DEAN AND MARKEL FAMILIES MEN’S HEAD BASKETBALL COACH, VIRGINIA CAVALIERS MEN’S BASKETBALL, CHARLOTTESVILLE
The University of Virginia men’s basketball team fell victim to a positive COVID-19 test in March, forcing it to withdraw from the ACC Tournament — a “gut punch,” Bennett called it.
The team was cleared in time to play in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, where in 2019, Bennett had led the Cavaliers to the championship. In the unusual pandemic-era season, though, U.Va. earned a fourth seed but lost to Ohio University.
Bennett, a former backup point guard with the Charlotte Hornets, is one of only four former NBA players who have been the head coach for NCAA championship teams. He arrived at U.Va. in 2009, and he’s become a valued university asset, popular, respected and winning, with a record of 295-103 over his 12 seasons. He’s been named NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year three times, twice with the Cavaliers, and nine of his players have been selected in the NBA draft.
In 2019, Bennett turned down a raise, asking university officials to instead focus on more pay for staff and program improvements, the university reported. At the same time, he and his wife, Laurel, pledged $500,000 toward a career development program for current and former U.Va. men’s basketball players.
Bickmeier
DENNIS J. BICKMEIER
PRESIDENT, RICHMOND RACEWAY, RICHMOND
Bickmeier is entering his 10th year as president of Richmond Raceway, where roaring engines were replaced with idling ones earlier this year, when the complex’s acres of parking and exhibition space became a COVID-19 vaccination site. But Richmond Raceway will be back to full capacity for NASCAR Playoff Race Weekend Sept. 10-11, during the track’s 75th anniversary season.
The NASCAR-owned raceway is a key tourism draw, and Bickmeier is treasurer for Richmond Region Tourism. He also serves on the Henrico Police Athletic League board and teaches sports marketing as an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University.
BEST ADVICE:Never stop asking questions. The desire to learn and keep learning every day will continue to pay dividends personally and professionally.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME:He’s a tactician. He studies things like a coach and then prepares and executes against a plan.
FIRST JOB:In high school, I worked for our town’s parks and recreation department in Bellaire, Ohio. We did everything from cutting grass at the parks to lining fields for games to operating sports leagues for the citizens. That helped spark my interest in sports management.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Alexander Hamilton,” by Ron Chernow
Bywater
BRIDGETTE BYWATER
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, KINGS DOMINION/CEDAR FAIR LP, DOSWELL
You could say that theme parks are in Bywater’s blood. After all, her parents met in 1973 while working as ride operators at the Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri.
In January, Bywater took over as Kings Dominion’s vice president and general manager from Tony Johnson, who began his career there in 1974.
Bywater comes to the amusement park at a pivotal time. Due to the pandemic, Kings Dominion was closed last year for the first summer in its 45-plus-year history. In May, she reopened the amusement park, raising the minimum pay for seasonal employees from $9.25 to $13 per hour. Bywater announced in August that the park will debut a new jungle-themed, 112-foot-high spinning roller coaster, Tumbili, in 2022.
A native of Kansas City, Bywater received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Truman State University. Since beginning her amusement park career at Worlds of Fun in 1992, she’s held numerous leadership positions for Ohio-based Cedar Fair LP, which purchased Kings Dominion in 2006. She sits on the board of Richmond Region Tourism.
Capshaw
CORAN CAPSHAW
OWNER, RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT, MUSICTODAY, RIVERBEND DEVELOPMENT, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Capshaw has come a long way since owning the now-defunct Charlottesville bar Trax. In 1992, Capshaw gave the Dave Matthews Band its first weekly gig at the bar and then became the band’s manager, seeing it rise to international fame.
As the founder and owner of Red Light Management, he now provides management services for more than 300 touring and recording artists via a roster of more than 70 managers. Red Light’s client list includes Dave Matthews Band, Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, Enrique Iglesias, Dierks Bentley, Odesza, Chris Stapleton, Lady A, Alabama Shakes and Phish.
The music mogul also founded entertainment marketing company Musictoday and has been involved with Bonnaroo, South by Southwest, Outside Lands, ATO Records, TBD Records and Starr Hill Presents. These efforts have landed Capshaw on Billboard magazine’s “Power 100” list.
He also has been heavily involved in real estate development in Charlottesville, including the building of the Downtown Pavilion, now the Ting Pavilion, and renovating The Jefferson Theater on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. He also owns many area restaurants.
Edmunds
ANDY EDMUNDS
DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA FILM OFFICE, RICHMOND
An accomplished musician and songwriter, Edmunds broke into the film industry through an unlikely method: by producing a music video for one of his songs that was broadcast on MTV.
That experience introduced the Virginia native to the film production industry. He worked as a film location scout before arriving at the Virginia Film Office in 1997. Since then, Edmunds has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Ridley Scott and Terrence Malick.
Even amid the pandemic, Virginia served as a shooting location for movies and TV shows. Recent projects have included the indie flick “Tapawingo,” the Lifetime film “Dirty Little Deeds,” the Hulu limited series “Dopesick,” the AMC series “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” and the Apple TV+ sports drama series “Swagger.” According to a media release from Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball, the latter three projects generated $120 million for Virginia’s economy over a nine-month period.
Edmunds serves on the board of the Virginia Film Festival and has five children, including two adopted sons from Ghana.
JUSTIN FUENTE
HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, VIRGINIA TECH, BLACKSBURG
Taking over the Hokies football program from the legendary Frank Beamer – Virginia Tech’s head coach for nearly 30 years – would be a daunting task for anybody, but Oklahoma native Fuente seemed up to the challenge.
Taking the reins in 2016, Fuente, a former Murray State University quarterback and Walter Payton Award finalist, started strong, bringing the Hokies to three consecutive bowl game wins for the first time in the program’s history and being named 2016 ACC Coach of the Year.
Though Fuente and Tech agreed in 2017 to a contract extension through 2023, recent events led some to question whether his tenure would last that long. Last season, the Hokies went 5-6; in the five seasons Fuente has been coach, Virginia Tech holds a 43-32 record. Following a four-game losing streak last fall, some speculated that Fuente might be let go, according to ESPN. Last December, however, athletic director Whit Babcock said Fuente would return for a sixth season.
Lembke
KEVIN LEMBKE
PRESIDENT, BUSCH GARDENS WILLIAMSBURG AND WATER COUNTRY USA, WILLIAMSBURG
Lembke’s career in theme parks began in 2000 at SeaWorld Orlando. After spending 2004 through 2013 at SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment’s corporate offices, where he focused on retail product development and retail operations, Lembke came to Busch Gardens Williamsburg in 2013 as its vice president of merchandise.
Lembke transferred to Busch Gardens Tampa in 2016, then returned in 2018 to serve as president of Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA. He left Busch Gardens briefly in 2019 to pursue other career opportunities but came back the same year.
During the pandemic, Lembke was one of the most vocal opponents of the state government’s 1,000-person mandated attendance limit on theme parks, saying it wasn’t financially feasible. Alongside other major venue operators, Lembke served on a task force that worked with state officials to develop COVID-19 protocols for large venues. A graduate of the University at Buffalo, Lembke oversees more than
4,000 full- and part-time employees during peak tourism season and serves on the board of the Williamsburg Tourism Council.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Buffalo Bills
FAVORITE SONG: “No Hard Feelings,” by The Avett Brothers
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Add a pro sports franchise.
Neil
ERIK H. NEIL
DIRECTOR AND CEO, CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART, NORFOLK
Having previously served as the director of the Academy Art Museum in Maryland and executive director of The Heckscher Museum of Art in New York, Neil came to the Chrysler in 2014 with an eye toward leading it into the digital age.
Neil was an active curator earlier in his career, working with artists including James Turrell, Carrie Mae Weems and Tony Oursler. He’s published books and essays on contemporary art and the histories of architecture and photography. Currently, he serves on the boards of VisitNorfolk, the Military Aviation Museum and the Norfolk Innovation Corridor, and he’s a member of the Southeastern Art Museum Directors Consortium and the Association of Art Museum Directors. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard.
In 2018, the Chrysler opened the Wonder Studio, an interactive gallery that provides children with hands-on art experiences and encourages them to use digital tools to create. During the pandemic, the 140-employee art museum tightened its belt but still developed new exhibitions and programs that speak to its community.
Nyerges
ALEX NYERGES
DIRECTOR AND CEO, VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, RICHMOND
In June, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts announced it would embark on a $190 million expansion, the largest in its history. The project will add a 100,000-square-foot wing, see 45,000 square feet of the current museum renovated and erect a standalone 40,000-square-foot collections center.
This major project will be the second such initiative since Nyerges took the helm of the VMFA in 2006. Under Nyerges, the VMFA has seen several blockbuster exhibitions, including works by Pablo Picasso and Edward Hopper; Kehinde Wiley unveiled his sculpture “Rumors of War” on the lawn of the VMFA in 2019.
A Rochester, New York, native, Nyerges is an affiliate graduate faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University. This summer, he presented “Fleeting Light,” an exhibition of his own photography at Richmond’s Reynolds Gallery.
Nyerges previously served as director and CEO of Ohio’s Dayton Art Institute and as executive director of the Mississippi Museum of Art and Florida’s Museum of Art – DeLand.
