Talk with researchers a few minutes, and they’ll explain how many stages it takes for an idea to become a medical treatment, and for the treatment method to be tested, approved and brought to market. In many cases, it can take several years.
It’s a bit like a startup accelerator for biomedical researchers. One of the first teams to receive a grant from HRBRC’s Collaboration Accelerator Fund is run by
Dr. Carolina Casellini, an assistant professor of internal medicine at EVMS and a rheumatologist. She received $107,859 from the collaboration fund in 2021 and focused on producing an artificial intelligence-powered nutrition platform to improve the metabolic health of primarily Black residents of Hampton Roads who are at risk of diabetes.
With the HRBRC funding, Casellini ran a pilot that began in December 2022 and concluded last spring. Early on, she connected with WelFore Health, a nutrition app startup founded by Norfolk husband-and-wife team Ed and Ann-Marie Stephens. The app, available for desktop computers and smartphones, uses AI tools to create specialized nutrition plans for people who need to change their diets to address diabetes and other health issues. What’s different is that the Stephenses’ app takes cultural backgrounds and food preferences into consideration.
In the pilot, half of the 49 participants received recipes designed by nutritionists, and the other half — the control group — ate as usual.
“The end goal is to address obesity and teach them how to eat healthily,” Casellini explains, “and they develop this intervention with targeted questions about what they like eating.” Participants also have access to short videos on cooking methods, shopping for groceries on a tight budget and using food diaries.
Although the pilot ended in May, Casellini and WelFore will continue working together for the next three years, conducting further research. Earlier this year, Casellini received a $600,000 award from the American Diabetes Association to continue the project.
Later this year, they plan to work with 160 more participants — Black men and women at risk of diabetes between the ages of 25 and 65. That’s an adjustment from the pilot, which included older adults, but Casellini said participants above age 65 tended to struggle more with the technology than younger participants did. She’s also considering recruiting members from the same families, because it’s easier to follow new recipes and eat healthy if more than one person in a household is doing it.
The HRBRC startups — research teams led by a clinician or tenured or tenure-track faculty member from ODU, EVMS, NSU or Sentara — have multiple sources of funding. They can win grants from the Collaboration Accelerator Fund that provide enough money to partner with an outside business, another academic institution or government agency. In 2021 and 2022, the CAF funded nine projects, including Casellini’s team, for a collective $857,000, and in May, nine more research teams received $1.05 million. There’s $15 million in federal funding as well, awarded to researchers at the partnering institutions for their research projects.
In a sense, the federal money and the Collaboration Accelerator Fund provide the projects with seed funding, explains Heather Richter, the consortium’s interim executive director.
With the funding, researchers can connect with business and public-sector partners, launch pilot studies and produce research — and ultimately either reach the marketplace or get more funding to grow their research findings. Often, area residents benefit from the studies too, Richter says.
“Metro ministers have been educated, and a community advisory board, including independent social workers, have taken up the cause for helping to reach out to the communities,” Richter says.
During the 2019 General Assembly session, a bipartisan group of legislators established the HRBRC and allocated it $4 million in general funds and $20 million in capital funds for fiscal year 2020, chiefly to support collaboration among EVMS, ODU and Sentara and address health needs and disparities in Hampton Roads, as well as helping to commercialize research.
“This coming year is pretty exciting,” Richter says, since EVMS is about to merge with ODU in January and create the Eastern Virginia Health Sciences Center at ODU. Also underway is the ONE School of Public Health, a partnership among the medical school, ODU and NSU forged in 2021. “The faculty will drive research into health and well-being.”
In April, the consortium took another step toward community outreach by opening its own space in Portsmouth at the ODU Tri-Cities Center, which houses four 3-D printers, computers and other equipment for creating medical prototypes.
Patrick Ball, the center’s core facilities manager, holds up a plastic spinal bone model as an example of what a printer can produce.
“Our printers are a little bit different. They can print things that are hard like bone or soft like flesh,” he explains, and although the printed items won’t actually be implanted into a person’s body, medical schools could use the prototypes to train future doctors.
The research teams — or startups, as Richter calls them — generally conduct their work while funded by the CAF for
6 to 12 months, depending on researchers’ goals. Sometimes it’s as simple as outreach for clinical projects that meet community needs, or maybe the goal is to bring a treatment to the commercial market.
