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2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Clyde Clark Jr.

In addition to serving in ‘s middle market group, Clark is assistant treasurer of the Virginia Maritime Association board, board chair of the Urban League of Hampton Roads and past chair of the Chesapeake Economic Development Authority. Clark has worked in community banks for more than 30 years.

FIRST JOB: Bagger/cashier at Kroger in 1985

MOST MEANINGFUL JOB: I have essentially had the same job for the past 30 years in banking as a relationship manager in the commercial banking space. I have had the privilege to work for some large and small banking institutions and have enjoyed working at these companies over the years. I have enjoyed helping companies grow and achieve success.

WHY I CHOSE MY PROFESSION: My father was interested in banking when he finished school but ended up getting a job in education, as the climate was different back in the 1960s. He pushed me to get into the finance field and learn commercial banking.

MOST MEANINGFUL : Was awarded Father of the Year by my church, First Baptist Church on Bute Street in . I was honored to be recognized by my church for being a good father and setting an example for my two kids.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Persevere and not be afraid to take risks, and seek new opportunities for growth and to meet people. Always be open to learning.

TV SHOWS I’D RECOMMEND: “Your Honor” on Netflix for the action and suspense, and the “” series on Starz for the action and the drama

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Zenith Barrett

Since 2010, Barrett has worked in business and community engagement in western Virginia, both on the Western Virginia Development Board and at the regional Goodwill. In 2024, she became vice president of advancement, leading the ‘s philanthropy, government affairs and engagement activities.

FIRST JOB: I worked in my hometown for the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program as a counselor. It was designed to help youth obtain jobs, learn new skills, gain work experiences and other career readiness opportunities.

WHY I CHOSE MY PROFESSION: I’ve always been passionate about working in a field where I can make a positive impact on people’s lives. Working in a nonprofit is rewarding, as it provides me the opportunity to make an impact by addressing unmet needs, amplifying voices that often go unheard and working with others to make an impact.

PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Co-leading Melrose Plaza, a transformational project designed to address and reduce health disparities. This initiative provides fresh, affordable food, financial and educational services, and cultural resources. Being part of such an innovative project fills me with pride.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned in my career is the importance of aligning your work with your purpose. When you pursue roles and opportunities that reflect your passions and values, it doesn’t feel like work but walking in your purpose.

FAVORITE PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: My family and I took a cross-country road trip from Virginia to California, exploring various sites along the way. One of my favorite places was the Grand Canyon.

BOOK I RECENTLY ENJOYED: “Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Full Hearts,” by Brené Brown. The book truly empowers women to be courageous in our pursuit.

Trump-led DEI crackdown may leave glass ceilings intact

In the “Mad Men” era of the 1960s and 1970s, when my mother was climbing the corporate ladder at C&P Telephone, she was frequently the only woman at out-of-state national technical trainings for managers.

And from her recollection, if the men in the classes weren’t hitting on her, many were resentful or threatened by her presence and froze her out. She’d often eat meals alone while her male colleagues went out together.

Despite those uncomfortable (and unacceptable) challenges, she rose through the ranks, going on to become a respected regional and East Coast executive at AT&T.

By contrast, over my 30-plus-year career, many of my supervisors and mentors have been women, and it’s not something I ever really thought twice about.

Still, in the 2020s, we’re not that far removed from Don Draper’s world, and plenty of glass ceilings remain unbroken or barely cracked. And standing underneath those ceilings with a hammer can be a lonely place.

On the cover of this month’s issue, we feature our 2025 Virginia Business Hall of Fame honoree, Toni Townes-Whitley. As chief executive for Reston-based government contractor SAIC, she is one of just two Black women leading Fortune 500 companies.

As of early 2025, the majority of current Fortune 500 CEOs are white men; eight CEOs are Black and 52 are women.

Similarly, here in Virginia, our annual Virginia 500 list of the commonwealth’s top executives includes 46 Black leaders and 105 women. When you look at our annual Power 50 list, it is even more clear that white men still hold the top power positions at most of Virginia’s largest corporations, universities and other institutions.

All of this comes amid an ongoing and building backlash to corporate and government initiatives, exemplified by President Donald ‘s Day 1 executive order ending all federal DEI programs.

The 2020 Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd set off a season of corporate soul-searching and mea culpas that turned out to be short-lived.

From the second quarter of 2021 through the third quarter of 2024, references to DEI in quarterly earnings calls plummeted 82%, according to research from market intelligence firm AlphaSense. Major companies from Amazon and Walmart to and McDonald’s have walked back DEI initiatives. Some of this is in response to the real threat of potential “reverse discrimination” lawsuits following the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling against affirmative action in higher education.

