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Sentara College of Health Sciences moving to Virginia Wesleyan

Summary

Beginning in January 2026, the Sentara College of Health Sciences of will begin training regional health sciences professionals.

In April, Sentara Health announced it would be ending its independent Sentara College of Health Sciences’ nursing and non-nursing degree programs, although the Chesapeake-based college planned to continue its nondegree offerings. At the time, Sentara officials said that state and regional universities would pick up the degree programs, in which 385 students were enrolled in April.

VWU — which will be renamed in July 2026, after noted philanthropist Jane Batten — announced in June that it would be the college’s new home. Through summer 2026, all current students will complete their courses of study under the current SCOHS name, and there will be no changes to out-of-pocket costs, courses of study or graduation timelines. By fall 2026, programs will move from Chesapeake to the VWU campus in Virginia Beach.

Both institutions are working on required regulatory and accreditation processes as part of the transition.

“Our shared vision is to prepare the health care workforce of the future while honoring Sentara College’s deep community ties and proud academic legacy,” Sentara College of Health Sciences President Angela Taylor said in a statement. “We look forward to working closely with Virginia Wesleyan University to create new opportunities for students, expand access to in-demand programs and continue meeting the growing needs of our communities.”

Meanwhile, the Hampton Roads area saw a fair amount of health care growth.

Bon Secours Harbour View Medical Center in Suffolk began serving patients in May. This new, 100,000-square-foot, three-story hospital is attached to Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View and is forecast to serve about 75,000 patients annually. It will have four operating rooms.

In Isle of Wight County, Riverside Health is building a new hospital expected to open in early 2026. The 200,000-square-foot building will include an emergency department, diagnostic imaging services and 50 inpatient beds. A separate 20,000-square-foot medical office building with 40 exam rooms was set to open in September.

In May, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center opened its dedicated psychiatric emergency room, which helps patients in mental health crisis receive aid without being seen in the general ER. The hospital is also adding a 20-bed inpatient psychiatric unit expected to be open early next year.

Meanwhile, Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at finished its first year as the new home of the Eastern Virginia Medical School and other health sciences degree programs. In October 2024, the State Council of in Virginia approved the formation of the Joint School of Public Health as a partnership between ODU and Norfolk State University, and will offer classes at the two campuses.

The Veterans Administration’s North Battlefield Clinic opened in Chesapeake in April, but a former local union president representing government employees said at a congressional hearing in July that the facility opened with only 27% of staff because of fewer than usual applications.

Federal Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, have raised alarms that cuts to Medicaid in President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation bill passed by Congress earlier this year could cause six rural hospitals in Virginia to close, including Bon Secours Rappahannock General Hospital in Kilmarnock and Bon Secours Southampton Medical Center in Franklin. Republican officials, though, say that there will be fixes available to save the hospitals.

Data centers stir debate in Frederick

In June, the Board of Supervisors voted by consensus against moving forward with applications to build two large . Most supervisors felt that too many unanswered questions surrounded the project’s potential effects. They also saw firsthand the passion that these projects can arouse, as more than 100 people attended the meeting, most to voice their fears over the possibility of data centers ruining the county’s rural landscape.

That meeting may have ended the proposed 644-acre Meadow Brook Technology Park and 105-acre Winchester Gateway 2 data centers, but not the broader debate. In an August session, the supervisors voted 5-2 to green-light a planning commission proposal to produce a fact sheet about data centers.

Working with the county’s authority (EDA), planners will explore issues like site selection, size, water and power needs, noise, job creation, open-space impacts and tax revenues. Frederick Water and the Shenandoah Valley and Rappahannock electrical cooperatives will also be consulted.

Putting together such a fact sheet “won’t require reinventing the wheel,” says Planning Commission Chairman Tim Stowe. Although Frederick currently has just one data center, located near Middletown, it can look to its neighbors for guidance. Loudoun County is home to 199 data centers, with 117 more in the pipeline, while Prince William County reports 44 data centers operating and 15 under development.

Blaine P. Dunn was the lone supervisor in June to vote in favor of further study of the two data center applications. The revenue that data centers can generate could build schools and lower the tax rate, he says, “but that discussion was not discussed.”

As for preserving the county’s rural character, Dunn points to thousands of housing lots entitled to be built, and to Frederick’s burgeoning population being now a shade under 100,000, but almost double what it was in 2000, with 30,000 to 40,000 more residents expected to be added in the next 20 years.

Like Dunn, county EDA Executive Director Patrick Barker recognizes the potential value of having data centers in Frederick. They are one of the most physically productive uses of land, he says, generating long-term and substantial revenue, while requiring minimal public services. However, he says, “the public discussion has been incomplete,” with conflicting information.

“Fact-finding,” Barker says, “will ensure that future conversations are informed.”

 

Don’t import 996: Why America should reject overwork culture

China’s 996 model — 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week — was sold as a path to speed, discipline, and dominance. In reality, it became a case study in how overwork corrodes the very foundation of business success.

People can push themselves for a while, but there’s a ceiling. Past a certain point, more hours don’t mean more output — they mean more fatigue, more mistakes and more medical leave. The research is consistent: Long hours shorten careers and lives. The toll isn’t metaphorical. It’s physical, measurable and permanent.

