Governor Glenn Youngkin, Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA), and Representative Don Beyer (D-VA-08) spoke at a Monday ceremony celebrating Boeing’s relocating its headquarters to Arlington and its partnership with Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus in Arlington.
Youngkin said that when Boeing announced its move to Virginia in May, he “was particularly proud because when we went to work on January 15, we talked about Virginia being open for business. We talked about Virginia raising standards and expectations and education. We talked about Virginia being the best place for our veterans to live and work and raise a family.”
In video of the conference from 7News, he said he was also proud to “tell the whole story” with Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun.
In his own speech, Calhoun said Warner, Kaine, and Youngkin had been part of an advisory group before Youngkin took office, and acknowledged Warner’s efforts to convince Calhoun and Boeing to participate in the VT’s Innovation Campus.
“I’ve been around many states many times to talk about many things both good and bad. But I have rarely run into a more competent group of leaders, a more bipartisan group of leaders, than I have here in Virginia, and it’s been demonstrated to me every single moment of this journey,” Calhoun said.
Boeing’s announced move came amid ongoing bad news for the company, but it also comes as part of a wave of aerospace companies relocating to the greater Washington, D.C. area.
Warner said, “What we’ve seen is that Virginia, in defense and aerospace, really has become our national and international leader. It took a number of years of convincing for Dave. I think, Tim, it took us about 8 to 10 years to get Northrup Grumman here. And then we saw again last week, Raytheon. So if you look, Lockheed, General Dynamics, everyone who’s in the aerospace business is here in the greater capital area, and Virginia for the most part.”
In 2021, Boeing was the first announced partner in VT’s Innovation Campus, which aims to be a research center for artificial intelligence, quantum software, wireless communications, and intelligent interfaces, according to a Youngkin press release. Boeing is also creating a center for veteran transition and military families, which will work with the Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs Craig Crenshaw. Youngkin’s release says that’s a key part of a plan to create a network of resources for veterans and their families.
Kaine highlighted the important ‘soft skills’ that veterans possess that are also important for survival and success outside the military. He also called for support of military families.
“Our military spouses sacrifice. Our military spouses have to move here, there, and adjust to a new place and figure out a new school system and do it again and again and again, and sometimes to places that they’ve never even been. And they end up with all of those same flexibility and teamwork and success skills, but they often have a hard time connecting into the job market because someone looks at them and says, ‘Well, I’d like to hire you, but you probably are going to move in two years and so I’ll hire someone else.'”
Kaine continued, “So if I could just, you know, put an ask on the table to the Boeing family: as you’re working in tandem with the state to do well by veterans, and good on you for doing that, think about our military spouses too, because they bring so many of the same skills to the table, and they can benefit your company and benefit our society.”
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Glenn Younkin at Boeing” by Glenn Youngkin.
