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100 People to Meet in 2025: Educators

As leaders in our pre-K through higher education workforce, these educators, curriculum creators and administrators are passing on their knowledge to the next generation of Virginians.

Louise Fincher

Interim president, Emory & Henry University, Emory

On Aug. 1, Emory & Henry College officially became Emory & Henry University, and Louise Fincher assumed the role of interim president. She succeeded John Wells, who stepped down as president last summer and became the university’s inaugural chancellor.

Fincher joined Emory & Henry in 2014 as founding dean of the School of Health Sciences and oversaw the development of the school’s four graduate health science programs and the renovation of Smyth County Community Hospital as the school’s headquarters. She continued as dean after becoming Emory & Henry’s senior vice president in 2020. In that position, Fincher served as chief academic officer for the university’s health sciences campus in Marion and provided administrative oversight for online and adult education initiatives and research compliance. 

Autumn Adkins Graves

Head of school, St. Anne’s-Belfield School, Charlottesville

Autumn Adkins Graves has been a pioneer in the education sector for more than 25 years, serving in key leadership roles in private schools throughout the country. In 2020, Graves took the reins at Charlottesville’s St. Anne’s-Belfield School, which educates nearly 1,000 students from 25 countries, 2-year-olds through high school seniors — including her two children.

“I really love that I’m in a space where I can bring social entrepreneurship and human-centered design to education,” Graves says. “We help students understand that they can be solution makers, not just problem identifiers. They’re trying to solve social and environmental issues versus just feeling like they’re victims of them.”

Graves is involved in numerous organizations in the independent school community, including serving as a trustee for the Southern Association of Independent Schools.

Donna Weaver McCloskey

Dean of the College of Business and Economics, Radford University, Radford

Donna Weaver McCloskey took her post at Radford University in July, after serving as associate business school dean at Pennsylvania’s Widener University. In her new role, McCloskey says she’s focused on building internship offerings, career preparation and curriculum aligned with job certifications and real-world projects. Above all, she was attracted to the school’s focus on “developing ethical leaders.”

McCloskey earned her doctorate in business administration from Drexel University, an MBA in finance from Widener, and a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Delaware.

Irina Novikova

Professor of physics, William & Mary, Williamsburg

In 2023, Irina Novikova, a physics professor at William & Mary, was named a fellow of the American Physical Society — a nod to her advances in quantum research.

A native of Russia, she came to William & Mary in 2006 as an assistant professor and has won a faculty award and an alumni fellowship award at the university. Novikova’s research focuses on achieving better understanding of quantum interactions between light and atoms that can lead to light generation with special quantum features, she says — information that improves diagnoses for cardiac disease.

Novikova is also a member of the faculty for a proposed new school at William & Mary that would focus on computer science, data science, applied science and physics, which anticipates accepting the first students in fall 2025, she says. 

Kelsey Robertson

Founder and CEO, TECHnista, Pittsylvania County

When Kelsey Robertson and her husband brainstormed a name for her company, which develops curriculums for K-12 programs in defense and advanced manufacturing, they wanted a moniker that alluded to the fact that it’s a woman-owned small business.

“The manufacturing sector is kind of male dominated, so we knew if we kind of played into that female aspect of it, it would definitely stand out,” she says.

Founded in 2020, TECHnista has caught the attention of the federal government. This summer, the company won a five-year federal contract for an undisclosed amount through the U.S. Department of Defense to develop advanced manufacturing programming for middle schoolers. Ultimately, TECHnista’s mission is to strengthen the manufacturing workforce pipeline. “The opportunities are endless,” Robertson says.

Freda Roberson

Executive director, Fremont Street Nursery, Winchester

Freda Roberson has served as executive director of Fremont Street Nursery for 20 years, but she started out in its kitchen, working every position from kitchen manager to aide, assistant teacher, lead teacher and assistant director before leading the organization.

The oldest licensed child care center in Winchester, Fremont Street Nursery opened in 1943 to care for the children of working Black mothers during World War II, when many local husbands and fathers were serving in the military.

Today, the nursery serves children of all backgrounds ranging in age from 6 weeks to 12 years, with a focus on care for kids from low-income or single-parent families. Roberson herself grew up in Fremont’s neighborhood with a single mom, as her father died in a traffic accident when she was 10.

Check out the rest of our 100 People to Meet in 2025.

100 People to Meet in 2025: Hosts

Nourishing and delighting us, these Virginians welcome us to their communities through food, hospitality and entertainment.

Patrick Cavanagh

Owner and CEO, Norfolk Admirals, Norfolk

Patrick Cavanagh’s first experience with Norfolk’s minor league hockey team, the Admirals, was as a player in 1989, the team’s inaugural season. Two years later, the Admirals won their first East Coast Hockey League championship.

Born and raised in Long Island, New York, Cavanagh says his favorite place in the world is Hampton Roads, his home of 35 years. His love affair with hockey, inspired by the “Miracle on Ice” 1980 U.S. Olympic men’s hockey team, started on the ice, but led to his calling the shots.

In 2019, he bought the Admirals team and became its owner and CEO. Cavanagh also owns Chilled Ponds Ice Sports Complex, where he supports youth hockey. “Hockey has been such a front and center part of my life for as long as I can remember,” he says.

Paul Cooper

CEO, Retro Hospitality, Richmond

Over its 13 years in existence, Retro Hospitality has been involved with some of Virginia’s largest historic adaptive reuse projects. Paul Cooper sits at the helm of the hotel consulting and management firm, which is the largest operator of boutique hotels in Virginia, including Richmond’s Quirk Hotel, Staunton’s Blackburn Inn and Conference Center, The Hotel Petersburg and several other revamped historic properties around the state.

Cooper previously served as regional chairman for the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association, and is on the association’s state board and chairs the VRLTA foundation. Before founding Retro, he had a 25-year hospitality career and was head of development at Coakley and Williams, a general contractor based in Maryland.

Robey Martin and Scott Wise

Hosts, “Eat It, VIRGINIA!,” Richmond

Scott Wise wouldn’t call himself a foodie, even though he’s co-hosted “Eat It, Virginia!” a podcast about all-things-food, for five years. “But I have the podcasting equipment, so Robey is stuck with me,” jokes Wise, who’s the digital director at Richmond’s WTVR CBS 6. 

Back around 2017, a coworker at the station introduced Wise to Robey Martin, a veteran of local food journalism. The pair decided to launch a show for the station’s Facebook page that followed Martin visiting soon-to-open restaurants. That program evolved into the podcast, which features the duo chatting with people who work in the food industry and visiting restaurants in Richmond and throughout Virginia.

For Martin, part of the appeal of doing the podcast is getting the opportunity to put a spotlight on the hardworking, talented folks who work in food. “People don’t put a face to their steak,” she says. 

Steve Powell

President, Buckingham Branch Railroad, Dillwyn

As president of Buckingham Branch Railroad, Steve Powell oversees all aspects of the short line railroad’s operation, including its four-day-a-week passenger excursions from Staunton through the Shenandoah Valley.

