The Importance of Playing Nice How a lack of regional cooperation is hurting Hampton Roads OfďŹ ces that inspire Scouting for tomorrow’s leaders
The Breeden Compa ny I N S P I R I N G
P L A C E S
The Breeden Company is a nationally recognized real estate services company with over 50 years of expertise in every facet of the industry. Breeden Property Management, Breeden Realty and Breeden Construction are the three major subsidiaries of The Breeden Company, with a combined portfolio of nearly 10,000 apartments, over 2 million square feet of retail/ofďŹ ce space and an additional 1,700 residential homes. Both Breeden Property Management and Breeden Construction are national award winners on their own merit and provide third party services to select clients. Family-owned and operated since 1961, The Breeden Company has grown into one of the most valued real estate development ďŹ rms on the East Coast.
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Spring 2018 Vol. 5
IBQ | PUBLISHER’S LETTER
INFLUENCING PEOPLE, BUSINESS AND COMMUNITY Mike Herron Publisher
Clay Barbour Executive Editor
Jennifer Fenner Creative Director
Wes Watson Art Director
Allyson Garner Designer
Irvin B. Harrell Associate Editor
Mary Flachsenhaar Associate Editor
Ski Miller Sales and Marketing
Taylor Eriksen Business Manager
Susan Cofer Production Director
Shea Alvis Production CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Ben Swenson, Betsy DiJulio, Esther Keane, Jim White, Judy Cowling, Kate Meechan, Nicole Alvarado, Sandra J. Pennecke, Susan Smigielski Acker, Tom Robinson
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T
he release of the Pentagon Papers, the subject of a new movie, revealed dissident activities in Indochina and blew up a lot of our preconceived notions about how our government operated during the Vietnam War. It also blew my world apart. I was living with my father, an operator with the Central Intelligence Agency, on a covert military base in the mountains of Okinawa. The articles published by The New York Times and The Washington Post partially shattered those operations. It was in that environment that I met a man who was to have a profound impact on me for the rest of my life. Retired Air Force Sgt. Stanley taught U.S. government. Nixon was in office, Vietnam was still a wreck. I was 17 and aware of what we were doing in Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. It was a heavy, yet wonderful, time in my life. While listening to Stanley, I tried to figure out where he stood on issues. It was extremely hard to tell, as he was always imploring me to think for myself. His center of attention wasn’t on what he thought; it was all about what I thought. He would challenge me on the basis of my opinions and would confront my assumptions in thought-provoking ways. He would caution me about swallowing information without context. Whenever I asked him probing questions, instead of spoon-feeding me some answer, he would ask, “What do you think?” When I think about those times, I remember what a treat it was to be with someone who was so focused on helping me discern things myself. Back then, all I wanted to do was play football. But when that didn’t work out (I was in Southeast Asia after all), I decided to be a coach, and maybe a teacher, like the man I so admired. He was the inspiration of my first big life choice.
Although life would also push me into the business world, I did teach in high school for a short while. There I would try to emulate Stanley, imploring others to seek out as much information as they could. Much like a great teacher, IBQ is working hard to share pieces that provide meaningful information with a dose of inspiration. It is put together each quarter to provide readers worthwhile insight and local context. In this issue we touch on incubators, our region and work environments. We also share some recent successes of both people and institutions. I hope you enjoy your time with this edition as much as we have in preparing it.
Mike Herron, mike.herron@insidebiz.com
757.446.9000 IBQSPRING is published by The Virginian-Pilot, X IBQ 2018 a Pilot Media company.
Statistical information provided by CraniumTap comes from Nielsen, Scarborough Research Multi-Market 2017 report on the 75 largest “business professional” metros. For more information check out the blog at craniumtap.com.
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IBQ | CONTENTS
40
Crawling Out of the Cubicle: Creating spaces that improve how you work
Contents SPRING 2018 VOL. 5
16
Stronger Together: Competing
30
instead of cooperating is leading to fewer opportunities for everyone
22 The Brain Drain: Why Hampton Roads’ talented young workers are looking elsewhere.
ACCESSing Opportunities: Foundation celebrates 30 years of helping students navigate the cost of higher education.
Also Inside
24
More Than Cookies: Regional Girl Scouts
CEO focuses on building skills for future leaders.
6 IBQ MARCH 2018
46
Let’s Do Lunch: Simple Eats
04 08 34 38 50
Publisher’s Letter Swipe Right Birthing Business RecoveryTrek Mentors: Dawna Ellis
“ THE SUCCESS OF HAMPTON ROADS IS OUR BOTTOM LINE.” Eugene M. Jordan, II President & CEO Old Point Trust
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IBQ | SWIPE RIGHT
BIZ BUZZ
NOT A BAD GIG
In a region where the hospitality industry is an economic juggernaut, it turns out visitors and residents are contributing, too, by participating in the so-called “gig” economy. Airbnb is the largest online private lodging marketplace in the region, and data from Old Dominion University economists indicate that money flows both into owners’ pockets and government coffers. The authors of the report State of the Region; Hampton Roads 2017 estimate that renters spent more than 46,000 nights in Virginia Beach Airbnb listings between September 2014 and February 2017. Of the $7.9 million generated, more than $1 million went to lodging, occupancy and sales taxes. City leaders in Virginia Beach – and elsewhere – are grappling with how to regulate this growing industry, but it’s clear that Airbnb is a potent force; in December 2016, approximately 1 in 25 rooms available in the city was an Airbnb rental.
8 IBQ MARCH 2018
by Ben Swenson
ON THE VANGUARD IN HAMPTON
Virginia’s first and only combined brewpub, distillery and live entertainment venue opened March 3. The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery occupies the Hampton Armory building near downtown Hampton, minutes from the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel. Randy Thomas and business partner Bjorn Marshall also operate Spacemakers, a Norfolk-based general contractor responsible for major construction and renovation projects around Hampton Roads, including six breweries. Despite their experience, this latest undertaking, said Thomas, was hands-down “the most complicated project I’ve done.” All the red tape that attended this unprecedented venture delayed the grand opening by about five months. Although frustrated by the wait, Thomas is committed to the Vanguard’s concept – fine food and craft beverages made onsite and available for consumption while tapping one’s toes to the rhythm of national entertainment acts. Developer Randy Thomas of Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery in Hampton. Photo by Briana Adhikusuma | Inside Business.
