2012

6th Year Anniversary

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HonoreesMarge Connelly, Wachovia SecuritiesMichelle Gluck, Land AmericaEva Teig Hardy, Dominion

JudgesScott Bass, News Editor, Style WeeklyPam Belleman, Partner, Troutman SandersBrand Meyer, President, Financial Services Group of Wachovia SecuritiesLaura Freitag, Partner, Ernst & YoungVictor Branch, Senior Vice President, Bank of AmericaThomas Chewning, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Dominion

HonoreesKatherine E. Busser, Capital OneLyn McDermid, DominionErika Davis, Owens & Minor

JudgesLaura Freitag, Partner, Ernst & YoungVictor Branch, Senior Vice President, Bank of AmericaLori Waran, Publisher, Style WeeklyEva Teig Hardy, Executive VP for External Affairs and Corporate Communications, DominionMichelle Gluck, Executive VP, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Land AmericaJill Webb, Partner, Troutman Sanders

HonoreesGrace den Hartog, Owens & MinorLinda Schreiner, MeadWestVaco FoundationBonnie Shelor, Bon Secours Virginia Health Systems

JudgesJulie Ehlers, Director of Marketing & External Relations, Robins School of BusinessLori Waran, Publisher, Style WeeklyBrian Jackson, General Counsel, Ukrop’sPaula G. Mahan, U.S. Trust, Bank of AmericaJill Webb, Partner, Troutman SandersAndrea Childress, Partner, Ernst & Young

Honorees Mary Doswell, DominionLinda Nash, PartnerMDSusan Dewey, VA Housing Development Authority

JudgesVictor Branch, Senior Vice President, Bank of AmericaJohn Luke, Jr., Chairman and CEO, MWVChip Phillips, Richmond Managing Partner, Ernst & YoungJan Rice, Executive Director, ACG RichmondLori Waran, Publisher, Style WeeklyJill Webb, Partner, Troutman Sanders

2007 – Year 1

2008 – Year 2

2009 – Year 3

2010 – Year 4

2011 – Year 5

Honorees Gail Letts, SunTrust, Central VirginiaJudy Pahren, Capital One Financial CorporationMargaret G. Lewis, HCA Capital Division

JudgesVictor Branch, Senior Vice President, Bank of AmericaJohn Luke, Jr., Chairman and CEO, MWVChip Phillips, Richmond Managing Partner, Ernst & YoungErika Davis, Senior Vice President Human Resources, Owens and MinorLori Waran, Publisher, Style WeeklyEvelyn S. Traub, Practice Group Leader, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Troutman Sanders

Previous Honorees and Judges*

*Titles and positions current as of corresponding year’s program.

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2012 Selection Panel: Evelyn S. Traub, Practice Group Leader, Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Troutman Sanders; John A. Luke, Jr., Chairman and CEO, MeadWestvaco; Erika T. Davis, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Owens and Minor; Chip Phillips, Richmond Managing Partner, Ernst & Young; Lori C. Waran, Publisher, Style Weekly

Special pROMOTiON

The 2012 Executive Women in Business honorees know this better than anyone. All three women reached their current positions by taking a leap of faith and switching career tracks.

Ting Xu was a computer programmer for the state when she launched a small business selling decorative flags. Evergreen Enterprises is now one of the nation’s largest distributors of home and garden décor.

Kathleen Holman had worked for the Richmond Ballet for eight years when she accepted a job as

an office assistant at brokerage firm Davenport & Company LLC. From that position she worked her way up to executive vice president.

Tonya Mallory already had a well-established career in the medical laboratory industry when in 2009 -- in the depths of the recession -- she struck out on her own and founded Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc. In just three years, the company has far exceeded Mallory’s projections and employs more than 500 Richmonders.

By taking risks, these three remarkable women have risen to the top of their professions and become respected business leaders. Yet no matter how hectic their schedules get, they make time to mentor other young professionals and entrepreneurs.

Ernst & Young, Style Weekly and Troutman Sanders are proud to introduce the 2012 class of Executive Women in Business honorees.

To succeed, sometimes you have to start over.

Photo: © Scott Elmquist

At Ernst & Young, we believe in setting high standards, stretching ourselves, and rising to our full potential. We’re pleased to congratulate all of the Executive Women in Business finalists for empowering other women in their organizations. It’s a soaring achievement.

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Reaching new heights?