“I think the common thread of our projects is to improve health equities,” Richter says. “Education, workforce development, understanding the environment — that’s all within our wheelhouse. How are we building access to health care? Everything to build a healthy ecosystem is here.”
Since it began offering inpatient psychiatric care at its $224 million Children’s Pavilion last October, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters has admitted 500 patients, according to Dr. Carl Petersen, chief of mental health services at CHKD.
One in five children are estimated to have a mental health condition, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“More recently, during the pandemic, we saw an uptick in that number, and it looks like it’s even closer to one in four now,” Petersen says. “And regrettably, we just simply did not have enough providers here in Hampton Roads to meet the needs of kids.”
Located on the same Norfolk campus as the main CHKD hospital, the 14-story Children’s Pavilion also offers outpatient mental health care, as well as a pediatric practice, sports medicine and laboratory and radiology services.
CHKD Health Systems has hired about 400 new employees to staff the Children’s Pavilion, according to Petersen. Currently the health system has 48 beds open for pediatric inpatient psychiatric care, he says. “It’s a real challenge to hire nurses and other pediatric mental health providers to fill the roles that we need them to fill to care for the children in inpatient services.”
CHKD is making progress, though. In 2019, the health system hired its second child-and-adolescent psychiatrist, according to Petersen. That number has now grown to 19 psychiatrists. He’s optimistic that CHKD will be able to find enough staff to open 60 beds for inpatient care by the end of the calendar year.
Susannah Uroskie, president of the board of directors of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Coastal Virginia, says the mental health services being offered at the Children’s Pavilion are “very needed. We’re excited that it’s now available as an amazing resource in our community.”
In other regional health care developments, the folding of Eastern Virginia Medical School into Old Dominion University is moving toward its Jan. 1, 2024, integration deadline, according to Amber Lester Kennedy, assistant vice president of public relations at ODU. In September, the General Assembly approved $14 million to support startup costs for the initial integration and launch of the Eastern Virginia Health Sciences Center at ODU.
Meanwhile, Norfolk-based health care system Sentara Healthcare rebranded in May as Sentara Health to reflect an “enhanced focus on promoting the overall health and well-being” of its patients, members and communities. Sentara also announced that by the end of the year, it would retire its Optima Health and Virginia Premier insurance brands, which support nearly 750,000 total Medicaid members in Virginia, and instead will offer all plans under the Sentara Health Plans brand.
In October 2022, Bon Secours broke ground on the new Bon Secours Harbour View Hospital, which will serve northern Suffolk and western Hampton Roads. The 98,000-square-foot hospital will adjoin the existing Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View and is scheduled to open in 2025.
Additionally, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center expects to begin performing open-heart surgeries in early 2024. In January, Dr. Colin Greene, then the state health commissioner, approved the center’s application to introduce open-heart surgery at the hospital. Five years earlier, the center’s initial request was denied by a former state health commissioner. The Supreme Court of Virginia ruled in 2022 that the commissioner had erred in the denial, and Chesapeake Regional Medical Center applied again, this time successfully.
In late July, Riverside Health System officials broke ground for the Riverside Smithfield Hospital, a 50-bed acute care facility planned for Isle of Wight County. Riverside plans to open the hospital in early 2026.
Bridgewater College students will notice dramatic changes in Bowman Hall when they return to campus on Oct. 4 after the fall semester break.
The first phase of an $8.5 million renovation of the campus’s main academic building will be finished, and the basement and first floor will reopen. The redesigned classrooms and faculty offices will be flexible and better able to facilitate interaction between students and faculty, says David W. Bushman, president of the small, private college in Rockingham County. All four floors of the 70-year-old building will be impacted.
“We’re really thinking about the kinds of changes you need to make, not just to improve technology and furniture in the classroom, but how they make a classroom,” he says. “How does the classroom building really support student learning and advising and interaction with faculty?”
Bowman houses seven undergraduate and three graduate programs, and most students have at least one class there. Renovations include multiple outlets for digital devices, numerous flat screens to display presentations and web content, and chairs and desks on wheels that can be rearranged for collaborative work.
