The struggle for work-life balance was taking its toll on women professionals even before the pandemic struck. But the lack of child care and the burnout from increased workloads may now be driving some women business leaders and aspiring leaders out of the workforce altogether.
A May 19 Deloitte Global study, “Women @ Work: A global outlook,” found that a majority of 5,000 working women surveyed across 10 nations said they plan to leave their current employer within two years; nearly a quarter may leave the workforce for good.
And the September 2020 Women in the Workplace report from LeanIn.org and McKinsey & Co. found that before the pandemic, women held 28% of senior vice president roles and 21% of C-suite roles. But last summer, according to the report, one in four women in those top positions was thinking of leaving their jobs, compared with one in six men in such roles.
To prevent an exodus of women leaders, especially women of color, from the workplace, it’s time to truly commit to prioritizing work/life balance and flexible work options, says Donna C. Wertalik, a member of the Women in Business Leadership team at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business.
Widening gaps
COVID-19 deepened women’s risks for unemployment, for losing their financial independence and for being exposed to domestic violence. Women also have been more exposed to health risks indirectly aggravated by the pandemic and lockdown, says Wertalik, director of marketing strategy analytics for the Pamplin College.
Since the pandemic began, 77% of women surveyed by Deloitte said that their workloads have increased. They reported a 35-point drop in mental wellness and a 29-point drop in motivation at work compared with before the pandemic.
Katherine Whitney, co-founder and director of Warren Whitney, a management consulting firm in Richmond that specializes in executive search, succession planning and board development, has seen the ways that the pandemic has hurt women leaders, and particularly next-generation women leaders.
“I’ve seen the struggle,” Whitney says. Working remotely can be efficient, but “on the other hand, it’s exhausting,” she says, citing the extreme amount of pressure “we put on ourselves or the company puts on us” to get everything done while working from home.
Whitney views one of her clients — an upper-level executive — as typical of women executives during the pandemic era. “She was working 13 hours a day and weekends. Her organization was really impacted by the pandemic. She is a next-generation leader. She didn’t give up, but it is not a fun life. And when people are working way too many hours, they make mistakes” and aren’t productive, she says.
Family-friendly policies such as flexible work, remote work, child care and parental leave are crucial when it comes to retaining women professionals, Wertalik stresses. She recommends supporting parents through online platforms and parenting groups and even offering workshops to improve children’s self-sufficiency and discipline.
“Ensure mental health and well-being are front and center as it relates to resources and true support,” she says. “Companies need to nurture their employees’ individual resilience. Without that human factor, even the most cutting-edge technologies won’t be enough.”
Seeking equity
Family concerns aren’t the only reason women professionals leave the workforce. A 2015 LinkedIn study found that the No. 1 reason millennial women were exiting was a “lack of advancement opportunities.” Gen X and Baby Boomer women listed “dissatisfaction with senior leadership” as their top reason for leaving the workforce.
Poor promotion opportunities early on the career ladder — known as the “broken rung” — often drive a lack of diversity at higher levels.
“Ensure that the first level of management has the same demographic breakdown as your entry-level workforce. Make sure women get that first promotion. This is crucial,” Wertalik says, because once the employee pool begins to narrow in demographics, that’s amplified at each subsequent level of leadership.
Companies need to make a conscious effort to ensure that women are given opportunities to grow, she says, including “lateral opportunities to expand skill sets, chances to work on difficult projects, and direct access to leadership and mentorship.”
Before the pandemic, the average American female worker earned only
81 cents for every dollar the average male worker made, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But at least the gap was starting to narrow. Since the pandemic, the pay gap is widening. Economists project that the gap will widen by 5%, so that the average female worker will earn about 76 cents for every dollar the average male worker makes.
And the time it will take for that gender gap to close grew by 36 years in the space of just 12 months, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report. The report estimates that it will take an average of 135.6 years for women and men to reach parity on a range of factors worldwide, instead of the 99.5 years outlined in the 2020 report.
But Whitney says she does see more serious steps being taken toward pay equity. When she conducts executive searches, she finds some companies are willing to set compensation first, “instead of saying, ‘Let’s wait and see how low we can get.’ If the right person happens to be in a position that didn’t pay well, she shouldn’t have to live with that forever.”
In several recent cases, Whitney says she’s seen women receive big salary jumps from their previous positions “because the board believed it was the right thing to do to set the compensation and then find the person.”
Work/life flexibility
Women working remotely during the pandemic experienced new pressures to balance home and work responsibilities, says Katherine Whitney with management consulting firm Warren Whitney. Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown
But women need to do their part, too, Whitney continues. “I feel that women don’t negotiate as well for salaries. Women need to be willing to push a little bit harder.”
Beth Vann-Turnbull, executive director of Housing Families First, a nonprofit emergency shelter in Henrico, agrees that men are more willing to advocate for themselves.
“There’s more of a push from men to be CEOs. More men will push for it and get it,” says Vann-Turnbull, who adds that she’s personally experienced “imposter syndrome,” a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their own skills, talents and accomplishments.
Looking around at other women professionals, “I don’t think I’m the only one who suffers from it,” Vann-Turnbull says.
To counter that, Whitney advises young women professionals to be “more intentional about your career paths. Don’t just let things happen. If you want to be CEO, ask yourself what experience do you need to have had? What are you going to do to get better in areas you need? Look at the skills. Map out what you need.”
And find a mentor who can help with that journey.
Or, Whitney suggests, a series of mentors, “people you learn from, who help you set up for success.”
Vann-Turnbull says she’s had informal mentors in fields similar to her own who have been “incredibly helpful. They can help you reframe issues. Or they can affirm that you haven’t taken a wrong term. They let you work things out.”
Organization consultants also can be helpful, she adds, providing perspective and a safe place to try out ideas.
Danielle Ripperton, executive director at the Children’s Museum of Richmond, finds that mentors have given her more confidence to accomplish her goals. Additionally, she recommends that women who want to move up the career ladder join professional associations and local community organizations so “you can see leaders out there. You don’t feel alone.”
Hybrid and remote work options allow women more flexibility to succeed, says Heritage Wealth Advisors CEO Dee Ann Remo. “My hope is we don’t go back to normal.” Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown
She says she’s especially benefited from bosses — both male and female — who valued executive development. “I’m very lucky to be in a field that has growth opportunities and leadership experiences,” says Ripperton, who became head of the museum in December 2019.
“They didn’t make an assumption that, because I had a child, I didn’t want to go away for five days for a great leadership program. You need to ask and let people feel comfortable people saying yes or no. You need to have a culture where people feel comfortable” accepting or declining growth opportunities, she says.
Dee Ann Remo, founder, CEO and managing director of Heritage Wealth Advisors in Richmond, finds herself “a little more optimistic” now about how the aftershocks of the pandemic will affect the next generation of women leaders.
“I’m kind of glad we had the experience that proves that hybrid [employment] works. My hope is that we don’t go back to normal,” Remo says. She’s found that women managers are “delighted” when they find that they will be able to continue to make decisions about where and when they work.
Women have always needed work/life flexibility to move up the corporate ladder, Remo believes, but in the past that need often has been accompanied by a lag in their career advancement and the stigma that they weren’t as serious about their work.
“We just blew all that up” during the pandemic, she says, by demonstrating that people can work in different situations and still stay on track.
In the long run, the upheaval caused by COVID-19 may help close the gaps between men and women, Remo says. Previously, “women might have made the decision that their only choice was to work less hours. Now they might make the decision that they can work the same amount but at a different time or from a different place. They will be able to say, ‘I’m not asking to be on a different track. I’m just asking to be able to make wise decisions.’”
Companies that embrace the new way will win the talent war without giving anything up, she says. In any case, “women are going to say, ‘No, we’re not going back to the old way. We just showed you this works.’”
In spring 2020, University of Virginia officials were left scrambling as thousands of students lost summer internships overnight due to the then-burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic.
Those precious 10- to 12-week gigs, during which students lay the groundwork for their post-college careers, were suddenly gone.
“We said, ‘We can’t just start calling more companies to get more internships. [The internships] just aren’t there,’” recalls David Lapinski, U.Va.’s director of employer relations and experiential education.
With students’ summer career-prep plans evaporating, leaders had days to develop new opportunities for them.
And COVID-19 forced them to rethink how they had always done things. As leaders reimagined how they could help students get hands-on job experience, questions that had been simmering in the career preparation world prior to COVID-19 were suddenly on the front burner.
“Micro-experiences” provided by hands-on programs like Launchpad and Propel give students a chance to explore different types of industries while learning new workforce skills, says David Lapinski, U.Va.’s director of employer relations and experiential education. Photo by Caroline Martin
For instance, what if dedicating a summer to one internship limited a student’s perspective?
And what if students were missing out on hard skills, such as being able to code in Python or build a digital marketing plan?
And what if tech-proficient students were floundering in first jobs because they lacked soft skills needed in any workplace?
In 36 hours, U.Va.’s Launchpad program was born.
A six-credit, all-online program starting its second year this summer, Launchpad may now be a better replica for the modern workplace than some pre-pandemic in-person programs.
Students in Launchpad study a mix of liberal arts and digital skills. And they get hands-on experience, working in teams remotely with real-world companies on real-world problems.
Elli Perkins, an anthropology major from Chesterfield County, enrolled in Launchpad in summer 2020, taking “boot camp” courses in digital marketing and branding. She consulted with a beauty company on its branding efforts and created a digital marketing campaign for a food blog.
“It gives you such a wide range of exposure to show you what you like and what you don’t like,” Perkins says. “You come out with tangible projects that really gave me a great taste for what those careers would be like.”
Launchpad is just one such new avenue at U.Va., but it is indicative of how attitudes toward career preparation are shifting.
Skill building
No one’s saying the old model is dead. Students still need help developing résumés, learning how to interview for jobs and building experience and connections through internships.
