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FRED THOMPSON JR.
Chief administrative officer, Thompson Hospitality Corp.; co-founder, Opportunity Scholars and the Global Good Fund, Reston
Thompson is partially retired as Thompson Hospitality’s CAO, but he’s stayed busy by starting two nonprofits: Opportunity Scholars, a Winchester-based organization that provides mentorship opportunities to underserved middle and high
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GILBERT BLAND
President, chairman and CEO, Urban League of Hampton Roads; founder and chairman, The GilJoy Group, Norfolk
Published
Hall of Fame member Born in Jim Crow-era Harrisonburg, Bland launched his career in Chicago as a commercial lending officer before becoming a vice president for the largest Black-owned bank
RICHMOND VINCENT JR.
President and CEO, Goodwill Industries of the Valleys, Roanoke
Published
“Being a CEO is attainable,” Vincent says. “You just have to have the confidence of knowing that you can do it.” That can-do attitude has taken Vincent steadily up the
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VICTOR BRANCH
Richmond market president, Bank of America, Richmond
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Hall of Fame member The first African American president of Bank of America’s Richmond region oversees almost 2,000 employees at 25 locations, but Branch began his career as a sociology
FLOYD E. MILLER II
President and CEO, Metropolitan Business League, Richmond
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Before taking over the leadership of Metropolitan Business League, a nonprofit association that supports small, women- and minority-owned businesses in Richmond, Miller worked in human services, education and criminal justice
AISHA BOWE
Founder and CEO, STEMBoard, Arlington
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The daughter of a Bahamian immigrant who worked as a taxi driver in Michigan, Bowe was told by a high school counselor to become a cosmetologist. She decided instead to
CATHY T. WILLIAMS
Business diversity and government administration manager, Ferguson Enterprises Inc., Newport News
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In her two decades at the U.S. subsidiary of British heating and cooling supply distributor Ferguson plc, Williams has made the economic inclusion of women and minorities her mission. “I’m
Making strides
17 execs setting a high bar for success
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Black History Month traces its origins to an annual weeklong observance started in 1926 by historian and scholar Carter G. Woodson, a Virginia native. And since then, the February celebration
JOSEPH D. WILKINS
President, Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, Chesterfield County
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In Halifax County, where Wilkins grew up, people took care of one another, he says. That compassionate culture, plus seeing his father go through rehab after a car accident, inspired
MARCIA CONSTON
President, Tidewater Community College, Norfolk
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Conston saw early on the value that education has for marginalized communities. She knew her goal was “to become someone to effect change in the lives of young people. And