MANUFACTURING
PAUL B. TOMS JR.
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, HOOKER FURNITURE CO., MARTINSVILLE
Toms serves as chairman and CEO of the Martinsville- based furniture manufacturing company his grand- father, Clyde Hooker Sr., founded in 1924. In June, Toms announced his Jan. 31, 2021, retirement after 20 years at the helm of Hooker Furniture Co. Following his retirement, he will remain chairman of the board, and Jeremy Hoff, president of Hooker’s legacy brands, will take his place as CEO. Toms joined the company in 1983. Under his
leadership, Hooker has grown from $50 million in the 1980s to $611 million in sales last year. In 2018, Toms was inducted into the American
Home Furnishings Hall of Fame, which cited the company’s expansions and acquisitions. Hooker in 2016 acquired Home Meridian International, making Hooker one of the nation’s top five furniture companies and placing it on the NASDAQ Global Select list. Outside of work, Toms is involved with the High
Point Market Authority, the Home Furnishings Council, the American Home Furnishings Alliance and the International Woodworking Fair. Locally, he supports the Boys & Girls Club of the Blue Ridge, the Martinsville-Henry County Chamber of Commerce and the Harvest Foundation.
GREGORY H. TREPP
PRESIDENT AND CEO, HAMILTON BEACH BRANDS HOLDING CO., GLEN ALLEN
Trepp joined the appliance manufacturing company in 1996 and has served as president and CEO since 2010. He previously worked as Hamilton Beach’s vice president of global operations. Hamilton Beach Brands has produced appliances
such as mixers, blenders and coffee makers since 2010. Te company became publicly traded in 2017 and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Te Glen Allen-based company includes two
business segments: Hamilton Beach Brands Inc., a designer, marketer and distributor of household and commercial appliances, and Te Kitchen Collection LLC, a chain of specialty housewares stores. Te two businesses used to operate as subsidiaries of Cleveland-based NACCO Industries Inc., which now focuses on coal mining. Hamilton Beach Brands appliances are top
sellers at retail stores, with the company reporting $612.8 million in revenue last year. It employs approximately 1,600 people, with more than 250 workers at its headquarters in Glen Allen’s Innsbrook Corporate Center. Trepp earned his bachelor’s degree from the
University of Richmond and his MBA from the University of Connecticut. Philanthropically, he supports the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School in Richmond through scholarships.
BRETT A. VASSEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION, RICHMOND
As head of the Virginia Manufacturers Association since 2002, Vassey represents about 6,000 companies employing more than 200,000 people. Te association serves as an educational and advocacy organization for the manufacturing industry, recently grappling with issues such as the governor’s new coronavirus workplace safety requirements and clean energy bills passed by the General Assembly. Aside from his duties with the VMA, Vassey is also president and CEO of the association’s Virginia Craft Brewers Guild affiliate, formed in 2010. A graduate of the University of Kansas and
Virginia Tech, where he received a master’s of public administration and policy degree, Vassey previously worked for the Virginia Department of Business Assistance and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. He is also chairman of the Consumer Energy Alliance board of directors, a position he’s held since 2018. In February, he wrote an op-ed for the Richmond
Times-Dispatch advocating public-private partner- ships to aid curbside recycling programs in Virginia, aiming for all plastic packaging to be reused, recycled or recoverable by 2040.
NEIL D. WILKIN JR.
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, OPTICAL CABLE CORP., ROANOKE
Wilkin has led Optical Cable since 2003, two years after joining the company as its chief financial officer. A former lawyer who worked at McGuireWoods and Kirkland & Ellis with a focus on mergers and acquisi- tion, he is a three-degree holder from the University of Virginia, including his bachelor’s, MBA and law degrees. Wilkin serves on the board of Carilion Clinic and chairs the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation board. He previously served on the Virginia Economic
Development Partnership board and has held leadership positions in other regional organizations, including the Blue Ridge Mountains Council of the Boy Scouts of America and the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council. Founded in 1983, Optical Cable manufactures and sells fiber optic cables to clients including the U.S. departments of Defense and Commerce and the Virginia state government. It employs more than 250 people in the Roanoke region. Like many companies, Optical saw a decrease in
consolidated net sales in the spring, a decline of 22.3% in the second quarter compared with the same quarter in 2019, and the company received a $5 million loan through the Paycheck Protection Program.
JAMES XU
CHAIRMAN, AVAIL VAPOR LLC, BLACKBRIAR REGULATORY SERVICES LLC AND BLACKSHIP TECHNOLOGIES LLC, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY
Xu co-founded e-cigarette liquid manufacturer and cannabidiol (CBD) products retailer Avail Vapor in 2013 and previously served as the company’s CEO. Avail, which started with just one retail location in Richmond, has grown to more than 99 stores in 11 states, with 30 locations in Virginia. It employs approximately 200 people through its stores and its Chesterfield County headquarters and manufactur- ing facility. In January, Avail Vapor divided its operations
into three separate businesses: Avail Vapor LLC (vapor retailer), Blackbriar Regulatory Services LLC (contract manufacturing, FDA compliance consult- ing) and Blackship Technologies LLC (research and development). Xu now serves as chairman for each of the three entities. Te subsidiaries manufacture and retail e-liquid
and CBD products such as e-liquid vapors, vaping devices and accessories. In June 2019, the company launched its own line of CBD products under brand name Leafana Wellness. Before he founded Avail Vapor, Xu and his sister,
Ting, (see Page 143) co-founded Evergreen Enterprises, which has become one of the largest home and gift wholesalers in the U.S. Xu has also been a member of the Committee on International Trade for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
JO VANHOREN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ALFA LAVAL INC., RICHMOND
Vanhoren joined 130-year-old Alfa Laval AB in 1991 after studying engineering in Belgium, his home country, and working in various capacities in the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. He became president and CEO of the company’s North American opera- tions in 2018. Based in Sweden, Alfa Laval produces air-heat
exchangers, separators, pumps and valves for the energy, marine and food sectors. Te company employs 1,700 people in the U.S. across 34 locations, including its Northern American headquarters in Henrico County, where it added a heat exchanger pro- duction line in 2019, bringing 90% of the product’s manufacturing to the United States. Te expansion was part of a $50 million nationwide overhaul in three cities, including facilities in Oklahoma and Indiana. During the coronavirus pandemic, Alfa Laval
supplied separators to pharmaceutical companies and pumps to hand sanitizer manufacturers. Currently, the company is focused on renewable energy, stream- lined distribution and digitalization, Vanhoren said in a recent interview.
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VIRGINIA 500
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