Buckingham Branch launched the Virginia Scenic Railway, the state’s only regularly scheduled sightseeing tourist train, in 2022 as a way for people to enjoy the railroad. The railroad plans to expand the service to other areas in 2025.

A Richmond native with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, Powell worked for Goodyear in Oklahoma and North Carolina for a decade before deciding to return to Virginia in 1998, when he joined Buckingham Branch as assistant to the president. Powell moved through the ranks to become senior vice president in 2009 and president in 2011.

Terrence “Pusha T” Thornton

Rapper; co-founder, Cousinz Festival, Norfolk

One half of the iconic rap duo Clipse, Pusha T is decades into his music career but isn’t going anywhere.

The four-time Grammy nominee, whose given name is Terrence Thornton, is working on a new album with his brother, Gene Thornton, aka No Malice, due out this year, according to Rolling Stone.

Aside from that, Pusha is now a brand ambassador for Louis Vuitton, with his old pal and fellow Hampton Roads native Pharrell Williams, who is now the fashion house’s men’s creative director.

Back at home in Virginia, Pusha helped organize the inaugural Cousinz Festival, a one-day hip hop block party that brought thousands to Scope Plaza in downtown Norfolk in August. The festival featured Erykah Badu and Jermaine Dupri as its headliners.

Jan Van Haute

Chef proprietor, Inn at Vaucluse Spring, Stephens City

The Shenandoah Valley has always been a destination for nature lovers, but with the Inn at Vaucluse Spring, Belgian-born chef Jan Van Haute wants to put it on the culinary map.

Van Haute has worked in two Michelin-starred restaurants, served in kitchens on four continents, and dazzled dignitaries as executive chef of the Belgian Embassy, but the ambitious $4.5 million overhaul of a 1785 manor looks to be his crowning achievement.

“I looked for a property that wasn’t limited to four walls, that could grow into something bigger,” the chef says. 

When complete in late 2025, the Inn at Vaucluse Spring will include a luxury hotel, two restaurants, a spa and kitchen gardens, all situated on 44 wooded acres blessed with a natural spring. The tasting menu will blend European and Appalachian traditions, “bringing back old dishes from the Blue Ridge Mountains,” Van Haute says.

Check out the rest of our 100 People to Meet in 2025.

100 People to Meet in 2025: Storytellers

Dating back to Edgar Allan Poe and William Faulkner, Virginia has hosted its fair share of writers and creative types, a rich tradition that these Virginians carry into the present.

I.S. Berry

Author, “The Peacock and The Sparrow,” Fairfax Station

I.S. Berry flirted with writing even before earning her law degree at the University of Virginia and joining the CIA, where she spent six years as a spy, including in Baghdad from 2004 to 2005. In her first novel, 2023’s “The Peacock and The Sparrow” about a disillusioned spy stationed in the Middle East during the Arab Spring, Berry found a good prism to spin a tale. It also allowed her to channel some of her own experiences; espionage, she says, took a toll on her, and the role was fraught with murky decision-making.

The book landed on numerous “best of” lists and garnered multiple awards, including an Edgar Award for best first novel. Berry is at work on her second novel, another spy thriller.

Marland Buckner

President and CEO, Shockoe Institute, Richmond

Marland Buckner, who spent years in Washington, D.C., as the government affairs director for Microsoft, joined the Shockoe Institute in 2023. It’s the first step of The Shockoe Project, a 10-acre indoor and outdoor historic venue that will include a national slavery museum and provide context for archaeological sites in downtown Richmond, a center for commerce and the slave before the U.S. Civil War.

Funded partly with an $11 million grant from the Mellon Foundation, the institute’s goal is to put today’s issues and events into a fact-based, historical context to help visitors consider them in new ways. The former Main Street Station train shed will house the institute’s public exhibition, which is expected to open in late 2025.

Buckner previously served as interim executive director of Richmond’s Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.

Evan Friss

Professor, James Madison University; author, “The Bookshop,” Harrisonburg

Fifteen years ago, associate history professor Friss had an idea for a book about bookstores but set it aside. He went on to write “The Cycling City: Bicycles and Urban America in the 1890s” and “On Bicycles: A 200-Year History of Cycling in New York City,” both of which found relatively small audiences.

Not so for “The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore,” which came out in August and immediately made The New York Times’ bestseller list, among others. Capturing the imagination of a reading public that has increased since the pandemic, the book tells a larger narrative about the history of the bookstore and its central place in America’s cultural life. “It says something about the state of reading today that a book about bookstores is on the bestseller list,” Friss says.

Sarah McCammon

National political correspondent, NPR; author, “The Exvangelicals,” Norfolk

Sarah McCammon grew up in an evangelical Christian household during the 1980s and 1990s. Her work covering President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign for NPR helped set the stage for her first book, released by Macmillan Publishers in March. The book, which is part memoir, part nonfiction journalism, outlines the disillusionment some evangelicals have felt after coming of age with the Republican Party as it has taken a far right turn amid more recent social justice movements, including Black Lives Matter and #MeToo.

The book was a fast bestseller, reaching No. 14 on The New York Times’ nonfiction hardcover list.

McCammon, who splits her time between Norfolk and Washington, D.C., says she has an idea for a new book brewing. 

Check out the rest of our 100 People to Meet in 2025.

100 People to Meet in 2025: Angels

Helping the sick, improving workplaces for workers and researching illnesses, these Virginians put others’ needs ahead of their own, making the commonwealth a better place.

Sarah Henshaw

Nursing senior director, Cardiovascular Institute, Roanoke

While studying nursing at Radford University, Sarah Henshaw worked as a nursing assistant at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. She liked it so much she stayed put after graduation.

Henshaw planned to spend her entire career as a bedside nurse, until a supervisor told her to think about management. This appealed to her, being able to use her voice to ensure other nurses get what they need to deliver quality care.

In 2018, Henshaw became a unit director — a supervisor of other nurses. Four years later, Carilion promoted her to a senior director role, managing other unit directors. 

As if her high-powered career and being a single mom to two kids isn’t enough to keep her busy, Henshaw shares her passion for wellness working as a personal trainer at Roanoke’s Ferguson Fitness.

Dr. Juan Montero

Founder and president, Montero Medical Missions, Chesapeake

Dr. Juan Montero’s personal medical mission began when he immigrated from Mindanao, an island in the Philippines, at age 24 in 1966. He came to Norfolk as a post-graduate trainee in general surgery at DePaul Hospital, which closed in 2021. He went on to hold a thoracic fellowship at the University of Virginia and practiced thoracic surgery until 2007.

Meanwhile, Montero established Chesapeake Care Clinic in 1992, which remains one of the most comprehensive free clinics in the U.S., he says. It’s open to all uninsured and underserved people who qualify under the 300% federal poverty level of the 1.7 million people of Hampton Roads.

In September, he was inducted into the prestigious American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators as an associate member.

