That contribution represents a 106 percent increase from figures reported in the last economic impact study, which was conducted in 2005.

Virginia was home to 193 wineries in 2010, up from 129 in 2005, according to the report, commissioned by the Virginia Wine Board.

The state currently ranks fifth in the nation in the number of wineries and is the nation's fifth-largest wine grape producer.

"From beautiful new wineries starting up to more and more retail outlets and restaurants adding our wines to their shelves and menus, the growth has been very evident even to the casual observer," Gov. Bob McDonnell said in a statement.

"I congratulate our winery owners and grape growers for these achievements."

Other key findings in the study show:

• The number of full-time equivalent jobs at wineries and vineyards rose from 3,162 in 2005 to 4,753 in 2010.
• Wages at wineries and vineyards increased from $84 million to $156 million during the same time period.
• The number of grape growers climbed from 262 to 386, and the number of grape-bearing acres increased from 2,000 to 2,700.
• The amount of taxes paid to the state and local governments grew from $21 million to $43 million.
• The number of wine-related tourists visiting Virginia increased from 1 million in 2005 to 1.62 million in 2010, a 62 percent increase. Expenditures related to winery tourism rose from $57 million in 2005 to $131 million in 2010.

"The Virginia wine industry is one of the fastest-growing segments of Virginia's diverse agricultural industry," said Todd P. Haymore, secretary of Agriculture and Forestry. "Most of the investments made, jobs created, taxes generated, and tourism driven expenditures around the wine industry are in rural areas, where they are making a big impact on local economies."

Sales of Virginia wine reached a record high in the fiscal year that ended June 30 with more than 462,000 cases, or more than 5.5 million bottles, sold, an increase of more than 11 percent from the previous fiscal year.

The 2010 economic impact study was completed by Frank, Rimerman + Co., a California-based accounting and consulting firm that specializes in wine industry studies.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

The Henrico County-based consumer specialty insurance and travel assistance provider is taking on the identity of its parent corporation, the Allianz Group, and rebranding itself as Allianz Global Assistance.

As part of a global brand transition, the company put up its new Allianz Global Assistance USA signs, with its stylized eagle logo, at its Henrico locations Tuesday.

Based in Germany, Allianz is an international financial-services provider and the 20th-largest company in the world.

"Our customers are looking for global solutions that cross all these lines," said Jonathan M. Ansell, chairman of Allianz Global Assistance USA. "It's hard to know Mondial is part of the Allianz network if it doesn't have Allianz in its name."

Allianz Global Assistance and its predecessor companies have more than quadrupled in size in the Richmond area since 2000 — from 213 to 900 associates — making it one of the area's largest private employers. The company expects to add 100 more associates this year.

"The change to Allianz Global Assistance brings one of the world's largest and most-respected insurance brands to the Richmond market," Ansell said in a statement.

The company's Access America travel insurance products will be renamed Allianz Travel Insurance. In the United States, Allianz Global Assistance insures 13 million people, mostly with its travel insurance and event-ticket protection plans.

"For us, it's sort of business as usual as we move from one brand to the other," Ansell said.

But for Allianz Global Assistance's customers, he said, "we can now bring, in a logical way, more capabilities and resources and solutions to them that we couldn't do on our own."

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"I'd envision, by the last quarter of the year to early next year, new and additional [Southwest] service in Richmond," Jon E. Mathiasen, RIC's president and CEO, said Tuesday after the Capital Region Airport Commission meeting.

"This time next year, we're anticipating a very different operation here."

Dallas-based Southwest said in January that it intends to serve Richmond International, converting its AirTran Airways station to a Southwest one, but the discount carrier has not laid out a schedule for that transition.

"We know the first airport to go through the conversion process from an AirTran operation to a Southwest operation will be Seattle" starting with the Aug. 12 schedule, said Ashley Dillon, a Southwest Airlines spokeswoman.

"Beyond that, we do not have plans solidified for when we will transition all other airports," she said. "We don't have any announcements or plans for additional or new service at this time. It's too early to tell."

Southwest is the nation's largest domestic air carrier, and AirTran is seventh in passengers carried. Southwest bought discount carrier AirTran last year and is merging the two operations.

Officials expect that Southwest's entry into the Richmond market should expand the number of destinations easily available to RIC passengers while helping hold down ticket prices. Both of those effects would be an economic shot in the arm for the recession-dogged capital region and its airport.

Richmond International Airport's passenger traffic was down 4 percent in 2011 compared with traffic the year before, the Capital Region Airport Commission said Tuesday. RIC's passenger volume peaked at 3.6 million for the year in 2007.

The airport had 3.18 million air travelers last year; 3.31 million moved through the airport in 2010.

December's traffic, however, was 2.5 percent lower than the same month a year ago, with 249,617 passengers using the field in December 2011 versus 255,932 in the same month in 2010.

Despite signs of improvement in the economy, airport and business leaders caution that the future of the U.S. airline industry is fraught with uncertainty. They are urging Richmond region travelers to continue to buy tickets on AirTran with the hope that those purchases will reinforce Southwest's decision to locate in Richmond.

