2)NVTC Tech Execs Tour Southside Virginia with Governor Kaine

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra and Secretary of Commerce and Trade Pat Gottschalk Lead Business Tour
Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra and Secretary of Commerce and Trade Pat Gottschalk on June 7 led a Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC) delegation of 19 technology and investment executives to Southside Virginia to tour several local technology companies and meet political, community and business leaders from that part of the state.

The tour was organized in cooperation with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and hosted by Southside business leaders Ben J. Davenport, Jr., Chairman, First Piedmont Corporation; Charles H. Majors, President & CEO, American National Bank & Trust Company and American National Bankshares, Inc.; and Walter C. "Charlie" Mattox, General Manager, Applied Felts, Inc.

"I am pleased we had this opportunity to introduce the Northern Virginia technology community to many of the exciting things going on in Southside Virginia," said Governor Kaine. "This region features some cutting-edge science, world class research, good schools and an extraordinary quality of life. I believe the NVTC delegation saw first-hand that Southside is well-positioned to leverage these assets in order to compete in the global economy."

"The NVTC Delegation's trip to Southside Virginia provided an important update for Northern Virginia technology business executives on the economy of that region and initiated a dialogue with business and community leaders about potential business opportunities for Northern Virginia-based companies in that region," said Dendy Young, Chairman of the NVTC Delegation and CEO of McLean Capital LLC. "The members of the delegation were most impressed with the quality and sophistication of the region's cutting-edge technology and research facilities and with the warm and generous reception we received. We look forward to continuing to build a mutually advantageous relationship between businesses in the two regions."

The NVTC Delegation began its tour in Bassett at EMI Imaging, where the members heard remarks from Governor Kaine, Secretary Chopra, Member of the Senate of Virginia Roscoe Reynolds (D-Martinsville) and Minority Leader of the Virginia House of Delegates Ward Armstrong (D-Martinsville) and had the opportunity to meet with members of the Governor's cabinet and local business and political leaders. The second stop was the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville, where the Delegation was provided regional economic development overviews from Martinsville/Henry County, Danville and Pittsylvania County officials. The NVTC executives then traveled to Danville, where they had a briefing at and toured the Institute of Advanced Learning and Research (IALR). IALR was established to foster the development of a new economic base in the region, attract and develop an innovation economy workforce in Southside Virginia, prepare the region to leverage leading-edge information technology, and promote Southside as a destination location. The group also was updated on the progress of the Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative (MABC). The Delegation then traveled to the Danville Science Center, where the Governor and the NVTC executives listened to a presentation on Piedmont Bioproducts-a company that will produce "green" oil and coal and be based in Southside, supported by financial backing by the Center for Innovative Technology and the Virginia Tobacco Commission. The visit to Southside Virginia concluded with a tour of the state-of-the-art Luna Nanoworks facility with the Governor and Secretary of Technology. Kent Murphy, CEO, Luna Innovations, is a member of the NVTC Board of Directors.

The members of the NVTC delegation were:

Dendy Young, Chairman, NVTC delegation to Southside; CEO, McLean Capital LLC; and Member, NVTC Board of Directors
Dan Bannister, President, Bannister Enterprises and Chairman Emeritus, NVTC
Greg Baroni, President, Global Sector, Unisys and Member, NVTC Board of Directors
Mike Daniels, SAIC and Chairman Emeritus, NVTC
Jim Duffey, Vice President & General Manager, Global Sales and Client Solutions-U.S. Government, EDS and Vice Chairman, NVTC Board of Directors
Kelley Dunne, CEO, Digital Bridge Communications
Mark Frantz, General Partner, RedShift Ventures and Member, NVTC Board of Directors
Bobbie Kilberg, President & CEO, NVTC
Curt Kolcun, Vice President, Federal, Microsoft and Member, NVTC Board of Directors
John Love, Principal, AH&T Insurance and Secretary, NVTC Board of Directors
Gary Pan, President & CEO, Panacea Consulting and Member, NVTC Board of Directors
Tom Patterson, CEO, Command Information and Member, NVTC Board of Directors
Len Pomata, Chairman & CEO, GITIS and Member, NVTC Board of Directors
Venkatapathi (P.V.) Puvvada, Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Federal Systems, Unisys (NVTC Board member company)
Caroline Rapking, Vice President, CGI (NVTC Board member company)
Andrew Sachs, Founder, Sachs Capital
Sudhakar Shenoy, Founder, Chairman & CEO, IMC, Inc. and Chairman Emeritus, NVTC
Hugh Taylor, President, Commercial, State and Local Group, Northrop Grumman Information Technology (NVTC Board member company)
Rick Webb, Chief Technology Officer, State and Local Government, Accenture (NVTC Board member company)