Dr. Steve Ondra

Vice president of Center for Transforming Health and director of CMS Alliance to Modernize , Mitre, McLean

A neurosurgeon and Army veteran, Dr. Steve Ondra has a long and storied history in health care, having served as a senior health policy adviser for health affairs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs during the Obama administration and as interim chair of neurological surgery at Northwestern University’s medical school.

In July, he began overseeing not-for-profit public interest firm Mitre’s Center for Transforming Health and the CMS Alliance to Modernize Healthcare (Health FFRDC), which advises federal government agencies on providing health care more equitably. Ondra joined Mitre in 2022 and was chief medical adviser and acting managing director of the Health FFRDC.

A graduate of West Point, Ondra was awarded a Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal for his service during combat deployments in operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.

Monét Roberts

Assistant professor, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg

Monét Roberts is carrying on the legacy of the “Mother of Modern Medicine,” Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman born in Roanoke whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line. These cells were cultured and expanded without her knowledge or consent in 1951, the year she died from cancer in Baltimore. Lacks’ story became known broadly in 2010, with the publishing of “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”

In February, Roberts received the inaugural Henrietta Lacks Legacy Award by Young Doctors Roanoke, in recognition of her cancer research. She founded the Roberts Glyco-Diversity Lab, where her research focuses on sugars on the surface of cells and how increases or changes in these sugars can prompt cancer.

The findings from her lab could be applied to age-related diseases and women’s reproductive health, says Roberts, who earned her master’s degree and doctorate in biomedical engineering from Cornell University.

Coleen Santa Ana

CEO and managing partner, Alere Care Solutions; founder, Luminary Lens, Virginia Beach

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrated massive gaps in the U.S. health care system. In her role as CEO and managing partner of Virginia Beach-based Alere Care Solutions, Coleen Santa Ana is dedicated to connecting health care employers with skilled workers to strengthen the industry’s workforce. This places her among the 13% of women CEOs in the health care industry.

Alere Care Solutions goes beyond just filling vacancies, she says, and takes into consideration “ethical recruitment” that helps health care systems address staffing shortages, reduce turnover, enhance patient care and operate more efficiently.

The former hospital president started her career at the ripe age of 15 volunteering at a hospital. She also founded a “coach-sulting” business, Luminary Lens, which provides consulting, coaching and leadership training services.

For the Record: December 2024

CENTRAL 

Richmond-based international foam producer Carpenter acquired omnichannel bedding brand Casper Sleep for an undisclosed amount, it announced Oct. 29. Under the agreement, Casper will operate as a subsidiary of Carpenter. The deal marks the third acquisition Carpenter has made in the past 16 months. In November 2023, Carpenter acquired North Carolina-based NCFI Polyurethanes. That deal followed the company’s closing in June 2023 on its $492 million acquisition of Belgium-based Recticel’s engineered foam division. Carpenter and Casper have had a significant supply agreement for more than a year. (Furniture Today)

LL Flooring President and CEO Charles E. Tyson resigned effective immediately, the Henrico County flooring company formerly known as Lumber Liquidators announced in a Nov. 1 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The move was not exactly a surprise, coming several weeks after Thomas Sullivan, Lumber Liquidators’ founder and former CEO, purchased 219 LL Flooring stores, which he said he would keep operating — but renamed as Lumber Liquidators. LL Flooring filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, and an entity connected to investor F9 Group, owned by Sullivan, purchased the stores for $44.5 million in cash and at least $22 million in assumed liabilities. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

As of Nov. 1, Loop Capital is no longer affiliated with the partnership developing Richmond’s $2.4 billion Diamond District project, leaving Thalhimer Realty Partners as the venture’s sole principal. The partner-ship, a limited liability company named Diamond District Partners, is developing the first redevelopment phase of the area surrounding the planned new baseball stadium for the Richmond Flying Squirrels. The entire 67-acre project is expected to include 2,800 residential units, 935,000 square feet of office space and 195,000 square feet of retail and community space. Diamond District Partners includes Capstone Development, Pennrose, Maryland-based NixDev and M Cos. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

More than 80% of Petersburg voters approved the city’s Nov. 5 casino referendum, according to results from the Virginia Department of Elections. The vote gives a green light to Cordish Cos.’ $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia, set to be built on an undeveloped 100-acre site off Interstate 95 in Petersburg. The fifth casino voters have approved in Virginia, it is planned to include a 200,000-square-foot casino and 200-room hotel. Developers say they expect the project to create 6,000 construction jobs and 1,500 permanent jobs. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Super Radiator Coils, an engineering and manufacturing company based in Minnesota, will invest $22 million to expand in Chesterfield County, creating an estimated 160 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office announced Nov. 15. The company will upgrade machinery and add approximately 80,000 square feet to its existing 160,000-square-foot facility at 451 Southlake Blvd. The plant has about 400 employees. Super Radiator Coils has previously expanded the Chesterfield facility three times, most recently in 2022. The company announced its most recent expansion, representing a $9 million investment, in March 2021. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Two years after he became interim CEO, Dr. Marlon F. Levy was named VCU Health System‘s permanent head. Virginia Commonwealth University announced Nov. 11 that Levy’s interim roles as the Richmond-based health system’s CEO and senior vice president for VCU Health Sciences were made permanent in appointments by the VCU Board of Visitors and the VCU Health System Authority Board of Directors. Formerly VCU Medical Center’s chief medical officer, Levy was a practicing abdominal multiorgan transplant surgeon who joined VCU Health in 2015 as chair of its transplant surgery department and director of the VCU Hume-Lee Transplant Center. Previously, Levy was surgical director of transplantation at Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

EASTERN 

The group behind the Norfolk casino will spend $750 million to develop the project, Boyd Gaming president and CEO Keith Smith said in late October after a ceremonial groundbreaking next to Harbor Park. The Pamunkey Indian Tribe’s original 2018 pitch was for a soaring $700 million glass tower hotel and casino, but that was before the state legislature legalized casinos in certain economically challenged cities and competitors popped up. When the Norfolk City Council approved Boyd’s entry into the project, the company had said it would spend somewhere around $500 million. It’s not clear what the extra $250 million will go toward, though Smith verified he hadn’t misspoken. (WHRO)

Dominion Energy completed its $2.6 billion sale of a 50% noncontrolling stake in its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project to investor Stonepeak in late October. This transaction and several other recent sales reduce Dominion’s debt by approximately $21 billion, meeting a goal the Richmond utility set in a recent business review, it said. The Stonepeak deal was announced in February and was estimated at nearly $3 billion, a number that went down to $2.6 billion at closing. Dominion will retain full operational control of construction and operations of the $9.8 billion CVOW project, set to be complete in 2026. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Rick Dreiling stepped down in early November as CEO and board chairman of Chesapeake-based Dollar Tree, effective immediately. He cited health challenges as the reason for his departure. Michael C. Creedon Jr., Dollar Tree’s chief operating officer since 2022, was named interim CEO, and Edward “Ned” Kelly III, the board’s lead independent director, was named chairman of Dollar Tree’s board. Dreiling came aboard as CEO in 2022, having served on Dollar Tree’s board and previously been CEO of competitor Dollar General. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The will receive $390 million in federal funding to support its effort to reach carbon neutrality by 2040. Funding will come from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. The EPA distributed about $3 billion among 55 locations, aiming to reduce diesel pollution, build zero-emission operations and create community engagement at ports. At the Port of Virginia, more than 150 pieces of equipment will be replaced, and funding will go toward developing battery charging infrastructure and energy storage. (The Virginian-Pilot)

