Although many political observers doubt there will be much legislation of major significance passed by the split legislature this year, Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Petersburg, is gambling on a productive 2023.
As one of a slight Democratic majority in the Virginia Senate, the only state body currently under the party’s control, Morrissey is in an enviable position to get some bills passed — as long as he is willing to play ball with Republicans. That could mean bringing a casino to Petersburg.
Morrissey, who was elected in 2019, is closing out his freshman term in the Senate, but his reputation precedes him — to say the least.
At the end of Gov. Ralph Northam’s term in January 2022, Morrissey was granted a pardon for a 2014 misdemeanor conviction of contributing to the delinquency of a minor — his now-wife, Myrna, who was his 17-year-old receptionist at the time, and with whom Morrissey, 65, has since had four children. In January 2015, Morrissey was serving in the House of Delegates and commuted to the session from the Henrico County jail, wearing an electronic monitoring device and followed by unflattering headlines.
Disbarred twice, he also carries the nickname “Fightin’ Joe,” which dates back to a 1991 fistfight in which Morrissey, then the Richmond commonwealth’s attorney,punched defense attorney David Baugh during a circuit court trial. He also was found guilty in 1999 of misdemeanor assault and battery of his former handyman, and in 2001, Morrissey was prohibited from practicing law in federal court, followed by the Virginia State Bar’s revocation of Morrissey’s license in 2003. After a few years teaching law in Ireland and Australia, Morrissey returned to Virginia and was elected to the House of Delegates in 2007.
But the pugnacious senator considers his checkered history a badge of honor: His live WJFN-FM radio show is called “The Fighting Joe Morrissey Show,” and his district office features a glass display cabinet full of red boxing gloves.
Morrissey hosts a talk show, “The Fighting Joe Morrissey Show,” on WJFN-FM, a conservative talk radio station in Goochland County. Photo by Matthew R.O. Brown
Neither his temper nor his legal entanglements have apparently cooled with time. The president of Petersburg’s NAACP chapter, a casino critic, claimed in February 2022 that Morrissey said, “I’ll rip your heart out of your chest” during an argument — words the senator has acknowledged saying — which led to a Capitol Police investigation. And in May 2022, two WJFN employees filed preliminary restraining orders against Morrissey after a heated argument about abortion restrictions, but a judge dismissed the orders. (Raised Catholic, Morrissey has said he supports some limits on abortion, although not a full ban.)
But even with all his personal baggage, Morrissey is viewed as a savvy politician and strong advocate for his region. Petersburg has suffered financial woes for decades but has seen an uptick in developer interest and the attention of the new governor, particularly in support of the city’s burgeoning pharmaceutical manufacturing hub.
One of Morrissey’s top priorities this session is bringing a casino to Petersburg — and removing the possibility ofa competing casino in Richmond, where voters rejected a casino referendum in November 2021. Some Richmond leaders want a second chance to bring a referendum to the city’s ballots this year, but Morrissey says that if there were two casinos — one in Richmond and one in Petersburg — they would both suffer financially. “We’d have a Rosie’s [Gaming Emporium] on steroids, and that’s not good for either location.”
Instead, Morrissey has filed a bill that would bring a local referendum to Petersburg this fall to allow The Cordish Cos. to build a casino as part of a $1.4 billion mixed-use development, a deal the Baltimore developer says won’t happen if it has to compete with a casino in Richmond. Even though his party is in the minority in the House and Gov. Glenn Youngkin is a Republican, Morrissey said in November 2022, “I think it’s very likely it’s going to happen. I think the House is going to be behind it.”
Morrissey’s 2023 legislative agenda also includes sponsoring a bill to ban assault-style weapons, following two high-profile mass shootings late last year in Chesapeake and Charlottesville.
In late December, Morrissey was defeated by Sen. Jennifer McClellan for the Democratic nomination for the late U.S. Rep. Donald McEachin’s congressional seat, gaining only 13.56% of the primary vote to McClellan’s 84.81%. She will go on to run in a special election in February.
Virginia Business: You weren’t elected yet as a state senator in 2018 when negotiations began to legalize casinos in Virginia. Why do you think Richmond — and not Petersburg — was included in the bill with other economically challenged cities like Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth?
Morrissey: Petersburg was much more of a natural fit. The casino legislation was to help struggling cities in the commonwealth, not counties or cities that were going gangbusters. You had to work to construct language that allowed Richmond to fit into one of the five host cities.
The answer is simple. Should I be my usual candid self? The legislators representing Petersburg [in 2018], both of them were asleep at the wheel. To allow Richmond to get a casino when Petersburg was struggling and had just escaped bankruptcy three years [or] four years before, to allow that to happen was disgraceful. When God saw fit to allow Richmonders to vote against a referendum, it was an easy pivot to Petersburg. I’ll say this — had I been the state senator at the time, I would’ve fought tooth and nail to give Petersburg that initial casino.
VB: If a casino is built in Petersburg, are there any guarantees that Cordish will be creating well-paying jobs?
Morrissey: Absolutely. I think [the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission] was conservative in their estimate of 1,300 jobs. Most people think there’ll be between 1,500 and 1,800 permanent jobs. That’s not just Petersburg, but it’s Surry, Sussex, Prince George, Dinwiddie [counties] and Hopewell. This casino will benefit all of Central Virginia.
VB: How do you feel about Cordish being the casino developer tapped by Petersburg officials earlier this year? Did you have much to do with that?
Morrissey: I spoke with all the different casino developers, and I thought that Cordish is probably one of the preeminent casino operators in the country. When Richmond endeavored to put a casino in Richmond, it was down to [finalists] Cordish and [Urban] One. If you talk to other developers, they would say far [and] away, the best proposal [came from] Cordish. Now part of that is a factor of experience. [Editor’s Note: Cordish operates Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, Florida, and developed and operates Live! Casino & Hotel resorts in Maryland and Pennsylvania.]
What’s coming now to Petersburg is a destination resort — a 300-room hotel, retail shops, pools, music venues and gaming — but Cordish develops the contiguous area, that’s their brand. They will improve the infrastructure and all 90 contiguous acres, not just the 20 that the casino sits on.
