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U.Va. hits $4B in capital campaign

The has hit its $4 billion benchmark in its $5 billion capital campaign three years ahead of its deadline, the university announced this week.

U.Va. has brought in significant individual during the fundraising campaign, including a record-breaking $120 million gift from alumni Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff in 2019, which is going toward the new School of Data Science, as well as major donations benefiting the U.Va. Medical Center, the McIntire School of Commerce, a new performing arts center and establishment of the Karsh Institute of Democracy.

Honor the Future was launched publicly in 2019, and the university has set a goal of raising $5 billion by 2025. One area in which it has already impacted students and faculty is the matching program to create endowed scholarships and professorships. U.Va. has generated $990 million in gifts and matching funds, assisting nearly 480 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as creating 120 endowed professorships. Princeton Review named U.Va. as the nation’s top public university for financial aid in 2022, for the second year in a row.

“I am deeply grateful for the generosity of our alumni, parents and friends,” Jim Ryan said in a statement. “Their gifts of all sizes are inspirational — they show a confidence in U.Va.’s current and future opportunities to improve lives, not just in our community, but around the world.”

89 acres near Richmond airport sells for $4.78M

New York-based real estate company Ashley Capital has purchased 89 acres of land near International Airport in for $4.78 million, Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer announced April 27.

The land, at 7001 S. Laburnum Ave., had been owned by Pruitt Properties Inc. The new owner will use the land for a new speculative industrial development, according to Thalhimer.

Evan Magrill of Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer handled sale negotiations on behalf of Ashley Capital. David M. Smith and Graham Stoneburner, also with Thalhimer, represented Pruitt Properties.

 

AIA’s top Va. exec moves to national role

Corey Clayborne, who has served as executive vice and of the since 2017, is moving up to the national organization.

Clayborne will serve as senior vice president of knowledge and practice at the AIA’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. His last day with AIA Virginia is June 17, according to a news release.

“AIA Virginia has been extremely blessed to have benefited from Corey’s leadership and vision,” AIA Virginia board President Robert Easter said in a statement. “We wish him great success in this new position of professional leadership.”

Clayborne earned his degree in from Virginia Tech and spent 13 years in practice before taking the helm at AIA Virginia in 2017. He received the state organization’s for Distinguished Achievement in 2016 and the AIA’s Young Award in 2017. In 2020, he was elevated to the AIA’s College of Fellows, its highest honor, for his efforts to create a more diverse and sustainable leadership pipeline to the profession.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to work alongside a dedicated and dynamic staff team to equip and position architects around the globe with the resources to lead in the fight against the climate crisis while maintaining a commitment to shaping healthy equitable communities,” Clayborne said of his new position.

Clayborne launched the Blueprint for Better Communities dinner series to promote relationship building between architects and leaders.

A search committee is being formed to fill Clayborne’s vacancy.

 

Execs honored by Va. Credit Union League

UVA Community and CEO Alison DeTuncq was presented with the , the Virginia Credit Union League’s highest honor, during the league’s 2022 annual meeting in Roanoke on April 21.

The Kirsch , which recognizes individuals who help improve the future for , is named in honor of the late James P. “Jimmy” Kirsch, a longtime credit union volunteer who served in leadership roles at the state, national and international levels.

DeTuncq plans to retire this year after 32 years with the credit union, including 23 years as its president and CEO.

“The success of her own credit union and the tremendous impact it’s had on the greater community is a testament to Alison’s leadership, her commitment to innovation and service excellence, and her dedication to credit unions’ ‘people helping people’ philosophy,” said Virginia Credit Union League President and CEO Carrie Hunt. “Her service to the credit union industry speaks to her selflessness and the passion she has for credit unions. We proudly honor Alison for a remarkable career as a leader and as a champion for our industry.”

is among the largest credit unions headquartered in the state. Serving more than 72,000 members across 25 counties and cities, it has assets of more than $1.4 billion.

“I’ve really loved working for a financial institution that embraces its social mission and which believes the needs of its members must always be the priority,” DeTuncq said in a statement. “It’s such a wonderful group of peers managing Virginia’s credit unions as well. I feel fortunate to have made lifelong friends within the credit union system.”

DeTuncq has served various volunteer roles with the Virginia Credit Union League. She also served on the board of directors for the Mid-Atlantic Corporate Federal Credit Union and was the the first chairman of the board of VIZO Financial Corporate Credit Union following the merger of Mid-Atlantic and First Carolina corporate credit unions in 2016.

She is a member of the board of directors for the Piedmont Virginia Community College Foundation and the Shenandoah National Park Trust.

Patsy Smith (right), recently retired CEO of Petersburg-based , has been recognized by the commonwealth’s credit unions with the Eugene H. Farley Jr. Award of Excellence. Presenting the award is Virginia Credit Union League President and CEO Carrie Hunt.

