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Two milestones in one issue
by Robert Powell
Editor, Virginia Business
March 2006 This issue marks two birthdays. It is the 20th
anniversary for Virginia Business and the debut of Options, our
supplement covering the lifestyles of Virginia executives.
Much has changed since Virginia
Business first went to press in March 1986. The downtowns
of many Virginia
cities have died and been revived. Out-of-state companies
have bought most of the state’s major banks and
brokerages. Tobacco is losing its grip as Virginia’s
cash crop.
Nonetheless, many things are relatively unchanged.
Traffic congestion, unfortunately, remains a major
issue. The talk of a current transportation crisis
in fact echoes concerns voiced in 1986.
On the other hand, Virginia
has maintained its fertile business climate. That
climate has allowed innovative
executives ranging from Sydney and Frances Lewis to
Richard Fairbank and Richard Sharp to take an idea
and run with it, creating businesses that transform
their industries. That has always been the irony behind
Virginia’s staid, conservative image. It has
often been the home of business revolutionaries.
We briefly profile some of
those rebels as part of our special anniversary section.
We picked leaders
who primarily are businesspeople as opposed to educators
or politicians. The common thread among them is that
they have had a transforming effect on their industry
or their region’s economy in the past 20 years.
Also, Dr.
Paul Levengood of
the Virginia Historical Society looks at how Virginia’s
Fortune 500 companies
have fared since 1986. His column begins a new series
in the magazine looking at Virginia’s business
history. The series coincides with the opening of a
new business history wing at the museum in Richmond.
And Jeff
Schapiro, a political reporter and columnist
for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, looks at the changing
politics of the past two decades at the state capitol
and the Executive Mansion.
Options, by contrast, looks at life away from the
bustle of politics and business. Our inaugural issue
examines the growing interest in Virginia in home
wine cellars. We also explore weekend
getaways and dream
vacations, such as a week at a dude ranch in the Grand
Tetons. We also talk with Patricia
Kluge, a socialite
turned CEO who is putting her distinctive stamp on
wine making and real estate development.
The next issue of Options will publish in July. The
next issue of Virginia Business will come out in April,
as it begins a new decade covering business in the
revolutionary Old Dominion.
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