Solid prospects
ODU management program preps grads for success
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Detlev Peters has walked into convenience stores in the Hampton Roads area a couple of times recently to find the candy aisle shockingly empty. “Hershey’s, Reese’s, M&M’s, everything, like they would just have a clean shelf of just nothing,” marvels Peters, who graduated with a degree in maritime and supply chain management from Old Dominion
Ways of the water
Program teaches coastal management skills
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Back in 2016, Virginia Coastal Zone Management program planners began talking about ways to protect the Lower Chickahominy River watershed. “We’re like, ‘Well, let’s get ahead of this,’” says Jefferson Flood, an appropriately named coastal planner for the CZM, a network of individuals from Virginia agencies and local governments who work to protect coastal resources.
Rising in the Southwest
Region gains political power, attention
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Through decades of owning her own beauty salon and later a gift shop in downtown Abingdon, Cathy Lowe developed an interest in economic development. In 2006, she decided to run for town council and won — ultimately serving for 12 years, including six as vice mayor and two as mayor. Throughout her career, Lowe, who
Compounding interest
More companies considering valleys for expansion
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The Roanoke Valley enjoyed a constant stream of nibbles from prospective corporations considering the area in 2021, according to John Hull, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, which promotes development in four counties and three cities. “I don’t think we’ve ever been this busy in terms of interest and activity,” Hull says. “It’s just
Finding new solutions
Region’s leaders look beyond coal
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Movers and shakers in Southwest Virginia wanted to try a new approach to economic development. The stakes were (and are) high. Naturally, the decline of the coal industry had a devastating impact on Virginia’s coalfields. The Appalachian Regional Commission classifies four counties in Southwest Virginia — Buchanan, Dickenson, Lee and Wise — as economically distressed.
Hot times in cooling tech
Munters relocates due to ‘explosive growth’
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As far as problems go, this was a good one to have. A year into his tenure as director of Virginia operations for Swedish manufacturer Munters Group AB, Brian Frost was seeing “explosive growth” in sales of data center cooling systems manufactured at the company’s facilities in Buena Vista and Natural Bridge. Cooling equipment keeps
Glove affair
Blue Star deal brings massive PPE production to Wythe
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You can hear the pride in Bill Mosher’s voice when he talks about his dad, Ken Mosher, and his career in the medical glove business. “He was in the glove industry for almost 50 years,” Bill Mosher says incredulously. Ken Mosher’s storied career includes being part of a team that in 1990 invented the nitrile
$714M Wythe medical glove plant is solo venture now
Blue Star NBR moves away from partnership with Delaware company AGI
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Developers broke ground in January on the $714 million medical glove manufacturing complex planned for Wythe County’s Progress Park. Only now it may be a solo project, not a joint venture. In October 2021, then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Alexandria-based Blue Star NBR LLC was building manufacturing facilities to make nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR)
Averett students take flight at Danville airport
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Times are changing at Danville Regional Airport. Averett University became the airport’s fixed-base operator in July 2021, replacing General Aviation Inc., a family-owned business which served as the FBO for more than 70 years. The city of Danville owns the airport and its fueling facility. The city’s chosen FBO pays the city for the privilege
Bedford lays tracks for possible Amtrak stop
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Leigh Ann Ellis is all aboard for Amtrak to begin stopping in the town of Bedford. In the past, Ellis, a journalism teacher at Bedford County’s Staunton River High School, had her students board the train in Lynchburg for field trips to New York or Washington, D.C. For students who live in Goodview, on the