VB:Gov. Youngkin has brought a lot of recent focus to Petersburg, notably launching a $14.5 million, 42-point state aid initiative, the Partnership for Petersburg, which he described as a pilot program for assisting underserved localities. Have you made any agreements with Youngkin’s administration or other Virginia lawmakers for support of the Petersburg casino or anything else regarding economic development in Petersburg?
Morrissey: There are absolutely zero deals, zero conversations, nothing whatsoever. The only thing that I’ve spoken to the governor about [in] the Petersburg initiative is the Petersburg initiative. It’s not fluff; it’s substantive programs that will improve Petersburg. They’re going to bring in prosecutors to help the local commonwealth’s attorney’s office. They are focused on improving water infrastructure, sewage infrastructure, rehabbing schools, perhaps a lab school. They are focused on natural resources, including that river that flows behind the old city and perhaps [building a] marina.
Let me just say this, and I said it before: I think that [Democratic governors like] Gov. Northam, Gov. [Terry] McAuliffe [and] Gov. [Doug] Wilder did some very good things for Central Virginia. [But] let’s be clear, no governor has focused as much and has put as much emphasis and money and resources into Petersburg than Gov. Youngkin.
To my Democratic colleagues that want to pooh-pooh that and say it’s ridiculous, if Northam was still governor and he did what Youngkin is doing, they would be building a statue to him right now in Old Towne Petersburg. It is, in every sense of the word, substantive, and that’s why the African American sheriff, chief of police, mayor, majority of city council, school board chairman [and] school board are all fully invested in this.
VB: Why do you think the governor’s so focused on Petersburg?
Morrissey: I think he sees an opportunity to improve a city very close to Richmond, an African American [majority] city, with initiatives and policies and programs. I think if he does exceedingly well [there], it bolsters any presidential aspirations that he has. Anybody that criticizes him and says, ‘Well, he’s doing it for his own motives,’ well, don’t we all in some way do things if we think it’s going to help us down the road?
VB: Why is it important that the state invests in economic development in Petersburg?
Morrissey: Before I came to Richmond 30 years ago, [there was] a very heavy cigarette industry in Petersburg that unfortunately left, and that decimated Petersburg. It struggled to recover and is still struggling, but now we’re on the cusp of something great. That pharmaceutical ingredient park [in Petersburg] will be the pharmaceutical capital of the East Coast.
With [Republican Del.] Kim Taylor, we got $30 million for sewage and regular water infrastructure improvements [at Petersburg’s Poor Creek Pump Station]. There is a commitment with the new director of economic development, Brian Moore, to plow tens of millions of dollars into this city, and the Petersburg initiative is going to help make that happen. Listen, I see great things ahead. I’ve told people, “You want to make money, invest in Petersburg.”
VB: What’s it like working in a split General Assembly? How easy is it to get bills to come up for a vote, let alone pass both chambers?
Morrissey: For me? Easy. Here’s why — when I’m working [on] a bill, I start a couple of months [early], visiting my colleagues in their home districts, telling them what we need to do and why this will be helpful. Take the Senate: I reach across the aisle to the Richard Stuarts, Siobhan Dunnavants, Bill Stanleys, Todd Pillions, and say, ‘Guys, listen. This is what I want to do. This is what you believe in. Let’s make it happen.’ It works.
I’m going to be very candid. I have had greater success working with some of my Republican, business-oriented, business-focused, empirical-data-driven legislators than some of the folks on my own side. That’s the way it is. Similarly, I think I have some great colleagues on the Democratic side, but when I look across the aisle there, there is a cadre of folks that are really worker bees and committed.
VB: Do you think there will be any adjustments to the minimum wage this session?
Morrissey: No. We already went flying past the $11 to $12 mark because of inflation and COVID. I thought it would take five years to get up to $15 an hour with incremental steps. We’re there, so no, there’s going to be no movement to increase it above what we’ve already done. The free market is already dictating prices, and that’s the way it should be.
VB: Do you expect more tax cuts in 2023? Is that something Democrats can get behind?
Morrissey: We have a tendency to do it piecemeal. For example, we gave $40,000 in income tax relief to military veterans — $10,000 a year for four consecutive years. I think that was good, because we want Virginia to be the [most] military-friendly state in the union, not North Carolina. I spend money when I make votes like it’s my money. I’m very, very prudent. I want Virginia to be prudent in its tax policies and let [those policies] be dictated by market forces.
VB: Cannabis sales regulation was not passed in 2022. Do you think the General Assembly will do it this session?
Morrissey: I hope so. I think so. We dropped the ball by not doing it. We have a fiduciary duty, since we have legalized marijuana, to finish the job. An expression that my kids have heard a thousand times and they can’t stand [is], “Finish the job. … You’re halfway there. You’re three-quarters [of] the way there.”
VB: This year every state legislator will be running in newly redrawn districts, including you. How do you see the November elections impacting the General Assembly and the commonwealth?
Morrissey: The best thing in the world happened. Now 61 legislators are running against each other. You got one seat where three or four Democrats are running together. Great. If we had gerrymandering in there, they would’ve all been protected. OK? Now you got [Republican Sens.] Steve Newman and Mark Peake running against each other. [Republican Sens.] Tommy Norment and [Ryan T.] McDougle. Morrissey and [Democratic primary candidate] Lashrecse Aird. Fine. Wonderful. We have no right to have a district that just protects us. Let the chips fall where they may.
There’s always going to be strong red districts in Southwest Virginia, and there’s going to be strong blue districts in Northern Virginia and some of our cities. We’re going to create more bubble districts. That’s a good thing for politics. It’s a good thing for the economy. It’s a good thing for business because it forces them to use that ‘c’ word: compromise.
VB: Do you think Democrats can hold on to power in the state Senate this year?
Morrissey: Yes. It’ll be a narrow margin once again, but I do think in 2023, they will maintain control of the Senate. It’s going to be a brand-new Senate. We’re going to see a Senate and some degree of House that we haven’t seen before with this redistricting. There’ll be 10, 15 senators [who] aren’t back.
The top five most-read daily news stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Nov. 14 to Dec. 14, 2022, included a Virginia Business scoop about a restaurant on the culture-war frontlines that became a national news story.