But schools are feeling the pressure from both sides — companies want graduates with a diverse skill set, and graduates don’t want to be discouraged if they realize they aren’t a match for their chosen career.
“The traditional way of career services had been to engage the company, get them to come to [the university] and do the recruiting,” Lapinski says. “It hasn’t been hands-on, immersive and experiential … and too many employers lose employees within six months.”
University leaders have long known that the divide between liberal arts and the hard sciences is far more pronounced on campus than it is in the workplace.
Alex Hernandez, dean of the U.Va. School of Continuing and Professional Studies, says employers don’t differentiate between “hard skill” and “soft skill” employees. “They want you to have both.”
It was a lesson Hernandez learned vividly during his first job working on Wall Street as a financial analyst after graduating from college in 1996. “While they really cared whether I could write [and] whether I could think analytically, honestly they spent the first six months training me on whether I could use Microsoft Excel without a mouse,” Hernandez remembers.
At the time, however, mastering all the Excel shortcuts was a vital skill for a financial analyst who had to be quick.
The boot camps within Launchpad cover both specialized digital skills that a student may miss in their traditional coursework, along with writing, communication and teamwork skills that employers often don’t have the time or desire to teach.
“There is a whole new set of digital skills that are basic table stakes for getting into a career,” Hernandez says. “What we are trying to figure out at U.Va. is how do you create these really meaningful programs that prepare students for the world of work that also teach the human skills we know we need for long-term career success?”
Growth opportunity
The marriage of hard and soft skills might be receiving renewed emphasis in career prep offices, but it is not a new idea.
Recent U.Va. graduate Myles McPartland went from a self-described “shy kid” to directing 250 volunteers in a university nonprofit program that helps local low-income families with preparing and filing their income taxes. Photo by Will Schermerhorn
Kevin Cao, a 25-year-old U.Va. graduate now working with Deloitte, encourages current college students to assess their skill deficits and then get involved in something that will stretch them.
Cao, a Spanish and global studies major, traveled to Nicaragua during the summer after his sophomore year to work alongside biology and engineering students.
The five-member team was tasked with helping a nongovernmental organization determine the best way to clean up the drinking water in a rural community. They distributed disposable cameras and asked community members to take pictures of problem areas that were contaminating the water. Cao facilitated meetings with locals during which they would review photos of dirty wells, dilapidated structures crumbling into the water supply or people crossing the river on horseback.
It was a classic consulting gig and Cao says it wasn’t that different from working at Deloitte.
“We help our clients achieve their strategic goals,” Cao says. “That’s just fancy speak for what we did in Nicaragua, but now it’s for a Fortune 500 company or an American nonprofit.”
Like Cao, recent U.Va. graduate Myles McPartland also immersed himself in a project that helped him grow.
McPartland describes himself as a naturally shy introvert from Stephens City, a small town near Winchester.
As a first-year student in U.Va.’s McIntire School of Commerce, McPartland joined CASH — Creating Assets, Savings and Hope — a tax preparation club that is part of the Madison House, a student volunteer nonprofit in Charlottesville. The club helps low-income families in Albemarle County file their taxes, and McPartland began meeting with strangers to discuss their finances every week.
“I was really scared,” he says. “I was this 18-year-old kid filing someone’s taxes and being responsible for a bunch of money for the client.”
He eventually became the program director for CASH during his final year, overseeing a program with 250 student volunteers who complete thousands of tax returns for millions in tax refunds each year.
The “shy kid” was now dealing with clients who wanted to fudge the numbers on their returns, confronting absentee volunteers and selling the club’s mission to hundreds of potential recruits. During the pandemic, he had to reorganize CASH’s entire operations to go virtual. With the social element gone, McPartland also had to keep his team motivated as they slogged away at their parents’ homes, working on tax returns for people they would never meet.
Before he arrived at U.Va. and joined CASH, skills like leading a team, making split-second decisions and being assertive were well beyond his wheelhouse. But all those experiences gave McPartland plenty of fodder for the inevitable “Tell me about a time when …” question asked by job interviewers.
And that experience also helped him land a job this summer as a proprietary trader for New York-based investment firm Apex Capital Holdings LLC. McPartland is confident that his four years in CASH equipped him with vital skills for a career working on a team that makes rapid-fire stock market decisions.
“It gives you so many soft skills — teamwork, communication, talking to people,” he says. “A lot of growth comes from that.”
‘Micro-experiences’
McPartland always knew he wanted to go into finance. But most other students don’t have such a specific ambition.
That’s why, alongside Launchpad, U.Va. last summer also launched Propel — a year-round workforce training program that gives students opportunities to work on as many as five different projects, helping companies solve real-world problems. Sessions can range from a few weeks to a semester, and some offer course credit.
U.Va. partnered on the project with the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center, which helped connect students with businesses in the surrounding counties that needed assistance with projects, such as a coffee shop that wanted to explore whether it would be profitable to also sell CBD products. With the center’s help, students also aided local governments, creating online platforms for small businesses to communicate needs to localities. Another project involved helping Orange County come up with a campaign to revitalize its Black business community.
“I have been so impressed with the quality of the [Propel] program, the ease with which they provide these services and the sheer volume of work that the students are doing,” says Rebecca Haydock, director of the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center. “The students have taken every issue that has been put in front of them seriously and come up with solutions that have shocked and amazed all of us. … Their research is first-class [and] their presentations are creative, professional and thoughtful.”
The opportunity to dive into up to five different projects is ideal for students who may not yet have chosen a career, Lapinski says. For these students, it can be a better use of time than an internship.
“These are micro-experiences,” he explains. Unlike a traditional 12-week internship, which is spent at one location, Propel offers students a chance to explore several types of businesses and pick up new workforce skills from each.
And one the most valuable outcomes of programs like Propel and Launchpad, Lapinski adds, is helping students realize what they do and do not want to do.
Elli Perkins, the anthropology major who completed Launchpad last summer, ended up changing her career ambitions after completing the program.
She went into Launchpad as a liberal arts major interested in digital marketing and branding. But through her time in Launchpad, she learned she didn’t want to pursue those fields.
Perkins left with a new career focus: Becoming a nurse.
The intense career prep realigned her thinking toward a goal that had been in the back of her mind since seeing her little brother spend time in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“I needed the program to show me how much I wanted to do that,” she says.
Lapinski says the onus is on educators to develop opportunities for students like Perkins to dip their toes in all sorts of different fields, developing new skills and getting a taste of life after college.
“In career services, we still have to focus on résumé writing, cover letters and how to interview,” Lapinski says. “But we believe we need to do these additional programs focused on [workforce] experience and skills to help students grow in all aspects of their career development.”
The University of Virginia at a glance
Founded
Sometimes called Mr. Jefferson’s university or just The University, U.Va. was founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819. Its first board of visitors included Jefferson and fellow U.S. presidents James Madison and James Monroe.
Campus
With roughly 1,240 contiguous acres around its UNESCO World Heritage Site campus, U.Va. is known for its distinctive Jefferson-designed Rotunda building located on The Lawn, the school’s 35-acre grass quad. U.Va.’s other major holding is the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, a four-year liberal arts college in Southwest Virginia.
Enrollment
About 17,700 undergraduate students
About 6,800 graduate students
About 2,500 international students
40% minority enrollment
69% in-state undergraduate students
Employees
Approximately 4,300 faculty, 16,300 staff and 12,000 UVA Health employees
Academic programs
Notable for its medicine, law and nursing schools, U.Va. offers more than 120 majors across 12 schools.
Tuition, fees, housing and dining*
Includes average room and board, plus books and other expenses
In-state residents: $34,560
Out-of-state residents: $69,090
*Note: Costs may differ depending on academic program.
The latest Virginia Constitution went into effect 50 years ago this month, but in today’s world of polarized politics, it feels like it might as well have been 1787.
Virginia’s first constitution was passed in 1776, the year the United States declared independence. The state’s present constitution is the seventh incarnation of the commonwealth’s governing document.
The penultimate state constitution was written in 1902 and entrenched Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised Black people and other non-white citizens, including by restricting voting rights through measures such as poll taxes and literacy testsdesigned to skirt the U.S. Constitution’s 15th Amendment.
“The existing constitution was antiquated and not suited for the time,” says A.E. Dick Howard, professor of law at the University of Virginia. “Beyond that, it was a racist document, founded on white supremacy. It clearly needed updating and replacing.”
In 1968, Virginia Gov. Mills Godwin called a constitutional commission to rework the document and make it conform with present federal law, particularly around civil rights in education and voting. Commission members included luminaries such as former Gov. Colgate Darden, future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell Jr., civil rights icon Oliver Hill and Hardy Cross Dillard, who would become a judge on the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
“They were the decision makers and I was the facilitator,” says Howard, who was appointed to direct the commission.
Once the group produced a document, it went to the General Assembly, where Howard was made counsel to the legislature. Lawmakers made revisions and put the proposed constitution out for a 1970 voter referendum. By then, Linwood Holton had been elected governor, and he appointed Howard to run an advocacy campaign.
“I decided I would set out to do whatever I would do if I was organizing someone’s campaign for governor or senator,” Howard recalls. He bought bumper stickers and pins, as well as billboards and television advertising, and traveled across Virginia to make speeches, “from Big Stone Gap on one end to Onancock on the other.”
Virginians approved the revised constitution, with 72% of Virginians voting in favor of it. The new constitution took effect on July 1, 1971.
“We didn’t have the kind of opposition you would have today,” Howard says. “We didn’t have to deal with social media; today, misinformation would spread like a prairie fire.”
The 1971 Virginia Constitution addressed racism by stripping language that violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education ruling against school segregation. The new state constitution forbid discrimination on the basis of race, national origin and gender. It also cut the extraneous statutory detail from the previous version so that the 1971 constitution is roughly half the length of the 1902 constitution.
