Cover Story
Viva Virginia
Voters in four cities will decide in November's election whether to allow casinos in the Old Dominion
Danville once stood tall as a driver of Virginia’s economy, an epicenter both for textile production at Dan River Mills and for tobacco when it was still the commonwealth’s golden leaf. Both industries came crashing down in the 2000s. A rising tide of public sentiment led to tobacco’s decline, and the federal quota system that
Interview
‘No name but team’
Washington Football Team embarks on massive brand transition
Published
Marcus Stephenson is living his dream. After a nearly 15-year career in sports entertainment marketing and content (including stints with World Wrestling Entertainment and the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team), Stephenson joined the Washington Football Team as its vice president of digital marketing and programming just one year ago — ahead of what will be the
Opinion
Walking around
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Back in 1982, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman Jr. co-authored a business book titled, “In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies.” Among many topics popularized by this bestseller was a concept called “management by walking around.” This wasn’t an entirely new idea. It was practiced in the 1970s at Hewlett-Packard and had roots
From This Issue
2020 Virginia CFO Awards winners
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In an annual special report, here are the four outstanding chief financial officers nominated by their peers and chosen by a group including the editorial staff of Virginia Business magazine and previous CFO award recipients. Also: Read more about how CFOs in Virginia are keeping their ships steady in unprecedented financial turmoil. Large Nonprofit: Julie
Smooth sailing
CFO overhauls law firm’s IT infrastructure
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Small business | Mark Baumgartner, CFO Pender & Coward PC, Norfolk It’s safe to say Mark Baumgartner knows the ins and outs of Virginia Beach-based law firm Pender & Coward PC, where he has served as chief financial officer since 2017. Prior to becoming the firm’s CFO, Baumgartner had 20 years of experience working as
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Growth mode
Harbor Group International CFO instrumental in $1.8B acquisition
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Large Business | Carla Stoner, CFO Harbor Group International LLC, Norfolk Carla Stoner doesn’t come from a typical CFO background of working strictly as an accountant or CPA, but she had the chops to grow Norfolk-based real estate investment and management firm Harbor Group International LLC (HGI) from $3.8 billion in assets under management to
CPAs discuss the economic health of their regions in 2020
A Q&A with five members of the Virginia Society of CPAs
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We asked five certified public accountants for their take on the state of their regions. This is what they had to say. Answers have been edited for length and clarity. HAMPTON ROADS Maruja Evangelista Pabalan, CPA CEO | EDMARS and Associates CPA LLC | Chesapeake What are your favorite parts about living and working in
Downtown Norton gets a glow-up
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Like other coalfield communities coping with the downturn of its signature industry, Norton is working to reinvent itself, says City Manager Fred Ramey. This fall, the city’s three-year, $2.3 million downtown revitalization reached a “technical end, but our project is not over and we’ll keep going,” says Ramey, who spearheaded the Downtown Norton Revitalization Project.
Essential workers
With the pandemic’s disruption, CFOs have taken on more duties
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The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted business models. It has forced employees to seek new office sites in their kitchens, bedrooms and basements. It has ushered in hybrid educational models involving in-person and virtual learning, and imperiled funding for colleges and universities. And nobody really knows what’s coming next or when. Meanwhile, who’s minding the store?
The VirginiaBusiness.com Top Five
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The top trending stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Sept. 16 to Oct. 15 included the news that Gov. Ralph Northam had tested positive for the coronavirus, exhibiting mild, coldlike symptoms. Daily Press office set to close in Newport News — Tribune Publishing Co. told newspaper employees it planned to close the newsroom by Sept. 30, shifting
Out of the lab, into the market
Virginia Tech debuts tool to turn innovation into businesses
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Virginia Tech was born to promote business. The 1862 Morrill Act, which created land-grant universities including Virginia Tech, requires such universities to “teach such branches of learning as are related to … agriculture and the mechanical arts … to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes.” Tech and every other university that
Breaking barriers
MCV Foundation CFO facilitates culture shift
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Small Nonprofit | David Silver, CFO Medical College of Virginia Foundation, Richmond David Silver fell into the nonprofit world by chance. After graduating as a Russian history major from the University of Maryland in the midst of the early 1990s recession, Silver worked for several years at hotels and restaurants, where he wound up performing