PEOPLE

Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, will retire at the end of the year, parent company Huntington Ingalls Industries announced in November. Kari Wilkinson, the president of HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi and executive vice president of HII, will succeed Boykin in January. Boykin has been with the shipbuilder for 37 years and is the company’s 20th president. NNS is the state’s largest industrial employer, with 26,000 employees. Brian Blanchette, Ingalls Shipbuilding’s vice president of quality and engineering, was named to succeed Wilkinson. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Lawson Cos., the Norfolk-based residential real estate development and construction company, announced in October that its president and CEO, Carl Hardee, will retire at the end of 2025. Aaron Phipps, Lawson’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, is expected to succeed Hardee, who was named president and CEO in 2016. Hardee joined Lawson in 1991 as a regional property manager at one of its subsidiaries. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

NORTHERN

Members of Arlington County-based Boeing‘s largest union approved a new contract in early November, ending a weekslong strike that was one of the country’s most financially damaging work stoppages in decades. The contract was endorsed by 59% of those voting, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union represents about 33,000 workers, most of whom make commercial airplanes in the Seattle area. The strike began Sept. 13, and workers voted down two previous contract offers from Boeing. Under the new contract, wages will rise more than 43% over the next four years. (The New York Times)

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered Navy Federal Credit Union to refund more than $80 million to customers and pay a $15 million civil penalty for allegedly charging illegal overdraft fees. The federal agency announced the actions against the nation’s largest credit union, based in Vienna, in early November. CFPB alleges that from 2017 to 2022, Navy Federal charged customers surprise overdraft fees on certain ATM withdrawals and debit card purchases, despite their accounts showing sufficient funds at the times of the transactions. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

CoStar Group is accelerating its headquarters move from Washington, D.C., to Arlington County in early 2025, thanks to a deal with a tenant in the headquarters building that included a $48 million early termination fee. CoStar purchased the Central Place Tower at 1201 Wilson Blvd. for a reported $339 million in February, with plans to invest $20 million in the move. CoStar also secured sole use of the previously public observation deck at the top of the building, paying the county $13.95 million. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Kellanova, the Chicago-based maker of Pringles, Cheez-It crackers and Eggo waffles, said in November that its shareholders overwhelmingly signed off on its $35.9 billion sale to McLean food and pet care giant Mars. Kellanova rebranded from Kellogg Co. in 2023 when it separated its North American cereals business as WK Kellogg Co. Mars will pay $83.50 a share in the all-cash deal, formally announced in August. Mars said it will finance the acquisition through cash on hand and new debt it has already secured. The deal, the largest ever in the packaged-food industry, is expected to close in the first half of 2025. (Washington Business Journal)

In late October, a judge dismissed all 10 counts of a lawsuit against the developers of the Prince William Digital Gateway, effectively halting the case before it reached trial. During a demurrer hearing in Prince William County Circuit Court, Judge Tracy C. Hudson ruled in favor of the developers’ opposition to a lawsuit filed by nine Gainesville residents and the American Battlefield Trust. The plaintiffs plan to appeal the ruling. They allege it was illegal for county supervisors to grant approval of
23 million square feet of data centers on 2,100 acres near Bristow. (Inside NoVa)

In November, following the re-election of President Donald Trump, bitcoin hit a record high, breaching $87,000 per coin. Bitcoin whale Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of Tysons-based tech company MicroStrategy, has led his company to pursue bitcoin as an investment strategy since 2020. On Nov. 10, MicroStrategy and its subsidiaries held a total of 279,420 bitcoins, which were worth $24.33 billion just before market close. The bitcoins were purchased for approximately $11.9 billion, at an average purchase price of $42,692 per bitcoin. In September, Saylor said he thought the cryptocurrency could rise as high as $13 million per bitcoin by 2045. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

ROANOKE/ LYNCHBURG/ NEW RIVER VALLEY

At an Oct. 30 groundbreaking for the Carilion Taubman Cancer Center in Roanoke, Nancy Howell Agee, ‘s CEO emeritus, announced the health system had raised $74 million toward its $100 million fundraising goal for the cancer center, which is set to open in 2027. HDR, an employee-owned design firm with headquarters in Nebraska, worked with Carilion oncology teams to design the 257,000-square-foot building. The new facility will bring a range of disciplines, advanced technology and clinical trials to a single location. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Authorities have filed criminal meals-tax charges against the owners of four closed food establishments in Roanoke, including FarmBurguesa restaurant, which shuttered its Grandin Village and Vinton locations in recent months. FarmBurguesa co-owner Kat Pascal, who was arrested the evening of Oct. 15, “failed to pay the required meals tax for 10 consecutive months” totaling $6,732.89, according to the allegations. Roanoke Commissioner of the Revenue Ryan LaFountain said his office and that of the city treasurer have made efforts during the past six months to tighten coordination of meals-tax processing and enforcement. (Roanoke Rambler)

In November, Roanoke County announced $115,000 in grant awards to 13 businesses through the Economic Development Authority’s Business Equipment Acquisition Program (BEAP) Grant, which is designed to help businesses acquire new capital. The grant recipients were: Children’s Castle Early Learning Center; Creative Occasions; Fit Studio VA; Fleet Feet Roanoke; Keltech; Stickers Plus, doing business as Magnets USA; Optical Cable Corp. (OCC); CMKS BBQ, doing business as Pok-e-Joe’s BBQ; Ride Source; RND Coffee; The Hearing Center at Hollins Communication Research Institute, doing business as Beltone; Varsity Landscaping & Grounds; and William H. Moore Dentistry. (News release)

Donald “Whitey” Taylor, owner of Trump Town, a Boones Mill store dedicated to merchandise celebrating the 45th and 47th president, and a former candidate for mayor in that same small town, faces three charges of misdemeanor simple assault and one charge of misdemeanor indecent exposure. The charges were taken out by three female store employees on Oct. 22 through the magistrate’s office. Taylor said he is not guilty, dismissing the charges as “fake news” and “election interference.” His next court date is Jan. 16, 2025. In November, he lost the Boones Mill mayoral election to incumbent Victor Conner, receiving just 15 of 125 votes cast. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In October, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced it has awarded a $1.48 million grant to the Town of Bedford to support potential development of a new intercity passenger rail stop in the town. The preferred location for the stop is a site along the north side of Macon Street and west of 4th Street, across from the town’s athletic fields between the Bedford County Health Department and Bedford Primary School. The cost estimate for the project development phase of a rail stop is
$1.8 million. Bedford Town Council will contribute the remaining $375,000. (The News & Advance)

