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A time of transition
by Robert
C. Powell III
Editor, Virginia Business
April 2006
Periods of transition are always exciting and uneasy
times. An organization reaches a certain level at which
new leadership takes the reins. There is excitement
about the opportunities and uneasiness about the uncertainty
of things to come.
CarMax Inc. and its hometown,
Richmond, appear to be in transition. Charlottesville-based
contributing writer
Jack Milligan reports that CarMax has vanquished
many of
its major competitors and proved its doubters wrong. Now it is proceeding with
an ambitious growth plan that would increase its locations from 67 to 300 in
the next 10 years. That plan largely will be directed by a new CEO, as Austin
Ligon, the company’s longtime leader, prepares to step down.
Richmond already has a new
leader, mayor and former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
But Richmond-based contributing writer Richard Foster
reports that his vision
for
the future is just now coming into focus after a tumultuous year in which
he tangled with the City Council, major developers
and many of the city’s
business leaders.
A different type of transition is taking place in Northern Virginia. Annandale-based
contributing writer Brett Lieberman examines a kind of speed dating for businesses
in which major corporations are linked up with a selected group of small companies.
The hope is that these meetings will result in contracts that help stimulate
the economies of these regions.
All transitions, of course, lead to phases of growth or decline. We will be watching
to see what will be the next chapters in all three stories.
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