Reporter’s Notebook
Notes and thoughts from the travels of Virginia Business writers and editors

Virginia Business
August 2005

“Is Virginia still a Southern state?” That question might seem absurd to anyone who grew up surrounded by statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in the former capital of the Confederacy. Nonetheless, a number of people outside of the state appear to wonder if modern Virginia looks north rather than south for its identity.

The issue of Virginia’s “Southerness” cropped up in a recent lunch conversation with Ronda Rich, a Georgia-based author and former newspaper colleague who stopped in Richmond on a book tour. A quick Google search shows she is not alone is posing the question. For example, Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, notes that, although Maryland and the District of Columbia are south of the Mason-Dixon line, no one considers them to be culturally Southern. Similarly, some outsiders appear to think that, as the Washington suburbs grow and spread in Northern Virginia, the whole state is more attached to the urban mid-Atlantic corridor than to its agrarian Southern roots.

The Web sites point out that the same question about Southerness could be posed about many places in the region as the makeup of the population changes and distinctive accents fade. The list of candidates for “non-Southern” cities include Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh and, heaven forbid, even Charleston.

Southern or not, Northern Virginia apparently is fertile ground for some of the nation’s best employers. Three companies from the area were recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management on its lists of the 25 best small and medium-sized companies to work for. Ranking 15th on the list of small companies (50-250 employees) was Johnston McLamb, a software engineering solutions company based in Chantilly. Meanwhile, two other companies, CALIBRE in Alexandria and Mitretek Systems Inc. in Falls Church ranked sixth and 22nd, respectively, on the list of medium-sized companies (251-999 employees). CALIBRE is an employee-owned management and technology services company. Mitretek is a nonprofit scientific research and engineering corporation.

Gerald Halpin, president and CEO of McLean-based West*Group, recently presided over the ground-breaking ceremony for the Grand Teton Discovery & Visitor Center in Moose, Wyo. Halpin, who serves on the board of directors for the Grand Teton National Park Foundation, has been a major force behind planning for the center. The foundation hopes to raise $12.5 million to match $8 million appropriated by the federal government. The center is slated to open in 2007.

Halpin’s West*Group is a major real estate developer and property management organization, having developed Tysons Corner and currently consulting on the rebuilding of the World Trade Center in New York City. West*Group has completed more than 140 office and apartment buildings in Tysons Corner, with an additional 3 million square feet under construction or in the planning stages.