Inside Business annual Power List 2024: 55 power players

Inside Business creates its annual Power List to showcase who’s who in terms of moving the needle for the economy in Hampton Roads, whether they be the decision-makers, the influencers or those working behind the scenes.

This year, we organized the Top 25 by types of influence or power rather than a numerical ranking. We then listed another 55 power players from various backgrounds and sectors. In researching movers and shakers, we looked at last year’s list and then looked at the newsmakers of the past year. We factored in major milestones or current events to determine who to highlight instead of creating a directory of anyone who’s held power over the years.

We understand not everyone making a difference for our region is on this list, and we are open to learning more about who truly wields the power in Hampton Roads. Please email your suggestions to tbozick@dailypress.com or inside.business@insidebiz.com.

Read more about the selection process in our introduction to the list.

View the Top 25 list.

View the Emeritus List of longtime community shapers.

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Dr. Alfred Abuhamad

Dr. Alfred Abuhamad is president, provost and dean at Eastern Virginia Medical School, where he is also professor of obstetrics and gynecology and radiology. Under his leadership, EVMS is working to integrate with Old Dominion University to leverage their combined resources to strengthen research and training in what would become the state’s largest medical school. A faculty member at EVMS and a citizen of Hampton Roads for 31 years, Abuhamad is well known internationally for his work in ultrasound, prenatal diagnosis, fetal echocardiography, global outreach and patient safety.

He is founder and past chair of the Council for Patient Safety in Women’s Health Care in Washington, D.C. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, authored seven textbooks and received numerous national and international awards, including the 2019 Commonwealth of Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award and the 2022 Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Life-Time Achievement Award. He is the recipient of a National Institute of Health grant to study “Novel Tools for the Noninvasive Evaluation of the Human Placenta.” Abuhamad established the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology’s outreach program and has led several ultrasound training missions to the developing world, to include Haiti, Ghana and Somaliland. Abuhamad is a past president of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Society of Ultrasound in Medical Education, Perinatal Quality Forum and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.

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Javaune Adams-Gaston

Since becoming the seventh president of Norfolk State University in 2019, Javaune Adams-Gaston has led the opening of the NSU Innovation Center, a business incubator designed to establish job and training pipelines, and is working to build a joint School of Public Health with Old Dominion University and Eastern Virginia Medical School with support from Sentara. Norfolk State is also working with EVMS and Sentara in a Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium.

Under Adams-Gaston’s leadership, Norfolk State has expanded its online programs, gained recognition as an academic leader in cybersecurity, developed the Center for African American Public Policy and landed a $40 million gift from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. Construction is slated to start this year on a $122 million science building. Adams-Gaston serves on numerous boards and is part of the White House advisory board on historically Black colleges and universities.

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Mary Kate Andris

Mary Kate Andris is president and CEO of Civic Leadership Institute, which empowers executive leaders in the region to connect and deepen their community impact through service. Alumni continue to stay engaged in many regional and statewide initiatives. Civic also hosts two major annual community events, the Founders’ Luncheon and the Darden Awards.

Andris previously worked as a director of council partnerships for the Girl Scouts of the USA. In that role, she supported more than 30 council CEOs and their board chairs in annual and strategic planning for growth and sustainability. Before the Girl Scouts, Andris served as president and CEO of YWCA South Hampton Roads, where she worked to increase revenue from philanthropic sources and build awareness of the nonprofit’s brand. During her tenure, the organization received its largest private gift ever: $2 million from MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist and author. Andris serves on the Virginia Council on Women’s board and was an Inside Business Women in Business honoree.

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Dan Banister

Owner Dan “Dan the Man” Banister of Banister Automotive operates car dealerships in (Nissan) Chesapeake, (Nissan) Norfolk, (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Mitsubishi) Hampton and (Ford) Suitland, Maryland. His business is one of 22 Black-owned Nissan dealerships nationwide and is consistently one of the top performing Nissan dealerships worldwide.

He promotes and supports many charities, ball teams, churches, pageants, middle and high schools, shelters and community events, like the Bra-ha-ha’s Men in Pink fight against breast cancer. He creates public service announcements that air on major networks to bring awareness to causes close to his heart, including the humane society, Red Cross, the food bank, literacy, driving safety, H.E.R. Shelter and The Elder’s House.

He is on the boards of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association, Chesapeake Regional Health Foundation and Tidewater Community College Educational Foundation. He is on the Nissan National Dealer Advisory Board, Capital One advisory board and UVeye advisory board. He has served on Virginia’s Motor Vehicle Dealer Board and Hampton Roads Automobile Dealers Association’s board. He has been involved with the Hunton YMCA, The Chesapeake Forum board and the Chesapeake Public Library Foundation. He has received multiple honors, including Man of the Year and Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award in 2014, John T. Hanna Award recognizing traffic safety excellence in 2015 and the Portsmouth-Suffolk Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi’s 2018 Community Service Award. He was the Virginia nominee for the 2021 Time Dealer of the Year.

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Xavier Beale

Xavier Beale is vice president of human resources for Newport News Shipbuilding, overseeing all aspects of human resources administration, including employment, labor relations and recruitment as well as the company’s Apprentice School.

A second-generation shipbuilder, Beale works with community partners to develop and grow a skilled workforce. He began his shipbuilding career in 1991 as a pipefitter before leaving the shipyard for 10 years to work as a probation officer and program manager of a behavioral health treatment center. During that time, he also served in the Virginia Army National Guard. Since returning to the shipyard in 2004, Beale has held positions of increasing responsibility. He serves on the Hampton Roads Community Action Program’s board of directors and the Hampton Roads advisory committee for Local Initiatives Support Corp. Beale was appointed in 2023 by Gov. Glenn Youngkin as the vice chair of the Virginia Board of Workforce Development and also serves on the board of directors for the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education.

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Gilbert Bland

President and CEO of the Urban League of Hampton Roads, Gilbert Bland was a commercial banker who became a successful business owner as a major regional Burger King and Pizza Hut franchisee. Under his leadership, the Urban League continues to tackle racial health disparities and the wealth gap while improving access to resources in underserved communities. He is also a founding member and board treasurer of Black Directors Health Equity Agenda. Bland is president and chairman of Healthy Neighborhood Enterprises, a community development corporation. He serves on the executive committee of the Virginia Chamber, the national community advisory board for Truist Bank and on the boards of Norfolk State, Sentara Healthcare, Randolph Macon College and the Union Presbyterian Seminary.

He has received recognition for his career and community service, including Civic Leadership Institute’s Darden Award for regional leadership and the Volunteer Hampton Roads Lifetime Achievement award. Bland was named by Virginia Business magazine to the inaugural class for the Black Business Hall of Fame.

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Towuanna Porter Brannon

Towuanna Porter Brannon, who became the ninth president Virginia Peninsula Community College in 2021, has led the school through a rebranding while expanding its workforce development efforts with a trades center opening in Toano.

