolk’s growing cruise ship program from the ground up, starting as cruise marketing director, and using his relationship-building skills and experience working on cruise ships to bring it to life. Kirkland’s other baby, Nauticus, a maritime discovery center adjacent to the cruise terminal, is also undergoing a multimillion-dollar refresh that will be done at the end of 2024. Working in the cruise industry wasn’t Kirkland’s first career, though. The University of South Carolina graduate got his start in broadcast news.
Linda Peck
Executive director, Norfolk Innovation Corridor and Greater Norfolk Corp. Norfolk
A Portsmouth native, Linda Peck had a career in corporate finance in Manhattan after earning degrees at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University, but she wasn’t passionate about the work. “It wasn’t what I wanted to read about on vacation or think about in the shower,” she says. So, she tried a few other paths, including teaching middle school for 19 years and being executive director of a synagogue before landing at Greater Norfolk Corp., one of the city’s economic development partners, in 2021. Peck became executive director of the Norfolk Innovation Corridor, part of downtown Norfolk zoned to incentivize tech startups focused on sea-level rise and recurrent flooding, and then was named GNC’s executive director in 2022. Through these posts, Peck says, she’s able to “help make Norfolk better” and follow her passions.
Valentina Peleggi
Music director and Lewis T. Booker music director chair, Richmond Symphony Richmond
Considered a rising star in classical music circles, Valentina Peleggi joined the Richmond Symphony during the 2020-21 season, a less-than-auspicious time for live performances. But since returning to in-person concerts, Peleggi has made up for lost time, guest conducting for the Chicago, Dallas and Baltimore symphonies, and in May 2024, she’s scheduled to conduct “The Barber of Seville” at the Seattle Opera. The Richmond Symphony renewed her contract in September to extend through the 2027-28 season.
With degrees in conducting from Rome’s Conservatorio Santa Cecilia and the Royal Academy of Music of London, Peleggi was resident conductor at the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Brazil and has worked with orchestras around the world. She is a native of Florence, Italy, and was part of a children’s choir directed by Zubin Mehta, conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
Chris Piper
Executive director, Virginia Public Access Project Richmond
Chris Piper has been interested in electoral politics since watching Rock the Vote programming on MTV as a 15-year-old, which led him to his professional purpose: informing voters so they can make the choices that most align with their values.
After serving as state elections commissioner during the Northam administration, Piper joined an election administration consulting firm. In June, he started his newest role: leading VPAP, which keeps politically minded Virginians up to date on campaign finances and statewide races.
The job was a “natural fit,” he says, since he has firsthand knowledge of the workings of state government and had worked in his previous role with former VPAP Executive Director David Poole.
In 2024, VPAP will focus on its next phase, which could include growth beyond Virginia’s borders, says Piper, who has run 14 marathons.
Colleen Shogan
Archivist of the United States Arlington County
The first woman to serve as the federal government‘s head archivist, Colleen Shogan was nominated by President Joe Biden in August 2022 and was sworn in as the nation’s 11th archivist in May. Before starting her new job, Shogan was an associate professor of government and politics at George Mason University, served as director of the David M. Rubenstein National Center for White House History, worked at the Library of Congress and has published eight D.C.-set murder mystery novels. Speaking at Shogan’s September swearing-in by Chief Justice John Roberts, first lady Jill Biden quoted the new archivist: “[Shogan] said, ‘Although this truth is self-evident, we know from our almost 250 years of American history that it is not self-executing. It’s our job, collectively, to uphold these principles and protect them.’ Well done.”
Jayme Swain
President and CEO, VPM Media/Virginia Foundation for Public Media Richmond
After 60 years on Sesame Street in Chesterfield County, VPM plans to move in 2026 to a new downtown Richmond building on Broad Street. That’s just one of the changes Jayme Swain has instituted since becoming CEO in 2019 of Virginia’s public television and radio stations serving Central Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. The new building will have capacity for podcast studios and live performances, as well as up-to-date radio, digital and TV production facilities.
“We are public media, and it felt increasingly isolated in Chesterfield,” says Swain, who looked at about 70 properties before deciding on Broad Street. “Being right in the heart of downtown Richmond better represents the citizens that we serve across the commonwealth.” Also in the works is a rebrand of Style Weekly, the Richmond alternative weekly publication VPM purchased in 2021.
Outside of work, Swain is an avid swimmer who occasionally competes in triathlons and loves to travel.
Renée Turk
Mayor, City of Salem Salem
A Roanoke College graduate, former teacher, car salesperson and radio station account executive, Renée Turk narrowly lost her 2018 bid for Salem City Council by 79 votes. She decided in 2020 to try again — and succeeded. Then she was chosen by the council to serve as Salem’s first female mayor. Though it’s not a position intended as a full-time job, Turk says, “I’ve gotten out and gone to a lot more things in the community and in the region … because I happen to be retired and have the time. Every single day, I think it’s important for us to communicate with each other and to work together.” Her council term ends in 2024, but Turk plans to run again.
Lakshmi Williams
North America general counsel and corporate secretary, Transurban; board chair, Virginia Chamber of Commerce Tysons
Lakshmi Williams watches the ribbons of connected roadways that are visible from her Tysons office window and realizes how critical her work is to getting travelers to their destinations. Williams manages legal matters for Australian toll road company Transurban’s North America branch, which operates express lanes throughout Northern Virginia.
“Unlike toll roads, customers can choose if or when to use express lanes,” she explains. “Transportation is on the cusp of exciting changes,” she adds, noting that managed lanes are candidates for the future use of connected autonomous vehicles. In October, Transurban took part in a CAV trial on a closed-off section of the 395 Express Lanes.
As of January, she’s also serving as board chair for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Keeping Virginia ranked as a top state for business is one of her highest priorities, she says.
This feature has been corrected since publication.
In 2017, Kristen Cavallo and her son, Matt, then a student on spring break from James Madison University, set out to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with a seven-day window to summit.
Statistics from Kilimanjaro National Park, last updated in the 2000s, show a correlation between a route’s duration and success rate: Climbers on seven-day routes have a 66% chance of successfully summiting Africa’s highest mountain, while those on eight-day routes have an 84% success rate.
Their guide was National Geographic photographer Jake Norton, and Cavallo says, “Listening to his stories every night kind of took you away from feeling like your face was bloated,” she said, noting that during the climb, “somehow the inside of my lips got sunburned, and the back of … [my] ears were blistered.”
Cavallo and her son pushed through, eventually summiting at sunrise, a moment that both recollect with awe.
“There’s a lot I don’t remember, but I do remember he turned around and he had tears in his eyes and he gave me a huge hug,” Cavallo recalls. “And he’s like, ‘We did it, Mom.’ And it’s one of those moments where I’m like, ‘OK, I’m never forgetting that moment.’”
While the mother of two’s dedication to climbing the 19,340-foot mountain reflects the tenacity she brings to her career, the accelerated climb mirrors her professional rise to the top.
In her roughly five-year tenure as its CEO, Richmond-based advertising firm The Martin Agency has added a slew of major accounts, including Fortune 500 used car retailer CarMax and Fortune 1000 food delivery platform DoorDash. And top trade publications have named Martin ad agency of the year multiple times during the past three years.
In November 2022, Cavallo became global CEO for international marketing communications network MullenLowe Group while retaining her position as CEO for Martin, which shares a parent holding company, Interpublic Group of Cos. (IPG), with MullenLowe. She now has oversight of nearly 5,000 employees across 20 offices in 13 countries, including more than 400 workers at Martin.
And at a time when many corporations are backing away from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, Cavallo has remained a visible industry champion for DEI.
In recognition of her business strategy and successes at the helm of Martin, and now MullenLowe Global, as an international leader in advertising and marketing, Virginia Business has named Cavallo its 2023 Business Person of the Year.
Base camp
The middle child of a U.S. Army intelligence officer, Cavallo became accustomed to moving frequently, which, she says, prepared her for business leadership.
Cavallo and and her son, Matt, ascended Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in 2017. Photo by Chris Plating
“I’m an Army brat,” says Cavallo, who has two brothers. “I’ve moved a lot in my life. I think fast on my feet. … I feel like the worst thing you can do for a company is be indecisive.”