“Interactive learning is the coin of our realm these days,” says Provost and Executive Vice President Leona A. Sevick. “We talked about the spaces as being [makerspaces], not just spaces where students are sitting back and passively learning.”
Lantz Construction in Broadway, which has worked on several of Bridgewater’s buildings, began renovations the day after spring commencement. Work on the second and third floors will be completed next summer. The building will be 26,710 square feet when the renovations are finished. About 300 square feet will be lost due to HVAC and sprinkler systems upgrades, says Kristy Rhea, who is overseeing the project and is the college’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer.
All classes will remain in Bowman, but some faculty offices have been relocated temporarily. They’ll be grouped by department when they return, and their offices will open into advising suites for students.
Renovations are expected to be totally funded by donors, including a nearly $2 million gift from the late Dr. Garner H. Downey, a 1947 graduate, and his late wife, Mae Frances.
“We’ll have the formal dedication and ceremony next August, but students and faculty will benefit from some of these renovations right now,” says Bushman. “We’re excited about that.”
Total compensation for S&P 500 CEOs nationwide last year marked its smallest year-over-year increase since 2015, with pay increasing 0.9% from 2021.
Here in Virginia, CEOs faced even greater headwinds — their total pay increased just 0.3% from 2021 to 2022, down from a 4.9% increase between 2020 and 2021. The slowdown was a result of reduced equity awards and smaller bonuses, which showed the largest decline of all components of CEO pay, dropping by 6% in Virginia.
CEO compensation data was gleaned from an annual study conducted by Equilar, a California-based corporate leadership data firm. To determine executive pay, Equilar tallies salary, bonus, perks, stock awards, stock option awards, long-term awards and other compensation. Altogether, Equilar examined CEO compensation data for 52 Virginia-based public companies with annual revenues of $1 billion or more. (See data for the top 40 highest-paid Virginia CEOs of publicly traded companies.)
Virginia’s top-compensated CEO in 2022 was Richard D. Fairbank of McLean-based Capital One Financial. He outearned his peers despite receiving a base salary of $0, an arrangement that has been in place since 1997. His total 2022 compensation totaled $27.6 million, a 35% increase from 2021, when he earned $20.46 million. Like most other Virginia CEOs in the study, Fairbank saw his bonus decrease between 2021 and 2022, in his case from $4.55 million to $4.25 million. The largest increase in his total compensation came from equity awards of $23.25 million — $5 million more than Virginia’s second-highest compensated CEO and up from the $15.82 million he received in 2021.
Fairbank’s boosted equity compensation reflects Capital One’s excellent performance in 2022, when the Fortune 500 credit card giant’s total net revenue increased 13% to $34.3 billion. That was an increase almost twice as large as Capital One saw between 2020 and 2021, when its net revenue increased 7%, from $28.5 billion to $30.4 billion.
Capital One declined comment for this story. Fairbank, who also serves as Capital One’s chairman and president, told investors in April that the company “posted strong top-line growth throughout 2022,” a result of transformations in the bank holding company’s technology and a focus on driving “resilient growth.”
In July, Capital One announced net income of $1.4 billion for the second quarter of 2023, up from $960 million in the year’s first quarter, but trailing the $2 billion in net income it posted in the second quarter of 2022.
Richard D. Fairbank, Capital One Financial’s CEO, had the highest compensation of any chief executive in Virginia in 2022, although his base pay remains $0. Photo courtesy Capital One Financial
Small increases, big paydays
In second place for total compensation among Virginia CEOs of public companies in 2022 was Christopher J. Nassetta, president and CEO of McLean-based Fortune 500 hospitality company Hilton Worldwide Holdings. He received $23.53 million in total compensation, a 1% increase from the $23.29 million he made in 2021. Nassetta was one of the few Virginia CEOs whose bonus compensation rose in that period, bumped up 2% from $3.35 million in 2021 to $3.41 million in 2022. His equity award was also second highest among Virginia CEOs after Fairbank’s, at $18.27 million.
Hilton Worldwide reported $8.77 billion in revenue in 2022, up from $5.79 billion in 2021. The 2021 and 2022 numbers are up from 2020’s pandemic low of $4.31 billion, which represented a massive drop from the $9.45 billion the hotelier pulled in 2019. In August 2020, Nassetta reported that Hilton was averaging around 50% occupancy across all its hotels.