Under her leadership, VPCC is on track to end the year with an annual enrollment increase for the first time in more than a decade after a trend of previous statewide decline exacerbated by the pandemic. The college continues expanding its reach with plans to launch centers for excellence in early childhood education and maritime skills trade this year. VPCC, with 529 employees, provides a regional economic impact of $246.9 million to the region, according to a recent study. The Hampton Roads Community Action Program named Brannon a 2024 Community Builder.

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Jeffrey Breit

Personal injury lawyer Jeffrey Breit, a partner at Breit Biniazan, has worked on a number of high profile cases garnering national attention. He recently became part of the trial team representing Abby Zwerner, the former Richneck Elementary School teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old in 2023, in her $40 million lawsuit against the Newport News School Board. He previously used his experience to lead Deepwater Horizon lawsuits through the judicial system in 2010 as part of a steering committee managing litigation on behalf of claimants. BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico represented one of the biggest economic loss cases in history. Breit led the case against Halliburton, which settled for $1.24 billion. He was one of the lawyers retained by Alabama, which recovered $1 billion. Breit had also been involved in nationwide Chinese drywall contamination litigation.

Following the May, 31, 2019, mass shooting in Virginia Beach, he was appointed to manage more than $4 million in distribution from United Way of South Hampton Roads’ Virginia Beach Tragedy Fund to victims. As a past president of the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, Breit was instrumental in persuading Virginia’s General Assembly to raise the cap on damages plaintiffs may receive in medical malpractice suits. He is a member of The Inner Circle of Advocates, American Association for Justice and Virginia Poverty Law Center’s Advisory Council. He is an adjunct professor of law at William & Mary Law School.

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Nneka Chiazor

Nneka Chiazor is the market vice president for Cox Communications in Hampton Roads. She oversees the company’s operations in the region, including Currituck County, North Carolina, and leads nearly 1,300 employees in delivering mobile, broadband internet, cloud, digital advertising and video services to its customers.

Chiazor holds a master’s degree in telecommunications management and is an alumna of Harvard Business School, where she graduated from two executive programs on leadership and cable management, respectively. She held leadership roles at several telecom companies before joining Cox Communications in 2017 and served as a commissioner of the Virginia Beach Economic Development Authority from 2019 through 2023. Chiazor serves on several local boards, including the Hampton Roads Alliance, Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable, RVA757 Connects and VCTA – Broadband Association of Virginia.

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George B. Clarke IV

George Clarke is the founder and principal owner of construction company MEB in Chesapeake. As president overseeing the day-to-day operations, he has shaped MEB into a team of roughly 300 employees completing more than $200 million in work a year.

Notable projects include the Virginia Beach Sports Center, the South Building enhancements and new vet center at Virginia Aquarium Marine and Science Center, Oceanaire of the Ocean Beach Club Resort, major exhibit expansions at the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk, services for Plasser American’s upgrade and expansion, Colonna’s Shipyard expansion and Smithfield Foods’ innovation center in addition to academic and government buildings.

Clarke serves on numerous boards and commissions including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Commission, the Chesapeake division of the Hampton Roads Chamber, Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Virginia Tech’s Myers-Lawson School of Construction. He has received the Myers-Lawson School of Construction Outstanding Service Award. He consistently supports many causes, including Habitat for Humanity, JT Walk and Beach Party (for ALS), The Noblemen, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Samaritan House and many others.
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Christy S. Coleman

Christy S. Coleman, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation since January 2020, ensures Jamestown Settlement and American Revolution Museum at Yorktown bring awareness to the role history plays in U.S. democracy and civic institutions.

She is preparing for America’s 250th anniversary in 2026 and continues to advocate for the power of museums, narrative correction, diversity and inclusiveness. In April 2023, she was honored with the David McCullough Prize for Excellence in American Public History from The Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia. She also served as the historical consultant for the award-winning film “Harriett” and Showtime’s “Good Lord Bird.”

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Michael Coleman

Mike Coleman serves as president and CEO of CV International and Capes Shipping Agencies, a family-owned, global logistics and vessel agency service provider. The Norfolk-based company has office locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast serving the needs of exporters, importers and other shipping interests around the world.

Coleman serves as chairman of the Virginia Maritime Association and a board member of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association. As president of the Virginia Board for Branch Pilots, he oversees the licensing and regulation of harbor pilots in the commonwealth. Coleman is on the board of the Virginia Port Authority and serves on Virginia Economic Development Partnership’s international trade advisory committee.

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Marcia Conston

Marcia Conston, the sixth permanent president of Tidewater Community College, collaborates with local businesses, workforce partners, higher education institutions and others to increase the success of economic growth and a skilled workforce in the region.

She is working to position TCC as the region’s first choice for education, opportunity, partnership and innovation. The college is adding new programs to train students for high demand and emerging fields such as offshore wind. TCC opened child development centers to provide child care for children of students and The Free Market in collaboration with the food bank to help reduce student food insecurity. She leads four campuses serving about 23,000 students.

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Jenny Crittenden

Since becoming CEO at the Retail Alliance in February 2023, Jennifer E. Crittenden completed a yearlong strategic planning process and launched the first statewide annual small brick-and-mortar retail study in partnership with Main Street America. Under her leadership, the alliance landed a $100,000 federal grant to launch a pilot retail technical assistance program in Phoebus and expanded the organization’s business solutions division to 10 states as an outside sales agent for Equifax.

With a background spanning 16 years in the Main Street ecosystem, Crittenden notably led the Main Street Preservation Trust in Gloucester, achieving national accreditation and earning awards at both state and national levels. She received the prestigious Main Street Forward Award for her innovative recovery and resilience strategies, including the establishment of an e-commerce platform for downtown businesses in Gloucester. An esteemed speaker and expert on retail and entrepreneurship, she represented small business retail on then Gov. Ralph Northam’s COVID-19 Business Task Force, contributing to reopening guidelines. As a registered lobbyist for the Virginia Retail Federation and co-president of the advocacy organization statewide, she actively champions the interests of the retail sector. She resides in Suffolk.

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Michael Dacey

Dr. Mike Dacey became CEO of Riverside Health System in 2023, continuing in his role as president. He joined Riverside as an executive in 2018 after leading Kent Hospital, a community teaching hospital.

Dacey is highly respected for his clinical work as a hospitalist and intensivist as well as for bringing expertise and a patient-focused approach to his leadership roles. He leads a health system with four acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals and other facilities across the region employing more than 9,500 people. Its estimated economic impact in 2021 was $1.2 billion.

Dacey is a board member of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association and the Virginia Chamber. He received The Medical Society of Virginia Foundation’s Salute to Service Award for his service to health care during COVID-19.

