Hotel rooms sold were about 2.1% lower than compared with the same period in 2019. The average daily rate (ADR) for hotel rooms was $130, a 13.9% increase from 2019. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) was $82, up 10% from the same period in 2019.
Northern Virginia accounted for 43% of hotel revenue generated in the state in 2019; it remains 3.4% lower through August 2023 when compared to the same period of 2019. The state’s two other largest markets, Hampton Roads and Richmond, have “more than fully recovered,” ODU said in its report.
Rooms sold through August decreased 11.1% in Northern Virginia, by 10% in the Roanoke market and by 5.8% in the Virginia portion of the Bristol/Kingsport, Tennessee, market, compared with pre-pandemic data.
Eric Terry, president of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association, told Virginia Business that leisure travel is seeing a softening and that the state is still not seeing a recovery in “corporate, transient business and even some of the government travel that we’d like to see.” Terry attributes that drop in leisure travel to a tightening of wallets rather than to the end of summer and back-to-school.
But, he added that a “bright spot” is on the horizon. On Oct. 1, the federal government will increase its standard per diem rates to $107 for most of the U.S., which “should actually give us a nice boost in the future,” he added. Virginia, because of its proximity to the federal government and military traffic, is one state most likely impacted by that increase, Terry said.
In Hampton Roads, Virginia Beach saw the largest revenue increase at 28% through August compared to 2019. That was followed by Norfolk/Portsmouth and Chesapeake/Suffolk at 26.3% and 25.8%, respectively. Williamsburg had the slowest revenue growth at 8.4%.
When comparing year-to-date data from 2023 to the same time period of 2022, data also show improvement, but a softening. According to ODU’s report, hotel revenues increased 10.5% across the state and rooms sold increased by 3.1% in August, down from July 2023 over July 2022, when revenues were 12.1% across the state and rooms sold saw a 3.8% increase. Northern Virginia saw a 21.86% increase in hotel revenue in August 2023 over the same period of 2022; rooms sold increased by 8%. Bristol, Virginia, saw the second largest revenue increase for that period at 9.4%, and rooms sold were at 1.1%.
The data center industry contributed $54.2 billion to Virginia’s gross domestic product from 2017 to 2021, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study released Tuesday.
That calculation includes indirect impacts from other businesses as part of the data center industry supply chain and induced impacts resulting from household spending of income earned from the industry or its supply chain. The study, commissioned by the Loudoun County-based Data Center Coalition, found that the data center industry supported 86,290 jobs in the state in 2021, up 32% from the 65,500 jobs it supported in 2017. In total for that five-year period, the industry contributed $31 billion in labor income. In terms of total employment, labor income and GDP impact, Virginia’s data center industry outpaces the sectors in Arizona and Ohio, which are also included in the study.
In 2017 alone, the data center industry contributed $8.9 billion to Virginia’s GDP, and in 2021, that number was $13.5 billion. Labor income contributions to the state similarly rose, from $5.05 billion to $7.9 billion. Arizona data centers, by contrast, contributed $8.5 billion to the state’s GDP in 2021, and Ohio’s industry contributed $4.3 billion to its state GDP in 2021.
From 2017 to 2021, the data center industry added a total $2.1 trillion to the national GDP, according to the study. In 2021 alone, data centers contributed $486 billion in economic impact, reflecting value added — the difference between the total revenue of the industry and the total cost of its materials, supplies and services purchased from other businesses.
In 2021, U.S. data centers directly and indirectly supported 3.5 million jobs, up from 2.9 million jobs in 2017, and $294 billion in labor income, an increase from $209 billion in 2017. From 2017 to 2021, the industry contributed a total $1.2 trillion in labor income.
Counting direct and indirect taxes, the industry generated $403.5 billion in federal, state and local taxes from 2017 to 2021. Total tax impact in 2021 was $99.6 billion, up from $66.2 billion in 2017.
Based on preliminary government data for 2022, the data center industry is estimated to have added more jobs in 2022 than it did over the 2017 to 2021 period, according to the study, supporting 560,000 direct jobs.
