Virginia Economic Review

Lance Harcrow is chief operating officer at Estes Forwarding Worldwide (EFW), a subsidiary of Estes Express Lines and a leading domestic and international freight forwarder headquartered in Chesterfield County.

Dr. Myra Blanco is chief growth officer at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) and CEO of the university’s Dock to Door Coalition, a partnership of nearly 100 organizations across industry, education, and government that works to develop an integrated approach to modern freight transportation by solving critical supply chain issues.

Ashleigh de la Torre is vice president of public policy at Amazon, where she leads the company’s transportation and sustainability initiatives, supporting its operations, logistics, and delivery businesses across land, air, and sea.

April Wade is executive director of the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium (VNEC), which represents stakeholders invested in research and development, workforce development, innovation, and advocacy for the nuclear energy industry.

Will Payne is managing partner of economic development firm Coalfield Strategies, the director of InvestSWVA, a public-private partnership aimed at attracting companies to the western portion of Virginia, and an adviser to the Energy DELTA Lab research and development facility in Wise County.

His hair and mustache grayed, 74-year-old Mike Quillen is no longer flexible enough to regularly walk the mines of Southwest Virginia, where he started a career that saw him build a company that became the sixth-largest coal supplier in the world — although he does plan to be underground for his 75th birthday.