But, "Richmond is a prime spot for Southwest to mine," said aviation consultant Michael Boyd, president of Colorado-based Boyd Group International.

"When the dust settles, Richmond is going to do very well with Southwest Airlines in town," Boyd said, predicting Southwest will provide service to Chicago, Nashville and perhaps Houston. And, he said, "I'll bet you in 18 months you'll see nonstop service to Las Vegas."

Richmond travelers have long sought nonstop air service to the West beyond Dallas. Las Vegas is a major hub for Southwest Airlines, with service to other major western destinations such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.

Richmond International has begun to make way for Southwest, with steps under way to move AirTran's gates from the terminal's Concourse A to the larger Concourse B this spring.

While the immediate reason is to ease operations during the expansion of Concourse A's airline parking area, airport officials expect Southwest to move permanently to gates in Concourse B.

"We've got to be patient," Mathiasen said. "We've got 13 to 15 more months before we see complete integration."

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As a result, they founded MedCPU Inc. in 2008 to sell the computerized clinical decision-making tool to hospitals.

"They recognized that over half of the data, which is often the most meaningful, is unstructured data (narrative notes) from clinicians about the patient, and they wanted to capture that unstructured data," said Dan Neuwirth, president and CEO of MedCPU Americas, the company's U.S. operating unit that is based in Henrico County.

The company's MedCPU Advisor is a user interface visible on top of electronic medical records in hospitals.

The Advisor reads structured electronic medical record entries and unstructured notes. It compares the information against knowledge-based protocols and guidelines to advise physicians of any deviations from clinical best practices.

"We can capture a full clinical picture of the patient," Neuwirth said. "If you only use the structured fields, you can't do that."

The tool ensures the highest level of clinical care.

"It also streamlines the workflow of a clinician," Neuwirth said.

"From a technology perspective, they have a real innovation," said Michael Pirron, CEO and founder of Impact Makers, a Richmond-based information technology and management consulting company focused on health care.

"They can pull data from free text in electronic medical records and use the data to improve clinical outcomes. That is exciting to see," Pirron said.

MedCPU's founders started the company in New York but moved the corporate offices to Henrico last year when Neuwirth joined the firm.

This year, MedCPU will move its offices to the Turning Basin building in downtown Richmond, where several biotech companies are located.

"We want to be part of that community," Neuwirth said.

Before joining MedCPU, Neuwirth had worked for GE Healthcare's Performance Solutions business after its 2008 acquisition of Henrico-based Agility Healthcare Solutions, which he co-founded and served as its chief operating officer. Before that, he had worked for pharmaceutical distribution and health care technology firm McKesson.

MedCPU targets hospitals and hospital systems across the country as well as a larger delivery network that includes hospitals and ambulatory locations. The company has clients nationwide but none currently in Virginia.

"There is a lot of energy here already," Neuwirth said. "Our clients tend to be leading academic medical institutions and larger hospital systems, partly because they are further evolved in (electronic medical records) implementations."

Revenue increased 800 percent from 2010 to 2011. The company hopes to increase sales as health care providers begin to comply with the "meaningful use" of the health care technology section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

"Our product is certified by the government to support the meaningful use requirements," Neuwirth said.

Health-care providers using systems of certified technology are qualified to receive federal stimulus money upon demonstrating meaningful use of the technology. The meaningful use criteria will be staged in three steps through 2015.

Impact Makers' Pirron has worked with MedCPU's offices in Henrico and in Israel and has enjoyed being involved with the company.

"They have been wonderful," he said. "It's a great culture to work with. It's moving and growing at one thousand miles a minute."

MedCPU opened its research and development office in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 2008. The company took the first two years to develop the product.

"We have clinicians in Israel that are software developers, which gives us a competitive advantage," Neuwirth said.

Tonya Signa, president of Signature Marketing Services, the Phoenix-based marketing company that has worked with MedCPU, finds MedCPU to be very collaborative.

"MedCPU has made strategic investments," she said. "They are thinking about the future and developing technology that will lower the cost of health care."

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

As of 1:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 19, there were 90,360 people in the United States in need of a kidney transplant.

Though the number of people on the transplant list fluctuates constantly, one thing is certain: Not everyone who needs a kidney gets one.

Dr. Martin Mangino, a research scientist in VCU Medical Center's Department of Surgery and a Powhatan County resident, has devoted much of his career to solving this problem.

Mangino, who has been working in the field of organ preservation since the mid-1980s, received a patent this month for a procedure that helps to preserve the kidneys of donors whose hearts have stopped beating.

Mangino explained that there are two main types of donors: living and dead. The dead donors are then further divided into types: brain dead and heart dead. "Over the past 30 years," Mangino said, "probably 98 percent of all organ donations from dead donors have come from brain dead donors."

"The problem," Mangino explained, "is that most people don't die from brain death."