FAVORITE APP: My running app — to see how far I have gone and how fast, although that is a declining number each year!
Parnell
TODD ‘PARNEY’ PARNELL
CEO, RICHMOND FLYING SQUIRRELS, RICHMOND
Following positions with other minor league teams in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, Parnell — who’s better known around Richmond as “Parney” — came to Richmond in 2010 to serve as vice president and chief operating officer for the Squirrels.
In July 2020, Parnell replaced the retiring Chuck Domino as the Squirrels’ CEO, overseeing all aspects of the team’s day-to-day operations. Under Parnell, the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants led the Eastern League in average attendance in 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2019 and in overall attendance in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He is a three-time Eastern League Executive of the Year winner and has received Baseball America’s Minor League Executive of the Year award.
With the pandemic canceling the 2020 season, Parnell walked the bases 125 times in April 2020 to raise money for local COVID-19 relief efforts through an event called “500 Bases of Love.” He also serves as president of the Montgomery Biscuits, the Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.
A graduate of Messiah University, Parnell volunteers with Metropolitan Junior Baseball League Inc. and serves on the boards of ChamberRVA, one Richmond Region Tourism and Flying Squirrels Charities.
CO-OWNER, CO-CEO, WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM, ASHBURN
This July, Snyder announced that he would be stepping away from day-to-day operations of the Washington Football Team following accusations last year from 15 female former employees who told The Washington Post they were sexually harassed and verbally abused at work by other executives during Snyder’s tenure, although Snyder was not accused of misconduct.
In June, Snyder’s wife, Tanya, was named as the team’s co-CEO, responsible for team operations and representing the club at all league activities. Days later, the NFL fined the team $10 million, citing its “highly unprofessional” workplace environment.
Snyder purchased the team in 1999 from the estate of Jack Kent Cooke, back when it was known as the Washington Redskins, a name criticized for decades as racist. The name and logo were retired in 2020 following pressure from corporate sponsors.
A lifelong entrepreneur from Maryland, Snyder co-founded a wallboard advertising company in 1989 with his sister, Michele Snyder, that became Snyder Communications LP. In 2000, Snyder sold the business, which employed 12,000 people, for more than $2 billion.
This year, Forbes valued the Washington Football Team at $3.5 billion, making it the world’s 19th most valuable sports franchise.
MUSICIAN, PRODUCER AND DEVELOPER, LOS ANGELES/VIRGINIA BEACH
Is there anything Williams can’t do? The internationally renowned music superstar behind hits like “Happy” and “Blurred Lines” has garnered 13 Grammys, but he’s also increasingly gaining admiration for his business activities in Virginia, his home state.
In 2019, Williams launched Something in the Water, a three-day music festival in his native Virginia Beach that featured the likes of Janelle Monáe, Missy Elliott, Migos and Dave Matthews Band, among others. The festival was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, but sponsors hope it will return in 2022.
Williams also is co-developing the $325 million Atlantic Park mixed-use project and surf park at Virginia Beach’s Oceanfront, and he put forward a proposal to redevelop Norfolk’s former Military Circle mall.
In June 2020, Williams spoke at Gov. Ralph Northam‘s news conference announcing that Juneteenth would become a state holiday. Last year, he also launched Black Ambition, a nonprofit initiative to provide support for minority entrepreneurs launching startups.
And this fall, Williams’ nonprofit, Yellow, will open an independent “micro” elementary school in Norfolk’s Ghent neighborhood, focusing on STEM and workforce preparation.
Ammen has led the Bristol-based fiber manufacturer for 12 years, overseeing its two business units — Universal Fiber, which makes solution-dyed,synthetic filament-based fibers, and Premiere Fibers Inc., based in North Carolina, which produces manmade fibers.
Founded in 1969, the company also has manufacturing facilities in Europe, Thailand and China. Its markets span such industries as flooring, military, apparel, transportation and industrial use.
Universal Fiber has been recognized for its sustainable practices, including an award for Environmental Excellence and Community Impact by the Southwest Virginia Alliance of Manufacturers.
In June 2021, it expanded the health clinic it started seven years ago at its manufacturing facility for employees and their family members.
A Clemson University graduate, Ammen joined Universal in 2000 as its chief financial officer and served as president of its Universal Fibers division. As part of the company’s global growth strategy, he helped cut the ribbon on a new plant in Poland in 2019.
Beauchamp
BRAD BEAUCHAMP
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CARPENTER CO., HENRICO COUNTY
Beauchamp, who joined Carpenter Co. in 2008, was tapped as CEO of the privately owned, Henrico County-based manufacturer in the wake of former chairman and CEO Stanley F. Pauley’s death in November 2020.
A philanthropist and venerable presence at Carpenter, Pauley died at 93. Beauchamp had previously served as president and chief operating officer since April 2018.
Carpenter was founded in 1948, and in 2020, Forbes ranked it No. 212 on its list of “America’s Largest Private Companies,” citing revenue of $2 billion. The company makes flexible foam, fiber, air filtration media and other products at 16 plants, saying it’s the largest producer of comfort cushioning products in the world. It employs about 4,500 people at 43 locations worldwide.
Earlier this year, the company settled a 3-year-old lawsuit by former president and COO Michael Lowery, who claimed he was wrongly fired. The settlement amount was not disclosed.
Beauchamp has degrees in biology and chemistry from Bethel University and earned his MBA at Southern Methodist University. He worked at Stepan Co. for 18 years before coming to Carpenter in 2008 as national sales manager for its chemical division. He became that division’s vice president in 2013.
Bhatia
MANMEET S. BHATIA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, TMEIC CORP. AMERICAS, ROANOKE
When Toshiba Mitsubishi-Electric Industrial Systems Corp. (TMEIC) decided in April to consolidate its two U.S. operations, it tapped Bhatia to take the helm. Bhatia, who’d served as chief operating officer of the Roanoke company since 2019, had been with TMEIC since 2003. He also serves on the board of TMEIC International Corp. and TMEIC Canada Corp.
TMEIC Corp. Americas, which has operations in Roanoke and Katy, Texas, employs 285 people in Virginia and 496 worldwide. It designs and develops advanced automation systems, large AC and DC motors, and photovoltaic inverters.
Before his tenure with TMEIC, Bhatia held leadership roles in North America, Europe and Asia at General Electric Co.’s Industrial Drives and Control System Business.
Bhatia has a bachelor of engineering degree in electronics and communications from Gulbarga University in India.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Embrace change. Progress hinges on your ability to adapt to change.
SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:Eat snake meat
HOBBY/PASSION:Playing acoustic guitar
PERSON I ADMIRE:Mahatma Gandhi. He led a calm, nonviolent resistance to oppression and colonization, thereby inspiring movements for freedom and civil rights across the globe.
Bjuve
MARTIN BJUVE
PRESIDENT, VOLVO PENTA OF THE AMERICAS INC., CHESAPEAKE
Bjuve passed the one-year mark as president of Volvo Penta of the Americas in January, rising to the position after two years as senior vice president and chief financial officer.
Part of the Volvo Group, Volvo Penta makes engines and power solutions for leisure and commercial boats and other industrial uses. Based in Chesapeake, it sells products through 3,500 dealers in 130 countries. It also has an engine test facility in Suffolk.
In March, the company launched a new assisted docking system for the marine industry. In June, the company announced that it had acquired a majority stake in ZEM AS, a Norwegian marine battery systems supplier.
Bjuve, who oversees operations in North, Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean, has an MBA from Karlstad University in Sweden, his native country.
He’s spent 17 years with Volvo, including as head of business support, based in Sweden, for the European region of Volvo Penta. He moved to Chesapeake to serve as CFO and became vice president of customer support and training at Volvo Penta of the Americas. A fan of boating, Bjuve enjoys wakesurfing and kitesurfing on the Chesapeake Bay.
Broadfoot
HOWARD BROADFOOT
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ELECTRO-MECHANICAL CORP., BRISTOL
Broadfoot became head of the privately held Electro-Mechanical on June 1 after the retirement of Russell Leonard, who remains on the company’s board.
The company, which makes electrical distribution systems and components, traces its roots to Electric Motor Repair and Sales, a repair business that set up shop in Bristol in 1958. Broadfoot, who joined Electro-Mechanical as chief operating officer in 2009, now oversees a company with manufacturing facilities that cover nearly 1 million square feet in Virginia, Texas and Mexico. Its divisions include Line Power and Federal Pacific. As some of its coal-related business declined in the late 2000s, the company explored the data center market. It also found success through custom engineering systems.
Broadfoot holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial management and an MBA from the University of North Alabama. He served as vice president of operations with Thomas & Betts and director of operations at Newell Brands subsidiary Rubbermaid before coming to Bristol.
Broersma
RÉGIS BROERSMA
PRESIDENT, GENERAL CIGAR CO. INC., GLEN ALLEN
Broersma got into the cigar business right after graduating from Utrecht University and earning his master’s degree in business economics from Tilburg University, both in the Netherlands.
He has worked in six countries for the Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG), which he joined in 2002. In April 2020, as part of a reorganization, he was named senior vice president of the company’s new North American Branded and Rest of World Division.
In that role, he also serves as president of STG’s cigar subsidiary, Glen Allen-based General Cigar Co. Inc., a role he previously held.