In addition, the credit union league  also honored Patsy Smith, who retired last year as CEO of Petersburg-based Peoples Advantage Federal Credit Union, with the Eugene H. Farley Jr. Award of Excellence.

The Farley award recognizes a credit union professional or volunteer for their contributions to an individual credit union or to the industry. It is named in honor of the late Eugene H. “Gene” Farley Jr., who led the league and served Virginia’s credit unions for more than 40 years until his retirement in 1999.

Smith became CEO of Peoples Advantage in 2014, following its merger with Peoples Advantage and Resources Credit Union, a -area institution that Smith had led since 2007.

“Patsy exemplifies true leadership,” Hunt said. “She has a gift for identifying a need and marshalling the people and resources necessary to meet that need. She has spent the past 15 years helping those around her succeed and we’re proud to honor her work, leadership and vision.”

Smith has served on the credit union league board and helped form its Virginia Sister of the Global Women’s Leadership Network.

“Throughout my career, I always looked for ways to empower and motivate other credit union professionals to reach their full potential and grow their careers,”  Smith said. “Networking groups such as the Virginia Sister Society provided a forum to learn from colleagues and other professionals. No matter where I was in my career, I never stopped learning and listening. It was one of my keys to success.”

Frederick solar farms move forward

is on the verge of seeing its first power farms. Three facilities are in the works, with another in the pipeline. That’s not to say Virginia’s northernmost county is exactly embracing fields of solar panels.

“Solar farms change the character of the land from rolling fields and animals grazing in pastures to a sea of glass panels and glare,” says J. Douglas McCarthy, vice chairman of the Frederick County Board of Supervisors.

The loss of valuable farmland is always concerning, he says. However, solar is less intrusive than housing, which changes the landscape forever. “Theoretically, the land used for solar panels could be reversed back to farmland,” he says.

Until recently, the county saw little economic value in solar farms, McCarthy says. However, solar companies now offset their developments’ impacts by offering incentives such as revenue sharing or upfront fees.

Boulder, Colorado-based Torch Clean Energy’s Bartonsville Energy Facility, which received a conditional-use permit in January, will make a one-time $750,000 payment to the county within 30 days of construction. It plans to build a 40- to 60-megawatt facility on a maximum of 430 acres.

Hollow Road Solar, a subsidiary of Leesburg-based Blue Ridge Energy Holdings LLC, requested a permit to build an 83-acre, 20-megawatt on a 326-acre parcel, but the county denied it in March 2021. However, this January, Hollow Road won approval on its second attempt by placing land (now primarily used for orchards) into a conservation easement and eliminating the transfer of development rights, essentially preventing residential development on the parcel, McCarthy says.

Also on the books is Stevensville, Maryland-based Foxglove Solar LLC’s 75-megawatt facility on 668 acres, for which the county approved a conditional-use permit in July 2020, as well as Pittsburgh-based Redbud Run Solar LLC’s approximately 263-acre facility, which the county approved in April.

Proposals take about three years to move through county and state approvals. 

“There is no definite timeline on any of them getting started or finished, but they are working to get plan approvals now,” says Karen Vacchio, spokesperson for Frederick County.

However, don’t expect to see many more solar farms in Frederick, McCarthy says. The “gold rush for solar” is largely over, since the prime areas where those operations can feed into transmission lines have been taken. 

Setting a course

Each week, MDV SpartanNash LLC, the nation’s leading supplier for overseas U.S. military commissaries and exchanges, loads 100 to 200 containers filled with everything from peanut butter to clothing aboard steamships bound for Europe, Africa, Bahrain, Kuwait and Honduras, as well as Puerto Rico and Guantanamo Bay.

“In places like Guantanamo Bay and Bahrain, there’s nowhere else to shop,” says Sharon Fleener, MDV’s director of export services and regulations. “There are no Walmarts over there. If we don’t ship it to them, they don’t get it.”

Headquartered in Norfolk, MDV is among a multitude of companies impacted by disruptions in the global . Logjams triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic have plagued production and distribution of products and created mayhem for ports, railroads and truckers. While some experts say the worst is over, others believe disruptions will continue through 2022.

An economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City told The New York Times in March that demand-driven increases in shipping costs are expected to worsen in coming months, adding that shipping rates usually take 12 to 18 months to fully impact consumer prices.

Fleener began noticing issues last summer when ships coming from Europe were delayed up to four weeks. By fall, containers and intermodal chassis were at a premium, and a nationwide shortage of truck drivers added to the bottlenecks. “It was a huge myriad of things,” she says. “We’ve had to watch very closely to make sure we have enough power and truck drivers because we can’t stop the shipments.”

MDV has advised commissaries and exchanges to anticipate delays and plan accordingly. “If we start to see items go into short supply, we have the military order additional supplies so they will have a surplus,” Fleener adds. The also ensures that MDV has enough shipping containers. “We are No. 1 on the priority list because it’s for the military.”