"Brain death occurs maybe 1 percent of the time. The stars have to line up just right. You have to suffer some kind of a traumatic brain injury — a car accident, trauma, you're shot in the head, you're kicked in the head by a horse."

"Most of us die from cardiac death," Mangino explained. "That's the other 99 percent of the pool. If we could harvest those organs that could help us bridge that gap."

Read the full article here.

Nearly 200 people gathered Thursday in Richmond for the launch of AEE Virginia, a group that wants to make Virginia a leader in advanced energy technologies. “Most people think energy will be a big growth sector of the economy. We think it’s important to get Virginia on board … We don’t want Virginia to get left behind,” David Dusseau said during a meeting at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Dusseau is the founder and president of Allies in Energy, a private company based in Charlottesville that provides staffing and market research to the clean energy sector.

Other members of the group’s organizational steering committee members also were on hand, including Robert Skunda, CEO of the Virginia BioTelchnology Research Park in Richmond and a member of the board of directors of the Dominion Resources Greentech Incubator. In an interview before the meeting, Skunda said that the development of alternative energy in Virginia is “still spotty,” due primarily to a lack of capital. “It takes time to build reputation and critical mass,” he said. AEE has the potential, he added “to bring a community of interest together on a sustained basis.”

Read the full article here.

His technology and staffing company, Astyra, was about six months old and hungry for customers.

"I wore my only suit, went to the event and walked over to the Reynolds Metals booth. They had an IT person there, so I gave her my spiel," Ampy recalls. "She listened and said, 'Well, we're a big company and have vendors that provide staff and IT service, so I don't think we have anything for you right now. Unless you have some COBOL programmers.' "

COBOL, which stands for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, is one of the world's oldest programming codes. Ampy happened to have the résumé of a fellow COBOL programmer in his briefcase. Two weeks later, Astyra had a contract, and Ampy's friend was working at the Reynolds offices.

On Friday, Ampy sat on the other side of the table during the Metropolitan Business League's inaugural Greater Richmond Small Business Expo & Matchmaking Event, meeting with prospective suppliers.

"We now have small companies come to us," Ampy said. "We're in the middle because we still chase projects from big companies, and small companies chase us."

The event drew 61 exhibitors. Oliver Singleton, the MBL president, said he wants the expo to become a yearly gathering that draws businesses from across the region. This year's event was at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond. Singleton said he hopes next year's expo will be in one of the surrounding counties to reach more people.

"I think this is a fundamental part of our mission," Singleton said, referring to the need to help small companies connect with large ones. "Most of the large companies with supply chains in the region are here. There are decision-makers on supply issues in the room."

Singleton added that the event wouldn't have been possible without the help of Dominion, which helped with planning and whose employees volunteered to staff the event.

One "decision-makers" cited by Singleton was Stephen Huebner, vice president for material operations at Bon Secours Health System. He oversees supply chain operations for the company's seven hospitals in Virginia — four in Richmond, three in Hampton Roads.

"We're always anxious to improve our diversity spending," he said. "We look for business partners who may fit a need for us."

He said about 5 percent of the company's Virginia contracts go to minority-owned businesses.

"We're trying to move that number higher and we have seen it increase over the past few years."

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

The four-person team from Virginia Commonwealth University's graduate level advertising school beat out more than 100 teams from prestigious universities including Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth and The Wharton School.

The annual Innovation Challenge partners graduate students with major corporations. The students must come up with a product or solution that "addresses our most pressing business and social innovation challenges."

As the winners, the students split $20,000 in prize money and get the title of "The World's Most Innovative MBA Team."

"I'm overwhelmed by how far we've come," said Jennifer Clinehens, the team leader on the project. The other Brandcenter students on the team were Ryan Dowling, Cody Pate and Katlyn Williams.

The winning entry was a cloud-based app for AT&T that makes it more affordable for small-business owners to operate their companies.

Clouds are remote servers used to store, process and manage data.

"We didn't just stop with the app," Clinehens said. "It's an entire community that's based around small businesses and their needs and how they can use the cloud to really enable their business as they never could before, either because of financial limitations or tech limitations."

Major details could not be shared because the technology is proprietary.

Clinehens said the team came up with the idea by interviewing small business owners.

"In the end it really wound up being a passion product for us," she said.

The teams worked in three divisions, each sponsored by a company, and advanced through the process by winning each round.

The two finalists were teams from Chapman University in California working for General Electric and from the University of Pennsylvania's The Wharton School working for Syngenta.

Two other Brandcenter teams made the semifinals.

Don Just, a Brandcenter professor and the student's adviser, said he was impressed that his students, who just completed their first semester, competed against high-level masters in business administration candidates. "It's a real feather in their cap to go this far in their first year."

Just said he found it interesting that the title of "The Worlds Most Innovative MBA Team" went to non-MBA students.

"This is a credit to the school and its mission and to the work these students did," Just said.

The students were told of their first place finish Friday afternoon at a luncheon in New York. The Brandcenter students, and the other finalists, rang the closing bell at New York Stock Exchange.

"This is a really talented bunch," Just said.