And it left plenty of room for lawmakers to operate atop that legal foundation.
“It didn’t make a difference to me as to how I operated,” says former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, who was in his first term as a state senator when the document was passed by legislators and approved by voters. “The constitution says what the purpose of government is and what government can and should do. How that’s done is up to the legislature. That’s what’s so important today.”
The new state constitution is also relatively easy to amend. Doing so requires the General Assembly to pass a potential amendment in back-to-back years separated by a state election. Proposed amendments must be approved by Virginia voters. That keeps a steady stream of proposed amendments flowing as ballot measures, from narrowly focused tax exemptions to broad-ranging, fiercely fought provisions such as a 2006 amendment to ban gay marriage. The latter amendment was overturned by a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
Last year, Virginia voters approved an amendment to make sweeping changes about how legislative districts are drawn after each decennial U.S. census.
“Virginia is one of the first states in our history where sitting legislators have effectively voted twice to take redistricting power out of their own hands,” says Rebecca Green, professor of practice at the William & Mary Law School. “Because we don’t have a direct democracy to amend the constitution with a popular vote, you couldn’t have a sweeping change as in other states where voters directly took power away from state legislators. Here, legislators had to be part of the solution.”
The process of amending the Virginia Constitution is always ongoing. Wilder, for example, would like to see it changed to allow state funding for private, historically Black colleges and universities — specifically Hampton University and Virginia Union University.
Howard argues that never-ending amendments are a crucial element of why the 1971 state constitution remains relevant even today.
“It’s a useful safety valve,” Howard says. “If something needs fixing, you can fix it without a general overhaul. You can argue, ‘It’s been 50 years, isn’t it time to rewrite?’ I think given the polarized state of Virginia, it would be a disaster, chaos. I think it wouldn’t work.”
With the COVID-19 pandemic exposing weaknesses in the global supply chain, Sentara Healthcare is ramping up efforts to diversify its vendors, committing executive leadership and resources to growing partnerships with local and regional suppliers, as well as companies owned by women, veterans and people of color.
“We are being intentional about seeking a broad range of vendors,” says Terrie Edwards, a Sentara corporate vice president. “We strive to work with vendors that reflect the communities we serve. That results in a richer, broader environment, yielding better outcomes and leading to suppliers reinvesting in jobs in each of the markets we serve.”
The Norfolk-based health system, which has 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, as well as dozens of outpatient facilities, spends about $2.4 billion annually on its supply chain, but the pandemic spiked that figure to more than $3 billion. With supplies constricted during the pandemic’s height, the company increasingly turned to local and regional vendors, like Suffolk-based Kerma Medical Products Inc., a veteran- and minority-owned manufacturer of nursing products, including digital thermometers and fetal monitor belts.
“COVID showed us how fragile our supply chain is, and we began to look for vendors closer to home,” explains Jennifer McPherren, vice president of supply chain and chair of Sentara’s Supplier Diversity Executive Council, which seeks to increase contracts with diverse local and regional firms. “Our goal is to bring things within our continental borders and regionally and locally. Kerma met our integrity standards and has been a great partner.”
Sentara’s initiative benefits diverse companies throughout the health care industry, says Kerma President Joe Reubel. “It provides access and refocused communication that has already demonstrated to be beneficial for immediate sales growth,” he adds. “It is exciting that together we can have an impact not only in the health care industry but also in our communities.”
Along with offering quarterly education sessions to help smaller suppliers navigate the bid process, Sentara recently hired a manager of supply chain diversity to expand the vendor base.
“We want to grow resiliency in the supply chain by aligning opportunities to ensure products get to where they are needed at the time they are needed, in the quantities needed, and do what is best for patient care,” Edwards adds. “If we can do that using suppliers in the Virginia and North Carolina markets, that’s even better.”
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Angelic Jenkins was working toward opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant serving updated versions of the soul food staples she grew up with.
On weekends, Jenkins and her husband catered parties and drove the Angelic’s Kitchen food truck they bought in 2018 to festivals around Virginia. And on weekdays, she worked at her full-time job as the human resources director at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Charlottesville.
When the pandemic shut down the hospitality sector, Jenkins’ schedule at the hotel was temporarily reduced to one day a week, and her husband was laid off from his position as a driver for US Foods.
The couple needed to find a way to keep bringing in income to help them build out their restaurant, which was slated to open in December 2020 in Charlottesville’s new Dairy Market food hall.
“We decided to open the food truck every day. We both just put all of our energy into it,” Jenkins says.
As the pandemic caused business to drop off at Albemarle Limousine, owner Andrea Saathoff expanded into bicycle repair, car washing and auto repair sidelines. Photo by Caroline Martin
They expanded from their usual food truck location on Pantops Mountain to serving food in neighborhoods around the city during a time when people were looking for dine-out options that could operate under the pandemic public health strictures.
Their business was kept afloat during the pandemic by regular orders for hundreds of meals from World Central Kitchen, a Washington, D.C.-based global nonprofit that delivers meals to families and seniors who are food insecure. Jenkins donated beverages to accompany the meals.
As the months wore on, the hotel restored some of Jenkins’ hours, but after
20 years there, she decided to retire in favor of opening her restaurant. She worked with the city of Charlottesville, Dairy Market developer Stony Point Development Group and the Community Investment Collaborative incubator to access grants and loans that helped her get Angelic’s Kitchen ready to open with the rest of the Dairy Market food hall on Dec. 15, 2020.
“It was really scary,” Jenkins says of the past 16 months, “but everything ended up working out.”
Small business owners around the Charlottesville region are beginning to exhale after more than a year of white-knuckled twists and turns, as the pandemic shredded old business models but also revealed new opportunities and lessons for the future.
Pandemic pivots
“Initially there was a fair amount of panic and concern across all industries, but I think we saw pretty quickly a considerable ability to pivot business models and try to be resilient,” says Charlottesville Economic Development Director Chris Engel.
The city saw the pandemic’s economic impact in its meals and lodging tax collections. City budget writers have projected that these two major revenue sources will not reach pre-COVID levels until at least July 2022. By March 2021, however, the revenue had rebounded considerably,with meals taxes at 80% of pre-COVID levels and lodging taxes at 65%, Engel says.
The extended shutdown had a major impact on the region’s tourism industry. According to Project Rebound, a report produced by a collaboration led by the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, leisure and hospitality jobs made up 10.9% of non-farm employment in the region in February 2020. That dropped to 7.6% by April 2020.
The pandemic’s economic impact particularly hurt businesses that rely on business and tourism travelers.
Andrea Saathoff, owner of Albemarle Limousine, watched 90% of her transportation business disappear after the coronavirus shut down business travel, weddings, corporate entertainment and sports team travel in one fell swoop.
“I had a couple of workers saying, ‘Are we going to get laid off?’” Saathoff remembers.
“This time last year, we were terrified,” recalls George Hodson, CEO of Veritas Vineyard in Nelson County. Photo by Caroline Martin
Saathoff and her workers channeled that fear into a new enterprise.
Ace Bicycle Charlottesville opened in spring 2020 under the same roof as Albemarle Limousine, matching existing skills in Saathoff’s workforce with the huge demand for bicycle maintenance prompted by the pandemic.
Saathoff’s 50 employees also switched gears to pour more labor into a 10-year-old Albemarle Limousine side business — a car washing and detailing service called Virginia Auto Detailing.
“We used our time where we were not providing transportation to try to grow and develop and nurture these little businesses,” Saathoff says. “In a way, surviving the pandemic requires the same kind of skills that entrepreneurship requires. … You have to be ready to quickly take advantage of changing opportunities and changing trends.”
It also requires an appetite for risk, something that Saathoff didn’t shy away from during the shutdown.
As the company’s detailing business outgrew Albemarle Limousine’s small indoor facility, Saathoff began seeking a real estate property where she could open an auto repair business, using the in-house mechanics she’d hired in recent years.
She jumped on the opportunity when Edgecomb’s Auto Sales and Service — a longtime Charlottesville family business — announced in September it was closing for good. Saathoff worked with the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center to secure financing to buy the property and opened Ace Auto Center Express in January.
As the pandemic eases, all four of her businesses are busier than ever, even the bicycle shop, which Saathoff acknowledges was a move of “pure desperation” amid a sharp, pandemic-fueled drop-off for her transportation business.
Relief funds
That’s a feeling many other business owners find relatable.
“This time last year, we were terrified,” says George Hodson, CEO of Veritas Vineyard in Nelson County.
The winery faced the prospect of having to maintain its vineyards and keep its production cycle moving even while its events, restaurant and retail activity ground to a halt.
But the shutdown generated an appetite for venues where families could get out of the house and enjoy a safe and distanced environment. Like many other wineries, Veritas found that its sprawling property fit the bill.
“We had more families, more people here for a much longer time,” he says.
Veritas opened a pop-up restaurant — cheekily named Phase II as a play on Virginia’s COVID-19 restriction level that allowed for on-site dining — and bought igloos to accommodate winter dining.
The shutdown also accelerated a trend Hodson says was already anticipated in the wine industry.
“People have been predicting this tide for years when consumers stop buying wine in stores and got it shipped to their homes,” he says.
With so many Americans working from home, people were able to meet the delivery person during the day to give the signature that had traditionally been the obstacle to widespread online alcohol sales. Hodson says Veritas saw 500% growth in its e-commerce business during 2020.
Providing a stream of funding to keep small businesses going kept localities and regional business development groups busy throughout the pandemic. Government and nonprofit partners in the Charlottesville region got creative to find ways to get cash flowing to businesses that fell through the cracks of federal initiatives such as the Paycheck Protection Program.
Charlottesville partnered with Albemarle County to put money into a revolving loan fund run through the Community Investment Collaborative (CIC), a regional business incubator.
CIC President Stephen Davis says private contributions pushed the loan fund to $600,000.