The company is rapidly building back after facing this unprecedented plummet in demand and even being forced to close some properties around the world. It made notable progress in 2022: Hilton opened its 7,000th hotel and hosted almost 2 million guests globally. At the end of 2022, it counted 7,165 properties with 1.13 million rooms, as well as an additional 2,281 properties in its pipeline.
Coming in third place in terms of compensation among Virginia executives is Gregory J. Hayes, chairman and CEO of Arlington-based Fortune 500 multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate RTX, previously Raytheon Technologies until it rebranded in July.
Hayes’ overall compensation was $22.56 million, a 4% increase over his 2021 compensation of $21.79 million. Notably, his bonus sank 22%, from $4.99 million in 2021 to $3.90 million in 2022. RTX brought in revenue of $67.07 billion in 2022, a 4.17% increase from $64.39 billion in 2021. This year, the company announced it was restructuring its businesses, merging four business segments into three: Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon.
Nationally, leading CEOs’ median pay was $14.8 million in 2022 — a scant 0.9% above 2021, when median pay was $14.5 million. It marked the smallest year-over-year increase since 2015, according to an analysis by Equilar and The Associated Press. The small increase was a major reversal after median pay for top CEOs jumped 17% from 2020 to 2021.
“I think this is mainly because of the market; last year it was not a great market,” says Lei Gao, associate professor for the George Mason University School of Business. “This impacted CEO’s pay because a portion comes from equity.”
Nationally, Sundar Pichai of Silicon Valley-based multinational tech conglomerate Alphabet, parent company of Google, was the highest-paid U.S. CEO identified in the Equilar/AP executive compensation survey. Pichai, who also serves as Google’s CEO, received $225.98 million in 2022. He stands alone among S&P CEOs in earning more than $200 million last year. The only other CEO to earn more than $100 million was Michael Rapino of Beverly Hills-based entertainment company Live Nation Entertainment, who brought home a total of $139.01 million.
While Virginia CEOs are very well- compensated, they make on average less than one-tenth of what these top heavy-hitters rake in.
Equilar Director of Research Courtney Yu notes that because CEO compensation varies by industry, Virginia CEOs are likely to clock in on the lower end of the pay scale.
“About a quarter of the [top-earning] companies in Virginia are in the industrial sector, which is probably due to the region,” he says. “The industrial sector isn’t really a sector that we see on the higher end for compensation.”
Bye-bye, big bonuses
The economic turbulence and attendant uncertainty that characterized 2022 led to some noteworthy changes in CEO pay, especially due to a large drop in bonus pay and reductions in equity awards.
In Virginia’s CEO pay horse race, Gary Bowman of Reston-based Bowman Consulting Group experienced the biggest drop in total compensation, with his pay shooting down 72% year-over-year, from $8.31 million in 2021 to $2.35 million in 2022. His combined bonus and salary went up 4%, so the large drop can be chalked up to a change in equity awards.
The CEO who experienced the biggest boost in compensation was Michael Scott Culbreth of Winchester-based American Woodmark, a kitchen and bath cabinet manufacturer. Culbreth’s total compensation more than doubled between 2021 and 2022, shooting up 103%, from $2.25 million to $4.56 million. The change was due to a 14% bump in salary, and an increase in bonus pay from $1.27 million in 2021 to $1.55 million in 2022.
Bonuses tended to be down across the board in 2022, with only 18 of 52 — or 35% — of top Virginia CEOs seeing their bonus increase instead of decline since 2021. Virginia CEOs’ bonuses fell roughly 6% year-over-year from 2021 to 2022, averaging near $1.8 million in 2021 and closer to $1.6 million in 2022. This overall bonus decline stands in contrast to 2021, when Virginia CEOs’ bonus pay increased on average.
“For this past year, the economy was definitely much more turbulent because of supply chain issues and fears of possible recession, so it was a much tougher year for companies as compared to 2021, when the economy was experiencing a recovery from the pandemic,” says Equilar’s Yu. As a result, he adds, “We did see a drop in bonuses.”
Yu notes that bonuses in 2021 were at “the highest level that we’ve seen in quite some time,” so compensation watchers anticipated a drop. That said, the decline in 2022 was a bigger plummet than the typical up-and-down expected in these numbers, a result that accords with 2022’s inflation and general economic uncertainty.