And some of it may frankly be a realpolitik acknowledgment of which the way the political winds are blowing, not unlike the way Meta Chairman and CEO Mark announced in January he would eliminate fact-checking on Facebook, citing “a cultural tipping point.”

That’s not to say there can’t be reasonable grounds for discussion about and credentials. We’re still waiting for a report on the reasons behind Richmond’s four-day water outage in January, which prompted the city’s public utilities director, April Bingham, to resign. During the crisis, conservative news outlets (followed by mainstream media) brought up Bingham’s lack of engineering credentials.

Unlike her counterparts in neighboring localities, Bingham doesn’t have an engineering degree. There’s discussion among some Republican state senators to bring forward a bill to require such credentials, and the city’s new interim director is the state Department of Environmental Quality’s director of water, engineer Anthony “Scott” Morris.

But beyond raising questions about qualifications, some online commenters also made racist remarks. And some alleged that Bingham, a Black woman, was a “DEI hire,” saying she was chosen because of her race and gender — even though she came to Richmond with 20 years of public utilities experience, including overseeing a $33 million meter upgrade project.

This has always been a country fond of swinging between extremes. But we’re also stronger because of the sum of our parts. It seems there is room to find a commonsense, middle-ground solution around and fairness.

But I don’t expect to see it happen anytime soon.

 

StartVirginia: Heard Around Virginia – February 2025 edition

Crystal City venture capital firm America’s Frontier Fund is among the nation’s first
VC firms to secure approval for up to $175 million in matching capital under the Small Business Investment Company Critical Technology Initiative, a federal program aimed at boosting investment in tech areas vital to national security. This funding for 2-year-old AFF, whose backers include former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, is expected to double its capacity to support startups doing work in areas like advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and other technologies geared toward defense and national security. (DC Inno)

Arlington County-based Ask Sage, a generative AI platform for government and commercial sectors, announced in December 2024 that it raised $17 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by Sapphire Ventures, with participation from Mucker Capital. Ask Sage intends to use the funds to expand its generative AI offerings, accelerate growth and strategically expand its . The company’s platform is used by more than 30,000 Department of Defense service members and 14,000 government teams. (News release)

On Jan. 9, Bluesight, an Alexandria-based provider of inventory management, procurement and compliance solutions for health systems and hospital pharmacies, announced the acquisition of Baltimore-based compliance analytics platform provider Protenus for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening Bluesight’s drug diversion platform and adding patient privacy monitoring capabilities to better protect health care organizations. Robert W. Baird & Co. served as financial adviser to Protenus. Kirkland & Ellis served as legal counsel for Thoma Bravo and Bluesight and DLA Piper served as legal counsel for Protenus. (News release)

Qnovia, a Richmond pharmaceutical developing a smoking cessation medicine delivered via a proprietary inhaler, announced in December 2024 that it raised $16 million in Series B funding. The financing was led by Blue Ledge Capital, Evolution VC Partners, Vice Ventures and Gaingels. In October, Qnovia announced it had received investigational new drug clearance for its prescription nicotine inhaler from the Food and Drug Administration. Since its inception, Qnovia has raised $50 million to advance its inhaled drug delivery platform, the RespiRx. (News release)

Silent Push, a Reston cybersecurity startup, has raised $10 million to support its international expansion. Ten Eleven Ventures, a California-based venture capital firm, and New York financial services firm Stepstone Group LP co-led the Series A round. It brings the company’s total outside investment to $22 million since its founding in 2020 by CEO Ken Bagnall and CTO John Jensen. Silent Push emerged from stealth in June 2023 with a $10 million seed round. The startup, which counts half the Fortune 30 clients among its clients, produces software that scours the internet to map the infrastructure bad actors use to create ransomware attacks, helping to prevent the attacks from happening. (DC Inno)

PEOPLE

Thomas

Iron Path Capital, a private firm with dual headquarters in Charlottesville and Nashville, Tennessee, tapped Ian Thomas as managing director overseeing business development in December 2024. Thomas comes to Iron Path from Aliri Capital, a Richmond private equity firm focused on lower-middle-market industrial businesses. Thomas was a founding partner of Aliri, which launched in 2023. He is based in Richmond, according to his LinkedIn profile. (Richmond Inno)

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Shaun Buford

Buford joined radio giant in 2012 as director of sales, receiving the additional title of vice president in 2022. Before joining Audacy, he was sales manager for CBS/Viacom and New Jersey-based radio station WQXR. In April 2024, Buford and Audacy stepped in for the rescheduled Something in the Water and held a music festival on the Oceanfront.