IBQ | SWIPE RIGHT
How much do Hampton Roads business professionals spend on their threads? The region ranks 41 out of 75 metros. Who comes in first? Boston. – Source: CraniumTap
GO VIRGINIA | ODU officials position themselves at the edge of the
A TEAM ON AND OFF THE FIELD
You and your co-workers may score homeruns in the boardroom, but what about on the kickball diamond? From April 11 to 21, the Hampton Roads Sports Commission and Optima Health are putting on the 2018 Hampton Roads Corporate Challenge. Companies throughout the region are encouraged to organize and compete to earn points and, ultimately, bragging rights among all the contestants. If you and your colleagues might not exactly field a dream team in traditional sports like basketball or bowling, don’t worry. Among the 10 different contests at six venues are nontraditional events, such as cornhole, tug-of-war and, yes, kickball. So it’s anyone’s game. The team-building and networking that happen during such friendly competitions are just as worthwhile as the health benefits.
digital revolution, and two new initiatives underscore their strides in that direction. In December, the Virginia Growth and Opportunity Board announced that two ODU-sponsored projects have been funded to the tune of $640,000 apiece for each of the next two years. The HRCyber Co-Lab, short for Hampton Roads Cyber Collaboration Laboratory, will be based at two ODU facilities in Portsmouth and Suffolk. Program backers hope the initiative fosters an “innovation district” that spearheads progress in technology such as cybersecurity, data analytics, simulation and unmanned watercraft. The Digital Shipbuilding Workforce Program will train a new generation of shipbuilders whose craft increasingly relies on digital applications and remote collaboration. It will also nurture relationships between the program’s students and major employers, such as Huntington Ingalls Industries, that will hire them.
AHOY SBOY| Politicians love to
pay lip service to the major role that small businesses play in our economy, but it’s rare for those contributions to be officially recognized. On May 4, during National Small Business Week, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce will present its annual Small Business of the Year Awards, recognizing one firm from each of the Southside’s five cities, as well as other remarkable entrepreneurs. Last year, Beach Pet Hospital took home Small Business of the Year. Veterinarian Elizabeth Upchurch, co-owner of the practice, said such an award is a vote of confidence. “This recognition validates our efforts and confirms that our community supports us as well,” she said. To learn about attending this year’s ceremony or how to nominate a small business for next year’s award, visit www.hamptonroadschamber.com.
Hampton Roads barely makes the top 20 in terms of businesspeople working from home. Who gets to work in their PJs the most? Sarasota, Florida. – Source: CraniumTap
IBQMAG.COM 9
IBQ | SWIPE RIGHT
A quick interview with …
Governor Ralph Northam Is there anything that can be done about the trend of out-migration from Hampton Roads, especially with our young people?
You have called for free vocational programs in community colleges. Are you comfortable that such an initiative is an economically viable situation?
Absolutely. It starts by looking at each region, and looking at what the resources in that area are and then thinking about the 21st century jobs that we could grow in each region. So if you look at Hampton Roads, obviously, we have been and will always be dependent on the military. We have the largest Navy base there. But I’ve always worried that if we lose a carrier group to another area of the country, that would be very detrimental. So what are the areas? One of them is energy production. I’m an advocate for green energy, renewable energy. I think there is a lot that we can do with solar, and especially wind. I’ve had discussions with Dominion to pursue that. We have Eastern Virginia Medical School in Hampton Roads, so there’s biotechnology, and things like personalized health care. Another area that we’ve been trying to expand not only in Hampton Roads but also in Northern Virginia and at the University of Virginia at Wise, is cybersecurity. When we talk about the military and national security, we really have to continue the focus on cybersecurity. With all the military presence in Hampton Roads, cybersecurity is certainly an area. One last area is energy storage. We’re going to promote renewable energy such as solar and wind. One of the challenges that we’ve had, for example, is if I have solar panels on my roof, or a solar farm beside my house, how do we get that energy back on the grid?
Absolutely. We have a program called G3. Get skilled, get a job and give back. There will be an initial investment. This will allow individuals to go to a community college and become certified. Once they do, they understand that they will give back a year, with pay, to public service or a high demand area. Their tuition would be paid for so they won’t incur any debt. This will work well in Virginia. We have workforce grants that are already in place in our community colleges. In high demand jobs we actually pay for 2/3 of the tuition. There are a lot of different ways that we’re looking to keep our education system affordable and allow everyone to live the American dream.
10 IBQ MARCH 2018
How do you respond to people who say an increase to the minimum wage will lead to more automation and layoffs? First of all, I would say, look at my background. I grew up on the Eastern Shore. I‘ve worked on boats. I’ve worked in restaurants as a waiter. I’ve worked in a grocery store. I’ve worked with construction crews. I know what it’s like to make minimum wage or less, and there is no way that any individuals can support themselves, let alone their families, on $7.25 an hour. So to help people with increasing the minimum wage, that money is going to come back into the economy anyhow. Look at states that have raised the minimum wage. One state is Washington.
In some areas of Washington the minimum wage is $15 an hour. Their economy is doing well. I’d like to get Virginia back to being the number-one state in which to do business, but right now Washington is that state. So it can be done. I just want to make sure that every job in Virginia is a good job and that people can support their families when they get up and go to work every day. Can you tell us about your outlook for Virginia for the next four years and beyond? We are going to look at the different regions of Virginia and look at the resources that are in each region and how we can really maximize that potential. We were very successful over the last four years. We brought in over 200,000 new jobs to Virginia, over $20 billion of capital investment. Our unemployment right now is very low. It’s at 3.7 percent, almost as low as it’s been in nine years. We did good work the last four years. I’m very optimistic about our economy. One of the last things I’ll say is that I’m a veteran of the Army. We have a very large number of veterans in Virginia and we’re going to continue to make sure that Virginia is the most veteran-friendly state in the country. We have the V3 program, Virginia Values Veterans. My goal by the end of our four years is that I’d like to hire another 50,000 veterans, so that they’re very highly skilled and trained. I’ll do everything I can to take care of them. Q
Condensed and edited by Ben Swenson
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IBQ | SWIPE RIGHT
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Businesspeople in Hampton Roads sure love to volunteer. The region ranks 26 out of 75 metros by percentage. Salt Lake City comes in first. Who are the curmudgeons? El Paso, Texas. – Source: CraniumTap
IBQ | SWIPE RIGHT
On Point by Nicole Alvarado
Stihl ➧ @stihlusa
What’s the first thing you think of when you see the phrase “social media influencer?” I can’t say what it makes everyone think of, but I bet most people don’t think of power tools. Stihl is the No. 1-selling brand of chainsaws, though its catalog has grown to match the variety of demand over the decades. Its tactic is different from many newer businesses in that it is not trying to grow an audience from the ground up. Rather, it is trying to attract a new generation of customers. Enter #WomenofStihl. Last year, the company reached out to trendy young DIY millennials with a proven fan base of more than 75,000 followers. The campaign went over like gangbusters. It is worth noting that they were one of the few on the list to utilize Twitter in an outstanding way. While it’s not exactly reinventing the wheel, it is one step closer to answering that golden marketing question: “What makes millennials buy stuff?” 14 IBQ MARCH 2018
Five to follow on Social Media
Your social media game can make or break you these days. All it takes is one insensitive joke, poorly timed post or inappropriate meme to ruin your day, week or year. Smart businesses want their posts to slip into our social feed sight unseen, almost undetected. They want us to feel like we’re relating to the humans behind the machinery. They want us to be informed, but also entertained – preferably at the same time. Here is our handpicked list of local businesses whose social media game is seriously on point.