In October, the Virginia Board of Physical Therapy revoked the license of a Lynchburg physical therapist over sexting patients. According to the board, Stephen Maynard Scott sent sexually explicit text messages and photos of his genitalia to a 74-year-old patient whom he had treated while she was recovering from a stroke at a rehabilitation facility in Stuart. Scott was suspended from the facility in February. The board had previously placed Scott on indefinite probation stemming from separate allegations that he sent inappropriate texts to an 81-year-old patient. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

AD Engineering, a small, women- and minority-owned company based in Quicksburg, will invest $1.21 million to expand its Shenandoah County operations, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Nov. 7. The company, which manufactures HVAC and refrigeration components, expects to create 25 jobs. AD Engineering also offers custom HVAC supplies options for residential and commercial projects. The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Shenandoah County to secure the project. AD Engineering will participate in VEDP’s Virginia Jobs Investment Program, which provides services related to recruitment and training and cash grant reimbursements for associated human resources costs after new employees have been on the company’s payroll for at least 90 days. (News release)

The International Automotive Components Group plant in Strasburg is set to permanently close Dec. 31, which will put 69 employees out of work. IAC previously fired 135 workers at the facility in April. The plant has operated for about 40 years, and in December 2020, IAC announced a $4.6 million expansion of the Strasburg facility. United Automobile Workers Local 2999 negotiated a severance package for employees active as of Aug 20. The package includes a period of no-cost benefits, and the union and IAC have committed to providing letters of recommendation and resume assistance. (The Northern Virginia Daily; VirginiaBusiness.com)

The first shipment of U.S.-grown products from Virginia to left the Port of Virginia the week of Nov. 3, according to a Nov. 12 announcement from Sen. Mark Warner’s office. Warner is co-chair of the Senate India Caucus. Under a agreement announced in September 2023, the Republic of India eliminated and reduced retaliatory on U.S. turkey products. The Virginia Growers Cooperative raised the turkeys sent in the first shipment. In 2021, Virginia was the sixth largest turkey source in America, producing 14.5 million birds. (News release)

Shamrock Farms, an Arizona-based dairy products manufacturer, will invest $59 million to expand its Augusta County manufacturing operation, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Oct. 15. The company expects to create 28 jobs through the expansion, which will add 81,000 square feet to its 250,000-square-foot facility in Mill Place Commerce Park. Shamrock Farms opened its Augusta facility in 2014, and the facility focuses on producing extended shelf-life dairy products. In the expansion project, the manufacturer will reconfigure space to allow for a new production line and will add incremental cold storage. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The first Wawa in western Virginia opened Nov. 7 in Frederick County. Part of a Pennsylvania-based chain of gas stations with convenience stores, the new location north of Winchester has 24 car fueling positions and a 6,000-square-foot convenience store, according to a site plan. There are more than 100 Wawa locations in Virginia, but most are in the northeastern part of the state. The closest Wawa locations to the site at 1544 Martinsburg Pike are in Warrenton and Ashburn, as well as in Frederick, Maryland. (The Winchester Star)

PEOPLE

The American Hotel & Lodging Association presented Mark Spadoni, managing director of The Omni Homestead Resort in Bath County, with the association’s General Manager Lifetime Achievement Award on Oct. 28. The association honored Spadoni in San Antonio at its second annual The Hospitality Show conference, co-sponsored by Questex’s Hotel Management brand. Spadoni joined the Omni Homestead in 2021. He has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 40 years, working at The Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa in Georgia for about 20 of those years. Spadoni also was the first chair of Visit Bath County’s board. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

SOUTHERN 

The developer planning a natural gas power plant and data center campus on 2,233 acres in the Banister and Callands-Gretna districts of Pittsylvania County withdrew the project’s rezoning application in early November. Instead, Herndon-based Balico, the development company behind the project, said it intended to file a revised application pitching a scaled-down version on about 600 acres in the same area. The project was downscaled to avoid triggering a traffic impact analysis study, according to Balico founder and CEO Irfan Ali. Public meetings about the project drew vocal opposition in October from citizens and county supervisors. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The $750 million Caesars Virginia resort casino — a 587,000-square-foot facility being built in Danville’s Schoolfield neighborhood — is slated to open Dec. 12. The permanent casino, which will be the state’s third and most expensive such gaming facility, will offer 90,000 square feet of gaming space with 1,500 slot machines, 79 live-action table games, 48 electronic table games, a poker room and sportsbook. The resort will feature a 320-room hotel, 50,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, a 2,500-seat entertainment venue, a full-service spa and pool, and an array of restaurants and bars. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Carter Bank & Trust said in October that the amount of interest income it has lost from past-due loans owed by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family companies had risen to $57.2 million, up $8.8 million from the previous quarter. In mid-2023, the Martinsville-based bank placed the Justices’ loan portfolio, totaling more than $300 million, in nonaccrual status. The bank said that the Justice companies paid $7.8 million during this year’s second quarter and $13.2 million during the third quarter. (Cardinal News)

Danville city officials are seeking bids from firms to develop sites next to Caesars Virginia in Schoolfield. Danville’s office of economic development and tourism has sent out notices seeking development proposals for sites at Bishop Road and West Main Street, Community Way between the casino and the Danville Police Department headquarters and the Main Street Green site next to the casino. The three sites total nearly 15 acres in the area next to the casino in Schoolfield. Officials hope
to bring mixed-use developments to the properties to complement the casino. (Danville Register & Bee)

Danville City Council approved a special-use permit for a 12-megawatt battery energy storage facility to be built at 900 Mount Cross Road in November. Arlington-based Lightshift Energy will construct the battery-storage facility at a city-owned property that has been vacant for 50 years. The director of Danville Utilities has said the project would reduce dependence on the regional electric grid by discharging energy into the city’s electric system during peak use. Lightshift Energy also owns and operates the city’s battery-storage project that launched in 2022 at Industrial Avenue across from Goodyear Boulevard. (Danville Register & Bee)

The Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors in November agreed to defer until January 2025 a rezoning request that would allow a Clarksville-area data center to expand and add housing for workers at the site. The goal is to give residents more time to learn about the project. Florida-based TecFusions is seeking to rezone seven parcels on Burlington Drive outside of Clarksville to erect new buildings for data servers used in the company’s artificial intelligence operations. The company purchased 66.13 acres of land adjacent to its existing facility. (The Mecklenburg Sun)