She was fiercely competitive from a young age. While her father, the late Chuck Pflugrath, was stationed in Germany, Cavallo and her family would join volksmarches — noncompetitive fitness walks that often have awards or small prizes for finishers.
“It’s not a competitive walk, but to her, it was,” recalls Pete Pflugrath, her older brother by about 6 1/2 years. “She would be in front, basically shaming the rest of us about why we weren’t moving faster and making us realize there was a prize at the end, and we needed to get on with it.”
Cavallo’s father retired to Northern Virginia, where Cavallo finished high school before attending JMU. She graduated in 1991 with a degree in marketing. Cavallo was a role model, says Mike Pflugrath, her younger brother by a year: “She was confident enough in herself … that she didn’t have to be a follower with any type of [delinquent] behavior, but at the same time, she was popular and well-liked.”
That self-assurance and moral compass has stuck with Cavallo, according to Alex Leikikh, chairman of MullenLowe Group and executive vice president of IPG. Leikikh was part of the management team that hired Cavallo at Mullen in 2011, and one of her conditions for becoming Martin’s CEO was that she report directly to him.
“The thing I love about Kristen probably the most is … she asks neither for forgiveness nor permission. She just does what she thinks is right, and so far, she’s been pretty successful at it,” he says.
Ascent
Cavallo started her career building planograms — diagrams of product layouts on retail store shelves — for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Clairol hair products, beginning in college. When she asked her boss if she could get a job in the Clairol marketing department based on her sales work, he answered she needed an MBA, so she went on to earn her MBA with a focus in statistics from George Mason University in 1993.
Cavallo says she “fell into advertising” in the ’90s while living in Boston and attending a networking event, which led to her getting an interview at what was then Mullen Advertising. When she stepped into its building, Cavallo recalls she “felt all the synapses in my brain just going off at once. It was fast-paced and fun and spontaneous. There was a sense of urgency to it that I loved.”
Cavallo joined Mullen in 1994 as a strategic planner. A year later, she jumped to Boston-based ad agency Arnold Worldwide, where she served as a senior strategic planner. In 1998, she joined Martin as a senior vice president and group planning director, moving up to director of business development in 2005, before returning to Mullen in 2011 as chief strategy officer. In 2014, she was named president of Mullen’s Boston office. Following IPG’s 2015 merger of Lowe and Partners with Mullen, Cavallo became MullenLowe Group’s U.S. chief strategy and growth officer.
On Dec. 12, 2017, IPG named Cavallo as Martin’s first female CEO, replacing then-CEO Matt Williams.
Cavallo and agency leaders celebrated the news that Adweek selected Martin as its 2021 Agency of the Year — the second year in a row Martin received the honor. Martin was also named Ad Age’s 2023 Agency of the Year. Photo by Sara Petras
“I was not interviewing to be the CEO. I was asked to be the CEO, and I had about 20 hours to prepare,” Cavallo says, describing herself as a reluctant, but not unqualified, chief executive.
Cavallo took over at Martin in the wake of highly publicized sexual harassment allegations against Martin’s former chief creative officer, Joe Alexander, who left the ad agency less than two weeks before Cavallo was named CEO. (Alexander, who has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing, filed a $50.4 million-plus lawsuit against Martin, alleging defamation, breach of contract and other claims. As of early November, a jury trial was scheduled for Feb. 20, 2024, in Richmond Circuit Court, although a hearing was set for mid-December over the defendants’ motion to dismiss the claims.)
“The agency was in crisis for various reasons,” says Martin Chief Strategy Officer Elizabeth Paul. “A lot of that was because of He Who Shall Not Be Named, but also the agency shrunk a lot in the years that she was gone.”
The morale at Martin, was “fear, anger, nervousness — that might have just been me,” minus the anger, Cavallo says.
Cavallo embarked on a series of significant policy changes.
“I definitely couldn’t hide,” she says. “Either I was there as a token, or I was there to make a difference. And I was determined I was not going to be a token.”
One of the most attention-grabbing moves made under her leadership was a commitment to pay equity that started with an audit of employee salaries, seeking pay discrepancies between men and women, although only a few raises resulted.
“It was before pay equity was cool. … She just did it. She said, ‘Take a look at it.’ We got it done in two weeks, which was insane,” says Martin Chief Culture Officer Carmina Ortiz Drummond.
Cavallo also promoted Karen Costello from executive creative director to chief creative officer, replacing Alexander with Martin’s first woman in the role, in January 2018. Costello returned to ad agency Deutsch LA in 2020.
Decisive steps
Under Cavallo’s leadership, Martin publicly declared a new mission: We Fight Invisibility. The phrase applies internally to having a diverse workforce, as well as externally to creating advertising that stands out.
Martin has continued to hold to that ethos, even as other corporations have pulled back support for DEI initiatives over the past year or two. “It’s not difficult,” Cavallo says. “I think we’re on the right side of history, and I think it’s the right decision.”
Chief in her fight against invisibility at Martin was building a visibly diverse leadership team. In a 58-year-old agency historically led mostly by white men, women now comprise more than half of the top leadership, and more than a third of the top leaders are Black, Indigenous or other people of color.
“It’s important to me, because I believe it is the right thing to do, and it’s also important to me because it is the business-correct thing to do,” she says. “Every study ever done on diversity of leadership has shown that a diverse leadership team delivers higher margin, higher morale, higher team participation and higher revenue.”
In March 2018, Cavallo promoted Drummond to the newly created role of chief culture officer, a blend of chief talent officer and chief operating officer. Her responsibilities include talent resources and recruiting, operational budgets and agency technology. Drummond approached Cavallo about becoming Martin’s COO, but Cavallo told her that wasn’t the role she wanted.
“She said, ‘Just do me a favor. Everything you talk about is about people,’” Drummond recalls. “And she says, ‘Go write your job description. Here’s the title I was thinking about, but put any title you want at the top.’ … And [I] came back and she went, ‘Done.’”
Multiple members of Cavallo’s leadership team recount their own twists on the same story, including Martin’s first Black chief creative officer, Danny Robinson, whom Cavallo promoted from group creative director to the new role of chief client officer in May 2019.
Initially, Robinson was hesitant about the new job because it sounded “like I was going to be a suit. I was going to be the opposite side of the creative,” he says, but “she was right. It was probably the best thing for me at that time. The things that I learned in those two years were invaluable for the position I’m in now. … She put me in a position that forced me to learn new things, forced me to get out of my comfort zone.”
Current Martin Chief Client Officer Michael Chapman worked under Cavallo when she was a Martin group planning director, and when she became CEO, she promoted him from chief strategy officer to chief growth officer. “She’s got an incredible mind to be able to catalog people’s current capability and opportunity — what they can grow into,” he says.
Building momentum
In June, Cavallo (right) participated in a panel discussion at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France with Patricia Corsi, chief marketing and information officer for Bayer consumer health (left), and Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry. The three discussed the need to eliminate social taboos around discussing women’s health issues such as menopause. Photo by Ifnm Photo courtesy The Martin Agency
Cavallo was inspired by the 2018 documentary “This Changes Everything,” about gender disparity in the entertainment industry, and shared it with the firm’s executive committee. As a result, in October 2022, Martin announced its 50/50 Initiative, a commitment to hire at least half of its creative talent from underrepresented groups (in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, ability and sexual orientation) for video content production. During the first half of 2023, 75.5% of the agency’s video content production was handled by creative talent from underrepresented groups.
Cavallo’s changes have made a measurable difference. Before she took over in December 2017, 59.9% of Martin employees were women, but they comprised only 25% of the firm’s leadership committee. Six years later, 65.8% of Martin’s employees are female, with women comprising 57.1% of Martin’s executive committee. Before Cavallo, only 14% of Martin’s employees were BIPOC, and none were represented in the executive committee. As of Sept. 31, 27.9% of employees and 35.7% of committee members were BIPOC.
Cavallo’s reasoning that diversity improves business seems to be holding true. According to Martin, the agency saw almost 30% growth in net new and organic revenue in 2022.
Martin also added an entertainment division in June, which works to get brands into entertainment media through original content or by forging partnerships with existing creators or products, like social media influencers or streaming TV shows.