MOST MEANINGFUL JOB: I think the most meaningful job I had was my first job in radio in Columbus, Georgia. I was able to learn, but mostly I was given the encouragement and somewhat the freedom to fail. There, I found a passion for helping business owners achieve their marketing goals; I wanted to be a resource to drive growth for as many businesses as I could.

MOST MEANINGFUL I’VE RECEIVED: It’s not an award per se but a gift from a sales team. On a 12-inch ruler, each member took an inch to write their name, and on the back, it reads, “The impact you have had on the lives of the people who inscribed this cannot be measured.” Not a plaque, but a heck of an honor.

PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT: While working in NYC, I had the chance to shepherd the local television rights for the Yankees (as a boy from the Bronx, still slightly goosebumped). I created and led a team that put together a multi-platform deal for a new automobile product launch that included radio, TV, out of home, transit and, in cooperation with the team, an in-stadium presence.

HOBBIES: I play blues and funk harmonica when I get home to blow off some steam for the day and pretend I am touring with Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker.

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Jennifer V. Montague

In 2023, Montague was named president and COO of , after serving as parent company NiSource’s senior vice president and chief customer officer. Her time in the industry goes back decades, having previously worked at BP and Commonwealth Edison. Montague also serves on boards for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, UNCF Richmond and the American Association of Blacks in Energy.

WHY I CHOSE MY PROFESSION: While at Stanford, I was an engineering intern at Amoco but didn’t love it. I told my mom and my mentor I wanted to drop engineering, focus on feminist studies and work in a bookstore. They suggested alternatives, and I double-majored in quantitative economics and feminist studies. My first job was sales of plastic chemicals, and I’ve been in energy ever since.

MOST MEANINGFUL : While vice president of communications and external affairs at our sister company, I won an Emmy for our outreach campaign focusing on NIPSCO’s transition from coal to add wind, solar and storage. We faced obstacles: pressure about climate-related messaging and a lack of campaign . I challenged the agency to include diverse voices, and I’m proud.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED: It’s important to get a mentor but also a sponsor. A mentor is someone you talk to and gives you advice, but a sponsor is someone who speaks on your behalf when you’re not in the room.

HOBBIES: Singing. I sing soprano in my church choir at First Baptist Church in Petersburg (the oldest African American church in the country). I sang in my church choir when I lived in London and when I lived in Chicago. It gives me such joy!

FOR THE RECORD: February 2025 edition

CENTRAL 

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based fusion company, plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion plant in Chesterfield County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Dec. 17, 2024. The project’s capital investment isn’t fully known yet, but Garrett Hart, Chesterfield’s director of economic development, said, “It will be in excess of $2.5 billion, I’m certain.” Dubbed ARC, the project is expected to be in operation in the early 2030s. Designed to run for 20 years or more, ARC will be located at the James River Industrial Center, a site owned by Dominion Energy. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Many Richmond restaurants and other businesses were forced to close or limit service in early January as they and most city residents struggled with a dayslong water outage that left much of the city without running water and affected Hanover and Henrico counties’ water pressure and sanitation. The city’s water treatment plant failure followed a brief power outage on Jan. 6, during a snowstorm; the outage then caused flood damage that led to filters and pumps going offline. The outage also caused the General Assembly to postpone the start of session from Jan. 8 to Jan. 13, an unprecedented event in modern memory. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Shamin Hotels, headquartered in Richmond, submitted a development plan to the city in December 2024 for a 12-story Marriott near West Broad Street and Arthur Ashe Boulevard. The project plan includes about 250 rooms, with restaurants on the ground floor and rooftop. The property was home to a Hardee’s restaurant from 1982 to 2022, and in 2023, Shamin bought the 1-acre parcel from Texas-based BJF Partners for almost $5 million. The hotel will have two brands in one building: 133 rooms under AC Hotels by Marriott and 120 rooms under Residence Inns. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Charlottesville engineer Justin Shimp filed a multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit in Albemarle County Circuit Court in December 2024 against two men who publicly attacked a now-aborted project to build a 245-unit apartment complex along the Rivanna River. Shimp, founder and principal of Shimp Engineering, alleged in the suit that James F. Groves, a University of Virginia engineering professor, and Henry H. Perritt Jr., a lawyer and retired engineer, libeled him when they accused him of misrepresenting his expertise, failing to disclose conflicts of interest and lying in public filings and forums. Perritt told The Daily Progress he planned to fight back. (The Daily Progress)

The University of Virginia and a Jewish Israeli student who sued the school over claims he was the victim of “virulent antisemitism” on the school’s grounds settled out of court, and a federal judge dismissed the case in December 2024. The second-year student, Matan Goldstein, filed a federal lawsuit against U.Va., its president and rector, and two pro-Palestinian organizations in May 2024. His suit claimed he was the victim of physical violence from antisemitic students and accused U.Va. President Jim Ryan and Rector Robert Hardie of ignoring the “violent hate-based, antisemitic hostile educational environment” on the university’s campus. Neither U.Va. nor counsel for Goldstein disclosed the settlement’s terms. (The Daily Progress)

