Wonder women

37 Va. execs who’ve hit great heights

Published June 29, 2023 by Alissa Skelton / Kate Andrews / M.J. McAteer / Sydney Lake

At an early June networking reception to celebrate this year’s Virginia Business Women in Leadership Awards winners, many in attendance pointed out how unusual it was for dozens of women executives from across various industries to join together in the same room.

Held at law firm Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP’s Richmond office, the event brought together more than 20 of this year’s cohort of 37 Women in Leadership honorees to meet and forge professional connections. The reception’s uniqueness highlights how hard many women executives have worked to succeed and rise to the top of historically male-dominated industries, continuing to climb corporate ladders and break C-suite glass ceilings even today.

This impressive third annual cohort of awardees was chosen by our editors from a competitive field, with more than 320 nominations submitted this year. To qualify, nominees must be based in Virginia and hold C-suite or equivalent positions at their organizations. Deciding this year’s list, Virginia Business’ editorial staff considered factors such as overall professional accomplishments, civic engagement, mentoring and breaking glass ceilings. Our winners are divided by their organizations’ workforce size: small employers with 99 or fewer employees; midsize employers of 100 to 499 people; and large employers with 500 or more workers. Past winners were not eligible for consideration.

Congratulations to this year’s group of accomplished and talented leaders!

LARGE EMPLOYER

ELAINE BEEMAN
Chief leadership officer and civilian portfolio lead, Accenture Federal Services, Arlington

AMY CARRIER
President and CEO, Centra Health, Lynchburg

DEB DAVIS
Vice president and general manager of Mission Solutions Sector, General Dynamics Information Technology, Falls Church

JENNIFER DeBRUHL
Director, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, Richmond

LIZA WILSON DURANT
Associate provost for strategic initiatives and community engagement and professor, College of Engineering and Computing, George Mason University; Director, Commonwealth Cyber Initiative Northern Virginia Node, Arlington

ELENA EDWARDS
Chief markets officer and regional CEO for North America, Allianz Partners Group, Henrico County

CASSIE HARTOGS
Tax regional managing partner, BDO USA, McLean

GHADA IJAM
Chief information officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Richmond

JOANNE INMAN
President, Sentara Leigh Hospital, Norfolk

DR. MELINA R. KIBBE
Dean, University of Virginia School of Medicine; Chief health affairs officer, UVA Health; Professor, Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

AISHA McGILL
Chief business officer, Koniag Government Services, Chantilly

MELANIE McGRATH
Submarine division director, Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News

DOLLY OBEROI
Founder and CEO, C2 Technologies Inc., McLean

CAROLYN RAINEY
Charlottesville president, Bank of America, Charlottesville

TIFFANY RAY
Vice president of student services and equity advancement, Germanna Community College, Fredericksburg 

MAGGIE REED
Vice president and business unit leader, Gilbane Building Co., Richmond 

MIDSIZED EMPLOYER

KIMBERLY CHRISTNER
President and CEO, Cornerstone Hospitality LLC, Williamsburg

ALICE P. FRAZIER
President and CEO, Potomac Bancshares Inc. and Bank of Charles Town, Leesburg

COURTNEY MOATES PAULK
President, Hirschler, Richmond

SUSAN R. RALSTON
Chief operating officer and executive vice president, Old Point National Bank, Hampton

KELLY TILL
President and publisher, Richmond Times-Dispatch; Regional vice president of sales, Lee Enterprises Virginia, Richmond

DR. DIXIE TOOKE-RAWLINS
President and provost, Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Blacksburg 

MURPHY TUOMEY
Chief administrative officer, senior vice president, board member, A. Morton Thomas and Associates Inc., Richmond and Staunton

AUTUMN R. VISSER
Principal, Woods Rogers Vandeventer Black PLC, Roanoke

SMALL EMPLOYER

ERIN BURCHAM
President, Verge; executive director, Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council, Roanoke 

MELINA DAVIS
CEO and executive vice president, Medical Society of Virginia, Richmond

BETSY FRANTZ
President and CEO, PathForward Inc., Arlington 

REBECCA GELLER
President and CEO, The Geller Law Group, Fairfax

LINDA HUTSON GREEN
Vice president of economic development, Institute for Advanced Learning and Research; Executive director, Southern Virginia Regional Alliance, Danville

GRETA J. HARRIS
President and CEO, Better Housing Coalition, Richmond

LAURA KOTTKAMP
Executive director, Monroe Park Foundations at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond 

RITA McCLENNY
President and CEO, Virginia Tourism Corp., Richmond

TERRIE L. SUIT
CEO, Virginia Realtors, Glen Allen

MY LAN TRAN
Executive director, Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce, Ashland

LUCIA ANNA “PIA” TRIGIANI
Partner and co-founder, MercerTrigiani, Alexandria

LORI COLLIER WARAN
President, Richmond Raceway, Richmond

CHRYSSA ZIZOS
Founder and CEO, Live Wire Strategic Communications LLC, Arlington

Check out the 2022 and 2021 Women in Leadership winners.

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