Cavallo knew who she wanted to lead the division: Alanna Strauss, then senior vice president of creative and content at Fender Musical Instruments. Strauss had also headed creative and brand partnerships at Netflix, where she oversaw a partnership with Domino’s Pizza to promote the sci-fi show “Stranger Things” with a custom app to “order pizza with your mind.”
Cavallo and Strauss talked for 10 months before Strauss took the role, and Strauss says: “I got to know her more and more, and I always say to people, ‘Not working with her was not an option in my life.’ I absolutely knew I had to be in her orbit.”
The advertising industry and major clients have taken note of the new Martin under Cavallo’s leadership. Martin was named Adweek’s Agency of the Year in 2020 and 2021, as well as Ad Age’s Agency of the Year in 2023.
When Cavallo became CEO, she and CarMax Chief Innovation and Strategy Officer Jim Lyski met for drinks, he says, and he told her “something to the effect of, ‘We’re never going to do business with you guys until you fix your culture.”’
Lyski saw a new culture demonstrated in Cavallo’s choices for her leadership team and through meetings with them, he says, which led to CarMax selecting Martin in 2019 as its creative agency of record.
Reaching the summit
In 2020, Martin won major accounts like Axe, Century 21, Old Navy and Twisted Tea. In 2022, Anheuser-Busch named Martin the agency of record for its Bud Light seltzer brand and Bud Light Next, a zero-calorie beer. That same year, without having to give pitches, Martin became the agency of record for Royal Caribbean, Santander and LegalShield, according to Adweek.
Among other attractive qualities in a business partner, Cavallo is “superhuman in the way that she makes herself available,” says Royal Caribbean Chief Marketing Officer Kara Wallace. “She’s responsible for businesses all over the world, but as a client, you’d never know it, because she’d jump on the phone with you in a heartbeat if you needed it.”
Recently, Martin has produced work for Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas cruise ship, which is slated to make its maiden voyage on Jan. 27, 2024. Along with traditional advertising platforms like television, Martin listed the ship on Zillow in October 2022, allowing people to explore it virtually. In March, Martin recreated two sections of the ship, with accompanying games, within the world of the video game Fortnite.
In November, celebrity rapper Snoop Dogg announced he was “going smokeless,” revealing a few days later he was partnering with Texas-based smokeless fire pit maker Solo Stove, a campaign that Martin created.
Martin’s revenue grew 30% in 2020 and 15% in 2021, according to Adweek. In March 2022, Ad Age named it a “standout agency” on its Agency A-List, citing its 2021 growth and campaigns for Geico, Old Navy and Axe.
In November 2022, Cavallo added the title of MullenLowe Global CEO. In that role, she oversees 4,500 employees spread across 55 markets worldwide.
“She raised her hand and sort of said, ‘Look, my kids are out of the house now,’ so Kristen was what they call an empty nester and was ready to be away from Richmond more and do more work and travel outside her … sphere of influence,” Leikikh says.
At MullenLowe, Cavallo oversaw a rebranding, including a redesigned logo. During the time she had been at Martin, various MullenLowe offices developed different cultures. “I don’t think they were operating as a team well enough,” she says, so she made a strategic decision to restructureMullenLowe’s U.S. leadership. She created the roles of chief culture officer and MullenLowe West president, mirroring the company’s existing MullenLowe East president. Cavallo has also been searching for a MullenLowe U.S. CEO, and as of early October, had made an offer to an executive.
Cavallo (center) with Martin’s 2021 executive committee, from left to right: Carmina Drummond, chief culture officer; Janet White, chief financial officer; Jerry Hoak, executive creative director; Kristen Cavallo, chief executive officer; Danny Robinson, chief creative officer; Elizabeth Paul, chief brand officer; Chris Mumford, former president; Tasha Dean, chief revenue officer. Photo courtesy The Martin Agency
View from the top
As MullenLowe’s global CEO, Cavallo is constantly on the move, traveling every week, which seems to suit her. From Nov. 1 to Nov. 9, she was set to fly to Boston and back to Richmond, then to London, followed by New York, before returning home.
Her mind, too, covers miles in hours: “She’s really good [at brainstorming] organically and just on the fly,” says Leikikh. “That’s just how her brain works.”
Cavallo’s brother Pete Pflugrath puts it a little differently: “She really can talk faster than I can listen, and so I just tend to tune her out after a while. … Her brain is just on a different speed, which is awesome.”
Of herself, Cavallo reflects, “It’s funny — going throughout my career, I can look back at old performance reviews, and impatience is probably a thing I got dinged on for years, and I finally found a role where it’s an asset.”
Cavallo’s constantly plugged in. She’s forthright about her insomnia, and it’s not unusual for the Martin executive committee group chat to receive 3 a.m. texts from her.
Aside from her children, work is Cavallo’s major focus at this stage in her life. “I don’t think this is the season of my life for a lot of hobbies,” she says. Cavallo, who is divorced, has traveled to every continent with her son, Matt, and her 19-year-old daughter, Kate. She displays photos of Matt in Antarctica and Kate with a cheetah in South Africa on a side table in her office, which holds a table that can seat six and a sitting area but no desk. Tucked away in a corner behind a bookshelf, a cardboard cutout of Dwayne Johnson grins. Cavallo and Kate gave their family members “COVID buddies,” and The Rock was Cavallo’s.
Cavallo is quietly generous; her family members praise her good deeds. For instance, “she helps out with our kids in need” by donating to cover students’ lunch debts and to support a Saturday tutoring program, says her younger brother, Mike Pflugrath, principal of Osbourn High School in Manassas.
For the past 14 years, Cavallo also has been sponsoring four children through nonprofit New Hope Homes, which provided a home for 28 orphaned and abandoned children in Rwanda and now supports their education. In 2012, Cavallo and her children traveled to Rwanda to meet them, and in 2019, she and Kate returned to celebrate as two of the children graduated high school.
Cavallo’s hopes for her professional legacy align with the intentional, impactful generosity she shows in her personal life.
Summing up her goals, she says she aims to leverage her power and influence to help bust stereotypes. “My goal is to surpass ‘don’t fuck it up,’ and set the bar so high that the floodgates open for those who come next. I want to remind others of the importance of believing the future can be better than the past.”
VIRGINIA BUSINESS PERSON OF THE YEAR PAST HONOREES
2022 Jim McGlothlin, Chairman The United Co.,Bristol
These are the professionals who attract and grow businesses and funding, making the commonwealth wealthier.
Deseria Creighton-Barney
Fundraising campaign tri-chair, Virginia Tech Chesterfield County
A 1986 communications graduate of Virginia Tech, Deseria Creighton-Barney aims to push 100,000 of her fellow Hokie alums into action to reach the university’s expanded 2023 fundraising goal of $1.872 billion, a nod to Tech’s 1872 founding. In some ways, Creighton-Barney never left Tech, where she serves on the Alumni Advisory Board of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and previously served on the Virginia Tech Foundation board of directors. The HR professional, who is starting her own consulting firm, is a past president of Tech’s Alumni Board of Directors, the first Black woman to hold that position. She’s also active in the 110-year-old Delta Sigma Theta sorority and public service organization.
Starting in the 1960s, Tysons embarked on a development boom that took it from a rural crossroads into an edge city with office parks, corporate headquarters, malls, hotels, apartment buildings and Metro stations. Today, Katie Cristol leads an organization that is sparking the community’s rebirth as a new urban center. Cristol stepped down from the Arlington County Board of Supervisors this year to become the first permanent CEO of the Tysons Community Alliance, the nonprofit advocacy group that replaced the Tysons Partnership last year. Cristol has a passion for the way transportation connects everyone in the region and impacts housing and economic development. “It can really power dramatic opportunities for the residents of the region,” she says.
Dana Cronkhite
Economic development director, Dickenson County Clintwood
In August 2022, Dana Cronkhite became Dickenson County’s economic development director, a newly created role. A county native, Cronkhite returned home with her daughter and husband after he retired from the Marine Corps. Her background in social work translates to economic development, she says: “Both … are about relationships and being able to advocate for what you need.”