More than 70% of the world’s internet traffic comes through Data Center Alley — six square miles in Loudoun‘s Ashburn area. In 2022, the region accounted for 64% of the total new data center capacity brought online in primary markets across the U.S., according to the North American Data Center Trends Report by CBRE.
While some communities have referred to data centers as game changers, they also are subject to criticisms for being loud, unsightly and large consumers of electricity. Prince William County Board Chair Ann Wheeler lost her primary bid in June over backlash to the controversial proposed Digital Gateway campus, which she supported, and some Northern Virginia-based state lawmakers have attempted to place limits on locating data centers near historic landmarks, although legislation failed earlier this year.
Between 2011 and 2021, Amazon invested$52 billion in building data centers in Virginia, and the e-commerce giant expects to spend $35 billion more on data centers in the commonwealth by 2040.
The industry’s job-to-investment ratio is lower than other economic development categories, but the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s 2022 economic impact report concluded that for every job inside a Virginia data center, 4.1 additional jobs are supported in the rest of the Virginia economy.
Lyon Shipyard, a 95-year-old family-owned ship repair facility in Norfolk, will spend $8.5 million to expand its operations and add an estimated 134 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday.
The shipyard plans to increase its capacity to work on commercial ships and vessels that will work on offshore wind farm operations. Virginia competed with Maryland and North Carolina for the project.
“Lyon Shipyard has been a leader in marine repair and industrial services in Norfolk for nearly a century, and its new investment will allow the company to service vessels integral to Virginia’s growing offshore wind industry,” Youngkin said in a statement. “We thank Lyon Shipyard for its long-term partnership with the commonwealth and advancing Virginia’s position as a leading state in this emerging sector on the East Coast.”
Established in 1928, Lyon has two facilities in Norfolk located on more than 30 acres along the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River. The company provides marine electronics repair, barge repair and pier side repairs and hauls vessels out of the water for underwater repairs to equipment including propellers, tail shafts and rudders. The company’s commercial customers include tug and barge operators, dredging and marine construction contractors, ferry and cruise ship operators, research vessels and commercial fishing companies. Its government customers include the Navy, Army, Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command and the Maritime Administration.
“We want to be the change so many other companies just talk about — Lyon Shipyard wants to lead the charge and help transform the socioeconomical landscape for the city of Norfolk and its residents,” Nikole Dunkley, Lyon’s vice president of human resources, said in a statement.
A legal complaint filed last week by former Liberty University President and Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. alleges that President Emeritus Jerry Prevo and members of Liberty’s executive committee received in excess of $1 million from the university “through a series of questionable self-dealing transactions that have the appearance of kickbacks.”
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Lynchburg, Falwell’s amended federal lawsuit also alleges that “Liberty has forced out certain faculty and staff members and vendors simply because they are associated with or perceived to be closely associated with Mr. Falwell. Such faculty and staff include individuals with outstanding credentials and a track record of high performance, including several individuals who are African American.”
The university responded Tuesday that it would address what it called Falwell’s “improper and unsupported allegations designed to diminish former colleagues, family and friends and to discredit the university where he formerly served” in a legal filing “in due time.”
The allegations are part of an amended federal lawsuit against Liberty, Prevo and Falwell Jr.’s younger brother, university chancellor Rev. Jonathan Falwell. While the older brother did not accuse the younger Falwell of enriching himself via the university’s endowment, Jerry Falwell Jr. alleges that Jonathan Falwell went back on recusing himself from the legal dispute, which stems from Falwell Jr.’s claim that Liberty is improperly using the likeness, signature and name of their late father, university founder and televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr.
Prevo
In July, Jerry Falwell Jr. and the Dr. Jerry L. Falwell Family Trust sued Liberty University in U.S. District Court for $5 million. Last week’s filing argues that the senior Falwell, who died in 2007, would not want his name or brand associated with “Liberty, at least as it exists in its current incarnation, under the control of a small group of members of the so-called ‘executive committee’ who have seized control of the university after Mr. Falwell’s resignation as president and chancellor of the university in August 2020.”