SOUTHWEST

Electro-Mechanical — an electrical equipment manufacturer headquartered in Bristol — will invest $16.55 million to expand in Washington County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Oct. 29. The manufacturer plans to add a 200,000-square-foot facility, creating more than 109 jobs. Electro-Mechanical hopes to complete the expansion in 2025. The company has five other manufacturing facilities: three in Bristol, one in Canada and another in Mexico. About 520 of the company’s 700 employees work in Bristol. Electro-Mechanical’s roots date to 1958 when Frank Leonard opened an electrical apparatus repair shop on Bristol’s Williams Street. Virginia competed with Tennessee for the expansion. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Three environmental groups — Southern Appalachian Mountain Stewards, Appalachian Voices and the Sierra Club — filed a lawsuit Oct. 31 alleging A&G Coal is violating the terms of a 2023 court settlement that requires the company to reclaim three Wise County strip mines. The groups urged the court to halt mining activity at A&G’s Looney Ridge No. 1 mine, Sawmill Hollow No. 3 mine and the Canepatch surface mine until the company, owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family, demonstrates that it is in full compliance with the Jan. 26, 2023, consent decree. (The Coalfield Progress)

On Oct. 21, the State Corporation Commission approved Appalachian Power‘s application to build its first battery energy storage system to serve customers prone to power outages in Southwest Virginia. The $57.3 million project would create two battery energy storage sites: one in Grayson County and one in Smyth County. The system, which draws electricity from the grid and stores it to be used as needed, would serve about 2,790 customers spanning about 260 miles of mountainous terrain. The two sites would total 7.5 megawatts of capacity and 30 megawatt-hours of energy. (Cardinal News)

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise received its largest ever donation, $11.2 million, from The Bill Gatton Foundation, it announced Nov. 4. The late Carol Martin “Bill” Gatton, a successful businessman who owned the Gatton Automotive Group with dealerships in Kentucky and Tennessee, made significant gifts to the University of Kentucky and East Tennessee State University during his lifetime. After his 2022 death, his Bristol-based foundation made further donations, including $2 million to Emory & Henry University in 2023. The foundation’s donation will create six endowed funds at U.Va. Wise. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Hurricane Helene’s agricultural damage in Virginia totaled more than $159.3 million, according to Virginia Cooperative Extension research announced in an Oct. 22 news release. Extension agents worked across 21 localities — 20 counties and the city of Radford — to assess the agricultural damage, finding that 3,672 Virginia farms suffered losses from hurricane damage. Grayson County had the biggest losses, amounting to $61 million, or 38% of the statewide damage. The final total for hurricane damage to Virginia’s , forestry and related industries — including direct losses and replacement costs on farms as well as projected future income losses — will fall between $416 million and $630 million, according to a Virginia Tech analysis announced Nov. 11. (VirginiaBusiness.com; News release)

Abingdon’s Wellspring Foundation of Southwest Virginia has provided a 13-year, $14.9 million grant to allow Washington County students to attend Virginia Highlands Community College for free. The grant to the college’s foundation is the largest the Wellspring Foundation has awarded since its founding in 2022. Announced Oct. 21, the Promise Program will pay tuition and fees after all financial aid and scholarships have been applied for students graduating from 2025 through 2037. It will also provide up to $500 per student each semester for books and supplies purchased in the college’s bookstore. (Bristol Herald Courier)

Top Five December 2024

1   |  Former NFL, U.Va. football player indicted on embezzlement charges

Real estate developer Christopher Harrison was indicted on federal charges connected to a downtown Richmond residential project and Petersburg’s former Ramada Inn. (Oct. 21)

2   |  Navy Federal ordered to refund customers $80 million, pay $15 million civil penalty

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau directed the nation’s largest credit union to issue the refunds over allegations of illegal overdraft fees. (Nov. 7)

3   |  As data centers grow, Amazon and Dominion explore small nuclear reactors

With digital power consumption skyrocketing, the two companies are looking at co-developing small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs. (Oct. 16)

4   |  If Trump cuts federal workforce, Warner predicts ‘disaster’ for Va.

warned that President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed federal cuts and relocations would be disastrous for Virginia’s economy. (Nov. 7)

5   |  Trump Town owner calls assault, indecent exposure charges ‘fake news’

Whitey Taylor, owner of the Boones Mill store dedicated to the 45th and 47th president, was arrested in October after female employees accused him of indecent exposure and assault. (Oct. 25)

Heard Around Virginia: December 2024

Fixify, an Arlington County-based AI-powered IT help desk solution provider founded in 2023, announced Oct. 23 that it has closed on a $25 million Series A funding round co-led by Costanoa Ventures, Decibel Partners and Paladin Capital Group with participation from Scale Venture Partners. The funds will be used to scale its workforce and accelerate product development. Fixify also announced that Mourad Yesayan, Managing Director at Paladin Capital Group, will be joining Fixify’s board to provide strategic counsel on AI and cybersecurity. (News release)

Richmond-based employee benefits Fringe has raised a little more than $6 million in new equity funding, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The com-pany recorded its first sale in the venture round on Sept. 9 and a total of nine investors participated, according to the filing. Led by CEO Jordan Peace, who co-founded it in 2018, Fringe has now raised a total of $27 million to date, according to Crunchbase, including a $17 million funding round in 2022 led by Chicago’s Origin Ventures and Charlottesville’s Felton Group. (Richmond Inno)

Lingo, an Arlington edtech startup founded in 2020 by rocket scientist and astronaut Aisha Bowe, has raised $2.3 million in a seed round of funding, which included participation by D.C.-based 1863 Ventures. Pinnacle Private Ventures also participated in the round, which the company will use to expand its hands-on, project-based coding kits and curriculum for kids in fields such as artificial intelligence, space systems and environmental monitoring. Lingo’s programs are implemented by partners such as General Dynamics Information Technology, Siemens Healthineers, Leidos and Howard University. (Potomac Tech Wire)

Interos, an Arlington tech firm that helps companies monitor and respond to supply chain threats, has obtained $40 million in new funding to expand product capabilities following several executive leadership appointments. The growth capital investment from Blue Owl Capital, a New York alternative investment asset management firm, brings Interos’ total outside funding to about $175 million, according to Crunchbase. Other investors that have backed the tech unicorn previously include Menlo Park, California, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, San Francisco venture capital firm NightDragon and New York investment firm Venrock. (DC Inno)

Qnovia, a Richmond startup focused on smoking cessation technology, has received investigational new drug clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its nicotine inhaler product. The five-person company, led by CEO Brian Quigley, developed the RespiRx nicotine inhaler to get nicotine into patients’ systems quicker than established offerings like patches and lozenges. Last year, it received positive results in its first round of human trials. The new clearance gets the company into clinical trials in the U.S., and it’s preparing a phase 1 study in the months ahead. (Richmond Inno)

Ashburn-based RiPSIM Technologies, makers of a software platform for generating and delivering mobile network authentication credentials on demand, in late October announced raising $5 million in a seed funding round, led by cybersecurity-focused Ten Eleven Ventures. This investment will fuel the expansion of RiPSIM’s eSIM-as-a-Service management platform, a solution modernizing the eSIM generation and delivery process. Using RiPSIM’s platform, carriers and network operators gain custody and control over the entire credentialing process, so they can more securely authenticate subscribers to their networks on demand. (News release)

Legal Elite 2024: Labor/Employment Law

Faith A. Alejandro
Sands Anderson
Richmond

Zev Antell
Butler Curwood
Richmond

Ryan M. Bates
Hunton Andrews Kurth
Washington, D.C.