The numerous development projects underway in the Southwest Virginia county include Kentucky-based Addiction Recovery Care’s first facility in Virginia, which is expected to open in the first quarter of 2024, depending on licensing and certifications. The 112-bed men’s addiction treatment facility will provide workforce training, which could be customized for an employer in the Red Onion industrial site being built across the road.
Tracy Sayegh Gabriel
President and executive director, National Landing Business Improvement District Arlington County
Downtown Arlington has undergone significant transformation in the past five years, largely driven by Amazon.com’s HQ2 and substantial investments in residential and commercial development, parks and transportation. Helping to lead the change has been a “dream role,” Tracy Sayegh Gabriel says.
While HQ2 has opened two 22-story office towers, Gabriel says there’s still a need for balanced development of office and residential space, as well as the growth of local businesses.
The business improvement district puts on 200 events a year and plans to launch a National Landing Foundation to support the district’s evolving needs. “We see ourselves as the stewards for managing the incredible transformation underway,” she says. “It’s a unique opportunity because we are the fastest-growing area in the D.C. region.”
Sarah Jane Kirkland
Associate vice president for corporate partnerships, Old Dominion University Norfolk
Sarah Jane Kirkland started as a ballerina in her native United Kingdom but soon left her hometown of Startford-upon-Avon, Shakepeare’s birthplace, to work on cruise ships. That’s where she met her husband, Stephen, who convinced her to move to Norfolk with him when they decided it was time to drop anchor. She worked on and off for the nonprofit Civic Leadership Institute and Carnival Cruise Line for several years, and in March started in a newly created position at ODU. There, she focuses on forming relationships with senior executives at corporations and nonprofits to develop partnership opportunities, such as internships, corporate research and development grants, and workforce development initiatives.
Kevin Leslie
Associate vice president for innovation and commercialization, Old Dominion University Norfolk
Kevin Leslie has worked at various educational institutions in Virginia, specializing in health care technology, and has witnessed the growth of biomedical research in the state. In January he was named ODU’s first associate vice president for innovation and commercialization, and will assist students, staff and faculty with turning their innovative ideas and inventions into commercial products. “If you have a scientist who does something interesting in a lab, but maybe that could eventually be a product or a drug or device, we help them navigate the entire process of going from idea and protecting it to then shepherding it all the way out and helping to commercialize that,” he explains. Leslie previously was executive director of Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium, a partnership among Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, Sentara Health and ODU.
Duane Miller
Executive director, LENOWISCO Planning District Duffield
In his senior year at what was then Clinch Valley College and now the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Duane Miller interned with the LENOWISCO Planning District, where he’s now worked for almost 30 years. Originally from Fredericksburg, Miller fell in love with Southwest Virginia.
Infrastructure development is a priority for the district, which had over $30 million in active water and sewer projects in its region (Lee, Wise and Scott counties and Norton) in October, Miller says. In August, LENOWISCO partner Scott County Telephone Cooperative won a $25 million federal grant to help expand broadband districtwide.
One of the planning district’s many current projects is a study on the jobs impact of a small nuclear modular reactor, which Gov. Glenn Youngkin is bullish on building in Southwest. Miller estimates the report will be finished in early 2024.
These scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs are leading the way in tomorrow’s industries, from artificial intelligence and drone technologies to biotech research.
Michael Beiro’s bio on X (formerly Twitter) is to the point: “I make robots that can touch power lines for a living.” Under his leadership, Linebird has developed the first-ever solution to allow “off-the-shelf drones to do hands-on work on live power lines, previously achieved by linemen hanging out of helicopters,” says Beiro, a Virginia Commonwealth University mechanical engineering grad who teamed up with an ex-lineman to develop the concept. Being a power lineworker is one of the 10 most lethal occupations in the U.S., so Linebird’s drones not only save utilities time and money, but they also have the potential to save lives. The company is based in the Dominion Energy Innovation Center’s coworking space in Ashland.
Marc Breton
Professor and associate director of research at Center for Diabetes Technology, University ofVirginia Charlottesville
Marc Breton hails from a long line of scientists and doctors, joking that he tried his best to escape the family business and failed. Despite his master’s degree and Ph.D. in systems engineering, the native of France jumped when offered a chance to head a research project with applications in medicine.
“It was an incredible chance to see the fruits of my research applied in clinical care,” he says of inventing an artificial pancreas that could monitor and automatically regulate the blood glucose levels of Type 1 diabetes patients. “It’s mind-boggling that 400,000 to half-a-million people worldwide are now using the device.”
As a result, Breton received U.Va.’s 2022 Edlich-Henderson Innovator of the Year award for faculty members whose work makes an impact on society. The father of three tries hard not to work all the time but notes, “That balance is not always struck.”
Alex Fox
Chief growth officer, HawkEye 360 Herndon
At satellite analytics company HawkEye360, Alex Fox is responsible for various aspects of business development, sales, marketing and sales engineering. His background is in space technology, having previously worked for Harris Corp. as director of space intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance solutions. In January, three HawkEye360 satellites went into orbit during Rocket Lab’s first launch in the United States, which took place at NASA’s Wallops Island facility. The company operates 21 satellites and plans to have 20 clusters with three satellites each by 2025.
Fox enjoys spending time with his family, including helping his son develop his own cybersecurity career and attending his daughter’s soccer and softball games. He serves on the advisory board for alma mater Georgia Tech’s College of Computing.
Susan Ginsburg
Founder and CEO, Criticality Sciences Alexandria
Examining the causes and consequences of the Sept. 11 attacks as a senior counsel on the 9/11 Commission made Susan Ginsburg passionate about making sure that when the unexpected happens, failures are kept small and recovery happens rapidly. Those too were her goals in starting software company Criticality Sciences, which aims to build resilience into critical infrastructure like utilities.
An attorney whose career was centered on public policy and government, Ginsburg is an adviser to the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Law and National Security.
Keeping failures small and recovering rapidly not only protects essential producers but also protects the communities they supply and serve, Ginsburg notes. Criticality Sciences entered the market in 2021 and was part of the Dominion Energy Innovation Center, an independent nonprofit accelerator and incubator in Ashland.
Christopher Goyne
Associate professor and Aerospace Research Laboratory director, University of Virginia Charlottesville
Boarding an aircraft in New York City and landing in Los Angeles 40 minutes later could be possible within 15 years, says Christopher Goyne, an Australian expert
in hypersonic technology.
“Hypersonic is flight in the atmosphere at Mach 5 and faster, or five times the speed of sound,” explains Goyne, director of U.Va.’s Aerospace Research Laboratory. “We are developing next-generation technology for use by commercial companies, NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense.”
Under a $4.5 million DOD award, Goyne leads a team of collaborating universities and industry partners to develop components for a supersonic combustion scramjet that can handle speeds above Mach 5. Besides fulfilling military needs, the work promises longer-term applications as well, specifically high-speed reusable aircraft that can transport people and goods quickly around the world and space travel that is more efficient and safer than using conventional rockets.
Nanci Hardwick
Founder and CEO, Aeroprobe and Meld Manufacturing Christiansburg
Serial entrepreneur Nanci Hardwick says being called a disruptor at the R&D 100 Awards in 2018 was one of her proudest moments. At the event, her metal 3D printing company, Meld Manufacturing, was named among the 100 most innovative companies in the world and received the award for most market-disruptive new technology.
Rather than melting metal, the company uses pressure and friction to layer materials into shapes of any size, resulting in stronger products that are made faster and with less waste than through traditional manufacturing. Meld is a spinoff of Aeroprobe, another company started by Hardwick, and she also has launched Meld PrintWorks to fulfill customer metal orders.
“I am passionate about restoring manufacturing independence and self-sufficiency in our country,” says Hardwick, who participated in a 2022 roundtable with Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen about the semiconductor chip supply chain crisis. “Investments must be made for that to become true again.”
Nikki Hastings
Executive director and co-founder, CvilleBioHub; Instructor of commerce and Shumway Business Health Science Fellow, University of Virginia Charlottesville
Nikki Hastings thinks of herself as a scientist helping scientists to do their best work by applying entrepreneurial methodologies. She has a doctorate in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia, where she leads the graduate-level biotech track at the McIntyre School of Commerce. With the January announcement that U.Va. is establishing the $300 million Paul and Diane Manning Institute of Biotechnology, Hastings has been busier than ever with CvilleBioHub, a nonprofit focused on Charlottesville’s biotech community. In March, the organization received a $100,000 GO Virginia grant to launch CvilleBioLab, an accelerator for early-stage biotech startups.