The Business Recovery Fund, as it is called, offered small businesses loans of up to $10,000 at 1% interest, with no payments for six months and up to three years to repay the full loans.
“We were trying to create an opportunity, especially for the smaller businesses, to access capital,” Davis says.
The loans helped businesses pay rent and keep employees on staff through the hardest part of the pandemic. When CARES Act grants became available — the CIC partnered with 11 local governments in the region to distribute $12 million in CARES grants — some of the demand for loans subsided.
Davis says that all loans were current on payments as of May and a handful had been fully repaid. That has Davis looking toward the next round of loans, which he thinks will be necessary to help businesses recapitalize, rebuild reserves and make capital purchases that had been deferred over the past year.
As many businesses accessed PPP loans and other pandemic resources through the CIC, the organization connected them with the Central Virginia Small Business Development Center.
Davis says the SBDC logged 3,100 hours of business counseling in 2020, compared with 900 in 2019.
“Small business development centers have been critical frontline support for businesses over the past year, providing assistance to navigate PPP,” Davis says. “Once they accessed it, they came back for business counseling.”
In some cases, business owners stayed afloat thanks to cooperation with landlords.
In early 2020, Chris Henry, president of Stony Point Development Group, was finishing the renovation and expansion of the 1937 Monticello dairy into the Dairy Market, a mixed-use development featuring a food hall, office and residential space.
Henry placed an emphasis on locally owned businesses when leasing out the food hall, which houses Starr Hill Brewery, 12 food stalls — including Angelic’s Kitchen — and South and Central, a Latin steakhouse run by longtime Charlottesville restaurateur Will Richey.
However, as restaurants began building out their spaces in fall 2020, many of the restaurateurs discovered that equipment manufacturers were no longer making financing options available to them. So, Henry says, “we created an internal loan facility through our company and lent money to help those tenants buy their equipment. Credit for small businesses really seized up, and we had to step in to fill some of that void.”
The developer also had to navigate requests for rent relief.
“We had to pick and choose, and we tried to help the folks we felt really needed it,” Henry says. “We had office tenants that are publicly traded companies who asked us for rent relief. We were totally comfortable saying no to those kinds of requests, but a lot of the other small businesses in the market hall couldn’t operate without the liquidity we were able to provide.” ν
The COVID-19 pandemic has been unusually difficult for professional women, especially those with young children or other responsibilities, such as caring for older family members. Many had to leave work entirely or put pursuing their career goals on the back burner during the past year while handling personal duties at home. The pandemic’s future impact on women’s progress in leadership at work is yet unknown, as well as how it will affect the national effort to close the gender pay gap — particularly for Black and Latino women, who earn an average of 62 cents and 54 cents, respectively, for every dollar earned by white men, according to U.S. Census data.
With such an unusual year as our backdrop, Virginia Business introduces our inaugural Virginia Business Women in Leadership Awards, spotlighting a cohort of 30 executives who have excelled in their careers and are paving the way for other women to follow in their footsteps. More than 200 women business leaders were nominated this year, making it a challenge to narrow down the list to our 30 honorees. Decisions were made by Virginia Business’ editor and publishers.
The women selected had to be based in Virginia and hold significant C-suite or equivalent leadership positions at for-profit businesses. Those under consideration included business owners, CEOs, chief operating officers and other C-suite-level executives. We divided nominees into those working for small businesses ($20 million or less in annual revenues) and large businesses (more than $20 million in annual revenues). In making our decisions, we also considered nominees’ overall career accomplishments, community engagement and the role the leader has played in mentoring women and girls.
We congratulate our stellar first group of winners and look forward to honoring more women executives in future editions of the Virginia Business Women in Leadership awards.
LARGE BUSINESS
MARY ALDRICH, chief operating officer, PBMares LLP
MARY ALDRICH Chief operating officer, PBMares LLP Newport News One of the most gratifying parts of Mary Aldrich’s job, which she’s held since 2008, is watching the organization evolve and thrive because of decisions, initiatives and strategies she worked on. “Being the critical wingman to the CEO who is setting the vision, I get to execute and bring the results and vision to life with the CEO,” she says.
As a Generation Xer, Aldrich recalls growing up assuming she had to get things done herself, no matter the barrier. “Work harder, work smarter, overcome — it’s up to me,” she says. “Perhaps I saw the glass ceiling like any other barrier to my success. I acknowledged it existed, but I was accountable to figure out how to break through it.” Despite often being the only woman in the room when she was younger, she says, she never felt intimidated. In retrospect, Aldrich realizes she had an advantage often missing for women even today: a sponsor inside the organization.
“Twice in my career, I’ve had an incredible male mentor who helped pave the way for me to enter those rooms because they saw something in me and spent the time with me,” she explains. “They were helping me break through the ceiling.”
Aldrich helps others do the same as a board member of Christopher Newport University’s Luter School of Business, providing mentoring and outreach to undergraduate and graduate students in business programs.
JULIE ALEXANDER, managing director of REMS Norfolk, Colliers, Norfolk. Photo by Mark Rhodes
JULIE ALEXANDER Managing director of REMS Norfolk, Colliers, Norfolk Julie Alexander has been in the real estate professional services and investment management business for her entire career of more than 35 years.
“I graduated [from Old Dominion University] on a Thursday and started work on Monday,” she says. She was just the seventh hire for Robinson & Wetmore, a Norfolk development company that became part of Colliers International Asset Services in 2019. Last year, Colliers, which operates in 67 countries, managed more than $40 billion in assets.
Alexander oversees the company’s Norfolk and Hampton Roads portfolio, which represents more than 8 million square feet of commercial space, while also directly managing more than a tenth of that portfolio.
Her duties include oversight of the asset management team and contract maintenance staff, providing monthly reports to owners and preparing operating budgets.
“The owners were willing to dedicate any minute it took to my professional growth and training,” she says. Alexander pays that help forward by mentoring junior staffers.
“I would not be where I am now without Julie’s support,” says assistant property manager Ekaterina Muraveva.
Outside of work, Alexander has served as a board member for the region’s Salvation Army branch, which offers programs including emergency assistance, housing, substance abuse treatment, youth enrichment opportunities, spiritual care and emergency disaster services.
“I like solving problems and working with people,” says Alexander, who believes the best boss is a mentor and a good listener. “It’s enlightening to get the opinions of millennials.”
LORRAINE AMESBURY HOLDER, vice president of operations, Stihl Inc., Virginia Beach
LORRAINE AMESBURY HOLDER Vice president of operations, Stihl Inc., Virginia Beach When Lorraine Amesbury Holder joined German chainsaw and handheld power equipment manufacturer Stihl in 2008, she was the first female manufacturing executive in the company’s history. She attributes that achievement to technical and personal skills, qualifications, tenacity and not accepting no for an answer. “Often, it comes down to taking risks and doing things other people won’t because they’re afraid of the possibility of failure,” Amesbury Holder says. “At that point, the so-called ‘glass ceiling’ will disappear.”
As Stihl’s vice president of operations, Amesbury Holder isn’t afraid to hire people more proficient than she is in a specific subject matter area. As an individual, she’s a risk-taker, proud of her integrity, work ethic and moral compass. As a mother of two, she strives to be a role model for her son and daughter, demonstrating that women are strong, brave and fearless. “We can all do anything we want to do and are only limited by our imagination,” she says. “My children have seen me sacrifice, work hard, fail and succeed.”
When her mentor in the automotive industry passed away shortly after his retirement, a young Amesbury Holder was saddened to see only work colleagues at his funeral. She realized work had been his whole life and identity, when what mattered was living a full life, sharing experiences with others.
“We should all endeavor to make the world a better place, not just focus on the career aspect,” she says. “It’s something I strive to do through my work and personal life: Achieve the coveted work-life balance.”
KRISTINA BOUWEIRI, president and CEO, Reston Limousine & Travel Service Inc., Sterling
KRISTINA BOUWEIRI President and CEO,
Reston Limousine & Travel Service Inc., Sterling It was a different world in 1990 when Kristina Bouweiri started Reston Limousine with five vehicles. Since then, she’s grown the business to 250 vehicles and 450 employees — 75% of whom are female and/or minorities — and $30 million in revenue.
Hiring and promoting people is the most satisfying aspect of running her own business, Bouweiri says. “Not only am I providing a paycheck, but we always try to hire from within the company, so many of my employees have been with me 20 years. Even though we’re not a small company, we still run it like a family business where the employees are treated as family.”
That compassion also extends to the community, where she’s served on several community and regional boards, raised money for Loudoun Boy Scouts and recruited members for 100WomenStrong, a group that is dedicated to improving life in Loudoun County.
Near Christmas 2001, when Bouweiri was struggling to pay bills and her buses were about to be repossessed, her banker changed his mind. The buses remained because Reston Limousine had been donating limousine rides for sick children, wounded warriors and other groups
in need.
“I thanked him,” she recalls. “And told him that we would always give back to the community because it’s the right thing to do.”
NNEKA CHIAZOR, vice president of public and government affairs, Cox Communications Inc., Chesapeake. Photo by Mark Rhodes
NNEKA CHIAZOR Vice president of public and government affairs,
Cox Communications Inc., Chesapeake Ask Nneka Chiazor where her energy comes from, and she’ll say it’s from working with others to solve complex socioeconomic problems.
“Beyond the people, though, I’ve always been fascinated by politics,” she notes. She grew up in Nigeria, where “a coup took the democracy to a dictatorship literally overnight and quickly made me appreciate the intricate dynamic between governments, people and livelihoods.”
Under Chiazor’s leadership, the cable and telecommunications company has made broadband available in multiple rural locations throughout Virginia, and she’s also led efforts to bridge the digital divide for low-income families through Connect2Compete, Cox’s program designed to increase affordable internet access.