The Reston-based federal contractor’s 1,500 employees were slated to become part of IBM Consulting’s U.S. public and federal market arm, in a deal expected to close by the end of 2022. (Dec. 8)
Despite lingering community opposition, Suffolk officials remain committed to the Port 460 Logistics Center, a warehouse complex on Pruden Boulevard at the U.S. Route 58 interchange, a major freight corridor to the Port of Virginia.
In September 2022, Suffolk City Council approved rezoning 540 acres from general commercial and agricultural to heavy industrial use, paving the way for Frederick, Maryland-based Matan Cos. to build 10 warehouses with up to 5 million square feet of space to attract warehousing and logistics tenants. Port 460’s initial phase includes two 350,000-square-foot buildings and a 1 million-square-foot building. The project is expected to generate 2,600 construction jobs and 9,000 long-term positions. Construction could begin late this year, with the first warehouse ready by late 2024 or early 2025, says Kevin Hughes, Suffolk deputy city manager.
Matan is investing $420 million to construct the logistics center, $30 million for public road improvements, $6.6 million for engineering costs and interchange improvements and $3 million for fees, utility connections, inspections and reviews. The Port of Virginia provided $1 million to assist with design costs, and Suffolk will partner with the port to secure additional state and federal funding, including improvements to the U.S. 460/U.S. 58 corridor, says Suffolk Mayor Mike Duman.
Port 460 could generate more than $36 million in property taxes, assuming a 10-year completion, Duman adds, and annual local taxes are projected to range from $6.5 million to $8.1 million.
“This is a significant economic investment in our city,” says Duman. “Our city’s large land mass and close proximity to the port will continue to attract this type of investment.”
Citing concerns about increased traffic and detrimental effects to the city’s rural character, a group of citizens filed a lawsuit in October 2022 in Suffolk Circuit Court seeking to nullify the rezoning.
Duman doesn’t begrudge Suffolk residents filing the lawsuit. “It gives our citizens the opportunity to see that the [rezoning] process was transparent.”
He notes that “our citizens have clearly communicated that traffic is their No. 1 concern,” adding that by 2045, truck traffic is expected to increase by 47% on Route 58 and by 90% on Route 460. Those traffic increases are directly tied to expected increases in port activity, he says. “This is inevitable with or without this project, but City Council must ensure these issues are addressed.”
CEO and president,
BWX Technologies Inc. Lynchburg
BESTADVICEYOUHAVETO GIVETOOTHERS:Write and track your life goals — family, financial, career, experiential, spiritual, etc. I’ve been doing this for 35 years.
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WHAT’SONETHINGYOU WOULDCHANGEABOUT VIRGINIA? I would get rid of the vehicle inspection requirement. It is ridiculous.
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FAVORITESONG: Van Morrison’s “Moondance”
DID YOU KNOW? In December 2022, BWXT began producing the nuclear fuel that will power the first microreactor built and operated in the U.S., which will also be delivered by BWXT in 2024.
Like the quote from a possibly apocryphal Harvard Law professor, Virginia legislators can look to their left and then to their right, and one of their peers probably won’t be seated there next year, thanks to a supercharged primary field created by a late 2021 redistricting.
And now, 61 of Virginia’s 140 incumbent state senators and delegates find themselves competing for the same district with other incumbents. Some will face each other in June primaries and others in November general elections, while a few may decide not to run. The outcome is likely to create a major reshuffle in legislative leadership, if not party representation.
State Sen. Joe Morrissey, who faces former Del. Lashrecse Aird in a Democratic primary for the Petersburg Senate seat, welcomes the competition, saying, “We have no right to have a district that just protects us. Let the chips fall where they may.”
Here are just a few of the contested state Senate districts in the 2023 election year featuring familiar names: Democratic state Sens. Louise Lucas and Lionell Spruill Sr. in Hampton Roads; Republican Sens. Ryan McDougle and Minority Leader Tommy Norment in the Peninsula; and in the Roanoke Valley, Democratic Sen. John Edwards vs. Republican Sen. David Suetterlein. Three other sitting senators — Democrat Creigh Deeds and Republicans Emmett Hanger and Mark Obenshain — were in the same Shenandoah Valley district. However,Deeds said he’s moving to Senate District 11, where many of his Charlottesville-area constituents reside, and where he’ll challenge Del. Sally Hudson for the Democratic nomination.
Delegates, too, are facing primary and general election battles, among them Republicans Israel O’Quinn and Will Wampler in Southwest Virginia, Democrats Eileen Filler-Corn and Kathy Tran in Fairfax County, and Luke Torian and Elizabeth Guzman, Democrats representing parts of Prince William County.
In Floyd and Patrick counties, the heat has already risen on the primary contest between Republican Dels. Marie March and Wren Williams. Not only are they seeking the same seat, but March pressed charges against Williams, claiming he slammed her shoulder as the two passed each other at a GOP fundraiser in Wytheville in September 2022. Williams has said he apologized and didn’t realize he had bumped into March, while she claimed it was intentional. On Jan. 4, a Wytheville General District Court judge found Williams not guilty.
“Those Southwest Virginia people, they get pretty fired up,” jokes Del. Hyland “Buddy” Fowler, R-Hanover, suggesting that GOP Del. Thomas Wright, who sits near March and Williams in the House, “will be the referee. We do have to maintain some level of decorum.”
‘Insane’ number of primaries
Tempers aside, an election year often generates more posturing than real legislative action — but some of that depends on the ideological makeup of candidates’ districts.
“I think the conventional wisdom is that it’s a year to do nothing,” says Greg Habeeb, a former Republican delegate and now head of Gentry Locke Attorneys’ Richmond-based government and regulatory affairs team. “It’s a campaign year. There’s an insane number of primaries. There’s going to be huge turnover amongst Senate leadership from the highest levels of the Senate.”
Indeed, Sen. Janet Howell, the Fairfax County Democrat who co-chairs the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, has been rumored to be considering retirement, having served in the Senate since 1992. Her new district includes Democratic incumbent state Sen. Jennifer Boysko.
Delegates Marie March and Wren Williams will face each other in a Republican primary for the same seat in Floyd and Patrick counties. March photo by AP Photo/Steve Helber; Williams photo by Allison Lee Isley/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, who has served in the Senate since 1980 and turns 82 in February, may also retire. Democratic Sen. Dave Marsden is now in the same Fairfax County district.