General Cigar exports to 62 countries and is the biggest retailer of hand-rolled cigars in the United States — “by far,” as Cigar Journal put it.
The company makes the Macanudo and Cohiba brands (among others), cultivates tobacco and manufactures its handmade cigars in Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan factories.
STG reported $1.28 billion in 2020 revenue. In December 2020, Broersma told Cigar Journal that sales during the pandemic were “through the roof,” with “double-digit growth” and factories at 140% capacity.
Connor
ALAN CONNOR
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CADENCE INC., STAUNTON
In 2012, Connor was tapped as president and CEO of Cadence Inc., which engineers and makes high-tech medical devices, including minimally invasive surgical technology.
The Pittsburgh native stayed close to home while he earned a degree in industrial engineering from Penn State and his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh.
He had a stint as a consultant with former Big Five accounting firm Arthur Andersen before joining Medrad, which has since been purchased by Bayer AG, becoming its director of global marketing. He also worked in operations at MicroAire Surgical Instruments before joining Cadence in 2011.
Based in Staunton, Cadence’s Virginia headquarters and manufacturing facilities are 95,000 square feet. The company announced the addition of a Class 8 clean room there in October, saying it would be used to more quickly develop and manufacture novel medical devices.
Cadence employs more than 500 people in Virginia, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Connor, who is a pilot, serves as board chairman of Virginia Bio, the state biotech trade association.
Culbreth
M. SCOTT CULBRETH
PRESIDENT AND CEO, AMERICAN WOODMARK, WINCHESTER
Culbreth completed his first year as CEO at American Woodmark in July, overseeing 5.7% annual revenue growth at the Winchester-based cabinet company, bringing its annual sales to $1.74 billion.
Culbreth oversees a company with 10,000 employees and 17 manufacturing facilities in the United States and Mexico. Woodmark says it makes a cabinet every two seconds — some 41,000 cabinets a day. Brands include Shenandoah Cabinetry, Villa Bath and the allen + roth line, which is exclusive to Lowe’s.
Wood prices and other costs have increased along with demand, Culbreth noted in May, saying that he would be focused on increasing production while tackling that dynamic.
A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Culbreth is a Virginia Tech graduate who serves on the Finance Advisory Board for Pamplin College of Business. He earned his MBA from Washington University in St. Louis. After Tech, Culbreth went to work for Shell Oil Co. and held executive positions at Robert Bosch LLC and Newell Brands.
Before his appointment to CEO of Woodmark, he served as chief financial officer for six and a half years.
Fairbanks
BRYAN H. FAIRBANKS
PRESIDENT AND CEO, TREX CO. INC., WINCHESTER
Fairbanks has been working to complete a $200 million plan to expand capacity at Trex, the world’s largest manufacturer of composite decking products. Announced in June 2019, the expansion plan includes Trex’s new 200,000-square-foot Virginia production facility, which opened this January. The company also plans to establish a new headquarters
in Winchester.
Trex sells its composite decking materials, railings and related products in more than 6,700 locations. The company reported annual revenue of $817 million in September 2020, and in February 2021, it ranked No. 12 on the Forbes list of America’s Best Mid-Size Companies.
Fairbanks spoke about the company’s expansion on CNBC in March, saying consumer demand was growing for alternative wood products due to cost and environmental concerns. He noted that Trex’s composite decking products contain 95% recycled material.
Fairbanks has been with Trex for more than 17 years, becoming CEO in April 2020. A CPA, he graduated with a degree in accounting from the University of Dayton and earned his MBA in finance from the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business. Before Trex, he served as finance manager for Ford Motor Co. for 10 years.
Fischer
BJOERN FISCHER
PRESIDENT, STIHL INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
A native of South Africa, Fischer has overseen U.S. operations for outdoor power equipment manufacturer Stihl since January 2016.
His appointment coincided with his joining the board of the Hampton Roads Chamber, where he serves as vice president of finance.
Stihl is a commanding presence in the region, where it’s been based since 1974 in Virginia Beach, with about 1,900 of its 2,100 U.S. employees working there. Fischer also has noted the importance of the Port of Virginia to Stihl, which exports to more than 90 countries.
In April 2021, Stihl opened a 100,000-square-foot facility for its Northwest region, announcing its expansion and relocation in Centralia, Washington. Fischer said the move underscored the company’s confidence in the U.S. market.
Fischer graduated from the University of Cape Town with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. Before joining Stihl in 2012, he worked at Siemens for 20 years. Fischer also serves on the board of directors of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute and is a member of the Executive Advisory Council of Old Dominion University‘s Strome College of Business.
Gifford
WILLIAM F. ‘BILLY’ GIFFORD JR.
CEO, ALTRIA GROUP INC., RICHMOND
Gifford took over as chief executive of the tobacco products manufacturer in April 2020. He’s been with the company more than 25 years, including serving as president and CEO of subsidiary Philip Morris USA.
He’s pushing a “Moving Beyond Smoking” strategy — a 10-year vision to transition smokers to “a noncombustible future.” That includes what the Fortune 500 company says are less risky products, including its IQOS systems, which heat tobacco — namely, Marlboro HeatSticks.
Gifford announced in April that Altria had acquired the remaining 20% of on! oral nicotine pouches, giving it full ownership. Altria’s $12.8 billion investment in e-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. has been burdened by litigation, including an April ruling that plaintiffs may depose Gifford in their lawsuit blaming Juul for stoking youth addiction.
Traditional cigarette sales made up 88% of Altria’s $26.15 billion revenue in 2020. Other holdings include equity investments in cannabinoid company Cronos Group and Anheuser-Busch InBev, where Gifford serves on the board. Altria announced in July 2021 that it was selling Ste. Michelle Wine Estates for $1.2 billion.
Gifford is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where Altria has made multimillion-dollar gifts to a variety of community causes.
Gottwald
THOMAS E. ‘TEDDY’ GOTTWALD
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NEWMARKET CORP., RICHMOND
Gottwald leads the specialty chemicals company NewMarket Corp., which traces its roots to Ethyl Gasoline Corp. — a company his late grandfather Floyd Gottwald acquired in 1962 as president of Albemarle Paper Manufacturing Co.
NewMarket is the parent of Afton Chemical Corp. and Ethyl Corp., which manufactures lubricants and fuel additives.
Gottwald graduated with a chemistry degree from Virginia Military Institute, where he played football and served as class president. After graduation, he joined the company in 1984, later earning his MBA from Harvard Business School.
He has been president and CEO since March 2004, and he succeeded his father, Bruce, as chairman of the board in 2014. With a decline in sales from $2.19 billion to $2.01 billion during the pandemic, he said the company was “stress-tested” but turned in a good year.
Gottwald belongs to a philanthropic family that Forbes named one of America’s Richest in 2015. The family’s gifts have supported the sciences and other causes, including the restoration of Tredegar Ironworks, where the American Civil War Museum is based. Gottwald also serves on the boards of Venture Richmond and VMI’s Jackson-Hope Fund.
Harm
GINA HARM
PRESIDENT, AFTON CHEMICAL CORP., RICHMOND
Harm oversees a $2 billion company that develops, makes and sells petroleum additives at sites in the United States, Mexico, Belgium, Singapore, China and Brazil. More than 550 of the company’s 1,950 employees are based in Virginia.
After graduating with a chemical engineering degree from Grove City College, Harm joined engineering company Stone & Webster. She held positions with ExxonMobil Chemical Americas and GE Plastics before joining Afton in 2007. She was named senior vice president and chief operating officer in October 2015 and became president in May 2018. She also serves on the board of the American Chemistry Council.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA:We need more lane capacity on Interstate 95 to handle the volume of travelers both northbound and southbound.
HOBBY/PASSION: As a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I have been a lifelong fan of all the Pittsburgh sports teams. Whenever I have the opportunity, I like to catch a live sporting event, whether it’s football, hockey or baseball. I also enjoy camping, hiking and spending time with my family.
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION:Hatteras Island, North Carolina
Hire
STEVE HIRE
PRESIDENT, CHEMTREAT INC., GLEN ALLEN
Hire leads ChemTreat, an industrial water-treatment company that’s part of the environmental and supplied solutions portfolio of Washington, D.C.-based Danaher Corp.
ChemTreat, founded in 1968, was purchased in 2007 by Danaher — where Hire had worked a two-year stint as corporate director of DBS Growth Tools. Hire became president in March 2010.
He earned a marketing degree from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management and spent six years as a brand manager for Cooper Hand Tools. Hire also held executive positions at Delta Consolidated Industries and Acuity Brands Lighting.
In September, ChemTreat opened an applied technology lab in Ashland, where it broke ground in 2019. The company said it invested $10 million in the 25,000-square-foot facility for product innovation, aiming to create 20 jobs in the next 10 years. It’s located in the Hanover County Airpark, across from the ChemTreat East Coast manufacturing hub.
Hoff
JEREMY R. HOFF
CEO, HOOKER FURNITURE CO., MARTINSVILLE
Hoff took over Feb. 1 as Hooker’s fourth CEO — the first nonfamily member to hold the job since J. Clyde Hooker founded the company in 1924. Hoff succeeded the founder’s grandson Paul B. Toms Jr., who led the company for 20 years and remains board chairman.
Hooker employs 800 people at its Virginia and North Carolina locations, operates 12 divisions and says it’s one of the top five sources for the U.S. furniture market.