Chiazor is convinced that the future face of wealth is female and that only by working together will women continue achieving big things. She mentors Cox employees and also assists other professionals via organizations such as Women in Cable Telecommunications and the National Association of Multi-ethnicity in Communications.
Although Chiazor says she had the support to achieve her goals from a young age, she acknowledges that glass ceilings exist. “For me, I just try not to get discouraged and overcome barriers by … having a North Star and following it,” she says. “Plus knowing when to compete and when to collaborate.”
LARA COFFEE, executive vice president of human resources, marketing and communications, Computer Systems Center Inc., Springfield
LARA COFFEE Executive vice president of human resources,
marketing and communications,
Computer Systems Center Inc., Springfield
Mentoring other women matters in every field, but it can be even more critical in a predominantly male industry, such as federal IT contracting. Lara Coffee acknowledges that while the lack of women’s representation in technology sectors has improved over the years, there’s still a long road ahead.
“With the global pandemic forcing millions of women to leave the workplace entirely, now more than ever, mentoring women is key to getting representation back into the workforce and in good numbers,”
she says.
Coffee has found that the key to getting positive outcomes from her workforce is by making people feel valued and heard. She provides staff with guidance and mentorship to help them determine their strengths and guide them toward their ideal role or position. Also, she exercises her years of marketing and public relations experience to enhance the company’s position in the marketplace.
But it’s the “people factor” she considers the best part of her position because each facet of her role speaks to her strengths, whether mentoring, marketing or public relations.
To young women starting their careers, Coffee offers suggestions on how to move forward: “Continue to be curious, true to oneself and surround yourself with trusted advisers. And allow for failure.”
KRISTA COSTA, executive vice president, Divaris Real Estate Inc., Virginia Beach
KRISTA COSTA Executive vice president, Divaris Real Estate Inc., Virginia Beach
Krista Costa has been a force in office leasing in the Hampton Roads region for two decades, representing both owners and tenants. She oversees a portfolio of more than 1 million square feet of space and is consistently ranked as a top broker in the region by CoStar Group Inc. Costa won the Commercial Sales and Leasing Award from the Hampton Roads Realtors Association and Commercial Realtors Alliance for 10 years straight, and her own company named her employee of the year in 2005.
“My company has a higher rate of female brokers than any other local company,” she says, explaining how integral that support has been to her career. “I had a great mentor with a vested interest in my success.”
Now, Costa mentors not only new Divaris agents but also young people in the broader community. In 2011, Divaris presented her its community service award for her work with a youth mentoring program run by The Up Center, a Norfolk organization dedicated to supporting and strengthening children and families.
Costa also visits schools to talk about careers in commercial real estate and recently began mentoring a student through the Women’s Initiative Network, run by her alma mater, Old Dominion University.
With such a full plate, it’s no surprise that she describes herself as “a really hard worker,” but hard work and even a mentor aren’t enough to succeed, she says. “You need to connect with other women in business, even if they are in different industries.” And, just as essentially, “you need to make sure that you ask for what you want.”
KIM ENOCHS, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Marsh & McLennan Agency — Mid-Atlantic LLC, Roanoke
KIM ENOCHS Executive vice president and chief operating officer, Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC — Mid-Atlantic, Roanoke
Kim Enochs has helped grow the local region of national risk prevention and insurance company Marsh & McLennan Agency’s revenue from $83 million to $225 million over the past 11 years, as well as integrating 17 acquisitions during that period.
Enochs’ lifelong philosophy has been, “Anything is worth a conversation.” She found her position when an executive recruiter told her he’d immediately thought of her because a small firm in town was looking for someone to join its corporate team. At the time, she was employed by a large organization in a leadership position and was in line for a top executive role, but when told that the firm was a “best-kept secret” and that the role was full of growth potential, she agreed to meet.
Almost 20 years after she joined Marsh & McLennan, Enochs feels privileged to have helped build a successful organization while having fun and working with talented people.
As a leader, Enochs believes it’s her highest responsibility at this stage of her career to clear the way for other women by engaging in talent acquisition and leadership development initiatives. “If women don’t find ways to mentor, advance and support other women, they inadvertently help create a ceiling,” she says.
COURTNEY EPPS, principal and vice president of national delivery, Apex Systems, Richmond. Photo by Mark Rhodes
COURTNEY EPPS Principal and vice president of national delivery,
Apex Systems, Richmond
Courtney Epps sees herself as a fixer. “I love problem-solving. It gets me up every day,” she says. During the pandemic, she certainly had no need of any other alarm clock.
“I was a teacher, tutor, test proctor and cafeteria worker, responsible for keeping my 9- and 11-year-old daughters on track,” she says, “while at the same time ensuring my recruiting teams, sales teams, clients and business [were] still moving forward successfully.”
Epps set out to be a lawyer but subsequently decided that the law wasn’t for her, although she also wasn’t sure which direction to take. When she interviewed with Apex about 15 years ago, she says, “I didn’t even know what IT staffing was.”
Nevertheless, she became Apex’s first hire for its National Delivery Recruiting Center in Richmond. “I harnessed talents I didn’t even know I had,” she says. Epps quickly took on substantive roles at the company, where she now supervises about 100 employees. In 2013, she was named the first woman principal within her operating group, a designation that recognizes her key role in developing Apex’s mission. Her hard work and talent have helped turn the recruitment center into a $330 million business.
Epps credits her rapid rise to having “amazing mentors,” and she strives to play that role for others. “I like to help people get to where they want to be,” she says. Epps also believes in being your own best advocate: “Speak up. Use your voice. Don’t be afraid to say, ‘This is what I need.’”
DAWN GLYNN, president of Hampton Roads and Outer Banks, TowneBank, Suffolk
DAWN GLYNN President of Hampton Roads and Outer Banks, TowneBank, Suffolk
A lifelong resident of the Hampton Roads region, Dawn Glynn was a founding member of TowneBank 22 years ago. During her tenure, the regional bank has expanded from three offices to more than 40 throughout Hampton Roads, Central Virginia and North Carolina, with more than 2,600 employees, $15 billion in assets and contributions of more than $78 million to support communities served by TowneBank.
Her first job as a grocery store cashier introduced her to the customer service business. “I learned you can change someone’s day with a warm greeting and smile,” she recalls. “Making those simple connections are still a large part of my job today, building and growing member, employee and investor relationships.”
Glynn is dedicated to making a difference in her community and devotes time to organizations such as United Way of South Hampton Roads. As board chair during the May 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting, she led community support efforts to help families and employees impacted by the tragedy. She also served on the board of Norfolk’s Access College Foundation, helping raise scholarship funds for local high school seniors.
Each of Glynn’s mentors over the last 35 years has shaped the leader she is today. “I’m a believer in always paying it forward with helping others,” she says. “I love coaching others, watching them grow into new roles and take on expanded responsibilities. They’re the future leaders of our company and community.”
SHANA HAMMOND-ADLER, vice president of capture and proposal, B&A, McLean
SHANA HAMMOND-ADLER Vice president of capture and proposal, B&A, McLean “Just because you can do everything, you shouldn’t,” says Shana Hammond-Adler, who is in charge of business development and marketing at B&A, a McLean-based government contracting firm. “You have to be able to trust and delegate. Appreciation of what you have and of others’ contributions is critical.”
That philosophy is indispensable for the contractor, who’s tasked with helping government, education and private sector organizations maximize skills for growth and reach corporate objectives.
But the philosophy of keeping employees engaged is one that she applies internally, as well. The multilingual executive is a major player in both B&A’s mentorship program and its Brand Ambassador initiative, which spreads values of inclusiveness and open communications throughout the company ranks. Hammond-Adler also spearheads the company’s contributions to charitable and community causes, such as the Hope for Henry Foundation, a D.C. charity that helps pediatric cancer patients, and the Celtino Foundation, which promotes STEM education in rural Latin America.
During the COVID-19 crisis, Hammond-Adler stepped up her philanthropic commitments by organizing the delivery of meals to first responders — including the U.S. Capitol Police — and hospital personnel. Additionally, she is a registered advocate for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
“You have to have the courage to lead, even if the choices are not popular,” Hammond-Adler says. But whether dealing with employees, clients or charities, her bottom line is always “empathy. You can’t forget that they are human beings.”
EVA HARTMANN, chief human resources officer, Schnabel Engineering Inc., Glen Allen
EVA HARTMANN Chief human resources officer, Schnabel Engineering Inc., Glen Allen Over the years, Eva Hartmann has seen the role of chief human resources officers shift. Today, she’s a strategic partner for Schnabel Engineering, creating competitive advantages to recruit and retain employees and build the company’s culture.
Hartmann began her professional career as a consultant at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture plc), where she was introduced to the concept of developing individual and organizational performance, both key tenets of human resources. This experience taught her that employees are the No. 1 asset of any company. And that informs her work at Schnabel, an infrastructure engineering firm.
“There’s a distinct competitive advantage gained when you’re intentional about building the potential of employees in your organization,” Hartmann notes, “because it inevitably leads to greater engagement and performance as a company overall.”
Hartmann also is a big proponent of women mentoring women, which can impact both parties on professional and personal levels.
“My first true professional mentor was a female executive in the banking industry who not only taught me — knowingly or unknowingly — how to be a competent and confident leader, but also how to balance family, work and volunteerism with optimism and, ideally, with grace,” she says. “Finding this balance can be tricky for ambitious women, and mentorship and guidance can make a big difference in their lives and their career.”
RUDENE MERCER HAYNES Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, Richmond Rudene Mercer Haynes was convinced that if she did everything within her control to bang on the glass ceilings long enough, eventually they’d crack. Although she acknowledges the systemic issues and societal barriers that impact the advancement of women of color in the legal profession, she can point to no instances when her gender or race impeded her success.