VA Foodie ➧ @vafoodie
This company doesn’t sell a product so much as it offers a service. Primarily, it serves as an online network for people in Virginia who, basically, just really love food. You can ask to have your business or farm featured, you can read recipes submitted from readers or various local eateries, see what new promotions are circulating and gear up for Restaurant Week, no matter where in Virginia you happen to be. Its social feed is “info-tainment” at its finest. It’s refreshing to see pages that don’t solely post items with the clear intention of leading traffic back to a site, but also to promote engagement and share something interesting. VA Foodie is almost like its own, self-contained Pinterest, with a more navigable user interface and content structure. It is a design-heavy format (which makes sense considering it is an offshoot of H20 Street Design) with a focus on succinct text and poignant photographs. Simple. Clean. Food porn. What’s not to like?
Velvet Witch ➧ @AVelvetWitch
Velvet Witch sells unique, independently produced home decor items, jewelry and spiritual goods (crystals, spell books, vials with labels like “ghost” formula). A pop-up in the newly renovated Selden Arcade, Velvet Witch’s social media accounts are almost more important than a landing page. The medium lends itself nicely to what is essentially a modern-day traveling gypsy caravan. The business’ social accounts – Facebook and Instagram – keep you up to date as it rotates inventory to feature new or emerging local artists with occult and pop culture themes. They have special guided meditation sessions with adorable healing oil gift bags and tarot readings that non-followers miss out on.
IBQ | SWIPE RIGHT
Healthy Office Habits by Jim White ➧ Eat better snacks | Workdays are
Toast ➧ @toast.nfk
From the guys who brought the Handsome Biscuit and Field Guide (RIP), this restaurant has been ahead of its time since its inception. Toast has grown into a local source of innovative food and social meet-ups set over the trendy backdrop of a cultural, community-driven space. It has already established itself as a tour de force in the live music scene. Toast is especially unique because if you don’t follow the page, you could miss out on the line-up for the regular mini music fests they throw every season (see: Lavafest). They also regularly feature local brews and special/small-batch liquors that you might miss otherwise.
stressful and that sparks the release of epinephrine and cortisol. With the release of these hormones, our blood sugars rise and may increase the desire to consume high-sugar snacks. One idea for the office is to place fresh fruit, nuts or protein bars out for staff to munch on throughout the day to prevent stress-related “sugar highs.” Choosing snack options with less sugar and fat and fewer calories promotes a healthier work environment, fuels employees and decreases stress levels.
➧ Bring it old school | Eating out is
Strawberry Fields ➧ @StrawberryFieldsGelato
You know you’re doing your job right when people want your gelato in the dead of winter. While there is clear planning and foresight to this company’s social media presence, it’s not like you’re getting the same-old picture of dairy case line-up day after day. You could set your watch by the frequency with which they post about daily specials and local events. I never figured I’d check my local ice cream vendor for weather updates, but here we are. The company’s videos are similarly enchanting. One example is just a time loop of an employee using the softserve machine that is so enjoyable, it’s almost hypnotic. Q
almost always less healthful than packing a lunch. Preparing a meal for the workday is a simple way to ensure nutrition goals are met and helps avoid senseless calories. Dietary guidelines recommend incorporating into your meals more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat/fat-free dairy products, lean proteins and oils such as olive oil. Try this sample lunch: Turkey sandwich on whole grain bread with low-fat mayo, lettuce and tomato. Sliced
carrots, celery and cucumber with hummus and a piece of fresh fruit.
➧ Give yourself a boost | Fruits and
vegetables are great sources of antioxidants. They’re also filled with micronutrients like vitamin C and beta-carotene. Want an antioxidant boost? Here’s a tip: Infuse regular water with blueberries, lemon slices and mint leaves; pack a fresh orange to snack on; eat a sweet potato for lunch topped with black beans, Greek yogurt and salsa.
➧ Improve your vision | Your office
workspace can affect your mood. Take the opportunity to ensure your area has a positive impact on how you feel while at work. Add a plant, photos or other items that make you smile or feel good when you see them. Q Jim White is the owner of Jim White Fitness & Nutrition Studios in Norfolk and Virginia Beach. He has been consulted as a fitness and health expert by several outlets, including GQ, Men’s Health, and The Wall Street Journal. IBQMAG.COM 15
Playing Nice | Part 1
Stronger Together Competing instead of cooperating is leading to fewer opportunities for everyone by Ben Swenson | Illustration by Wes Watson
H
ampton Roads’ gross domestic product is expected to reach $100 billion this year, a figure larger than two-thirds of the world’s countries. Such a respectable position for a region of 1.7 million people is encouraging for many local civic and business leaders, but it does not tell the full story. The region should attract young professionals and corporate investment in droves, yet recent trends indicate that’s not happening. And many point to Hampton Roads’ historic lack of regional cooperation as a roadblock to progress. But a committed group of community leaders is setting out to prove that history is not a hindrance to a prosperous future. Hampton Roads, they say, can play well together. “Regions around the country that are doing well have a common vision,” said Paul
Fraim, Norfolk mayor for 22 years. Hampton Roads, he said, needs to move past the things that are keeping that shared perspective from blossoming. One challenge facing the region is its number of jurisdictions. Hampton Roads, depending on who does the counting, has as many as 16 different cities and counties – all of which have their own identity and priorities, none of which are a suburb of the others. There are many examples of individual jurisdictions scuttling regional initiatives, snubs that often get outsized attention, fueling a perception that such ventures are perpetually doomed to failure. These misfires go back many years. In 1997, for instance, Hampton Roads failed in its bid to land a National Hockey League franchise in Norfolk, one of four attempts to lure major league athletics to the region. To this day, Virginia remains the most populous state without a major league sports team playing
IBQMAG.COM 17
IBQ | PLAYING NICE
on its home turf. Voters have repeatedly said no to initiatives aimed at easing traffic congestion, as in 2002, when they rejected a one-cent gas tax increase to help fund new transportation priorities. In 2016, Virginia Beach voters refused a light rail extension to the city. Even smaller squabbles betray glimpses of apathy, if not outright hostility, uncharacteristic of cooperative neighbors. In 2015, Norfolk’s leaders felt slighted when the Virginia Beach City Council rejected widening a road that would have eased access to Norfolk Premium Outlets then under construction. It was just the latest in a spat that stretches back to a 1961 fight over water between Norfolk and what was then Princess Anne County. These cross-border difficulties arise from Hampton Roads’ inherent challenges, among which is the region’s physical geography. Waterways restrict movement to specific corridors and constrain growth. But it’s in the technical aspects of local governance that officials sometimes find the biggest barriers to regional unity. Fraim said Virginia’s tax structure, which keeps taxes relatively low at the state level and high at the local level, steers municipalities toward self-interest. Fraim said that localities’ reliance on the real estate tax as a primary source of income encourages planners to “get the best use out of a property with the most development. That sets us up to compete.” Virginia adheres to the Dillon Rule, a guiding principle that restricts local governments’ ability to act without permission from the state government. As a result, Hampton Roads historically has not had – because the region could not create on its own – an overarching government economic development authority with the legal means to coordinate projects at the regional level. 18 IBQ MARCH 2018
“A politician in Chesapeake gets zero votes from a voter in Virginia Beach. If you look at it from the perspective that everything that goes to Virginia Beach doesn’t go to Chesapeake, it’s a zero sum game.” – Robert McNab, professor of economics at ODU
Paul Fraim, former Norfolk mayor, believes Virginia’s tax structure creates competition between municipalities.