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Jason R. Davis

Jason R. Davis is president and CEO of Kaufman & Canoles, the largest business law firm headquartered in the region. Davis oversees a firm with 95 lawyers and 122 staff, for a total of 217 employees, in eight offices: Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Richmond, Tysons Corner, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Davis is also co-chair of the firm’s health care practice group. His health care litigation and counseling practice includes representing and advising hospitals, physicians, long-term care facilities and other health care providers. He also handles trust and estate litigation matters as part of the estate, trust and wealth transfer practice group. The Civic Leadership Institute alumnus has received numerous law honors and awards over the years.

Davis serves on the Bench Bar Relations Committee of the Norfolk & Portsmouth Bar Association and is involved in the Defense Research Institute, Virginia Chapter of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management and health care and litigation sections of the Virginia and North Carolina bar associations. He is former chair of the medical malpractice section of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys. Davis is board president of The Norfolk Forum and is a board member for the Elizabeth River Trail Foundation and The Greenwood School. He has served on the boards of the Norfolk SPCA and The Williams School and maintains connections with both organizations, having helped with various projects over the years.

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Pat Davis-Hagens

Pat Davis-Hagens, who became president of Bon Secours Hampton Roads market in October 2021, is helping Bon Secours move forward with innovation while focusing on quality care.

Under her leadership, Bon Secours broke ground in 2022 on a roughly $80 million Bon Secours Harbour View Hospital in North Suffolk. Bon Secours was the first health system in the region to respond to the population growth in western Hampton Roads by establishing the Bon Secours Health Center at Harbour View in 1999. The hospital will be the system’s fourth in Hampton Roads. Bon Secours also operates Mary Immaculate in Newport News, Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth and Southampton Medical Center in Franklin.

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Capt. Janet H. Days

Capt. Janet Days became the first Black woman to lead Naval Station Norfolk as commanding officer in February 2023. The Old Dominion University alumna is the 51st commanding officer of the 107-year-old installation, the world’s largest naval base, that employs 55,000 military and 17,000 civilian personnel.

She reported to Naval Station Norfolk as executive officer in September 2021 following a tour as the executive officer of Surface Warfare Schools Command in Newport, Rhode Island. Days’ awards include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (seven awards), Army Commendation Medal (two awards), Army Achievement Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal and various other medals, unit awards and campaign ribbons. Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation and the Library of Virginia listed Days as one of their 2024 Strong Men & Women in Virginia History honorees.

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Rick Dreiling

Rick Dreiling is executive chairman and CEO of Chesapeake-based Dollar Tree.

The former chairman and CEO of Dollar General Corp. has more than 50 years of retail experience on all operating levels. He also serves on the board of Lowe’s Companies Inc. Dollar Tree, ranked No. 144 on the Fortune 500 list, operates more than 16,700 Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores across the 48 contiguous states and five Canadian provinces and employs more than 211,000 workers. The company continues to develop the mixed-use community of Summit Pointe around its headquarters in Greenbrier.

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Blair Durham

Blair Durham is co-founder and president of Black BRAND, Hampton Roads’ regional Black chamber of commerce. Durham has worked hard to build partnerships to address the regional wealth gap, support business and nonprofit growth, promote diversity and inclusion in the region and foster economic growth for the Black community over the long term.

Durham has collaborated to bring four impactful programs to the Hampton Roads market to scale Black BRAND’s professional development initiatives. These include Women Who Lead, a partnership with Norfolk State University through Truist; Impact Collective, powered by United Way of South Hampton Roads; B-Force Accelerator, supported by Rockefeller Foundation; and SURGE Community Business Academy, a partnership with Rising Tide Capital. Black Diamond Weekend, Black BRAND’s annual five-track, three-day conference, attracts business professionals from across the state and beyond for personal and professional development workshops, business up-skilling and powerful networking. Black BRAND’s 150-year plan, supported by Virginia Tech’s Computational Modeling and Data Analytics department, is the research arm, helping the organization track its impact on a multigenerational scale.

Durham has received a number of accolades for her work, including being named 2021 Workforce Champion of the Year by the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, 2023 Small Business Champion by the Hampton Roads Chamber and one of the 2023 Inside Business Top Forty Under 40. She received the Virginia Tech Influential Black Alumni Award for Social Justice in 2023.

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Dawna Ellis

Dawna Ellis, chief financial and operating officer of Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, focuses on daily operations and overall company vision and strategy.

The Old Dominion University graduate serves on the university’s real estate advisory board and accounting advisory board to develop future professionals in both fields. She promotes regional economic development on the RVA757 Connects board. She has been involved with Civic Leadership Institute and volunteers with nonprofits to purposefully develop multigenerational leadership.

In 2023, she was inducted as a laureate into the Junior Achievement Hampton Roads Business Hall of Fame. She regularly speaks throughout our region on leadership and the importance of community engagement. She serves as an adviser and instructor for Virginia Martial Arts Center in Chesapeake.

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Timothy Faulkner

Under CEO Tim Faulkner’s leadership, The Breeden Co., a real estate development company and industry juggernaut, continues to expand into new markets.

He manages all operating aspects of the company, including its construction, property management, development and commercial realty divisions and its 450 associates. Breeden boasts a portfolio of over 11,800 apartments and 2 million square feet of retail and office space that have been owned, managed and developed by the company. The company is in the construction or design phase of 29 apartment projects. It’s currently finishing The Pinnacle at 31st Street at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront and Lake Taylor Pointe in Norfolk. Breeden Construction finished work on Lift & Rise on Jefferson, an affordable apartment complex that is part of the Marshall-Ridley neighborhood transformation in the Southeast Community of Newport News.

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Johnny Garcia

Johnny Garcia is the founder and CEO of multiple businesses — SimIS Inc., SimIS Holdings LLC, Nimbus Health Systems, Cedar Point Golf, Cativa Health, Prasili LLC, Sticks Golf, Garcia ES LLC and Health Care Simulations LLC — and is an investor in numerous others. He mentors new small businesses and nonprofits and encourages STEM program development. He is known as an entrepreneur and innovation leader in modeling and simulation and serves area youth through robust internship programs.

He has been involved with the Portsmouth Partnership, Hispanic Chamber of Coastal Virginia and Hampton Roads Chamber. He serves on numerous boards, including the Hampton Roads Workforce Council; ODU’s College of Engineering executive advisory board; ODU’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center; Begin Again Foundation; Boys & Girls Clubs; Starbase Victory; Communities in Schools; Portsmouth Athletic League; First Chesapeake Robotics; and many others.

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Dawn S. Glynn

Dawn S. Glynn, a founding officer of TowneBank, is the leader of the bank’s corporate services group. As president and chief experience officer, she has companywide responsibility for executive oversight of human resources, marketing, private banking, retail banking, product development and process improvement along with setting the standards for member and employee experiences.

