Virginia Economic Review

When executives at Traditional Medicinals decided to build an East Coast manufacturing and processing operation, they cast a wide net.

Why So Many Executives Choose Virginia for Their Corporate Headquarters The last few decades have solidified Virginia’s position as America’s hometown for corporate headquarters. In total, 580 companies have relocated to or expanded headquarters offices in Virginia in the last decade.

Brantley Ivey, general manager of River Ridge Land and Cattle Co. and managing partner of Landcrafted Food, recalls overhearing a farmer comment at the Virginia Governor’s Conference on Agricultural Trade: “If you’re not selling everywhere you can domestically, don’t consider exporting.”

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 all stories through which the challenges, issues, prospects, and hopes of rural America are studied in different ways.

Seth Martindale is a senior managing director with CBRE Consulting. He has extensive experience in real estate strategic planning, working with both private and public sector clients.

Ben Davenport has been a champion for economic development in rural Virginia for decades. Davenport is chairman of First Piedmont Corporation as well as Davenport Energy.

Companies Find Tech Talent in the Mountains and Valleys of Virginia Big cities have long been synonymous with economic opportunity. But what if that's not universally true?

Virginia Talent Accelerator Program Delivers Custom Workforce Solutions to Companies How does a company find and train the skilled employees that will ultimately determine whether it succeeds or fails?

Virginia looks to increase the availability of development-ready sites with a two-pronged approach of characterization and development, working to bring business-ready sites online with greater speed and transparency than ever before.

...and How One State Has Set Out to Tackle It The Brookings Institution recently published a troubling analysis highlighting an expanding economic divide between metro areas (especially large ones) and rural areas in the U.S., as large metro areas have enjoyed considerably faster growth than smaller metros and rural localities.

Tom Barkin is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Barkin joined the Richmond Fed in January 2018. In his time in Richmond, Barkin has taken an interest in the issues leading to a divide between urban and rural areas in the Fed’s Fifth District.

Kevin Scott is chief technology officer and executive vice president, technology and research, at Microsoft, and the author of the 2020 book “Reprogramming the American Dream: From Rural America to Silicon Valley — Making AI Serve Us All,” which discusses how artificial intelligence can promote growth and benefit all of society.

Rita McClenny is president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC), the agency tasked with expanding domestic and international inbound travel and motion picture production in Virginia.

International Companies Find Advantages in Locating U.S. Headquarters in Virginia Foreign companies looking for a launching point to serve the U.S. and North American markets have many choices on where to plant their flag. Virginia has proven fruitful as that launching point for many of them.

New Amazonians are onboarding. Construction milestones are being met. From timelines to pipelines, Amazon’s mammoth HQ2 undertaking is on time and full speed ahead.

In the competitive realm of corporate headquarters location decisions, the COVID-19 pandemic upended the way companies operate and could have major ramifications on office space moving forward.

Building a community around the love of good beer has been a central part of the philosophy behind The Virginia Beer Company, LLC (VBC) since it opened in York County near Williamsburg in 2016.

Virginia's Veterans are a Natural Fit for Corporate Headquarters Virginia is home to 30 military installations and more than 721,000 veterans. It’s also home to 36 Fortune 1000 companies (eighth among U.S. states) and 2,300 corporate headquarters operations (seventh).