Containers headed to Europe and Africa are shipped through the , while cargo bound for Puerto Rico and Guantanamo Bay goes through the Port of Jacksonville in Florida. “We’ve not had any bumps at the ports,” Fleener says, adding that the Port of Virginia has been especially supportive. “They make sure all customers are taken care of and we have what we need.”

Some shipments from Europe were delayed as much as four weeks last summer, says Sharon Fleener, who directs export services for Norfolk-based MDV SpartanNash, the nation's top supplier of U.S. military commissaries and exchanges. Fleener photo by Mark Rhodes;
Some shipments from Europe were delayed as much as four weeks last summer, says Sharon Fleener, who directs export services for Norfolk-based MDV SpartanNash, the nation’s top supplier of U.S. military commissaries and exchanges. Photo by Mark Rhodes

Praise like that confirms the Virginia Port Authority’s investments at Norfolk International and Virginia International Gateway, its two primary container terminals, have paid off, says Stephen Edwards, the authority’s and executive director. While global supply chain challenges and the resulting backlogs overwhelmed other ports, particularly those on the West Coast, the Port of Virginia grew 25% in volume during 2021 and posted its most productive year on record. “We outperformed just about all other ports,” Edwards adds. “Our investments delivered a modern port, and we continue to invest and modernize.”

The port, the third largest on the East Coast, has invested more than $800 million in upgrades at Norfolk International Terminals and Virginia International Gateway. VIG underwent an 800-foot expansion, and automated stacking cranes were purchased for both terminals, ensuring the port does not have to run extra shifts, especially when ships are late.

“The cranes allow us to be agile,” Edwards explains. “We can adjust load planning and yard management and don’t have to take our labor force and put them on reworking yard capacity. It keeps everything in rhythm.”

NIT’s central railyard is undergoing an $80 million expansion to accommodate 610,000 annual container lifts. Completion is set for late 2023. Also on tap is an expansion of NIT North, which would increase the port’s overall capacity by 20%.

Meanwhile, dredging of the port’s channels to 55 feet — making it the deepest port on the East Coast and able to accommodate the biggest modern container ships — will be completed in 2024. “It will allow the biggest ships to come in full to their weight limits and two-way traffic in the channels,” says Edwards. “It’s like going from a one-way to a two-way highway.”

Aside from modernization and expansion, Edwards says, the port’s stability and success are a reflection of its “Virginia Model” operating plan in which the VPA owns and operates the terminals and manages the chassis fleet. “We’re not working in a competing environment,” he says. “We have one conductor — our chief operating officer — who decides what is best to keep the port moving. That allows us to work with our labor force and make smart decisions.”

By contrast, the nation’s largest ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, have two operators, two port authorities and multiple other providers — all competing for business. The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports have experienced significant backlogs over the past year, with more than 75 vessels waiting offshore to be unloaded at one point last fall. The Port of Virginia, meanwhile, has remained less affected by such congestion.

“We’re the fastest growing import-and-export port,” Edwards adds. “We give exporters a clear window of when they can deliver cargo and quickly load the cargo and get the containers back into port without losing a lot of time.”

Logistical issues

Some cargo lines are refusing export cargo because it's quicker and more profitable to send empty containers back overseas to be filled, says Holly Pearce, a global logistics executive for battery manufacturer C&D Trojan. photo by Matthew R.O. Brown
Some cargo lines are refusing export cargo because it’s quicker and more profitable to send empty containers back overseas to be filled, says Holly Pearce, a global executive for battery manufacturer C&D Trojan. Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown

Holly Pearce can attest to the challenges of exporting goods in a world hampered by the pandemic. She leads global logistics for battery manufacturer C&D Technologies Inc.’s Trojan Battery Co. subsidiary, which has five North American plants and global subsidiaries, serving customers in more than 110 countries. “Before the pandemic, I had always been able to secure space on vessels,” she says. “Now, sometimes steamship lines have said ‘no,’ even when we offer a higher rate to export our product. That’s unprecedented.”

Pearce, who’s based in , explains that steamship lines often prefer to send empty containers back overseas rather than wait for exporters to fill them. “The steamship line loses out on about seven days with me loading the container, so it’s more profitable for them to send empty containers overseas and get additional revenue when they are filled and returned to the U.S,” she says, noting that imported containers command 10 times the revenue of exported cargo. “It’s very frustrating.”

C&D Trojan is paying premium rates to ship its products overseas, and those increases are being passed along to its customers.  “At first there was definite pushback,” Pearce acknowledges, “but as time passed and the situation was not improving, it got to the point where customers were willing to work with us on creative solutions and bear the costs.”