On paper, 72-hour weeks look like commitment. In practice, they deliver shallow engagement and sloppy execution. Companies eventually discovered that an army of burned-out employees doesn’t innovate, doesn’t solve problems creatively, and doesn’t stay long enough to compound skills. The “hustle” turned out to be theater — activity mistaken for achievement.

Younger workers in have already begun rejecting this model, treating it as outdated and exploitative. In the U.S., where talent mobility is even higher and employee voice carries weight, a 996-style culture would repel the very people companies most need. Burnout doesn’t just hurt performance — it erodes employer brands, drives attrition and makes recruitment more expensive.

China’s own tech giants are backing away. Midea shuts down offices early. DJI enforces lights-out rules. Not because they grew soft, but because the numbers didn’t add up. Overwork drained productivity, wrecked culture and bled talent. If the birthplace of 996 is walking it back, adopting it in the U.S. would be more than misguided — it would be self-sabotage.

High performance doesn’t come from pushing people to the breaking point. It comes from clarity, focus and systems that let people perform at their best without sacrificing their health. Companies that understand this build cultures where people want to stay — and where innovation compounds.

996 isn’t just a bad idea for China. It’s a warning shot for the U.S.: Overwork isn’t competitive advantage. It’s competitive decline disguised as discipline.

Jaime Raul Zepeda is EVP, Principal Consultant for and COLOR Magazine, part of BridgeTower Media. Want managers who maximize effectiveness with clarity, not fear? Let’s talk: [email protected]

Wondering whether your organization is on the right path to win? Talk to us at Best Companies Group so we can analyze your organization’s health, your team dynamics, and your leadership’s effectiveness. We’ve helped over 10,000 companies understand and improve their workplace using data-driven strategies. Send me a note at [email protected].

ODU internship boost preps students for future

Summary

  • ODU aims for every student to complete an internship by 2027
  • Monarch Office has connected with 700+ employers
  • funds 750 humanities student placements

As a creative writing major at , Kayla Boney says she knows jobs in her field after graduation may be “one in a million.”

However, an internship with Teens with a Purpose, a Norfolk-based youth creative arts nonprofit, showed Boney, a 20-year-old rising junior, that her pursuits in the humanities, while challenging, can result in meaningful — and paid — work.

Boney, a Norfolk native and an aspiring screenwriter, volunteered with the organization while attending high school. But it was through an on-campus encounter with representatives from ODU’s , part of the university’s Monarch Internships and Co-Op Office founded in 2023, that she learned she could be paid and also earn academic credits to intern there.

President Brian Hemphill, who has led ODU since 2021, says the idea to launch an office solely dedicated to connecting students to internships or other work-based learning opportunities came from conversations with business leaders in the community during his first year on the job.

“I would come back to campus and have that realization … [that] we don’t have the infrastructure right now as it stands,” he says. “We didn’t have the infrastructure to spin up quickly and address some of those concerns and needs that they have, and that’s why we launched this particular operation and made the investment.”

Boney is one of about 2,500 students that ODU has tracked through its Monarch Internships and Co-op Office. Launched in 2023, the office is building on an ODU goal to have each of its approximate 24,000 students, including more than 17,000 undergraduates, complete one internship, work-based learning program or co-op experience by 2027.

“Employers, students, faculty, they realize that when you host an intern during their degree program, then you’ve got first shot at great talent,” says Barbara Blake, who has led ODU’s internships office since its inception.

Hemphill says ODU’s internships office is the first of its kind in the state, and the university has convened two meetings with business and industry leaders and faculty stakeholders, including one that drew Gov. Glenn Youngkin as a speaker, as it looks to address gaps in industries including health care, engineering, data sciences and more.

Meanwhile, the president has been busy integrating the formerly independent Eastern Virginia Medical School under the university’s new Macon and Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences umbrella.

Following the 2024 merger, the Brock hub includes five schools and colleges, comprising more than 50 academic majors, to form the largest health sciences program in the state.

In April, ODU broke ground on a $184 million biological sciences building, which includes labs, a 120-seat lecture hall, an orchid conservatory, classrooms and other facilities and represents the university’s largest capital construction project to date. It’s expected to be completed in spring 2028.

Positioned for success

Since launching the internships office, Blake has led a team of faculty to build a central database launched this fall to track internships university-wide.

While the goal of the office is to help students land an internship or experience that can lead to valuable full-time employment after graduation, it is also emerging as an important tool for , a region that is already working hard to attract and retain top talent. Blake says her office has worked with at least 700 businesses — from Fortune 500 corporations to mom-and-pop operations — to build a “one-stop shop” to link interns with employers, including helping some employers that don’t have money to pay an intern to find grants to do so.

In the old days, interns often worked for free, and that served as a gatekeeper for less affluent students who needed summer and after-school jobs to make ends meet. To help students get experience in their fields, no matter their financial background, ODU and many other universities have applied for and won funding to subsidize paid internships with participating workplaces.

In 2024, The Mellon Foundation announced a $5 million grant for ODU to develop the Monarch Humanities Internship Academy, which will place 750 humanities students in internships over five years, including providing stipends for interns.

