S. Frank Blocker Jr., former owner and president
of Eastern Auto Distributors of Norfolk, gave
a $1 million gift to Virginia Wesleyan College,
which will allow for modernization of Frank and Wilma
Williamson Blocker Hall, named for his parents in 1992.
Blocker is a former member of the college’s board
of trustees. (News release)
The National Association for Female Executives named
several Virginia operations among the best workplaces
for women executives in the country. In the top five
nonprofits were Bon Secours Richmond Health System and Virginia
Commonwealth University Health System in Richmond
and Inova Health System in Falls Church. Gannett
Co. Inc., of McLean, made the list of top 10 for-profit
companies. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
CarMax Inc., a Richmond-based retailer of used
cars, received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) Silver Certification from the U.S. Green
Building Council for the design and efficiency of its
home office in Goochland County. (News release)
Money Manager Review named Darrell & King,
a Charlottesville investment firm, the nation’s
top money manager. This marks the second time in three
years the firm has received the publication’s top
ranking. (News release)
Wyatt B. Durrette Jr., president of the Richmond
law firm DurretteBradshaw, was named a member of the Boyd-Graves
Conference, a group of lawyers representing a variety
of practices across Virginia who meet to find ways to
improve the law. Durrette focuses on complex commercial
litigation. (News release)
Fortune magazine named six Virginia companies
to its 2007 list of most admired companies: LandAmerica
Financial Group, CarMax, Performance Food
Group, all of Richmond; General Dynamics in
Falls Church; Norfolk Southern in Norfolk;
and Smithfield Foods in Smithfield. (Richmond
Times-Dispatch)
Homestead Preserve, an exclusive conservation-based
second home community situated near Hot Springs in Bath
County, was named one of The Top 100 Real Estate Developments
in the World by Travel & Leisure magazine.
Of the 450 planned home sites, 150 have been sold for
more than $70 million. (News release)
Joe Ben Hoyle, associate professor of accounting
at the University of Richmond, was named
one of 22 favorite professors by Business Week magazine.
Undergraduates from the nation’s top 50 business
programs were polled for the honor. Hoyle joined UR’s
Robins School of Business in 1979. (News release)
Kenneth L. Lanford, president, Lanford Brothers
Company Inc., Roanoke, was elected to the board
of TRIP, a national nonprofit transportation research
group in Washington. (News release)
H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest made a $33 million
matching gift to Washington & Lee University to
be used to increase faculty salaries. This makes a total
of $63 million Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, have
given W&L. A 1953 graduate and former trustee, Lenfest
is president and CEO of The Lenfest Group in West Conshohocken,
Pa. (PRNewswire)
Steve Massie, CEO of Jack L. Massie Contractor
Inc. of Williamsburg, was elected president of
the Associated General Contractors of America, the
first person from a Virginia-based firm to serve as
president in the association’s 89-year history. (News
release)
Kevin McElroy, president and COO of CI Travel in
Norfolk, was named vice president of the board of directors
of the Society of Government Travel Professionals. (News
release)
The National Engineers Week Foundation named Asha
Sharma, a transportation engineer for Draper
Aden Associates of Blacksburg, one of 15 New Faces
of Engineering for 2007. The award is based on demonstrating
outstanding abilities and leadership at the beginning
of a career. Sharma received an M.S. in transportation
engineering from Auburn University and joined the firm
in 2006. (News release)
The Virginia Bio/Advanced Manufacturing Workforce
Project earned one of the 2007 Southern Growth
Innovator Awards from the Southern Growth Policies
Board, a public policy think tank in Research Triangle
Park, N.C. Focused on creating an employer-validated
certification system and an employee-designed training
system for technicians in advanced manufacturing, the
program is run by Virginia Biotechnology Association, the Virginia
Manufacturers Association and Training & Development
Corp. of Bucksport, Maine. (Virginia Biotechnology
Assoc.)