Hoff entered the furniture industry after graduating from Indiana University Bloomington with a business marketing degree. He worked for more than 17 years as a sales rep for the Huntington House, Pulaski, Universal and Craftmaster furniture brands.
After executive positions with the Broyhill and A.R.T. furniture companies, he became president of Theodore Alexander USA Inc. in December 2015. He joined Hooker in 2017. Hoff also serves as board vice president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Blue Ridge.
Shareholders will be watching for Hoff to shore things up after a tough year. He started as CEO at the end of fiscal 2021, when the company blamed the pandemic for a nearly 12% drop in revenue to $540.08 million.
Jain
PRABHAT K. JAIN
CEO, VIRGINIA TRANSFORMER CORP., ROANOKE
Virginia Transformer, owned by Jain’s family, is the second-largest power transformer manufacturing company in North America. It celebrates its 50th anniversary this year — and next year, Jain will mark his 40th year as its CEO.
Jain is an engineer and multiple patentholder with a degree in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Madras. After moving to the United States in 1968, he earned his master’s degree in material science from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and his MBA from Lynchburg University.
Jain was a design manager for General Electric Co. in Salem for five years before acquiring the 35-employee Virginia Transformer Corp. in May 1982.
In 2014, the company acquired Georgia Transformer Corp., and the company now employs 1,400 people.
Jain has made it a mission to create power transformers that can last 60 years, telling The Roanoke Times that it’s the company’s “single most important achievement.”
Jain helped fund a STEM education initiative for Roanoke students. A former chair of the Virginia/DC District Export Council, he has served on the boards of the Roanoke Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Roanoke Valley.
Keogh
SCOTT KEOGH
CEO AND PRESIDENT, VOLKSWAGEN GROUP OF AMERICA INC., HERNDON
A New York native and graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Keogh spent more than a decade in management with Mercedes-Benz USA before joining Volkswagen in 2006 through Audi of America, serving six years as chief marketing officer and six as president.
In 2018, Keogh was tapped to head Volkswagen Group of America. He oversees the brand in the United States, Mexico and Canada, as well as the automaker’s other high-end brands in the United States.
He champions electric vehicles and has said Volkswagen plans “to be the world’s largest manufacturer of electric cars” by 2030. The second quarter offered a hopeful sign for the company, which reported its best quarterly sales total since 1973. Almost 5% of models sold were the new ID.4 crossovers, at an MSRP of $39,995.
Volkswagen’s EV enthusiasm created problems for Keogh after a poorly received April Fool’s “gag,” as he referred to it to Reuters. The company issued a seemingly straightforward press release announcing the company’s rebrand to “Voltswagen.” Der Spiegel and other outlets reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission “opened an inquiry” into the matter.
CHARLES ‘CHARLIE’ LUCK IV
PRESIDENT AND CEO, LUCK COS., MANAKIN-SABOT
Luck leads the nearly century-old stone products company founded by his grandfather and led for decades by his father, the late Charles S. Luck III, who died in December 2020 at age 87.
Charlie Luck, too, has been with the company for most of his life. He was a trainee while attending Virginia Military Institute, where he earned a civil engineering degree. He also spent time as a NASCAR driver, competing in what is now the Xfinity Series.
After years working in the family business, Luck became president and CEO of the Luck Cos. in 1999.
The company stresses leadership, integrity, commitment and creativity as pillars, and Luck has written that his life’s purpose is “to help develop people and position them to exceed their wildest dreams.”
In 2015, Luck founded the nonprofit Innerwill, which aims to help people and organizations with leadership development.
Luck Cos. expanded to Georgia after a 2018 acquisition. “We saw all of the megatrends point to population growth in the Southeast,” Luck told Pit & Quarry in April 2020. “We also looked at where we felt our values and beliefs would culturally match the best.”
Marchand
FRANKY MARCHAND
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, NEW RIVER VALLEY PLANT, VOLVO TRUCKS NORTH AMERICA, DUBLIN
This summer brought a labor standoff to Marchand’s New River Valley Plant, where nearly 3,000 United Auto Workers went on strike off and on for more than two months before reaching a labor contract agreement in July.
Marchand defended what he deemed Volvo’s competitive package of benefits and improvements in June, saying, “It is difficult to understand this action.”
Marchand earned his mechanical and industrial engineering degree from then-École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers in France. He began his career as an industrial engineer for Mack Trucks Australia and joined Volvo Trucks North America in 2002.
In 2014, he was appointed vice president and general manager of the Dublin plant, the largest Volvo truck manufacturing facility in the world. It’s located on 556 acres along Interstate 81, where the company announced a $400 million expansion of the plant in 2019. While it has also announced hundreds of layoffs, the company says it will achieve a net increase of approximately 600 positions at the plant this year.
Mayr
PETER MAYR
MANAGING DIRECTOR, LIEBHERR USA CO., NEWPORT NEWS
Mayr moved to the United States in 2013 to become president of Liebherr Construction Equipment Co. Three years later, the Swiss-based, family-owned parent company reorganized its U.S. operations as Liebherr USA Co., and Mayr became a managing director. The company marked its 50th anniversary in the United States last year.
Mayr earned an international economics degree from the University of Innsbruck in Austria in 2001 and began his Liebherr career in sales. He became managing director of Liebherr Great Britain Ltd. in 2012.
The company employs 1,200 people in the United States, and Liebherr USA encompasses eight divisions across the country, with Mayr overseeing 520 employees in Newport News. He also saw the completion of a $60 million expansion there. The manufacturing complex, a five-minute drive from Newport News Shipbuilding, repairs cranes and makes construction and mining equipment.
Mignogna
GARY M. MIGNOGNA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FRAMATOME INC., LYNCHBURG
Mignogna oversees the North American operations of Framatome, which says it’s serviced every U.S. nuclear energy facility and helps power 36 million American homes. The company employs 1,300 workers in Lynchburg, where it’s done business for more than 50 years. Mignogna relocated Framatome’s headquarters there from Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2018.
In March, Framatome launched an independent subsidiary, Framatome U.S. Government Solutions LLC, to oversee its federal contracting business, including work for the Energy and Defense departments. Mignogna chairs its board.
Mignogna’s career in the nuclear industry has spanned four decades. He’s been president and CEO of Framatome and its predecessor, AREVA Inc., since 2014.
He also sits on the executive committee of the Nuclear Energy Institute’s board of directors, is chairman of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation’s board of directors and serves on the board of Beacon of Hope, which helps Lynchburg City School students prepare for education after high school.
A graduate of Drexel University, where he also received his master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Mignogna is a trustee at the University of Lynchburg, where he earned his MBA.
Parkinson
JOHN PARKINSON
CEO, DRAKE EXTRUSION INC., RIDGEWAY
Despite the pandemic, Parkinson announced plans in June 2020 for a $6.9 million second manufacturing facility in Henry County.
The move came a couple of months after the yarn maker retained 195 jobs using a $2.05 million PPP loan, the Martinsville Bulletin reported. The company promised an additional 30 jobs would accompany the expansion. By February 2021, Drake was telling The Wall Street Journal that the factory was facing a “bottleneck” as it tried to keep up with increasing consumer demand for furniture and other products that use its yarn.
An accounting and finance graduate of the U.K.’s Lancaster University, Parkinson has been CEO at Drake since 2001. The company is owned by Swiss filament yarn and staple fiber manufacturer Duroc AB.
Parkinson is a member of the GO Virginia Region 3 Council and serves as secretary- treasurer of Virginia Career Works West Piedmont Region, part of the state’s workforce development initiative. He also serves on the board of the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber’s Partnership for Economic Growth, the chamber’s charitable affiliate.
Smith
ASHLEY B. SMITH
PRESIDENT AND CEO, SMITH-MIDLAND CORP., FAUQUIER COUNTY
Smith’s first job was on the family farm, raising cows and growing corn. Now he leads the $43.8 million company his grandfather, David G. Smith, founded in 1960 as Smith Cattleguard.
Smith became CEO in 2018. The precast concrete company employs 230 people — 150 of them in Virginia. He considers the company’s
uplisting to the Nasdaq in 2020 as a milestone. Shares hit $25 in July. The company also expanded to California.
Smith is past chairman of the National Precast Concrete Association. He also serves on the board of trustees at Bridgewater College, where he graduated with a degree in business administration.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA:Invest more in our transportation infrastructure. Virginia does an admirable job, but I think we need to increase the investment there.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Always find out. Don’t take what you hear or read for granted or as the truth. There is always another side of the story, and you need to check out the facts and the other perspective for yourself.
Spilman
ROBERT H. ‘ROB’ SPILMAN JR.
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BASSETT FURNITURE INDUSTRIES, MARTINSVILLE
Spilman, who’s been with Bassett for 37 years, spent part of his career working under his father, the late Robert H. Spilman Sr. — a member of the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame. Like his dad, he became CEO, a role he’s held since 2000.
Bassett, founded in 1902, sells home furnishings in about 100 retail locations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Spilman has led an expansion of facilities in Newton, North Carolina, where the company plans to hire 80 more people. The expansion brings its manufacturing complex to more than 800,000 square feet.