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Gov. Bob McDonnell's office said Monday that the state's first direct export of Holstein bulls to Russia has been completed.

The shipment involved less than 50 bulls from Vistar Farms of Mechanicsville. The exact number of bulls and the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed for competitive reasons.

The deal is the first for Virginia since Russia started to allow the importation of U.S. cattle in 2008, when the two countries reached an import protocol agreement.

U.S. exports to Russia now account for about $10 million of the live cattle business there, McDonnell's office said.

This recent deal opens the door for more cattle sales, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore said.

"Russia is looking to improve their dairy industry by improving the genetics of their herd," he said. "This is a win-win for both sides. Virginia producers and exporters get the benefit of the new exports, and the Russian industry is benefiting by having the outstanding product that we are producing here."

In August, the state announced that Barboursville Vineyards had reached an agreement to export its wines to China. The McDonnell administration said that was the first commercial transaction between a Virginia winery and a Chinese importer.

The state also announced a major deal last year to export soybeans to a Chinese company.

While data is still being compiled, Haymore said Virginia agricultural exports in 2011 likely met or exceeded record amounts of $2.4 billion in 2009 and $2.3 billion in 2010.

The Russian market for live animal imports is growing, and is currently valued at more than $300 million annually, McDonnell's office said.

In 2009, Russia imported 35,000 live cattle. In 2010, the number rose to 38,000. Last year, Russia imported about 55,000 live cattle.

Russia was Virginia's ninth largest agricultural export customer in 2010 at just under $60 million.

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The chain said Monday that it plans to hire 965 people to work at its 107 stores in 52 markets. Most of the positions will be in sales and service, but the company will hire some to work in its purchasing department and business office.

CarMax will hire four for its Chesterfield County store on Midlothian Turnpike and seven for its Henrico County store on West Broad Street. Those jobs will be sales and service positions.

The 46 corporate jobs will be in several departments, including information technology, marketing, accounting and strategy.

"We are looking to hire the positions as quickly as possible and shooting to have everyone in place by the beginning of April," CarMax spokeswoman Britt Farrar said.

This is the second major hiring push the company has made in the past year and a half.

In November 2010, the company announced that it was hiring about 1,200 people to work at its stores.

That push came about two years after CarMax, citing lagging sales, cut its workforce by 610 employees. That mass layoff happened in October 2008 during the heart of the economic downturn, when sales across the auto industry slowed dramatically.

But CarMax has seen its business bounce back since then.

In December, CarMax reported that sales for the three months ending Nov. 30 grew nearly 7 percent to $2.6 billion compared with the same period in the previous year.

Comparable store used-unit sales fell 3 percent during the fiscal third quarter, but that's after jumping 16 percent during the same period in the previous year.

The rebound has led CarMax to resume expansion. The company has opened four stores in the first nine months of the fiscal year that ends Feb. 29. It expects to open 10 superstores by the end of February 2013 and between 10 and 15 in each of the next three fiscal years.

"Today's hiring announcement addresses hiring needs in our current stores across the country. This does not address projected hiring for the new stores," Farrar said.

The news that CarMax is expanding its employee ranks comes less than a week after Fortune magazine named it one of the top 100 companies to work for in the U.S. for the eighth straight year.

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The First National Bank building at Ninth and Main streets is undergoing a $30 million renovation to turn it into 154 apartments on the upper 18 floors and commercial space on the ground level.

The apartment building is expected to open later this year, a spokesman for Drucker & Falk, a Newport News-based real estate management company, said Monday.

"The goal is late November or the first part of December," said Andrew Chisholm, director of mid-Atlantic multifamily for Drucker & Falk.

The one-, two- and three-bedroom units will range from 562 square feet to 2,235 square feet. Rents have not been determined, Chisholm said.

Features will include a resident social lounge, game room, fitness center and secured-access, private-garage parking.

Nearby is the Residences at the John Marshall, a 238-unit apartment building in the former Hotel John Marshall, which opened in late December. Those units, also one-, two- and three-bedrooms in a landmark building, rent for $755 to $2,900 a month.

"There seems to be a need for more apartments in that part of downtown west of Shockoe Slip and Shockoe Bottom," Chisholm said.

"Everybody is excited about the project," he said. "It's really a neat building."

"The First National Bank Building dating from 1913 is the first skyscraper in Richmond, and a wonderful example of turn-of-the-century Neoclassical Revival architecture," according to the National Park Service.

"Nineteen stories tall, the building crowned the city's skyline until its height was surpassed in 1930. Constructed using early steel-frame technology, the bank combines a monumental scale with fine detailing."

The property is owned by Rushmark Properties in Fairfax, which bought it in 2000 for $9.5 million. The most recent tenant was BB&T Corp., which moved into Riverfront Plaza in 2010.

BB&T moved to consolidate three main operations — a bank branch, BB&T Capital Markets and Scott & Stringfellow — into one location and into a new and more efficient building, said S. Anderson "Andy" Hughes, Central Virginia regional president for the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based bank.

