News & Features
Virginia Economic Review
Our quarterly publication, Virginia Economic Review, provides an insider look at Virginia’s economy, its diverse array of world-class companies, its amazing talent, and its stunning natural beauty, as well as insights from national thought leaders.
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Sauer Brands, Inc., Richmond
Sauer Sells a Virginia Tradition Overseas
From its humble 1887 beginnings selling food-flavoring extracts and spices from a pushcart on Richmond’s Broad Street, the company formerly known as The C.F. Sauer Company enters the new decade as Sauer Brands, Inc., a leading packaged-food manufacturer.
The Hershey Company, Augusta County
A Sweet Boot Camp at Hershey's
In the spring of 2018, Kristen Wilson wanted to jump back into full-time work after spending several years at home with her two children.
Unilever, Suffolk
Virginia in your Cup
A confluence of geographical, workforce, and other advantages has put Hampton Roads in a strong position in the caffeinated beverage industry.
videoNEXT products on display in the Saudi Telecom booth at Gitex Dubai 2018.
Virginia’s Exporters of Service Find Success Abroad
With the global threat of terrorism on the rise, Virginia technology security services firms are parlaying security concerns into surging revenue growth overseas. Chantilly-based videoNEXT, which provides security and surveillance management software to U.S.
Tim Sands' Bold Vision for Virginia Tech
Timothy D. Sands is the 16th president of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, joining the university in June 2014. VEDP’s President and CEO, Stephen Moret, recently spoke with President Sands about exciting new developments at Virginia Tech.
04.16.2022
Greg LeRoy Puts Good Jobs First
Greg LeRoy is the founder and executive director of Good Jobs First, a national policy resource center promoting corporate and government accountability in economic development. Good Jobs First provides information on best practices in state and local job subsidies.
Remaking Economic Development
Amy Liu is vice president and director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and the Adeline M. and Alfred I. Johnson Chair in Urban and Metropolitan Policy.
SYKES Enterprises, Inc., Wise County
04.16.2022
High Tech Comes to the Coalfields
The year 2006 marked a turning point for the town of Lebanon, for Russell County, and for the Southwest corner of Virginia: CGI, a Canadian company with a strong presence in tech-heavy Northern Virginia, located its first U.S. onshore delivery center in Lebanon.
Virginia State University
On Target for Tech Talent
How Virginia's Plan to Double its Tech-Talent Pipeline by Aligning Resources at All Levels Hits the Bull's-Eye When it comes to building a comprehensive strategy for increasing talent to meet the technology workforce demands of today and tomorrow, there is a nationwide call by employers for talent with skills that include a particular focus on software development, engineering, machine learning, artificial intelligence, user experience design, and user interface design — all competencies with roots in computer science.
The Motley Fool, Alexandria
The New Dominion
In 1969, an ad agency in Richmond developed one of the most enduring tourism marketing slogans of all time — Virginia is for Lovers. In the decades since, the slogan became legendary; not only because it was catchy, but because it was true.
Selling Sustainability: A Conversation With Joel Salatin
Joel Salatin is the owner and operator of Polyface Farms in Augusta County, which focuses on sustainable, environmentally friendly agriculture. He has authored 11 books, including “Salad Bar Beef,” “Pastured Poultry Profit$,” and “The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer.”
What's Next for the Food & Beverage Industry? A Conversation With Top Site Consultants
Food and beverage processors operate in an industry where even the most successful companies depend on low margins and economies of scale. That means even the smallest advantage can be a differentiating factor when locating a new facility.
Norfolk International Terminals, Norfolk
Completing the Chain
From the Port to Cold Storage to Packaging, Virginia's Supply Chain Helps Feed America and the World The information age has empowered consumers to demand more from their products. Deloitte’s 2019 Future of Fresh study found that two-thirds of U.S.
Deborah Pratt, of Middlesex County on the Middle Peninsula, has won the National Oyster Shucking Championship Contest 11 times.
America's Seafood Leaders
It's challenging to remember a time when Virginia — the nation’s third-largest seafood-producing state — wasn’t known for its flavorful, briny oysters and succulent clams, but the late 1990s and early 2000s were a dark era for shellfish producers.
04.01.2022
'We Go to Space to Improve Life on Earth': A Conversation With Peter Beck
Peter Beck is CEO, CTO, and founder of Rocket Lab, a private space company with commercial launch sites in New Zealand and Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
Aurora Flight Sciences, Manassas
America's Unmanned Future
The age of autonomous vehicles has arrived. Autonomous shuttles, cars, farm equipment, mining equipment and trucks, on-highway trucks, and construction equipment will be here soon or are already commercially available.
The Big Reveal
When Amazon announced Northern Virginia as the location for its new headquarters (HQ2), it revealed more than the winning region. It revealed Virginia’s not-so-secret identity: Technology Talent Juggernaut.
Michael Shaps Wineworks, Albemarle County
From Grapes and Grain to Glass
Virginia's Surging Craft Beverage Industry Virginia's first brush with alcoholic beverage production came in 1620, when English settler George Thorpe distilled the first batch of corn whiskey in what would become the United States at the Jamestown settlement near Williamsburg.