Port congestion and slowdowns increase frustrations. “We’ve had to identify alternatives,” she says. “On the East Coast, we use the Port of Virginia and the Port of Charleston, which have more space and less wait time than the Port of Savannah. On the West Coast, we go through Montreal instead of Los Angeles.” C&D moves its freight on trucks from California to Montreal, and then its cargo is loaded on container ships bound for European ports, Pearce says.

Domestically, C&D Trojan also has had to deal with the nationwide truck driver shortage. Pearce recalls a supplier calling to complain that a driver left without picking up his cargo after receiving a better offer from another supplier. “Demand is so significant [that] it allows drivers to be more picky,” she says, “so we’ve had to put contracts in place for our protection.”

The Turman Group, a family-owned forestry products company in Carroll County, is dealing with similar obstacles. Earlier this year, the company was able to ship only about 50% of its orders. “Steamship lines are manipulating the earliest return dates when containers can be delivered back to the port to maximize the amount of imports they can ship,” says Ryan Turman, the company’s director of business development. “The ports are doing the best they can, but it has been devastating to exporters and owner-operator truckers.”

Turman is not optimistic that things will improve in the short term.

“As demand stands today, there's no end in sight to the congestion,” says Ryan Turman with The Turman Group, a forestry products exporter in Carroll County. Photo by Earl Neikirk
“As demand stands today, there’s no end in sight to the congestion,” says Ryan Turman with The Turman Group, a forestry products exporter in Carroll County. Photo by Earl Neikirk

“As demand stands today, there’s no end in sight to the congestion,” he says. “If the economy goes south, then it’ll be easier to get through the ports, but there will be less demand for exports. It really is a double-edged sword.”

A way out

Last year, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership announced a yearlong program to help companies manage their supply chains more efficiently. “The supply chain optimization program will help Virginia businesses find new markets and help companies that import intermediary products to turn them around to export,” says David White, executive director of the Virginia .

In the face of supply chain uncertainties,
many businesses have increased their inventories, leading to lack of storage space. “Hampton Roads is running out of warehousing and distribution space to meet all of the demand,” White says. “It’s at nearly 100%, and there’s little additional space to bring in more product.”

There is also a workforce issue. “We initially lost a lot of out of warehousing and distribution due to COVID,” White adds. “Facilities don’t have enough people to move product out one door and bring other products in the other door.” Firms are increasing wages to attract workers, but White says new employees are coming onboard during unprecedented consumer demand. “Companies are already facing backlogs, so there will be additional time before we start to see things easing.”

Jeffrey Smith, however, believes things are already improving. Smith, who is the information systems and supply chain management chair for Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Business, says he thinks the U.S. is past the worst of its supply chain woes.

“We’re definitely on the upswing in terms of having everything we need. The COVID effect is largely going away,” he says. “We definitely will see much more regularity as we move into summertime and get to the point where COVID is not as viral, and supply chains won’t be as impacted by people not working.”

Nevertheless, Smith counters his optimism with the reality of the cascading impacts of Russia’s March invasion of Ukraine.

“Now, we’re watching for the geopolitical effect, and countries issuing sanctions against Russia,” he says. The conflict has led to a surge in oil and wheat prices, while jeopardizing the supply of aluminum, platinum and other products. Russia and Ukraine are also key suppliers of components used to produce semiconductor chips, which have already been in short supply, leading to disruptions for tech companies, automakers and appliance manufacturers.

There’s a silver lining to the pandemic-era supply chain woes though, Smith adds: “It’s pushed companies and countries to really think about their supply chains instead of taking them for granted. Companies will look to tradeoffs in terms of costs, time, flexibility and risk assessments.”

Turning on a dime

Though many American consumers may not think about it much, trucks move just about everything they buy, use, eat, drink and wear.

The U.S. industry hauled 72.5% of all freight transported nationwide in 2019, according to the Arlington-based American Trucking Associations.

Why should anybody care? Because the ranks of truckers are shrinking: Last year, the nationwide shortage of truckers was estimated to be 80,000, up from 60,800 in 2018 and 50,700 in 2017.

The shortage could more than double by 2030, the ATA projects. Part of the problem is due to the high average age of truckers and an increasing number of retirements. Other factors include a shortage of women truck drivers, just 7% of all 3.36 million U.S. commercial truck drivers; the inability of some candidates to pass a drug test, complicated by the growing legalization of marijuana; and a federal law prohibiting truckers younger than 21 years old from crossing state lines.

“This is our No. 1 issue,” says Dale Bennett, and of the -based Virginia Trucking , who puts Virginia’s trucker shortage somewhere between 1,800 and 2,000 drivers. “We had a shortage of drivers before the pandemic hit,” he notes, adding that once COVID-19 arrived, “it just exacerbated it.”

On the national level, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 passed by Congress includes a nationwide pilot program — the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Program — to train truckers under the age of 21 to cross state lines, which could provide some relief, Bennett says.