Hughes said he had not heard about the plans to convert the building into apartments, but said the building itself is beautiful and impressive with ceilings on the first floor about 25 feet high.

The renovation began in December. Hitt Contracting of Falls Church is the contractor and Commonwealth Architects from Richmond is doing the design.

"One of the things we like about these projects is repurposing them, bringing new life to old buildings," said Robert C. Burns, associate principal with Commonwealth Architects.

The bank space on the first floor will be maintained in its pristine condition with its marble detailing and plaster ceiling vaults and details, Burns said. That space will be available for a commercial tenant.

The clock on the corner of the building will be refurbished.

One of the biggest challenges has been retrofitting the space for modern mechanical systems, he said.

Historic tax credits are being used to offset the cost of renovations.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

The 22 AirTran airports that will continue to operate and will eventually join the Southwest route map include: Richmond, VA (RIC); Flint, Mich. (FNT); Rochester, N.Y. (ROC); Pensacola, Fla. (PNS); Charlotte, N.C. (CLT); Dayton, Ohio (DAY); Key West, Fla. (EYW); Washington, D.C. (DCA); Memphis, Tenn. (MEM); Akron-Canton, Ohio (CAK); Wichita, Kan. (ICT); Des Moines, Iowa (DSM); Branson, Mo. (BKG); Portland, Maine (PWM); Grand Rapids, Mich. (GRR); Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PUJ); Cancun, Mexico (CUN); Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ); Aruba (AUA); San Juan, Puerto Rico (SJU); Bermuda (BDA); and Nassau, Bahamas (NAS). AirTran service and Employees at these airports are planned to convert to Southwest gradually over the course of AirTran's integration into Southwest. The airlines earlier announced that AirTran will begin serving Mexico City, Mexico (MEX) on May 24, 2012, and San Jose Cabo, Mexico (SJD) on June 3, 2012. Those destinations also will convert to Southwest over time. Of the 69 cities AirTran served when Southwest acquired it on May 2, 2011, 53 cities are planned to convert to full Southwest Airlines service.

"We are committed to continuing to serve these communities-at first via AirTran, and eventually as Southwest. We know there are Southwest Customers who want access to these cities, but have never before had the opportunity, and the markets have long desired Southwest service," said Southwest Airlines Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer and AirTran Airways President Bob Jordan. "We are excited about the cities we have chosen to keep in our combined network. At the same time, there are some markets that we simply cannot make work in the current fuel environment, so we've had to make the decision to discontinue service in those locations."

Effective Aug. 12, 2012, AirTran Airways will cease operations at the following airports: Allentown, Pa. (ABE); Lexington, Ky. (LEX); Harrisburg, Pa. (MDT); Sarasota, Fla. (SRQ); Huntsville, Ala. (HSV); and White Plains, N.Y. (HPN). AirTran currently operates six daily nonstop flights at Sarasota with 16 Employees. Its Allentown (one daily nonstop flight), Lexington (two daily nonstop flights), Harrisburg (one daily nonstop flight), Huntsville (two daily nonstop flights), and White Plains (three daily nonstop flights) operations are all supported by AirTran's contracted vendor partners.

AirTran Airways will continue to operate at Allentown, Lexington, Harrisburg, Sarasota, Huntsville, and White Plains through Aug. 11, 2012. Ticketed passengers, passengers holding reservations, or passengers desiring to make reservations for flights to or from these airports, have no need to alter their travel plans prior to Aug. 12, 2012.

Both Southwest's and AirTran's priority is to take excellent care of the dedicated Employees, partners, and Customers in these six locations. AirTran Employees at these locations have performed superbly and will have the opportunity to move elsewhere within AirTran, after operations cease on Aug. 12, 2012.

"The airline industry continues to face many challenges, including significantly higher fuel costs," Jordan said. "We must do everything we can to operate efficiently and profitably, align service with Customer demand, and deliver the legendary Customer Service for which both airlines are known."

As of Aug. 12, 2012, Southwest will offer 41 flights from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), becoming the first jointly served airport to fully convert to Southwest Airlines service. AirTran currently serves the market with one daily flight from SEA to Milwaukee (MKE) and seasonal service to both Atlanta (ATL) and Baltimore/Washington (BWI). Southwest will maintain the MKE, ATL, and BWI routes with direct and connecting service. Southwest and AirTran will announce future jointly served airport conversions as those specific plans are lined up.

Today's announcements will be incorporated into both Southwest's and AirTran's flight schedules that will publish on Jan. 22, 2012, for travel beginning Aug. 12, 2012.

About Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines continues to differentiate itself from other low-fare carriers-offering a reliable product with exemplary Customer Service. Southwest Airlines is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded and has recently acquired AirTran Airways, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co. Southwest serves 72 cities in 37 states and is one of the most honored airlines in the world known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People, and Planet. To read more about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good citizen, visit southwest.com/cares to read the Southwest Airlines One ReportTM. Based in Dallas, Southwest currently operates more than 3,300 flights a day and has more than 37,000 Employees systemwide.