TowneBank, with about $16.7 billion in assets, is one of the largest banks headquartered in Virginia with more than 50 banking offices from Central Virginia and Hampton Roads to Northeastern and Central North Carolina. Glynn has more than 38 years of experience in banking. She is a board member with many local organizations, including United Way of South Hampton Roads Foundation and its Women’s United Council, board chair for the Hampton Roads Chamber, EVMS Foundation board of trustees, Hampton Roads Community Foundation and Bon Secours Mercy Health Hampton Roads.

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Sharon S. Goodwyn

Sharon Goodwyn, an attorney in Hunton Andrews Kurth’s labor and employment practice group, provides strategic advice and counseling to employers on compliance with federal and state employment laws, represents employers in administrative proceedings before federal and state agencies and in employment mediations and litigation. She has been included in The Best Lawyers in America since 2008 and was recognized for five of those years as a Norfolk Lawyer of the Year in several practice areas.

Goodwyn is active in the community. She serves as board chair of Hampton Roads Community Foundation, the largest grant and scholarship provider in the region, and is the first woman and African American to do so. She is also a member of the GO Virginia Region 5 Council, the Virginia Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section Council, the University of Virginia Law School Foundation board of trustees, the board of trustees of Virginia Wesleyan University, ACCESS College Foundation board and the University of Virginia Walentas Scholars Selection Committee. She is a past president and board member for the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore and St. Mary’s Home and past board member Eastern Virginia Medical School. In 2016, Goodwyn was recognized as a YWCA of South Hampton Roads Woman of Distinction, and in 2020, received the Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities (Tidewater). She is married to S. Bernard Goodwyn, of the Supreme Court of Virginia.

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Janet V. Green

Janet V. Green has served as the CEO of Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg for more than 22 years. The local affiliate of the international nonprofit received massive attention in 2021 as it constructed the first-in-the-nation Habitat 3D-printed home. National leaders commended Green and Habitat on their vision, noting the importance of building more affordable housing. The nonprofit has built two more 3D printed homes in Newport News since. Green also leads the Habitat ReStores in Newport News and Williamsburg, noted as the most successful ReStores in the commonwealth, and ranked in the top 20 of about 1,000 ReStores nationwide. A third ReStore opened in York County last year and likewise achieved relatively high sales.

The local Habitat has helped more than 220 families with building and buying homes, using the nonprofit’s competitive, affordable no-interest monthly mortgage. It completed four homes in Charles City County this past year, the first time the Habitat affiliate has built and sold homes in that locality. The nonprofit also runs a robust exterior repair program, repairing over 500 homes, comprising thousands of repairs and using almost all volunteer labor. Green helped to galvanize a force of more than 900 volunteers last year. Green continues to serve as a highly regarded, well-respected leader in affordable housing, including serving on the boards of the James City County Workforce Housing Task Force, and a sought-after speaker to groups large and small on the need for more affordable housing. She is married to retired Norfolk Chief Juvenile & Domestic Court Judge William P. Williams.

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Brian O. Hemphill

The ninth president of Old Dominion University, Brian O. Hemphill, took the helm in July 2021 and has been working to create new opportunities to advance the university, Hampton Roads and Virginia through entrepreneurial and innovative approaches. The university’s first Black president is guiding a merger with Eastern Virginia Medical School to leverage the institutions’ combined resources to strengthen research and training in what would become the state’s largest medical school. ODU, EVMS and Norfolk State University, with support from Sentara, are building a Joint School of Public Health to advance health equity in the region through education, practice experiences and community partnerships. ODU entered a research partnership with Jefferson Lab in Newport News to establish the Joint Institute on Advanced Computing for Environmental Studies. It is also expanding the Barry Art museum and plans to offer certificates in artificial intelligence this fall. ODU launched the Monarch Internship and Co-Op Office to support the goal of every graduate completing an internship.

Hemphill is in the middle of a $500 million, five-year capital campaign to further university goals in scholarships, attracting faculty, improving public health, adding a data science facility and supporting research on coastal resilience, cybersecurity and data sciences, maritime and autonomous systems. The university, which contributes $2.6 billion to the Virginia economy, achieved Research 1 classification, meaning it’s ranked among the nation’s top elite research institutions. Hemphill is also a published author and highly sought-after keynote speaker.

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Brian Holland

Brian Holland is the founder and CEO of Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group, which has grown since 1996 to more than 800 team members across 15 states, serving over 180,000 homeowners. Holland has been recognized for his leadership and fostering a caring and fun workplace culture that puts family time first. He leads by example in his community service and having coached all three of his children in multiple sports.

Atlantic Bay has been recognized with multiple top workplace awards, including Best Large Mortgage Company to Work for in the Nation by National Mortgage News. It also received the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Residential Leadership Award from the Mortgage Bankers Association last year and is recognized as a top mortgage lender by Scotsman Guide. Holland created company wellness initiatives such as AB Fit and AB Life to help employees achieve work-life harmony and remain physically and mentally healthy. He also created AB Cares to encourage the Atlantic Bay team to donate time and resources to organizations that are important to them. These charities include the Boys and Girls Clubs, Roc Solid Foundation, and many more, totaling more than 250 organizations.

He is on the Old Dominion University board of visitors and Strome College of Business advisory board and is chair of Old Dominion Athletic Foundation. He serves on the board of Seton Youth Shelters and is past board chairman of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia. He is secretary of Bayville Golf Club and has led the Virginia Mortgage Lenders Association and is a founding member of the Virginia Chapter of Young Presidents’ Organization.

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Reese Jackson

Reese Jackson became president and CEO of Chesapeake Regional Healthcare, which employs more than 2,500 people, in 2016. The health system includes Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, the only independent, community-based hospital in Hampton Roads and over 50 practice locations in Virginia and North Carolina.

Jackson has been leading the system’s $150 million in hospital renovations, including a new critical care tower, the Priority Toyota Cancer Center, a newly renovated postpartum mother-baby unit and a Level III neonatal intensive care unit. Under his leadership, the health system expanded its cardiac program with open-heart surgery and began building a comprehensive behavioral health program. The system has been recognized as a South Hampton Roads Top 25 Employer and made Money.com’s 2024 Best Hospital list. It has received recognition for its heart attack survival rate, patient safety and Magnet nursing excellence. The Chesapeake Rotary Club named Jackson the city’s 2022 First Citizen.

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Akhil Jain

As president of the Landmark Hotel Group, a Virginia Beach hotel management company, Akhil Jain oversees all aspects of its activities, including business strategy, operations, asset management, investment policy, property development and acquisitions.

Jain is chairman of the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters health system board and serves as a director of other groups, including TowneBank, the Neptune Festival and The Norfolk Forum. He is a member of Hampton Roads Community Leadership Partners, Virginia Beach Vision and CIVIC Leadership Institute alumni.

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Abby Johnson

Abigail “Abby” Johnson has been helping to incentivize sustainability in development since 2012 through property assessed clean energy (PACE) financing in which she advises commercial building owners, lenders, contractors and public sector clients. The president and founder of Virginia PACE Authority and Abacus Property Solutions is a recognized PACE leader in North America. She has drafted and advocated for local and state legislation, crafted program documents in multiple states and launched and administered PACE programs. Since 2022, she and her team have administered the statewide programs for Virginia and Maryland.

