Dr. Katherine A. Rowe is the 28th president of William & Mary. She also founded and serves as CEO at Luminary Digital Media and has published three books. VEDP President and CEO Stephen Moret spoke with Rowe about integrating digital literacy with a classic liberal arts education, running a university during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.   ..read more

VEDP President and CEO Stephen Moret spoke with leading site consultants Brian Corde (Atlas Insight), Scott Kupperman (Kupperman Location Solutions), and Brandon Talbert (Austin Consulting) about the factors that make states and localities successful in attracting projects in an industry where even the most successful companies depend on low margins and economies of scale ..read more

Tad Deriso is president and CEO at Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corporation, a South Boston-based nonprofit organization that has built an advanced open-access fiber optic network in Southern Virginia. VEDP President and CEO Stephen Moret spoke with Deriso in Danville about his work creating world-class fiber infrastructure in a rural region ..read more

Joel Kotkin is the Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University in Orange, Calif., and executive director of the Houston-based Center for Opportunity Urbanism. The New York Times has described him as “America’s Uber-Geographer” for his work on global economic, political, and social trends. VEDP President and CEO Stephen Moret spoke with Kotkin about the forces affecting U.S. cities, suburbs, and rural areas ..read more

Philip D’Anieri is the author of “The Appalachian Trail: A Biography,” published in 2021 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. VEDP President Jason El Koubi spoke with D’Anieri about the history of the Appalachian Trail inside and outside of Virginia, why he chose to cover the trail’s history through a human lens, and the inseparability of his field, urban planning, from the natural environment ..read more

Beth Macy is a three-time New York Times-bestselling author. She is the author of “Factory Man”, “Truevine”, and “Dopesick,” books that tell separate stories, but stories through which the challenges, issues, prospects, and hopes of rural America are studied in different ways. Macy was a reporter for The Roanoke Times from 1989 to 2014. VEDP President and CEO Stephen Moret recently visited with Macy in Roanoke to discuss her work and unique perspective on issues facing rural America ..read more

John F. Reinhart is the CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA). VEDP’s President and CEO, Stephen Moret, recently spoke with Reinhart about a transformative period in the history of the Port and what the future looks like at The Port of Virginia and in the maritime industry ..read more

Dr. Anne Kress is president of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), the largest public educational institution in Virginia and the second-largest community college in the United States. VEDP President and CEO Jason El Koubi spoke with Kress about the importance of community colleges in workforce development, the effectiveness of industry partnerships in delivering talent to employers, and NOVA’s efforts to serve a large, diverse population ..read more

John Newby is CEO of Virginia Bio, the nonprofit statewide trade association that serves and promotes the life sciences industry in the Commonwealth. VEDP Interim President and CEO Jason El Koubi spoke with Newby about recent life sciences success stories in the Commonwealth and Virginia Bio’s efforts to grow the industry, including the recently announced industry hub, Virginia Bio-Connect ..read more

Chandra Briggman is president and CEO of Activation Capital, a nonprofit organization that supports entrepreneurship in tech clusters in Virginia, and VA Bio+Tech Park, a life sciences and emerging technologies community in Richmond. VEDP Interim President and CEO Jason El Koubi spoke with Briggman about her organization’s mission and activities, the emerging pharmaceutical cluster in Richmond and Petersburg, and the nuances of supporting life sciences investment during a global pandemic ..read more