Spilman said such moves were needed to increase upholstery manufacturing capacity. Its wholesale shipping backlog was up 362% at the end of the first quarter. Saying its backlog was seven times pre-pandemic levels, Spilman told The Wall Street Journal in July that the company was battling logistics-related delays.
A Vanderbilt University graduate, Spilman was a director of Harris Teeter Supermarkets Inc. from 2002 to 2014. He’s lead director of Dominion Energy Inc.’s board of directors and serves on the board of trustees for the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.
Steitz
JOHN M. STEITZ
PRESIDENT AND CEO, TREDEGAR CORP., RICHMOND
Steitz has run Tredegar, the plastic films and aluminum extrusions manufacturer, since March 2019. Tredegar is a 1989 spinoff of Ethyl Corp., which now operates under NewMarket Corp. With facilities in North America, South America and Asia, Tredegar has approximately 2,400 employees.
Despite taking hits from the pandemic, Tredegar had “one of our best” years in 2020, Steitz said in the company’s annual report. He cited high backlog levels and record EBITDA from its specialty polyester films manufacturer, Terphane, which it acquired in 2011. He also noted that Tredegar’s aluminum extrusions business, Bonnell Aluminum, while experiencing challenges, outperformed the industry.
Before Tredegar, Steitz was president and CEO of Addivant and led the specialty chemical company PQ Corp. He was with Albemarle Corp. for more than a dozen years, rising to president and chief operating officer. He left Albemarle, another Ethyl spinoff, in 2012.
A chemical engineering graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, Steitz earned his MBA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Street
JOHN STREET
PRESIDENT, ETHYL CORP., RICHMOND
In his role leading Ethyl, Street oversees the antiknock compounds business of NewMarket Corp. — which also serves as parent of specialty chemical company Afton Chemical Corp. NewMarket reported $2 billion in petroleum additives sales in 2020.
After graduating from Mississippi State University in 1975, Street embarked on a 32-year career with Ethyl, where he became vice president of health, safety and environment.
Street left in 2007 for a similar role with Afton Chemical Corp., but after three years, he returned to Ethyl. In 2013, he oversaw a closure of Ethyl’s plant in Corunna, Ontario. He became president of Ethyl in 2015.
Founded in 1921, Ethyl keeps its headquarters in Richmond but operates its fuel additives blending and distribution facility in Houston. It also provides storage and transloading services on the Houston Ship Channel and supplies fuel and lubricant additives for its sister company, Afton Chemical.
Trepp
GREGORY H. TREPP
PRESIDENT AND CEO, HAMILTON BEACH BRANDS HOLDING CO., GLEN ALLEN
With more than 20 years in senior management, Trepp oversees Hamilton Beach Brands, which designs and sells kitchen and other small household appliances — more than 34 million a year, it says — as well as commercial products.
About half of the company’s 500 U.S. employees work in Henrico County, where Hamilton Beach bases its product design and runs a test kitchen. Approximately 200 other employees work in Canada, China and Mexico. Brands include Proctor Silex and Wolf Gourmet. Company revenue was down 1.3% in 2020 to $603.7 million.
A University of Richmond graduate who earned his MBA from the University of Connecticut, Trepp joined Hamilton Beach in 1996 and became president and CEO in 2010. When the business was spun off from NACCO Industries Inc. in 2017, Trepp became president and CEO of the holding company, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange.
One of Trepp’s strategies for 2021 is expanding into health and wellness. The company cites air purification and water filtration as examples, announcing in June that it was launching a line of air purifiers under a licensing agreement with The Clorox Co.
Vanhoren
JO VANHOREN
PRESIDENT, CEO AND CLUSTER PRESIDENT, NORTH AMERICA, ALFA LAVAL INC., RICHMOND
Vanhoren oversees the North American operations of Alfa Laval, which represents 10% of the Swedish company’s workforce. The component manufacturer employs about 1,700 people in the United States and operates 34 manufacturing and service locations.
Vanhoren has spent his career with the company, joining Alfa Laval after studying engineering in Belgium. He spent five years with the company in Italy, then moved to Spain, where he became managing director and cluster president, South Europe. He was named president and CEO of Alfa Laval and cluster president, North America, in March 2018.
The company makes a variety of components that regulate the transfer of heat and fluids, including filters, pumps and exchangers. In 2019, Vanhoren oversaw a $50 million expansion that included adding a production line to Alfa Laval’s Henrico County facility, which moved most of the production of a heat exchanger to the United States.
A new area of interest will be energy storage solutions, Vanhoren recently told CEO Magazine. He also calls sustainability the “next wave of diversification.”
Wilkin
NEIL D. WILKIN JR.
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, OPTICAL CABLE CORP., ROANOKE
Wilkin has been with Optical Cable Corp. for 20 years, overseeing the company that makes and sells fiber optic and copper communication cabling and offers other connectivity solutions — including specialty applications that can withstand harsh environments.
Wilkin has been on an efficiency mission, working to control costs and counter the pandemic’s effects. After taking a revenue hit in 2019, the company saw a 22.5% decrease in consolidated net sales to $55.3 million for 2020. But Wilkin noted that the company came through for military and front-line workers.
A University of Virginia graduate, Wilkin stayed with the university to earn his law degree from the School of Law and his MBA from the Darden School of Business. After practicing law at McGuireWoods LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP, he became chief financial officer for an online-based real estate brokerage.
He joined Optical Cable in 2001 as CFO and senior vice president and was named chairman and CEO in 2003. Wilkin serves on the boards of the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation and Roanoke-based Carilion Clinic.
Before Virginia legalized recreational marijuana possession this year, the markets for hemp-derived products, including cannabidiol, or CBD, were taking shape. Xu seemed to have known change was on the horizon, founding Avail Vapor in 2013.
Based in Chesterfield County, the company makes liquid for e-cigarettes and CBD products to be sold at its 98 retail locations across 12 states. The company employs approximately 200 people.
With Virginia’s new laws allowing adults to grow their own marijuana plants, the company also has created “all-in-one seed to harvest” at-home grow kits.
Xu is a graduate of Old Dominion University. His sister, Ting Xu, founded the home decor and gift business Evergreen Enterprises, which he worked on for a time. He is now chairman of Avail and two sister businesses — Blackship, an R&D company, and Blackbriar, which provides contract manufacturing and FDA compliance consulting. During the pandemic, Blackbriar pivoted to manufacture face masks.
Batten’s 13-year quest to sell his family’s newspaper holdings was accomplished in May 2021, when Paxton Media Group announced it was purchasing the Landmark Community Newspaper group of 47 daily and weekly newspapers.
Landmark had previously sold off The Virginian-Pilot and The Roanoke Times, where Batten once worked as a reporter and as an advertising rep after earning a history degree from Dartmouth College. He also holds an MBA from U.Va.’s Darden School of Business.
Batten rose through the ranks at Landmark Communications to become CEO of the family business, deciding in 2008 to sell its media holdings. The Weather Channel was sold that year for $3.5 billion to NBC and private equity firms, but selling the newspapers proved slower.
Batten was more interested in technology than ink. He was the largest investor in software company Red Hat, and his $3 million investment at one point was worth $2.5 billion.
Batten is chairman of Dominion Enterprises, which focuses on marketing and software services for the automotive and hospitality industries, and he is also president of the Landmark Foundation and a member of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation board of trustees.
Birdsong
GEORGE Y. BIRDSONG
CEO AND GENERAL COUNSEL, BIRDSONG CORP., SUFFOLK
The Birdsong Corp. and the Birdsong family have been shelling peanuts and funding humanitarian efforts for five generations
Since 1999, George Y. Birdsong has led the 107-year-old family company. The family began shelling peanuts in the 1930s, and when their factory burned down in 1939, Planters Peanuts founder Amedeo Obici asked the Birdsongs to relocate near his facility in Suffolk. Each generation has followed Birdsong Corp. founder T.H. Birdsong into the business, and now three generations of Birdsongs are involved in its management.
A Suffolk native, George Y. Birdsong attended Washington and Lee University and then studied law at the University of Virginia. He and his late wife, Sue, supported numerous philanthropies in their region and were involved in several civic, education and preservation organizations.
The Birdsong Corp. has six shelling plants, and it buys, processes and stores billions of pounds of peanuts each year. Its charity, Peanut Proud Inc., has partnered with Project Peanut Butter to support hunger relief and to help treat severe malnutrition.
Breeden
RAMON W. BREEDEN JR.
PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE BREEDEN CO., VIRGINIA BEACH
Breeden worked his way through the University of Virginia and took a job teaching math before starting his real estate development company in 1961, working out of the trunk of a Pontiac convertible and the back room of a grocery store.
Within 15 years, Breeden would be listed among the top 500 builders in the nation, and he hasn’t looked back. This year, his company announced a $2.4 million, 6,500-square-foot expansion of its Virginia Beach headquarters, and it broke ground on the company’s largest apartment complex to date, the $66 million Pinnacle Apartments in Virginia Beach.
At 87, Breeden still pilots his corporate jet and helicopters, and he oversees a company with more than 15,000 apartments and 2 million square feet of retail and office space.
Over the years, he co-founded Commerce Bank, which was purchased by Branch Bank & Trust, and he then served as a state director of BB&T, now part of Truist Financial Group. Breeden also served on U.Va.’s McIntire Foundation board, as well as boards for the Tidewater Builders Association, Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, and Virginia Beach Education Foundation.
