Virginia Economic Review

New or expanding companies want to know that they will be able to hire workers with the skills they need. While outside training providers offer established but generic faculty, facilities, and programs, in-house solutions allow for customization but require significant investment.

As more tenured employees must upskill and reskill to adjust to an economy that is increasingly reliant on technology and, specifically, artificial intelligence (AI), Generation Z workers are entering the labor market as the first generation of digital natives.

L. Scott Bradshaw enrolled at Mountain Empire Community College (MECC) in Wise County as a student who needed a second chance after spending 57 months in prison. He had a job in a tire shop, but he wasn’t earning enough to pay off his fines and take care of his daily needs.

Alison Lands is vice president of employer and workforce solutions at Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit that works to align the education and workforce systems to improve access to quality jobs for over 75 million American workers.

Tamara Fields is the national U.S. public service industry lead at Accenture, and managing director of the company’s Austin, Texas office.

Virginia’s long-held reputation as a top state for business is based on its strong economy, robust infrastructure, innovative incentives and programming, and, increasingly, its highly skilled workforce.

When Julia Boas and her husband, Patrick, have an errand to run or a friend to visit in their hometown of Roanoke, they rarely go by car. Instead, they hop on their e-bikes.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch published an op-ed by Rupa Murthy, CEO of YWCA Richmond, on December 11, 2025, titled “Is Affordable, Accessible Child Care the Hidden Barrier to Virginia’s Growth?”

Are you a transplant, a boomerang, or a lifelong Virginian? What brought you to the Commonwealth in the first place? I’m a transplant — I was born in Missouri, then lived in Ohio, Georgia, and South Carolina. I attended Clemson University and, after earning my Ph.D.

As Virginia celebrates the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, there's no better time to highlight the Commonwealth's unwavering commitment to those who have served our nation.

While most waterproofing products do their job entirely on the outside of a surface, Alchemco, Inc.’s products work from the inside out. The company has used VEDP’s International Trade services to pursue a similar inside-out path for its growth.

Joe Dunlap is the founder of BlueJ Advisors, a supply chain consulting firm for owners, operators, and investors. Previously, he spent nearly a decade at CBRE, where he oversaw the company’s supply chain practice, and has decades of supply chain experience with Accenture, FORTNA, Dematic, and UPS.

Stephen Edwards has served as the CEO and executive director of The Port of Virginia since 2021.

It’s not the first time Washington Dulles International Airport, having served record numbers of passengers the past two years, has eyed an expansion of its operations, infrastructure, and ultimately, air cargo volume. But this time, circumstances are different.

Sam Northington doesn’t want any military veteran to struggle like his dad did. After 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, his father retired as a master sergeant and went back to college to get his teaching credentials. “That didn’t really fit him. He never really taught,” Northington recalled.

When President Donald Trump announced in June he would “unleash drone dominance,” it’s no surprise that the Commonwealth looked to NASA and its 108-year-old Langley Research Center in Hampton for guidance.

If you imagine timelines as train tracks and key events as moments when tracks converge, this is a pivotal time for rail in Virginia.

Virginia’s transportation network faces congestion issues that come with population growth, and air travel is no exception.