Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Richmond-area car wash chain promotes CEO, other execs

Richmond-area chain Flagstop Car Wash has promoted three executives, including its new , it announced Tuesday.

-based Flagstop promoted Spencer Rakes from chief operating officer to CEO. Rakes joined Flagstop in April 2024, previously holding leadership roles with fuel supplier and travel center chain Pilot, Dollar General, Sears Holdings and Kmart. He oversaw Flagstop’s mobile app rollout and improved operating efficiency.

“I am honored to step into this role and to build on the significant momentum our business has achieved, marked by our extraordinary team and the success of our customer-first business model,” Rakes said in a statement.

The company also promoted Craig Marable from vice president of operations to chief site operations officer and Derek Haynes from vice president of maintenance and facilities to chief facilities and infrastructure officer.

Marable joined the company more than 25 years ago. He will oversee site safety, efficiency and team leadership to support sustainable growth and the chain’s guest experience. Haynes joined Flagstop in 2007.

Rakes succeeds Jamie Nester, who transitioned to the chief growth and development officer role. Nester joined the company in 1994.

“I look forward to continuing to scale the company into more communities across Central Virginia and beyond, while preserving the culture and quality service that has been key to our success over the past 44 years,” Nester said in a statement.

Founded in Chester in 1981, Flagstop has 24 locations in the market and expects to have about 30 sites by the end of the year. New York investment firm Garnett Station Partners announced an undisclosed investment in Flagstop in 2023.

Pfizer agrees to lower drug costs, $70B US investment

Summary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Drugmaker Pfizer has agreed to lower drug costs and invest $70 billion in U.S. manufacturing under a deal struck with the , President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

The announcement, which Trump made with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla at the White House, came as the Republican president has for months sought to lower drug costs. It also came as Washington was facing a federal  at midnight amid a standoff between Democrats and Republicans over health care and its costs.

Under the agreement, New York-based Pfizer will charge most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and guarantee that pricing on newly launched drugs, Trump said. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.

“I can’t tell you how big this is,” the president said.

“I think today we are turning the tide and we are reversing an unfair situation,” Bourla said.

The president has been talking for months about the need to lower drug prices. In May, he issued an executive order that gave drugmakers 30 days to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay.

To persuade them to strike deals, Trump said he threatened to impose  — a favorite tool of his to use as leverage across all areas of government — but that move could raise drug prices.

It’s unclear how the new policy will affect Medicaid patients who often pay a nominal co-payment of a few dollars to fill their prescriptions, but lower prices could help state budgets that fund the programs. Medicaid is the state and federally funded program for with low incomes.

“This is something that most people said was not doable,” Trump said Tuesday.

One thing that is not doable, however, was Trump’s repeated claims that it would cut drug prices by more than 100%, “14, 15, 1600% reductions in some cases,” he said.

A 100% reduction would make the drugs free. Cuts greater than that would essentially mean people are paid to take the drugs.

Trump said he’s making deals with other drugmakers, and “they’re all coming in over the next week.”

Besides committing to lowering costs, Trump said, Pfizer agreed to spend $70 billion in domestic manufacturing facilities, becoming the latest in a string of major drugmakers to announce plans to build production in the United States.

The White House did not immediately release details about the investment, but Trump for months has spoken of a need to boost U.S. drug manufacturing.

Pfizer Inc. is one of the largest U.S. drugmakers. It produces the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and the treatment Paxlovid. Its products also include several cancer drugs, the blood thinner Eliquis and the pneumonia vaccine Prevnar.

Trump sent letters in late July to executives at 17 pharmaceutical companies about changes he would like to see. Copies of the letters posted on social media note that U.S. prices for brand-name drugs can be up to three times higher than averages elsewhere.

The letters called for drugmakers to commit by Monday to offering what Pfizer agreed to: most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and new medications.

Trump also asked drugmakers to offer the lower pricing levels for drugs sold directly to consumers and businesses.

Trump has claimed that the U.S., with its higher drug prices, subsidizes care in other countries.

Drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on a number of factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare that shields them from much of the cost.