Hastings, who has been immersed in research, launching companies and helping connect people to one other, says there is “great vision to attract new research to the region.” Also an avid Taylor Swift fan, Hastings snagged a lucky ticket to see the singer on her Eras tour in Atlanta earlier this year.
John S. Langford
Chairman and CEO, Electra.aero Manassas
John Langford’s team at aerospace startup Electra.aero has unveiled a new kind of airplane, a hybrid-electric short takeoff and landing vehicle that can take off and land on soccer-field-size spaces.
The Federal Aviation Administration has approved Electra’s two-seat technology demonstrator, the EL-2 Goldfinch, for testing under a special airworthiness certificate; demonstrations are set to begin in 2024, with a nine-passenger vehicle in commercial operation by 2028.
Compared with vertical lift designs, Electra’s quiet plane uses blown-lift technology to more economically deliver twice the payload at 10 times the range while still being able to take off and land almost anywhere. Langford says the plane is ideal for middle-mile passenger mobility and cargo logistics.
Before starting Electra in 2020, Langford co-founded Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences and was president of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
An athlete in high school and at the University of Richmond, Grace Mittl was constantly looking for healthier ways to revamp salads. At UR, where she ran track, she soaked beans in bins and buckets in her apartment overnight, seeking the best texture.
“My roommates probably hated me at the time,” she says in hindsight.
Absurd Snacks was born in 2022, the result of a yearlong startups class at UR. Mittl was also inspired by a classmate who suffered anaphylaxis after eating a granola bar contaminated with nuts from the supply chain. Absurd’s savory and sweet trail mixes, by contrast, are free of major allergens.
In September, the brand expanded to Whole Foods, reaching 14 locations throughout Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., and in October, expanded to Amazon.com.
Sharon Nelson
President, Sensei Enterprises Fairfax
Ask Sharon Nelson, a former Virginia State Bar president, how Sensei Enterprises came to be, and she’ll say it began when she asked John Simek to computerize her law practice in the ’80s. Now vice president, Simek always wanted to own a tech company.
“So, we took a chance, and somewhere along the way, we got married,” Nelson laughs. Their company, Sensei Enterprises, is a boutique provider of IT, cybersecurity and digital forensics services, established in 1997 by Nelson, a practicing attorney, and Simek, who holds a wealth of technical certifications.
Although Nelson’s technology knowledge was slim at the time, she became an expert, and she and Simek have lectured on legal technology, cybersecurity and other topics in all 50 states and around the world. Nelson balances that schedule with a “rich tapestry of family life,” including spending time with the couple’s 10 grandchildren.
Alexander Olesen
CEO and co-founder, Babylon Micro-Farms Richmond
When Alexander Olesen and fellow Babylon Micro-Farms co-founder Graham Smith dreamed up their “plug and play” hydroponic micro-farm concept as University of Virginia undergrads, they had little work experience, let alone farming chops. But they had a vision: leveraging technology to grow nutritious food. Based in Richmond’s fast-growing Scott’s Addition neighborhood, the company produces indoor, vertical hydroponic farms that let schools, hospitals and other businesses grow their own climate-controlled produce, saving labor and requiring less experience. Since its founding in 2017, the business has expanded impressively into international business. In April, Babylon announced $8 million in Series A funding, two years after snagging $3 million in seed funding.
Neal Piper
CEO and founder, Luminoah Charlottesville
Neal Piper came to his present job with a background in pharmaceutical sales at Pfizer, as well as being founding executive of Presidential Precinct, a nonprofit focused on improving health outcomes through leadership training. He used that expertise to found his med-tech startup in 2020 after his then-3-year-old son, Noah, was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.
“It rips your heart out when you go into a pediatric cancer floor, and it completely transforms your mindset,” Piper recalls, but the experience also gave him an idea for a needed innovation.
Luminoah, named for Piper’s son, is developing a wearable solution to free patients from being tethered to a pole to receive tube feeding. The company raised $6 million in a Series A round that finished in the summer and plans to use that toward expansion and regulatory approval.
Noah, who has a twin sister, Saphia, is now 7 and cancer free.
Chris Rawlings
Founder and CEO, Bowerbird Energy; podcast host, “Energy Sense” Richmond
An Iraq War veteran, Chris Rawlings was an aircraft maintenance supervisor and program manager for the Marine Corps and Northrop Grumman before starting his energy services contracting business in 2014. Named for a species of bird that builds complicated nests to attract mates, Bowerbird Energy specializes in designing, building and maintaining renewable-energy and energy-efficient HVAC, electrical and lighting systems for industry and government clients nationwide. Around Virginia, Bowerbird’s projects include replacing natural gas-fired hot water heaters with a solar thermal system at Joint Base Langley–Eustis. A renewable energy industry influencer, Rawlings also hosts the podcast “Energy Sense,” taking deep dives into timely topics such as utility-scale battery storage, microgrids, energy security and offshore wind power.
Tim Ryan’s no stranger to Hampton Roads’ entrepreneurial scene, having served as executive director of StartWheel, which provides resources to startups and more established businesses. In May, StartWheel and Hampton Roads Innovation Collaborative merged their education programs, naming the joint venture Innovate Hampton Roads. Its mission is to centralize efforts that foster the growth of startups and create more visibility for small businesses locally. Ryan previously worked in the incubator and accelerator sector in Williamsburg, as well as consulting with East Coast startups through his business, Arcphor. He also is an avid runner, covering an average of six miles daily for the past 10 years. “Through hurricanes, snowstorms and before early morning flights, I’m out there getting in my miles,” he says. “To succeed, you must do hard things, and this is something that keeps me tough.”
Gymama Slaughter
Executive director, Center for Bioelectronics, Old Dominion University Norfolk
Growing up, Gymama Slaughter thought she would become a medical doctor, but in biology class, she realized dissections left her feeling very squeamish. Nonetheless, she found a way to continue working in the biomedical space and now focuses on innovative research to diagnose and treat cancer without invasive surgery. She’s particularly excited about ODU’s July 2024 merger with Eastern Virginia Medical School, and plans to host a biotech conference to promote academic and research discussions next year. “That collaboration is big for us in terms of being able to translate our product from the lab to the clinic and then to the consumer market,” Slaughter notes. She’s also involved with community outreach to engage young people, especially from underrepresented minority groups, in STEM-related fields.
Kim Snyder
CEO and founder, KlariVis Roanoke
Kim Snyder landed in banking in 2005 when Valley Bank in Roanoke recruited her to be its chief financial officer. She immediately fell in love with community banking and helping small businesses.
After Valley Bank was sold in 2015, Snyder worked as a consultant and discovered that every bank she worked with had the same data problems. Beginning in 2018, she started building a proof of concept for what would become KlariVis, her business that helps small banks centralize and analyze data so that they can better compete with large banks.
KlariVis launched in the first quarter of 2020, just ahead of the pandemic. By the end of the year, they’d picked up seven clients, 45 by the end of 2022 and 90 this year. Snyder’s goal for 2024 is to become profitable and continue growing the platform.
Paula Sorrell
Associate vice president for innovation and economic development, George Mason University Arlington County
Sorrell comes from a family of engineers, and though she’s not one, she calls herself a “good translator of technology.” At George Mason, she oversees a team of 200 people across the state, including six incubators and the Office of Technology Transfer, as well as federal and state programs that offer funding and help to startups, entrepreneurs and small businesses. She’s also in charge of growing GMU’s Arlington campus.
With degrees from Central Michigan University in marketing and marketing management, Sorrell is well-versed in the world she’s helping others navigate. She worked in marketing for several startups, was vice president of entrepreneurship, innovation and venture capital for Michigan Economic Development Corp. and directed the University of Michigan’s Economic Growth Institute before joining GMU in 2020.
