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Noblis CIO set to retire in April 2024

Gail Hogan, ‘ and vice , will retire after 44 years, the not-for-profit federal contractor announced Thursday. Her last day is April 5, 2024.

In addition to overseeing the company’s IT workforce, Hogan assumed for Noblis’ facilities, real estate and corporate asset management.

Noblis has started an executive search for the new , and Hogan will assist with the selection and transition processes.

“Gail has been a driving force at Noblis,” Noblis President and CEO Mile Corrigan said in a statement. “Together with her team, she’s built a highly resilient and secure enterprise infrastructure and delivered transformational IT services that have lasting impacts on Noblis missions and those of our customers.”

Hogan worked in the publications and graphics division of Mitre before moving into IT automation and systems administration. Following several promotions, she was recruited to stand up the enterprise technical architecture at Mitretek Systems, which was renamed Noblis in 2007.

Noblis is a not-for-profit corporation that delivers technical and advisory strategies and solutions to federal government clients. It spun off from Mitre’s Center for Advanced Aviation System Development in 1996.

Va. Beach Vision exec director to retire

Martha McClees, executive director of group Vision, plans to retire next year after 16 years, the organization’s board announced Tuesday.

McClees, who joined VBV in 2008, said in a Nov. 30 letter to the board that she would retire May 31, 2024. The board, led by Virginia Wesleyan University Scott D. Miller, announced its search for her replacement. The committee will be led by the board’s vice president and include Miller and two previous board presidents, who will screen candidates and make a recommendation to the executive committee.

focuses on seven areas: business development, comprehensive plan, crisis recovery, flood resiliency, member development, resort development and sustainability.

“It has been my honor, during this 16-year tenure, to work with many of the city’s most dedicated community influencers to identify and promote policies and initiatives that advance the economic stability and high quality of life that we desire in Virginia Beach, and by extension, the region,” McClees wrote in her resignation letter to the board.

Miller commented on McClees’ contributions.

“Martha McClees has been an exemplary and a pivotal force in the growth and success of Virginia Beach Vision,” Miller said. “Her dedication over the past 16 years has not only steered our organization to new heights but also significantly contributed to the economic and community development of Virginia Beach and the Hampton Roads region. Her retirement marks the end of an era of visionary and unwavering commitment to excellence. We are deeply grateful for her tireless efforts, strategic guidance and the strong, sustainable position she has established for Virginia Beach Vision. As she transitions into retirement, we are confident that her legacy will continue to inspire and shape the future of our organization and our community. Martha’s foresight and effective leadership have set a high bar, and we are committed to building upon the solid foundation she leaves behind. We wish her all the best in her well-deserved retirement.”

$729M federal transportation package will finish Long Bridge expansion

The most significant choke point on the East Coast will be fixed as part of a $729 million package for projects in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim and Virginia Gov. Glenn announced Thursday at an event in Arlington County also attended by a delegation of other state and local officials as well as Democratic congressional representatives.

The package includes funding to finalize the long-planned $1.9 billion expansion and upgrade of the Long Bridge, a nearly 120-year-old, two-track bridge that connects Virginia and D.C. and serves as the main passenger and freight rail connection between the Southeast and Northeast.

“We’re thrilled we secured federal funding to support the construction of a new Long Bridge across the Potomac River and expand rail capacity and reliability in Virginia,” Sen. Mark Warner and Sen. Tim Kaine said in a statement. “This is another example of how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is improving transportation networks, reducing congestion, and supporting economic growth in communities across Virginia and the country.”

Owned and operated by CSX Transportation, the bridge operates at 98% capacity at peak times, with nearly 80 CSX Transportation, Amtrak and Virginia Railway Express crossing it daily. When more than two trains need to use the bridge, any additional trains must wait until the tracks are clear. A new state-owned rail bridge will be built parallel to the existing bridge, which will be dedicated for freight train use.

Once complete, the upgraded Long Bridge will include five rail bridges and two pedestrian/bicycle bridges. In addition to separating passenger and freight train traffic over the Long Bridge, the four-track corridor expansion also will double rail capacity over the Potomac River. The plans to begin site prep and construction in 2024 and complete the project by 2030.