About AirTran Airways
AirTran Airways is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co. and has been ranked the top airline in the Airline Quality Rating study twice in the past four years. AirTran offers coast-to-coast service on North America's newest all-Boeing fleet. The airline's low-cost, high-quality product also includes assigned seating, and Business Class on every flight.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding Southwest Airlines' and AirTran Airways' network plans. These statements are based on Southwest's current intent, beliefs, and expectations and are not guarantees of future results. These statements also involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by them. Factors include, among others, (i) receipt of necessary governmental approvals and the timing thereof, (ii) the Company's ability to successfully integrate AirTran, (iii) consumer demand and preferences related to the Southwest and AirTran services, and (iv) changes in the Company's overall business plan and strategies.

SOURCE Southwest Airlines

For further information: Southwest Airlines Media Contact, +1-214-792-4847

This is the eighth straight year the Goochland County-based automotive retailer has made the magazine's annual list.

"This recognition is a testament to our talented associates," Tom Folliard, CarMax's president and CEO, said in at statement.

The chain was ranked 91st in this year's list, but its rankings have slipped three years in a row. CarMax ranked 81st in 2011, 56th in 2010 and 31st in 2009.

The retailer is among three other Virginia-based companies to make the magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list.

McLean-based Capital One Financial Corp., the largest private employer in the Richmond region, was No. 98th on the list.

Six other companies with operations in Virginia, including Accenture, Deloitte and SRC, also made the list.

Google ranked No. 1 on the list.

Fortune said it named CarMax to its top companies list for a variety of reasons including that "Folliard shows up at sites that meet sales goals and serves up a steak dinner — sometimes twice to make sure both shifts are honored."

Companies must apply to be considered for a spot on the list. The minimum requirement is that a business must be at least five years old and have more than 1,000 U.S. employees, according to Fortune.

The rankings are based in part on employee surveys.

"The survey asks questions related to their attitudes about management's credibility, job satisfaction and camaraderie," Fortune said.

The February issue of Fortune hits newsstands Monday.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

Virginia-based Butylfuel Inc. announced Thursday that it completed a merger with Green Biologics Ltd. on Jan. 1. The all-equity deal involved no cash, but transfers of stock ownership.

The combined company is operating under the Green Biologics Inc. name and is based in Abingdon, England. In the U.S., the company will maintain its office in Ashland, where three executives work, and a laboratory and pilot plant in Gahanna, Ohio.

The company is focused on developing and producing chemicals and fuels including butanol, using renewable feedstocks such as agricultural byproducts from sugar cane, forest materials and grasses.

Butanol is used as a chemical feedstock in making paints, coatings, inks and adhesives, an $85 billion global market, and plastics, a $700 billion global market. A longer-term goal for the company is to commercialize biobutanol as a substitute for gasoline.

"Our business model is to design, own and operate butanol facilities," said Joel Stone, formerly chief executive officer of Butylfuel Inc., now president of Green Biologics' North American business and global vice president of engineering. Its pilot plant in suburban Columbus, Ohio, produces butanol.

The merger of the companies combines Butylfuel's North American business platform with Green Biologics' global reach. The company has operations in China, India and Brazil.

One of the reasons the merged company is maintaining the Ashland office is because of Virginia's forest resources, Stone said.

"Ultimately the ideal feedstock for producing biobutanol is to move into forest resources, and there is nothing larger than the forest resources we have in Virginia," he said.

The Dominion Resources GreenTech Incubator helps support emerging firms in the alternative energy sector. The incubator provides space and business services for energy technology and service companies.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

The company will initially house equipment for 500 private cloud customers, who use remote servers to store, process and manage data.

eApps already works with QTS – Quality Technology Services – at its Georgia data center.

eApps president Richard Lingsch said in a statement that moving into the Henrico facility was a "natural next step."

Details were not immediately available on how much square footage eApps would take and when it would begin moving in equipment, a spokeswoman said.

An executive for eApps who was instrumental in the decision to start operating here was out of the country and not available for comment Tuesday.

The company said it expects to expand its presence both here and in Georgia this year, according to the statement. Last year, eApps expanded three times within the Georgia facility.

Kansas City-based QTS acquired the 1.3 million-square-foot Qimonda chip-making plant and 210-acre property in Henrico for $12 million in a bankruptcy court auction in March 2010. The company said then it plans to invest about $100 million over several years to convert the plant to a data center.

In May, QTS leased space at the center to Planned Systems International Inc., a Columbia, Md.-based information technology services provider for the Defense Department.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

Tucker is the 36th school in Virginia and the 2,299th school in the world to offer the program. The program is designed as an academically challenging and balanced program of education that prepares students for success at university and life beyond.

"Opportunities for university acceptance and scholarships for IB diploma candidates at Tucker will be greatly enhanced," said Nancy LaVier, the IB educational specialist for Henrico schools.