The amended lawsuit, filed Sept. 13, adds as defendants Jonathan Falwell and Prevo, who stepped down as Liberty’s interim president earlier this year but remains on the executive committee, the body to whom Liberty’s presidents and chancellors answer. Jonathan Falwell, who was named chancellor of the Lynchburg university in March, at the same time that retired Maj. Gen. Dondi Costin was named Liberty’s president, also serves as pastor of his father’s former church, Thomas Road Baptist Church.
Falwell Jr. resigned in late August 2020 under a cloud of controversy — including reports that his wife, Becki Falwell, participated in an affair with a young man she met at a Miami hotel, and that the Falwell family became financially involved with the man, Giancarlo Granda, over several years. While Falwell Jr. has acknowledged that his wife was involved in an affair that began in 2012, he has refuted reports — including allegations by Granda in news interviews, a streaming documentary TV series and a book — that Falwell watched Granda having sex with his wife. Amid the fallout, Liberty sued Falwell for breach of contract, a matter still underway in Lynchburg Circuit Court, and Falwell has sued the university for $8.5 million in retirement funds he says he is owed. Additionally, Falwell filed a $5 million federal suit over the university’s use of Falwell Sr.’s name and likeness in what Falwell Jr. calls a marketing effort.
Filed as part of Falwell’s second federal lawsuit against the university, the 55-page complaint alleges that “certain members of the executive committee and the board of trustees maneuvered to eliminate Mr. [Jerry] Falwell [Jr.] from the leadership of Liberty and wrest control over the university and its sizable $2 billion endowment … for their own benefit, without oversight by or interference from Mr. Falwell, who they knew would seek to protect the institution his father founded and stand in the way of their attempts to exploit Liberty for their own gain. Indeed, after Mr. Falwell left Liberty in August 2020, these members directed Liberty to dole out hundreds of thousands of dollars in self-dealing transactions, purportedly as ‘donations,’ to organizations controlled by these members and/or their close affiliates.”
Prevo, the complaint alleges, “sought for Liberty to improperly divert hundreds of thousands of his salary [as interim president] to his personal foundation, which Liberty eventually ceased to do on advice of counsel.” The suit also alleges that Prevo “racked up at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses associated with his use of Liberty’s corporate jet,” which the lawsuit says Prevo used “on numerous occasions” to fly between Virginia and his homes in Alaska and Arizona, based on public flight records. Earlier, when Falwell was president and Prevo served on the executive committee, the complaint alleges that Prevo “pressured Mr. Falwell for Liberty to pay thousands of dollars for Prevo’s grandson to receive training in flying planes at Liberty’s expense.”
The lawsuit also states that two nonprofits connected to Prevo and his close friend and adviser, Franklin Graham, son of the late televangelist Billy Graham, received large payments from the university following Falwell Jr.’s resignation.
Jonathan Falwell. Photo courtesy Liberty University
In the fiscal year ending June 2021, according to the lawsuit, “Liberty paid $200,050 to Samaritan’s Purse,” a charitable organization led by Graham as president, and for which Prevo served as a board member. During the same fiscal year, the university paid $200,000 to Hope Partners International, “which is an organization that is, upon information and belief, controlled by Kirk Nowery, the former chief operating officer of Samaritan’s Purse,” and the next year, Liberty gave $414,960 to Hope Partners, “by virtue of its ties to Prevo and Graham.” William F. Graham IV, Franklin Graham’s son, serves on the Liberty board of trustees.
Prevo — whose appointment to the executive committee expires in 2025 and who served on the committee before becoming interim president in August 2020 — also benefited financially after his wife received “a substantial sum for her role as the wife of the president,” Falwell’s suit alleges. Liberty’s 990 forms disclosed that Carol Prevo received $39,824 in fiscal year 2021 and $53,574 in fiscal 2022 in compensation.
The lawsuit then lists payments of more than $100,000 that “Mr. Falwell has learned Liberty made” to organizations connected to two current members of the university’s executive committee and a former member of the committee who died in November 2021. The amounts are publicly available in Liberty’s 990 forms filed with the IRS for fiscal years 2020, 2021 and 2022. According to the complaint:
Liberty paid $100,000 during fiscal year 2020, which ended June 2021, to the ministry of university executive committee member Jerry Vines, a clergyman who lives in Georgia. “While designated as a not-for-profit on Liberty’s books, Jerry Vines Ministries is in the business of selling religious media through its e-commerce store,” the complaint says. The ministry has filed 990 reports to the IRS, as required of nonprofit organizations.