Paul G. Beers
Glenn Feldmann Darby & Goodlatte
Roanoke

Amanda Tapscott Belliveau
McCandlish Holton
Richmond

John V. Berry
Berry & Berry
Reston

Lisa Bertini
Bertini Law Firm
Virginia Beach

Anne G. Bibeau
Woods Rogers
Norfolk

Susan Blake
Dominion Enterprises
Norfolk

R. Patrick Bolling
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Elaine Charlson Bredehoft
Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown & Nadelhaft
Reston

John Michael Bredehoft
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Carla D. Brown
Charlson Bredehoft Cohen Brown & Nadelhaft
Reston

Alyson M. Brown
Silgan Dispensing Systems
Richmond

Dean T. Buckius
Woods Rogers
Norfolk

Jack W. Burtch Jr.
Burtch Law
Richmond

Douglas R. Burtch
Burtch Law
Richmond

David C. Burton
Williams Mullen
Virginia Beach

Harris D. Butler III
Butler Curwood
Richmond

Jeremy D. Capps
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman
Glen Allen

Victor O. Cardwell
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Maureen E. Carr
Bean Kinney & Korman
Arlington County

Caine Joseph Caverly
Jackson Lewis
Richmond

Brian F. Chandler
Protorae Law
Tysons

Deborah Y. Collins
Yeng Collins Law
Norfolk

David E. Constine III
Troutman Pepper
Richmond

James K. Cowan Jr.
Cowan Perry
Blacksburg

Craig Juraj Curwood
Butler Curwood
Richmond

Kimberly W. Daniel
Hancock Daniel
Richmond

Lauren R. Darden
Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver
Harrisonburg

John E. Davidson
Davidson & Kitzmann
Charlottesville

Mary Elizabeth “Betsy” Davis
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston
Richmond

Broderick C. Dunn
Cook Craig & Francuzenko
Fairfax

Elizabeth M. Ebanks
Ogletree Deakins
Richmond

Karen S. Elliott
FordHarrison
Richmond

Lauren E. Fisher
White Christian & Barton
Richmond

William M. Furr
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

Todd M. Gaynor
Gaynor Law Center
Norfolk

Sean M. Gibbons
Roth Jackson Gibbons Condlin
Richmond

Ryan A. Glasgow
Hunton Andrews Kurth
Richmond

Sharon S. Goodwyn
Hunton Andrews Kurth
Richmond

Steven P. Gould
PLDR Law
Lynchburg

Betty S.W. Graumlich
Reed Smith
Richmond

Laura Gross
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Robyn Hylton Hansen
Sands Anderson
Williamsburg

Richard F. Hawkins III
The Hawkins Law Firm
Richmond

Melissa Jackson Howell
Howell Law Group
Virginia Beach

Phillip Henry Hucles
 Health
Norfolk

Edward Lee Isler
IslerDare
Vienna

Joshua L. Jewett
Pierce Jewett
Norfolk

Nick Johnson
Berenzweig Leonard
McLean

Benjamin Johnson
Pierce Jewett
Norfolk

Stephanie P. Karn
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Laurie L. Kirkland
Blankingship & Keith
Fairfax

Paul G. Klockenbrink
Gentry Locke Attorneys
Roanoke

Yiorgos L. Koliopoulos
Williams Mullen
Virginia Beach

Lindsey S. Komisin
IslerDare
Richmond

David A. Kushner
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

Todd A. Leeson
Gentry Locke Attorneys
Roanoke

Declan Leonard
Berenzweig Leonard
McLean

Katie Lipp
The Lipp Law Firm
Reston

Vijay K. Mago
O’Hagan Meyer
Richmond

Courtney Malveaux
McGuireWoods
Richmond

Kevin E. Martingayle
Bischoff Martingayle
Virginia Beach

Richard H. Matthews
Pender & Coward
Virginia Beach

Joan C. McKenna
O’Hagan Meyer
Richmond

Charles G. Meyer III
O’Hagan Meyer
Richmond

Christopher M. Michalik
McGuireWoods
Richmond

Melisa G. Michelsen
Litten & Sipe
Harrisonburg

Monique Miles
Old Towne Associates
Alexandria

W. Barry Montgomery
Kalbaugh Pfund & Messersmith
Richmond

Charlene A. Morring
Morring Law
Norfolk

David E. Murphy
McCandlish Lillard
Fairfax

Brian G. Muse
Sands Anderson
Williamsburg

Susan Childers North
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani
Williamsburg

Noah S. Oberlander
Reed Smith
Richmond

Samantha Otero
McCandlish Holton
Richmond

William M. Palmer
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Marc E. Pasekoff
Shannon & Wright
Alexandria

W. David Paxton
Gentry Locke Attorneys
Richmond

William Daniel Prince IV
ThompsonMcMullan
Richmond

Barbara Queen
LawrenceQueen Employment Attorneys
Richmond

Elizabeth P. Redpath
McGuireWoods
Richmond

Merrell Beth Renaud
Miles & Stockbridge
Tysons

Sharon Kerk Reyes
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Leigh Rhoads
Virginia
Roanoke

John Rigby
McInroy, Rigby & Rhodes
Arlington County

Sarah Flynn Robb
Sarah Robb Law
Richmond

Jimmy F. Robinson Jr.
Ogletree Deakins
Richmond

Barry Rowell
Klein Rowell & Shall
Virginia Beach

Dana Rust
McGuireWoods
Richmond

Matthew Sarfan
Hirschler
Richmond

Thomas J. Sawyer
Odin Feldman & Pittleman
Reston

Andrew P. Sherrod
Hirschler
Richmond

James H. Shoemaker Jr.
Patten, Wornom, Hatten & Diamonstein
Newport News

Scott Andrew Siegner
Ogletree Deakins
Richmond

Aaron Siegrist
Pierce Jewett
Richmond

Nicholas Simopoulos
Simopoulos Law
Richmond

Randy C. Sparks Jr.
Kaufman & Canoles
Richmond

J. Thomas Spiggle
The Spiggle Law Firm
Alexandria

Kristina Keech Spitler
Vanderpool Frostick & Nishanian
Manassas

Leah M. Stiegler
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Tommy Strelka
Virginia Employment Law
Roanoke

Ann Sullivan
Ann K. Sullivan PLC
Norfolk

Jonathan Martin Sumrell
Hancock Daniel
Richmond

Neil Shantaram Talegaonkar
Kaufman & Canoles
Richmond

Sara Tandy
Reaves Group
Richmond

R. Douglas Taylor Jr.
Bean Kinney & Korman
Arlington County

James R. Theuer
James R. Theuer PLLC
Norfolk

John E. Thomas
McGuireWoods
Tysons

King F. Tower
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Crystal L. Tyler
IslerDare
Richmond

Thomas E. Ullrich
Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver
Harrisonburg

Roya Vasseghi
Vasseghi Law Group
Fairfax

Amanda M. Weaver
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Cathleen P. Welsh
Flora Pettit
Charlottesville

Burt H. Whitt
Kaufman & Canoles
Norfolk

Jeffrey D. Wilson
Pender & Coward
Virginia Beach

Laura D. Windsor
Williams Mullen
Richmond

Thomas M. Winn III
Woods Rogers
Roanoke

Jaime B. Wisegarver
Hirschler
Richmond

Cher E. Wynkoop
Willcox Savage
Norfolk

Melissa Y. York
Harman Claytor Corrigan & Wellman
Glen Allen

Kristin A. Zech
Berenzweig Leonard
McLean

Read all of the 2024 Virginia Legal Elite here.