Drugmakers in the past couple of years have started launching websites to connect customers directly with some products like Lilly’s obesity treatment Zepbound or the blood thinner Eliquis from Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb. That comes as patients have grown more comfortable with receiving care virtually after the practice exploded in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dover Food Retail to add 300 jobs in Chesterfield

Dover Food Retail will soon invest over $20 million to expand its Virginia operations, adding 300 jobs in .

announced Monday that the Georgia manufacturer is relocating of its Anthony brand of commercial refrigerator and freezer glass doors and frames from Los Angeles to the company’s Chesterfield campus.

“‘s move from California to Virginia is an incredible endorsement of the commonwealth as a hub for advanced manufacturing,” Youngkin said in a statement. “The cases produced in this facility will soon be used at some of the largest food and beverage retailers nationwide.”

Headquartered in Conyers, Georgia, Dover Food Retail is a manufacturer of commercial and industrial refrigeration systems, refrigerated display cases, specialty products, glass and freezer doors and lighting. It operates through its core brands, Anthony and Hillphoenix, and has more than 3,000 employees. Its customers include supermarkets, convenience stores and other food service and food processing businesses.

“This latest round of investments will add all-new, state-of-the-art equipment to our factories, expand our research and development laboratories, create a Dover Food Retail parts hub and establish our new distribution center of excellence,” said Dover Food Retail President Paul Sindoni in a statement.

The Dover Food Retail group of companies are subsidiaries of Illinois-based conglomerate Dover, which reported $7.75 billion in 2024 revenue and has about 24,000 employees.

The Virginia Partnership worked with Chesterfield to secure the project for Virginia, and Youngkin approved a $900,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the county with the project.

Dover did not immediately return requests for additional information about the project.

Timmons Group appoints chief marketing officer

Richmond-based and design firm announced Monday that it has appointed former marketing manager Tim Asimos as , a newly created executive role.

In the role, Asimos will have oversight of the firm’s brand and lead the firm’s communications, business development and pursuits teams.

“Tim brings a proven record of leadership and innovation to our industry,” said Timmons President and Brian Bortell in a statement. “We’re thrilled to welcome him back, and we’re confident his vision and experience will not only help shape the firm’s future and advance our growth but also strengthen our culture and deepen our impact in the communities and markets we serve.”

Asimos has more than 20 years of experience in architecture, engineering and construction. He was most recently head of growth at Client Savvy, where he led sales, marketing, and communications. Before that, he was a partner at circle S studio. He previously worked for Timmons, serving in a marketing management role from 2006 to 2012.

Asimos is a certified professional services marketer, frequent speaker at conferences nationwide and a regular contributor to industry podcasts, publications and webinars. He is past president of the American Marketing Association’s chapter. He received his bachelor’s degree and MBA in communications from Liberty University.

Established in 1953, Timmons offers full-service engineering, design and technology services. It has 21 offices throughout the mid-Atlantic, Southeast and West South Central regions.

CoreWeave signs $14 billion AI infrastructure deal with Meta

Summary

  • to cut prices on several U.S. medications
  • Company launching TrumpRx direct-to-consumer site
  • $70B investment in R&D and U.S.
  • Trump pressed drugmakers to match overseas prices

(Reuters) – said it has signed a $14 billion agreement with to supply computing power, the latest multi-billion-dollar deal as businesses ramp up infrastructure to meet the demand for artificial intelligence applications.

Shares of CoreWeave surged 15% following the news on Tuesday.

Under the agreement, Meta has committed to pay around $14.2 billion through December 14, 2031, with the option to expand through 2032 for additional capacity, CoreWeave said in a filing.

developers are rushing to sign multi-billion-dollar deals to lock in infrastructure quickly, boosting valuations of backend service providers such as CoreWeave, which was valued at $60 billion as of last close.

The boom has also raised questions about “circular” financing, as many AI tech firms invest in and sign supply deals with each other. This has also sparked worries about whether the surge in valuation is a bubble.

“Nvidia’s chips are in CoreWeave’s , which will then be used by companies like Meta. These kinds of deals spark bubble concerns because of how insular the industry appears, and the massive dollar amounts involved,” Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said.

At the same time, the AI market is expanding beyond the Magnificent Seven, which reduces the risk of a sudden bubble burst, he added.

The deal with Meta would also allow CoreWeave to fill data center capacity beyond its largest customer, Microsoft. Last week, the server provider signed a third multi-billion dollar cloud deal with .

