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AUBREY L. LAYNE JR.

Aubrey Layne joined ‘s C-suite in 2021, bringing a heavy-hitting résumé with public and private sector experience. Under Gov. Ralph Northam, Layne was secretary of finance, overseeing the state’s approximately $140 billion biennial budget. Under Gov. Terry McAuliffe, Layne was secretary of transportation and chaired the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Layne also is chair of the Virginia Port Authority’s Board of Commissioners, a duty he assumed in 2021 that will conclude in June 2026.

At Sentara, his responsibilities span legislative affairs, real estate, , supply chain, security, compliance, internal audit and privacy for the 34,000-employee health system.

He is also a member of the TowneBank corporate board and a member of An Achievable Dream’s endowment board. A native of , Layne was named King Neptune in 2012, First Citizen of in 2014 and was recognized at the 2019 Junior Achievement – Hampton Roads Business Hall of Fame.

Layne graduated from the University of Richmond, earning his MBA from . In 2024, Layne received UR’s Spider Athletics Alumni Achievement Award. He was a member of the university’s baseball team before graduating in 1979.

JOHN R. LAWSON II

Construction is in John R. Lawson II’s blood. His late father co-founded W.M. Jordan; Lawson joined the company as a field engineer in 1975, after graduating from with a degree in geophysics. He has since served on Tech’s board of visitors and as rector. Lawson also helped fund the university’s Myers-Lawson School of and serves on its industry executive board. In 2017, he received the university’s highest honor, the William H. Ruffner Medal, which recognizes those who have performed notable and distinguished service to Virginia Tech.

Lawson became president and CEO of W.M. Jordan in 1985, leading the company’s growth into one of the largest construction managers in Virginia, with $725 million in fiscal 2024 revenue. He transitioned to executive chairman in 2018, after the company played key roles in the Historic Cavalier Hotel and Beach Club’s restoration and construction of the Hilton Norfolk The Main hotel, among many other projects.

In addition to his service as a Hokie, Lawson is active in his local community. He serves on Christopher Newport University’s board of visitors, TowneBank’s Peninsula regional board, the Alliance’s board of directors and the Peninsula Airport Commission.

WILLIAM B. ‘BILL’ HOLTZMAN

Bill Holtzman came close to spending his career in the apple industry. After earning a degree in horticulture from , the Shenandoah County native attended Cornell University for a master’s degree in pomology, the science of growing fruit. For more than a decade, he worked for Turkey Knob Orchards in .

Instead, Holtzman purchased Nelson Co. in 1972. According to the company’s history, he had $5,000 in cash and borrowed $37,000 from First Virginia Bank, using his Thunderbird as collateral. He continued working at the orchard for months while getting off the ground at night and on the weekends.

Today’s Holtzman Corp. supplies gas and diesel to more than 150 stations and commercial pump facilities throughout the , Northern Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland. The company includes divisions in industries ranging from propane to bagged ice distribution.

Holtzman is equally known for his civic engagement, and in July 2024, the town of Mount Jackson declared July 9 “Bill Holtzman Day.” Among his numerous community efforts, Holtzman has served on the Shenandoah County School Board, the Mount Jackson Town Council and as a past president of the Mount Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

Holtzman sat from 2010 to 2014 on the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin appointed him to the board again in 2023. The Holtzman Alumni Center at Virginia Tech is named in his honor.

DANIEL A. HOFFLER

One of the region’s real estate giants, Daniel Hoffler founded in 1979. Partnering with Divaris Real Estate, the real estate company launched Town Center in 2000. Hoffler was named “Outstanding Citizen of Hampton Roads” in 1987.

Today, his company develops, builds, acquires and manages office, and properties, and after going public in 2013, Armada Hoffler is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Hoffler, who served on the University of Virginia’s board of visitors and chaired the Hampton Roads Partnership, retired as Armada Hoffler’s executive chairman in 2024.

However, he’s still active with the company’s strategic operations, as it has expanded to seven states. As of March 31, Armada Hoffler had an estimated $80.4 million third-party contract backlog, and it reported $708 million in revenue in 2024.

Hoffler also was on the corporate board of Shaw Group, a Fortune 500 pipe and steel fabrication company, as well as serving on the state’s racing commission and advisory groups for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia Department of Transportation.

THOMAS R. FRANTZ

Thomas Frantz has repeatedly received accolades from peer lawyers. He is among a small group of attorneys who have made Virginia Business’ Elite list for all 25 years it has run.

Frantz holds three degrees from : a bachelor’s in accounting, a degree and a master’s in law and taxation. He served on the university’s board of visitors from 2011 to 2019 and is a past board member of William & Mary’s Mason School of Business. He’s also a certified public accountant and served as a U.S. Army captain.

Frantz has spent 50-plus years in law, starting at Clark & Stant, where he was an original principal. In 1999, Clark & Stant merged with , which Frantz led as president and CEO from 2010 to 2015. He specializes in corporate and tax law, advising and representing corporations and handling mergers and acquisitions.

Frantz is heavily involved in the community. A former King Neptune, he chairs the GO Virginia Region 5 Regional Council and serves on the board of the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable, which supports the GO Virginia Region 5 program. Additionally, he is co-chair of RVA757 Connects, an economic booster group promoting cooperation between the Richmond and Hampton Roads regions.

Among other honors, Frantz has received Volunteer Hampton Roads’ Lenora Mathews Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his legacy of community service. In 2022, the Hampton Roads Chamber honored him with the First Citizen of Hampton Roads Award.

GERALD S. DIVARIS

A native of South Africa, Gerald Divaris co-founded his real estate firm, Divaris Real Estate, more than five decades ago in his home country, where he earned degrees in accounting and real estate marketing from the University of Cape Town. In 1981, he brought the business to Virginia.