The office also has also partnered with the Council to build an apprenticeship pipeline around maritime logistics and supply chain, cybersecurity and K-12 education.

The State Council of for Virginia also awarded ODU a two-year $100,000 grant to pilot the Federal Work-Study Internship Program, which started last fall.

Paid internships in Hampton Roads range from about $14 to $24 an hour, with some interns with engineering backgrounds making up to $28 an hour, Blake says, and some employers may have simultaneous needs, including for interns with engineering, accounting and technical writing backgrounds.

“How do I have those needs met?” Blake asks. “They can come to us. We write up the prospectus. We draw in the faculty. We work on the student placement end, and that has been the most exciting work, because the employers absolutely love it.”

HEARD AROUND VIRGINIA

McLean identity verification tech company ID.me has raised $340 million via Series E financing and its recent credit facility, according to a Sept. 3 announcement. The funding raises the company’s valuation to more than $2 billion. Ribbit Capital led the round, with participation from existing investors Ares Management credit funds and Moonshots Capital and new investors like Positive Sum. ID.me has 152 million users and works with 20 federal agencies and 45 state agencies, among other organizations. The company creates “digital identity wallets” allowing users to verify their identities with ID.me and then sign in across websites without verifying their identities again. (News release)

Shift5 landed $75 million in new funding to fuel research and development and marketing for products that monitor and protect defense and systems, the Arlington cybersecurity startup announced Sept. 3. The funding brings Shift5’s total outside investment to $185 million since its founding in 2018. Hedosophia — a London-based venture capital firm that was an early backer of Uber Technologies, Spotify Technology and Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group — led the Series C funding round. The venture arm of McLean-based Booz Allen Hamilton, Baltimore’s Squadra Ventures and New York investment firm Insight Partners participated as repeat investors. (DC Inno)

McLean investment firm Veteran Ventures Capital raised $60 million, according to a mid-August news release. It will use the funding to deploy equity investments into about 15 defense and civilian technology startup companies in the next few years, backing Series A startups generating at least $1 million in annual revenue by offering investments between $1 million and $6 million on average. Founder and Managing Partner Derren Burrell said it took VVC about a year to raise the fund, a fraction of the time it took to raise its inaugural $20 million fund. (DC Inno)

A new initiative between Virginia Innovation Partnership Corp. and Virginia’s six Research 1 (R1) universities aims to double the number of startups coming from the universities each year. The Lab-to-Launch initiative intends to help technology breakthroughs quickly enter the marketplace, according to an August news release from the governor’s office. The initiative’s components will be launching throughout the school year. Lab-to-Launch has two core pillars, said VIPC President and CEO Joe Benevento: The first is creating a standardized fast-track license agreement to commercialize university research. The other is expanding private sector collaboration with Virginia university commercialization. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Richmond tech accelerator Activation Capital appointed Michael Steele as president and CEO, it announced Aug. 26. He succeeds Robert Ward, who had served as interim CEO since July 2024. Ward took on the role following the departure of Chandra Briggman, who left to pursue other opportunities. Activation Capital is an accelerator arm of the Virginia Biotechnology Research Partnership Authority, a subdivision of the state government. The accelerator aims to commercialize local biohealth research and build a biohealth entrepreneurship hub in Central Virginia. Steele has held senior leadership positions at Biocartis, Chembio Diagnostics, SeraCare Life Sciences and Serologicals. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

McLean-based health care tech startup Zephyr AI announced in late August it had appointed Allen Chao as its new CEO and acquired Tampa, Florida-based oncology data company Aster Insights, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Zephyr. Chao, who has over 40 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, succeeds Jeff Sherman, Zephyr’s co-founder and chief technology officer, who served as CEO in an interim capacity for more than a year. Chao founded Watson Pharmaceuticals in 1984 and served as its CEO and chairman until 2008. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Top Five: October 2025

The most-read daily news stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Aug. 9 through Sept. 9 included news of a new medical school launching at the University of Mary Washington.

1 | Virginia Chamber CEO resigns after 4 months
After serving as the of Commerce’s president and CEO since April 1, Cathie Vick left to pursue other opportunities. (Aug. 12)

2 | Mary Washington Healthcare, UMW plan to launch medical school
and the University of Mary Washington plan to launch a new medical school, a move designed to address a shortage of physicians in the Fredericksburg region. (Aug. 20)

3 | U.S. government halts nearly complete offshore wind farm. Is Virginia’s next?
After the ordered a halt to work on a $4 billion farm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut, Virginians wondered if ‘s $10.9 billion Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind could face similar peril. (Aug. 25)

4 | Ex-Virginia House Speaker Gilbert resigns as U.S. attorney after 1 month
Todd Gilbert, the former Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, resigned Aug. 20 as U.S attorney for the Western District of Virginia. (Aug. 21)

5 | Trump administration withdraws $39.27 million for Norfolk offshore wind project
The Trump administration withdrew $39.27 million in federal funding that had previously been awarded for an offshore wind logistics port in Norfolk and attempted to terminate $20 million in funding for a project that had already been completed in Portsmouth. (Sept. 2)

Virginia 500 October 2025 Spotlight: CHRIS KEFFER

FIRST JOB: Washing dishes at the local restaurant

INTERESTING PLACES I’VE TRAVELED: The Exumas and Abacos, super cool island chains that are part of the Bahamas

MOST VALUED POSSESSION: Babe Ruth autographed baseball given to me by my grandmother

ADVICE FOR NEW COLLEGE GRADS: Show up early to work, take on hard projects and demonstrate where you can add value. Don’t complain unless you have a solution.

WHAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT ME: I am a fairly solid cook.

WHAT I DO FOR FUN: We are a boating family and love getting out on the water. Racquet sports are also a hobby.

DID YOU KNOW? Prior to leading U.S. operations for German and manufacturer , Keffer spent 27 years at Stanley Black & Decker, where he was the company’s president of product management for the power tools group.

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion nears final stages

Summary

Officials expect the $3.9 billion Bridge-Tunnel  expansion project to be substantially complete by February 2027, after years of boring underwater tunnels and widening lanes on land.

Currently, more than 2,000 workers are toiling on the state’s largest highway project daily, “and we’re not at our peak yet,” says Ryan Banas, the project director.

In coming months, as construction of the tunnels wraps up, workers will start building 19 tunnel support buildings.

“Those structures are really important,” Banas says. “They provide room for all of our mechanical electrical equipment and house our operators who run the tunnels. That’s a really, really important job. They sit in a control room, they can respond to incidents in the tunnel on the approach bridges, shutting down lanes [when necessary], bringing in emergency services.”

When that work ramps up, likely this fall, the number of people working on the project daily will increase to about 2,400, Banas says.

In 2020, the contracted with , a joint venture led by FlatironDragados, to start expanding the bridge-tunnel that connects Hampton and Norfolk. The project, which was supposed to be completed in 2025, widens four-lane segments of the 9.9-mile corridor to six lanes on land and eight underwater with twin two-lane tunnels. Connecting roads also will have additional lanes.

“In the early fall we’ll be shifting traffic onto our new eight-lane bridge,” Banas says. “Two lanes of our existing traffic will move onto that new eight-lane bridge. Crews have been working really hard on the existing shoulder of the existing roadway, widening that roadway, building mechanically stabilized earth walls, making drainage improvements, constructing overhead sign structures and guardrails — all of the safety features necessary.”

Much of the recent work on the bridge-tunnel has been conducted by Mary, the massive tunnel boring machine (TBM) constructed in Germany specifically for the HRBT’s expansion.

The $70 million piece of equipment is named after Mary Winston Jackson, a NASA scientist whose work was depicted in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures” about Jackson and two other Black female NASA scientists during the space race.

Mary the tunnel boring machine is roughly the height of a three-story building and the length of a football field. In April 2024 the machine began digging the first tunnel, and then took five months to be turned around to start digging the second tunnel, which Banas expected to be completed in September. Ultimately the second tunnel will have 1,193 interconnected high-strength concrete rings, Banas says.

This is an entirely different process than from 1952 to 2016, when would immerse tube tunnels underwater for automobile traffic.

“Simply put, they are long concrete pipes about 300 to 350 feet in length,” Banas says. “We use traditional dredging equipment, we dredge out the bay bottom, we bring in those tubes and we immerse them in place, we connect them end to end, and that’s how you construct the tunnel.”

Today, Mary excavates the bay bottom, and workers install interconnected tunnel liners, creating the tunnel as Mary continues mining. Banas notes that the tunnel liners are subjected to strict quality control to ensure they form a watertight, durable tunnel.

Banas describes the rings, which have nine segments, as “puzzle pieces. I have a 5-year-old at home. I remind him that all tunneling and all civil engineering is really building with big Legos. So, each of those nine pieces is a 20,000-pound segment that we build in a very specific order to construct a watertight tunnel.”

Once Mary’s work is completed, probably in the early fall, the machine will be dismantled and sold for parts. “Some of her electrical systems, hydraulic systems, rams, motors will be recycled,” Banas says.

“They’ll be repurposed, taken back to the manufacturer, refurbished and potentially used on additional machines. We’ll be parting ways with Mary, but her legacy will long live behind her.”