But to help turn the situation around on the state level, the Virginia Trucking Association partnered in January with the (VA Ready), a nonprofit that is marshaling the training power of the state’s 23 community colleges to “reskill” Virginians for in-demand jobs through a series of credentialing programs.

“There’s been a lot of demand and interest from the community as the shortages and the issues have really struck America,” says Taylor Beck, partnerships manager with VA Ready, which was started in summer 2020 by future Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his wife, Suzanne, now the first lady of Virginia. That demand and interest is “what sparked VA Ready to reach out to the Virginia Trucking Association,” Beck adds.

Initially founded to aid companies harmed by the pandemic, VA Ready has since identified three industries to focus on: technology, health care and manufacturing/skilled trades, a category that includes truck drivers. VA Ready’s more than 20 business partners include Dominion Energy Inc., Huntington Ingalls Industries and Sentara Healthcare.

Since January, when the trucking association began partnering with VA Ready on the initiative, 188 candidates have enrolled in the commercial driver’s license program. 

VA Ready first launched its own version of the CDL reskilling program in August 2020. Since then, a total of 963 have enrolled in CDL classes with VA Ready’s help, with 393 earning their certification and CDL. Of those who successfully completed the course, 197, or 50.1%, are now employed.

Students who complete the course successfully are eligible to receive a $1,000 award from VA Ready. Depending on which community college one attends, it can take 6 to 12 weeks to complete a certificate course and earn a CDL.

Bennett says those enrolling in the partnership’s program with VA Ready are in their mid-30s on average, suggesting to him that they’re people who initially couldn’t get jobs in interstate trucking but are now it another shot.

The trucking association has eight of its member companies participating, including Chesapeake-based Service Transfer Inc., one of the biggest trucking firms in Hampton Roads.

“There’s a great need for more port truckers; there’s a severe shortage,” says Ray Jalkio, Service Transfer’s vice president of sales and also president of the Tidewater Motor Truck Association, which has 60 member companies, most of which haul containers to and from the Port of Virginia.

“We want to add drivers to our fleet,” Jalkio says. “Our hope is that through our sponsorship of the program, we’ll benefit.”  

Port of Virginia

In fiscal 2021, the set cargo records, generating more than $100.1 billion in ancillary economic impact, according to a report from William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business in conjunction with Glen Allen-based Mangum Economics. The six-terminal system generated 436,667 jobs, $47.4 billion in Virginia gross state product, $27.2 billion in labor income and $2.7 billion in state and local taxes and fees. Meanwhile, the port finished infrastructure projects at its Norfolk , and its dredging project to become the East Coast’s deepest port by 2024 has stayed on track. Illustrations by Doug Fuchs. 

Rainmaker-in-chief 

On Aug. 29, 2005, Jason El Koubi’s first day as research and policy director for Louisiana’s Baton Rouge regional chamber of commerce, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the state, resetting El Koubi’s and the state’s trajectory. It was a fast lesson in crisis management, but also one in economic transformation.

That job was among his first since returning to the U.S. after earning his master’s from The London School of Economics and Political Science. El Koubi was one of the first hires at the newly formed Baton Rouge Area Chamber, which was then headed by Stephen Moret, whom El Koubi had met at Louisiana State University when he was a student and Moret was assistant to the school’s chancellor.

After Moret became Louisiana’s secretary of in 2008, he tapped El Koubi as an assistant secretary. And then in 2017, when Moret was named the ‘s president and CEO, Moret recruited El Koubi to join him in Virginia, hiring El Koubi as ‘s executive vice president.

During Moret’s well-regarded tenure at VEDP’s helm, Virginia landed Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion-plus HQ2 East Coast head- quarters and secured back-to-back wins as CNBC’s Top State for Business.

Moret departed VEDP at the end of 2021 to become president and CEO of Indianapolis-based Strada Education Network. And in March, VEDP’s board of directors chose El Koubi, who had been serving as VEDP’s interim leader, to succeed Moret as the state economic development agency’s next president and CEO.

Since joining VEDP, El Koubi, 43, has orchestrated major initiatives, including the development and implementation of VEDP’s Strategic Plan for Economic Development of the Commonwealth. He’s also been a key player in securing major deals, including Amazon’s HQ2, the $714 million Blue Star NBR LLC medical glove plant in Wythe County, CoStar Group Inc.’s $460 million expansion and CMA CGM Group’s $36 million expansion in Norfolk.

One of the biggest economic development issues El Koubi has worked on is addressing Virginia’s shortage of large, ready-to-build industrial sites needed for the commonwealth to be competitive in attracting major projects.

El Koubi says he chose to work in economic development because he “feels a very strong calling towards service” and enjoys finding opportunities and solving problems that add value to communities and help advance .

“I believe collaboration and communication are important,” he says, “not only because economic development is a team sport, but also because strong, collaborative approaches and relationships tend to produce solutions that are more effective and have greater potential for enduring impact.”