“Bonuses vary heavily based on economic factors because a lot of the metrics that bonuses are contingent on are short-term, like revenue and things that will be swayed by economic times,” says Yu.
A few Virginia CEOs proved an exception to the rule of reduced bonuses. The Virginia CEO whose bonus grew by the largest amount in 2022 was Raymond Karl McDonnell of Herndon-based education services holding company Strategic Education. His bonus went up 312%, from $283,125 in 2021 to $1.17 million in 2022. Another CEO with a notable increase was Billy Gifford of Henrico County-based Altria Group, the Fortune 500 parent company of tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris USA. Gifford’s bonus jumped 196%, from $2.75 million in 2021 to $8.15 million in 2022.
Pay raise for women CEOs
As in 2021, women heading up publicly traded Fortune 500 Virginia companies in 2022 numbered only three: Phebe Novakovic of Reston-based aerospace and defense contractor General Dynamics; Kathy J. Warden of Falls Church-based aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman; and Nazzic S. Keene of Reston-based federal contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC). They represent a bit over 5% of the CEOs at this level in Virginia.
Novakovic and Warden ranked fourth and fifth respectively for total compensation among all Virginia CEOs. Novakovic’s compensation clocked in at $21.48 million, while Warden posted total compensation of $20.67 million in 2022. Keene ranked 19th on the Virginia CEO pay list in 2022, with her total compensation up 4%, from $8.34 million in 2021 to $8.64 million in 2022. (Keene, who is retiring in October, is being succeeded by former Microsoft executive Toni Townes-Whitley, also formerly president of CGI Federal.)
On a national level, women CEOs’ median pay was greater their male counterparts’ compensation.
“Broadly speaking, we did see an uptick in pay for female CEOs at the median compared to male CEOs,” says Yu. “In our annual CEO study, this is the first time since 2018 that women have made more than men at the median level.”
Growing pay gap
Concerns about the widening wealth gap in the U.S. have shown a spotlight on the ratio between CEO pay and median employee pay in recent years.
At companies included in the Equilar/AP executive compensation study, workers earned a median pay of $77,178 in 2022, a 1.3% increase from $76,160 from 2021. Despite the salary bump, it would still take the median worker a shocking 190 years to earn the amount that an executive making median CEO pay receives in a single year.
In Virginia, the ratio between CEO and employee pay at top companies varied extremely widely. Among companies in the Equilar study, that ratio ranges from 4:1 to 2,411:1, with most companies on the list falling between 50:1 and 300:1.
Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.) showed the lowest disparity in 2022, as in 2021, with median worker pay of $161,130 coming in at 25.5% of CEO Michael DeVito’s compensation, which totaled $631,385. Richmond-based leaf tobacco supplier Universal Corp. had the highest disparity due to its heavy use of seasonal part-time laborers, many from developing countries, who earned a median of $2,004 in 2022. Universal CEO George Freeman made $4.83 million last year.
Some institutional investors have balked at ever-increasing CEO pay, prompting boards to hold votes on the issue. Some experts believe federal rules on CEO compensation may be in order.
“Regulations might help the market to address some of the ethical questions about pay to CEOs,” says Gao. “One issue that academic and the market industry people hate is when heavy cost comes from regulation. But this one, I don’t think there are many costs associated with it. And since it can provide more transparency to the market, it seems to be something we should do and the market can benefit from.”
The political will for such a move may be lacking, but how much the chasm between CEO and worker pay will widen as the years tick by remains an important and much-discussed question.