Johnson previously worked for years in commercial real estate in the U.S. and Europe as an architect, management consultant and commercial mortgage banker. She is the recipient of multiple awards at both the state and national levels, including recently from PACENation and Smart Energy Decisions. Through her leadership, she has also been successful in garnering numerous grants around energy efficiency and PACE development for VPA and Abacus. Johnson, who lives in the Williamsburg area, is active in supporting affordable housing, sustainability and economic development, evidenced by her service on the boards of Virginia Housing, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development and PACENation, the national nonprofit association that advocates for PACE financing.

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William G. Kelly

William G. Kelly is the sixth president of Christopher Newport University and a nationally respected educator and military leader. He retired from a 36-year Coast Guard career as rear admiral and the 42nd superintendent of the Coast Guard Academy. Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for inclusive leadership. As superintendent, Kelly restructured the academy’s academic governance model, spearheaded multiple diversity and inclusion efforts and instituted a new transgender policy for students. He also led the Coast Guard’s first study in over 25 years of women’s retention issues.

Kelly said he aims for CNU to be the most inclusive campus possible. He took the helm amid a Title IX review of how the university handles reports of sexual assault and supports victims and outlined next steps, including training and implementing best practices like outsourcing investigations and decision-making. Kelly also joined the mayor in establishing a task force to understand, acknowledge and address the history and development of the university and the decisions related to the displacement of Black residents in the Shoe Lane community. Kelly looks to bolster mental health services for students and grow enrollment while strengthening the ties of CNU and Newport News, the school system and the Peninsula.

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Stephen Kirkland

Stephen Kirkland serves as executive director of Nauticus — a campus consisting of an interactive maritime museum, the historic Battleship Wisconsin, Virginia’s only cruise ship terminal operation and a sailing academy for area students. He also serves as president and CEO of the Nauticus Foundation, an education-focused nonprofit organization. Kirkland is responsible for attracting the world’s largest cruise ship companies to Virginia and is getting the terminal ready for Carnival’s year-round weekly sailings in 2025, positioning Virginia as a major Mid-Atlantic hub for the cruise industry. This represents the largest passenger commitment in program history, with more than 200,000 unique visits from vacationers beginning and ending their cruise from downtown Norfolk. When ships were blocked from entering the port of Baltimore because of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, Kirkland jumped into action to manage the logistics of receiving more than 31,000 passengers in April from rerouted Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruises.

Kirkland is also spearheading a complete redesign of Nauticus. The interactive maritime discovery center’s $21.5 million transformation, including the addition of five exhibit galleries, new aquarium features, a STEM discovery lab and a refreshed entrance pavilion, will be completed this year. The ambitious Reimagine Nauticus project is the largest enhancement and investment in the organization since it opened in 1994. Kirkland previously worked as a cruise director with Carnival Cruise Line. He currently serves as a board member for Visit Norfolk and Greater Norfolk Corp. and on Old Dominion University’s Naro Advisory Board and as a committee member for the Sail250 Virginia Executive Council, the Norfolk Arts Consortium and Virginia Maritime Association’s Education and Training Committee.

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Kevin Lembke

As president of Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Water Country USA, Kevin Lembke continues to oversee new investment in the parks, including the renovations and track replacement of Busch’s Loch Ness Monster reopening this year.

He previously led the rollout of the Pantheon roller coaster and indoor DarKoaster attraction at Busch Gardens and Riptide Race and Aquazoid Amped at Water Country. Last year, he instituted cashless transactions at both amusement parks. Under his leadership, Busch Gardens has expanded year-round events, including Mardi Gras and expansion of the Food & Wine Festival. The parks are a major employer and help attract visitor spending to the region. Lembke is on the board of Visit Williamsburg.

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Barbara Lewis

Barbara Lewis is the founder and president of Town Center City Club, a venue for business meetings, corporate events, fundraisers, weddings, retirements and other special occasions. Since arriving in Virginia Beach in 1956 with her late husband, Lewis has been a fixture in the city’s social and business scene. Over the years, she sought to empower women and created a network of women by founding the Outstanding Professional Women’s Awards, which ran from 1982 to 2004, to create role models for women coming through the ranks while paying tribute to the region’s top businesswomen for their exemplary achievements.

Lewis is also deeply involved with promoting and raising money for the arts and received the city’s first Champion for the Arts award in 2016. She raised more than $2.5 million to help build the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, and her Dancing with the Hampton Roads Celebrity Stars fundraiser, in its 10th year, has raised more than $1 million for Virginia Musical Theatre. In contributing to various causes, Lewis has helped raise thousands of dollars for the Lynnhaven River 2007 Project, Hope House Foundation, the United Way and other organizations. She was named Virginia Beach First Citizen in 2022 and one of CoVa Biz magazine’s Leading Ladies in 2016. She was honored at the Boy Scouts of America’s Tidewater Council’s Darden Gala in 2023 and hosted the council’s first Examples of Success event to honor the first girls in the region who achieved Eagle Scout awards.

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Mary Miller

Mary Miller, president and CEO of the Downtown Norfolk Council since 2013, has helped downtown businesses navigate various challenges over the past few years, from the coronavirus pandemic to helping guide a way to a safer nightlife scene. Now, she is guiding strategic planning over the next several years as the city seeks to redevelop MacArthur Center.

During her tenure, Miller has led the organization through the launch of Neon, Norfolk’s first arts district, and the award-winning Vibrant Spaces program and Selden Market retail incubator. Her advocacy efforts with the DNC board secured funding for infrastructure programs in the Neon District, implementation of new technology for the parking system and numerous updates to the city’s zoning ordinance. In partnership with the Greater Norfolk Corp., the council launched LiveNFK, a summer program for college interns to highlight the positives of living and working in Norfolk. She is a founding board member of the Norfolk Preservation Collective and serves on the boards of VisitNorfolk, the Norfolk Innovation Corridor and the Hampton Roads chapter of the Virginia Restaurant Lodging and Travel Association.
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Dr. Juan Montero

Dr. Juan Montero, the founder of Chesapeake Care Clinic in 1992 and Montero Medical Missions in 2011, is a true global humanitarian and an advocate for health care reform. He came to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1966 as a young doctor and made Chesapeake his home. He founded a mobile clinic project to help migrant workers on the Eastern Shore in 1978. He got deeply involved with Physicians for Peace and founded a new branch of the organization dedicated to work in the Philippines. He practiced general and thoracic surgery for 35 years until 2007, but by no means retired from health care. He organizes teams of retired doctors for missions that can help reverse the brain drain that occurs in their home countries and works to create sustainable health care projects in the U.S. and abroad. The Chesapeake clinic has become a lifeline for patients who can’t afford medical and dental care. Montero partners with the clinic to offer veterans’ dental services through the medical missions nonprofit. He also launched a partnership to help provide mental health services to the region this year.