That’s problematic for those who advocate for regional partnerships, according to Robert M. McNab, professor of economics at ODU.
“A politician in Chesapeake gets zero votes from a voter in Virginia Beach,” he said. “If you look at it from the perspective that everything that goes to Virginia Beach doesn’t go to Chesapeake, it’s a zero sum game.” There are a number of regions in the country where partnerships exist, despite a large number of competing jurisdictions. Santa Clara County, California, home to much of Silicon Valley, contains 15 different cities within its borders, and the county has jurisdiction to coordinate initiatives among all of them. The lack of such regional authority diminishes the ability to attract large companies, according to McNab. Executives often think in a regional context, and Hampton Roads is “a big economy, but decisions are being made at the local level.” Being passed over for major corporate expansions hinders economic growth on its own, but there are second- and third-order effects of anemic regionalism,
IBQ | PLAYING NICE
too. Duplicate services and redundant venues raise costs and dilute potential income of those that already exist. “You end up with a proliferation of underutilized structures,” said McNab. “How many convention centers or concert venues does the region need?” And data indicate that there may be a brain drain from Hampton Roads, as working-age individuals seek more and better job opportunities elsewhere (See “The Brain Drain” on page 22). A January Census Bureau estimate revealed that Virginia Beach slipped from second to third-most-populous jurisdiction in the commonwealth, while Northern Virginia continues its trend of explosive growth. What’s so counterintuitive about all this is that residents of Hampton Roads act regionally, according to McNab. It’s common for individuals to live in one city, work in another and enjoy recreation all over. Amazon passed over Virginia Beach for its second headquarters, but if the city was able to land a large corporation, McNab said, “evidence suggests that at least 50 percent of the employees would live outside Virginia Beach.” Jim Spore, who was city manager of Virginia Beach for 24 years, wants to change the prevailing notion that Hampton Roads’ cities and counties can’t work together. After leaving the city manager position in 2015, Spore stepped into a role as advocate for regional cooperation. The following year, he became president and CEO of Reinvent Hampton Roads, a community leadership initiative that seeks to bring jobs to the region through economic diversification. The organization coordinates regional initiatives to foster cooperation between private and public entities across city lines. These projects include formal
Jim Spore, former Virginia Beach city manager, chairs Region 5 of GO Virginia, an economic development initiative dedicated to regional cooperation.
analyses of job-creating ventures, grant applications and databases that compile information useful for growing industries and businesses. Among the dozen projects Reinvent Hampton Roads undertook last year, for instance, was an inventory of shovel-ready industrial sites in the region and a study on ways to close a workforce skills gap among the working-age population. But it’s not just local leaders who have identified the need for regional cooperation. In 2016, state lawmakers created and funded GO Virginia, which aims to create high-paying, private-sector jobs through ventures that demonstrate collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries and employment sectors. Nine regional councils apply to the Virginia Growth and Opportunity Board for funds to support specific initiatives. Spore chairs the council for GO Virginia’s Region 5, which includes much of Hampton Roads. Two projects have already received funding.
The Hampton Roads Cyber Collaboration Laboratory, created and hosted by ODU, will be a center focused on researching and developing emerging cyber technology. The laboratory will bring 54 jobs and will generate annual revenue of $3.79 million. The Virginia Digital Shipbuilding Workforce Program, also sponsored by ODU, will provide a venue for education in advanced manufacturing technologies in the region’s shipbuilding industries. Backers estimate such training will help fill 1,700 regional digital shipbuilding jobs and increase digital shipbuilding revenue by more than $6 million. Such initiatives are receiving backing from the highest levels of state government. “No one region should be relying on just one industry,” said Gov. Ralph Northam. “We’ve always been very reliant on the military and government contracting and we always will be, but those resources aren’t what they used to be.” Northam said that Virginia’s changing economic landscape should be no barrier to progress because all the commonwealth’s regions have historical and inherent strengths to nurture. “I’ve always been supportive of GO Virginia because it does look at the different regions.” Fraim hopes that renewed attention to regionalism resulting from initiatives like GO Virginia will prompt discussions among local leaders that allow all the jurisdictions in Hampton Roads to rally behind a common identity. He said that community partners should identify three or four enterprises, such as the Port of Virginia, that Hampton Roads does better than anyplace else, and proclaim it proudly. “If we have 1.7 million people speaking to the world with a common voice, that’s a powerful message.” Q IBQMAG.COM 19
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Playing Nice | Part 2
The Brain Drain Fewer opportunities and little regional cooperation are leading talented young workers to leave Hampton Roads by Esther Keane | Illustration by Wes Watson
W
hen Time magazine rated Virginia Beach the No. 1 urban area for millennial growth in the country in June 2017, it was a proud moment for residents and policy-makers. Of the 50 metro areas analyzed by the Urban Land Institute, Virginia Beach saw the biggest uptick in millennial change from 2010 to 2015 with 16.4 percent growth, the article said. But it’s what the article missed that should interest Hampton Roads. CraniumTap, a local research company (owned by Pilot Media), challenged the study published by Time, noting that the Urban
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Land Institute overlooked a huge factor in the Hampton Roads population: the military. Without the military – an ever-fluctuating presence in our area – the region actually saw a decrease of 1.6 percent from 2014 to 2016, ranking the area 76th out of the 77 largest markets in the U.S. The finding was of no surprise to James V. Koch and Robert M. McNab, authors of the “State of the Region Report,” an annual regional analysis published by Old Dominion University. The latest report, published in 2017, examined domestic out-migration to show where jobs are
developing in our area, how Hampton Roads is doing compared to other metro areas, and where folks are going when they decide to leave. “Population retention is a huge indicator on how well a region is doing,” said Barbara Blake Gonzalez, the chief administrative officer at ODU’s Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “If you are keeping your folks, and of course we would want to be bringing new folks in along with their talents, that is an indicator of things going well.” Hampton Roads has seen an increase in population from 2010 to 2015, but it is mostly attributed to birth rate over death rate. According to the report, from 2010 to 2016 there was a net flow of 41,540 domestic individuals leaving Hampton Roads. “It is a great concern that we are shuffling out-migration,” said Koch, a board of visitors professor of economics and president emeritus at ODU. “Every year we have been losing 6,000 to 7,000 individuals.” While population retention has many contributing factors, such as quality of life and cost of living, the main reason people leave Hampton Roads is employment opportunity. The report showed that job creation is low and the region has yet to recover from the Great Recession in the late 2000s. “It’s about jobs – we’re not creating enough jobs to keep people here, and what’s most discouraging is that the job numbers that just came out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that between October 2016 and October 2017 we actually have 9,100 fewer jobs in Hampton Roads over that year period,” Koch said. In other words, the numbers ap-
It starts with identity. For example, the Time article named Virginia Beach the No. 1 city in millennial growth, but its data table defined the urban area as Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC. Our sense of identity not only affects us, but it affects how others see and respond to us. pear to be getting worse. “Individuals look at the job market and look at the potential compensation in the job market, and if they can’t or don’t find a job in the public sector then these other regions that have higher wages attract them,” said McNab, a professor of economics and deputy director of the Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “If you have a degree or you want to work in the private sector, the relative prospects of you finding gainful employment that is well-compensated are less than in other areas, and so Hampton Roads turns out to be an exporter of human capital.” “The people who are most likely to leave are those who have the greatest mobility, and unfortunately for us that tends to be people who have just graduated from high school or college,” Koch said. “In particular, we are losing college graduates to other places.”