In the same fiscal year, Liberty paid $100,000 to Tim Lee Ministries, a nonprofit organization run by Lee, who is on the executive committee and chairs the board of trustees. Similarly to Vines, the suit alleges that Lee’s ministry runs an online gift shop and collects “speakers’ fees for Lee to appear at events.” The lawsuit also alleges that in the fiscal year ending June 2022, Liberty gave $76,000 to Wylie Preparatory Academy, “a school in Texas that Lee’s granddaughters attended.”
The late Harvey Gainey, who died in November 2021, served as vice chairman of the board of trustees and as a member of Liberty’s executive committee. The complaint alleges that between 2020 and 2021, “Liberty paid $125,000 in purported ‘donations’ to Gainey Foundation,” which operated Two Moose Camp in Montana, “which was allegedly run as a not-for-profit.” The suit says that after a trucking company owned by Gainey went bankrupt from “approximately $240 million in unpaid debts, he used Two Moose Camp to finance his lifestyle.” Falwell’s complaint adds that from 2018 through 2021, Gainey secured “annual contributions from Liberty” for students, staff and faculty to “‘visit’ his camp for a week” at costs of $30,000 and more. In 2008, Wachovia sued Gainey Corp. for $238 million.
Falwell’s complaint also alleges that “in the past two years, a significant number — at least 12 — members of the board of trustees have also received substantial payments from Liberty, all in different amounts, many in the range of tens of thousands of dollars, and one as high as in excess of $100,000.” The lawsuit claims that’s in violation of standards set by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits Liberty, and requires that accredited educational institutions ensure that the presiding officer and a majority of voting members of their governing board “are free of any contractual, employment, personal or familial financial interest in the institution.”
The lawsuit also alleges that “at least a majority of the board of trustees” are “paid by Liberty, or … control organizations that Liberty has paid,” and some trustees and executive committee members “have been so bold to … deflect and distract from … their own questionable financial dealings” while alleging that Falwell “had committed unspecified financial wrongdoings.”
In late August 2020, shortly after Falwell’s resignation, the board announced it would hire a forensic accounting firm to investigate the university’s finances while under Falwell’s purview. “Ultimately the investigation cost Liberty … millions of dollars, and has revealed nothing improper about Mr. Falwell’s actions at Liberty,” Falwell’s complaint says. However, the university’s general counsel, David Corry, disputed that assertion in a memo to trustees, calling it “obviously false.” Purportedly sent by Corry on behalf of board chairman Tim Lee to the board of trustees in response to the amended lawsuit, the memo was published Tuesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Liberty alumni group Save 71, which has advocated for reforms including the removal of Falwell and some longtime board members.
Falwell’s lawsuit also alleges that executive committee members gave Falwell an ultimatum to resign or face termination after Granda went public in a news story published by Reuters in August 2020. Falwell also alleges he was held to a different standard than “other high-ranking officials” at Liberty, including an unnamed former president who was sued by a former Liberty employee for sexual harassment but remained employed by the university, which settled with the former employee, and that a former divinity school dean and a former provost kept their jobs after they were alleged to have had extramarital affairs, according to the complaint. By contrast, Falwell “had not … engaged in similar misconduct or had any affair.”
Liberty spokesman Ryan Helfenbein released the following statement Tuesday: “In response to Liberty’s compelling motion to dismiss his complaint, Jerry Falwell Jr. filed an amended complaint containing improper and unsupported allegations designed to diminish former colleagues, family and friends and to discredit the university where he formerly served. These personal attacks have no place in a legal dispute over the use of a person’s name, image and likeness. Liberty will file the appropriate response to these claims in due time and defend its legal right to continue the use of Dr. Jerry Falwell’s name. Furthermore, we stand by our initial statement that Liberty University and its Board of Trustees have only sought to honor the visionary leadership of Dr. Jerry Falwell and the mission of training Champions for Christ.”