Broderick
JOHN BRODERICK
PRESIDENT EMERITUS, OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY, NORFOLK
In June, Broderick retired as ODU’s longest- serving president, returning to faculty status as the board of visitors distinguished lecturer in the Darden College of Education and Professional Studies.
As a journalism student at Northeastern University in Boston, Broderick aspired to cover the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics, until he found a new path that brought him to Old Dominion in 1993 as its public information director. He rose through the ranks, becoming the university’s president in 2008.
During his tenure, ODU raised nearly $1 billion, including its largest single gift of $37 million, donated by Richard and Carolyn Barry in 2016 to establish the Barry Art Museum, and Mark and Tammy Strome’s $11 million donation in 2013 to establish the Strome Entrepreneurial Center and name the Strome College of Business. Broderick also has championed inclusion and diversity, reorganizing ODU’s Office of Affirmative Action into the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity. Football also returned to ODU in 2009 after a 69-year absence.
Broderick is former chair of the Council of Presidents of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, Virginia Council of Presidents of colleges and universities, and Conference USA’s board of directors. He also served on the NCAA board of directors.
Case
STEVE CASE
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, REVOLUTION LLC, WASHINGTON, D.C
Forbes estimates America Online co-founder Case’s net worth at about $1.5 billion. He’s best known for founding and leading AOL, the company that paved the way for today’s internet culture.
Today, Case champions talented innovators and entrepreneurs through his Washington, D.C.-based investment company Revolution LLC and through his work with other foundations and partnerships.
Since 2005, Revolution has invested about $1 billion in seed and growth funds into companies that fall outside of Silicon Valley and New York; its Rise of the Rest pitch competition tours the nation, awarding promising startups $100,000 to launch or grow.
In April, Case wrote an essay for The Hill in support of a bill that would use federal funds to set up regional tech hubs across the U.S.
In 2018, Case sold his McLean estate, the childhood home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, to the Saudi Arabia government for $43 million. His wife, Jean, is chairman of the National Geographic Society and owns Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison.
Steve Case is also chairman of the Case Foundation, which partnered with the Kauffman Foundation to launch Startup America Partnership, which has helped more than 13,000 small businesses since 2011.
Clemente
DAN CLEMENTE
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CLEMENTE DEVELOPMENT CO. INC., VIENNA
For nearly half a century, Clemente has been instrumental in shaping Northern Virginia. Even as he developed residential and commercial projects, particularly in the Tysons area, Clemente also spurred the growth of higher education in the region.
He was instrumental in helping George Mason University grow from a small school in 1972, when it was accepted into Virginia’s system of colleges and universities, into the largest public research university in the state, with 37,000 students and four campuses. During the same era, Clemente developed the state’s first condominium project, the Tower Villas in Arlington.
In fall 2019, his company won approval to build a $1.3 billion complex, The View at Tysons, which includes condos, a hotel, an arts center, and office and retail space; it’s set to be capped by a tower billed as the tallest building in the state. The project was paused during the pandemic.
SENIOR ADVISOR, STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, MCGUIREWOODS CONSULTING LLC, TYSONS
Dyke was a Howard University math major in 1963 when he attended the March on Washington and was moved by Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream.
“My life’s path was forever altered,” he wrote in an April essay for Washington Business Journal. “They were my dreams stated so eloquently that I could not deny their truth. Only government and law could assure the availability of education and economic opportunities for all and effect fundamental and imperative social change.”
Dyke switched courses and ultimately graduated as valedictorian of Howard University’s law school in 1971, launching his half-century pursuit of social justice and opportunity. He served as Gov. L. Douglas Wilder’s secretary of education, worked as a domestic policy adviser to Vice President Walter Mondale and was instrumental in opening Virginia Military Institute to women after a landmark 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision struck down VMI’s males-only admissions policy. Dyke’s clients include George Washington University and the George Mason University Foundation.
This year, he and Wilder have called for increased state funding for all of Virginia’s historically Black colleges and universities, including private institutions, and Dyke has collaborated on a McGuireWoods project demonstrating how zoning is connected to racial segregation.
Fried
BARBARA FRIED
OWNER, FRIED COS. INC., CROZET
Fried was the first in her family to graduate from college, and when she attended the University of Chicago law school in the 1950s, she was one of just five women.
She and her late husband, Mark, founded the Fried and Fried law firm in 1962, specializing in real estate law and later launching an Albemarle County-based real estate development company.
They created residential developments and commercial centers and also gave their time and money to philanthropy, including founding Innisfree Village, a residential community in Albemarle for adults with intellectual disabilities, and Charlottesville-Albemarle Riding Therapy, a horseback riding program for disabled adults and children.
Fried also has supported efforts to make Virginia’s community and state college system accessible. The Fried family in 2015 donated $1 million to Germanna Community College, which in 2019 opened the Barbara J. Fried Center, which offers transfer programs including cybersecurity, nursing and business administration.
Fried is on the University of Virginia board of visitors, and she has served as chairman of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Sorensen Institute’s statewide advisory board.
Grisham
JOHN GRISHAM
NOVELIST, PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, ALBEMARLE COUNTY
He’s known for his bestselling legal thrillers, but Grisham also spends winters courtside at University of Virginia and University of North Carolina basketball games. When the pandemic shut down college basketball in 2020 just before March Madness, Grisham did what writers do.
“I missed last year’s NCAA playoffs so much that I channeled my energies into writing ‘Sooley,’ my first shot at basketball fiction,” he wrote. The novel follows the story of a basketball player from Sudan and is loosely based on former U.Va. player Mamadi Diakite, a Guinea native who now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Grisham’s own backstory is well known. After realizing he didn’t have the right stuff to play baseball, he went to law school.
He was working as a lawyer in a small Mississippi town when he wrote “A Time to Kill” in 1987. It was barely noticed at the time, but his 1991 second novel, “The Firm,” launched him onto bestseller lists, where he’s remained.
Grisham lives in Albemarle County, where he built six Little League baseball fields on his property. He’s a member of The Innocence Project board, as well as the Charlottesville-based Focused Ultrasound Foundation, which raises awareness of the noninvasive therapeutic technology.
Helfant-Browning
DORCAS T. HELFANT-BROWNING
MANAGING PARTNER AND PRINCIPAL BROKER, COLDWELL BANKER NOW, VIRGINIA BEACH
Helfant-Browning was the first woman to become president of the National Association of Realtors in 1992. She used her influence to join with other real estate brokers to urge President George H.W. Bush to support tax reforms that would help commercial real estate investors.
She also led the association’s efforts to lobby states to enact laws requiring sellers to disclose flaws that affect a property’s value and safety.
The Chesapeake native started her real estate career in 1967 as a new mom, and in 1974, she began her own firm, which became an affiliate of Coldwell Banker after 15 years. In addition to being part of the NAR board beginning in 1983, she was named to the advisory council of Fannie Mae in 1993.
An active community volunteer with ties to the Boy Scouts and Tidewater Community College, Helfant-Browning was on the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce board and was recognized as Hampton Roads Woman of the Year in 1990. She currently serves on the board of Virginia FREE, a nonpartisan group of individuals, corporations and trade associations that advances the interests of free enterprise in Virginia politics.
Johnson
SHEILA JOHNSON
CEO, SALAMANDER HOTELS & RESORTS, THE PLAINS
As vice chair of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Johnson is the first Black woman to hold stakes in three professional sports franchises: the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
In 1980, Johnson and her ex-husband, Robert L. Johnson, co-founded the BET cable network, then known as Black Entertainment Television. In 2001, Viacom bought the company for $2.9 billion. The Wall Street Journal in 2019 pegged Johnson’s net worth at $1 billion, and she’s been on Forbes magazine’s list of America’s Richest Self-Made Women
since 2015.
Johnson owns a growing portfolio of luxury resorts in Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana, in addition to her flagship property, the Salamander Resort & Spa in Middleburg. She also co-founded the venture capital consortium WE Capital to support women-led enterprises that advance transformational social change.
The Pennsylvania native is an accomplished violinist, once telling Reuters that playing was instrumental to her success.
“Things don’t come overnight in life — you have to persevere and stay focused. Music does that for you,” she said. “It also teaches you to be a better listener and communicator.”
Mastracco
VINCENT J. MASTRACCO JR.
PARTNER AND CO-CHAIR, REAL ESTATE STRATEGIES GROUP, KAUFMAN & CANOLES PC, NORFOLK
Mastracco is one of the top securities and corporate finance attorneys in the Hampton Roads region, as well as a mentor to many area lawyers.
A Norfolk native who graduated from the University of Virginia, Mastracco studied law at the University of Richmond and New York University before returning to his hometown to practice. He’s been at Kaufman & Canoles for more than 55 years, having joined Leroy T. Canoles Jr. as the firm’s second lawyer. Today, the firm has approximately 100 attorneys.
Specializing in finances, mergers and acquisitions, Mastracco has played a significant role in projects such as Hilton Norfolk The Main, the Midtown Tunnel and Chesapeake’s Jordan Bridge. As former chair of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s board of directors, he was instrumental in bringing Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2 to Arlington in 2018. In addition to his continued service on VEDP’s board, Mastracco has served on the Sentara Foundation and Eastern Virginia Medical School Foundation boards, as well as the Hampton Roads Business Roundtable.