“I realize that my experience is not that of everyone’s, and what I’ve tried to do through my various leadership and decision-making positions is whatever I can to improve the legal profession’s diversity,” she says. “When we see ‘unicorn’ demographics in any industry, we need to ask ourselves what’s wrong with the system and what can we do to change what those demographics look like.” She does so as one of her firm’s global hiring partners, as well as a member of the Goals and Metrics Subcommittee of Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Haynes says it’s crucial for women working in law to pass on the knowledge they’ve gained to younger women, in part because of the number of unwritten rules for success in the industry.
“Sharing this knowledge is critical to diversifying the face of leadership, especially in big law firms,” she says. “Having a community of women to serve as a sounding board … is invaluable to a woman attorney’s longevity and satisfaction in the practice.”
LAURA IPSEN, president and CEO, Ellucian Inc., Reston
LAURA IPSEN President and CEO, Ellucian Inc., Reston Laura Ipsen has more than 25 years of experience in the technology sector, working for Silicon Valley titans such as Oracle, Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp., where she oversaw 2,000 employees. In mid-June, Ellucian announced it will be acquired by investment firms Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners.
Ellucian helps educational institutions modernize the student experience through cloud technology. It was an ideal fit for Ipsen, who calls it “the best of both worlds — education and technology.”
But Ipsen also took the job because of the visibility of being one of a few women to head a large tech company. (Ellucian has more than 1,000 employees). She envisions her example as paving the way for other women to advance in a male-centric field.
At Ellucian, Ipsen cultivates Lean In Circles, peer groups that hold discussions on empowering women. She is active outside her company, too. In 2020, Ipsen was the keynote speaker at both the Bryant University Women’s Summit and at William & Mary’s Tech Day. In her off hours, she sits on the Business-Higher Education Forum board.
Ipsen’s advice to women who would hope to emulate her success is to be an “excellent listener.” Even more important, perhaps, is to take risks. “Don’t wait,” she says. “Do your next job now.”
TRACY LEWIS, partner, BDO USA LLP, Richmond. Photo by Shandell Taylor
TRACY LEWIS Partner, BDO USA LLP, Richmond
“I love numbers,” says Tracy Lewis, which would seem to make a career in accounting a natural fit for her. But forget the image of a dry-as-a-spreadsheet daily grind. Lewis begs to differ. The best part of her job is “the people aspect. I deal with a lot of different people, and my bosses change every day according to the client I work with. Not one of my days is mundane.”
Lewis joined Chicago-based global accounting firm BDO USA in 2002, after earning a master’s degree in accounting from William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business. She made partner in 2017 — the first woman to earn that distinction in BDO’s Richmond office.
Nurturing her network inside and outside of work has been critical to that success. “You have to be open-minded to other perspectives,” she says, and in the office she has surrounded herself with people with complementary skills. Outside of work, she’s done the same. She’s a board member and past president of the National Association for Women Business Owners’ Richmond chapter. “Leading by example,” is important, she says about her civic involvement.
“Tracy embodies what it means to be a mentor,” says Lauren Soles, a business development director at BDO’s Richmond office. “She has paved the way for women who want to continue to take their careers to the next level.”
ChamberRVA agrees with Soles’ assessment. In 2019, it presented Lewis its HYPE (Helping Young Professionals Engage) Mentor award.
KEIRA LOMBARDO Chief administrative officer, Smithfield Foods Inc., Smithfield The most formative period not just in her career, but in Keira Lombardo’s life, was in 2013 and 2014, during WH Group’s acquisition of Smithfield Foods and the parent company’s initial public offering. Amid that busy backdrop, after four years of infertility struggles, Lombardo discovered she was pregnant.
Never one to shy away from challenges, she and her husband relocated 8,000 miles to Hong Kong, and during her pregnancy, Lombardo flew more than 100,000 miles on IPO roadshows. WH Group debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August 2014, just days after her son’s birth. She recalls a former Smithfield CEO who had a knack for pinpointing her seminal moments by announcing, “Keira, you’re in a Kodak moment.”
A New Jersey native, Lombardo graduated from Rutgers University in 2002 with degrees in economics and finance. She joined Smithfield in New York City shortly afterward, holding a variety of positions from corporate finance assistant to executive vice president of corporate affairs and compliance.
Lombardo feels fortunate to have had many male superiors and colleagues who encouraged and championed her career goals. Yet she knows other women who’ve had different experiences, and Lombardo wants men to take equal responsibility for changing companies’ cultures.
“As companies invest in diversity, equity and inclusion, it’s vital to engage men in the process,” she says. “Men play an important role in achieving gender parity, because only together can we shatter the glass ceiling.”
Diana Mendes, corporate president of infrastructure and mobility equity, HNTB Corp.
DIANA C. MENDES Corporate president of infrastructure and mobility equity, HNTB Corp., Arlington
HNTB is about building better — for public safety, for social equity and for the environment, which explains why the engineering and design firm recently tapped Diana Mendes for its new position leading infrastructure and mobility equity.
“I had no small plans,” Mendes says of her decision to pursue a career in planning.“I wanted to save the world.”
Though she may have fallen a tad short of that goal, her philosophy of “having a compelling reason to commit and move forward” has been characteristic of her 35-year career, which has included a stint consulting for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, a job she describes as “a fantastic experience.”
Since joining employee-owned HNTB in 2016, Mendes has overseen the expansion of its Virginia office to 250 employees, an increase of 40%. In recognition of her role in making her company a go-to firm for transit agencies across the nation, the company named her an HNTB fellow last year. She also was the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials’ 2019 Corporate Executive of the Year, and the American Transportation and Road Builders Association presented Mendes its lifetime achievement award in 2018.
Outside of work, Mendes has pursued her passion for planning with equal vigor, serving on many boards and committees, including those of the American Public Transportation Association and the American Planning Association.
She modestly attributes much of her impressive career to “incredibly gracious, patient and kind colleagues. My success has been a team sport.”
MONICA MONDAY Managing partner, Gentry Locke Attorneys, Roanoke As the managing partner at Gentry Locke, Monica Monday oversees 65 lawyers and has expanded the footprint of the nearly century-old firm by adding offices in Richmond and Lynchburg, while she personally continues to represent clients in state and federal appellate courts. In 2018, the legal rankings agency Chambers USA described her as having “a commanding reputation as ‘one of the go-to practitioners’ for appellate work,” making her a natural choice to chair the Virginia Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section Council.
Monday has earned a slew of honors featuring words such as “elite,” “super” and “best,” and she is just the fifth attorney in the commonwealth to be named a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. During her 28-year career, she has shared her expertise with young lawyers in her practice through “Gentry Locke University,” an internal vehicle for providing mentorship, guidance and training.
“I credit my firm with providing me with a lot of opportunities,” Monday says, especially for allowing her to work part time for nine years so that she could spend more time with her son before returning full time as managing partner in 2013. “I’m extremely grateful,” she says about that support.
But just as critical to Monday’s success has been her ability to overcome the “I can’t do that” syndrome that sometimes afflicts women in business. “We underestimate what we can do,” she says. “You need to realize that you can make it your own and do it your way. You don’t have to do the job the way your predecessor did.”
HEATHER NEWMAN, senior vice president of corporate strategy, Altria Group Inc., Richmond
HEATHER NEWMAN Senior vice president of corporate strategy,
Altria Group Inc., Richmond
Heather Newman is central to Altria’s 10-year vision to responsibly lead the transition of adult smokers to a future with noncombustible tobacco products. She enjoys the rapid and continuous learning cycle that is intrinsic to corporate strategy, while her experience working at a family-run farm market in the Philadelphia suburbs shaped her interest in the customer.
A teenage Newman developed creative product displays to influence purchasing decisions at the farm. One of her managers noticed, informing Newman that she could go to school for that. “She told me it was called marketing,” Newman recalls. “I was sold!”
Seeking a strong undergraduate marketing program, Newman attended Saint Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania, where Philip Morris USA was an active recruiter on campus. Hired as a territory sales manager upon graduation in 1999, she now works for parent company Altria. “Although the breadth and scope of my responsibility is different, I have immense appreciation for the solid foundation those experiences provided me,” she says. “They shaped who I am as a leader, instilled my work ethic and, most importantly, taught me how to operate with resiliency.”
In addition to spending a significant amount of time with employee resource groups at Altria, both as participant and executive sponsor, Newman is on the board of directors of MENTOR Virginia, an anchor organization that helps grow youth-mentoring programs around the state.
LEIGH PALMER senior vice president of defense, General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church
LEIGH PALMER Senior vice president of defense, General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church
Leigh Palmer oversees some gargantuan contracts for one of the largest defense contractors in the country. General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) is the IT subsidiary of Fortune 500 contractor General Dynamics, which generated $39.7 billion in revenue last year. Palmer helped contribute to that bottom line by securing the $4.4 billion Defense Enterprise Office Solutions contract to move the armed services farther into the cloud and streamline its office applications.
WashingtonExec, a private membership organization for executives, named her a Top 25 Defense Exec to Watch in 2020. Palmer has spent a quarter-century in the industry, working for defense contractors such as Northrop Grumman and CSRA before it was acquired by General Dynamics in 2018. “My dad was in the military, so I’ve been around it my whole life,” she says.
Yet Palmer says her success “is not about me. It is about solving big problems to get to the solution on the other side,” and that requires not only “understanding what you are good at and where you might need support,” but a readiness to listen and a commitment to transparency.
“I spend a lot of time talking about empathy.”
The Virginia Tech graduate, who also holds a master’s degree in regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania, now sits on the board of the nonprofit Intelligence and National Security Alliance. Palmer was a featured speaker at GDIT’s Women + Technology conference in October, when she spoke about inclusive leadership, a philosophy she practices on the job by mentoring other women in the male-dominated industry.
