» KEN
J O B C R E AT I O N
BEER IS SERIOUS BUSINESS
FOOD FOR THE MASSES
Photo courtesy Jon Roberts
S U L L I VA N (B.S.’88/B) leads the $15 billion Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest hog producer and pork processor. Sullivan joined Smithfield in 2003 after a period of expansion and acquisition. He became president and CEO in 2016 and led the completion of the One Smithfield initiative to unify and streamline the company’s operations, brands and global employees. He also leads Smithfield’s sustainability program and spearheads an initiative to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2025. Sullivan says he is particularly excited about the company’s work to convert hog waste into renewable natural gas. Though Smithfield sells many types of pork products, Sullivan’s favorite remains one of the classics: crispy bacon.
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J U L I A (B.S.’01/En) and N I C H O L A S (B.S.’01/En) C A I N helped to build one of the nation’s most influential craft brewing businesses, the San Diego, California-based Ballast Point Brewery, into an internationally recognized craft beer brand. The couple joined Ballast Point and made their way to the executive team, Nicholas as vice president of quality and process engineering and Julia as director of research and development. The couple established in 2016 a scholarship for chemical engineering undergraduates at VCU. In 2015, Constellation Brands Inc. acquired Ballast Point for $1 billion. Today, Julia is director of craft and specialty projects for Constellation Brands, and Nicholas is principal brewer at Kairoa Brewing Co.
» After more than 20 years leading transit
organizations such as the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, KEITH PARKER (B.A.’90/H&S; M.U.R.P.’93/GPA) had accomplished the goals he’d set and won every award and recognition the industry offered. He took his own advice, he says: “Be sure to leave when everyone still wants you to stay.” He became president and CEO of Goodwill of North Georgia in 2017, where he’d already been a board member, attracted to the organization’s community impact. “We use our profits to help people find jobs and careers,” Parker says. He’s motivated by the 25,000 people the nonprofit helps annually. Parker also contributes his talents by serving since July 2019 as rector of VCU’s Board of Visitors.
FORTUNE 500
A L L E N C A L D E R WO O D
C O R E Y G R U N E WA L D
(B.S.’15/H&S; B.S.’15/En): VCU’s first undergraduate computer science alumnus to be hired by Google; began as engineering resident within the Silicon Valley headquarters, moved to software engineer II and now works on Android TV as a software engineer III
(B.F.A.’12/A): With an undergraduate degree in kinetic imaging, worked as an analyst for Lab 49 in Washington, D.C., before joining Vimeo as an application engineer in New York City and now serves as senior user interface engineer with Netflix in the San Francisco Bay Area
R I C A R D O C A P I L L A (B.S.’99/B;
M.B.A.’00/B): Multilingual executive who joined in 2003 Eurocopter Mexico, now Airbus Mexico, the commercial aviation market leader in that country; first served as a regional helicopter sales representative and has been promoted several times, including most recently in March 2019 as the company’s CEO
D O N G C H E N “J AY ” G UA N
H A M I D G O L G I R I (B.S.’16/En):
B.S.’14/B; Cert.’17/En): After working as an associate, professional services, for insurance company Markel, switched gears from business to computer science and now serves as associate
Research and advanced engineer with Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Michigan, after completing the Ford College Graduate Program
(B.S.’18/En; Cert.’18/DVC): Software developer at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, working on projects such as Maze Man, a personmatching system and a virtual voice assistant for banking A U S T I N H O B S O N (B.S.’14/B;
software developer with CoStar Group, a Richmond, Virginia-based provider of commercial real estate information and online marketplaces M E L I S S A N I E R L E (B.S.’16/En):
Software engineer for Apple; while a computer science major, was VCU’s first student to earn a co-op position at BMW, where she helped create apps to facilitate manufacturing process improvements R I C H R E I N E C K E (B.S.’96/B):
Co-founder and co-managing partner of the Fahrenheit Group, a consulting firm working with businesses ranging from emerging growth to middle market to Fortune 500 and with offices in Richmond, Virginia, North Carolina and Arizona; serves on the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance board and is past president of Venture Forum RVA, which supports local entrepreneurs
A L E X A N D R I A R I T C H I E (B.S.’18
/En): Biomedical engineering alumna and founder and CEO of DuraSafe, winner of an OZY Genius Award for the pressure-sensing epidural needle device B R A N D O N WAT T S (B.S.’18/En):
Invited to work as a data engineer for CarMax after completing a software developer internship with the company and earning a degree in computer science; first in his family to graduate from college and one of 19 inaugural recipients of the Wright Engineering Access Scholarship, the flagship scholarship program in the VCU College of Engineering Q UA R K W E I (B.S.’18/En): Software
development engineer for Amazon, working in the finance technology division; within four months of arriving, received organizationwide Needle Mover award
Winter 2019
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