REGIONAL VIEW eastern virginia
ODU wins grants from new economic development initiative by Rich Griset
O
ld Dominion Uni- versity will receive grants totaling nearly
$1.3 million from a new Vir- ginia economic development initiative for two workforce programs.
The grants come from
Virginia Growth and Oppor- tunity (GO Virginia), which aims to boost private-sector growth and job creation in regions throughout the commonwealth. In its first round of fund-
ing, the 24-member GO Vir- ginia board approved grants for five projects, including two at ODU. The univer- sity will receive $647,540 for a digital shipbuilding workforce training program and $642,713 toward the Hampton Roads Cyberse- curity Education, Workforce and Economic Development Alliance (HRCyber). ODU’s projects, which are expected to be up and running by March, aim to create about 2,000 jobs within five years.
FOR THE RECORD
Blue Ridge Lumber Co. LLC plans to invest nearly $2.7 mil- lion in its Essex County lumber- yard. The project is expected to create 17 jobs. The company is adding dry kiln capacity to increase hardwood exports. Blue Ridge Lumber has been selling Appalachian hardwoods since 1981, operating six facilities throughout Virginia and exporting products around the world. The company has com- mitted to purchase more than $5.2 million of Virginia logs and lumber during the next three years. (
VirginiaBusiness.com)
Fairlead Integrated has started construction on a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in
Terry McAuliffe identified 36,000 unfilled cyber jobs in the commonwealth. HRCy- ber is working to address that skills gap. During the past few
Eric Weisel, executive director of ODU’s Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center, says the grants will help create jobs geared toward digital businesses.
The grants will “allow us to collaborate within the industry and create jobs that are geared towards the digital enterprise,” says Eric Weisel, executive director for ODU’s Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC), which is handling the projects. The shipbuilding and
workforce program will work with companies to create an industry board, promote
Virginia Beach. It will be larger than the company’s existing manufacturing site in Chesapeake. Fairlead said the project at 561 London Bridge Road will extend its manufacturing footprint and allow the Portsmouth-based company to prepare for increased demand from military customers for hardware and software. Fairlead makes products that are part of mission-critical systems in the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz and Ford-class aircraft carriers, Virginia-class submarines, all classes of surface combatants and amphibious ships. (
VirginiaBusiness.com)
Insurance firm Geico said it plans to hire about 500 people in Virginia Beach now that the
12 FEBRUARY 2018
workforce development and develop a curriculum for training a digital labor force of about 8,500 people. Other funds not tied to GO Virginia already have been earmarked to create a digital shipbuilding lab at VMASC’s facility in Suffolk. HRCyber meanwhile
is a pre-existing partnership aimed at educating Hampton Roads’ cybersecurity work- force. Last year, then- Gov.
regional office will be handling all the sales, service and claims for the state of Tennessee. The office, which oversees the company’s Virginia and North Carolina operations, employs 2,985 people. Geico had a growth spurt in December 2016, too, when it expanded by 500 people in Virginia Beach. Director of Human Resources Beth Roberts said the hiring will take place in the next few months and some of the jobs will replace people who have earned promotions and trans- ferred to other locations. (The Virginian-Pilot)
Global Technical Systems (GTS), a Virginia Beach- based provider of advanced engineering solutions for the defense and homeland security
years, federal grants and in-kind matching funds have been used to expand an existing VMASC facility, the HRCyber Collaboration Laboratory. It promotes regional innovation in the fields of cybersecurity, data analytics, virtual tech- nologies and autonomous
vehicles. The $642,713 GO
Virginia grant will be used for workforce development and innovation programs administered through the lab. The project is expected to help create digital jobs through internships and incentives with startups and other businesses, while crafting a “Cyber Arena,” a virtual environment to test new technologies within the network.
industries, plans to build a $54.7 million, 500,000-square- foot manufacturing center that would create 1,100 jobs. GTS plans to build an electro- mechanical energy storage system operation. It would produce and distribute 100 percent green energy storage systems using advanced composites and engineering technologies. The building will be located on about 30 acres of land currently owned by the city of Virginia Beach, at the site of the former Owl’s Creek Golf Course. (
VirginiaBusiness.com)
More than 75 people are los- ing their seats on the board of directors for the Hampton Roads Economic Develop- ment Alliance. The board will shrink to 23 people, down from
more than 100. Alliance Presi- dent and CEO Rick Weddle said the smaller board and other changes will improve the organization and modernize the way it’s governed. The alli- ance’s governance model was designed in 1997 and received minor updates in 2005. (Inside Business)
Biotechnology packaging company Instant Systems is expanding in Norfolk. The com- pany plans to invest more than $900,000 to purchase equip- ment for new product lines and training related to its packaging technology. The project is expected to create 72 jobs and retain 26 positions, nearly tri- pling the size of the company’s workforce. Founded in 2005, Instant Systems makes custom,
Photo by Mark Rhodes
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