How do we urge people to stay? And how do we attract more talented individuals to bring their ideas here? It starts with identity. For example, the Time article named Virginia Beach the No. 1 city in millennial
growth, but its data table defined the urban area as Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC. Our sense of identity not only affects us, but it affects how others see and respond to us. “As a region, we end up marketing ourselves typically by city rather than by region,” McNab said. “It all makes sense to us, but typically large employers are looking for regional places they can move to.” The “State of the Region Report” notes that more than 60 percent of individuals in Hampton Roads live in one jurisdiction but work in another, which means workers think of this as one region but elected officials do not. Each city has strengths that can be leveraged to improve the whole, and there has been progress. The data from the report strongly indicates that joining together as a region would improve our employment opportunities. Thinking regionally would require a consolidation of public services across boundaries and improvement to transportation. Other priorities would include improving K-12 education, making it easier for startup businesses, and leveraging the medical education complex shared by ODU and Eastern Virginia Medical School, as well as investing in projects that keep our military here. Pulling together our resources to create a better environment for businesses while encouraging those with talents and resources to stay should be the long-term goal for our region. “Let’s do it together,” Koch said. “We’ve made some progress, but I think we have a long distance to go before we are really behaving as a region of 1.7 million people.” Q IBQMAG.COM 23
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More Than Cookies Regional Girl Scouts CEO says organization’s main job is to create leaders
by Susan Smigielski Acker photos by Eric Lusher
As CEO of Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast Council, Tracy Keller stresses career preparation. Cookie sales are a business lesson involving inventory, distribution and financial literacy.
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pend a few minutes talking to Tracy Keller, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast Council, and you’ll walk away believing two things: Women need to play a larger role in this country’s leadership and the Girl Scouts are a key to making that happen. “Only 19 percent of Congress is women. That is not enough,” she said. Keller leads 12,000 girls, 5,000 adult volunteers and 55 staff members in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina in an effort to train leaders, entrepreneurs and humanitarians. “The need for female leadership has never been clearer or more urgent than it is today – and only Girl Scouts has the expertise to give girls and young women the tools they need for success,” Keller said. “To support our mission is to support the healthy growth of our nation.” Keller, herself a Girl Scout, began her rise to CEO in 1997, after leaving a successful career as a chef. “I felt I needed a break from the kitchen and to reinvent myself,” she said. She was hired by the council as tem-
porary part-time data entry clerk, and within a few months she became a fulltime employee. Feeling she found her niche, Keller enrolled in business classes at Tidewater Community College. Nellie Hayes, former regional Girl Scouts CEO, mentored Keller, increasing her responsibilities. In turn, Keller aligned her class selection with her assigned duties. “I respected her so much that I chose my path based on what she was giving me to do,” Keller said. After earning her bachelor’s in computer science and math from Virginia Wesleyan College, Keller led the Girl Scouts’ information technology department. Later she was charged with the Scouts’ finance and business management department. Keller was appointed acting CEO when Hayes retired in 2004. During the permanent CEO search, a friend urged Keller to apply for the position. After what she described as an intense hiring process, at just 32 years old, she was offered the job. Marcy Germanotta, the Girl Scouts’ IBQMAG.COM 25
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longtime communications and marketing director, has worked with Keller for 17 years and knew her as a Girl Scout junior. “Tracy was a go-getter then, too. She was one of the girls we turned to when we needed a girl to speak at an event or to be part of an official flag ceremony,” Germanotta said. Like most CEOs, her days are filled with staff meetings. Unlike most CEOs though, she also meets with volunteers and community leaders. Keller oversees a financially stable organization with a $5 million budget provided by United Way grants and cookie sales. She remains approachable to volunteers and the girls. Keller talks to troops to keep her thumb on the council’s pulse, Germanotta said. “Overall, I came here and am here for the movement. It is an investment in opportunity and partnership,” Keller said. And a big part of that movement is increasing the role of women leaders. Keller points to the Girl Scout Impact Study of 2016, which showed that Girl Scouts are more likely than non-Girl Scouts to become leaders. For instance, all three female secretaries of state – Madeleine Korbel Albright, Condoleeza Rice, and Hillary Rodham Clinton – were Girl Scouts. Locally, leaders such as Chesapeake Health Department Public Health Director Nancy Welch and the late Meyera Oberndorf, who was mayor of Virginia Beach, were Girl Scouts. Keller has stressed a focus on career preparation and overcoming the perception that Girl Scouts is just about camping and life skills. “We are always thinking about how we can prepare them for future jobs,” Keller said. Take, for example, the ever-famous Girl Scout cookie sale as a business lesson. It involves customer development and re26 IBQ MARCH 2018
Keller’s trek to CEO star ted in childhood when she was a Scout.
tention, inventory, distribution, goal setting, persistence, and financial literacy. The 27 entrepreneur badges that can be earned teach research and development and marketing. Currently, a cybersecurity badge is being piloted for elementary-age Girl Scouts. The youngest group, Daisies, has 23 new badges involving robotics, computer programming and engineering. Keller frequently taps into Hampton Roads’ strong professional science and technology workforce for help. “We have an amazing network of partners such as NASA Langley and ODU’s engineering department who are
actively engaged with us,” she said. Board chair and eight-year board member Carolene Goodwyn-Harris credits Keller for strong community partnerships with the council. At business and community events, Keller sports her scout uniform: a blue suit, a scarf dotted with the Girl Scout emblem and a lapel pin. “She is a great ambassador in developing support for our programs with companies and community organizations because she brings excitement,” Goodwyn-Harris said. “Even after all the years, she still has a passion and fire for the girls.” Q
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ACCESSing Opportunities Thirty years in, Bonnie Sutton still loves helping kids get to college by Tom Robinson
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hen Bonnie Sutton exchanged a secretarial job with Norfolk Public Schools for one with a nonprofit startup, she hoped she could help change the lives of some needy young people. She had no idea then how much that simple move would change her own life. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the ACCESS College Foundation, a nonprofit that started when local philanthropists Frank Batten and Joshua Darden Jr. learned of the money in local and federal college aid that annually went unclaimed. The issue, they discovered, was that too many people were unaware of the opportunities. So the pair hired Bert Hindmarsh, the retiring principal of Lake Taylor High, as executive director of what was then called the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation and tasked him with solving the problem. Since then the organization has guided nearly 60,000 students to post-secondary education with the help of $600 million in aid, including $9 million of its own grants. Those figures swell each year by roughly 4,000 students and $50 million. Eric Lusher photo
Frank Batten, Joshua Darden and former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles meet at Lake Taylor High School in 1988 to discuss forming the Tidewater Scholarship Foundation, now known as ACCESS College Foundation.