Maximus announces feds have backed off $6.6B contract rebid

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct an error in the original version, which incorrectly stated that the contract, not the rebidding process, had been canceled.

Tysons-based , a government contractor specializing in administrative support for and , announced Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has canceled efforts to rebid the company’s $6.6 billion contract to operate a customer service call center for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

The contract, awarded by the Biden administration to Maximus in 2022 with a one-year base period, included nine one-year option periods until 2031 and covered staffing of the Contact Center Operations call center for CMS programs like 1-800 MEDICARE and the health insurance marketplace.

However, in December 2023, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure announced they would send the contract out for rebidding in an apparent response to walkouts by call center workers. The Communications Workers of America union, which had been trying to unionize Maximus’ call center workers, praised the move. U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, who had criticized Maximus in 2019 for paying call center workers at low levels for federal grade workers, also expressed happiness that the contract was being re-competed.

On Nov. 1, Maximus announced it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, alleging that the CMS has illegally added a “labor harmony” agreement into the rebidding process for the $6.6 billion contract started in the spring, which the company calls “baseless and unlawful” in a news release.

“Despite providing high-quality customer service, exceeding every performance metric and delivering uninterrupted service even during two hurricanes, CMS is taking the unnecessary step of rebidding the contract only two years into the nine-year term with a requirement for a labor harmony agreement,” the company said in its Nov. 1 statement. “This unprecedented move is illegal and improper pursuant to established law, regulation and procurement policy, and may jeopardize future seamless service to the 75 million Americans with Medicare and accessing health insurance through the federal marketplace all while increasing cost to taxpayers.”

The U.S. Health and Human Services’ decision to cancel the rebidding process is a win for the Tysons company.

Maximus has been the prime contractor for the 1-800 MEDICARE and health insurance marketplace contact centers since 2018 and has supported CMS contact centers for more than a decade, starting as a subcontractor to Reston-based General Dynamics. The company, which employed nearly 40,000 people as of 2023, operates 84 contact centers in 28 states and employs more than 20,000 contact center agents. It handles more than 100 million contacts per year, according to a CMS news release. Maximus reported $5.3 billion in revenue for fiscal 2024, up from $4.9 billion from the previous year.

“Maximus employees have consistently demonstrated their ability to successfully manage this critical program providing essential support to more than 75 million eligible Americans who rely on Medicare and the Federal Marketplace. We appreciate the opportunity to continue supporting HHS and CMS in their vital missions and look forward to delivering innovative, high-quality and reliable solutions that benefit the American public,” Maximus President and CEO Bruce Caswell said in a statement Tuesday.

At 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, just after Maximus’ announcement, its stock dropped from $74.99 a share to $66.80, but rebounded to $72.90 a share at closing.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond immediately to a request for comment Tuesday.

Talking turkey: Va. is nation’s sixth largest producer

As we prepare to sit down to a dinner on Thanksgiving, let’s consider where those birds come from and where they’re going.

Virginia raises 7.1% of all U.S. turkeys, or 15.5 million turkeys a year, according to a new study by Trace One using U.S. Department of data. That’s 429 million pounds of turkey produced at an average weight of 27.7 pounds per turkey, with a value of $403.5 million annually. Virginia is the sixth largest producer of turkeys in the nation, the November study found.

Also, turkeys bred for food are larger than they were decades ago, and fewer turkeys are raised now; in 1996, U.S. farmers raised 303 million birds, and in 2023, 218 million turkeys were raised nationwide. But turkeys now average 32 pounds per bird, nearly double the average of 18 pounds in the 1960s. That’s due to different nutrition and breeding practices, Trace One researchers say.

Although turkeys are a significant part of Virginia’s industry, the biggest seller is broiler chickens. Farmers in the commonwealth produced 284.5 million broiler chickens in 2021, according to the Virginia Poultry Federation. Total poultry and egg sales in 2021 produced a direct economic impact of $5.8 billion in Virginia.

More than 85% of U.S. turkey production takes place in 13 states, and North Carolina is the nation’s top producer, accounting for 15.3% of turkeys by weight. North Carolina’s birds are very large on average, at 36.9 pounds per turkey.

, president of the Virginia Poultry Federation, notes that the average weight per bird can be affected by “heavy toms” — male turkeys that can weigh in at 45 pounds or more. “You never get a heavy tom on your Thanksgiving table,” he said, noting that such large birds are used instead for cold cuts. “The traditional Thanksgiving bird that you’re going to have is smaller.”

In 2023, India and the United States came to an agreement to reduce India’s on U.S. turkey products, allowing Virginia’s poultry producers to export turkey to India more affordably. On Nov. 12, , a member of the Senate India Caucus, announced the first shipment of Virginia turkey to India via the , whole birds raised by the , the Hinton-based organization of nearly 200 farmers in the . The co-op processes about 7.5 million turkeys a year and offers organic and antibiotic-free products. VPGC produced an organic turkey breast product specifically for the Indian market, according to the co-op.

“This shipment is a tremendous opportunity for Virginia’s poultry producers and a huge step forward for U.S.-India ,” Warner said in a statement. “As co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, I look forward to the ongoing cooperation between our two nations and to seeing a wealth of new opportunities open up for Virginia’s poultry producers.”

Tariffs are, of course, in the news again as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to impose 25% tariffs on all goods from Mexico and Canada on “day one” after his Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration as well as an additional 10% tariff on China. However, Trump has not mentioned increasing tariffs on India since his re-election, and he and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have close ties.

Although Virginia ships turkey and other poultry products all over the world, including Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Canada and Mexico, entering the Indian market is “a big deal,” Bauhan said. “The turkey industry is a significant part of Virginia agriculture, directly employing about 4,000 people.”

Bauhan declined to speculate on the impact of new U.S. tariffs on Virginia’s poultry industry or the tightening of immigration regulations (including the likelihood of some immigrants being deported under the Trump administration), but he noted that Virginia’s poultry industry employs “a diversity of workers,” including many immigrants.

“We were one of the early industries to adopt E-Verify,” the federal platform that determines whether a person is able to be legally employed in the United States, Bauhan said. “We’ll continue to do that. Our economy needs immigrants, but we need to have reforms and pass federal legislation that will secure the borders and allow for legal immigration. The system has not been overhauled and addressed in many decades.”