Bill Tolpegin
CEO, AURA Vienna
With decades of experience in telecommunications and internet technology, Bill Tolpegin now champions the development of uncrewed aviation vehicles such as air taxis and large cargo-hauling autonomous vehicles. Tolpegin is the former owner of a group of television stations and founder of the C-Band Alliance, a group of four satellite operators that banded together to roll out 5G wireless communications. Following CBA’s dissolution, he started AURA (Advanced Ultra Reliable Aviation). It’s building a nationwide wireless communications network to support large drones to fly beyond visual line-of-sight in the national airspace. “People don’t believe it, but it is real,” says Tolpegin, who’s a science-fiction writer in his spare time, of unmanned flight. “It’s coming faster than people think. It’s going to really change things in a positive way.”
Beth Burgin Waller
Principal, cybersecurity and data privacy chair, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black Roanoke
Beth Burgin Waller has family members who worked as lawyers, but her legal specialty is something they probably couldn’t have foreseen — the burgeoning fields of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and data privacy. Waller, who majored in creative writing at Hollins University, says she’s always enjoyed “tinkering” with computers and found that technology law was an excellent intersection of those interests. “We have to stay on top of the technology itself … and also having to be on top of these new laws that are coming into play every few months,” she says. “Virginia is like a mini-Silicon Valley in a lot of ways.”
Ann Xu
CEO, ElectroTempo Arlington County
The poor air quality in Beijing set Ann Xu on the path of her life’s work. As an undergraduate in environmental science, she learned what a major contributor transportation was to air pollution and became determined to get to the root of the problem. In 2020, as a Texas A&M Transportation Institute research scientist based in Washington, D.C., Xu founded ElectroTempo, a Northern Virginia startup focused on electric vehicle charging software. Xu raised $4 million in funding to market her creation: a scalable toolkit that uses transportation data to predict future EV demand and its impact on infrastructure and emissions. With a five-year focus on electric trucks, Xu’s vision is bold. “Our goal is to quadruple our revenue within five years,” she says. “We want to be the analytic background of the electrical charging infrastructure.”
Yuhao Zhang
Assistant professor, Virginia Tech Blacksburg
Virginia Tech’s Center for Power Electronics Systems was partly responsible for attracting Yuhao Zhang to Virginia. “It’s one of the most respected institutes in the field of power electronics in the world,” he says.
A native of China who received his doctorate in electrical engineering from MIT, Zhang teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, and he’s noticed a trend in students’ growing interest in the technology related to semiconductors. He attributes this to students witnessing the major changes that semiconductors have wrought in consumer electronics such as faster chargers for laptops and phones.
Zhang leads a four-person research team that received a $1.5 million grant last year from the National Science Foundation to design the components for a greener grid that will better support renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.
From its founding as a two-year junior college designed to expand higher education opportunities in the Appalachian coal-mining country of Southwest Virginia, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise has expanded into a four-year liberal arts college with an influential impact on regional economic and workforce development.
Many of the programs of study at the college have evolved in response to student interest, as well as workforce demands from growing regional industries such as health care, education, information technology, and hospitality and tourism.
“Here at the college, we really try to lean into our region and support new opportunities through our academic programming and engaging students through internships and service projects throughout the community,” says Donna Price Henry, who has served as U.Va. Wise’s chancellor since 2013. “One thing we heard from our students as they were leaving to head off into the workforce or continuing on to graduate school was the need to understand big data, so data analytics came onto our radar as something our students were interested in learning more about.”
U.Va. Wise is currently developing its Institute of Applied Data Analytics, which will open in Darden Hall in spring 2024 and be led by Gurkan Akalin, the new chair of the college’s Department of Business and Economics. Prior to joining the faculty in August, Akalin served as assistant chair for administration and an associate professor at Eastern Illinois University’s Lumpkin College of Business and Technology.
“Data analytics is an exploding area,” says Akalin, who also will serve as the institute’s executive director and a professor of business analytics. “When you think about it, every industry uses data in one form or another, whether it’s journalism, real estate, marketing, finance, human resources, transportation or banking. We are all consumers of data, as well as generators of data. We need to teach our students how to use this data in a responsible way.”
Gurkan Akalin, who joined U.Va. Wise in August as chair of its Department of Business and Economics, is overseeing the establishment of the Institute of Applied Data Analytics as well as a new hospitality and tourism program. Photo by Mark Robertson-Baker II/U.Va. Wise
Starting out as a vehicle for research and consultancy, the institute plans to develop and offer academic programs — pending approval from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia — that will provide students with a foundation in applied data analytics. In spring 2024, U.Va. Wise’s Business and Economics and Mathematics and Computer Science departments will begin offering classes in data analytics and modeling, artificial intelligence, and data visualization and analytics. Akalin says the institute will eventually develop certificate programs and workshops to assist regional businesses and provide employment opportunities for students.
“We want to provide skills and knowledge to enhance students’ education and prepare them for careers which will be useful to local companies and increase economic development in the region,” says Akalin. “The mission is not to just train and graduate these students, but to keep them here in Southwest Virginia.”
The institute also plans to branch into topics such as AI and applied analytics in fields such as accounting, cybersecurity and cloud computing, says Akalin. Additionally, the college is in the process of developing a new master’s degree program related to data analytics, with the aim of launching it within the next few years.
“We want to be at the forefront of the new technologies that are shaping businesses and organizations,” he stresses. The institute will also support and conduct research collaboratively with college faculty, and consult with local businesses and governments to support their needs.
The institute, Henry says, “will provide much-needed consulting services and research to fuel businesses and entrepreneurial efforts in the region. Our programs will train and equip students to succeed after graduation in those emerging fields on day one and even create startups for new innovative businesses of their own.”
Akalin, whose background is in industrial engineering and business administration, has considerable hands-on business experience that he plans to bring to the classroom. His time in the corporate world includes roles as a quantitative and data analyst for financial services firm Morningstar and as an operations analyst for Norfolk Southern.
Progressive ‘Rock’
In addition to overseeing the institute, Akalin is helping to develop the college’s hospitality and tourism program, which is also under the umbrella of the U.Va. Wise Department of Business and Economics.
“We are at the center of a growing region, just one hour from Bristol and Kingsport, [Tennessee], in the Southwest corner of the state, and about two hours from Knoxville and Nashville, Tennessee, and Asheville, North Carolina,” says Akalin. “It’s an extremely picturesque area that’s very attractive to tourism in terms of scenery and access to outdoor activities. This region has so much potential, and U.Va. Wise wants to be part of that innovation.”
The college recently hired its first hospitality and tourism management assistant professor, Cherry Brewer, who has taught hospitality courses internationally, including serving most recently as an assistant professor of hospitality and tourism management at North Carolina’s Western Carolina University. Her industry experience includes a stint as a tour guide in Bangkok, working in a hotel in Paris and operating a restaurant in Australia.
Southwest Virginia, Henry says, “is looking to reinvent itself in the tourism and hospitality industry, with a number of boutique hotels on the horizon and the new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Bristol, Virginia, which will bring numerous jobs and provide tourism potential for the region.”
The first casino to operate in Virginia, the temporary, 30,000-square-foot Hard Rock Bristol opened in July 2022 in the former Bristol Mall. The $500 million-plus, 90,000-square-foot permanent Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol is under construction nearby, with plans to open in July 2024. The temporary casino has created about 600 jobs, and when the permanent casino opens with a 2,200-seat theater next year, it is expected to generate 1,300 direct jobs and bring in more than $21 million in annual tax revenue for Bristol. (The temporary casino has generated $24 million in its first 10 months.)
Founded in 1954, U.Va. Wise now encompasses a 396-acre campus in the Appalachian Mountains, serving more than 1,900 students. Photo courtesy U.Va. Wise
“We’ve already had conversations with the CEO of the Hard Rock, indicating that internships will be a big part of that opening and noting that they want to engage with our students as they go through their academic programs,” Henry says. She stresses that U.Va. Wise is “looking to build a program that will not only partner with that facility but will also support the region more broadly in the areas of tourism and hospitality.”
Marina Alvidrez, vice president of human resources for Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, says the casino “is excited to partner with U.Va. Wise. We look forward to supporting students in the college’s new hospitality and tourism program. As U.Va. Wise students from Southwest Virginia want to remain here in the region to pursue hospitality and tourism careers, Hard Rock wants to work with those students to offer rewarding and enriching career opportunities.”