University of Mary Washington Professor Stephen Farnsworth says that the newly drawn districts — determined in December 2021 by two Virginia Supreme Court-appointed special masters who did not take incumbents’ residences into consideration — favor Democrats because of population dispersal. Younger, more Democratic-leaning voters live in urban and suburban areas, while more conservative rural regions are losing population and seats, he notes.
“The [Republican] House majority is already at risk because of the lines that have been redrawn,” Farnsworth says. “The reality for a lot of Republicans is that the election that really matters is the primary.”
The state Senate, which Democrats have held in a razor-thin 21-19 majority since Republicans won back the House and the governorship in 2021, is a bit trickier to predict, although Morrissey says he believes Senate Democrats will hang on to power in 2023.
In January, though, voters in U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans’ former state Senate district will vote for her replacement as the Republican takes office in Washington, D.C. State law requires the Jan. 11 special election to take place in the 2010-drawn 7th District including parts of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, which has gone back and forth between Democratic and Republican control. If Democrat Aaron Rouse, a Virginia Beach councilman, beats Republican candidate Kevin Adams, the Democratic-Republican divide will widen to 22 to 18 this session.
While the change of one Senate seat could make a difference in the fate of some bills in committee, the Senate has been a reliably steady institution, often checking the bolder impulses of the House of Delegates.
“The Senate, no matter who has been in charge, has been the same institution for a long time,” Habeeb says. “The majority-minority changes, but the leadership doesn’t change.”
However, that may not hold true much longer, he adds: “A lot of that’s about to change. A lot of folks are saying that [2023’s] the time to go.”
‘Get out of Richmond’
A major question for candidates, especially Republicans, is how far to push hot-button culture war topics. Common wisdom has it that some Republicans nationwide lost midterm elections by focusing on the premise of a stolen 2020 presidential election, a falsehood promoted by former President Donald Trump.
However, notes David Ramadan, a former Republican delegate who represented parts of Loudoun and Prince William counties, issues like abortion and transgender students’ rights go beyond simple rhetoric for some Republican officeholders and their constituents. “They believe very strongly in what they’re doing. They represent very, very red districts. They don’t go by the national atmosphere, especially in an election year,” says Ramadan, a professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
Even controversial bills that are likely to fail or be tabled — such as Republican Sen. Amanda Chase’s measure to prohibit all gender transition treatment for children under age 18 — can serve a role in differentiating candidates from competitors, Ramadan says. “They’re going to go with the far-right issue bills that will help them nail the nomination.”
But this legislative gamesmanship can have real-world effects. Even as Virginians are reeling from two mass shooting events in Charlottesville and Chesapeake late last year, it’s doubtful that a split legislature will pass any gun control legislation, based at least partly on campaign calculations, observers say. “Voting to restrict guns puts your primary renomination at risk if you’re a Republican,” Farnsworth says. “In the history of election-year sessions, [the rule is] do the minimum as fast as possible and get out of Richmond.”
Morrissey says decisions on what bills to file usually come down to a candidate’s priorities, as well as whether they hope to pass legislation via compromise in a divided legislature — although he planned to file a bill that would ban assault-style weapons, which is unlikely to pass.
“When it comes to some of these social issues, it’s fine to have your beliefs on that,” he says. “You don’t ever have to abandon your values, but remember you’re legislating for your entire district or the commonwealth of Virginia. That’s what goes through my head all the time.”
Welcome to the New Year! 2023 is a new one indeed. Business as usual isn’t so usual anymore. Tech companies are downsizing faster than local daily newspapers. Starbucks baristas are the new trend in organized labor. Amazon’s growth is slowing. Global consumption and supply chains can no longer be taken for granted. Twitter is, well, whatever. Travel, hotels and restaurants — the things we do in person — seem to be making a comeback. And yes, the kids are back in school, although colds and flu have been going around.
After a few tough few years, it’s worthwhile to rethink past assumptions. Many of our best guesses about the future have been dislodged or disproven by unforeseen events and circumstances.
When I first started working, getting hired by a large corporation was the gold standard. IBM was “Big Blue.” Does anyone remember mainframe computers now? In the ’80s and ’90s, McKinsey and Goldman Sachs were prime destinations for Wall Street’s wannabe rich and famous — that’s less the case today. Back then, all MBA schools waltzed to Milton Friedman’s mantra that the “social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.”
Looking back, I can’t help but think of an old Bonnie Raitt lyric: “I’ve had bad dreams too many times to think that they don’t mean much anymore.” The dream of a business world that was both fair and money-centric just hasn’t held up. I remember a well-respected boss who said, “I’ve tried fair, but life isn’t fair, and being fair just doesn’t work.” There may be some element of truth in that statement, but is that really a dream of how the world should be?
Among political and economic systems, capitalism is far and away the most successful driver of wealth creation. At the same time, in its purest form, capitalism derives significant motivational power from scarcity and inequality — it’s a world of winners and losers. As powerful as this is in its simplicity, a zero-sum game vastly understates the collective social problems faced by the world as we know it today. Think about pollution, energy, food scarcity, affordable housing or access to health care. In the long run, such social problems create significant new costs that are ultimately borne by the business world. Capitalism might do well to be a little less self-centered.
Today’s business environment is considerably different from past decades. Business is no longer just about profit. There is a growing recognition of the importance of a double or triple bottom line. Employees, customers and the community are gaining greater recognition for their indispensable value as inputs to financial success. Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) efforts are shaping investment decisions at a level not seen in the past.
Fortunately, capitalism has evolved to be more nuanced, more customer- and employee-centric. The best leaders realize that better results come when great people do good things in the best interest of customers and the community. This is a less self-interested and vastly more sustainable approach.
Reimagining the corporation means thinking differently about people. Companies are more complex than just an amalgam of labor and capital. Organizational structures are more complex than just divisions between management and employees. Today’s most successful companies think in terms of teams, teambuilding and placemaking. There is a much greater recognition that we are all in this together.
Most problems cannot be solved by a profit-only mindset. Going into the New Year, let’s strive to make work fun, respectful and profitable. Isn’t that a better approach?
