FOOD
Kate Collier
Proprietor, Feast!
Already an established player due to her ownership of Feast!, Collier is arguably one of the most recognized names in the local food scene. Now, she is leveraging that success to begin other ventures, like the Local Food Hub. Conceived and organized by Collier in 2008, the Local Food Hub will increase the accessibility of local food to area residents and, ultimately, support local farms. Having already raised $230,000, Collier—with husband Eric Gertner and Marisa Vrooman—is a promising bet for positive change in the local food movement.
Michael Keaveny
Owner and Head Chef, Tavola
Up until January, the Culinary Institute of America alumnus managed all of Coran Capshaw’s restaurant empire and in that position had, at one time or another, hired and trained just about every restaurant worker in this town. When a guy that connected decides to go out on his own and start his own place, it has the makings for the most anticipated culinary event of the year. His new restaurant is an Italian-inspired open kitchen pad called Tavola, scheduled to open in May in Belmont.
Taylor Smack
Co-Owner and Head Brewer, Blue Mountain Brewery
Why? Because he spent six years making South Street a great brew pub and then decided he could do something better. That something better is Blue Mountain Brewery, a hop farm, brewery, restaurant and beer lovers’ destination all rolled up in one. We now have a respectable beer trail springing up here in wine country. Why? We think it’s because of Mr. Smack.
Martha Stafford
Proprietor, Charlottesville Cooking School
With the current economic downturn fostering a trend of dining in and self-reliance, Stafford is looking like a local Nostradamus. The New York Cooking School alumna opened the Charlottesville Cooking School a year ago in April as a place for amateur cooks and potential chef school types to learn real skills. Plus, her focus is on seasonal cooking, and she stocks her school’s kitchen with ingredients from local farms and farmers’ markets.
Megan Weary
Proprietor, Roundabout Farm
As proprietor with her husband, Rob, of Roundabout Farm, Weary has become one of the faces of the new young farmer movement. A UVA grad, Weary left a professional job in Northern Virginia to start the organic and environmentally sustainable 65-acre farm in Keswick in 2006. In addition to running one of the most popular Community Supported Agriculture programs for Charlottesville residents, Weary is out in front of the local food issue. She recently sat on a panel discussing such (along with Martha Stafford) at the Virginia Festival of the Book.
DEVELOPMENT
Charlie Armstrong
Southern Development
Armstrong has quicken risen in local development circles. He leads the development efforts of Southern Development (lead by Frank Ballif), the company responsible for Brookwood in the city of Charlottesville and the Pavilions at Pantops in Albemarle County. Armstrong also chairs the governmental affairs committee of the Blue Ridge Homebuilders, priming him to become another Chuck Rotgin.
Amy Kilroy
Director of Redevelopment,â¨Charlottesville Housing Authority
The redevelopment of Westhaven has long been rumored, but now it’s finally happening, along with the redevelopment of other public housing projects in Charlottesville. And who will lead that effort? Amy Kilroy. On top of all that she will have to adjudicate any conflicts between current public housing residents and the housing authority.
Gordon Walker
Executive Director, Jefferson Area Board of the Aging
Sure, the former Albemarle School Board member isn’t exactly new to the Charlottesville area, but he’s becoming a more important player in the development scene. In the last decade, JABA has been involved in maintaining or creating hundreds of units for the elderly in Charlottesville, Crozet and the surrounding counties, and its influence should only grow as local demographics shift with the graying of the Baby Boomers and the continued influx of retirees.
J.P. Williamson
Octagon Partners
Along with his partner Sean Stalfort, Williamson has proven that he can get things done with the rehabs of the Gleason and the Hardware Store. Now, he’s trying to add onto that track record with the condo project at the Gleason, though we’ll really see what he’s made of when he tackles Octagon’s portion of Hollymead Town Center—the part that’s actually supposed to be mixed use in practice, not just in theory.
UVA
Tony Bennett
Head Coach, UVA Men’s Basketball Team
The UVA basketball team’s new million-dollar man! (Well, $1.7 million annually, according to his five-year contract.) Bennett’s three years as head coach of Washington State University were three of the finest in the school’s history, including the school’s only consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and only Sweet 16 game. It’s the kind of short, strong coaching statement to make a Wahoo hope Bennett can single-handedly make up for this year’s 10-18 record under ex-coach Dave Leitao and restore fans’ enthusiasm for the program.
Dr. Steven T. DeKosky
Dean, UVA School of Medicine
An international leader in Alzheimer’s research, Steven DeKosky became the new vice president and dean of UVA’s School of Medicine last August. Though he’s a newbie as dean, DeKosky is a de facto power player: The School of Medicine’s annual budget is half that of the entire University, about $500 million. Scientifically speaking, DeKosky was charged with beginning to establish UVA as a prime center for Alzheimer’s research.