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Ting XuPresident of Evergreen Enterprises and CEO of Plow & Hearth LLCMarried to Frank Qiu; two children, 20-year-old Emily and 19-year-old Allen

To Ting Xu’s Chinese parents, the United States seemed a land of limitless opportunity. So in 1986, when their daughter got the chance to be one of the first international undergraduate students at Old Dominion University, they sent her to Norfolk with $200. No tuition money, no living expenses. They knew that somehow, their daughter would make it work. And she did.

“I don’t think I would be as bold in business, and willing to take risks and willing to go figure it out, if I didn’t have that period,” Xu says.

An economics and management student in China, she switched to computer science on the advice of her sponsor. Her now-husband, Frank Qiu, found a job in Richmond and Xu followed, becoming a program-mer for the state health department.

She enjoyed the job, she says, but never felt passion-ate about it. At the same time her parents, both with engineering backgrounds, had moved to Richmond and were searching for a new profession.

In 1993 her husband met a couple who made deco-rative flags and sold them through a third-party store. Xu’s mind started working. She approached the shop and made a pitch: “What if you give me a batch, and I go to a factory and set it up?” She came away with an order for 400 flags in four designs – sailboats, a hot air balloon, a snowman and Santa Claus. Xu’s mother figured out the most efficient way to assemble them and relatives in China helped them find a manufacturer.

The shop couldn’t pay for them, it turned out, and so Xu sold them at a stall at the State Fair of Vir-ginia. Customers loved the flags, but kept asking for more designs.

Over the years, the Richmond flag fad became a national phenomenon. Evergreen Enterprises is now one of the nation’s largest designers and dis-tributors of home and garden décor, selling 15,000 different products. In Richmond, the company occupies a sprawling complex on eastern Midlo-

thian Turnpike, with a warehouse, showroom and offices. “Definitely come a long way since the ga-rage,” Xu says.

In 2009, Evergreen acquired Plow & Hearth, the largest employer in Madison County. The company also has a state-of-the-art manufacturing and op-erations center in Ningbo, China, that offers its 550 workers abundant green space, modern living quarters and a living wage above the regional aver-age, Xu says.

As a member of the Organization of Chinese Americans, she sees the need for improved rela-tions between China and the United States as China’s economic power grows. Xu also serves on the boards of the Virginia Port Authority, the Richmond CenterStage Foundation and the Mag-gie L. Walker Governor’s School.

Locally, Evergreen employs close to 220 people. A program called Evergreen University identifies employees with high potential, cross-trains them in multiple departments and matches them with a mentor. Xu herself makes time to speak to business students who are interested in one day becoming entrepreneurs.

“I really get a huge satisfaction and a kick out of seeing young people who just have a good idea, like me 20 years ago, saying, ‘I want to do this,’” Xu says.

Photo: © Scott Elmquist

ADVICE FOR PROFESSIONAL

WOMEN:“You just have to be passionate and fol-low your dream.” If you enjoy what you

do, your dream will take wings, Xu says; if you don’t, your experience will be “very

frustrating and painful.” Also, she says, if you’re going to start a business, “estab-

lish a really good support system. I think that’s very critical. They really have to get

a buy-in from their immediate family.”

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Kathleen Maccio Holman

Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Davenport & Company LLCMarried to Dennis Holman

Photo: © Scott Elmquist

A lifelong lover of the arts and dance with a knack for administration, Holman worked at the Rich-mond Ballet for eight years, eventually becoming director of operations. “It was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done,” she says. “But it was exhausting.” And far from well-paid.

A ballet board member suggested she look at Dav-enport & Company, Virginia’s largest independent securities brokerage firm. Holman started there on the lowest rung of the ladder – as a floater, an administrative worker who answered phones and helped with various assignments. To her surprise, she enjoyed it. “I have a very high emphasis and value on being useful,” Holman says.

So useful, in fact, that when she was assigned to the office of President Coleman Wortham III, he didn’t want her to leave. Holman was promoted to his sales assistant, and in that role found opportunities to suggest ways to improve the company’s processes and communication. She gradually took on more responsibilities, and her role evolved. Holman became chief ad-ministrative officer in 2003, and then executive vice president in 2008.

As her career grew ever more demanding, Hol-man faced a serious challenge in her personal life. Her beloved mother-in-law was diagnosed with Al-zheimer’s disease, and in 1999, her husband moved to Florida to be with her. Holman told her boss, “I have to quit. My family needs me.” Wortham asked her not to; instead, he offered her the chance to work four days a week, and he personally paid for her airfare for weekend visits.

After 10 months, Holman moved her mother-in-law to Richmond, and eventually into her own home. It wasn’t easy, Holman says. “But it was al-ways a privilege.”