He is also a member of the Community Leadership Partners with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, as well as the Virginia Wesleyan University board.
Quillen
MICHAEL ‘MIKE’ J. QUILLEN
CHAIRMAN, GO VIRGINIA REGION 1 COUNCIL, BRISTOL
A former coal magnate, Quillen serves as chairman of GO Virginia’s most economically challenged region in the state’s far southwest corner, also referred to as the Coalfields. In addition to his work on the public-private GO Virginia Region 1 Council, in which Quillen leads efforts to diversify the Southwest economy, he also is chair of the Southwest Virginia Energy Research Authority, a group focused on renewable energy development.
The Virginia Tech alum was trained as a civil engineer and embarked on a career in mining. In 2002, he founded Alpha Natural Resources, which became one of the country’s largest coal suppliers, serving as its first CEO. Quillen retired as Alpha’s chairman of the board in 2012, after it had become a Fortune 500 company with 13,000 employees.
From 2010 to 2018, Quillen served on Virginia Tech’s board of visitors, including as rector for two years. During that time, Tech solidified its partnership with Carilion Clinic to expand biomedical research in Roanoke. Quillen has served in leadership roles for many of Tech’s foundations, boards and associations, and he is one of the school’s most generous donors. He received the university’s highest honor, the William H. Ruffner Medal, in 2020.
Reinhart
JOHN REINHART
FORMER CEO AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA PORT AUTHORITY, NORFOLK
In March, Reinhart retired after more than six years at the helm of the Port of Virginia. In 2014, when the former president and CEO of Norfolk-based shipper Maersk Line Ltd. was hired, it was a pivotal time for the state-owned port, which had operated at a loss since 2009. The state authority had been considering selling the port, but Reinhart was able to steer it into solvency by 2017.
Reinhart also oversaw a $700 million expansion of the authority’s terminals in Hampton Roads and a $350 million dredging project, begun in late 2019, that will ultimately create the deepest and widest port on the East Coast, capable of handling ultra-large container vessels.
Just before his retirement, Reinhart said that part of the port’s success is due to “creating a team that is aligned by values [and] raising awareness of the port across the state. Grow the business and build the trust.”
As Port Authority head, Reinhart served as a nonvoting member of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership Board, and he also served on other professional boards and groups, including the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, the Marine Transportation System National Advisory Council and the Nauticus Foundation.
Pam Kiecker Royall. Photo by Caroline Martin
PAM KIECKER ROYALL
HEAD OF RESEARCH, ENROLLMENT SERVICES, EAB, RICHMOND
Royall and her late husband, Bill, underwrote the “Rumors of War” statue installed in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 2019. The depiction of a modern-day Black warrior on horseback was created by Kehinde Wiley to counter the Confederate statues along Monument Avenue. The statue was a response to the Confederate equestrian monuments to J.E.B. Stuart and Stonewall Jackson, which were taken down in 2020.
In addition to her philanthropic work, Royall is head of research for Henrico County-based EAB, a direct marketing and recruitment firm for colleges and universities, with 500 employees in Virginia and 1,500 worldwide. It was founded as Royall & Co. by Bill Royall, who sold the business for $850 million in 2014.
A former Virginia Commonwealth University professor of marketing, Royall is a board member for the VCU Massey Cancer Center, the Brandcenter Director’s Council and the VCU School of Business Foundation. She also chairs the Virginia Museum of History & Culture board.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: The opportunities we help create for students and families through greater access to higher education.
WHAT HELPED MY COMPANY WEATHER THE PANDEMIC: A strong culture of support for both EAB employees and our institutional partners (colleges and universities).
Smoot
RAYMOND D. SMOOT JR.
CHAIRMAN, GO VIRGINIA REGION 2 COUNCIL, BLACKSBURG
The former board chairman of Atlantic Union Bankshares and CEO emeritus of the Virginia Tech Foundation, which manages the university’s assets and real estate, Smoot has been a major player in Blacksburg for decades.
The Lynchburg native, who earned two degrees from Virginia Tech, is a member of the Commonwealth Transportation Board and chairs the investment committee of the Association of Public Universities. He also serves on the boards of the Blacksburg/Virginia Tech Sanitation Authority, Virginia Tech Applied Research Corp. and Mountain Lake Conservancy.
On GO Virginia’s Region 2 Council, which stretches from Lynchburg through the Roanoke and New River valleys, Smoot has played a significant role in job creation. Since 2018, the council has directed state funding to 30 economic development projects, creating 250 jobs.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Be engaged in your community. Both the community and you will benefit.
FIRST JOB: Cutting grass
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL:Social. It was great fun, and I had some excellent teachers whose talents have impacted my life since.
PEOPLE I ADMIRE: Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. They faced down governments with tenacity.
FAVORITE BEVERAGE:Sour mash bourbon
FAVORITE SONG: “You Raise Me Up,” by Josh Groban
Thompson
H. BRIAN THOMPSON
FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE BOARD CHAIRMAN, GTT COMMUNICATIONS INC., McLEAN
The founder of GTT, one of the world’s biggest cloud network providers, Thompson has served as chairman of its board of directors since January 2005.
The past year brought challenges for GTT, which was discussing filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June. In October 2020, GTT sold its infrastructure assets division to I Squared Capital for $2.15 billion after encountering accounting problems between 2017 and early 2020. Last year, GTT’s audit committee determined that some financial statements from those years were no longer reliable, and in May 2020, former CEO Richard D. Calder Jr. stepped down. The New York Stock Exchange delisted GTT in July because GTT had failed to file quarterly and annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Thompson, who also heads Vienna-based private equity investment and advisory firm Universal Telecommunications, played a significant part in determining private industry’s role in developing the multinational telecommunications structure in the 1990s. He also serves on the Irish prime minister’s Ireland-America Economic Board and is a board member for Pendrell Corp. and Penske Automotive Group Inc.
Thompson studied chemical engineering at the University
Toms
PAUL B. TOMS JR.
CHAIRMAN, HOOKER FURNITURE CO., MARTINSVILLE
After two decades leading and expanding the furniture company founded by his grandfather in 1925, Toms retired in January as Hooker Furniture’s CEO and president. He remains company chairman.
When Toms started at his family company in 1983, Hooker had about $50 million in annual sales. He was the third generation to lead Hooker and navigated it through an upheaval in the industry as cheaper foreign goods flooded the American market. He shifted Hooker’s business model so that it now imports wood and metal furniture and makes residential upholstery goods.
Though its corporate headquarters is in Martinsville, Hooker employs 800 workers throughout Virginia and North Carolina, from its custom upholstery line by Sam Moore Furniture in Bedford to its higher-end leather line Bradington-Young in Hickory, North Carolina. The company reported annual sales of $515 million last year, although it recorded a $34.8 million loss in the second quarter of 2020 due to the pandemic, Toms said last year.
Five years ago, the company acquired Home Meridian International, making Hooker one of the top sources in the U.S. furniture market. Toms was inducted into the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame in 2018.
Trani
EUGENE P. TRANI
PRESIDENT EMERITUS, VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY, RICHMOND
As the fourth president of Virginia Commonwealth University and its longest-serving leader, Trani oversaw major growth of his urban campus, while also increasing its presence in Virginia’s capital city, from 1990 to 2009.
Trani attracted a total investment of $2.2 billion in city infrastructure to the university area and helped transform downtown Richmond’s Broad Street. He also built up VCU’s Monroe Campus and medical college campus, as well as overseeing the establishment of the VCU Health System and VCU’s College of Design Arts in Qatar.
The Notre Dame and Indiana University alum started as a history instructor at Ohio State University and Southern Illinois University. He rose through the administrative ranks at the University of Nebraska, the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the University of Wisconsin before VCU brought him to Virginia. Trani continues to research and write.
FIRST JOB: Delivering newspapers in grade school
HOBBY:Collecting golf course ball markers
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: London
FAVORITE SONG: University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish Victory March
TRIGIANI
LUCIA ANNA ‘PIA’ TRIGIANI
PRINCIPAL AND PARTNER, MERCERTRIGIANI, ALEXANDRIA
A native of Big Stone Gap, Trigiani has become a prominent part of Northern Virginia, where she co-founded the MercerTrigiani law firm and is a noted authority on common interest communities, such as condominiums and retirement communities. She also has chaired the Virginia Common Interest Community Board for a decade, serving three governors, and she represents Alexandria on the GO Virginia state board.
A graduate of Saint Mary’s College in Indiana and the University of Richmond’s law school, Trigiani is vice rector of the Longwood University board of visitors and a member of the Flint Hill School board of trustees.
Trigiani also has held volunteer roles with the Library of Virginia Foundation, Virginia FREE, Lead Virginia, Commonwealth Catholic Charities Commonwealth Human Services Foundation and the Little Sisters of the Poor advisory board. She’s the former president and chair of the Virginia Bar Association Board of Governors and a member of VCU Real Estate Circle of Excellence.
She also contributed recipes and stories to “Cooking With My Sisters,” an Italian cookbook released in 2004 by her sister, bestselling novelist Adriana Trigiani.