PEOPLE

Kristen Cavallo, former CEO of Richmond-based advertising firm The Martin Agency and international marketing communications network MullenLowe Global, is the new executive director of The Branch Museum of Architecture and Design, the Richmond museum announced Jan. 8. The museum is also undergoing a rebranding to The Branch Museum of Design that will be unveiled this spring. Cavallo announced her retirement from MullenLowe to pursue political and social activism in March 2024. She became Martin’s first female CEO in December 2017 and was the 2023 Virginia Business Person of the Year. Cavallo succeeds Heather Ernst, who is moving out of Virginia to be closer to family. (News release; VirginiaBusiness.com)

EASTERN

Federal prosecutors charged Chesapeake Regional Medical Center with fraud for its alleged role in a former OB-GYN doctor’s practice of billing insurance companies for unnecessary medical procedures or ones he didn’t perform. A grand jury indictment claims Chesapeake Regional ignored signs for at least nine years that former employee Javaid Perwaiz was sterilizing women when it wasn’t needed and without the patients’ knowledge. Perwaiz, who is serving 59 years in prison, racked up $18.5 million worth of reimbursements to the hospital from government-funded insurance programs and private companies. The hospital said the claims were unfounded, calling the indictment an “excessive overreach.” (WHRO)

The International Longshoremen’s Association, the dockworkers’ union, and employers’ negotiation group the United States Maritime Alliance reached a tentative labor agreement Jan. 8, averting a strike that could have hammered the economy days before President Donald took office. After members of the ILA, including those at the Port of Virginia, went on a short strike in October 2024, the maritime alliance agreed to raise wages more than 60% over six years. In January, the two parties overcame their differences over a big sticking point in their talks: the introduction of automated cargo-moving machinery at the ports. (The New York Times)

The Tourism Foundation has supported and ensured the vitality of the city’s tourism and hospitality industry for more than two decades, but on Dec. 31, 2024, due to funding constraints, the foundation’s board paused its operations. Leaders foresaw the coming suspension about a year ago, as they felt the decline in financial backing and lack of funding, said Kurt Kraus, president and CEO of VisitNorfolk. The tourism foundation is the charitable arm of VisitNorfolk. (The Virginian-Pilot)

Pharrell Williams‘ Something in the Water festival got a bit of a break in January from City Council members, who agreed to give the Virginia Beach-born music and fashion maven more time to fulfill an overdue part of the festival’s contract with the city. Councilors voted 8-2 to indefinitely defer an earlier resolution that would have given SITW a five-day deadline to announce the April 26-27 festival’s lineup or be in default of its contract, potentially leading to its cancellation. Council members will be getting weekly updates from SITW staff to ensure festival planning remains on track. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Smithfield Foods announced in January it has filed a registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering. This is the first step toward the pork and packaged meats giant’s plan of selling common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol SFD. In November 2024, Smithfield’s parent company, China-based WH Group, announced it would take the Virginia subsidiary public early this year and would offer up to 20% of Smithfield’s stock shares. Smithfield recorded a net asset value of $5.38 billion as of Sept. 30, 2024, and its share offering is expected to be valued at $5.4 billion. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Former NFL star quarterback and Newport News native Michael Vick was named Norfolk State University‘s new head football coach in December 2024. A standout quarterback at Virginia Tech who played for the Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers, Vick has never worked as a coach before. Vick’s career was put on pause after the 2006 season due to his involvement in an illegal dogfighting ring, for which he spent 21 months in federal prison. In concert with animal-rights advocates, Vick worked to mend his image, and with the blessing of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the Eagles signed him in 2009. (The Virginian-Pilot)