On Dec. 8, 2022, Arko Corp., a Fortune 500 holding company for Henrico County-based convenience store chain GPM Investments LLC, closed on its acquisition of Pride Convenience Holdings LLC, which operates 30 Pride convenience stores in Massachusetts and one in Connecticut. The $230 million acquisition (plus the value of inventory) brings Arko to its 34th state. A day earlier, Arko announced it agreed to acquire the retail, wholesale and fleet fueling assets of Texas-based WTG Fuels Holdings LLC, the owner of Uncle’s Convenience Stores and Gascard fleet fueling operations. The $140.4 million acquisition (plus the value of inventory) marked Arko’s entry into Texas. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies Inc. has begun producing the nuclear fuel that will power the first microreactor built and operated in the United States, the company announced Dec. 7, 2022. BWXT will manufacture a nuclear core for Project Pele under a $37 million award from the Idaho National Laboratory, as well as tristructural isotropic particle fuel, known as TRISO, for additional reactors and coated particle fuel for NASA. BWXT subsidiary BWXT Advanced Technologies LLC received a $300 million contract in June from the Department of Defense to build the microreactor, set to be delivered in 2024. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
A merger between Richmond-based CarLotz and California-based Shift Technologies Inc. closed Dec. 9, 2022. The deal was a stock-for-stock merger with the new company headquartered in San Francisco, and trading as SFT. CarLotz, which sells used vehicles on consignment and splits the profits with owners, started in 2011 with its first store in Chesterfield County. It reached 22 hubs across several states but it closed a majority of its locations and significantly reduced staff, closing 11 dealerships by June 2022. The company announced in August 2022 that it would close seven more locations in the third and fourth quarter of 2022, including a 60% reduction in the company’s workforce. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Metzger Bar & Butchery in Richmond canceled a Nov. 30, 2022, reservation for The Family Foundation, a Christian conservative political organization opposed to same-sex marriage and abortion. In a statement posted online Dec. 1, Metzger said the decision was made to protect its staff, many of whom are women and/or part of the LGBTQ community. Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb decried the restaurant‘s action, comparing it to “the 1950s and early ’60s, when people were denied food service due to their race.” Metzger posted a photo of a drink Dec. 2 to its Instagram account, announcing it would donate proceeds of its sales that day to LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Virginia. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Mondelez International Inc. opened its new 450,000-square-foot fulfillment and distribution center at 953 Airport Drive in Sandston. The company is the maker of popular snacks like Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers and Chips Ahoy! and the new building is part of $122.5 million Mondelez is investing in its Henrico County operations. The new center brings 80 new jobs and will help reinforce the company’s bakery located off Laburnum Avenue. That plant will also get a 68,000-square-foot expansion to house a high-speed production line. The site was chosen for its centralized location along the coast for faster shipping to clients and other centers within a day’s drive. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Soerensen
PEOPLE
Kim Soerensen, executive director of the nonprofit Riverviews Artspace in Lynchburg, announced her resignation Nov. 17, 2022, to become the next CEO of United Way of Central Virginia. Soerensen served in her role at Riverviews for more than six years and stepped down at the end of 2022. The board of directors at Riverviews has created a search committee to find a replacement. (The News & Advance)
EASTERN VIRGINIA
Rivers Casino Portsmouth plans to open to the public Jan. 15. The $340 million venue, part of a planned entertainment district along Victory Boulevard off Interstate 264, will feature 1,448 slot machines, 57 table games and 24 poker tables as well as 10 bars and restaurants and an event space. It also includes a Topgolf Swing Suite that will overlook a BetRivers Sportsbook. News of the opening came just days after the Virginia Lottery Board unanimously approved the casino’s operator’s license in November 2022. Rivers Casino obtained the second casino license issued in the state. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Stihl Inc., the German chainsaw and power tool manufacturer, plans to spend $49 million to expand its Virginia Beach operations and add 15 jobs. The Virginia Beach Development Authority approved a $500,000 incentive grant to help facilitate the expansion in November 2022. The project will grow the company’s chainsaw guide bar manufacturing facility at 825 London Bridge Road from 60,000 to 86,000 square feet. The additional space will allow the company to install a third guide bar production line, increasing the facility’s production capacity by a third. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Two employees of the Chesapeake Walmart where six employees were shot and killed in November 2022 have sued the company, each seeking $50 million in damages. Donya Prioleau, who filed the first lawsuit on Nov. 29, 2022, worked as an overnight stocker and trainer. She alleges the company ignored her complaints about Andre Bing’s troubling behavior in the months prior to the deadly shooting. James Kelly, an overnight stocker clerk, filed a lawsuit Dec. 1, 2022, alleging Walmart failed to act after he complained the shooter harassed and threatened him. Both lawsuits note the shooter had a “longstanding pattern of disturbing and threatening behavior” and that his continued employment at the store allowed him to have access to the break room and other employee areas. (The Virginian-Pilot)
PEOPLE
Ed Aldridge, president of CMA CGM America and American President Lines LLC, retired Dec. 6, 2022, and Peter Levesque, who was previously Ports America Group’s president, will take over those roles, the French container ship company announced in mid-November 2022. Aldridge took over as president of CMA CGM America in 2020 and has been responsible for U.S. operations, including 22,000 employees. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
After nearly 30 years, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters President and CEO James Dahling announced his retirement from the Hampton Roads-based health system Dec. 2, 2022.Amy Sampson, CHKD’s senior vice president and chief engagement and innovation officer, will succeed Dahling, who will retire in 2023, but a transition date has not been set. The leadership structure of the health system will also change. Dr. Christopher Foley, vice president and chief of medicine, is being promoted to chief clinical operations officer, a new position that will replace the chief operating officer. Dahling, Sampson
and Foley will work together over the next several months toward the transition. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