As a female executive in a traditionally male-dom-inated field, Holman has advocated for flexible schedules for women working at Davenport. She works to ensure that employees have the ability to manage their own time, as long as the rules are equally applied and the job still gets done.

Holman mentors younger women on an informal basis, providing them feedback and helping them think through their challenges. “I am intensely in-terested in people,” she says. “And nothing is more thrilling to me than watching the spark ignite.”

She has supported Davenport Shares, an employ-ee-led effort to organize volunteer work and fun-draising. Holman has served on the board of the Richmond Forum since 2008. She also recently joined the board of the Richmond Ballet – coming full circle, she says with a laugh.

ADVICE FOR PROFESSIONAL

WOMEN: “I think people are so wrong about that [truism]:

‘Don’t ever become indispensable, they’ll never let you go.’ That’s really underestimating your colleagues,

and your superiors, and your own [ability] to make the case. You know, at the end of the day that’s re-

ally what it’s about, is you saying, ‘I want this. Yes, I’m indispensable. But would you like to lose me? Or

would you like me to grow with the company?’”

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Tonya Mallory

Photo: © Scott Elmquist

When Tonya Mallory was in high school, her guidance counselor advised her to become a hair-stylist. It was the standard advice given a young woman like Mallory, born in Doswell to two blue-collar workers.

Fortunately, Mallory didn’t listen. She put herself through Virginia Commonwealth University, major-ing in biology with the intention of going to medical school. But the cost was daunting, and so Mallory opted for a graduate degree in forensic science. To pay for her degree, she worked from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m., attending school from noon to 10 p.m.

After graduation, Mallory took a job with Wako Diagnostics, a Japanese company. In 16 years there, she ended up running the clinical chemis-try division and learned about every aspect of the laboratory and diagnostics business, from technical to financial. She built the business from $48,000 per year to about $20 million at its peak.

Mallory left Wako in 2006 and went to work for Berkeley HeartLab, overseeing and streamlining lab operations. For that job she commuted 3,000 miles, alternating weeks in Richmond and San Francisco. When the company was acquired, “it just wasn’t worth the commute anymore,” she says.

Mallory had a better idea, one she thought could revolutionize the medical diagnostic industry. The problem, she says, is that “we have a really asinine system right now, where you have a heart attack and all of a sudden, your doctor says you had cardiac disease. You had cardiac disease 20 or 30 years before you had that heart attack. No one ever told you about it.”

Mallory’s solution: a lab that would offer advanced tests to detect risk factors for chronic conditions, making it easy for doctors to assess patients’ health, personalize their treatment and prevent medical crises.

In 2009 Mallory founded Health Diagnostic Laboratory. She and her husband “bet the farm,” she says, cashing out their savings and 401(k) accounts. In its f irst year, Health Diag-nostic Laboratory brought in $80 million in net revenue.

The company has been growing ever since. It now employs more than 500 Richmonders and runs 80,000 tests per day. Health Diagnostic Laboratory is in the middle of a $68.5 million expansion, and it plans to hire hundreds more employees in the next two years.

Health Diagnostic Laboratory has also become a force for change in the Richmond area. The company sup-ports the American Heart Association and several oth-er local nonprofits. An initiative called “It Starts With the Heart” gives employees paid time off to volunteer and prioritizes their causes for corporate giving.

Mallory has made science education, especially for girls, a personal mission. All it takes to get young women interested in science is “exposure to some-thing that’s interesting,” she says. Her company gave more than $2 million last year to the Science Museum of Virginia to promote science explora-tion, as well as $621,000 to St. Michael’s Episcopal School for a new science lab and classrooms.

She serves on the board of the American Heart Association, a board for healthcare innovation started by former VCU president Eugene Trani, and advisory boards for Mayor Dwight Jones.

ADVICE FOR PROFESSIONAL WOMEN: “If you want to do it, do it. There’s no limita-tions to what you can do, as long as you set your mind to it. If you need help getting there, speak up. And you may not know how, or who to talk to, or how to do it, but it’s certainly out there. … It’s pretty releasing when you say, ‘I’m going to do this,’ and then figure it out.”

President and CEO, Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Inc.Married to Scott Mallory; two sons, 14 and 19

John West | Richmond O�ce Managing Partner | 804.697.1200 | 600 lawyers | 16 o�ces | troutmansanders.com

We salute three amazing women who have followed very di�erent paths to reach career pinnacles.

And, let’s face it, it takes a good bit of tenacity, wisdom, humor, and juggling to achieve one’s aspirations.

You are an inspiration.