The real estate company is now under the umbrella, of which Divaris is also the founder and CEO, along with Divaris Property Management, Creative Development Partners, The McGarey Group, S.T. Burke Partners, Ingenuity Development and KLNB Asset Services.

Headquartered in , Divaris Group has offices in , Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke, as well as North Carolina, California and Washington, D.C. The firm manages or leases more than 40 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space nationwide, and it’s continued to grow. Last year, the company purchased S.T. Burke in Philadelphia, and in March, the Virginia Beach Town Center, a property Divaris and started building in 2000, was officially 99% occupied.

Gerald Divaris has long been considered one of the region’s most influential people, reflected by his inclusion on regional business lists and other honors. In 2024, Divaris was inducted into the Hampton Roads Business Hall of Fame.

BENJAMIN J. ‘BEN’ DAVENPORT JR.

Ben has followed in the footsteps of his father, who founded Davenport in 1941.

With seven regional offices, Davenport Energy employs 175 people and supplies propane, and other petroleum products to more than 30,000 customers throughout Southern, Southwest and Central Virginia and North Carolina. The company also supplies gasoline and diesel fuel to more than 300 convenience stores.

Back in the late 1960s, Davenport went on a sales call to Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Danville. The purchasing agent complained that Goodyear was no longer allowed to take waste to the landfill.

“And I said, ‘Oh, I can handle it,’” Davenport recalls in a video about the origins of First Piedmont Corp., the waste management and recycling business he started because of that meeting. Davenport is also chairman of that company, which runs a 250-acre industrial landfill in Pittsylvania County.

A longtime force in the community, Davenport sits on numerous boards including Hargrave Military Academy, the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research and the Virginia Growth and Opportunity Board.

With his wife, Betty, Davenport donated $1 million to the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education in 2016 to bolster training for early childhood educators.

A 1960 graduate of Hargrave, Davenport earned a business degree at and served in the U.S. Coast Guard.

He is a past rector for Virginia Tech. In 2016, the university awarded him the William H. Ruffner Medal, which recognizes individuals who have performed notable and distinguished service to the university.

WILLIAM G. ‘BILL’ CRUTCHFIELD JR.

A lifelong entrepreneur and self-described “electronics nerd,” was only 13 when he built what he believes to be the first stereo system in Virginia. By age 15, he formed his first business, installing hi-fi stereo equipment in homes throughout .

The Vietnam War interrupted Crutchfield’s business venture; he joined the U.S. Air Force, where he commanded a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile crew, retiring as a captain.

Nevertheless, Crutchfield retained his entrepreneurial spirit. In 1974, while restoring old Porsche 356s, he saw an untapped niche for installing car stereos and founded a mail-order car stereo business in his mother’s basement. Today, sells everything from televisions to drones, with about $400 million in sales and approximately 600 employees. It’s never had employee layoffs. In 2024, the General Assembly passed a joint resolution commending Crutchfield on the 50th anniversary of his company.

“Start and manage a business in the old-fashioned way by bootstrapping during its early years, being extremely frugal and avoiding unnecessary debt,” Crutchfield advises entrepreneurs.

No stranger to public service, Crutchfield currently serves on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates. A University of Virginia graduate, he has lectured at several U.Va. schools and served on its board of visitors. Currently, he sits on the UVA Health System board.

Crutchfield is a member of the (now Consumer Technology) Hall of Fame, one of his numerous honors. At the invitation of Samsung, he was a torchbearer for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

RAMON W. BREEDEN JR.

Ramon Breeden Jr. has spent more than 60 years shaping Virginia’s real estate landscape. He founded his -based real estate development company, The , in 1961 and continued as its CEO and president well into his 80s. He guided the company from its beginnings in single-family home to becoming a leader in and development, landing on the nation’s top 500 builders list within 15 years.

During his career, he developed, owned or managed more than 20,000 apartments, 1,700 single-family homes, and over 2 million square feet of and office space across the state. He was also a founding board member of Commerce Bank in

Virginia Beach, which was later acquired by BB&T, and served on numerous advisory boards.

Although Breeden retired as president and CEO in 2022, handing over the reins to Timothy Faulkner, he continues to play an active role in the company as its founder and chairman. In April, the company announced completion of the $43 million construction of a 198-unit multifamily community in Norfolk.

Beyond business, Breeden has been very active in his community, supporting educational foundations, military alliances and animal rescue organizations. He’s often served as a guest speaker for student panels and classroom discussions at the University of Virginia, particularly the McIntire School of Commerce, where he earned his bachelor’s degree.

To celebrate Breeden’s legacy, Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer proclaimed Aug. 9, 2022, as Day.

JANE BATTEN

At 19 years old, married Frank Batten, who later became chairman and CEO of Landmark Communications and co-founder of The Weather Channel, which he sold to NBC Universal and other partners in 2008. For decades, the couple was known for their philanthropic work, a legacy Jane Batten has continued following her husband’s death in 2009.

Many of the family’s major gifts have been to colleges and universities across the state, including Hollins University, the University of Virginia, , , and . In 2024, Batten donated $100 million to establish the William & Mary Batten School of Coastal and Marine Sciences, billed as the largest-ever individual donation for marine research.

VWU has been a special cause for Batten over the years, as she started serving on its board in 1981 and in 1995 became its first female chair, while supporting the private university financially through the decades. Earlier this year, the university announced it would rename itself in 2026 in recognition of the Batten family’s generosity.

Batten also provided one of two lead gifts to relocate the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art from the Virginia Beach Oceanfront to VWU’s campus, with the new location slated to open in early 2026.