In a Sept. 14 order, Judge Norman K. Moon denied as moot Liberty’s request to dismiss the $5 million lawsuit. In Falwell’s original complaint filed July 27, he and the Falwell Family Trust sued the university, but as of last week, Falwell Jr. is the sole plaintiff and represents the trust, according to the suit.
In the leaked memo published by Save71, Liberty’s general counsel wrote to trustees, “Unfortunately, it seems Jerry Jr. wants to use this lawsuit as a vehicle to attempt to write his own misleading narrative on his resignation and issue a scathing critique on the Board, its Executive Committee and Jerry Prevo as his successor. It feels odd and inappropriate that all this is part of a lawsuit about use of Jerry Falwell Sr.’s name, but Jerry Jr. tries to paint … Liberty University after his leave of absence as being operated so inconsistently with the Jerry Falwell brand as to be disqualified from continuing to use it. To do this, he throws a lot of mud. On the other hand, his narrative attempts to burnish his own leadership abilities and excuse his behavior.
“Many of these new allegations are completely false and baseless. Others have omitted facts that would balance them out to be unremarkable. One regularly omitted fact is that Jerry Falwell Jr. made and presided over many of the decisions and types of decisions that he claims to now find fault with.”
The message continues, claiming that the accreditation organization “quickly rejected” Falwell’s allegations that its board members, having been paid by the university, are in violation of SACS rules.
“We do not see these new allegations added to the complaint as changing our trajectory for success in resolving the case fairly quickly,” Corry wrote in the leaked memo, which also included the prepared statement for media inquiries that was released by Helfenbein on Tuesday afternoon.
Lee, Vines, Jonathan Falwell and Corry did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday, and neither did an attorney for Liberty. Phone numbers listed for Prevo were out of service, and he was unable to be reached Tuesday.
Dominion Energy Virginia is asking the state to allow it to test two technologies that it says could lengthen the time its batteries can electrify the grid from an average of four hours to longer than four days.
In a 117-page filing made Monday with the State Corporation Commission, Dominion said its Darbytown Storage Pilot Project, based at Henrico County’s Darbytown Power Station, would test two alternatives to in-demand lithium-ion batteries, which are currently used in a range of products from power tools to electric vehicles and by energy storage systems. The project proposes testing an iron-air battery pilot, developed by Somerville, Massachusetts-based Form Energy, and a zinc-hybrid battery developed by New Jersey-based Eos Energy Enterprises. Together, the batteries comprise a total 8.94 megawatts.
Form Energy’s iron-air batteries are based on a process called “reversible rusting.” While discharging, the battery breathes oxygen from the iron, covering iron to rust. While charging, an electrical current converts rust back to iron and the battery breathes out oxygen. The technology has the potential to store energy for as long as 100 hours, according to the SCC filing.
“This technology has the potential to store renewable energy and make it available when and where it is needed, even during multiple days of extreme weather, grid outages, or periods of low renewable generation,” Dominion wrote in its SCC filing.
Eos Energy’s zinc-hybrid batteries can discharge energy across a wide range of operations between three and 12 hours. The systems store electricity by converting zinc dissolved in water to zinc metal deposited on an electrically conductive surface. According to MIT Technology Review, that system makes them more stable so they won’t ignite. The company received a nearly $400 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to construct production lines in August.
The current batteries in Dominion’s fleet are, on average, limited to four hours or less, the company said. Additionally, lithium-ion batteries have been subject to price volatility and supply chain issues, and competition from the electric vehicle market could make matters worse. Long duration energy storage sources “will be critical to the future of the electric grid where there will be increased intermittent renewable generation,” Dominion said in its filing.
“We are making the grid increasingly clean in Virginia with historic investments in offshore wind and solar,” Ed Baine, president of Dominion Energy Virginia, said in a statement. “With longer-duration batteries in the mix, this project could be a transformational step forward, helping us safely discharge stored energy when it is needed most by our customers.”
In addition to SCC approval, the project requires development plan approval from Henrico County. Dominion said construction would begin by late 2024, and the project would be operational by late 2026. The cost to test the two batteries is estimated at $70.6 million.
Dominion Energy Virginia operates three battery facilities in Powhatan, New Kent and Hanover counties and has battery storage facilities under development in Chesterfield and Sussex Counties, as well as Dulles, in Loudoun County.