NORTHERN

Booz Allen Hamilton, the McLean-based Fortune 500 global management consultant, agreed to pay a $15.875 million fine to the federal government to settle allegations that one of its subsidiaries violated the False Claims Act, the Department of Justice announced Jan. 3. According to the DOJ, two former program managers at Booz Allen Hamilton Engineering Services “knowingly engaged in a fraudulent course of conduct” with a civilian Air Force employee and a BES subcontractor from Ashburn-based QuantaDyn to win a General Services Administration task order to test military training simulators. Booz Allen said that it denies violating the False Claims Act, as “the conduct described in the settlement largely occurred before” ARINC, the company that became BES, was acquired by Booz Allen. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in January sued Capital One and its McLean holding company, Capital One Financial, alleging the companies cheated millions of consumers out of more than $2 billion in interest payments. The federal lawsuit centers on Capital One’s 360 Savings accounts and its 360 Performance Savings accounts, which the CFPB called “a two-tier system” to keep from paying higher interest to existing customers. Capital One denied the allegations and vowed to “vigorously defend ourselves in court.” (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Falls Church-based General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of Reston Fortune 100 defense contractor General Dynamics, won a $5.57 billion contract from the Air Force Mission Capabilities Office, it announced in December 2024. The contract, in which GDIT will modernize and operate the Department of Defense’s mission partner environment to allow the military and its partners to communicate securely in real time during field work, has a five-year base period
and a five-year option. Work will be performed in the Washington, D.C., area, as well as in Florida, Hawaii and the United Kingdom. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In December 2024, George Mason University hosted the grand opening of the Fuse building, a $254 million, 345,000-square-foot public-private project in Arlington County designed to bring academic labs focused on technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality together with office space for industry leaders to work alongside professors and students. The launch of Fuse is the latest in a $1 billion statewide effort to make Northern Virginia a type of Silicon Valley of the East Coast, in part by investing in higher education. (The Washington Post)

Reston-headquartered consulting and tech services provider ICF has acquired New York-based tech and advisory services company Applied Energy Group from Ameresco, it announced in early January. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Massachusetts-based energy efficiency and company Ameresco acquired AEG in 2011. ICF Chair and CEO John Wasson said in a statement that the purchase will provide growth in his company’s energy markets advisory and technology-enabled services. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Semiconductor company Micron Technology will invest up to $2.17 billion to expand its Manassas manufacturing facility, creating an expected 340 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in December 2024. Micron will modernize the plant to produce dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips for automotive, aerospace, defense and industrial markets. The company is set to receive up to $275 million in federal funding to expand its Manassas facility, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced, and Micron will move its manufacturing of DRAM chips for automobiles from Taiwan to Virginia. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

 ROANOKE/LYNCHBURG/NEW RIVER VALLEY

The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Agriculture at Virginia Tech enrolled more than 1,300 farms in the first year of a project that incentivizes agricultural producers in Arkansas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Virginia to adopt climate-smart practices. Funded by a $80 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the largest grant in Virginia Tech’s history, the three-year pilot program aims to enroll 4,500 producers, who will receive $100 an acre or animal unit to implement sustainable practices like no-till farming, prescribed grazing, and conservation crop rotation. (News release)

Applications closed in January for the Downtown Lynchburg Association‘s third Launch LYH program, which supports entrepreneurs who want to start a new business, relocate their business or expand their business to a Downtown Lynchburg storefront. Selected applicants will participate in an eight-week education course that begins in March. In May, they will pitch their ideas for a chance to win a grant worth at least $20,000. Previous winners include the operators of Super RadArcade Bar, where gamers can play classic arcade titles, and Hunny B’s, a baby and children’s boutique. (News release)

On Jan. 2, Friendship Retirement Community filed a lawsuit, which names Roanoke County and its commissioner of revenue as defendants. When purchasing Richfield Living in 2023, Friendship officials understood that the property would keep its tax-exempt status. Five weeks after the purchase, the county raised the property’s assessed value by more than 41%, according to Friendship. Friendship also learned that the Richfield Living property would no longer be considered tax-exempt, resulting in a 472% increase in Friendship’s annual taxes on Richfield Living, according to Friendship. County officials declined to comment. (The Roanoke Times)

On Dec. 16, 2024, HCA Virginia, through the HCA Foundation’s $75 million Healthier Tomorrow Fund, presented a $50,000 grant to the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education to expand Virginia Western Community College’s joint venture model, which allows the Roanoke community college to share its programs with other community colleges. For instance, through distance learning students at Northern Virginia Community College can enroll in VWCC’s radiation oncology program. The foundation’s Healthier Tomorrow Fund supports community needs and health . (News release)

Roanoke-based technology company Luna Innovations has lost its place on the Nasdaq stock exchange after months of delays in filing proper financial statements. Luna Innovations notified Nasdaq in December 2024 that the company didn’t expect to file any of its multiple delinquent financial reports by a March deadline, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission report. Nasdaq suspended the company on Jan. 7. Luna develops and markets fiber-optic sensing and monitoring devices for transportation, energy and other markets. The company, its former president and CEO and two other executives are identified in multiple lawsuits related to Luna and its financial statements. (Cardinal News)

Another lawsuit was filed Jan. 7 against Salem City Council and HopeTree Family Services, alleging that the council violated city code in approving HopeTree’s revised rezoning application. The lawsuit lists Carlos Hart Jr., who lives across from HopeTree, as the plaintiff. Hart was one of five citizens who filed lawsuits against the city council and HopeTree in July. HopeTree plans to sell 37 acres and some of its buildings to a developer, which would then be permitted under rezoning to build up to 340 residential units and some commercial businesses on the property. (The Roanoke Times)