The funding was awarded through the Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Grant Program under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which passed in 2021. U.S. Reps. Don Beyer, D-8th, Gerry Connolly, D-11th, and Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, worked with Warner and Kaine to secure the funding and attended the announcement event Thursday, along with U.S. Rep. Jennifer McClellan, D-4th, at the Long Bridge Aquatics and Fitness Center in Arlington.

Other funding for the Transforming Rail in Virginia Phase 2 projects will go toward improvements to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro and VRE commuter rail station in Washington and will also pay for laying a third rail track along key sections of the Northern Virginia corridor in Prince William, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties.

The Long Bridge expansion project is estimated to contribute $1.1 billion annually to the national economy and support 17,750 jobs, according to a news release from Kaine and Warner’s offices.

“This investment will help transform the rail system in Virginia, improving the flow of and goods not only within the commonwealth, but up and down the entire East Coast,” Youngkin said in a statement. “I appreciate the collaboration between our senators, our congressional delegation and our secretary of transportation to finalize the funding for this critical project this year and get this accomplished expeditiously. This project’s impact on the commonwealth cannot be overstated — it will ease congestion, make our supply chain more resilient, improve freight movement in and out of our world-class port and boost local economies.”

 

CFBP fines Atlantic Union Bank for overdraft program

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined -based on Thursday for illegally enrolling thousands of customers in checking account overdraft programs, according to a news release.

The enrollments took place between 2017 and 2020, according to the . The bureau found that Atlantic Union, a subsidiary of Atlantic Union Bankshares, misled consumers who enrolled in the overdraft service by phone and failed to provide proper disclosures.

The CFPB is ordering Atlantic Union to refund at least $5 million in illegal overdraft fees and pay a $1.2 million penalty to the CFPB’s victims relief fund.

“Atlantic Union Bank harvested millions of dollars in overdraft fees through a host of illegal practices,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said in a statement Thursday. “Americans are fed up with junk fee scams, and the CFPB will continue its work to ensure families are treated fairly.”

The bureau outlined two ways it says the bank violated federal law: charging fees without proper consent and misleading customers about the terms and costs of overdraft coverage.

The bank does not admit any wrongdoing under the settlement. 

“We respectfully disagree with the CFPB’s conclusions about these historical practices and take very seriously our obligation to comply with applicable law,” Atlantic Union CEO John Asbury said in a statement. “We are, and have always been, committed to treating our customers fairly and providing them with the information they need to help them make financial decisions that work for their lives. Nonetheless, we believe it is in Atlantic Union’s best interest to settle this matter so we can continue focusing on providing the products, services and support our customers want.”

Atlantic Union said, in its own release, that before Thursday’s settlement, it proactively made improvements to its overdraft program. 

“In 2022, Atlantic Union also reduced or eliminated certain overdraft-related fees to help reduce the burden of such fees on customers. Among other changes, it eliminated fees on consumer accounts for items returned unpaid due to insufficient funds; reduced the number of overdraft fees that can be charged per day to a single account; and introduced a ‘no-overdraft’ checking product,” the bank said in a news release.

Atlantic Union Bank had 109 branches in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina as of the end of September, and it had more than $20 billion in total assets as of March 31. 

U.Va. breaks ground on Manning biotech institute

The began construction Friday on the $350 million Paul and Diane Manning Institute of .

Paul and Diane Manning launched the institute with a $100 million donation in January. founded PBM Products, which became the world’s largest privately owned infant formula and baby food business, and sold it to Perrigo for an estimated $808 million in 2010. He then set up PBM Capital, a -focused private equity firm that invests in pharmaceutical and life sciences startups.

“The facility we’re building here will be best-in-class and a true game-changer for science and medicine,” Paul Manning, who is chairman and CEO of PBM Capital, said in a statement. “Research, manufacturing and treatment — we’re bringing it all together under one roof. The work that will be done here will transform the future of medicine.”

The 350,000-square-foot institute in Fontaine Research Park in will bring research, development and manufacturing at U.Va. together. Its main goal will be to develop targeted treatments for diseases that either have no cure or involve therapies that make life hard on patients, such as chemotherapy and radiation. The four-story institute will focus on medical research like cellular therapy, gene therapy, nanotechnology and drug delivery. U.Va. will also use the institute to expand its clinical trial offerings.

The facility’s expected completion and initial occupancy is late 2026.

The state government provided $50 million for the project in its 2022-24 budget, and U.Va. committed $150 million.