For the Record October 2025

Central Virginia

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is planning to locate a major facility in Albemarle County, a state official confirmed to Virginia Business in August. A state commission has voted to recommend that the General Assembly approve a state incentives package exceeding $10 million for the project. Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in July that AstraZeneca would bring to Virginia a multibillion-dollar facility to produce pharmaceutical substances for its weight management and metabolic portfolio. AstraZeneca’s largest single manufacturing investment, the Virginia plant is part of $50 billion in investments AztraZeneca plans to make in the U.S. by 2030 for manufacturing and research and development. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Eli Lilly & Co. plans to invest $5 billion in a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Goochland County that’s expected to create 650 permanent jobs and support 1,800 construction jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 16. Located in the West Creek Business Park, the 200,000-plus-square-foot plant will produce antibody drug conjugates, Lilly Chair and CEO David A. “Dave” Ricks said at a press conference. The Goochland facility is one of four plants Lilly is building nationwide as part of a $50 billion initiative to increase its domestic pharmaceutical production. Construction, which will take about three years, was expected to begin this fall. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Google plans to invest an additional $9 billion in Virginia through the end of 2026, with much of the funding going toward development ofa new data center in Chesterfield County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in late August. The investments will be focused on cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Google will also expand existing facilities in Loudoun and Prince William counties. Construction has already begun on the Chesterfield data center. A Google spokesperson said the data center will be located at a 300-plus acre site near Meadowville Technology Park. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Goochland County-based Fortune Global 500 company Performance Food Group announced Sept. 16 that it has entered into an agreement with US Foods to begin sharing information — a move indicating the two companies are considering a merger. Should PFG merge with US Foods, it would create the largest United States food service distributor, with roughly $100 billion in combined revenue. JP Morgan and BofA Securities are serving as financial advisers, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is serving as legal adviser to PFG. Sachem Head Capital Management has advocated for PFG and US Foods to merge. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Anthony Romanello, the Henrico County Economic Development Authority’s executive director, plans to step down early next year. He submitted his resignation letter to the EDA’s board on Aug. 21, stating his last day will be Jan. 16, 2026, although he said he told the board he would be willing to stay longer if he has not accepted a new job and the EDA has not identified a successor. The EDA board has formed an executive search committee to find Romanello’s successor. He joined the county in 2016 as deputy county manager and was promoted to his current post in 2019. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

At its downtown medical center campus in Richmond, the VCU Health System hopes to soon construct a major hospital tower that would eventually be 16 stories tall and feature 576 beds. The health system recently issued requests for proposals for both project management services and architectural and engineering services related to the project, to be located at the corner of East Leigh and North 12th streets. The project would also include the construction of a 73,500-square-foot central utility plant, north of Leigh Street and adjacent to the VCU School of Nursing. Contracts are expected to be awarded in November.(VirginiaBusiness.com)

Eastern Virginia

The withdrew $39.27 million that had been previously awarded under the Biden administration to an logistics port in Norfolk. The port is part of the 111-acre Fairwinds Landing project at Lambert’s Point Docks. The administration also sought to terminate a $20 million grant for the Portsmouth Marine Terminal offshore wind development project; however the money had already been spent and the project completed. The withdrawal stems from an Aug. 29 announcement that Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy would withdraw or terminate a total of $679 million in funding for 12 offshore wind projects across the country. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

During a press conference, Jefferson Lab Director Jens Dilling confirmed that the U.S. Department of Energy lab wanted 7% of its workforce, approximately 65 employees, to voluntarily resign by the end of August. Dilling previously told employees that the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, commonly known as Jefferson Lab, would need to reduce its workforce as part of a restructuring plan. If the lab doesn’t reach its goals, its leadership will implement a plan for employee layoffs in January. (VirginiaBusiness.com; WHRO)

Florida-based Land ‘N’ Sea Distributing, a wholesale distributor of marine and recreational vehicle parts and accessories, is investing $1.1 million to expand in Norfolk, with plans to create 29 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced in August. The company relocated from its previous 61,800-square-foot facility in Norfolk to a new 120,000-square-foot facility. The expansion coincides with its planned introduction of approximately 5,000 new products, the company says. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Norfolk Airport Authority’s plans to build a 165-room hotel at Norfolk International Airport have been delayed by approximately two years until 2028, as the authority has canceled the contract with developers due to an alleged contract violation. Airport authority CEO Mark Perryman said that Arizona-based developer Caliber Cos. left the project, and -based LTD Hospitality, the remaining development partner, failed to notify the authority immediately. Now, the airport is considering building the hotel itself and bringing in a third-party operator to manage it. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Suffolk-based TowneBank closed its $203 million acquisition of Hampton-based Old Point National Bank of Phoebus and
its parent company, Old Point Financial. The merger went into effect Sept. 1. The combined company now has total assets
of $19.5 billion, loans of $13.1 billion and deposits of $16.3 billion based on financial information reported as of Dec. 31, 2024. Old Point’s 13 bank branches will now operate as “Old Point National Bank, a Division of TowneBank” until February 2026, when the core systems and operations of Old Point National Bank are scheduled to be converted into those of TowneBank. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Next year, will officially change its name to . The new name, which will take effect on July 1, 2026, honors Virginia Beach philanthropist Jane Batten, a former chair of the Virginia Wesleyan Board of Trustees, and her family, who have supported the Virginia Beach private university for decades. Nancy DeFord, chair of the university’s board, made the announcement in August. Virginia Wesleyan is situated on a 300-acre campus in Virginia Beach and has about 2,100 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Northern Virginia

For the first time since approving Amazon.com’s incentive package for its HQ2 East Coast headquarters in 2019, Arlington County announced it will finally cut the etailer a check for $81,745 in September — triggered by the county’s hotel meeting a required threshold. Amazon opened the first phase of HQ2, the $2.5 billion Metropolitan Park, in Arlington in 2023. About 8,500 employees currently work there five days a week. A spokesperson from Amazon said it has reached 30% of its HQ2 hiring goal, and in June, Arlington granted Amazon a three-year extension to develop the second part of HQ2. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