SHENANDOAH VALLEY

Texas-based Buc-ee’s projects it will open its first travel center in Virginia — its 74,000-square-foot Rockingham County location — on June 30, although the opening date is not set in stone, Buc-ee’s Media Coordinator Crissy Gonzales noted in a December 2024 email. Located at the intersection of Interstate 81 and Friedens Church Road, the Mount Crawford center will have 120 fueling positions. Buc-ee’s broke ground on the Rockingham County gas station and convenience store on Jan. 30, 2024, after buying 21.3 acres for $6.6 million in September 2023. The company plans to open a New Kent County location in 2027 and has submitted a conditional use permit application to Stafford County. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Culpeper area real estate market saw a 3% increase in active listings in November 2024 compared with November 2023, according to a market report from Greater Piedmont Realtors. Pending sales for the region — Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison and Rappahannock counties — were up 6% as new housing construction activity continued to be strong. The region’s median sales price in November 2024 was $529,000, down 1% from November 2023. There were 325 active listings in the four counties in November 2024 (up 4% year-over-year) including 175 new listings (up 10%). (Culpeper Star-Exponent)

James Madison University received a $2.5 million gift for the new wing of Carrier Library, the Harrisonburg public university announced in November 2024. Alexandria residents Stan and Rosemary Jones provided the donation. A 1954 physics and math alumnus of what was then Madison College, Stan worked for McLean-based Mitre as an engineer for five decades, specializing in antennae design and development. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Delaware. Rosemary is a retired associate real estate broker. JMU began renovating and expanding the Carrier Library in summer 2023 and expects to reopen it for the fall 2026 semester. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

An Augusta County resident and former executive vice president with Nexus Services, Richard Moore, pleaded guilty in early January to defrauding the IRS out of nearly $3.2 million. Moore, age 47, pleaded guilty to two counts of tax fraud for failing to account for and pay over trust fund taxes in his appearance in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg. Authorities said he withheld the taxes from the pay of Nexus employees but didn’t give them to the federal government. Nexus provided bond securitization for immigrants held or released from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was headquartered in Verona before its campus was auctioned off in 2023. (News Leader)

A Publix grocery store is coming to the Ward Plaza mixed-use redevelopment project in Winchester, the city announced in early January. The 50,325-square-foot new building is expected to open sometime late next year and to create about 150 jobs. Ward Plaza was a shopping center located on 19.6 acres in the 2400 block of Valley Avenue that opened in 1964. Winchester Acquisition Partners, led by investor John Wesley Gray Jr. from McLean, bought the property for about $10 million in June 2023. Publix signed its lease with Winches-ter Acquisition Partners in December 2024. (The Winchester Star)

Woodstock Town Council unanimously approved in early January a rezoning on West Locust Street that clears the way for a new housing development. The 0.562-acre property is located at 106 W. Locust St., west of the Cassia Lodge. The developer, Axel Hopkins, said the exact number of units in the planned development hasn’t been finalized, but told the town’s planning commission that under the new zoning, the property could accommodate up to 16 units. The development will have two- bedroom, two-bath apartments sold at market rate. Specific site plans, including layout, had not been submitted as of early January. (The Northern Virginia Daily)

SOUTHERN

Averett University announced Dec. 11, 2024, that its board has appointed David Joyce as its 15th president. Tiffany Franks, who had served nearly 17 years as president of the Danville private university, retired Jan. 5. The leadership change came following months of headlines about the school’s financial woes and cost-saving measures. In November 2024, school officials cut five undergraduate majors as well as the criminal justice master’s degree and the symphonic band program. One staff position at Averett is expected to be cut in January 2026. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

On Jan. 7, Pittsylvania County Planning Commission members unanimously voted to recommend that the board of supervisors deny a rezoning request for a proposed $8.8 billion-plus data center campus and natural gas power plant. Balico, the Herndon firm developing the project, pulled an initial rezoning application for a larger data center campus and power plant in November 2024 after facing considerable public opposition. The scaled-back project reviewed Jan. 7 would be built on less than 750 acres and would include 12 spec data center buildings. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

An upcoming change at Goodyear Tire & Rubber in Danville — moving most of its tire production to other facilities — will result in what the company calls “staffing impacts.” The company confirmed in a statement to the Danville Register & Bee that it’s shifting tire production away from the Danville facility, but a timeline wasn’t disclosed. A spokesperson for the local plant and representatives with United Steelworkers Local 831, the union representing the Danville facility, did not immediately respond to questions. The facility has been billed as Danville’s largest employer. (Danville Register & Bee)