Career launch pad
A new hospitality and tourism management major will be available at U.Va. Wise in fall 2024, pending approval of the college’s Academic Program Committee, and will offer courses in foundations for business management and specialized segments of hospitality and tourism, including hotel and lodging management, tourism development, event planning, food and beverage, business ethics, and casino operations. These six courses will be the cornerstone of the college’s hospitality and tourism undergraduate program. Additionally, pending approval from SCHEV, U.Va. Wise plans to offer a certificate program in hospitality and tourism management.
Brewer is currently teaching two hospitality and tourism courses, an introductory course and a marketing class. “These new classes will provide great transferable skills that students can use in many parts of their education and their lives,” she says. “We are building a program so students will have both the soft and hard skills that will be essential in this emerging industry in our region.”
Internships and experiential learning will play a key role in the hospitality and tourism major.
“We plan to work with local tourism organizations in this region so our students can gain hands-on experience, establish connections and network, which will provide a pathway for their future careers,” Brewer says. “We’re also making connections with local businesses like wineries, hotels, the upcoming casino and other hospitality-based organizations in the region that can provide career opportunities for our students.”
Students enrolled in the hospitality and tourism major will be eligible for up to 21 hours in internships with local businesses and will be encouraged to work in the industry in conjunction with their classes.
“If students have experience working, for example, at the casino or in a hotel management position, we would like to count that experience as part of their curriculum credits,” Akalin says. “We don’t want our students to feel that they need to learn everything in their classes; we want them to take advantage of the opportunities and the industry around us.”
Hospitality and tourism studies are not only focused on hotel and restaurant management, however, Brewer notes. “The industry combines so many different sectors,” she says, “including transportation, health care, theme parks, resorts, airlines or working as a tour guide. A student can get a business foundation through this program and work in any industry they like. Education is the key that will open the door to a world of opportunities.”
U.Va. Wise’s hospitality and data analytics programs are being designed to work together to support economic development and workforce needs in the communities and industries surrounding the college, as well as encouraging students to remain in the area after they graduate.
“Economic development is critical to the continued growth and success of our region and our students’ future careers and lives,” Henry says. “The institute and our new business programs are building a foundation to provide the skills, education, internships and research opportunities to prepare them for cutting-edge careers.”
At a glance
Founded Founded in 1954 under the umbrella of the University of Virginia as Clinch Valley College in Wise County, the University of Virginia’s College at Wise was established to serve students living in Southwest Virginia’s mountainous coal-mining country. The public liberal arts college was started on a farm with two sandstone buildings and operated as a junior college throughout the late 1950s and 1960s. The college began offering four-year degrees in 1966 and was officially renamed the University of Virginia’s College at Wise in 1999. Today, the campus encompasses 396 acres amid the scenic Appalachian Mountains, with 26 main buildings serving more than 1,900 students, just 60 minutes from the Tri-Cities of Tennessee and Virginia.
Enrollment*
Undergraduate: 1,907 Graduate: 22
Student profile*
Male-to-female enrollment ratio: 1:17 In-state students: 83% Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) students: 12% Out-of-state students: 5% (outside ARC) International students: 35 students from 20 countries
Academic programs*
U.Va. Wise has 33 majors and 40 minors, including a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) degree, an online business administration degree and a new Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree in curriculum and instruction. Fields of study include business and economics, visual and performing arts, natural sciences, communications, mathematics and computer science, social sciences, language and literature, history and philosophy, nursing, and education.
Faculty and staff*
U.Va. Wise has more than 100 full-time and 30 part-time faculty members. Students and faculty are supported by 230 full-time and 30 part-time staff members.
Tuition, fees, housing and dining*
Virginia resident: $11,780 per year Out-of-state resident: $32,530 per year ARC/TAG** resident: $12,508 per year Housing: $7,058 per year Meal plans: $5,299 per year (commuter meal plans are also available)
*Fall 2023 enrollment numbers ** Students who live in Kentucky, Tennessee or the Appalachian Region Commission’s service area
At the end of October, United Way of Southwest Virginia broke ground on its $25 million project to convert a former Kmart store in Abingdon into a regional workforce development and child care hub. It’s an attempt to address the region’s workforce shortage, one of the most pressing issues among area employers.
“There’s a lot of folks that aren’t participating in the labor force,” says Travis Staton, president and CEO of United Way of Southwest Virginia. “That means they’re not employed and they’re not working.”
Only about half of the region’s population participates in the workforce, leaving many local employers struggling to attract and hire employees. While Staton is still working to identify the many barriers contributing to this low participation rate, he and local employers are investing in new strategies, like bridging the gap between education and employment and providing affordable child care.
“You need to ask … why are they not participating in the labor force?” says Staton.
Southwest Virginia, which includes 16 cities and counties from Bland, Wythe and Carroll counties westward, was long defined by its natural resources, particularly coal. Like many of its Appalachian neighbors, the region’s economy has been historically tied to mining, and was ranked as the fourth most coal-dependent area in the U.S. in a 2021 report by the federal Interagency Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities and Economic Revitalization.
During the past three decades, Virginia’s coal production — the majority of which occurs in Buchanan, Dickenson and Wisecounties — has fallen from 46.6 million tons in 1990 to less than 10 million in 2020, according to the Virginia Department of Energy.
Although mining jobs are down, other economic development projects bringing employment to the region have helped put Southwest Virginia ahead of the rest of the state in terms of post-pandemic job growth. One example is the temporary Bristol Casino, which is looking to more than double its workforce in the next year as the permanent Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol opens.
“We currently have about 600 team members and, by next July, we look to have 1,300 to 1,400 team members,” says Marina Alvidrez, Hard Rock’s vice president of human resources for the Bristol casino.
Hard Rock is “looking for personality” and a good attitude in prospective employees — the casino will provide all other training, Alvidrez says. With pay rates starting at $18 an hour, she’s confident about attracting workers, but says other employers are finding they have to increase salary offerings and other benefits.
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol plans to hire a total of 1,300 to 1,400 workers for its $400 million permanent resort casino opening in summer 2024, says Marina Alvidrez, the casino’s vice president of human resources. Photo by Earl Neikirk
“When I hear a new company bringing in 250 jobs … I cringe,” says Lennie Gail Mitcham, executive director of The Southwest Virginia Alliance for Manufacturing. “We’ve got 380-something companies who can’t fill the job openings that they currently have.”
Mitcham’s organization works with 41 of the more than 350 manufacturing companies across Southwest Virginia. On SVAM’s website, alliance members are currently advertising 154 job listings, some of which are looking to hire more than one person for a particular job, Mitcham says.
Job hopping
Unemployment is higher in Southwest Virginia (3.9%, compared with 2.5% statewide) than other parts of the state, but the larger gap is in labor participation. Just over half of Southwest Virginians participate in the labor force — about 12% lower than the state average, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.
On top of nationwide labor trends, Southwest Virginia has unique workforce barriers, primarily including transportation, housing and child care, Staton says. In 2021, 40% of mothers of children under 6 in far Southwest Virginia were not in the labor force, compared with 26% statewide, according to data from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.
Another challenge contributing to the region’s low workforce participation is public health. More than 25% of Southwest Virginians of working age report having a disability, and the seven localities with the highest disability rates for people ages 18 to 64 are in Southwest Virginia, says Hamilton Lombard, a Weldon Cooper Center demographer.
And while Southwest’s remoteness causes more than two-thirds of young adults to stay in the region, a better rate than other rural parts of Virginia, that same remote nature can be a barrier to attracting economic development, Lombard says. So, given the region’s job prospects, he says, “young adults in Southwest Virginia are less likely to be employed or in the labor force, helping depress participation rates further.”
What’s more, the region is not immune from national trends already making it difficult for companies to recruit and retain workers.
“We’re in this new dynamic of what the employer-employee relationship looks like,” says Glenn Goad, CEO of Atlanta-based internet provider EarthLink, which has a new office in Wise County. Goad, who says he’s faced difficulties hiring and keeping workers, believes many of the problems he faces are national trends brought about by the pandemic. “With COVID, we created this new world for employees called ‘flexibility.’”
