JERRY
MURRELL
FOUNDER AND CEO, FIVE GUYS BURGERS ENTERPRISES, LORTON
Murrell’s mom told him, “If you don’t study, you’ll be flipping burgers.” Tat was advice he took to heart, he told Inc. magazine in 2014. In 1986, Murrell and his wife, Janie, opened
Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Arlington. Te name referred to Murrell and the couple’s four sons. However, in 1988, Janie had one more son, so the “Five Guys” now refers to their five sons, all of whom work for the family business. Te fast-food chain has won praise from Washingtonian readers and Zagat’s annual fast food survey. Tey opened their restaurants in the metro
D.C. area, expanding into the franchise business in Virginia and Maryland in 2002. A year later, they went national. And within 10 years Forbes was writing about Five Guys becoming the country’s fastest-growing restaurant chain, reporting that it had topped $1 billion in revenue. Murrell’s company now has more than 1,500
locations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and beyond, adding a location in Singapore in December 2019.
WILLIAM D. ‘BILL’ NASH
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CARMAX INC., RICHMOND
After graduating from James Madison University, Nash spent two years as a CPA before taking a job with Circuit City — the company that started the used-car retailer CarMax with the idea of changing the car sales industry via a “no-haggle” perspective. It all seemed to fit, Nash told his alma mater’s
newspaper, Te Breeze: “I was looking to get into the operations, leverage my business background, my accounting background, and starting that auction group up and running — that just kind of checked all the boxes for me.” After shifting to CarMax in 1997, he was pro-
moted to a variety of executive positions before being named president and CEO in 2016. CarMax saw sales drop and stores close during
the coronavirus, but its 2019 fiscal year, which ended in February, saw an 11.8% increase in net sales, bring- ing its revenue to $20.32 billion. Te company is ranked No. 173 on the Fortune
500 and is one of 19 companies in Virginia on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality.” CarMax also pledged $1 million to racial justice efforts in 2020.
DREW PARKER
CEO, CARTER MACHINERY, SALEM
When Parker joined Carter Machinery in 2011, the company was transitioning back to a private, independent supplier of construction and mining equipment, engines and turbines. Carter traces its roots back 93 years, and by the
1980s it was one of the top-performing Caterpillar dealerships in North America. In 1988, Caterpillar acquired Carter, making it the only Caterpillar deal- ership not independently owned. By 2011, the company employed 1,200 people
in 23 facilities, serving Virginia and southern West Virginia. Tat year, Caterpillar sold Carter back to a group of senior managers that included Jim Parker, who came out of retirement to serve as Carter’s CEO. His son, Drew, served as executive vice president. Today, Carter has more than 2,100 employees
and continues to grow. Parker, a finance graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, took over as CEO in 2018. He oversaw the April acquisition of Baltimore-
based Alban Tractor Co. Inc. Te deal expands Carter’s reach into Northern Virginia, D.C., Maryland and Delaware, giving it the mid-Atlantic’s largest rental inventory. In April 2018, Virginia Western Community
College named Parker and his wife, Kate, recipients of its Community Impact Award for a $300,000 gift.
CHRIS PERRY
PRESIDENT, CEO AND OWNER, VAMAC INC., RICHMOND
If water runs through it, then VAMAC probably sells it. Perry’s family business is one of the East Coast’s largest sellers of plumbing, septic and water-treatment supplies, water heaters and bathroom and kitchen fixtures. VAMAC is a 105-year-old business that’s grown
to 20 locations serving Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. Perry’s grandfather, Julian, who joined the company in 1923, was instrumental in its expansion. Kenneth Perry, Julian’s son and Chris Perry’s father, later took over the business and remains its chairman. Te company has showrooms in Richmond
and Fredericksburg and a distribution center in Winchester. VAMAC offers local delivery and also specializes in helping contractors with a self-selection service that improves efficiency. Perry, a civil engineering graduate of Virginia
Military Institute, started as president and chief operating officer in 1992. He became CEO in 1994. VAMAC has expanded to a string of new locations under his leadership.
Where the unknown
feels vast and insurmountable, don’t run the other way. ... Embrace those challenges and find solutions.”
STEVE PRESLEY
STEVE PRESLEY
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, NESTLÉ USA, ARLINGTON
Presley’s earliest days with Nestlé were spent in Virginia as a controller for the Nestlé Carnation factory in Suffolk in the late ’90s. After three years, he was transferred to the company’s operations in Glendale, California. Tere, Presley focused on finance and was promoted to executive positions before being named president of Nestlé Business Services in 2009. He was named chief financial offi- cer in October 2013 and added strategic transforma- tion officer to his title in 2016. In that role, he was instrumental in relocating
the company’s national headquarters to Arlington, a decision announced in 2017. Presley was chairman and CEO when Nestlé opened its new home in Arlington’s Rosslyn neighborhood in July 2018. Presley, whose first job was as a grade-school
paperboy, is a graduate of the University of South Florida. In an essay posted on Medium, he writes about running toward the fire, a piece of advice he was given: “When there’s a business or team that’s struggling, or where the unknown feels vast and insurmountable, don’t run the other way out of fear. Embrace those challenges and find solutions.”
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