As VEDP’s leader, he says, “I get to advance opportunities that are intrinsically important and work with a wide variety of other people who want to contribute to the growth and prosperity of their state and communities and it’s a tremendously enriching experience.”

Virginia Business spoke with El Koubi in March, days after he was named VEDP’s president and CEO.

Virginia Business: Why did you choose to follow Stephen Moret to Virginia after working with him in Louisiana? What did you see in the commonwealth that drew you here?
Jason El Koubi: Some of the things I really value in Stephen, in our professional relationship — it all starts with his great integrity, his intelligence, his collaboration with a wide range of partners, his orientation towards problem solving and pursuing a big, worthy vision for the communities he’s trying to serve. Those are all things that I really value and try to emulate as a leader for Virginia.

Virginia is just such a special place and, as an American, I am attracted to Virginia because it’s such a big part of the story of the country that I love. On a personal level, Virginia is a beautiful state with four mild seasons, great access to the ocean and to the mountains and a wide range of cultural communities and the nation’s capital. It’s just a wonderful place to live and work and explore. My wife, Allison, and I have just fallen in love with Virginia over the last five years and think of it as our adopted home.

VB: Some would call you Stephen Moret’s protégé or his heir apparent. How will your approach to running VEDP be similar or different than his?
El Koubi: There are many qualities that Stephen embodies that as a leader that I would aspire to emulate: his integrity, his character, his collaboration with partners across the commonwealth in a steadfast commitment to advance the transformational goals of the Strategic Plan For Economic Development of the Commonwealth, positioning Virginia as a leader for job growth and growth in median earned income [and] doing that in a way where every region of Virginia participates in that prosperity. Those are all things that I’m very committed to and look to continue. The charge that I have been given by VEDP’s board is to stay the course and accelerate Virginia’s economic trajectory.

While we’ve made a lot of progress over the past few years, there’s a lot more work to do. I’m excited to work with Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration and the leaders in the General Assembly as well as with partners across the commonwealth to accelerate Virginia’s economic growth and to fulfill the potential of generating growth and prosperity in every region of Virginia.

VB: Virginia was ranked CNBC’s Top State for Business for the second time in a row last year. How do you see VEDP’s role in continuing to keep Virginia on top of rankings like that?
El Koubi: Virginia has made some significant progress towards securing a top position in state business climate rankings, and while we are at the top or near the top in some, there are certainly others where we have much more room to grow.

There are a number of things we need to do to secure a top position across the board. Those things broadly fall into three categories: The first is our actual economic performance as measured by recent historical performance, as well as expectations of future performance. Virginia is lagging somewhat in its economic recovery from the pandemic and needs to accelerate, and that will be an important factor.

The VEDP’s goal and Virginia’s goal of being an economic growth leader is an essential part of what it will take to position the commonwealth at the top of the state business climate rankings.

Secondly, a big part of what the rankings measure is the business climate, which is largely a reflection of the policy and programmatic choices we make, so it’s very important to maintain and strengthen Virginia as a pro-business location.

Finally, Virginia’s reputation as a location for businesses is also a significant factor in many of the rankings, particularly those that are based on surveys of site selection consultants and corporate executives.

A big part of what we need to do there is make sure that we are marketing Virginia’s strengths as a business location for existing businesses and for new businesses to business decision-makers, and this is an area where there’s a lot of room for improvement. Virginia does not invest as much in economic development marketing as many of our peer states or competitors, and we need to really focus on this opportunity to tell our story and to articulate Virginia’s value proposition to business decision-makers across the country and around the world.

VB: Which industries have the most growth potential in Virginia?
El Koubi: We take a portfolio approach with 14 different target industry sectors that we are trying to cultivate at the state level. It’s important to have a portfolio approach because we’re trying to generate outcomes that not only position the state overall for economic success, but we also want to ensure that each region of Virginia is able to participate in the growth of the . When you look at that group of targeted niche industry sectors … it includes some areas of traditional strength in Virginia — things like data centers, things like software, things like supply chain management, food and beverage processing, advanced materials. It also includes emerging sectors like offshore wind, life sciences, aerospace and cybersecurity. It is a portfolio that is designed to ensure that we achieve strong growth overall as a state, but also that we do it in a way where each region of Virginia can participate in that progress.

When you look at those target sectors, there are some that are critically important. The tech sector in general, think about software development. Think about cybersecurity. Think about data centers, tech centers. The tech … sector generally will be a strong sector with a strong engine of job growth for Virginia. My aspiration is that we not only see strong growth in that sector, and the large markets that have traditionally seen growth, including Northern Virginia, but that we see the tech sector growth spread across other regions of Virginia going forward.

I will also say that for small metros and for rural regions, it’s going to be very important that we maintain our focus and have success in the manufacturing sector. For many regions, manufacturing represents a majority of the jobs that get announced, in terms of economic development projects and in some cases, manufacturing represents the strong majority of announced direct jobs. So those are two sectors that I would put particular emphasis on.