HOLLY PEARCE, vice president of distribution and logistics, Agway Farm and Home Supply, Richmond. photo by Shandell Taylor
HOLLY PEARCE Vice president of distribution and logistics, Agway Farm and Home Supply, Richmond
Looking back at her career trajectory, Holly Pearce recalls a key moment she experienced while working as logistics manager for Lumber Liquidators: A new executive brought her in to present her projects. Pearce prepped a three-phase action plan ending with blue-sky initiatives that, once implemented, would greatly benefit the company. Afterward, the executive told her he was going to take the “invisible wrap” off her and let her loose in the organization.
“And that’s exactly what he did,” Pearce recalls. “Within a year, I was promoted to director and in charge of 20,000 import containers each year, with a $68 million budget.” Today, she oversees the supply chain for agricultural retailer Agway Farm and Home Supply, managing contracts, fleet operations and budgets.
Throughout her career, Pearce focused on developing leadership skills through mentoring and coaching, to develop strong, productive teams with succession and growth in mind. She’s the first to admit that strategy and vision casting — a corporate leadership style focused on long-term goals — get her pumped up.
“I love being able to innovate and execute projects that support the overall goals of my organization,” she says. “Of course, that means securing support for internal stakeholders, so gaining consensus through mutual benefit is key.” Her leadership extends to being president of the Virginia International Business Council and recently being appointed an advisory committee member for University of Richmond’s Customer Experience Certificate program.
Being able to directly influence the course of the Agway organization still motivates Pearce every day. “It’s awesome to have a seat at the table and truly shape the foundation and future of a $300 million company.”
PALLABI SABOO, CEO, Harmonia Holdings Group LLC, Blacksburg
PALLABI SABOO CEO, Harmonia Holdings Group LLC, Blacksburg When Pallabi Saboo was interviewed by an admissions counselor at Virginia Tech, she was asked why she hadn’t applied to Harvard or Stanford to get her MBA. In those pre-internet times, the Punjab University graduate had relied solely on a trusted source: her fiancé, who was attending Virginia Tech.
Today, Saboo holds the reins at Harmonia Holdings LLC, a software company she has grown from 10 employees and less than $2 million in revenue in 2006 to 400 workers and nearly $90 million in annual revenue, with a presence in 18 states.
With that success comes responsibility, which Saboo welcomes. Under her leadership, Harmonia mentors growing companies under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Mentor-Protégé Program promoting the development of nascent businesses. “We write the proposal, do the hiring and run the program,” she explains. “Our goal is to help them learn under our mentorship. But it also helps us grow.”
Part of that mentoring is teaching women to self-promote and be less humble. “I share my lessons learned to mentor women to leverage the cards they’ve been dealt to make their journey faster,” she says. “Part of mentoring is teaching that strength lies in unity and we can both help each other rise.”
To support and encourage the growth of women in STEM fields, Saboo sponsors an annual scholarship at Virginia Tech.
MEGAN SHEPHERD Chief operating officer, SimVentions Inc., Fredericksburg Megan Shepherd’s first job, working in her dad’s camera shop, taught her a customer service mindset, and her first job after college as a software tester was the start of her technical career. Today, she leans on those skills at SimVentions Inc., an employee-owned defense contractor with more than 300 employees. Shepherd must focus on the present as well as the future, in addition to effectively communicating and relating to multiple teams, employees and customers.
“I’m a connector,” she explains. “Being COO pulls on several skills every day, but the ability to connect strategy, day-to-day [work] and people is critical.”
Her entire career, including earning two technical degrees in the mid-’90s, has been in male-dominated environments. She recalls her knowledge and contributions being overlooked while being told to sit and look pretty by older men in college classes. Undaunted, she continued to push, determined not to let the environment limit her, nor new opportunities and challenges pass her by. “As I grew professionally and took on additional responsibilities and leadership roles, I never focused on the fact that I was often the only female in the room, on the call or on the team.”
Long a mentor of current employees and past associates, Shepherd sponsors SimVentions’ Women in Leadership program to provide mentorship, networking and collaboration related to the unique challenges women face in the industry. “We need to empower women to understand and be confident in their potential,” she says. “Mentoring other women and girls demonstrates what’s possible.”
MARIA TEDESCO, president, Atlantic Union Bank, Richmond
MARIA TEDESCO President, Atlantic Union Bank, Richmond
As the first female president in Atlantic Union Bank’s 118-year history, Maria Tedesco’s leadership has transformed the bank, growing it from $14 billion to $19.6 billion in assets over the past two-and-a-half years.
With her eye on the goal of making banking easier and more convenient, Tedesco led a speedy effort to build a digital portal last year so customers could access the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, a pandemic-driven federal relief program that stymied some banks. Atlantic Union was able to process loan applications around the clock for weeks, ultimately completing more than 11,000 PPP loans.
Besides expanding revenue and leading all client-facing business teams, Tedesco oversees approximately 75% of the bank’s employees. After seeing the need firsthand, she led an effort to create a program especially for women called WIN, or Women’s Inclusion Network, which has become a critical component of the bank’s broader diversity, equity and inclusion initiative. “WIN is open to men and women, but its purpose is to advance women and teach how unconscious bias affects hiring,” she says.
Her recommendation to younger women is to stretch themselves at work. “Continue asking for more responsibility, say yes to every opportunity and build your network,” she advises. “Take calculated risks early in your career when they’re less costly, because you can learn a lot. And be kind to everyone you meet.”
SZU-MIN YANG, senior vice president and chief contracts officer, Peraton, Herndon
SZU-MIN YANG Senior vice president and chief contracts officer, Peraton, Herndon Szu-Min Yang embodies Peraton’s motto, “Do the Can’t Be Done.” Despite language, cultural and economic barriers, the first-generation Chinese American has made a 25-year climb up the corporate ladder to her present position as a key executive for the massive defense contractor, which has more than 22,000 employees and annual revenues of more than $7 billion. “I’ve kept my feet strongly to the ground,” Yang says about her success. “I have a willingness to try new things, even if they aren’t comfortable situations.”
As Peraton’s chief contracts officer since 2017, Yang has overseen three major mergers and acquisitions — Solers Inc. in 2019, and the twin purchases of Northrop Grumman’s federal IT and mission support businesses and Perspecta Inc., which closed earlier this year.
During the pandemic, she and her team sometimes worked 16-hour days, seven days a week, to fulfill their contract obligations while still keeping team members safe. Yang has volunteered with both the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross, but she’s also taken time to pull back, such as a few years ago, when her parents were diagnosed with cancer. Yang cared for them along with her young children while still pursuing her career goals.
At Peraton, she is known for her empathy and commitment to nurturing her employees and guiding them to new opportunities. A good leader “sets a good example and demonstrates her values through action,” Yang says. “You have to be able to listen and not just hear yourself. You’re not a leader if no one wants to follow.”
SMALL BUSINESS
ARLENE E. LEE, CEO and principal, R.E. Lee Cos. Inc., Charlottesville
ARLENE E. LEE CEO and principal, R.E. Lee Cos. Inc., Charlottesville
“I don’t believe in being defined by challenges. I use them as a tool,” says Arlene Lee. As head of six companies that deal in commercial construction and land development, Lee’s toolbox is often full. And, “when you get to the end of your rope, you can get another rope,” she says, blithely mixing her can-do metaphors.
Since assuming leadership of the companies after the 2015 death of her husband, Christopher, she has focused on keeping R.E. Lee Cos. open to technological innovations and on making sure that it lives up to three bywords: pioneering, honorable and professional. She calls herself “a servant leader” to the companies’ 170 employees. “We have a tremendous responsibility to our employees, to their livelihoods, to treat them with compassion and empathy,” she says. As CEO, she created the Lee Education Apprenticeship Program and the Christopher E. Lee Young Leader Program to support young employees. She also is committed to individual mentoring within the companies.
Lee is active in many civic organizations, including the Virginia Council of CEOs; in 2019, she was presented its Charles E. McCabe Leadership Award for her work in increasing the council’s membership. Additionally, she sits on the boards of the Virginia Chamber and the United Way of Greater Charlottesville, among others.
A truly effective leader must be authentic, she says. “Show up as yourself. Embrace yourself. You can’t lead if you don’t know where you are going.”
LINDA NASH, founder and CEO, WellcomeMD, Richmond
LINDA NASH Founder and CEO, WellcomeMD, Richmond Linda Nash comes from an entrepreneurial family and has done her part to uphold that tradition by founding four businesses — “so far,” she adds. The trick, she explains, “is finding a need and filling it.”
In 2016, Nash founded WellcomeMD, a concierge medicine service in which doctors carry only 10% of the caseload of a regular practice, because she saw a need for more personalized health care. The patient-membership service model allows doctors “to drill down into the options to help people live their best lives,” Nash says. In addition to its operation in Richmond, WellcomeMD has two North Carolina locations and an office in Naples, Florida. In the past three years, its patient membership has grown at a rate of 325% annually.
She also heads Linda Nash Ventures, which helps startup businesses grow and thrive, and Nash has served on the boards of many nonprofits, including the Ellen Shaw de Paredes Breast Cancer Foundation, the United Way of Greater Richmond and the Powell Economic Education Foundation. She was a finalist for the Wells Fargo Women in STEM award in 2019 and has been named the Most Influential Woman in Concierge Medicine by Concierge Medicine Today.
Nash believes good leaders have to be “somewhat vulnerable. You need to admit mistakes and show you’re human,” she says. But she also believes in confronting issues and “having hard conversations. Avoiding conflict causes conflict.”
SUSAN QUINN, president and CEO, circle S studio, Richmond
SUSAN QUINN President and CEO, circle S studio, Richmond
During her career of more than 30 years, Susan Quinn has worn a closet’s worth of hats as executive coach, keynote speaker, entrepreneur, adviser and mentor. She has applied that multifaceted expertise to helping Fortune 500 companies and middle-market firms propel growth and realize their potential.
