January meeting–Business and Economic Outlook for Richmond and Central Virginia

Panelist Information
Kim Scheeler – President and CEO Greater Richmond Chamber – Scheeler took the post of president and CEO of the Greater Richmond Chamber
in August 2008. Prior to joining the Greater Richmond Chamber, he was president and CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce for seven years.Scheeler also has served as president and chief professional officer for the United Way of Hillsborough County, Florida and held positions with United Way in Indiana, Texas and Maryland.Currently, Scheeler serves on the US Chamber of Commerce Emerging Technologies Committee, American Chamber of Commerce Board of
Directors. He also is on the Boards of Directors for CultureWorks, Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau and Greater Richmond Partnership. He is a member of University of Richmond’s School of Business Executive Advisory Council, Richmond Symphony Council, Executive Committee of STIR (Sustainable Transportation Initiative of Richmond) and Bridging Richmond; and, a member of the Smart Beginning’s Leadership Council.He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of South Florida. Scheeler has been married to his wife, Donna, since 1980.Greg Wingfield – President Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. – Greg has committed his career to recruiting and retaining businesses and developing opportunities for the vitality of a region. Specifically, the past 15 years he has been promoting Greater Richmond serving as the first elected president and chief executive officer of the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc., a public-private
regional economic development organization.Since launching in mid-1994, the Partnership has assisted numerous high profile companies, including K-Lines, Genworth, Brink’s, Philip Morris USA (headquarters and research/development), MeadWestvaco and Altria Group Inc. The more than 382 businesses recruited since 1994 have committed more than $6.8 billion in new investment. The region has also added more than 122,000 net new jobs over this same period of time.

Organizations that Greg has led since 1987 have been named one of the “Best Economic Development Groups in the United States” seven times by Site Selection Magazine. Additionally, the Greater Richmond Partnership has been cited by the magazine three times for pulling off the nation’s biggest “top dollar projects.”

Since beginning his career in 1976, he has assisted over 587 companies that have invested more than $7.7 billion in new capital investment in the Commonwealth.

Greg earned bachelors and masters degrees in urban and regional planning from Virginia Commonwealth University and began his career as a planner with state and regional agencies, and as director/manager with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development.

From 1984 to mid-1987, he was marketing manager with the Virginia Department of Economic Development. Then, for seven years – just before coming back to Greater Richmond – he was president of Forward Hampton Roads, the economic development arm of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce in Norfolk, Virginia.

Greg has been on many local and national Boards including: The Wingfield Family Society; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Board of Trustees; Richmond Real Estate Group; and International Economic Development Council, to name just a few.

He is a recipient of the Outstanding Alumni Award of the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University, a past president of the Virginia Economic Developers Association, the recipient of the Virginia Economic Developers Association’s Cardinal Award, and served as the Spring 2002 Cadmus Leader-in-Residence at the Jepson Leadership School at the University of Richmond. He has been a speaker before economic development forums in the U.S. and abroad, is regularly contacted by local and national media, and has
been interviewed in national print, on network radio and television.

Elizabeth Povar – Business Development Director, Virginia Economic Development Partnership A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Elizabeth Povar has been the Director of Business Development for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership since 2003. The Business Development Division executes the Commonwealth’s strategic marketing to target business sectors, working principally with local,
state, and private partners to grow business in Virginia. During her time as Director, over 800 projects have announced over $10 billion in capital investment and over 90,000 new jobs in Virginia. Her professional team’s portfolio of clients reads like a Who’s-Who of the global corporate world, and includes Maersk, Rolls-Royce North America, BNA, James Hardie Building Products, Philip Morris, Coors, Pepsico, BoozAllen, Micron, Qimonda, Merck, HP Hood, DuPont, Hershey, IKEA, Cardinal Glass, MeadWestvaco, StarTek, Trader Electronic Media, BAE, Masterbrands, IBM, United Health, Avid Medical Products, McAirlaids, SAIC, Barr Labs, Volkswagen, RR Donnelly, Walmart, ABB, and the SRI Institute.

Roy Webb – Senior Economist and Research Advisor, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
Roy H. Webb is a senior economist and research advisor with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Prior to joining the bank in 1978, he was a visiting assistant professor of economics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His education includes a BA in mathematics at the University of Texas, Austin, and a MS in economics at Northwestern University. He is a past president of the Richmond Association of Business Economists and is a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Joint Advisory Board of Economists. His research interests include macroeconomic forecasting and business cycle analysis.