During his tenure at VEDP, which he joined in 2017, El Koubi has been a key player in securing major deals such as Amazon.com Inc.'s $2.5 billion-plus HQ2 in Arlington and the $714 million Blue Star NBR medical glove manufacturing operation in Wythe County. Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown
During his tenure at VEDP, which he joined in 2017, El Koubi has been a key player in securing major deals such as Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion-plus HQ2 in Arlington and the $714 million Blue Star NBR medical glove manufacturing operation in Wythe County. Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown

VB: What is it like to work with a governor who has a background as a CEO in private industry, like Gov. Youngkin?
El Koubi: It has been a tremendous pleasure to work with Gov. Youngkin and his team. He has made economic growth and economic development a top priority in terms of the time he’s willing to spend to personally engage and helping Virginia businesses grow and helping to recruit new business to Virginia. He is a tremendous asset, and we’re already hearing that affirmed by the site consultants and the business executives that have interacted with the governor on competitive economic development projects. His sophistication, his deep experience [and] his relationships all make him tremendously effective and helpful in Virginia’s economic development progress.

VB: What was your role in bringing Amazon’s HQ2 to Virginia?
El Koubi: I was part of a small leadership team at VEDP that oversaw the Amazon HQ2 project on behalf of the commonwealth from start to finish. We’ve worked collaboratively with many other important partners at the local, regional and state levels. I was involved in almost all aspects of the project, but the place where I contributed the most sort of direct leadership was in working with transportation partners to design and develop and deliver the nearly $300 million investment in public transportation improvements. That became a core part of the overall package that secured the project here in Virginia.

VB: How has the pandemic changed economic development, and do you think it will have a long-term impact?
El Koubi: In general, the pandemic has accelerated a number of trends that are already underway, and the impacts of the pandemic are likely to be seen in that respect permanently.

One is the acceleration of the sort of digitalization of our economy with a pronounced shift towards online activity, including e-commerce, and that’s showing up not just in the tech space, but also in warehousing and distribution. So that’s very significant. The shift towards telework among many professions, I think, particularly towards hybrid work now that we’re coming out of [the pandemic], is likely to stay, at least to some extent.

The move towards greater resiliency in supply chains has created quite a wave of manufacturing investment that is generating a lot of economic development project activity.

The final thing is, and I don’t know if it’s just directly a result of the pandemic or just coincidental, but we’ve seen a pronounced increase in the scale of many projects, particularly in the advanced manufacturing space over the last couple of years, and we have seen a much greater frequency of mega projects — those that represent more than 1,000 direct jobs, more than a billion dollars in capital investment. We’re seeing that from a range of sectors, including electric vehicles, including semiconductors, including battery manufacturing and other advanced manufacturing enterprises.

VB: Workers are increasingly becoming unable to find affordable housing near where they work, particularly in Northern Virginia. How does this play into the equation as Virginia is working to attract and retain businesses?
El Koubi: Affordable housing has become a major challenge for most successful large metros, including Northern Virginia, but I would also say that the availability of affordable housing is a challenge that we are seeing in markets across America and certainly in other parts of Virginia. It’s clear that partnerships between the economic development community and in the housing community are going to become more important in the coming years to ensure that our communities and our state can manage growth appropriately and maintain a competitive cost of living for Virginia citizens.

VB: VEDP developed the Virginia International Plan in 2019, with a goal of increasing Virginia exports by 50% by 2035. How is that being implemented?
El Koubi: VEDP’s team helps more than 300 Virginia businesses sell their goods and services to international markets around the world. Every single year, those activities help Virginia businesses generate more than $600 million in new international sales. They help support more than 6,000 trade-supported jobs across the commonwealth, and the Virginia businesses that use those programs are overwhelmingly positive about their experience. Nearly 100% of those businesses that use the programs say that the programs are of high quality and that they would recommend Virginia’s international trade programs to other businesses.

There’s only one problem and that is that those international trade programs are highly oversubscribed.  In order to open these valuable resources to more Virginia companies, a steering committee was established to develop a comprehensive international trade plan for Virginia. The committee included private and public sector representatives and important stakeholders — including the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia Agribusiness Council and the Virginia Manufacturers . We worked with our agency partners at the , the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Tourism Corp. and the Virginia Department of Forestry to ensure the plan represented all sectors of Virginia’s economy and the organizations that serve those sectors. The resulting International Trade Strategic Plan for Virginia provides a blueprint for expanding Virginia’s export promotion services, VEDP’s international trade programs, as well as makes recommendations for other initiatives that would expand Virginia exports and that would ultimately enhance the trade intensity of Virginia’s economy.

