Economic development entity assumes management of defense lobby group

As both Albemarle County and the University of Virginia continue to court the defense and intelligence industry, a committee that has been working on their behalf has moved from one organization to another.

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce formed a Chamber Defense Affairs Committee in 2009 to help secure a long-term future for the area around the National Ground Intelligence Center and other agencies.

Initially known as the Defense Enterprise Roundtable, the entity will now become part of the Central Virginia Partnership for Economic Development, a non-profit public-private partnership formed in 1995. CVPED is also connected to the GO Virginia network of economic development efforts across all of Virginia.

“This move represents a powerful opportunity to enhance the Committee’s impact, expand its reach, and elevate its visibility,” said Chamber CEO Andrea Copeland in a June 27 information release.

In 2023, the Chamber of Commerce commissioned the Weldon Cooper Center at the University of Virginia to conduct an analysis of the defense sector. The Albemarle Board of Supervisors got a briefing in May of that year on what was calculated as an $1.2 billion impact on the local economy.

“We’re not manufacturing tanks, we’re not doing weapons systems,” said Lettie Bien, the committee’s program manager at the time. “We’re not doing weapons systems. This is mostly intelligence, research and development.” (read this story)

Two weeks later, the Albemarle Board of Supervisors authorized staff to move forward with the purchase of over 462 acres around the Rivanna Station military base for $58 million for the purposes of creating a campus for defense and intelligence firms. (read that story)

This spring, Go Virginia awarded Albemarle a $613,570 grant to help prepare 50 acres of the land for eventual development. Albemarle has filed site plans to do that work, as I reported last month for C-Ville Weekly.

Albemarle County has supported the defense committee by funding its program manager and will continue to do so.

“Staff believe that CVPED is better positioned to support the region’s defense community and the growth of the technology corridor,” said Abbey Stumpf, the county’s director of communications and public engagement.

Albemarle County has also applied for a grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation through their Economic Development Access Program to extend Boulders Road about a third of the mile to allow for deeper access to the property.

The Rivanna Station project is part of a larger project being conducted by CVPED and other localities to develop an “Innovation Corridor Strategic Roadmap.” GO Virginia 9 recently awarded $100,000 to that effort.

Before you go: This story was originally posted in the July 14, 2025 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. The posting here six weeks later on August 27, 2025 shows some of the pitfalls of this particular way of producing content. The audio wasn’t very good so I ended up not producing it for a radio version. It’s all a blur and a whirlwind, but I’m glad to try to get to do the work.