Initially, Quinn had thought that lawyering was her destiny, but after taking a fundraising job at a hospital, she realized that consulting was the career that resonated with her. “I get a thrill out of helping colleagues and clients see things through a new lens,” she says.
In 1986, Quinn started Creative Associates, which later morphed into her consulting and branding firm, circle S studio. In recognition of her achievements in that business, her alma mater, Randolph-Macon College, named her its 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2019, she also was a finalist for the National Association of Women Business Owners’ Women of Excellence Award.
Quinn makes it a point to host multiple interns every year at circle S. “You can’t have too many mentors,” she says, but her commitment extends beyond business hours. She advises students in programs at Randolph-Macon and the University of Richmond, and she has held the title of “super mentor” at UR since 2012.
Quinn is modest about her success. “I don’t know the definition of being at the top of my game, because there is always so much more to do and be,” she says. “I always seek to do better each day in small, incremental ways.”
ANGELA D. REDDIX, founder, CEO and president, ARDX, Norfolk
ANGELA D. REDDIX Founder, CEO and president, ARDX, Norfolk Angela Reddix’s philosophy is “to live and grow where you are planted,” even when she was often the youngest person in the room and one of a tiny minority of Black women. Hard as that could be, she says, “I was determined to stick it through and learn my lessons.”
Those lessons obviously were learned because the health care management and technology consulting firm she founded in 2006 has landed $178 million in government contract work and now has more than 125 employees.
Reddix likes to give back. In 2016, she founded Envision Lead Grow, a mentorship program for middle school girls. And during the pandemic, Reddix personally awarded $2,020 grants to 13 women owners of small businesses who were unable to tap into other sources of financial assistance. In May, she launched a second cohort for her Reddix Rules Fund, with 10 women entrepreneurs who will receive training in pitching, economics and operations.
Her work in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors has earned Reddix many accolades. She is a member of Old Dominion University’s Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame and was a recipient of its 2017 Women of Achievement Award. In January, she received the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Leader Workforce Award from the Urban League of Hampton Roads.
“To be an employer is the most honorable thing I have done,” says Reddix, but she admits that “it can be lonely at the top.” Women leaders need a professional coach, a peer group for support and “a mental health professional on speed dial,” she says. “You can’t make emotional decisions.”
BETH YOUNG, founder, president and CEO, Quality Information Partners Inc., Fairfax
BETH YOUNG Founder, president and CEO,
Quality Information Partners Inc., Fairfax
“I think data all the time,” says Beth Young, which comes in handy in her line of work, the development and implementation of standards for educational data.
Since founding Quality Information Partners Inc. in 2004, Young expanded her virtual business from being a two-person operation to a 30-employee company that works with federal and state agencies, private businesses and nonprofits, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She has also written three surveys for the National Center for Educational Statistics and was the consulting author on five best-practices publications for the U.S. Department of Education.
Young, who holds a doctorate in education policy from George Mason University, always has possessed a drive for service. “My parents raised me that way,” she says. “As an adult, I realized I had more to offer than just to my child.”
Outside of work, Young is a commissioner on the Fairfax City Economic Development Authority and the city of Fairfax’s Commission for Women, an advisory panel. In those roles, she has been responsible for developing an annual networking event for more than 100 businesswomen. She also has helped foster a culture of collaboration among women in business as a member of the Rowan Tree, a Herndon-based virtual community for
female entrepreneurs.
Young says that women should tap into resources that are available to help them find success, and relationships are critical. “You find ethical partners and you hire good people and watch them grow,” she says. And, just as importantly, “You listen to your staff.”
Virginia, sometimes better known for its history than anything else, is poised to make more of it this November.
There will be two female candidates on this year’s ballot for lieutenant governor. It has been nearly three decades since Mary Sue Terry served as Virginia’s attorney general from 1986 to 1993. Heretofore, Terry has been the only woman to hold statewide elective office in Virginia.
On the face of it, that’s a pretty imbalanced record. While the numbers in other places also remain unequal, there are numerous states where women have served as governors or held other statewide elective offices. Thirty states have elected a woman as governor at some point in their history. Eight states currently have a woman serving a governor. Currently, the U.S. Senate includes 24 women among its 100 senators.
Here’s how history will be made in this November’s Virginia elections: Unlike Terry, who is white, both major party candidates for Virginia lieutenant governor in 2021 are women of color.
In May, the Republican Party of Virginia held an “unassembled convention” at 39 drive-thru locations across Virginia, selecting Glenn Youngkin as the GOP candidate for governor; former state Del. Winsome Sears for lieutenant governor; and Del. Jason Miyares, R-Virginia Beach, for attorney general.
In June, state Democrats held a more traditional primary, selecting Terry McAuliffe as their candidate for governor; Del. Hala Ayala, D-Prince William County, to run for lieutenant governor; and incumbent Mark Herring to stand for a third term as attorney general.
In fairness, this is probably the most diverse set of candidates the two major parties have ever assembled. In addition to Sears, who was the first Black Republican woman elected to the House of Delegates, and Ayala, who is of Afro-Latina, Irish and Lebanese descent, Miyares comes from a family who fled from Cuba in 1965.
Nevertheless, the top of the ticket continues to be a bastion for white males, the only previous exceptions being former Gov. Doug Wilder, who was elected as Virginia’s first (and the nation’s first) Black governor in 1989, and Terry, who ran unsuccessfully for governor against George Allen in 1993.
That’s not to say that female candidates didn’t show up for the 2020 convention and primary. State Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield County, competed unsuccess-fully for the Republican gubernatorial nomination against three men. And two women — state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, and former Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy — were among the five candidates vying for governor in this year’s Democratic state primary.
Outside of politics, when it comes to business, progress on gender diversity has been slow but steady. Our nation has come a long way from the World War II days of Rosie the Riveter entering the workforce to replace men fighting overseas, but that was nearly 80 years ago.
As of Jan. 1, women today hold 30% of CEO positions in the S&P 500. According to a May report by The Associated Press and Equilar Inc., only 16 of the 342 top-paid CEOs last year were women. On the other hand, these women executives earned $13.6 million in median compensation for 2020 — about $1 million more than the median pay earned by their 326 male counterparts. While still clearly underrepresented in C-suite positions, women may be doing a better job than their male counterparts. Or at least their boards appear to think that.
In planning this month’s cover story, our inaugural Virginia Business Women in LeadershipAwards(see Page 20), we celebrate many examples of women who are guiding their organizations to success, setting the pace for growth and mentoring new leaders within the ranks of some of Virginia’s most admired companies.
As for the 2021 lieutenant governor’s race, Virginia’s poor, 400-plus-year record on diversity, equity and inclusion can only benefit from increased racial and gender diversity. May the best woman win.
Kristi Corp. a global supplier of industrial raw materials for aluminum and steel metallurgical industries, will build a $1.1 million log load and fumigation facility in Suffolk, creating 10 jobs, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday.
The company will source 100% of its exports from Virginia logging companies. Virginia competed with North Carolina and Pennsylvania for the project, which will be located at 1326 Portsmouth Boulevard.
“Once again, the world-class Port of Virginia and our skilled workforce enabled our commonwealth to successfully compete for this new lumber exporting facility,” Northam said in a statement. “This project will benefit both the local economy and our forestry industry, and we look forward to partnering with Kristi Corporation as it grows in Suffolk.”
Headquartered in New Jersey, Kristi Corp. was founded in 2005 and has branches in Canada and India. The company exports logs, lumber and biomass materials from North America across the globe.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the City of Suffolk, the Virginia Department of Forestry and The Port of Virginia to secure the project for Virginia. VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program will assist Kristi Corp. with its employee recruitment and training.
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts has hired the Detroit-based firm SmithGroup to design a new wing of the Richmond museum in a $190 million expansion and renovation project announced Tuesday.
The new wing will provide space for African art, photography and 21st-century works, according to the museum. Construction is expected to begin in 2023, with completion scheduled for 2025. This is the museum’s fifth expansion since its 1936 opening and the first since its largest expansion, which ended in 2010 following five years of construction, resulting in the James W. and Frances G. McGlothlin Wing, named for the Southwest Virginia coal magnate and his wife.
According to the VMFA, the new wing will add 100,000 square feet to the current 650,000-square-foot facility, in addition to a new, 40,000-square-foot Collections Center building that will house the museum’s conservation program and art storage. The project also will include renovations to about 45,000 square feet of the current building, including changes to the former library, which will become a photography, prints and drawing study center known as the Frank Raysor Center. There also will be a special events space with dining facilities and room for up to 500 guests, and the existing museum will have updates to its theater and the original entrance facing Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
“We are thrilled to have SmithGroup on board and excited to collaborate with their visionary team on this exciting building project,” VMFA Director and CEO Alex Nyerges said in a statement. “The firm has demonstrated expertise in planning and designing dynamic, engaging museum environments. SmithGroup’s spirit of collaboration; their profound commitment to the same values that guide VMFA — diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility; their firsthand knowledge of Richmond and Virginia; and their drive for innovation make them an exceptional choice for VMFA’s ambitious expansion and renovation project.”
SmithGroup has 15 offices in the U.S. and China, and it has designed numerous museums, including the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The firm also designed the concept for the city of Richmond’s National Slavery Museum at the Lumpkin’s Slave Jail site, a project announced last summer.
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) has been awarded a $90 million contract to help protect Department of Defense Combatant Commands from small unmanned aircraft systems.
The contract was awarded by the U.S. Air Force and its Life Cycle and Management Center, Force Protection Division, the company announced in a Tuesday news release.
The company will provide a broad range of integrated logistics, support and sustainment services necessary to modernize defenses against the threat of unmanned aircraft systems in the United States. SAIC will also work to repair and maintain counter systems, equipment and software, including help desk support, logistics, corrective and preventative maintenance, training and supply chain management.
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