Harry Harding
Dean, Batten School of Leadership
A renowned China scholar and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Harry Harding was appointed the first dean of the new Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy in January. Harding is charged with crafting the curriculum for the school’s two-year master’s program, choosing new faculty, recruiting the first class of students and implementing a recruitment and hiring plan—in short, shaping the well-funded institution from the bottom up.
Bob Pianta
Dean, Curry School of Education
Pianta, the new and energetic dean of the Curry School of Education, has long been a noted professor and a national expert on early childhood education. (Bragging rights: He advised the Obama transition team on those topics). In the dean’s office since 2007, he’s now also poised to lead the Curry School into a new era and into its brand-new building, Bavaro Hall.
Meredith Woo
Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
Dean of Arts and Sciences is a big job, and when Meredith Woo took it on less than a year ago, she was stepping into particularly big shoes—those of Ed Ayers, who left the post to become president of the University of Richmond. Watch for this expert on East Asia and political economy to return some emphasis to the “sciences” part of the equation, balancing out a longstanding prevalence of arts-minded deans.
GOVERNMENT
Maurice Jones
Assistant City Manager
A former city spokesperson, Jones knows the local government machine inside and out, and many see him as the heir apparent to City Manager Gary O’Connell. At the beginning of his tenure, Jones was charged with citizen engagement and neighborhood relations. Recently, he was appointed to develop a concrete and detailed plan for a city-wide, sustainable dialogue on race and racism.
Kristin Szakos
Democratic Candidate for City Council
A writer, editor, singer and the lead volunteer coordinator for the Obama campaign, Kristin Szakos has won over many people, who will, it’s likely, contribute to her solid run for one of the two seats on City Council. Married to Joe Szakos, executive director of the Virginia Organizing Project, Kristin Szakos will focus her efforts on bringing new solutions to old problems: budget cuts, affordable housing shortage, and inequality.
Tom Perriello
U.S. Congressman
With the ability to procure federal earmarks and change laws to benefit the local community, Perriello has the potential to hold significant sway—assuming he can survive the 2010 election. It probably doesn’t hurt that he was voted one of the top five most handsome congressional freshmen by The Huffington Post.
ARTS
Peter Agelasto
Proprietor, Monkeyclaus
Visionary proprietor of Nelson County’s own post-consumer, pro-community recording studio, Monkeyclaus, Agelasto has harnessed volunteer labor and Web 2.0 to build a place that looks like a barn, functions like an uber-hip charitable donation center and attracts top-notch local musicians from Birdlips to Trees on Fire. It’s becoming the place to go to make an album; count on Agelasto to keep dreaming up new ways to connect ears with tunes.
Ty Cooper
CEO, Sure Shot Events
By day, he’s the director of marketing for EcoDry Cleaners. By night, however, Ty Cooper runs Sure Shot Events, an events booking and promotion group that serves as a cultural hub for Charlottesville’s African-American community. This coming weekend, Sure Shot will be screening Mark Wahlberg’s controversial documentary Juvies. And in the last year, Cooper’s events—the “Best of Both Worlds Dance and Step Competition,” the recent “Virginia Got Talent?” contest—brought in larger and larger crowds while offering big stages and awards to gifted locals. Cooper got talent? Absolutely.
Jeyon Falsini
Proprietor, Magnus Music
Having worked for years as an independent music promoter and a booker for venues like Outback Lodge and Starr Hill, Falsini is now the man to see if you want to book a gig at the new venue Is (formerly Starr Hill Music Hall). With a space dedicated to his wares, so to speak, Falsini’s Magnus Music stands to further cement his reputation as a key figure in the local live scene. Bands will want his number; fans will thank him for the beats.
Jennifer Hoyt Tidwell
Co-founder, Performers Exchange Project
A founding member of the clowning troupe Foolery, the hallmark of the events Tidwell helps to organize now with PEP is a merging of disciplines: theater, circus, dance, music, art and a few others thrown in. There was CLAW, the ladies’ arm-wrestling fundraiser-spectacle; Miss Representation, a theatrical and effective protest of Sacagawea’s subordinate place on the Lewis & Clark statue; and Shentai, the 2007 carnival at the Ix Building. Whatever Tidwell helps to cook up next—a monthly, by-invitation artists Assembly just kicked off at The Bridge and a late-winter physical theater piece, Our American Ann Sisters, coming to Live Arts—it will surely draw in loads of interesting folks and make an artful splash.