Entrepreneurship continues to grow across Hampton Roads, with many organizations dedicated to helping startups and small businesses expand and thrive. Here is a sample of the many resources available:
The Apprentice School at Newport News Shipbuilding
Founded in 1919, The Apprentice School in Newport News has graduated more than 11,000 apprentices over its long history. Part of Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division, it offers apprenticeship programs and Associate of Applied Science degrees in 19 shipbuilding disciplines and seven optional advanced programs of study, including marine engineering. Apprentices complete 1,000 hours of coursework and a minimum of 7,000 hours of on-the-job training. as.edu
Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia
Goodwill’s Hampton Employment Center provides assistance and opportunities for job seekers facing challenges to work, offering positions in retail, customer service, janitorial, logistics and other areas. Goodwill’s Begin@Home model focuses on delivering on-the-job workforce training while individuals earn paychecks. Begin@Home’s programs support skills building and career planning. goodwillvirginia.org
Established by the Hampton Roads Workforce Development Board, the Hampton Roads Workforce Council oversees federally funded workforce development programs for all localities in the region. The council offers general workforce services like financial coaching, matching job seekers with employers and hosting workshops covering job searches, résumés, job interviews and other topics. It operates the Hampton Roads Veterans Employment Center and offers programs for people ages 14 to 24 through its NextGen programs. theworkforcecouncil.org
The community college’s workforce development division offers options for employers and workers in western Hampton Roads. The college offers courses to gain industry credentials, professional certifications and licenses in various professions, including commercial driving, health care, welding, logistics and IT security. For businesses, the division offers customized workforce training on-site or at one of four training centers. pdc.edu/workforce-development
Rappahannock Community College
Rappahannock Community College provides multiple skills and training programs for credentials, professional certificates and licenses across a range of industries, such as health care, welding and transportation. The college also offers career studies certificate programs that students can complete in one to two semesters, with courses in the culinary arts, HVAC, cybersecurity, criminal justice and other fields. rappahannock.edu/explore-programs/programs/short-term-programs.html
Tidewater Community College
Companies can book customized training at TCC’s campus, at the workplace or online, and TCC can provide classroom space, mechatronic and welding labs, as well as trucks or motorcycles for training needs. The college offers career readiness certificates as well as a variety of short-term workforce training courses in advanced manufacturing, health care, IT, maritime, transportation and other fields. workforce.tcc.edu
Virginia Peninsula Community College
Virginia Peninsula’s workforce development program provides customized workforce training options for local employers and short-term career training for workers, including online and hybrid classes. Training program options span industries, including cybersecurity, health care, manufacturing and transportation. The college offers businesses customized training virtually or in-person locally. vpcc.edu/workforce
Eric Tan opened his business, VA Wholesale Mortgage, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic sent the housing market into three years of unprecedented fluctuation.
During those three years, Tan has managed to not only survive but reach an average revenue growth rate of 2,230%, landing the firm at No. 252 on the 2023 Inc. 5000 list, Inc. Magazine’s annual ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing privately held companies by percentage revenue growth. VA Wholesale Mortgage is also the top-ranked Inc. 5000 company in Hampton Roads this year.
Tan, a Navy veteran, primarily focuses on providing home loans to other former and current military members, a business model that’s helped solidify the firm as one that prioritizes clients above profits.
“I think [Tan] made a decision that this business was going to be truly for the client and for our business partners,” says Daniel Solis, vice president of sales. “I think that’s why a lot of people partner with us and work with us.”
Along with building its revenue, VA Wholesale Mortgage has invested in veteran-focused advocacy. The company received the U.S. Department of Labor’s Medallion Award in 2022 for its commitment to hiring veterans, as well as an invite from Gov. Glenn Youngkin to the ceremonial signing of a state law providing property tax exemption for disabled veterans, which the firm supported.
Ranked second highest among the region’s Inc. 5000 companies is Melone Hatley, a Virginia Beach-based family law firm that placed No. 575. It now has offices in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, Richmond and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Managing Partner Rebecca Melone decided to strike out on her own after a string of stints at companies she felt either didn’t truly listen to clients’ needs or overworked its attorneys. “If I fail, I fail. I’m going to try my own thing and see how this plays out,” Melone says, recalling her mindset when she started her own practice.
About 10 years later, the attempt has played out well: Melone Hatley has experienced a 1,032% growth rate in revenue over the past three years. A key to that success has been creating the kind of firm Melone couldn’t find when she was job hunting: one that prioritizes clients’ needs and provides professional development for attorneys.
“I feel like I’m getting to create the job that I used to look for,” Melone says.
Also in Virginia Beach, Born Primitive co-owners Bear Handlon and Mallory Riley opened their clothing company in a garage in 2014, producing and selling a pair of shorts geared toward Olympic weightlifting. Now, Born Primitive, which is ranked No. 1,931 on this year’s Inc. 5000 list, is launching two sister brands — a line of clothing for military members and first responders, and a line of outdoor apparel. It’s also making its first foray into performance footwear. The company marked a three-year growth rate of 291%.