Announced in April, the office is Virginia’s fourth international trade office and follows Youngkin‘s meeting with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, during the governor’s first international trade mission.
Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick was joined by Liang-yu Wang, director general of Taiwan’s Department of North American Affairs in its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as officials from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership for the opening ceremony in the country’s capital of Taipei Tuesday morning.
One employee will staff the office, VEDP spokesperson Suzanne Clark said in an email.
The Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office was established by Executive Order 25 to strengthen the business ties between Virginia and Taiwan, an island of 23 million people off the coast of China. The announcement also comes amid tense relations between the U.S. and China, and occurred just months after Youngkin pulled out of a $3.5 billion economic development deal that could have brought an electric vehicle battery plant to Pittsylvania County over concerns about China’s involvement in the deal.
“Taiwan represents a significant market for foreign direct investment and international trade, and the new Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office will strategically position the commonwealth for economic development opportunities,” Youngkin said in a statement. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with Taiwan as we actively work to recruit Taiwanese companies and encourage trade with Virginia businesses.”
Virginia exported $730 million in products to Taiwan in 2022 and imported $1 billion in goods from the island. The Virginia-Taiwan Trade Office will offer services to help Taiwanese companies with opportunities in Virginia, bring investment and new jobs to the commonwealth and further open markets for Virginia products. A memorandum of understanding signed between Virginia and Taiwan in April also commits to collaboration in research, innovation and critical global industries such as consumer electronics.
Sharon Morrissey, Virginia Community College System‘s senior vice chancellor for academic and workforce programs, will retire at the end of 2023, VCCS announced Monday.
Morrissey joined VCCS in 2014. She held leadership roles for multiple initiatives, including eliminating placement testing, providing expanded credit for prior learning for military veterans and creating the system’s Opportunity 2027 strategic plan.
“It’s an understatement to say that Dr. Morrissey has provided crucial and valuable guidance for our colleges over the years, including leading our institutions statewide as interim chancellor from last summer through March of this year,” Virginia Community College System Chancellor David Doré said in a statement.
Before joining VCCS, Morrissey worked in higher education in North Carolina for 28 years. She served as a faculty member, college vice president, college president and then executive vice president for programs and student services of the system within that state’s community college system
“I’m so grateful to have worked with the wonderful faculty and staff at Virginia’s community colleges,” Morrissey said in a statement. “Even in the most challenging times as we worked to manage the impact of COVID-19, I appreciated collaborating with dedicated and talented colleagues to ensure that students had access to the courses and services they needed. The pandemic even yielded some positive improvements in our enrollment policies, online student support services and expansion of distance learning opportunities.”
The University of Virginia ranked No. 24 in national universities, tying with Carnegie Mellon and Emory universities and Washington University in St. Louis. U.Va. ranked No. 5 on the top public schools list, followed by Virginia Tech at No. 20. William & Mary ranked No. 23. George Mason ranked No. 51, while James Madison, Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University and Radford University rounded out the public schools with rankings of No. 64, 76, 151 and 162, respectively.
“The rankings are confirming what we here at Mason and Virginians have known for some time; based on our performance, George Mason University is one of America’s top 50 public universities,” Mason President Gregory Washington said in a statement. “Further, today’s rankings reflect the value and performance families are looking for from a college education, and Mason’s year-over-year enrollment increases and placement of our graduates confirm that we are now a destination for graduates from Virginia and beyond.”
Fifteen Virginia universities made the U.S. News and World Report 2024 list of the 439 best universities:
No. 24 University of Virginia
No. 47 Virginia Tech
No. 53 William & Mary
No. 105 George Mason University
No. 124 James Madison University
No. 142 Virginia Commonwealth University
No. 280 Hampton University
No. 280 Old Dominion University (tied with Hampton U.)
N0 304 Radford University
N0 304 Shenandoah University (tied with Radford U.)
Hampton University ranked No. 7 among Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a tie with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Virginia State University ranked No. 16 on that list, tying with Bowie and Winston-Salem state universities; Norfolk State University ranked No. 22 on that list, tying with Fayetteville State University.