“This cutting-edge facility will help attract a full spectrum of bioscience companies to the commonwealth and ensure more Virginians can receive care and treatment right here in the commonwealth,” Gov. Glenn said in a statement. “Thanks to the generous contributions of Paul and Diane Manning and critical collaboration with U.Va. leaders, this institute with help transform the biotech and health care industries.”

The building will have laboratory space, research facilities, core facilities and an area for researchers and partnering biotech companies, as well as a café and conference center, a new parking structure and a heating plant.

The Mannings are established benefactors of U.Va. As of May, the couple had contributed more than $6 million toward diabetes and COVID-19 research at U.Va. They started diabetes research more than two decades ago, Paul Manning told Virginia Business.

In May 2020, U.Va. announced a $1 million gift from the Mannings to establish the Manning Fund for COVID-19 Research, which was used to fast-track research on expanding testing and developing therapies and vaccines for the coronavirus, which was then still a new threat.

Raleigh-to-Richmond rail project receives $1B federal grant

A passenger route between Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond will receive a $1 billion grant, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, announced Tuesday.

The approximate 162-mile route will be along the currently out-of-service “S-Line” as part of a Southeast corridor to connect North Carolina with Virginia, Washington, D.C., and the Northeast corridor. on the route could up to 110 miles per hour.

“This $1 billion grant for North Carolina to make progress on the Raleigh-to-Richmond rail line is a big win for economic development in the region,” Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said in a statement.

In June 2022, the transportation department’s Federal Administration announced an up to $57.9 million grant to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for the project as part of $368 million in awarded across 46 projects in the U.S. The grant to North Carolina was to support surveys and preliminary engineering for the Raleigh to Richmond (R2R) Corridor Program, which is a joint venture between North Carolina’s transportation department and the .

NCDOT and will provide a 20% funding match to the $1 billion grant. The Federal Railroad Administration will work with NCDOT and VPRA to establish a phased funding agreement.

The eventual rail route will be state-owned. In 2020, Virginia signed an agreement to buy 75 miles of S-Line right-of-way between Ridgeway, North Carolina, and Petersburg from CSX Transportation for $525 million, paid over three installments. NCDOT has the option to purchase the S-Line right-of-way between Raleigh and Ridgeway according to a June 2022 news release from VPRA.

For fiscal 2023 — which ran from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 — Amtrak Virginia served a record 1.26 million passengers. The previous record, set in fiscal 2015, was about 894,000.

Sentara takes sole ownership of Velocity Urgent Care

Sentara Health is now the sole owner of , the -based health system announced Monday.

In 2017, partnered with Velocity and transferred the operations of seven Sentara Urgent Care facilities to its joint venture with Velocity and a third party. Now Sentara, which declined to name the third party, is taking over all of Velocity. Sentara declined to share financial details.

Velocity has 17 urgent care locations in Virginia with nearly 200 employees and has plans to expand to Elizabeth City, North Carolina, early next year.

“This is an exciting opportunity for both Sentara and Velocity Urgent Care to expand and improve access to quality same-day services by offering a more holistic approach for the communities we serve,” Kurt T. Hofelich, Sentara vice of ambulatory services, said in a statement.

Sentara has about 30,000 employees and 12 hospitals across Virginia and North Carolina. The organization’s health plans division has more than 1.2 million members in Virginia and Florida.

A British invasion at Norfolk’s Chrysler Museum

This week, Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney’s photography exhibit makes the second stop on its global magical mystery tour, with the show’s U.S. debut at the in . Museum officials say attendance is expected to be higher than any previous exhibit at the 90-year-old Chrysler, with inquiries coming from across the country.

“Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm,” an exhibition of about 250 photos and video footage taken by McCartney during the height of Beatlemania in late 1963 and early 1964, will open to the public at Chrysler on Thursday and run through April 7, 2024. The show’s world debut took place June through Oct. 1 at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The exhibit’s three-month run in London drew more than 110,000 visitors, according to Sarah Brown, McCartney’s photographic curator and archivist. By comparison, 190,000 visitors toured the Chrysler during all of 2022.

Among the photos that will be on display are behind-the-scenes glimpses of McCartney and his bandmates — John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — during three months of travels in the United Kingdom, the United States and France, as the four young musicians saw their fandom expand from their native England to the U.S. in February 1964, when they performed on “The Ed Sullivan Show” for two weeks to shrieking fans, ushering in the British Invasion to 73 million TV viewers.

