THE SPARK
Where assumptions break, and new thinking enters the room.
Founders, leaders, and institutions engage ideas before they harden into answers.
Tuesday, May 12
*Schedule subject to change
9:00 AM
Dominion Energy Welcome
Main Street Station
Featured Guest:
Ed Baine (Executive Vice President–Utility Operations and President–Dominion Energy Virginia)
9:05 AM - 9:30 PM
Innovators Showcase
Main Street Station
Founder Interviews
Founders take the stage with one goal: make the room believe. The idea, the problem, and the ask. This is how the Summit opens, not with the people who fund companies, but with the people building them. High energy, high stakes, and the kind of unfiltered conviction that reminds everyone in the room why they showed up.
Why This Room Matters:
Be in the room when the next breakthrough finds its audience.
Spot the founders worth knowing before the rest of the market does.
Set the tone for three days of building, investing, and thinking differently.
9:45 AM - 10:45 AM
Investing at the Intersection
Main Street Station
Fireside Chat
Capital, Conviction & the Future of Impact
What does it look like when capital is deployed with both a financial and social return in mind? This conversation examines how the next generation of impact investing is being shaped: where the most significant opportunities are emerging, how founders and ideas get evaluated differently, and why the breakthroughs of the next decade will come from places the market has historically overlooked. The intersection of equity and investment is not a niche. It is where the most consequential capital decisions of the coming decade are being made.
Why This Room Matters:
Understand how the most forward-looking investors are evaluating founders and opportunities differently.
Get a clearer picture of where impact capital is moving and why it matters to every builder in the room.
Leave with a sharper lens on the opportunities the market has been slow to see.
Featured Guest:
Erin Harkless Moore ( VP & Managing Director, Investments, Pivotal Ventures)
11:00 AM - 11:45 AM
First In Command
Main Street Station
Fireside Chat
Leadership, Innovation & Governing What's Next
Virginia's first woman governor reflects on what it means to lead the Commonwealth at the intersection of technology, economic development, and a rapidly changing workforce. Her path to the Governor's Mansion was not conventional, and neither is her approach to governing. This conversation examines what leadership looks like when the stakes are high, the environment is complex, and the decisions you make today shape what a state looks like a generation from now. What does governing for innovation actually require? And what does Virginia's next chapter look like from the seat she now occupies?
Why This Room Matters:
Hear directly from the person setting Virginia's economic and innovation agenda.
Understand how state-level policy decisions are shaping the environment every founder, investor, and business leader in this room operates in.
Gain rare access to a conversation about leadership, conviction, and what it takes to make history.
Panelists:
Abigail Spanberger (Governor, The Commonwealth of Virginia)
11:45 AM - 12:45 PM
Box Lunch + Networking
Main Street Station
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Legacy, Leadership and the Next Generation: The HBCU Impact
Main Street Station
Panel Discussion
Virginia's historically Black colleges and universities have shaped generations of leaders, professionals, and change-makers. This conversation brings together the presidents leading these institutions through a pivotal moment: AI is transforming curriculum, workforce demands are accelerating, and the mission of HBCUs has never been more urgent or more relevant. This is a conversation about institutional leadership, student outcomes, and the enduring power of institutions built to serve the people others overlooked.
Why This Room Matters:
Understand the role HBCUs play in building the talent pipeline that powers Virginia's economy.
Hear how these institutions are navigating AI, workforce shifts, and the next generation of student needs.
Be part of a conversation that centers legacy, leadership, and the future in the same breath.
Panelists:
Makola M. Abdullah, Ph.D (President, Virginia State University)
Javaune Adams-Gaston, Ph.D (President, Norfolk State University
Hakim J. Lucas, Ph.D (President & CEO, Virginia Union University)
Darrell K. Williams (President, Hampton University)
2:15 PM - 3:15 PM
The Builder’s Ecosystem
Main Street Station
Fireside Chat
Culture, Capital & the Will to Build
Building something from nothing is hard enough. Building it in an environment that was not designed for you is harder. This conversation examines the ecosystem that makes bold building possible: the capital structures, the communities, the cultural conditions, and the cities that are quietly becoming the next generation of hubs for entrepreneurship and growth. It is a conversation about what founders actually need, what cities actually offer, and why where you build matters as much as what you build.
Why This Room Matters:
Learn what the most resilient builders know about finding capital, community, and momentum in unexpected places
Understand why mid-market cities are becoming the most important geography in the next wave of entrepreneurship
Walk away with a clearer sense of what the ecosystem around you can and cannot do for your company
Panelists:
Everette Taylor (CEO, Kickstarter)
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
The Future of Virginia’s Flagship Institutions
Main Street Station
Panel Discussion
AI, Innovation & Preparing the Next Generation
Four presidents. Four institutions. Hundreds of thousands of students. And one unavoidable question: what does a university actually owe the people it educates when the world they are being prepared for is changing faster than any curriculum can track? AI is reshaping what it means to be an educated professional. Employers are moving faster than degrees. And the traditional model of higher education is facing pressure from every direction at once. Virginia's flagship university presidents are not waiting to see how it plays out. In this conversation, they examine the bets they are making right now on AI integration, workforce readiness, and what the next generation of graduates will actually need to succeed.
Why This Room Matters:
Understand how the institutions that produce Virginia's talent are adapting to a rapidly changing workforce
Get a first look at the AI integration, research, and workforce strategies being built right now at the highest levels of higher education
Be in the room where the decisions shaping the next generation of leaders are being discussed openly
Panelists:
Scott Beardsley (President, University of Virginia)
Michael Rao (President, Virginia Commonwealth University)
Timothy Sands (President, Virginia Tech)
Gregory Washington (President, George Mason University)
Additional Programming to be announced.