George Mason University has been found in violation of federal civil rights law, the U.S. Department of Education announced Aug. 22, laying blame on President Gregory Washington’s shoulders. The public university violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by “illegally using race” in hiring and promotions, the DOE said. The Trump administration says Washington’s policies benefited people of color and discriminated against white employees. To settle the issue, the DOE demanded a public apology by Washington, among other requirements. Washington’s attorney and a lawyer hired by the university’s board are negotiating a resolution with the federal government, the board said later in August. See Page 76 for more on this story. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

plans to partner with the University of Mary Washington to launch a new medical school, a move designed to address the shortage of physicians in the Fredericksburg region. Dr. Christopher Newman, the health system’s president and CEO and a member of UMW’s board of visitors, said the two institutions are in “serious planning stages” of launching a medical school, which would be the first in Northern Virginia. The health system and the university’s boards plan to take up the matter this fall and likely will vote in 2026 to officially move forward. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Nexstar Media Group plans to buy Tysons-based broadcast rival Tegna for $6.2 billion, it announced Aug. 19. The transaction, if approved, will bring together two major players in U.S. television and the country’s local news landscape. Nexstar oversees more than 200 owned and partner stations in 116 markets nationwide and also runs networks like The CW and NewsNation. Meanwhile, Tegna, which was formed in 2015 when Gannett Co. spun off its broadcasting and digital business, owns 64 television news stations across 51 markets. Nexstar will pay $22 in cash for each share of Tegna’s outstanding stock. The deal is expected to close by the second half of 2026. (Associated Press)

Alexandria-based government contractor Systems Planning & Analysis announced in early September it plans to invest
$46.9 million to expand its headquarters, increase its presence in Fairfax County and create nearly 1,200 jobs in Alexandria and Fairfax, where it has a facility in Chantilly. In June, a limited liability company associated with SPA purchased its 239,000-square-foot headquarters building for $29.3 million, and the company expects to invest $15.4 million in renovations to the 35-year-old building on North Beauregard Street. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

PEOPLE

Fairfax County Supervisor James Walkinshaw, a Democrat, defeated Republican Stewart Whitson in September’s special election in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District. The election was held to fill the seat left by U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died of esophageal cancer in May. Walkinshaw is Connolly’s former chief of staff; Whitson is a legal director at a conservative think tank. (The Washington Post)

Roanoke/ Lynchburg/ New River Valley

Amazon.com Services selected Amherst County for the site of a $16 million-plus, 78,000-square-foot distribution center, which county officials say will bring dozens of local jobs to the region. The county’s economic development authority announced in September that Amazon has purchased the largest lot in the Amelon Commerce Center — a 120-acre industrial park mostly owned by the EDA. The EDA sold the 26-acre site to Amazon in late August. Amazon declined to provide project specifics or an estimated timeline, with a spokesperson saying more details will be shared later. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Lynchburg-based BWX Technologies plans to launch a subsidiary dedicated to the commercialization of fuel for the next generation of nuclear reactors, it announced in late August. Called BWXT Advanced Fuels, the new company will pursue partnerships to deliver TRISO nuclear fuel for an anticipated “coming wave” of advanced nuclear reactors under development or in planning stages. BWXT first began manufacturing TRISO, or tristructural isotropic particle fuel, in partnership with Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy’s Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development Program in 2003. Currently, BWXT produces TRISO on a low-rate production scale. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Carilion Clinic is borrowing up to $400 million worth of bonds from the Roanoke Economic Development Authority, according to city documents. Roanoke City Council approved the $400 million bond issuance for Carilion on Sept. 2. Carilion Clinic opened its new Crystal Spring Tower in June. Hospital officials said the project cost $500 million. Of the newly issued bonds, at least $200 million will finance a portion of that tower, plus the adjacent parking garage. At least $110 million will refund bonds issued as far back as 2005. (The Roanoke Times)

At a Sept. 2 meeting, the Campbell County Board of Supervisors delayed action on a rezoning application, a request that would make it easier to build a data center in a heavily wooded area of the county’s Concord District. At the meeting, several residents spoke out against the proposed rezoning of about 57 acres. To attract a data center to the site, MESH Capital, the landowner, is requesting permission from the county to remove certain conditions that were placed on the property 25 years ago. (The News & Advance)

Virginia Tech has received a $16 million commitment from alumnus David Kellogg to back the Blacksburg university’s philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) program. Kellogg helped launch a research center in 2020 to support
PPE, and his new gift permanently names it the David H. Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 1982, Kellogg worked for the CIA. In 1998, he founded IT firm Solers, which specialized in software and systems engineering. Reston-based federal contractor Peraton acquired Solers in 2019, and today, Kellogg leads proprietary trading firms he founded or cofounded. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

In 2024, $923.1 million was directly spent by visitors in Virginia’s Blue Ridge, which includes the cities of Roanoke and Salem and the counties of Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke. That’s a 4.6% increase over 2023, according to Visit VBR, the region’s destination marketing organization. Demand for lodging between January and June of this year in Virginia’s Blue Ridge is up 3% and revenue is up 6.9%. The USA Cycling Endurance Mountain Bike National Championships were held in Roanoke in July and brought more than 1,200 riders for six days of racing. (News release)