As a part of the agreement, CoreWeave will provide the Facebook-parent access to Nvidia’s latest GB300 systems, according to a Bloomberg News report, citing an interview with the data center operator’s Michael Intrator.

For Meta, the deal underscores its ambition to improve the technology that powers its consumer products such as the recently launched smart glasses with Ray Ban.

The social media firm has invested tens of billions into data centers across the U.S. and is paying athlete-level salaries to hire top AI software engineers. The social media firm did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

US consumer confidence falls on inflation, weak jobs

Summary

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined again in September as Americans’ pessimism over inflation and the weakening  continued to grow.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell by 3.6 points to 94.2 in September, down from August’s 97.8. That’s a bigger drop than analysts were expecting and the lowest reading since April, when President Donald Trump rolled out his sweeping tariff policy.

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market fell to 73.4, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. Consumers’ assessments of their current economic situation dipped by 7 points to 125.4.

Write-in responses to the survey showed that references to prices and inflation rose this month, regaining its top position as consumers’ main concern about the economy. Mentions of declined this month but remain elevated, the Conference Board said.

Government data released earlier this month showed that inflation rose in August as the price of gas, groceries and airfares jumped.

Consumer prices increased 2.9% last month from a year earlier, the Labor Department said, up from 2.7% the previous month and the biggest jump since January. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 3.1%, the same as in July.

While unemployment and layoffs remain historically low, there has been noticeable deterioration in the labor market this year and mounting evidence that are having difficulty finding jobs.

Earlier this month, the government reported that U.S. nonfarm employers added a paltry 22,000 jobs in August, following July’s disappointing 79,000 job gains. Worse, revisions to the May and June figures shaved 258,000 jobs off previous estimates. The unemployment rate stands at 4.3%, the highest since October 2021.

Also Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that U.S. in August remained at 7.2 million, about the same as the previous month.

In addition to the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the ‘s inflation fighters in 2022 and 2023, economists say the recent hiring slump may also be a result of Trump’s policies, including his sweeping and ever-changing tariffs on imports, a crackdown on illegal immigration and purges of the federal workforce.

Many companies are locked in a “no hire, no fire” position, fearful of expanding payrolls until the effects of Trump’s tariffs are more clear.

More jobs data comes Friday when the government releases its September labor market data, with analysts forecasting 50,000 job gains.

The share of consumers expecting a recession over the next year rose modestly in September to the highest level since May.

Survey respondents who said they intended to buy a new or used car in the near future fell, while the share of those saying they planned to purchase a home rose to a four-month high.

Those saying they planned to buy big-ticket items like appliances were little changed from August with big variations across categories.

US job openings barely budged in August at 7.2 million

Summary

  • rose slightly to 7.23M in August
  • Hiring hit weakest pace since June 2024
  • Quits declined, signaling weaker worker confidence
  • Fed cut rates as trade tensions and shutdown loom

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. jobs openings were essentially unchanged million last month amid economic uncertainty arising from President Donald Trump’s trade policies and an impending .

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings blipped up to 7.23 million from 7.21 million in July. Economists had forecast a drop to 7.1 million.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that layoffs fell month. But so did the number of quitting their jobs — which is a sign of confidence in their prospects of finding a better job. The report’s measure of hiring last month was the weakest since June 2024.

Job openings remain at healthy levels but have fallen steadily since peaking at a record 12.1 million in March 2022 as the roared back from COVID-19 lockdowns.

The has lost momentum this year, partly because of the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the fighters at the in 2022 and 2023 and partly because Trump’s trade wars have created uncertainty that is paralyzing managers trying to make hiring decisions.

Altogether, Tuesday’s JOLTS numbers suggest that the remains in an awkward place: Americans who have jobs are mostly safe from layoffs. remains low at 4.3%. But jobseekers are struggling to find work.

“Companies are clearly hoarding workers with the economy still at full employment,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a commentary. “It will take a bigger blow than what we have seen so far to convince companies that it is safe and prudent — and necessary — to lay off workers.”

Labor Department revisions earlier this month showed that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the year that ended in March. That meant that employers added an average of fewer than 71,000 new jobs a month over that period, not the 147,000 first reported. Since March, job creation has slowed even more — to an average 53,000 a month.