In addition, the program has core requirements that are included to broaden the educational experience and challenge students to apply their knowledge and understanding.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

Wingfield told those attending the Retail Merchants Association's First Friday Forum that the public-private regional economic development organization generated 70 new business prospects during the past six months.

Based on past deal trends, he expects those prospects will produce 18 to 20 signed deals for new businesses in the coming months.

"We're seeing more midsize investment deals and fewer of the 'mega deals' of the 1990s," Wingfield said.

Five companies announced during the second half of 2011 that they would move or build new operations in the Richmond region, creating $126.3 million in new capital investment.

He said 44 companies that already do business in the area announced $74.5 million in expansion investments.

The partnership, he said, is on track to meet its goal of securing $350 million in new business investment between July 1, 2011, and June 30.

The latest business announcements also come with fewer jobs, he said, as companies rely more heavily on contractors or wait for more information on the cost of new health-care regulations. Many of the new companies locating in the region are foreign-owned, he said.

One key to winning business, Wingfield said, is the ability for business travelers to get low-price tickets when they fly from Richmond International Airport.

Jon Mathiasen, president and CEO of the Capital Region Airport Commission, told those attending the breakfast meeting of his concern that the airport could lose a low-cost carrier.

AirTran Airways, a low-cost carrier that serves Richmond, merged last year with Southwest Airlines.

For instance, Southwest, which already serves Norfolk International Airport, plans to stop AirTran service at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport in March.

While that should help bring additional passengers to Richmond, Mathiasen said generating more business for AirTran would increase the chances of Southwest expanding service after the merger is completed.

He cited a recent comment by an unnamed Southwest executive.

"I don't think there is anything we need from (Richmond International Airport) except for your constituents to fly AirTran," the executive told Mathiasen. "The better AirTran does during the integration, the better the odds are that the service will be maintained and even grow."

Low-cost carriers command a much lower market share in Richmond — 16.1 percent — than they do at similar-sized airports, he said.

In the 15 airports closest in size to Richmond — such as Omaha, Neb., Norfolk and Oklahoma City — low-cost carriers have an average market share of 46.3 percent.

The short-term goal for the airport commission is to grow the low-cost carrier market share to 35.1 percent in Richmond, he said.

To help meet that goal, Mathiasen urged businesses to set strong travel policies that emphasize flying on AirTran or JetBlue Airways.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

RICHMOND - Wine Enthusiast Magazine has named Virginia as one of the 10 best wine travel destinations for 2012. The article, listed online and in the February issue of Wine Enthusiast Magazine, highlights Virginia as one of only three domestic destinations to make the list of wine regions that are ideal for wine lovers to visit in 2012. Virginia was named along with regions in Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Hungary, Germany, France, Chile and two regions in California. The article cites Virginia's rich history, natural beauty and wine makers as some of the many reasons why Virginia is a hot wine travel destination. Virginia is home to more than 200 wineries statewide.

"Virginia is in excellent company in this list of Wine Enthusiast's 10 best wine travel destinations for 2012, and I applaud our wineries and wine makers on this achievement," said Governor Bob McDonnell. "We are well on our way to being recognized as the premiere wine destination of the East Coast, which is one of my administration's top agricultural and tourism priorities. I have great confidence that this article will bring even more tourists to visit our wineries across the state and continue to build our reputation as the ideal travel destination for people who love to try new wines."

Raising the profile of Virginia wines and wine tourism are key components of the governor's economic development and jobs creation initiatives. The governor has promoted Virginia wines at the Virginia Executive Mansion and throughout Virginia, on domestic business recruitment visits, and on international trade and marketing missions to Great Britain, China, South Korea, Israel and India. First Lady Maureen McDonnell has also incorporated wine and wine tourism promotions into her First Lady Initiative Team Effort or FLITE. More domestic and international promotions are planned for 2012.

"Virginia's vibrant wineries and talented wine makers are becoming less of an insider's secret. Indeed, the word is getting out that some amazing, well-balanced, old-world styled wines are being made right here in the Commonwealth. With our history, beautiful scenery, and ability to create world class wines, Virginia deserves to be recognized alongside the other amazing international wine regions listed in Wine Enthusiast," said Todd P. Haymore, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry.

According to the article on WineMag.com, Wine Enthusiast Magazine states, "Historically significant sites, picturesque pastoral landscapes, elegant equestrians and affable winemakers set Virginia apart as an excellent wine destination on the East Coast. With six AVAs and nearly 200 wineries to explore in every part of the state, a comprehensive visit is nearly impossible."

"The fact that Virginia has wineries in every region of the Commonwealth sets us apart as a wine travel destination," said Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation. "Where else in the world can you enjoy bluegrass music at a winery, kayak to a winery, taste local wines at a national park, sip local wines at a National Historic Landmark or bike from winery to winery? All those experiences are found in Virginia."