Shenandoah Valley

Ohio-based cabinet giant MasterBrand announced in August that it plans to acquire Winchester-based cabinet manufacturer American Woodmark in an all-stock merger, creating a company valued at $3.6 billion. The transaction is expected to close in early 2026, pending shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. Afterward, the combined company will be known as MasterBrand and will be headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio. However, the merged company plans to maintain a significant presence in Winchester. An American Woodmark spokesperson did not answer whether there would be relocations or layoffs in store for any of American Woodmark’s roughly 7,800 employees. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Augusta Medical Group, a network of primary care and urgent care clinics affiliated with the Augusta Health system, announced in September it is closing three Shenandoah Valley clinics — Buena Vista Primary Care, Churchville Primary Care, and Weyers Cave Urgent Care — in response to the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed this summer. The health system said the legislation’s changes to Medicaid would impact hospital funding and lead to enrollment drop-offs. While some patients will be reassigned to nearby practices about 10 minutes away, others will have to travel further. (Virginia Mercury)

Todd Gilbert, former Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, resigned Aug. 20 from his role as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia after a little more than a month on the job. Robert N. Tracci, the federal district’s first assistant U.S. attorney, has assumed the role of acting U.S. attorney. An anonymous source says Gilbert resigned after refusing Trump officials’ demand to oust his second-in-command, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Lee, instead creating a new role for him. Lee previously served U.S. Attorney Chris Kavanaugh, a Biden appointee. (VirginiaBusiness.com; The Roanoke Times)

Mary Baldwin University announced in late August that president Jeff Stein had resigned after only two years in the role. With Stein’s departure, the Staunton-based private university’s board of trustees quickly confirmed Todd Telemeco as the university’s 11th president, effective immediately. In a letter sent to the Mary Baldwin community, Telemeco alluded to financial difficulties the university has been facing. He said the campus is costly to maintain and that the university’s discount rate is high, both of which exert pressure on the school’s resources. In September, faculty passed a vote of no confidence against the board for its handling of Stein’s resignation. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Harrisonburg-based indoor herb and produce company Soli Organic announced in August it is relocating its headquarters to Ohio following a merger with Ohio-based indoor grower company 80 Acres Farms. Soli, which holds over a quarter of the U.S. market for organic culinary herbs, operates greenhouses in Elkwood and Harrisonburg, while 80 Acres runs five farms. Soli has not confirmed whether it will close any of its Virginia greenhouses, but a spokesperson said the company plans to maintain operations in the state. The combined company is expected to generate $200 million in first year revenue. (Daily News-Record)

Members of Virginia Military Institute’s board in August appointed retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. David Furness, a member of the Class of 1987, as the Institute’s 16th superintendent, succeeding retired Maj. Gen. Cedric T. Wins, the Lexington-based school’s first Black leader, left in June after the board elected not to renew his contract. Furness served in the Marine Corps for 36 years before retiring in 2023. Furness has one master’s degree in military studies from the Marine Corps University at Quantico and another in national security and strategic studies from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Southern Virginia

Butler Human Services Furniture, a furniture maker with production facilities in Chase City, announced plans in late August to close its Mecklenburg plant and consolidate operations in Ohio. The layoffs of 51 Mecklenburg workers are expected to start in October, with the facilities closing in April 2026. Butler also has a sales office near Richmond staffed by eight employees, according to a spokesperson. Three of those employees will be laid off. Previously known as Butler Woodcrafters,
the company was founded in 1980 in Chesterfield County. In 2014, Sauder Manufacturing acquired the business. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Danville Regional Airport will receive about $900,000 in state funding to help pay for three projects. Grant money from the Commonwealth Aviation Fund will cover 90% of the costs. Of $900,443.72 from the state, $535,911.08 will go toward stormwater basin erosion control mitigation, $256,500 will be allocated to removing obstructions from Runway 31 and the remaining $108,032.64 will go to remarking Runway 2-20. The remaining 10% of the price tag will be covered by local money. The work is expected to be completed by the end of November. (Danville Register & Bee)

Hitachi Energy announced in September it will invest $1 billion to expand its U.S. grid infrastructure manufacturing, with roughly half of that investment going into Virginia, where it plans to add 825 jobs in South Boston. The electrical equipment manufacturer will invest $457 million to build the nation’s largest manufacturing site for large power transformers in the Halifax County town. The large power transformers to be produced at the plant will support large-scale industrial applications such as fast-growing AI . The new manufacturing facility is expected to be operational by 2028. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

Nathan Trotter, a Pennsylvania-based supplier and recycler of tin and tin alloy products, plans to invest $65 million in a Henry County tin processing operation that’s expected to create 118 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sept. 9
in Martinsville. The 115,000-square-foot Tin Ridge processing facility is slated for development on 44 acres at the Patriot
Centre Industrial Park. The facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2026. Tin is included on a 2022 list
from the U.S. Secretary of the Interior of mineral commodities critical to the U.S. economy and national security. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

According to Del. Eric Phillips, R-Henry, the City of Martinsville and the Martinsville Economic Development Authority have
made a deal: The city will pay the EDA an additional $140,000 per year and the EDA will hire Eric Payne as its director. In 2024, Martinsville’s city council brought Payne aboard as city attorney designee for an annual salary of $185,000. However, Payne did not obtain his license to practice law in Virginia as expected. During an Aug. 26 meeting, council members went into closed session to discuss the EDA executive director position, but they did not take public action. (Martinsville Bulletin)