Within months, their fame was worldwide, and the Beatles toured globally through 1966, when they abandoned the road for the studio, recording increasingly ambitious and innovative albums that included “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Abbey Road.” In 1970, the Beatles broke up and embarked on solo careers.

In November, McCartney’s pictures, which were in storage for nearly 60 years and had not previously been publicly displayed, landed in Norfolk, where they’ll remain through April 7. McCartney’s photographic curator and archivist, Sarah Brown, collaborated with Lloyd DeWitt, the Chrysler’s senior curator, on placement of the photos at the Norfolk museum, which opens the exhibit to the public Thursday. Members of the museum will have the chance Tuesday and Wednesday to catch a preview of the show, and members of the media toured the exhibit Monday.

From left, Chrysler Museum of Art Senior Curator Lloyd DeWitt, Macon and Joan Brock Director Erik Neil, and Sarah Brown, Paul McCartney’s photographic curator and archivist, at the Chrysler exhibit of “Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of the Storm” opening Dec. 7, 2023.

McCartney’s photos — mainly in black and white until the band arrived in Miami in February 1964, when McCartney used color film to capture blue skies and the ocean — also show a snowy White House in Washington, D.C., teens chasing the Beatles’ car, portraits of police officers and a worker, as well as fellow performers on their 1964 U.S. tour. A handful of McCartney’s photos chosen specifically for the U.S. exhibit show American artists that include Clarence “Frogman” Henry and Jackie DeShannon.

As for attendance expectations, “that is a million-dollar question,” said Erik Neil, Macon and Joan Brock director and of the art museum. “We haven’t put on a show like this. But I expect that we will get tens of thousands. We’ve got interest from all over the country, like we never have [before], because of such widespread attention given to this material.” The museum ordered about 1,000 books depicting about 275 of McCartney’s photos.

The U.S. exhibit is timed to the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ Sullivan appearances, and the Chrysler will host a special event Feb. 9, 2024, for museum members. According to Brown, McCartney personally chose music to be played at the event, and he also has curated five films to be screened on Wednesdays beginning Jan. 24, 2024, at the Naro Extended Cinema in Norfolk. The musician also had close oversight of the exhibit, choosing which photos to display and contributing quotes that describe the experience of the Beatles’ breakout in the U.S. DeWitt noted that because the photos hadn’t been displayed before this year, the prints were brand new and, in some cases, large enough to see details of large crowds gathered to see the band.

In 2020, McCartney rediscovered about 1,000 photos he had taken with a 35-millimeter camera while preparing for an exhibit of his late wife Linda McCartney’s photos.

Fixing a hole

So, how did the Chrysler get the gig, you may be asking? It was partly luck, Neil said. “We had an unusual opening, [a show] we had slotted in here [that] we had to push back for completely extraneous reasons,” Neil explained to Virginia Business. Casting about for a possible replacement, the “came across our desk,” Neil said. “Things opened up, and we said, ‘Oh yeah, that’s great. Let’s go get that.'”

McCartney’s representatives had reached out to the museum about a year ago, which is considered fairly late notice in the museum world, Neil noted, and the final contract was signed about six months ago. Usually special exhibits at larger museums are booked at least two years out, “or even further,” up to four years.

Even with the opening in its schedule, the Chrysler still needed to raise money to bring in the exhibit. Speaking in late November, Neil said he was still seeking donations and had not yet determined what the actual cost of the exhibit would be. “We will not know the exact cost of this exhibition until a lot of things are worked out … and [that] depends a little bit on what other venues there might be and what costs would be shared.”

McCartney, a committed vegetarian and environmental activist, placed some restrictions on the financial backing for the exhibit — including no sponsorships from fossil fuel companies, said Neil, who was able to get some past museum donors on board to help with costs, as well as assistance from the museum’s Horace W. Goldsmith Special Exhibitions Endowment. He declined to name individuals as he was still finalizing the sponsorships for the show, which will be free to all visitors. “That was one thing that I know was appealing to the McCartney team — that we are free,” Neil noted.

There’s no word whether Sir Paul will come to Norfolk during the exhibit’s stay. The 81-year-old musician is on tour in Brazil through Dec. 16, although he doesn’t have any dates for 2024 listed yet.