“I think it comes down to committing to making really quality products, combined with strong brand ethos,” says Handlon, the company’s CEO. “When you have both, you build a really loyal following of customers that keep coming back.”
For Handlon, who’s also a veteran, that means maintaining a loyal fan base by branding his company as “unapologetically patriotic,” while also supporting several veteran-focused charities.
Born Primitive, VA Wholesale Mortgage and Melone Hatley are all first-timers on the Inc. 5000 list, along with six other local companies from a range of industries, including construction, insurance and government services.
Real estate development, property management and construction firm The Breeden Co., a mainstay in Hampton Roads, has appeared on the list the past two years, moving up 240 spots to No. 2,631 for 2023.
Breeden President and CEO Tim Faulkner says much of the 62-year-old company’s 205% growth rate can be ascribed to expanding its third-party construction and property management divisions.
A great business plan, Faulkner emphasizes, is built on great employees.
Breeden board chairman, founder and owner Ramon W. Breeden Jr. “believed in the team and invested in it,” Faulkner says. “Assembling the right team is the key to success.”
In July, the following Hampton Roads companies were named among the nation’s fastest growing companies based on verified annual revenues from the past three years, according to Inc. magazine. Read more about local Inc. 5000 winners.
By mid-August, construction workers had gotten up a big portion of the steel framework for the 28,000-square-foot, two-story building that will house EarthLink‘s customer support center at Project Intersection, a new business and industrial park in Norton.
Employees of the Atlanta-based high-speed internet service provider should be able to move into the building by March 2024, says Duane Miller, executive director of the LENOWISCO Planning District.
In late 2019, when EarthLink executives and Southwest Virginia officials began discussing building a customer support center for the company in the region, the project cost was projected to be $5.4 million.
“After COVID, the cost of the building is closer to $11 million,” Miller says.
EarthLink will lease the building from the Lonesome Pine Regional Industrial Facilities Authority, a multijurisdictional organization.
The company has operated out of a temporary facility in the Lonesome Pine Regional Business & Technology Park in Wise County since early 2022, according to Jonathan Belcher, executive director of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority.
So far, EarthLink has hired about 50 employees who take inbound sales calls and offer customer support, says EarthLink CEO Glenn Goad. He hopes to have hired 100 employees by the time the new building is ready; however, recruiting workers has been more challenging than expected. “The one thing I was surprised at is [the difficulty in] getting people to show up for interviews and/or jobs and stay in [those jobs],” says Goad.
Nevertheless, Goad, a Florida native who grew up witnessing the region’s strong work ethic firsthand during childhood visits to his father’s family in Wise County, feels confident EarthLink will be able to find the right employees given additional time. He predicts the call center will eventually house between 250 and 285 workers.
On June 30, EarthLink acquired Texas-based voice and data services provider One Ring Networks. Eventually, the Norton center will also house employees who offer support to those business customers, Goad says.
Before agreeing to the deal bringing a call center to Norton, EarthLink executives stressed the building would need to be completed within a 24-month period. That period ends in October.
Considering that the builders faced a steel shortage and supply chain hurdles, Miller is proud that the building will likely be ready by March, even though they missed the target by a few months.
MOST VALUED POSSESSION: My faith in Jesus. All else will be gone at some point.
HOW I UNWIND FROM WORK: Mowing the lawn or mowing pastures on our farm
HOW I BALANCE MY WORK AND PERSONAL LIFE: My work and personal life have always been intermingled and likewise with my faith. I struggle to turn it off but still try to give it balance.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Much knowledge can quickly be passed or lost between generations. It’s important to mentor and build the next generation up.
DID YOU KNOW? During the last year, Houff Corp. acquired 14 acres to grow its Doswell rail transload yard and expanded its Weyers Cave soybean transload facilities, as well as moved its ag fertilizer and crop protection business to a new location in Rockbridge County. Houff graduated from Virginia Tech in 1985 and joined the family business that year; he’s served as president since the 1990s. He serves on a number of boards, including the Virginia Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services and IDM Trucking, a Houff Corp. sister company run by his brothers.
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The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
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