Under a new proposal, the New College Institute (NCI) will become the Patrick & Henry Community College Center for Workforce and Economic Development at the Baldwin Building. The cloud surrounding NCI has most recently taken the form of a threat from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office to defund the institute. Upon approval of the resolution by NCI’s board, a request will be made to the secretary of education to assist with the development of a transfer plan, which will include approximately $3.1 million annually in state funding for NCI, to be appropriated to the community college. (Martinsville Bulletin)

Southwest Virginia

The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded Mountain Empire Community College a $491,548 grant to support opioid abuse recovery, according to an early September news release from U.S. Rep Morgan Griffith’s office. The funding will support Project Southwest Virginia Opioid Abuse Recovery, a workforce development initiative meant to help people recovering from substance use disorder. Project SOAR will provide hands-on training in skilled trades like carpentry, welding, electric and plumbing to 180 participants across Dickenson, Lee, Scott and Wise counties, with the goal of preparing them for in-demand occupations and supporting their recovery. (The Coalfield Progress)

Ballad Health and Gov. Glenn Youngkin in late August unveiled plans for a $3 million behavioral health crisis center at the health system’s Ridgeview Pavilion in Bristol, Virginia. The 6,000-square-foot facility will be a 24-hour walk-in center designed to reduce reliance on hospital emergency rooms or law enforcement intervention. The 2024 Virginia Special Session I budget bill funded the project. It’s expected to open in fall 2026 and will be Ballad Health’s second such facility; its first is in Johnson City, Tennessee. (Bristol Herald Courier)

Wellmore Energy Co., a metallurgical coal mining company and subsidiary of United Coal Co., planned to lay off 72 workers in Buchanan County, according to notices sent to the state in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. According to two notices, six employees who work at a surface minerals operation in Grundy and 27 employees at Wellmore’s Elk Creek operation in Hurley were expected to lose their jobs beginning Sept. 6, with all separations completed by Sept. 19. According to a third notice, Wellmore expects to lay off 39 employees from its surface minerals operation in Grundy and a preparation plant in Big Rock, beginning Oct. 4, with separations completed by Oct. 16. (VirginiaBusiness.com)

The Washington County Promise Program, a partnership between the Wellspring Foundation of Southwest Virginia and Virginia Highlands Community College, has expanded to include students from three additional class years. The Promise Program covers VHCC tuition and fees not already paid by other financial aid or scholarships, and it provides up to $500 per semester per student for books and educational supplies through the VHCC bookstore. The program initially covered students graduating high school between 2025 and 2037. With the expansion, kindergarteners enrolling in Washington County schools in 2025, 2026 and 2027 will also be eligible. (Bristol Herald Courier)

If voters approve its creation in November, Wise County will create and operate an electric authority within the county. The authority would not replace electricity from Appalachian Power or Old Dominion Power for residents. It would work directly with large industrial users that want to come to the county and build their own power plants to help meet their electricity needs. Members of the authority would be appointed by the county’s board of supervisors, but details like how many members it would entail and how long their terms would be aren’t yet determined. (Cardinal News)

Five Southwest Virginia projects will receive $6.12 million total in Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization program grants, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith announced Aug. 29. The largest grant, $2 million, will go to the Wolf Creek Resort & Lodge project, an ecotourism and outdoor recreation site that will be developed on 1,200 acres in Tazewell County over seven years and will include a lodge, a 650-home development and an equestrian facility. The funding will go toward the purchase of the privately owned land, and the project’s total estimated cost is $75 million. (Cardinal News)

Out and About October 2025

1. Chair John J. Haley rang the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange Sept. 8 in celebration of the Tysons-based government contractor’s 50th anniversary. (Photo courtesy NYSE Group)

2. On Aug. 14, donated $500,000 to Riverside Health’s Riverside Smithfield Hospital, which is scheduled to open in January 2026. Participating in the event were (L to R) Smithfield Foods Vice President Jim Monroe; Smithfield Foods Chief Business Officer Keller Watts; Riverside Smithfield Hospital President Jessica Macalino; Dr. Mike Oshiki, Riverside Health’s president of acute care; Smithfield Foods President and CEO Shane Smith; and Kristen Witt, Riverside Health’s chief philanthropy officer. (Photo courtesy Smithfield Foods)

3. Board of Supervisors and Fairfax County Authority members, AT&T executives and others gathered Aug. 5 to celebrate the opening of AT&T’s regional hub in Chantilly. (Photo courtesy Fairfax County Economic Development Authority)

4. On Sept. 9, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, executives and local officials broke ground for a $65 million tin production facility in Henry County. (Photo courtesy Nathan Trotter)

5. Jeff Calloway, a single dad who has limited mobility following a stroke, watches as workers with Cenvar Roofing install a new roof at his Evington home Aug. 7. The Lynchburg-based company donated the roof and labor, valued at $12,000, through its Cenvar Gives program. (Photo courtesy Cenvar Roofing)