VEDP’s international trade team is leading the implementation of the plan and has executed several important initiatives in the last year, including launching a brand-new program focused on assisting companies in managing their international supply chains. The team is also regularly meeting with the partner organizations who helped to develop the plan. This work is guided by the Virginia Advisory Committee on International Trade, a 10-member body made up of private and public sector leaders who advise VEDP and the commonwealth on trade matters and how they impact our economy.

We’re pleased with the progress being made and hope that, with full funding for the plan, we can serve several hundred more Virginia companies each year with our services, leading to more exports for those firms and even greater trade-driven job growth for Virginia’s economy.

VB: What can the Virginia business community expect with you at the helm of VEDP?
El Koubi: I aspire to be a collaborative partner … someone who’s a champion for their success and a partner in advancing the commonwealth and its communities together.

Forward motion

Shenandoah is known for apple blossoms, but something else is popping up this spring in : a new 340,000-square-foot warehouse center.

About a half-mile from the , the center is one of roughly a dozen projects in the region built by Equus Capital Partners Ltd., a agency based in the Philadelphia area.

It offers further evidence that when the took a gamble and opened a rail-linked intermodal container facility in Front Royal 33 years ago, it was onto something. “We’re a huge believer in the inland port and a big fan of the region,” says Dan DiLella Jr., senior vice at Equus.

In the years after the inland port opened, surrounding land was gobbled up for development, eventually pushing some big users of the facility — among them, Home Depot, Geodis, Rubbermaid and Mercury Paper Inc. — to Equus-built properties in the nearby Winchester area, 10 to 20 miles away, DiLella adds.

The company’s new facility, known as the Virginia Inland Port Logistics Center, sits just down the street from the port’s terminal. As of early March, at least three potential tenants were interested, DiLella notes.

The Port of Virginia earned pioneer status of sorts when it opened the Virginia Inland Port in March 1989 in Front Royal, about 70 miles west of Washington, D.C. The idea was to set up a cargo hub just a stone’s throw from Interstates 66 and 81, linked by rail to the port’s ocean about 220 miles to the south.

It worked.

Virginia was able to divert cargo from Baltimore, as officials had hoped, and surpass it as a container port. In 2010, the port resorted to the same playbook when it leased the aging Port of on the west side of the James River just south of the city, next to Interstate 95.

The Virginia Port Authority eventually poured $24 million in state, federal and its own funds into what is now known as Richmond Marine Terminal, where a river barge service hauls containers to and from Hampton Roads on three round-trip sailings a week along the James.

At a time when clogged ports worldwide have generated headlines, both of Virginia’s inland-port facilities have served as safety nets for the port’s big container facilities in Portsmouth and Norfolk, helping to maintain fluidity as cargo volume grows.

Improvements in Richmond, such as an expanded, modernized gate complex, are nearly complete, while $26 million in upgrades planned since 2018 in Front Royal are still in the pipeline.

The two inland ports’ container volumes last year — 31,282 in Front Royal and 40,058 in Richmond — amounted to just a small fraction of the port’s overall volume of nearly 2 million containers, though Port spokesman Joe Harris says it’s a critical fraction because of the role the ports play in keeping container volume in Hampton Roads moving.

In January 2022, a study of the port’s fiscal year 2021 economic impact by William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business found that the contributions from Front Royal and Richmond dipped slightly from those reported in a fiscal year 2018 study.

“The big story here is crisis,” says W&M international business and marketing professor K. Scott Swan, who conducted the study, adding that a shortage of containers created because of scores of marooned ships, especially off the West Coast, created a frenzy to get freshly emptied boxes on their way back to ships without delay.

The inland ports’ economic value “goes far beyond just moving containers,” Swan’s study notes, highlighting value-added purchases, labor income and employment among their contributions.

Late last year, the state announced that Montreal-based Nature’s Touch Frozen Foods LLC, a global supplier of frozen fruit, was expanding in Front Royal, building a 126,000-square-foot facility across the street from its current smaller location. It’s expected to open in early 2023.

Though its existing operation sits virtually next door to the inland port, Nature’s Touch has not been a customer because of special refrigeration needs unavailable there.

“We’ve had limited success using the inland port today,” says John Tentomas, president and owner of Nature’s Touch. His company’s decision to expand there, however, was made with the understanding that the situation will change soon. “We expect to be using it,” Tentomas adds.

Nature’s Touch’s new complex is being built by Harrisonburg-based InterChange Group Inc., a third-party logistics provider with extensive warehouse operations in Virginia.

“Larger companies are using the inland port,” says InterChange President Devon Anders, citing a difference between companies moving five containers a month and those moving 100.

At Front Royal, companies experience something unusual, he adds: “Getting in and out of the inland port is absolutely wonderful. … Their turn times are so quick,” Anders says, referring to the total time it takes trucks to load and unload at the terminal.

The soon-to-open Equus facility will be in the same neighborhood as Nature’s Touch, Anders notes. “They wouldn’t be doing that if they didn’t think there was a market there.”