Of the 211 schools ranked this year, 15 Virginia liberal arts colleges made U.S. News and World Report’s 2024 list:
No. 21 Washington and Lee University
No. 25 University of Richmond
No. 63 Virginia Military Institute
No. 107 Randolph-Macon College
No. 116 Hampden-Sydney College
No. 124 Hollins University
No. 130 Roanoke College
No. 154 University of Mary Washington
No. 165 Randolph College
No. 158 University of Virginia’s College at Wise (tied with Randolph College)
University President Tim Ryan announced the gift during a U.Va. Board of Visitors meeting Friday, according to a news release.
The gift will be divided between the university’s McIntire Expansion Project and the Virginia Athletics Master Plan. It is matched by the university with $25 million for the McIntire project, which is a renovation and expansion of U.Va.’s commerce school. Breeden is a 1956 graduate of the McIntire School of Commerce. Pending approval from the school’s board, spaces within McIntire, as well as a new athletics complex, will be named for Breeden.
“U.Va. is the heart and soul of my education. It was truly the pinnacle of my education,” Breeden said in a statement. “The McIntire School prepared me to go toe-to-toe with Ivy League graduates. U.Va.’s business school didn’t just teach me about business practices, the school also taught me to have the confidence to speak. I learned how to be actionable in business because of my time at McIntire.”
Breeden, an avid sports fan, also said he believes athletics “play a crucial role in teaching and promoting camaraderie.”
The McIntire expansion includes construction of a new building, Shumway Hall, on the southeast corner of U.Va’s lawn as well as a renovated Cobb Hall and a host of outdoor meeting areas, expanded walkways and green spaces. Construction of the new building is underway, with opening projected for February 2025. Renovations to the 106-year-old Cobb Hall include completion of its portico installation of a new slate roof as well as two new classrooms, a double-height solarium, study rooms, staff office and added seating areas.
The Virginia Athletics Master Plan calls for a new athletics complex, including a 90,000-square-foot home for U.Va’s football program, an Olympic sports center to support to more than 750 student-athletes and the Center for Citizen Leaders and Sports Ethics. Construction of the new football operations center began in June 2022 and is expected to be completed in spring 2024; McCue Center, the program’s current home, will be renovated to support U.Va. sports programs including field hockey, cross country, track and field, lacrosse, rowing and soccer with new locker rooms. The Olympic sports complex is scheduled to open in summer 2025, and will include the Center for Citizen Leaders and Sports Ethics.
“I am deeply grateful for Ray’s far-reaching investment in our athletics facilities and McIntire’s growing presence on Grounds,” Ryan said in a statement. “Our student-athletes and commerce students, among others, will have terrific new spaces in which to practice and learn for many years to come.”
Breeden founded his company in 1961 and served as a member of the McIntire Foundation Board from 1994 to 1996 and also served on its advisory board. He stepped down as president and CEO of his company in January 2022, naming Timothy Faulkner as his successor. Breeden also co-founded Commerce Bank, which was purchased by Branch Bank & Trust, and he then served as a state director of BB&T, now part of Truist Financial Group.
The Breeden donation is among several large gifts U.Va. has received in recent years. In January, U.Va. announced a $100 million donation from Charlottesville investor Paul Manning and his wife, Diane. The university is putting that money toward a biotechnology institute as the region aims for a biotech revolution.
Tartaglione started in his new role Monday. He joined GDIT from McLean-based Fortune 500 management consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton, where he most recently served as senior vice president and partner leading several IT services programs for a range of federal agencies. He follows interim chief growth officer Ben Gianni, who served in the position for six months in addition to his role as GDIT’s chief technology officer.
“Paul brings more than 20 years of experience as a technology and cybersecurity executive and senior consultant in the federal IT services space,” GDIT President Amy Gilliland said in a statement. “He is a respected leader with an impressive track record of operational execution, business development and driving growth in large organizations. I look forward to accelerating our progress across our growth strategies under Paul’s leadership.”
Tartaglione earned his MBA and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester and has numerous industry certifications, GDIT said in a news release.
General Dynamics employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and in 2022 reported $39.4 billion in revenue, an increase of 2.4% from 2021. GDIT employs more than 30,000 people, including 8,250 in Virginia.
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