On Dec. 21, 2024, a federal jury in Abingdon found Dr. Joel Smithers, who previously practiced in Martinsville, guilty of 466 federal counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances. He was also found guilty of one count of maintaining a place for the purpose of illegally distributing controlled substances. Evidence presented at trial showed that Smithers, who opened an office in Martinsville in 2015, prescribed more than 500,000 Schedule II controlled substances, including oxycodone and fentanyl. Smithers had previously been found guilty of 859 counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances and sentenced to 40 years in prison, but those convictions were later vacated on appeal. He will be sentenced March 3. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

On Jan. 7, Sovah Health-Danville opened a renovated and expanded emergency department, which will serve about 36,000 to 40,000 patients a year. The facility includes more than 5,000 square feet of added space, eight more treatment rooms (from 26 to 34), three additional ambulance bays (for a total of five), an expanded waiting room and nursing stations and a designated physician dictation area. Other features include an expanded triage, renovation of all rooms and replacement of a radiology exam room. Construction started on the $20 million upgrade in November 2023. (Danville Register & Bee; news release).

PEOPLE

The Lester Group has appointed Dana Cowart president, the Martinsville-based building materials and real estate development company announced in December 2024. Cowart, who has a degree in business administration and management from the University of Washington, brings more than two decades of experience in the building supply sector. Previously, Cowart was vice president of acquisitions, vice president of sales and marketing, and filled other roles at TAL Building Centers, a Vancouver, Washington-based building supply company. Jay Dickens remains The Lester Group’s CEO. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

SOUTHWEST

Duchess Dairy Products, a Wythe County dairy, will invest $895,000 to add a production line of churned butter to its current line of bottled milk, the governor’s office announced mid-December 2024. The company makes about 7,000 gallons of milk weekly, and its milk is sold in grocery stores across Southern and Southwest Virginia. The dairy employs eight people and expects to create three to five jobs over a three-year timeline, said Duchess Dairy Products President Jim Huffard. Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved a $25,000 state agriculture grant for the project, which Wythe County and the town of Rural Retreat will match. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Health Wagon served 10,831 individual patients who made more than 28,700 visits to one of its clinics or mobile medical units last year, according to the Wise-based nonprofit health care provider’s 2024 service information released in early January. The Owens and Hill Dental Health Clinic reported a total of more than 3,600 patients, while the St. Mary’s Faith Pharmacy and Pharmacy Connect Program filled more than 900 prescriptions valued at $1.4 million and provided at no cost to patients since its July 2024 opening. Health Wagon founder Sister Bernadette Kenny died in early December 2024. (Bristol Herald Courier)

Abingdon-based K-VA-T Food Stores, operator of the Food City supermarket chain, has agreed to pay more than $8.4 million to the federal government to settle allegations under the False Claims Act (FCA) related to dispensing opioids and other controlled substances. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the agreement with K-VA-T Food Stores on Dec. 23, 2024. K-VA-T Food Stores noted in a statement that “the allegations focused primarily on circumstances from more than a decade ago. K-VA-T has continually disputed the validity of these allegations, and the settlement agreement clearly states there is no admission of liability by K-VA-T.” (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded Saltville-based Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems a $2.17 million grant, U.S. Rep Morgan Griffith, R-9th, announced in December 2024, to support the health care centers and services the partnership provides. Griffith previously announced a separate $2.17 million HHS grant to the community health care partnership in May 2024. Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems operates health care centers in Bristol, Virginia; Meadowview; Saltville; and Tazewell; as well as a dental clinic in Saltville and a pharmacy in Bristol. (Bristol Herald Courier)

In the Virginia Port Authority‘s December 2024 report to the General Assembly on a possible inland port in Southwest Virginia, the authority said it continues to refine its site design in light of “significant” costs associated with grading the terrain to accommodate rail operations at a potential site. Officials are considering the 400-acre Oak Park Center for Business and Industry in Washington County as a potential location. The authority was expected to include an official on the project’s cost in its September 2024 report but now expects that opinion to come by Sept. 1, 2025, after the project has been 60% designed and an economic study on the port’s impact is completed. (Cardinal News)

PEOPLE

Melissa L. Roberts is the new executive director of the Birthplace of Country Music, the Bristol, Virginia, nonprofit’s board of directors announced mid-December 2024. Roberts was most recently executive director of Appalachian Promise Alliance, based in Bristol, Tennessee. Before that, she was executive director of Symphony of the Mountains in Kingsport, Tennessee. Roberts holds a master’s degree in nonprofit administration from Louisiana State University. The Birthplace of Country Music is the parent organization of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, the annual Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion music festival and WBCM Radio Bristol. Roberts replaces Paula Hurt, who now serves as director of finance and administration at Friends of Southwest Virginia. (News release; Bristol Herald Courier)

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Michael Elliott

In 2022, Elliott was named System’s first chief operating officer, and moved to Richmond from Lynchburg, where he was chief transformation officer at Centra Health. He also worked for Sentara Health and earned a doctorate in pharmacy and master’s in health administration at . In 2024, he was elected chair of the Virginia Hospital & Association board.