TowneBank President and Chief Operating Officer Brad E. Schwartz retired Dec. 31, 2022, the Suffolk-based bank announced. Schwartz will also step down as a director when his current term expires at the 2023 annual shareholder meeting. He will serve as a senior adviser through 2025 to assist with the transition. William I. “Billy” Foster III will succeed Schwartz as president in addition to succeeding J. Morgan Davis as CEO. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Reston-based Bechtel Corp. has been selected to design and build the first phase of Intel Corp.’s $20 billion semiconductor manufacturing facility near Columbus, Ohio, a project that will include as much steel as eight Eiffel Towers. The work will include a total
2.5 million square feet, 600,000 square feet
of which will be cleanrooms, according to a Nov. 28, 2022, announcement. Intel announced in September that it would invest $20 billion to construct two chip factories in Ohio, passing over a site in Chesterfield County. Bechtel will partner with the North America’s Building Trades Unions for the work, which is expected to create 7,000 construction jobs. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Arlington-based Boeing Co. announced leadership changes and a consolidation of its eight divisions within the Boeing Defense, Space and Security unit into four on Nov. 17, 2022. The changes are aimed at operational discipline, quality and performance and streamlining senior leadership roles and responsibilities. The four new divisions are: Vertical Lift; Mobility, Surveillance and Bombers; Air Dominance; and Space, Intelligence and Weapon Systems. In December, United Airlines agreed to purchase 100 787 Dreamliners from Boeing, with an option to purchase 100 more, as well as 100 737 Max jets. The deal comes after federal regulators allowed Boeing to resume deliveries of the aircraft in August following manufacturing and regulatory issues.(VirginiaBusiness.com, The Wall Street Journal)
Arlington-based defense contractor Leonardo DRS Inc. began trading on the Nasdaq composite Nov. 29, 2022, following the completion a day earlier of its all-stock merger with Israel-based radar company Rada Electronic Industries Ltd. Rada shareholders will retain 19.5% ownership of the company, with Leonardo DRS’ parent company, Italian defense contractor Leonardo SpA, owning the other 80.5%. Rada is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leonardo DRS and is one of eight lines of business under the company. Leonardo DRS Chairman and CEO William J. Lynn III said going public will give DRS “more operational independence, financial flexibility [and] more strategic bandwidth.” (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Reston-based Octo is being acquired from Arlington Capital Partners by IBM. The federal contractor, founded in 2006 by CEO Mehul Sanghani, has 1,500 employees who were slated to become part of IBM Consulting’s U.S. public and federal market arm when the deal was expected to close by the end of 2022. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Octo has been recognized as one of the fastest growing U.S. federal contractors, and in May 2022, it opened oLabs, a $10 million research and development lab focused on artificial intelligence and other projects. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Virginia Tech is piloting a new project-based curriculum for local engineering students ahead of the 2024 full opening of its $1 billion Innovation Campus. Four companies are presenting small groups of master’s of engineering students with real-world problems to tackle and solve with the help of faculty members now based at the university’s center in Falls Church. In addition to Arlington-based Boeing and Falls Church-based Northrop Grumman Corp., the university is partnering with Deloitte, which has a presence in Arlington, and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of Arlington’s Raytheon Technologies Corp. (Washington Business Journal)
After more than two decades of planning, Alexandria’s Potomac Yard Metro station has a finalized opening date — May 2023 — according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. The new station will open in Alexandria between the Braddock Road and Reagan National Airport stations on Metro’s Yellow and Blue lines, with an entrance located near Virginia Tech’s future Innovation Campus. In July 2021, the station’s opening was pushed back from April 2022 to September 2022 and was again delayed at that time. (Washington Business Journal)
ROANOKE/NEW RIVER VALLEY
Former Carilion Clinic CEO Tom Robertson and his wife, Sue, have given $250,000 to establish a fellowship training program at Carilion in honor of Dr. Charles L. Crockett. For more than three decades Crockett served as director of medical education at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, overseeing the development of fully accredited residencies in a half-dozen specialties with 100 residents each year. Crockett, a hematologist, came to Roanoke Memorial in 1967 from the University of Virginia, where he was assistant dean for continuing education and associate professor of internal medicine. He died in 2001. (Cardinal News)
Roanoke Gas Co. in early December 2022 requested an increase in its base rate which, if approved by state regulators, would amount to a $5 bump in the monthly bill of an average residential customer. The utility cited inflation in the costs of labor and benefits, bad debt and the rising expense of various operating and maintenance activities in its application to the State Corporation Commission. As ratepayers are asked to pay more for the basic operations of a utility that serves about 63,000 customers in the region, they are also shouldering the rising cost of natural gas. (The Roanoke Times)
The Virginia Tech board of visitors approved adding a 5,000-bed student housing complex to the university’s master plan in mid-November 2022. The Student Life Village could become a priority in coming years to help ease a Blacksburg housing crunch caused by Virginia Tech’s large enrollment increases the past five years. The resolution does not mean that project is a done deal, however, because future plans and capital spending would have to go through several layers of university review and oversight, which would include additional approvals from the board. The project would be built in three phases at a cost of $935 million. (Cardinal News)
Virginia Tech‘s real estate program in November 2022 earned approval from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to become the Blackwood Department of Real Estate. Becoming a department housed under the Pamplin School of Business will offer the program more resources, enhance its academic and experiential learning offerings and boost its ability to recruit top faculty talent and advance research programming. The intention is to grow from 400 real estate majors to 500, and limit real estate minors to about 150 or 200 students. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
Lee Enterprises Inc. in mid-November 2022 named a new president and director of sales for The Roanoke Times and newspapers in Lynchburg, Martinsville and Danville. David Cuddihy will move into the role after most recently serving as regional market president for Lee Enterprises newspapers in Washington and Oregon. Cuddihy will replace Kelly Mirt, president and publisher of The News & Advance, Martinsville Bulletin and Danville Register & Bee, and Sam Worthington, who has been named vice president of digital sales for Lee Enterprises in western Virginia. Cuddihy has served as president, publisher and director of sales for The Roanoke Times since early 2021. Worthington will remain in Roanoke and continue as a lead for business development and community engagement for The Roanoke Times. (The Roanoke Times)