Wilder
L. DOUGLAS WILDER
FORMER GOVERNOR, COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, CHARLES CITY COUNTY
At age 90, when many political lions have faded into the background, Wilder continues to roar. Virginia’s only Black elected governor, Wilder accused Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe in July of flip-flopping on the blackface scandal that engulfed Gov. Ralph Northam and impacted Attorney Gen. Mark Herring.
Wilder also pressed Northam to use $50 million from the state’s $4.3 billion in federal stimulus funds to invest in Virginia’s historically Black colleges and universities.
A Richmond native and the grandson of enslaved people, Wilder is a Virginia Union and Howard University alumnus and earned a Bronze Star in the Korean War.
After becoming the first Black Virginia state senator since Reconstruction, Wilder was the first Black person to win statewide office in Virginia as lieutenant governor, and he was the first popularly elected Black governor in the nation. Post-governorship, he was elected mayor of Richmond.
In 2001, Wilder began raising funds to build the United States National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, but it remains unbuilt and has been dogged by delinquent property taxes.
In 2004, Virginia Commonwealth University named the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs in his honor, and he remains a distinguished professor there.
Wilson
JOE WILSON
CEO EMERITUS, PERMATREAT Pest and Termite Control, FREDERICKSBURG
Buena Vista native Wilson rose through the ranks of Orkin Pest Control, where he started in the 1960s as a young graduate of Washington and Lee University. In 1982, after Wilson was responsible for 13 states in Orkin’s Midwest region, he bought Fredericksburg-based PermaTreat Pest Control in a handshake deal. Owned by Rollings Inc., the company had $12 million in revenue last year and employs 88 people in Virginia.
A former Fredericksburg City Council member, Wilson is deeply involved in civic organizations. He chairs the Mary Washington Hospital Foundation board and is a member of the state’s GO Virginia board. He and his wife, Mary, endowed a professorship in entomology at Virginia Tech.
FIRST JOB:Paper route (delivering The Richmond News Leader) at age 11.
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL:Seventh in a class of 61. Voted most flirtatious.
PERSON I ADMIRE:Former Gov. Jerry Baliles. He was a huge supporter of the community college system.
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: Hometown Buena Vista, fishing the Maury River.
SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: I would spend more time with my children as they grew up, as opposed to being so involved with work.
Witt
ALAN S. WITT
DEAN, LUTER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS, CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY, NEWPORT NEWS
In January, upon his retirement after 42 years as CEO of Newport News-based top 100 accounting firm PBMares LLP, Witt was elected to chair the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors. And he didn’t slow down from there. In August, Witt was named dean of the Luter School of Business at Christopher Newport University, his alma mater.
A former CNU rector, Witt helped form the business school and served as executive in residence there this year. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from CNU, with a concentration in accounting, in 1976.
In 1979, Witt co-founded PBMares, where he remains a partner. The firm, which earned $49.1 million in revenue in 2019 and employs 255 people, has offices in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.
A former Newport News City Council member, Witt also was a member of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel Commission and the Commonwealth Transportation Board, as well as former chair of Riverside Health System’s board.
In November, PBMares committed to provide college scholarships for 2021 graduates of An Achievable Dream, a program that assists underserved Newport News students. They will be known as the Alan S. Witt scholars.
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Chesapeake-based government contractor Prism Maritime LLC will invest $4 million to construct two 12,000-square-foot facilities in Chesapeake, creating 166 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday.
The facilities will be used for manufacturing, lab and storage space and will be located in the Greenbrier North Commerce Park.
Founded in 2006, Prism Maritime provides engineering, research, development and other services to military clients. They help integrate technology improvements for land-based and shipboard systems.
“We are very excited about the expansion of our operations in Chesapeake,” Ron Lee, CEO and president of Prism Maritime said in a statement. “This new fabrication facility allows Prism to continue to support the Navy with even more services on our prime contracts, as well as expanding our customer base within the commercial maritime industry.”
Virginia competed with California for the project. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the city of Chesapeake to secure it. VEDP will support Prism Maritime through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides companies creating jobs with state funding to support employee recruitment and training activities.
“The maritime industry is a key economic force for the Hampton Roads region and the entire commonwealth,” Northam said in a statement. “Prism Maritime’s continued growth is evidence of the high-quality infrastructure and workforce pipeline that helped Virginia earn consecutive titles as CNBC’s best state for business.”
The MOU solidifies the plan announced in January to develop a regional school of public health and address health inequities. The universities will now apply for accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health.
Under the MOU, ODU will serve as the lead institution and house the school. An institutional operations committee and a curriculum committee will have representatives from each institution.
“EVMS, NSU and ODU joining forces with a genuine sense of care for our community is so important. … As a community, with all of us coming together, we will be able to do dynamic work on behalf of our citizens with this school of public health,” said ODU President Brian O. Hemphill.
The General Assembly and Gov. Ralph Northam allocated $5 million to the project, splitting the amount evenly between ODU and NSU. Sentara Healthcare provided $4 million in grants to ODU and NSU to support the accreditation process.
“The students who attend the ONE School of Public Health in partnership with Sentara Healthcare will not only gain knowledge in public health fields, but they will also learn about cultural competency in public health and medicine that will allow them to promote wellness and encourage healthy behaviors,” said NSU president Javaune Adams-Gaston.
A search committee is in the process of seeking candidates for the school’s inaugural dean, who will be appointed by Hemphill.
The school will have three aims: education, research and service. It will offer a master of public health degree and a doctoral degree in health services research degree programs. In terms of research, students will focus on health disparities and supporting preventative health care messaging. The school plans to have service learning opportunities as well as partnerships with community organizations.
“As a region, we can no longer ignore the health disparities that exist in our neighborhoods,” Dr. Alfred Abuhamad, interim president, provost and dean of Eastern Virginia Medical School, said in a statement. “Expanding our existing partnerships in offering high-level education in public health is an enormous step forward in broadening the impact we can have on Hampton Roads.”
Located at 2901 Godwin Blvd., the single tenant, net-leased property is 15,477 square feet.
Stablewood Properties LLC purchased the property from Good Partners LLC. Clark Simpson and Chris Rouzie with Thalhimer handled the sale on behalf of the seller.
Located at 7 N 2nd St., the 13,704-square-foot building is expected to remain a hostel.
Potomac Area Hostels Inc. bought the building from American Youth Hostels Inc. Thomas Langston and David T. Kalman with S. L. Nusbaum represented the buyer.
Tyson Foods Inc. will open a 325,000-square-foot, $300 million manufacturing facility in the Cane Creek Centre industrial park, creating 376 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday.
The new facility will primarily be used for the production of cooked foods such as Any’Tizer Snacks and chicken nuggets made by Tyson Foods. The poultry company will purchase 60 million pounds of Virginia-grown chicken for the facility over the next three years.
Virginia competed with North Carolina for the project. Cane Creek Centre is jointly owned by the city of Danville and Pittsylvania County.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services worked with Pittsylvania County, the city of Danville, the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Development Authority, the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance, and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission to secure the project.
“When corporate partners reinvest in the commonwealth, it is a strong endorsement of the many attributes that make Virginia the best state for business,” Northam said. “Tyson Foods has been a major employer in Virginia for more than five decades and continues its growth trajectory with this new operation in Danville-Pittsylvania County, creating hundreds of quality jobs for the citizens of Southern Virginia. We look forward to many years of success.”
Northam approved a $3.048 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund and a $3 million Virginia Investment Performance Grant. He also approved a $500,000 grant from the Governor‘s Agriculture and Forestry Industries Development Fund that supports projects sourcing Virginia-grown products.
Additionally, the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission approved $1.5 million from the Tobacco Region Opportunity Fund for the project. Tyson is eligible to receive state benefits from the Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit for full-time jobs created and benefits from the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program.
Construction will start either at the end of 2021 or early next year and hiring will begin in the fourth quarter of 2022, said Arnold Hendrix, spokesman for the city of Danville.
Tyson Foods is headquartered in Arkansas and has 139,000 employees. The company has had a footprint in Virginia for more than 50 years and employs more than 2,000 people across the state in its hatchery, grain and processing operations in Glen Allen and on the Eastern Shore.
Fairfax-based Peterson Cos., known for developing National Harbor in Maryland, closed Thursday on its $14.15 million purchase of an off-market distribution facility in Midlothian.
The 83,025-square-foot facility, located at 14000 Justice Road, sits on a nine-acre parcel. It was constructed for Ingersoll Rand dba Trane Technologies Inc. and was completed in December 2018.
It is fully leased to a single tenant, Trane, and the 10-year net lease indicates a first-year net operating income of $705,712.50 with 2% annual escalations. The initial building envelope allows for expansion up to 100,000 square feet.
Peterson Cos. bought the property from Railey Hill Associates LLC. Chris Zarpas with S. L. Nusbaum Realty Co. represented Peterson, and Tucker Dowdy and Russell Wyatt with Commonwealth Commercial represented the seller.
Peterson has been focusing on industrial properties in anticipation of the rise in warehousing and distribution space needs, said Taylor Chess, Peterson’s president of development.
“From COVID, we’re able to really take advantage of that,” he said, “and since we’re in development of a couple hundred acres of industrial, when we’re buying income-producing property, we thought it was a good move to buy industrial income-producing property as well, and the Trane warehouse fits right in that.”
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JUSTIN FUENTE