MY MOST MEANINGFUL JOB: My first job as a pharmacy technician in an independent pharmacy in Portsmouth. This job fulfilled my longing for the personal part of as well as the science. It was here that I got to know the people we were serving.

WHY I CHOSE MY PROFESSION: My maternal grandmother had just had quadruple bypass surgery on her heart, and my family went to visit her. She was clutching a heart pillow and had lots of tubes connected to her. I wanted to know everything about every tube and the heart pillow. I keep that desire for knowledge to this day.

MOST MEANINGFUL : One of the most meaningful honors I’ve had is to be the keynote graduation speaker at my alma mater, the VCU School of Pharmacy. It was miraculous for me to get into the VCU School of Pharmacy in the first place, but then to have had a blessed career worth of being selected as the graduation speaker still brings me to tears today.

TV SHOW I’D RECOMMEND: My youngest son, Evan, is 15 and likes anime. He recently asked me to watch a show called “Black Clover” with him. If you are like me, when your teenager wants to spend time with you, you do it.

2025 Virginia Black Business Leaders Awards: Roberta Tinch

Tinch has been a hospital leader for more than 15 years, including at HCA Johnston Willis Hospital in Richmond and HCA Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, and has been recognized for her volunteer work by the March of Dimes. In 2023, Tinch was named one of Modern ‘s Top 25 Emerging Leaders. She joined in 2019.

FIRST JOB: I was an usher for the entertainment department at Kings Dominion.

WHOSE FOOTSTEPS I’M FOLLOWING: My mother has worked in the industry as a nurse for over 40 years. Her daily stories about patients and co-workers intrigued me, and I fell in love with the hospital as a child.

HOW I GIVE BACK: I serve on several community and statewide boards to advance and advise the work of their organizations. I love to volunteer at community food banks. Another passion is to mentor students and early career administrators with my graduate program, as well as my professional organization. I set aside time to do career planning, resume review and interview preparation.

PROUDEST PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: On the evening of the Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting mass casualty event, I was the incident commander. I led my organization through the emergency scenario while maintaining normal operations. We received multiple patients and had zero mortalities. This was a defining moment as it taught me the importance of staying calm under pressure and when to empower others to lead.

HOBBIES: I learned Western style horseback riding in 2012, and I find it to be relaxing.

Va.’s first onshore wind farm sells power to Google

Even as political winds shift in Washington, D.C., a long-delayed farm in might finally be sailing to completion.

Charlottesville-based announced in December 2024 that it has reached a deal for Google to purchase the full capacity of Wind, a the Charlottesville company has been working to develop in Botetourt since 2015. Google aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.

Virginia’s first wind farm being developed on land, Rocky Forge calls for 13 turbines, each 643 feet tall, to be erected atop North Mountain outside the rural town of Eagle Rock. Collectively, the turbines will generate about 79 megawatts of , which Google will use to support its data centers in Virginia, according to Apex.

The new administration, which is not expected to be friendly toward , is not expected to affect development of the Rocky Forge project.

“On the administration side of things, no federal policy change would impact this project,” Brian O’Shea, director of public engagement for Apex Clean , said in November 2024.

The project has faced stiff headwinds since it was first unveiled. Legal challenges, permitting problems, design changes and the impacts of the pandemic have all combined to delay construction of the turbines.

In 2019, Dominion Energy struck a deal to purchase Rocky Forge’s power and resell it to Virginia state government to help meet its goal of sourcing at least 30% of electricity for state agencies from sources. However, that contract expired and wasn’t renewed.

The project regained momentum in September 2024 when the Virginia Court of Appeals rejected a legal challenge by upholding a circuit court ruling that had approved the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s permit for Apex. Two other lawsuits against the project were dismissed by a circuit court judge in early 2024.

Construction on the project is now set to start in 2025, with electricity expected to begin generating by late 2026, according to O’Shea. Rocky Forge is the second partnership for Apex and Google. In 2023, the two companies announced a power purchase agreement for the energy generated by Apex’s Timbermill Wind project in Chowan County, North Carolina.

Rocky Forge is slated to create up to 250 jobs during construction and should deliver about $30 million in state and local tax revenue over the wind farm’s lifetime, according to Apex.