Montero was the founding president of the Asian Business Association of Hampton Roads. He was a founding director of TowneBank in 1999 and continues to serve on its corporate board. He also serves on the Old Dominion University board. He has been a longtime board member of the General Douglas MacArthur Foundation in Norfolk and brokered the sister city relationship between Norfolk and Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, in 2008. He’s received many accolades for his volunteerism, was the 1991 First Citizen of Chesapeake and was honored at the annual Chesapeake Martin Luther King Leadership Breakfast in 2022. In 2022, Montero Medical Missions received the coveted Philippine Presidential Kaanib ng Bayan Award.

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Kevin Murphy

Kevin Murphy is group CEO of Ferguson plc, the parent company of Newport News-based Ferguson Enterprises. The leading North American plumbing supplies company employs about 1,200 people in Hampton Roads and is publicly traded on the New York and London stock exchanges with revenue of $29.7 billion last year.

Ferguson also gives to local nonprofits and efforts through its Ferguson Cares program. Murphy is passionate about developing the skilled trades workforce. He is on the board of Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters and is a member of the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable and the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

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Tyrone Noel

Williamsburg resident Tyrone Noel is president of Bank of America Hampton Roads, tasked with growing the bank’s market share and leading 500 market employees. He fosters local connections, identifies opportunities to grow and deepen client relationships and deploys the bank’s resources to help advance economic mobility.

He has more than 20 years of financial services experience and also serves as Merrill market executive for Greater Virginia, leading financial advisers and their teams. He joined the company in 2011 as a financial adviser. Noel demonstrates a strong commitment to employee engagement by serving as a mentor through the Merrill Women’s Exchange and Black Professional Group. He is also a member of the company’s Black Executive Leadership Council. He is actively engaged in nonprofit organizations throughout Hampton Roads and Greater Virginia, including Boys and Girls Clubs and various food banks.

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John Paris

John Paris is a corporate securities and mergers and acquisitions attorney with Williams Mullen who has long focused his career on providing fuel to the area’s entrepreneurial and business scene and national reputation. After graduating from University of Virginia School of Law, Paris learned growing companies needed thoughtful and experienced advice to safely and efficiently access needed capital to meet their growth objectives, buy others and benefit from the sale of those businesses at opportune times. Fortunate to be taken under the wing by legal and business icons in the area, he went to work representing more than his share of public companies, significant private companies and investors in the region. He has helped hundreds of companies thoughtfully raise hundreds of millions of dollars and brought together buyers and sellers of businesses in deals that provided generational wealth to the regional business community. Recently, Paris helped sell local companies Leesa Sleep, xTuple, Masa Corp., and Paramount Builders, and he works everyday with fast-growing companies like DroneUp, ivWatch and Phlow.

To introduce youth to the 757’s business best, Paris, along with Shannon Kane, founded the Hampton Roads Business Hall of Fame in 2005 as a material element of Junior Achievement of South Hampton Roads. To encourage entrepreneurs to remain or come to Hampton Roads, he and Paul Hirschbiel founded 757 Angels in 2015, a now top three national angel group whose members have invested over $110 million in young local companies since its formation. To encourage and help educate the business middle market in the area, three years ago, Paris helped form the burgeoning ACG757, the region’s version of the Association for Capital Growth that helps so many nationwide address everyday business issues that confound many. Paris is a mentor to many hungry entrepreneurs for 757 Accelerate and 757 Collab and runs his firm’s private equity practice. Paris and his wife, Elizabeth, live in Virginia Beach.

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Mark Perryman

In May 2022, Mark Perryman became the president and CEO of the Norfolk Airport Authority, where he oversees the operations and development of Norfolk International Airport. He helped lead the airport to record passenger growth for two consecutive years and helped attract new routes and destinations.

With over 39 years of airport planning and development experience, he is guiding the airport through its largest reconstruction program in its history. Construction, planned over the next several years, is slated to start in 2025 on $700 million in capital projects, including a Courtyard by Marriott hotel, a new Customs and Border Protection facility, the expansion of Concourse A and a new moving walkway.

Perryman previously worked as president and CEO of Landrum & Brown Inc., an international airport consulting and design firm, before retiring from the company after 31 years. Perryman, a veteran, had served as a base community planner and architect in the Air Force and lives in Norfolk.

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Angela D. Reddix

Entrepreneur Angela D. Reddix continues investing in Hampton Roads in multiple ventures primarily aimed at empowering women in business. The CEO and founder of health care management and technology firm ARDX in Norfolk is attracting tenants, including women-owned businesses and business resources, to The Mustard Seed Place in Olde Towne Portsmouth. The entrepreneurial hub showcases the power of mentorship at ELG Sweet Boutique, an ice cream shop operated by six girls under mentors in Norfolk-based Envision Lead Grow. The nonprofit, founded by Reddix, helps the next generation pursue business and entrepreneurship. Reddix also invests expertise, coaching and capital into women-of-color-owned businesses through her Reddix Rules Fund program. Reddix and her husband committed $1.1 million to support the Reddix Center for First Generation Students at James Madison University, her alma mater. The three-time bestselling author and TEDx speaker also launched the CEO of U TV streaming network in 2023.

Reddix serves as the board chair for the YWCA of South Hampton Roads and on the boards of TowneBank Norfolk, 757 Collab, United Way of South Hampton Roads Foundation and the Hampton Roads Chamber. She is a member of Civic Leadership Institute, the Women Presidents Organization, JMU Women for Madison Executive Advisory Council, Norfolk State’s School of Business advisory board, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., The Links Inc., Jack and Jill of America Inc. and Forbes Business Council.

She has received numerous awards, including being named in the 2021 Ebony magazine’s Power 100 List, Top 30 Influential Female Leaders Impacting Virginia, the Old Dominion University Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame and as a 2023 United Negro College Fund honoree. Other recognition includes Federal Health IT Women in Leadership Award; the Finney Foundation Visionary Leader Award; the JMU Alumni Association 2022 Presidential Award; the Women Presidents Organization 2021 Women of Color Achievement Award; the Urban League of Hampton Roads’ Martin Luther King Jr. Community Leader Workforce Award; the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities’ Humanitarian Award; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Big Blue-Ribbon Award; the Pepsi Historically Better Award; and the Hampton Roads Community Builders Award.

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Katherine A. Rowe

Katherine Rowe, the first woman to lead William & Mary as president, is known as an innovator in higher education. Under Rowe’s leadership since 2018, William & Mary saw its endowment reach its highest level, $1.36 billion, and grew private gifts by 12%, to $79.8 million this year. W&M prioritized access and affordability, holding tuition flat for five years, from 2019 to 2023. Rowe is ushering in an era of change for the campus. She is guiding the proposed creation of W&M’s first new school in more than 50 years that would combine several of the school’s existing academic units, including data science, applied science, computer science and physics. If approved by the state, the Data School would launch in the fall of 2025 and expand the university’s focus on data fluency and data-intensive research. The decision comes as research partner Jefferson Lab develops its new high-performance data facility.