Sutton, 59, brought on originally as Hindmarsh’s secretary, has since 2000 led the organization. And while the ever-increasing numbers of students helped by ACCESS make her smile, it is the stories behind those numbers that truly touch her. “They’re personal for me,” Sutton says. “I know if ACCESS hadn’t connected the dots for these students, they might have had a very different outcome.”
It would take a while to list 60,000 stories, but most share a similar theme: a low-income student, often from challenging family circumstances, finds life-changing guidance and success through connection with the program. Melody Williams, once a failing high school freshman at Bayside High School, is a Norfolk State English professor thanks to ACCESS. “My adviser took on the role of what a parent would do,” she IBQMAG.COM 31
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says. “She was essential.” Rachel Swinson, a Woodrow Wilson High School graduate who dealt with years of domestic upheaval, is a Longwood University freshman on a $25,000 ACCESS scholarship. “I don’t think I’d be at Longwood without ACCESS,” says the aspiring kindergarten teacher, the first in her family to go to college. And another Wilson graduate, Cameron Williams, has a degree from Old Dominion University thanks to ACCESS. “So many students are in the same situation. They have the grades and the potential, but they don’t know how to get started,” he says. There are ACCESS advisers in every public high school in South Hampton Roads and Northampton County. They work with guidance staffs to help students find available financial aid, keeping them aware of time lines, and walking them through the application process. The latter includes filling out a student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), an often-intimidating necessity to receive government money. A Portsmouth resident, Sutton married at 20 and had just an associate’s degree when she joined ACCESS. That changed when community advocate Joan Brock, an ACCESS supporter along with her late husband, Macon, convinced Sutton to attend Virginia Wesleyan College’s adult studies program. Sutton followed through and earned her degree in management at 41. “I just thought the world was her oyster if she had a degree,” says Brock, who has twice chaired the ACCESS board. “She was so good at what she was doing, but why not reach for the next level?” By then an ACCESS program director, Sutton, newly credentialed, was the logical choice to become executive director. Three years later, in 2003, her title 32 IBQ MARCH 2018
Since Bonnie Sutton began her career with ACCESS 30 years ago, the organization has guided nearly 60,000 students to post-secondary education. Photo cour tesy of ACCESS College Foundation.
changed to president and CEO. She has overseen the organization’s growth to 43 full-time staff. The majority are advisers, three of whom circulate through low-income middle schools. Headquartered in the Norfolk Fitness and Wellness Center on Newport Avenue, the organization operates on a $4 million budget, which is met with the help of donors and its existing $43 million endowment. From that pot comes $800,000 a year in “last dollar” scholarships ACCESS uses to bridge gaps between a student’s other financial aid and family resources. The most substantial ACCESS grant is its $25,000 scholarship raised in partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic. Sutton is on a quest to make it easier to get federal money by simplifying the FAFSA. Many families find the form too complex and give up; $24 billion a year is forfeited, Sutton says. She’s lobbied in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the National College Access Network, of which ACCESS is one of nine founding members. Her passion rarely goes unrecognized. “It’s really obvious how much it means to Bonnie to be able to do this work,” says Aaron Spence, Virginia Beach Public Schools superintendent and the ACCESS board superintendent director. “She’s really good at inspiring a lot of high-caliber people to get on board and do some im-
pressive things, in terms of committing their time and their treasure.” A critical development over the past decade, Sutton notes, is the presence of ACCESS advisers on college campuses. Three “college success advisers” rotate among 13 Virginia campuses to help ACCESS scholars navigate financial, academic and even social hurdles. The strategy is working. ACCESS boasts 90 percent of its scholars graduate in six years, roughly a third more than the national average. And Sutton says those who live at home typically graduate with no debt, although resident students owe on average $20,000. “That isn’t great,” she says, “but it’s a fact of life that if you’re going to live on campus, generally you’ll have to take a loan.” As the organization’s highest-profile fundraiser, Sutton says her primary challenge remains community awareness, even after 30 years. When not hard at that work, Sutton and her husband of 39 years, Tom, dote on their two grandchildren. They relax at the Outer Banks. But Sutton plans to anchor her days in ACCESS for years. “I go home every day feeling awesome,” she says. “I thought I’d probably retire at 65, but I don’t want to stop doing this in five years. As long as I can continue to help this organization evolve into something even more important than it was the year before, I’m going to do it.” Q
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Birthing Business Will a business incubator help bring retail to downtown Norfolk?
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by Esther Keane photos by Bill Tiernan
elden Market opened downtown in October as Norfolk’s first retail incubator for new and emerging businesses, a pilot venture that the Downtown Norfolk Council hopes will lead to more retail success in an increasingly tough environment. The idea is pretty simple. It allows potential businesses to dip a toe into the pool, without getting totally wet. Concepts with promise gain a following and eventually find their own storefront. But will it work? 34 IBQ MARCH 2018
“It’s good on paper but its implementation is what makes it a success or not,” said Susan Moore, director of the Retail Alliance’s Center for Retail Excellence. “It’s proven as a concept that can be used, but its success depends on a lot of factors.” It’s no secret retail is changing. With the rise of online giants like Amazon, brick-and-mortar storefronts have struggled to keep up. The genesis of Selden Market began in 2015 with DNC’s Vibrant Spaces program, the goal of which was to create street-level vibrancy. The program sought out six spaces in downtown Norfolk and
worked with landlords so they could offer tenants a reduced rent, plus a $20,000 startup grant toward opening. “We had set out a bunch of criteria as to what we thought were defining characteristics of a vibrant street-level business,” said Drew Ungvarsky, Grow CEO and chairman of the Vibrant Spaces committee. “I’m especially thinking about the future of retail. It’s all about creating experiences and hybrids with services that make for a can’t-miss-inperson experience.” Of the 87 applicants that applied to the program, more than half applied for the smallest space. The committee saw
Selden Market offers retail space for new and emerging businesses such as Doughminion Donuts, Werrell Woodworks, and Wer ther Leather Goods to name a few.
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a gap between the market demand and what was actually available, and began working toward a solution. “We saw a ton of really exciting ideas in the group that applied for the small space, but it was very risky for them to go into those spaces as first-time renters with a multi-year commitment,” Ungvarsky said. The answer was a retail incubator market, an opportunity for people to receive support and grow into the community. The committee researched incubators and markets from across the country, including the Chelsea Market in New York and the Beehive in Atlanta, in order to find a model that would work for Norfolk. “There are pieces of what we are doing that are in place around the country, but nobody has done it exactly the way we have,” said Mary Miller, DNC president and CEO.