Danielle Poe became Roanoke County‘s assistant director of economic development on Nov. 28, 2022. Poe comes from the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission, where she was business manager for nearly three years, managing day-to-day operations within the organization and overseeing risk management strategies. She has more than 15 years of experience, including serving as economic development specialist for Downtown Roanoke Inc. (News release)
SHENANDOAH VALLEY
Shockey Properties hosted a public meeting in Strasburg on Nov. 29, 2022, about its rezoning request for the Glendale Property, which consists of 98.8 acres on Oranda Road in Shenandoah County. The property’s owner, Glendale Properties LLC, has long sought to have the site rezoned from agricultural uses to general industrial zoning. Shockey officials said they won’t know what will be developed at the property unless it is rezoned, but Gray Farland, its chief operating officer, said potential industrial uses include food preparation and storage, cold storage, dairy preparation and storage, technology services and automotive parts distribution. (The Northern Virginia Daily)
U.S. Rep. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, and Rachel Reibach, regional director for Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine’s northwestern Virginia office, attended the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber‘s federal legislative forum held at the Winchester Country Club on Dec. 5, 2022. Cline said he believes slowing clean-energy initiatives while supporting fossil fuel production could lower prices for Americans and ease inflation. Kaine voted for the Inflation Reduction Act, intended to curb inflation, lower prescription drug prices and promote clean energy. Cline, who voted against the act, said he is “concerned that the amount of government spending may have artificially kept some industries afloat.” (The Northern Virginia Daily)
Valley Health announced in November 2022 it had opened a new Urgent Care Express at 5301 Main St. in Mount Jackson. Valley Health operates two Valley Health Urgent Care Express locations, in Front Royal and Strasburg, and six full-service Valley Health Urgent Care locations across the region. The new location is in a building that housed a clinic through CareTeam, which partnered with Holtzman Oil Corp. to provide health services to its employees. The Urgent Care Express will now be the main provider of employee health services for Holtzman Oil. (Daily News-Record)
In November 2022, Winchester City Manager Dan Hoffman established a Department of Community Development in Rouss City Hall that was expected to bolster the number of homes in the city that could be rented at prices working-class individuals and families could comfortably afford. The new department is tasked with working with developers, state and federal agencies and local residents to find solutions for bolstering the city’s supply of affordable housing. Starting Jan. 1, the department will administer the Housing Choice Voucher Program that the Winchester Department of Social Services previously administered. (The Winchester Star)
Eighteen months after Winchester officials declared a pair of residential properties on South Loudoun Street derelict and blighted, and 12 months after suing the property owners, Wayne and Laura Gavis, to force them to make repairs, the Winchester Board of Architectural Review issued a certificate of appropriateness on Dec. 1, 2022, to demolish the rear portion of a single-family home at 411 S. Loudoun St. One month prior, the BAR had issued a similar certificate authorizing the total demolition of town houses at 514 to 520 S. Loudoun St. (The Winchester Star)
PEOPLE
Tuttle and Shepard
Harrisonburg-based organic poultry producer Farmer Focus announced leadership changes on Dec. 6, 2022. Stephen J. Shepard is the company’s new president and chief operating officer, a promotion from executive vice president of operations, a position he had held since April 2022. Kathryn Tuttle was promoted from chief marketing officer, the position she’d held since 2020, to the newly created position of chief commercial officer. Farmer Focus added 750 retail locations in the fourth quarter of 2022, making its chicken available in more than 3,100 stores throughout the East Coast and Midwest. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA
Appalachian Community Capital, a Christiansburg-based community development financial institution that provides capital for small businesses across the Appalachian region, including 25 counties in Southern and Southwest Virginia, will receive $10 million from the Ford Foundation, the nonprofit announced in December 2022. ACC raises capital for 32 member CDFIs and other lenders, which manage more than $1 billion in assets. The Ford Foundation invested $3 million in ACC in 2015. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Bristol, Virginia, City Council narrowly approved giving the Birthplace of Country Music Museum $100,000 in a 3-2 vote on Nov. 22, 2022. The payment was the last installment of a $500,000, five-year pledge made by a previous council that began in fiscal 2011-12. Bristol, Tennessee, made a similar commitment and has paid all of its $500,000. The 2017 Bristol, Virginia, City Council removed the $100,000 balance from its budget, saying the city needed the money for other things. The balance was never reinstated. (Bristol Herald Courier)
Officials broke ground at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol‘s permanent home at the former Bristol Mall, located at 500 Gate City Highway, on Dec. 7, 2022. The $400 million permanent casino, set to open in July 2024, will replace a 30,000-square-foot temporary venue that opened in the former Belk store at the Bristol Mall in July. The permanent casino will include a 3,200-seat performance venue and a 20,000-person capacity outdoor entertainment venue. The casino will be open 24/7 and is expected to generate about 1,200 to 1,500 jobs. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Jennifer and Greg Bailey, owners of Wise County’s first brewery, Sugar Hill Brewing Co. in St. Paul, and Norton’s first cidery, Sugar Hill Cidery, closed both operations on Dec. 4, 2022. The brewpub had been open for six years, and the cidery for three, and 36 people worked at the two operations. In an email, Jennifer Bailey attributed rising inflation and gas prices making it difficult for people to eat out and discouraging customers who drove from Kentucky and the Tri-Cities.
(The Coalfield Progress)
PEOPLE
Jim Florence joined the Appalachian College of Pharmacy as a professor and the first dean of the new ACP Department of Public Health, the college announced in early December 2022. Previously a professor in Liberty University’s master of public health degree program, he served as the lead faculty member on the accreditation committee, helping secure the Council on Education in Public Health accreditation of Liberty’s master’s in public health degree program in 2019. Before that, Florence chaired the Department of Community and Behavioral Health in East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health.