The school’s new Arts Quarter includes Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall, a new music building and Andrews Hall, the home of the school’s department of art and art history and the Andrews Gallery. This fall, the Martha Wren Briggs Center for the Arts, home to the expanded and renovated Muscarelle Museum of Art, is set to open in the same area of campus. The campus is also undergoing a 10-year modernization and revitalization of its residential and dining facilities with the first new student housing scheduled for completion in fall 2025. The college is also expanding the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point with a $74 million research building. During Rowe’s tenure, the university has created its first sustainability plan and climate action roadmap, a central entrepreneurship hub, a universitywide approach to diversity and inclusion and the realization of its long-planned Memorial to the Enslaved.

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Joel Rubin

Joel Rubin is a familiar face at regional events as he is well known for his public relations expertise in Hampton Roads. Many regional businesses and nonprofit organizations rely on his firm for marketing and branding help and to get the word out about their news and events. His clients include TowneBank, Habitat for Humanity and Dominion Energy. As a Dominion consultant, Rubin is behind the three-year campaign featuring a weekly WINDSdays e-mail newsletter showcasing people and businesses in the region who support the growth of a regional offshore wind industry. The newsletter now reaches more than 40,000 email addresses.

Rubin spent 15 years as a broadcast journalist at WAVY-TV before starting Rubin Communications Group in 1991. Then as a side gig, he also hosted WVEC-TV’s “On the Record” morning news and public affairs talk show on Sundays, bringing important topics, voices and conversations to the forefront for 17 years. Promoting the region is a common theme in Rubin’s work, including the recent launch of Forward Thinking, a quarterly publication for Future of Hampton Roads, a group of leaders aiming to foster regional collaboration. In his work for the now-defunct Hampton Roads Partnership in 2007, he created the slogan, “Hampton Roads, America’s First Region.”

Not afraid of a challenge, Rubin was chairman of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame during a time of financial crisis and used his relationships in Virginia Beach to relocate it in 2018 from Portsmouth to Town Center to dramatically cut operating costs. Rubin has also been involved in the community in other capacities, including as past president of Temple Israel synagogue, past president of the Virginia Beach Forum, as board member of the Portsmouth Partnership and the Future of Hampton Roads, Give Back 2 Da Block and others. He was elected to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame in 2009 and was recognized as Public Relations Practitioner of the Year for the Hampton Roads chapter of the Public Relations Society of America in 2013. He also received three human rights awards from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, the Urban League and the Virginia Senate.

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Brian T. Schools

Brian Schools, president and CEO of Chartway Credit Union in Virginia Beach, oversaw the $2.9 billion credit union’s rebranding in 2022. A commitment to people-first values, financial resilience and a culture of continual improvement has marked Schools’ more than 30 years of leadership experience. His collaborative approach has elevated Chartway as a top workplace with various accolades. Under his leadership, Chartway was recognized by Forbes as one of Virginia’s Best Credit Unions for 2022 and 2023 and received the Dora Maxwell Award for Social Responsibility last year. In 2023, Chartway became the first Virginia-based credit union to receive the Juntos Avanazamos designation for empowering Hispanic and immigrant communities. The credit union opened its first fully bilingual Virginia branch in Virginia Beach.

Schools is committed to empowering the credit union industry through focused advocacy, education and compliance support as board chair for America’s Credit Unions. His previous tenure culminating as vice chair of the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions saw him play a critical role in growing credit unions as a welcoming place for all. He is on the board of the Chartway Promise Foundation, the credit union’s charitable arm, which has granted nearly $15 million to bring joy, hope and smiles to medically fragile children and their families. Schools is also a board manager for Chartway Ventures LLC, which invests in innovative organizations to benefit its members and the credit union industry.
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Manan Shah

Manan Shah is the founder and CEO of Pashm Global, which owns and operates hotels, convenience stores and other businesses from Virginia Beach to Elizabeth City, North Carolina.

He serves as chairman for the annual Taste of India festival, as secretary of the Hindu Temple of Hampton Roads, as an ambassador of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association in Washington and as vice president of the Virginia Asian American Store Owners Association. He helped raise money for COVID relief in India. He arranged a flu vaccine camp in the Hampton Roads area.

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Bruce Smith

The former Virginia Tech and NFL Hall of Famer known as “The Sack Man,” Bruce Smith lives in Virginia Beach as a business owner and motivational speaker.

He started his commercial real estate development company, Bruce Smith Enterprises, in 2005 after being mentored by Dan Hoffler of Armada Hoffler. Since then, he has completed projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic and has been an advocate for equal opportunity in the business. He is working to build an apartment complex across from the Scope arena in downtown Norfolk called 78 at St. Paul’s, a reference to his jersey number. Most recently, he is partnering with The Cordish Cos. to pitch a casino for Petersburg, which is pending approval.

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Ramsay S. Smith

Ramsay S. Smith, as president of Pembroke Commercial Realty LLC, is leading the $200 million multiyear redevelopment of Pembroke Mall, the region’s first suburban shopping mall, into Pembroke Square. The project includes an independent senior living community managed by Beth Sholom called Aviva Pembroke, to open later this year. Construction could start in December on a seven-story Tempo by Hilton hotel slated to open in late 2026. Construction for a seven-story luxury apartment building is slated to start in mid-2025 for a 2027 opening.

Smith joined the company in 2003 and has over 30 years of experience in the industry. He is responsible for sourcing, conceptualizing and implementing all new commercial real estate development opportunities. The company’s portfolio includes more than 2.5 million square feet of retail and office properties encompassing 60 properties, as well as over 1,200 multifamily units. Smith is a member of the Virginia Beach board of TowneBank, the International Council of Shopping Centers and Virginia Beach Vision. He is a past Virginia Beach chair of United Way and has been a member of the Royal Order of the Virginia Beach Neptune Festival, vice chair of the Virginia Beach Central Business District Design Review Committee, a legislative affairs committee member for the Central Business District and president and treasurer of the Virginia Beach Forum.

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Shane Smith

Shane Smith, president and CEO of Smithfield Foods since 2021, guides the Smithfield-based global food company’s vision and strategic direction across operations in the United States, Europe and Mexico. Smithfield Foods employs more than 54,000 people in seven countries and reported $18 billion in sales last year. Smithfield Foods donated more than 30 million protein servings to food banks, disaster relief efforts and community outreach programs, made nearly $37 million in cash and in-kind contributions and awarded more than $969,000 in need-based educational scholarships globally in 2023. Smithfield’s production facility spending with minority-owned businesses topped $83 million last year. The company also reported zero product recalls in the U.S. and achieved safety incident rates below industry averages in 2023.