Tourism is an instant revenue generator for Virginia. In 2010 tourism generated $19 billion in revenue, supported over 204,000 jobs and provided $1.3 billion in state and local taxes. It is estimated that approximately one million people include a visit to a Virginia winery while visiting the state. Sales of Virginia wine reached a record high in fiscal year 2011 with more than 462,000 cases sold. This figure marked a sales increase of more than 11 percent over the previous fiscal year. Virginia is now the nation's fifth largest wine producer and seventh largest wine grape producer. According to the most recent economic impact study, the Virginia wine industry employs approximately 3,000 people and contributes almost $350 million to the Virginia economy on an annual basis. The study reflected the impact of 120 wineries in 2005; today, there are more than 200 farm wineries in the state. A new economic impact study will be released in 2012.

Visit http://www.Virginia.org/wine to learn more about wine travel in Virginia or call 1-800-VISITVA to request a free, Virginia is for Lovers Travel guide. To learn more about Virginia's wineries including wine varietals and special events, or to request a 2012 Virginia Wine Guide, go to http://www.virginiawine.org/.

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In the Richmond area, the jobless rate fell to 6.6 percent in November from 6.8 percent in October, according to seasonally unadjusted figures released Wednesday by the Virginia Employment Commission. The seasonally unadjusted rate a year ago November was 7.5 percent.

The seasonally unadjusted statewide rate for November, which the commission reported two weeks ago, stood at 5.7 percent.

When adjusted to account for seasonal factors such as holiday hiring, the jobless rate declined to 7.1 percent in November from 7.5 percent in October, according to calculations by Chmura Economics & Analytics in Richmond.

The seasonally adjusted rate was down a full percentage point from November 2011.

"This is good news that the economy made some progress in terms of its recovery in November," said Christine Chmura, president of the research firm. "Similar to the nation, we are starting to see some improvement in the labor market, which bodes well for the overall economy."

Still, the government figures indicate the region remains in an uphill climb to recover lost jobs.

Total payroll jobs in the area fell about 6,000 from November 2010 to November 2011.

"Richmond has been struggling to recover," said Ann Lang, senior economist for the commission, noting that the gap in year-over-year payroll employment had been narrowing in the three months prior to November, but widened again during that month.

And while the total number of unemployed people declined year-over-year and from October to November, the region's labor force also shrank, indicating fewer people seeking work.

Among the 49 largest metropolitan areas in the nation, the Richmond area was tied with three others for the sixth-lowest jobless rate in November.

The city of Martinsville's jobless rate remained the highest in Virginia in November. The city's seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 15.6 percent, up from 15.2 percent in October and down from 17.5 percent a year ago, the commissions said.

Northern Virginia's Arlington County had the state's lowest jobless rate with 3.3 percent, followed by Loudoun County's 3.9 percent.

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch. Used by permission.

In anticipation of its agreement with U.Va., the School of Pharmacy admitted 10 additional students to its incoming doctor of pharmacy class in 2010 and 2011. Ten students from each of those classes will have the opportunity to spend their third and fourth years at the new U.Va. campus after completing their first two years at VCU’s MCV Campus in Richmond.

"We're very fortunate to have the opportunity to partner with U.Va. and its medical center," said VCU School of Pharmacy Dean Victor Yanchick.

R. Edward Howell, vice president and CEO of U.Va.'s Medical Center, said, "We are pleased we can collaborate with the VCU School of Pharmacy and use our shared commitment to education to improve training for the next generation of pharmacists, who play a critical role in the care of so many of our patients."

The program also aligns with the 2011 Virginia Higher Education Act, known as the Top Jobs Act, an initiative of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council. The legislation calls for the awarding of 100,000 more degrees to Virginians, especially in science, technology and health. Toward that end, the act also calls on colleges and universities to collaborate and share educational resources.

The idea for an additional pharmacy satellite campus was conceived about two years ago. The agreement signed by both universities notes that there is a shortage of pharmacists, including health system-based pharmacists, in Central Virginia and surrounding areas. It states that the establishment of professional and postgraduate pharmacy education programs in Charlottesville is likely to alleviate such shortages.

Sheldon Retchin, VCU vice president for health sciences and CEO of the VCU Health System, said the new U.Va. campus is "another example of our efforts to ensure that the commonwealth's health professional needs are met in every corner of the state."

The School of Pharmacy's Inova Fairfax Campus, which was established in 2007, enrolls about 18 third- and fourth-year students annually. Besides VCU, three Virginia universities have schools or colleges of pharmacy: Hampton University, Shenandoah University in Winchester and University of Appalachia in Oakwood.

About VCU and the VCU Medical Center

Virginia Commonwealth University is a major, urban public research university with national and international rankings in sponsored research. Located on two downtown campuses in Richmond, VCU enrolls more than 32,000 students in 211 certificate and degree programs in the arts, sciences and humanities. Sixty-nine of the programs are unique in Virginia, many of them crossing the disciplines of VCU’s 13 schools and one college. MCV Hospitals and the health sciences schools of Virginia Commonwealth University compose the VCU Medical Center, one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. For more, see www.vcu.edu.

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Anne Buckley
VCU Communications and Public Relations
(804) 828-6052
albuckley@vcu.edu