Goad has struggled to adapt his company to the desires of incoming employees, particularly the younger generation, he says, leading to significant turnover. At the beginning of six-week training sessions at EarthLink’s Wise, Goad offers $500 to any new hire who will attend every day of the training.
“I’ve been doing this long enough, I know I won’t lose my $500,” he says, adding that a training class will typically start with about 20 new employees and often end with five or six.
Southwest Virginia has a turnover rate of about 8.3%, about six percentage points higher than state and national rates, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Across the country, turnover rates are higher among younger generations, with Gen Z having some of the highest job-hopping rates of any generation, a 2022 Gallup poll shows.
Younger workers “are willing to job-hop for 50 cents an hour,” says Mitcham.
That difficulty in retention leads to an even greater labor shortage for mid- and high-skill jobs, as employers often prefer to hire employees from within who already have been trained and are familiar with the company, Mitcham says.
“They’re willing to hire individuals who show strong soft skills,” she says. “We need more soft skills. Employees are not understanding that they have to show up to work on time, they have to show up regularly. They’re not understanding a chain of command.”
Lennie Gail Mitcham is executive director for The Southwest Virginia Alliance for Manufacturing, which represents more than 350 area manufacturing businesses such as motion controls maker Columbus McKinnon’s plant in Damascus. Photo by Earl Neikirk
Barriers to work
High job vacancies aren’t the result of people not wanting to work or being lazy, says Staton, of United Way.
The region spans roughly 7,000 square miles, so people must often commute significant distances to find good-paying work, making reliable and affordable transportation a vital but somewhat lacking resource for local workers, Staton says.
Another area where Southwest Virginia is well behind the rest of the state is child care. Statewide, Virginia is about 12% short of needed child care slots, according to a 2019 study from the Bipartisan Policy Center, while Southwest Virginia has almost a 30% gap, meaning more than 7,000 children in the region don’t have child care or rely on a parent who stays at home.
“When you think about a lot of people sitting on the sidelines, if you don’t have child care … especially [for] young professionals and young families, there’s typically somebody sitting at the house not in the labor force and the other person is going to work,” Staton says.
Many parents feel they are dedicating so much of their paycheck to child care that it’s more valuable to stay with their child and ensure quality care, he adds. The average annual cost of child care for an infant in Virginia is more than $14,000, making Virginia the ninth most expensive state for child care in the country, according to a June report from the Economic Policy Institute.
That means child care costs for Southwest Virginians with a single child could be a third of their annual income, which averages $45,340 for the region, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In a survey of 150 businesses, United Way of Southwest Virginia found more than half of those employers said the need for child care was impacting their ability to hire and retain talent, says Staton. One of those companies is Abingdon-based K-VA-T Food Stores, operator of the Food City supermarket chain that’s the second largest employer in Southwest Virginia.
“We, along with other employers, have been very frustrated about not being able to get people back into the workforce,” K-VA-T President and CEO Steve Smith says. “Time and time again, child care comes up as a big opportunity.”
Addressing the problem
Food City has experienced worker shortages on the retail and corporate sides of the business, Smith says, which is why the company is partnering with United Way and donating $4 million to help establish United Way’s regional workforce and child care hub under construction in Abingdon.
Funded through a mix of public and private funds, including federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, the planned 87,000-square-foot facility will dedicate about a third of its space to providing child care for about 300 children, ages 5 and under. The rest of the space will be dedicated to serving students from kindergarten through high school, offering educational resources and opportunities for kids to explore career options as they get older, with a goal of reaching 30,000 students per year at full capacity, to Staton. It will include a GO TEC lab with 3D printers and robotics and other technologies for K-12 teachers, as well as a workforce exploration center.
“We like to think we’re working on both sides of the continuum right now,” says Staton. “Historically, [we] have a lot of disconnect and opportunity to bridge the gap between the world of learning, which would be the educational system, to the world of work.”
Adding internships and training programs for students is a popular strategy among employers addressing labor shortages, including CGI, an IT consulting firm with more than 375 employees in Lebanon.
The average CGI worker spends nine years at the company, with turnover rates roughly half the industry standard, according to Luke Layne, director of CGI’s Lebanon onshore delivery center. The company, which came to the region in 2006, has become well known locally, Layne says, for its work with students, including sponsoring a STEM camp for local middle schoolers and participating in a career expo through United Way that puts CGI’s name in front of 4,000 seventh-graders — essentially every student of that age in the region.
Mitcham, too, believes investing in student outreach is key, especially since she says she finds students aren’t aware of or have misconceptions about manufacturing jobs in the region. Manufacturers are increasing internship opportunities and partnering with vocational and higher education schools like Mountain Empire Community College and the University of Virginia’s College at Wise to spread awareness about manufacturing, as well as cultivate highly sought soft skills.
In terms of retaining young people who may be prone to job hopping, it’s a matter of showing them “a roadmap” to advancement and an appealing future with a particular company, Mitcham says.
“A lot of Gen Z are more willing to stay if you provide them with a good work environment,” she says. “The data says that you can wave a dollar at me, but if you don’t provide me with a work environment that I’m going to enjoy or have no opportunities for advancement, I’m going to stay where I’m at.”
Some companies increased hourly pay from around $10 to $16 since the pandemic began, Mitcham says. Layne, at CGI, also believes his company’s salaries have helped attract and retain workers. CGI starts employees about $5,000 higher than the region’s annual salary on average, according to employment website Indeed.
More so than salaries, says Goad, at Earthlink, flexible work schedules and an appealing work environment seem to be top priorities among younger employees, and he is even considering a four-day workweek for some corporate positions.
As EarthLink wraps up construction on a new 30,000-square-foot office in Wise County, employee demands are top of mind for Goad, who is making sure large break rooms and common areas are included in the design.
“If you just go back 10 years ago, nobody was spending extra money to build that into a building that’s supposed to be built to be efficient,” he says. “As an employer, we’re now challenged with how we figure out how to fit into this new paradigm.”
The Birthplace of Country Music Museum Photo courtesy The Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Southwest Virginia at a glance
Located within a day’s drive of six capital cities, the southwestern tip of Virginia is known for its mountainous natural beauty, as well as a history of coal mining and cultural richness. It includes Bland, Buchanan,Carroll, Dickenson, Grayson, Lee, Russell, Scott, Smyth, Tazewell, Washington and Wythe counties, as well as the cities of Bristol, Galax and Norton. While coal mining and other natural resource extraction have long dominated the region’s economy, other industries have grown up in recent years, including customer support centers. Tourism has also grown in Southwest Virginia, thanks to the region’s rich history of Appalachian music, crafts and outdoor recreation. It is also home to Mountain Empire Community College and the University of Virginia’s College at Wise.
Population
366,695
Top employers
Walmart
Food City
Lee, Russell, Scott, Tazewell and Wise county school systems
Foundever (formerly Sitel)
Paramont Coal Company Virginia
Select hotels
The Sessions Hotel (Bristol) 70 guest rooms, 2,311 square feet of event space
The Bristol Hotel (Bristol) 65 rooms, 3,800 square feet of event space
The Martha Washington Inn & Spa (Abingdon) 63 rooms, 3,200 square feet of event space
The Inn at Wise (Wise) 49 rooms, 5,000 square feet of event space
Western Front Hotel (St. Paul) 30 rooms, 2,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space
Nicewonder Farm & Vineyards (Bristol) 28 rooms, 44,000 square feet of indoor event space
Restaurants
Burger Bar (Bristol) American, theoriginalburgerbar.com
Draper Mercantile and Trading Company (Draper) American, draperisfordreamers.com
The Tavern (Abingdon) American, abingdontavern.net
Eatz on Moore Street (Bristol) American, eatzonmoorestreet.com
Major attractions
Southwest Virginia is home to a 300-mile music heritage trail known as The Crooked Road, which honors its contribution to gospel, blues and bluegrass, as well as The Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol. The Appalachian Trail also runs through the middle of the region, with a hiker hub and Trail Center in the town of Damascus, which hosts the Appalachian Trail Days Festival with up to 20,000 attendees annually. Grayson Highlands State Park‘s wild ponies in Mouth of Wilson and Natural Tunnel State Park‘s massive caves in Scott County are some of the natural splendors that attract visitors, as well.
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