On Friday, the Labor Department is expected release numbers on September hiring and unemployment — though the report could be postponed if a budget impasse in Congress leads to a government shutdown Wednesday.

If the report comes out, it is expected to show that employers added 50,000 jobs in September, unimpressive but up from a meager 22,000 in August, according to a survey of economists by the data firm FactSet.

At their last meeting two weeks ago, Fed policymakers cut their benchmark interest rates for the first time this year to support the sputtering job market. They also signaled that expect two more rate cuts this year.

SHAZA ANDERSEN | Founder and CEO, Trustar Bank

Shaza Andersen could have opted for early retirement in 2018 when the holding company of the first bank she founded, WashingtonFirst Bank, was acquired by Sandy Spring Bancorp in a deal valued at $447 million. Instead, Andersen decided to do it over again and founded Fairfax County-based Trustar Bank, which opened in 2019 with nine employees. Today, the bank employs 66 .

In March, Trustar Bank announced it had raised $16.7 million in its third oversubscribed stock offering. As of July, Trustar Bank reported total assets of $1.02 billion, with loans of $811 million and deposits of $858.5 million.

Andersen stays motivated at work by finding meaning outside financial reports. “Throughout my career, being purpose-driven has allowed me to feel fulfilled and stay motivated,” she says. “Whether that purpose is helping to sustain our local communities and businesses, investing in the growth and development of our team members or supporting those in need through corporate philanthropy.”

The Trustar Bank employee who nominated Andersen praised her servant leadership style.

“Since the day our doors opened, Shaza has made her team the priority,” her nominator says. “She goes out of her way to ensure that every person within the organization feels heard and knows that they are an important part of every success the company has.”

Andersen earned a degree in area studies from George Mason University in 1989 and received an honorary doctorate from her alma mater in 2021.

 

2025 Virginia Women in Leadership Awards honorees

HEATHER ARMENTROUT | President and general manager, Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace

In early 2024, Heather Armentrout left Northrop Grumman to run the U.S. subsidiary of Norway-based Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace. Armentrout describes the business, which represents the Norwegian contractor’s activities in the United States, as “a startup operation inside a 211-year-old company.”

Under her leadership, the subsidiary oversees about 270 employees and is projected to generate $150 million in revenue in 2025 — double what the company earned in 2024. In her role, Armentrout established and manages all aspects of U.S. defense operations with profit-and-loss responsibility. She also recruited and hired a corporate team as well as a board of directors.

As if that wasn’t enough, Armentrout is leading a $101 million effort to establish a 150,000-square-foot facility in James City County, which will produce naval strike missiles and joint strike missiles and is expected to create more than 200 jobs.

“My ambition is fueled by the desire to create new value through a combination of helping individuals and teams become the best version of themselves and transforming organizations to achieve new outcomes,” Armentrout says.

Armentrout brings 30 years of national security experience to her role. She was a national intelligence fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and worked for more than a decade at the CIA. At Northrop Grumman, Armentrout held several senior leadership positions.

 

2025 Virginia Women in Leadership Awards honorees

 

NUPUR SIDHU BAL | Vice president and managing partner, Bowen Ten Long & Bal

At the annual meeting of the Virginia Bar Association in January, Nupur Bal became chair of the association’s board of governors — historically, the first step on a three-year path to serve as its president.

At the same event, the VBA also presented Bal the Young Lawyers Division Mentor of the Year Award for going “above and beyond” to connect with a new YLD member. Bal has also mentored attorneys at her firm.

“As a woman of Indian heritage, I carry with me the strength and resilience of the generations before me,” she says. “I know firsthand what it means to be one of the few — and I feel a deep responsibility to ensure that I am not the last.”

A family law practitioner, Bal handles matters including child and spousal support, asset distribution and premarital and postnuptial agreements. She joined Bowen Ten Long & Bal in 2020.

In 2015 and 2025, Virginia Lawyers Weekly included Bal on its “Influential Women of Law” lists. The publication also named her on a list of “Go To Lawyers” for family law in 2024.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Emory University, Bal completed law school at Tulane University.

 

2025 Virginia Women in Leadership Awards honorees