Cover Story
Leadership lessons
Black business leaders offer wisdom, advice for next generation
Warren Thompson got his start as an entrepreneur at age 16, buying out his family’s hog business. It was a sideline enterprise his father had started at their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains to supplement his income as a teacher. Today, Thompson is the president and chairman of Reston-based Thompson Hospitality Corp., the nation’s
Interview
Disrupting racism
Janice Underwood leads the state’s efforts to create a more equitable culture
Published
In the months after a blackface scandal threatened his governorship, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that he would appoint a chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer who would report directly to him — the first Cabinet-level position of its kind in any state in the nation. In September 2019, Janice Underwood took on the challenge. A
Opinion
The Mailroom: Day of reckoning
Published
In December, Virginia Business kindly published my letter calling for bipartisan cooperation to seek solutions to key issues facing the commonwealth — COVID, preparing our future workforce, universal broadband and providing better public safety services. I also said business leaders must demand that those seeking political office in 2021 should articulate how they will rise
A moment for change
Published
Growing up in 1960s and ’70s Virginia, racism was always present, in forms direct and subtle. Each experience carried a message: to “know your place” and stay there. During my years as a student at Dinwiddie County High School, I remember being in the crowd when we hosted majority-Black Petersburg High School for a football
From This Issue
‘Fauci effect’ spurs med school applicant growth
Published
It just got even more competitive to win a spot at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, which saw a 48% increase in applications last year. By the Dec. 1, 2020, application deadline, the medical school had received 6,374 applications for the class of 2025, which has a mere 49 openings. Last year, the
A healthy balance
Ashburn-based Sriven Technologies puts employees first
Published
For Ashburn-based IT company Sriven Technologies LLC, an emphasis on work-life balance and leading a healthy lifestyle, as well as a strong benefits packages creates a stress-free place for employees to focus on their careers, CEO Raj Kilaru says. And that makes it a place where people want to stay. Founded in 2009, Sriven Technologies
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A taxing year
Accountants grapple with ghosts of 2020 this tax season
Published
After a turbulent business year, accountants are bracing for a tax season filled with increased uncertainty, complexity and the looming reality that, eventually, 2020 taxes will be due and books must be reconciled. Businesses navigating the pandemic — from entrepreneurs launching their first ventures to corporations with experienced CFOs — face new questions and challenges in preparing
FOR THE RECORD February 2021
Published
Central Virginia Stockholders of CarLotz Inc., the Chesterfield County-based consignment dealer of used cars, gave the requisite approval to complete a proposed merger with Miami-based special purpose acquisition company Acamar Partners Acquisition Corp. that was scheduled to close in late January. Upon the consummation of the merger, CarLotz, which is valued at $827 million, is
A shot in the arm
Best practices help winning companies fight pandemic
Published
Virginia’s Best Places to Work were hit by the consequences of COVID-19 just like every other business this year. But characteristics that won them the “best places” title — including flexibility, great benefits and distinctive cultures — are sustaining them through the lengthy pandemic. Since 2011, Virginia Business and Pennsylvania-based Best Companies Group have collaborated
Charging ahead
Dominion Energy encourages electric vehicle adoption
Published
Greener rides are on tap for schoolchildren and commuters as Dominion Energy Inc. accelerates efforts to increase the number of electric vehicles on Virginia roads. Electric transportation is a key component of the Richmond-based utility’s 10-year Grid Transformation Plan, which sets targets for reducing carbon, adding renewable energy sources and transforming the electric grid for
Shenandoah eyes old rail line as trail to prosperity
Published
Woodstock Mayor Jeremy McCleary has a vision. On a vacated railroad line that runs nearly 50 miles, from just outside Front Royal through Shenandoah County and down to the Rockingham County town of Broadway, McCleary envisions creating a trail for bicyclists, walkers and runners. The trail’s planned pathway wanders through Civil War battlefields, connecting to
Power contract keeps third-party solar out of reach
Published
More than 40 years ago, local governments in Appalachian Power’s service area banded together to negotiate rates. Now, Rocky Mount Town Manager James Ervin, chair of the steering committee that leads negotiations, says that’s worked out well. “We pay a rate that is considerably less than a comparable private sector business,” he says. But there
11th Annual Best Places to Work list
Published
This is the 11th year that Virginia Business has compiled the Best Places to Work in Virginia list in collaboration with Pennsylvania-based Best Companies Group. More than 200 companies applied for inclusion in the 2021 Best Places to Work in Virginia cohort. A hundred companies were chosen, divided into three categories: small (15-99 U.S. employees);
Virginia Beach revives resort office to bolster Oceanfront tourism
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This summer, visitors to Virginia Beach’s resort area will be greeted by spruced-up properties, enhanced entertainment options and new tourism ambassadors. These are just some of the city’s efforts to improve the 40-block commercial district through its restored Resort Management Office. City Council is allocating $1.1 million from its tourism tax fund to revive the