Under Smith’s leadership, the company improved environmental compliance across the U.S., cut food loss and waste at its food manufacturing facilities and used water resources more efficiently. The company also funded projects to preserve and enhance natural resources in its communities. It completed a $150 million renewable natural gas project, the largest of its kind, installing manure-to-energy technology on nearly all the company-owned hog finishing farms in Missouri. The company remained on track to achieve carbon-negative status in all company-owned U.S. operations, reduce greenhouse gas emissions across its U.S. value chain by 30% and obtain 50% of its electricity needs from renewable resources by 2030.

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Shawn Tibbetts

Portsmouth native Shawn J. Tibbetts is president and chief operating officer for Virginia Beach-based real estate and development company Armada Hoffler. Tibbetts is on track to become CEO in 2025 as part of a succession plan developed for retiring CEO Louis Haddad.

Tibbetts oversees all aspects of Armada Hoffler’s operations, guiding strategic initiatives and fostering innovation. Known for his collaborative approach, Tibbetts has been a key player in building upon the culture of teamwork and accountability within the organization. Armada Hoffler, a real estate investment trust, developed Town Center in partnership with the city. Since joining Armada Hoffler, Tibbetts has successfully led his team to historic performance coming out of the pandemic, growing the company’s portfolio net operating income by 45% and overseeing the successful execution of over $1.2 billion of transactions. Tibbetts was instrumental in helping the company secure its first investment grade credit rating from DBRS Morningstar last year. He has more than two decades of corporate experience, including formerly working as the Port of Virginia’s president and chief operations officer. He is a board member for the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

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Clayton P. Turner

Clayton Turner, director of NASA’s Langley Research Center, is leading a team of scientists, researchers, civil servants, engineers and support staff in helping NASA enter the next era of space exploration with its Artemis program, which is committed to landing American astronauts, including the first woman and first person of color, on the moon by 2026. The lunar program is seen as a way to prepare humans to go to Mars, and NASA Langley is developing a heat shield that could be used in a mission to Mars in the mid-2030s.

Turner is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the board of trustees for Rochester Institute of Technology, his alma mater. He has received many awards, including: the Presidential Rank Award, NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal, the Paul F. Holloway Non-Aerospace Technology Transfer Award and RIT’s College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni award. In recognition of his commitment to the engineering profession, contributions to the local community and support of education, Turner was inducted into the Monroe Community College Alumni Hall of Fame. Turner lives in Hampton with his wife and has two sons. He is active in community outreach, coaching youth sports and promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers.

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Lee Vreeland

Lee Vreeland is the president and CEO of An Achievable Dream, a nonprofit with a nationally recognized K-12 program operating in partnership with Newport News, Virginia Beach and Henrico County public school systems. With 27 years of experience in overseeing AAD’s academics and operations in various roles, Vreeland has been influential in the expansion of An Achievable Dream’s programs and services. Recently, the organization expanded its reach by bringing Urban Learning Leadership Center, a nationally renowned education consulting company, under An Achievable Dream’s umbrella. This strategic move allowed the organization to bolster its consulting services, providing expertise and support to schools and districts nationwide. Last year, An Achievable Dream opened its innovative learning facility, An Achievable Dream Middle and High School at Lynnhaven, enhancing the program’s social, academic and moral education framework. Under Vreeland’s stewardship, the organization implemented sustainable strategies to enhance its funding model. In addition to continually surpassing the annual fund goal, Vreeland has grown An Achievable Dream’s endowment by over $5 million, ensuring the long-term stability and sustainability of the program.

She serves on the Peninsula TowneBank board, the Christopher Newport University board of visitors, the Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board and the Southeast Community Coalition. Her multifaceted engagement underscores her dedication to fostering positive change and addressing critical issues in the community beyond the realm of education. Over the years, she has worked behind the scenes to bring together stakeholders from local government, nonprofit organizations and business and community members to address critical issues facing the community, including housing, food insecurity and gun violence.

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Chris Williams

Summit Pointe, a $330 million downtown-style development comprising 69 acres in Greenbrier, is attracting retailers, restaurants and office tenants. And Chris Williams, as senior vice president of Summit Pointe Realty LLC and senior vice president of portfolio and facilities for Chesapeake-based Dollar Tree Inc., is heading up the development and marketing.

Summit Pointe broke ground in 2019, and when complete, the urban plan includes 1 million square feet of office space, 500,000 square feet of retail space, 1,400 residences and 250,000 square feet of hotel and conference space. Summit Pointe is anchored by Dollar Tree’s 12-story headquarters, with employees and a host of international business associates visiting daily. Williams has worked with Dollar Tree for 26 years. Dollar Tree, ranked No. 144 on the Fortune 500 list, has a long history of successful growth and expansion that now includes over 16,000 stores throughout the 48 contiguous U.S. and Canada.

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Darrell K. Williams

Darrell K. Williams, a retired Army three-star general, took office as the 13th president of Hampton University on July 1, 2022. The HU alumnus previously worked for Fortune 250 technology company Leidos. He served in the Army for 37 years; his last leadership position was as the first Black director of the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency.

Williams is committed to delivering the No. 1 student experience in the U.S. at the 314-acre private university that enrolls more than 3,600 students. In his strategic plan, Williams’ goal is to achieve the R1 research classification by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education by 2033, establish a technology park and grow the university’s endowment to $1 billion. Over the next 10 years, Williams wants to grow enrollment to 11,000 students, including online enrollment. He envisions creating a School of Religion offering doctorates in public theology and ministry, a School of Leadership Studies and combining the School of Nursing and School of Pharmacy with the physical therapy program into a new College of Health Sciences and Research. He also aims to increase partnerships in the region and wants to develop an alumni engagement plan to increase participation in programming. Williams wants to invest in university athletics and facilities to attract premium athletes with the goal of becoming known as a championship Division I university.

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Barbara M. Wolcott

Barbara M. Wolcott is chair and principal broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices RW Towne Realty with over 15 locations and over 700 residential real estate agents. A licensed real estate professional since 1970, she’s held numerous leadership positions for the industry on the local, state and national levels. She serves on the board of the region’s multiple listing service, Real Estate Information Network Inc., and has served as a mentor to others in the field.

She received the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hampton Roads Real Estate Association, having served in multiple capacities over 50 years, including as board chair. She’s also served as president of the Virginia Association of Realtors in 1996 and as a national director for the National Association of Realtors. She was inducted into the Virginia Realtor Hall of Fame in 2015 and was local Broker of the Year in 1987 and Virginia Realtor of the Year in 1988. She has been recognized for her work with several nonprofit organizations for children with disabilities and active-duty and retired military members. She was a 2016 Inside Business Women in Business honoree. She serves on the Virginia Beach advisory board of TowneBank.