The Selden Market is built on three levels of businesses: mentors, incubators and pop-ups. Mentors are storefronts that have been in business for at least three years and can offer at least five hours a month of support to the other tenants. The next step down are incubators, businesses that sign a six-month lease and receive training through a partnership with the Center for Retail Excellence. They also receive support from the market as they grow their business. The final tier is for pop-ups, a kiosk model where people can come in and test out concepts by the week or the month. “Having them all together in this environment means they are learning from one another and they are building good relationships,” Miller said. “The mentors are there on site to be able to step in and interject suggestions.” With an amazing location – the market is connected to the Slover Library and surrounded by Waterside, the MacArthur mall, the Main, the Norfolk Waterside Marriott and new apartments – and with the support and training necessary to succeed, the incubator model stands out because of its community mindset. The benefit of having people walk sideby-side with new business owners is that it helps people identify themselves as retailers and it creates a sense of community. “We often think it’s a cut-throat mar-
ketplace, a dog-eat-dog world,” Moore said. “But the truth is actually quite different. The idea of building community in a retail community is very helpful for the nurturing of young businesses, which then add to the value of existing businesses.” It’s a give-and-take that benefits everyone, including the city. Selden Market hopes to have a rotating selection of businesses, with the goal of graduating people out of the market into their own space. “The Selden Market opportunity has been a dream come true,” said Brooke Miller, co-owner of Velvet Witch, a curated gift shop. “It takes a lot to start a business, and we are getting established here with clients … We have the ultimate goal to get out into the city and have a bigger space to do the things we really want to do.” The current businesses have hosted a variety of events, including workshops, tastings, meditation sessions, and a producer showcase and open beat session. “It seems like everyone has their own mentor, and I’ve been able to rely on Kisha Frazier, the owner of Hummingbird Macarons & Desserts,” said Stephanie Dietz, owner of Doughminion Donuts, an incubator business. “We have become such a close community here, and it’s great to have a business-owner friend just across the hall. We have said we need to find businesses near each other when we move on.” “They have each other,” said Careyann Weinberg, Selden Market retail director. “The goal is to support each other through their marketing and find ways to team up and cross-promote, which is exactly what you want in the community.” Q
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LARCHMONT Norfolk Anne Marie Burroughs 757-213-0511 $1,165,000
LYNNHAVEN ACRES Virginia Beach Tom Duckett 757-620-8781 $925,000
CHESAPEAKE BEACH Virginia Beach Jonell Walthall 757-639-3516 $815,000
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ALGONQUIN PARK Norfolk Lauren Conner 757-407-2722 $775,000
ASHBYS BRIDGE Virginia Beach Monique Darling 757-237-1719 $735,965
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RecoveryTrek Helping people get back to work
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Kirk Cizerle, Recovery Trek CEO
by Sandra J. Pennecke photo by Eric Lusher
rom a spare room in his home in 2011, Kirk Cizerle started what has become a national substance-use tracking firm that employs a team of 25 and works with more than 100 monitoring programs and treatment centers across the country and overseas. RecoveryTrek, now located in the Wells Fargo building in Norfolk, gets its name from the fact that drug and alcohol addiction is a lifelong trek to recovery. It was inspired by Cizerle’s previous work with a similar company. “As the saying goes, I thought I could build a better mousetrap and create some differentiators that would allow us to do better than anyone else,” he said. RecoveryTrek’s cloud-based management software supports programs that monitor people as they go through recovery. It provides clients a platform from which to work, be it the company, the health professional or the individual. Seventy-five percent of RecoveryTrek’s clients are in professional monitoring treatment programs that are set up by licensure boards. Those clients, which include nurses, doctors and attorneys, are either under investigation, referred or volunteer themselves. Janet Knisely, administrative director of the Virginia Health Practitioners’ Monitoring Program, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, said RecoveryTrek has helped increase the program’s efficiency and quality.
“We are virtually 100 percent electronic now and things don’t slip through the cracks,” Knisely said. “If a report comes into the system, we know about it. RecoveryTrek reduces staff’s time of the mundane tracking of things so we can spend more of our time with the real issues and that’s talking to the clients.” RecoveryTrek also provides a drug and alcohol testing program, which is usually through an automated random selection. Another facet the company recently developed is called CareTrek, which was designed to work with other individuals (nonlicensed professionals) who might benefit from a continuing care monitoring program. “The licensed professional community in recovery going through monitoring has an 80 percent-plus success rate,” Cizerle said. “The general community coming out of treatment has almost the exact opposite. So there is about an 80 percent chance that you are going to relapse without monitoring.” Long-term monitoring of progress, accountability, drug and alcohol testing, and the deterrent factors associated with the structured continuing care program help with rehabilitation and success. “The mission of these programs and what we directly support is twofold. One is to protect the public from folks who may be under the influence or could be at risk and the other is to advocate for the individual,” Cizerle said. “The idea is for everyone to be successful. At the end of the day, what we do for a living does help people. As a company, we help people get their lives back and get back to work.” Q IBQMAG.COM 39
IBQ | TRENDING
Crawling out of the cubicle
by Betsy DiJulio | photos by Eric Lusher
More companies are finding that where you work can make a difference in how you work Sway Creative Labs in Norfolk
40 IBQ MARCH 2018
T
AKE A STEP INSIDE Sway Creative Labs in Norfolk’s Freemason district and it quickly becomes clear that this isn’t your typical business. From the spare and contemporary “resimercial” living room-like entrance with a bike hanging on the wall and an adjacent mural that reads “Make Something Better,” to the openstudio-style workspace and hip residentialleaning kitchen, it’s obvious that work gets done differently here. Sway’s co-owners and creative directors, Bryce Picard and Jarrett Beeler, designed the 2,700-square-foot space themselves to ensure that their shuffleboard table and conference table share equal billing. “We knew going in we wanted a space that was inspirational and portrayed our personality,” Picard says. “We’re not corporate; we’re a young independent agency built on creativity, and our space needs to reflect that.” If the antithesis of this work environment – the office cubicle – has become for you or your employees a place of desperation rather than inspiration, then have faith because there is another way.