(Cardinal News)
The United Way of Southwest Virginia named Mary Anne Holbrook, who has been with the nonprofit since 2016, to the newly created position of vice president of community impact on Nov. 1, 2022. In her new role, she provides strategic leadership for UWSWVA’s programs and community initiatives. She previously served as vice president of development and outreach, a role the regional nonprofit is now seeking to fill. Holbrook holds a master’s degree in English with concentrations in Appalachian studies and business and technical writing from Radford University. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
SOUTHERN VIRGINIA
A new solar facility in Climax — set to power local homes served by Mecklenburg Electric Cooperative — was nearing the finish line at the end of 2022. Known as Monroe Solar, the 2.8-megawatt facility will be able to supply about 2,100 meters serviced by the cooperative’s substation in Climax. The facility has more than 7,400 panels that slowly move throughout the day to track the sun. Even on a day when clouds loom large, the panels can still work since the design focuses on reflected light. (Danville Register & Bee)
A judge on Dec. 5, 2022, declined to dismiss a lawsuit claiming Virginia’s ban on slotslike skill machines violates free speech and indicated a state senator’s involvement in the case means it won’t go to trial until after the 2023 General Assembly session is over. At a hearing in Greensville County Circuit Court, Judge Louis Lerner also rejected a claim the General Assembly violated the Virginia Constitution by quietly adding legislation to the most recent state budget that sought to reinforce the purported illegality of the machines that have proliferated in Virginia convenience stores, truck stops and sports bars. (Virginia Mercury)
No decision was made at a Dec. 5, 2022, hearing on Martinsville‘s desire to revert from an independent city to a town within Henry County, but the judges presiding offered plenty of comments during the proceeding, and none of them appeared to be in support of Martinsville. Martinsville v. Henry County was heard virtually by a special court. Martinsville claims a memorandum of understanding between the localities is still binding, but judges noted that even though Martinsville City Council approved a cooperative agreement on reversion last year, the Henry County Board of Supervisors rejected it. (Martinsville Bulletin)
Skip Barber Racing School will relocate from Connecticut to Halifax County, building an $8.9 million performance driving school at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) that’s expected to create 24 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in late November 2022. VIR will build a 25,000-square-foot facility to be leased to Skip Barber Racing School at VIR’s onsite Motorsport Technology Park. The school was founded in 1975 in California by retired racer John “Skip” Barber III. Barber, 86, no longer owns his namesake racing school, but more than 400,000 students have completed the program since 1975, some of whom have competed in NASCAR and Formula 1 racing. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
PEOPLE
Averett University reached a historic milestone when Annie Wimbish was named chair of Averett’s board of trustees, becoming the first woman of color to serve in that position. A 1981 graduate of Averett, she has been an educational leader for nearly four decades. Her roles span from teacher assistant to superintendent across four states. Serving as a trustee on the Averett University board of directors since 2015, she started her new role in July 2022, and in November 2022 led the 30-member board in her first meeting as chair. (Danville Register & Bee)
Virginia Commonwealth University Health Community Memorial Hospital in Mecklenburg County announced Nov. 10, 2022, that Sheldon Barr would be its next president, effective Dec. 11, 2022. Barr will be the first woman to lead the South Hill hospital in its 68-year history. Barr was most recently CEO of HCA Florida South Shore Hospital. Prior to that, she served as chief operating officer at HCA Virginia’s Chippenham Hospital in Chesterfield County. HCA Healthcare named Barr its HCA Executive Development Program 2021 Mentor of Year. She is also a recipient of the Frist Humanitarian Award, named
for HCA co-founder Dr. Thomas F. Frist Sr. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
It’s named for Buena Vista philanthropist Joe Wilson, who purchased the 8,750-square-foot former car dealership at 2019 Forest Ave. for $370,000 and sold it to the foundation for $270,000.
The center will offer trainings in a variety of trades, says MGCC President John Rainone, initially including heating, ventilation and air conditioning; electrical and plumbing; diesel mechanic; machine tool; welding; building trades; and commercial driving classes.
“The whole area — Rockbridge and the Shenandoah Valley — has a lot of manufacturing,” Rainone says. “We want to be able to train not only the unemployed, but also the underemployed. Once they start working, this could be a customized training center where local businesses could send their employees to get upskilled.”
Renovating the building is expected to cost more than $5.3 million, and more than $4.5 million in federal, state and private dollars had been raised by early November 2022, Rainone says. The U.S. Economic Development Administration awarded the foundation a $3 million grant in September 2022.
Several local businesses wrote letters to the EDA supporting the workforce center grant, including heating and air conditioning manufacturer Modine Manufacturing Co., signmaker Everbrite LLC and truck stop Lee Hi Travel Plaza, now Lee Hi Travel Centers of America. Modine is expanding, Everbrite needs electricians, and Lee Hi “desperately” needs diesel mechanics, says Rainone.
Tom Roberts, Buena Vista’s director of community and economic development, says the center not only will provide training for existing businesses, but also for those at the Virginia Innovation Accelerator, a local business incubator. It will also help with ongoing downtown revitalization.
Mountain Gateway’s real estate foundation estimates the Wilson Workforce Development Center will help create or retain 110 jobs and generate $2 million in private investment.
Construction and renovation of the building is expected to take 10 months. Rainone says he hopes that classes can begin in spring 2024.
“We’ll start out slow and then be able to ramp up,” he says. “We’ll be able to serve, at any given time, probably 150 students. We’re hopeful that we’ll have 400 to 500 on an annual basis.”
757 Angels, a Hampton Roads angelinvestment group that matches venture capitalists with local entrepreneurs, is partnering with VentureSouth, one of the largest angel investment networks in the United States.
Effective in June, the partnership will provide more access to capital and investors to 757 Angels‘ 140 members.
Established in 2015 and based in Greenville, South Carolina, VentureSouth has about 450 members and has invested more than $70 million in nearly 100 early-stage companies. It has markets in 19 cities across seven states, reaching from Virginia to Mississippi.
757 Angels also launched in 2015 and has invested more than $100 million in 49 companies, according to 757 Angels Executive Director Monique Adams. About 90% of 757 Angels’ member investors hail from Hampton Roads, and all the companies 757 Angels invests in are either Virginia-based or have significant operations in Virginia, Adams says.
“This is an evolution where our community is really going to get more,” Adams says, adding that 757 Angels will retain its brand and local board and continue to have a local market director. “We’re using this as a vehicle to grow and we can provide enhanced benefits to entrepreneurs and to investors.”
For entrepreneurs, that means providing broader access to capital and helping early-stage companies raise money faster. Entrepreneurs will present to VentureSouth’s network of 20 chapters across the Southeast. On the investor side, the partnership brings benefits such as diversification and diligence, increased deal flow and access to investments through VentureSouth’s funds. All will benefit from a larger professional staff — nine or 10 people instead of two — and more capacity and capability, Adams says.
“From a values alignment standpoint, I think we think about our role in the ecosystem similarly and that we are really focused on trying to bring capital to early-stage companies,” Matt Dunbar, managing director of VentureSouth, says. “Entrepreneurs historically have had a fairly hard time raising capital in this part of the world.”
Adams will assist with the transition and plans to step down from her role as 757 Angels’ executive director during the summer. A new director will be named at a later date.
“I think this reflects on the great organization we built,” Adams says, adding that “we’ve grown into something that’s exciting and offers incredible benefits to all the stakeholders in the ecosystem.”
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