Neil, whose favorite Beatles song is “Blackbird,” says the museum has extended an invitation to McCartney. Hopefully Sir Paul can work it out.

Hampton Roads hotel revenues outpace Va., country

in outpaced Virginia and the nation through October, according to a report from Old Dominion University’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy, citing data from , a division of CoStar Group that provides market data on the U.S. industry. 

Through October, hotel revenues were 22.8% higher in Hampton Roads, compared with the same period in 2019. But hotel revenues for the whole state lag behind that, just 12.6% higher compared with 2019. 

Within Hampton Roads, saw hotel revenues increase the most, 29% compared with 2019, followed by /Portsmouth at 27.6% and Chesapeake/Suffolk 26.7%. The slowest growth for this area of the state was the Williamsburg market, which increased by 8.9% compared with the same period in 2019.

Hotel revenues for Northern Virginia was 2.7% lower this year, compared with the same period in 2019. It’s the only market that has not fully recovered from the pandemic, according to the report.

The number of rooms sold through October, compared with the same period in 2019, dropped by 10.6% in Northern Virginia, by 8.2% in Roanoke and by 5.3% in the Virginia portion of the Bristol/Kingsport market.

Within Hampton Roads, in the submarkets of Norfolk/Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake/Norfolk, the number of rooms sold increased by 7%, 3.9% and 2.4% respectively. In the Williamsburg and Newport News/Hampton submarkets, the number of rooms were down 3.9% and 2.6% respectively. 

The number of rooms sold in Virginia was 1.7% lower, compared with the same period in 2019, but the average daily rate for hotel rooms sold through October was at $131, a 14.5% increase compared with 2019.

That’s due to the federal per diem reimbursement rate in Virginia increasing on Oct. 1, says Eric Terry, of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Association. The per diem, which increases every year, went up $9 this year, from $98 to $107, which Terry says is significant. From fiscal 2022 to fiscal 2023, it increased $2. 

“That increase for us in Virginia is a huge impact because of the amount of per diem business we have,” he said.

Brightpoint promotes Fiege to president

William “Bill” Fiege will be the eighth of , the announced Monday.

Fiege will begin his new role on Jan. 2, 2024.  Van Wilson has led Brightpoint as interim president since February 2023, after former President Ted Raspiller stepped down from the role to take a job with Virginia529.

Fiege is currently Brightpoint’s vice president of learning and student success at Brightpoint, the college’s chief academic officer, a position he has held since 2012. Before that, he was at Germanna , where he was dean of professional and technical studies. He has also worked for Longwood University, his alma mater, from which he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science. Fiege also has a master’s in speech communication from Bloomsburg University and a doctorate in community college from Old Dominion University.

“I’m excited about Bill’s appointment,”  David Doré, chancellor of VCCS, said in a statement. “I am confident he will build on the college’s outstanding history of serving its communities and its diverse student populations and will lead Brightpoint into a new era as Virginia’s Community Colleges embark on a systemwide transformation to serve more learners in new ways. Our monthslong search yielded exceptional candidates and we are grateful to all of the talented educators who expressed interest in the Brightpoint presidency.”

Brightpoint attracted 74 candidates in its national search for a new president.

“The Brightpoint Community College Board is elated with the selection of Bill Fiege as the institution’s eighth president,” Kenneth Pritchett, chair of Brightpoint Community College’s Local Advisory Board, said in a statement. “I would like to thank our college board members for their time and energy throughout the rigorous selection process. We truly believe that Dr. Fiege will move our college forward. Under his leadership, Brightpoint will continue to be a place that changes lives, focuses on student success and supports the needs of its communities.”

Brightpoint serves Amelia, Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Prince George, Surry and Sussex counties as well as Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg. It has campuses in Chester and Midlothian.

“After serving Brightpoint as the chief academic officer for the last 11 ½ years, I am honored and humbled to have been selected from an outstanding pool of candidates to lead the college as its next president,” Fiege said in a statement. “Already embedded in the community, I fully comprehend the positive impact of Brightpoint and our workforce arm, the Community College Workforce Alliance, within our region. I appreciate the confidence bestowed upon me by Chancellor Doré and look forward to working with him and Brightpoint’s boards, faculty, staff, students and partners to continue the college’s positive momentum. We are and will continue to be trailblazers for the great communities we serve.”