IBQ | TRENDING
Work Program Architects in Norfolk (above, left, below)
Sway and Work Program Architects (WPA) are just two organizations locally that have embraced the national/international trend of employee-centered workscapes, marked by greater openness, informality, comfort and adaptability. The term “cubicle� has long been synonymous with drudgery, the stuff of dystopian films and art. Robert Propst, a designer for the Herman Miller furniture company, designed the maligned system as a way to give employees space for privacy in wide-open areas. But that design concept is quickly falling out of favor with furniture design companies like Knoll, Steelcase and, ironically, Herman Miller who are among those leading the charge to bring down the walls within these rabbit warren-like spaces. The problems cubicles were intended to solve are the very ones
The kitchen area at Sway Creative
IBQ | TRENDING
Above, below: Sway Creative Labs
the new open concept designs are intended to address, e.g., employee energy levels, innovation and productivity. Propst believed the way to achieve ideals of employee autonomy, flexibility and independence was by carving out semi-private spaces for workers. In contrast, many of today’s employers and designers believe those ideals are achieved by the choice of where, how and even when to work. Nowadays, a growing emphasis on nurturing the physical and emotional well-being of employees, as well as their levels of innovation and productivity, seems to have emerged in tandem with a greater awareness of branding and the role physical space plays in communicating the nuances of a company’s DNA to its employees, clients, competitors and stockholders. While corner offices have long signaled prestige and status, and gleaming mahogany furniture stability and security, many of today’s companies are investing in design-based metaphors to communicate the layered complexities of their core values and corporate cultures. WPA has crafted its own brand of authentic design in keeping with its stated core values of collaboration, community focus, transparency
“It is important to do different work in different kinds of spaces,”
– WPA co-owner Thom White
42 IBQ MARCH 2018
IBQ | TRENDING
and a process-driven approach. Located in historic Norfolk’s Monticello Arcade, WPA features rows of table-like desks in a pair of wide-open studios with lights on dimmers. In addition, the firm has flexible, mixed-use space across the arcade. The main office includes lounge areas and a galley-style kitchen that give its employees comfortable, adaptable places to think, work, put their feet up and put their heads together with colleagues and clients. It was important to WPA – in fact, recalls co-owner Mel Price, “it was written into our business plan” – to locate the business in a historic building at street level in order to physically connect the team to the community it serves. The contemporary interior projects a kind of freshness juxtaposed with the building’s air of permanence. The WPA gallery space provides another context for engag-
ing with members of the community, while large expanses of windows facing both the street and the arcade – some used as wipe-off boards for brainstorming – help create literal transparency. And the studio environment, with small tables and rolling chairs that can be pulled together or apart to facilitate meetings within meetings, supports the creative process-driven approach to the work. “It is important to do different work in different kinds of spaces,” says co-owner Thom White. So, while seeing your account representative sailing past on a skateboard, tablet in hand, may or may not signal a high-quality, professional work environment, more leaders are recognizing the need to create balanced spaces that help employees succeed. “Do good work for folks,” says Picard, “and your business grows organically.” Q
Below: Work Program Architects
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IBQ | LET’S DO LUNCH
Seared sea scallops and roasted beet risotto
46 IBQ MONTH 2018 Butternut squash pancakes with bacon
Crabby Bennie with home fries
IBQ | LET’S DO LUNCH
Simple Eats Casually great spot on Shore Drive by Judy Cowling photos by Eric Lusher
S
o you joined a gym, cleaned out your inbox and exercised every day this year. Great. Keep up the positive momentum by establishing healthy eating habits and adding this restaurant to your list of resolutions. Simple Eats on Shore Drive in Virginia Beach is beach-cottage casual and about as relaxed as a cat lounging in the sun. But take a closer look and you will see that Simple Eats means business when it comes to lunch. Formerly home to a dimly lit biker bar, the restaurant is now all about light and charm. A couple of coats of crisp white paint cover the previously smokestained ceiling tiles and brick interior walls. Corrugated sheet metal panels, weathered wood, mismatched furniture and handmade oyster shell chandeliers supply the character. Strings of outdoor lights crisscross overhead and an attractive divider of recycled window frames separates the front room from the back. There’s also a shaded outdoor porch with picnic tables and water bowls for the pooches. Breakfast and lunch are served all day at Simple Eats. Choose among breakfast burritos, biscuits and gravy, shrimp and grits, an Edwards ham country omelet, sweet potato and brussels sprout hash, fish tacos, or a seared catch. The salads
Sandy Schmidtmann, Ronnie Brown.
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IBQ | LET’S DO LUNCH
are farm-stand fresh, the meatloaf tastes like grandma’s and the menu offers something for every palate and purse. Stopping in for a quick solo or business lunch? You might want to sit at the long communal table with tractor-seat stools. Or have a roundtable meeting when you gather your group at one of the three commanding ten-tops propped up by legs made from industrial piping. Sturdy farm tables seat four 48 IBQ MARCH 2018
to eight for smaller meetings. The back room can accommodate up to 100 for private events. Owner Sandy Schmidtmann says Simple Eats is a product of the lessons she learned during her 30 years in restaurant management at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg and Taste Unlimited on Shore Drive in Virginia Beach. “The restaurant industry is all I’ve ever known. I love food and peo-
ple,” she said. “I’ve treated every restaurant I’ve worked in as if it were mine but I always knew I could do it on my own.” Schmidtmann hired Ronnie Brown to be the chef in October 2016. Brown brings 30 years of experience to the table, having worked at Crawdad Café, Bogey’s, 501CityGrillandCoyoteCaféinVirginia Beach and then Byrd & Baldwin Bros. Steakhouse, 4-5-6 Fish, Bodega and 219 American Bistro in Norfolk.
IBQ | LET’S DO LUNCH
Born in Portsmouth and a graduate of First Colonial High School, Brown has learned from some of the area’s best chefs, including Todd Jurich, Sam McGann, Rick Maggard and Willie Moats. When Brown became chef at Simple Eats, he reorganized the kitchen to streamline workflow and implement his system. “I can now get meals out of the kitchen and onto the table in
10 minutes,” he said. Brown says he believes in cooking seasonally to take advantage of ingredients on hand. “A flash cold spell caused the speckled trout to swim so close to the shores of the Lynnhaven we could scoop ’em up in a net. You better believe we featured pan-seared speckled trout with white wine lemon butter sauce until we ran out,” he said. Simple Eats is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sweet potato hash bowl with Brussels sprouts and bacon
Sundays through Thursdays and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Summer hours are 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays and Mondays and 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Q Simple Eats 3152 Shore Dr., Virginia Beach 757.962.3676, simpleeatsvb.com.
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IBQ | MENTORS
Dawna Ellis CFO at Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate
by Kate Meechan
PAYING IT FORWARD
Dawna Ellis, pictured above, is on the board of directors for VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads.
rue mentorship happens organically. Over the past seven years, Dawna Ellis has made a huge impact on who I am. Not because she was “assigned” to mentor me or because I chose her. It just happened. She was on the board of directors for
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VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads when I joined the organization as director of corporate relations. When she became board chair, the nonprofit underwent a huge leadership change. Our executive director left. I was not only pulled in to fill this role, but also pulled under Dawna’s wing. She has the strongest work ethic of anyone I’ve ever met. Her moral compass and her sense of loyalty – to family, to friends, to commitments, to service – are beyond measure. She’s brilliant and intuitive. She listens intently and absorbs and reflects before responding. She perseveres through challenges and obstacles and relies on her faith that it will all work out. She pushes herself to her limits and comes out stronger every time. She has advised me, guided me and coached me through rough spots and successes. And she has orchestrated opportunities for me. Dawna has had a tremendous mentor in her life and perhaps that is what has made her such an amazing mentor to me. I look forward to the moment when I get to play that role for someone else. Q Kate Meechan is the CEO of VOLUNTEER Hampton Roads, a local nonprofit that links businesses with organizations that can help them make a positive impact on the community.