WellcomeMD Founder and CEO Linda Nash Honored with Virginia Business Women in Leadership Award
/Shattering the glass ceiling
30 women leaders who stand out in Virginia’s corporate world
PUBLISHED JUNE 30, 2021 BY KAREN NEWTON / M.J. MCATEER | Virginia Business
The COVID-19 pandemic has been unusually difficult for professional women, especially those with young children or other responsibilities, such as caring for older family members. Many had to leave work entirely or put pursuing their career goals on the back burner during the past year while handling personal duties at home. The pandemic’s future impact on women’s progress in leadership at work is yet unknown, as well as how it will affect the national effort to close the gender pay gap — particularly for Black and Latino women, who earn an average of 62 cents and 54 cents, respectively, for every dollar earned by white men, according to U.S. Census data.
With such an unusual year as our backdrop, Virginia Business introduces our inaugural Virginia Business Women in Leadership Awards, spotlighting a cohort of 30 executives who have excelled in their careers and are paving the way for other women to follow in their footsteps. More than 200 women business leaders were nominated this year, making it a challenge to narrow down the list to our 30 honorees. Decisions were made by Virginia Business’ editor and publishers.
The women selected had to be based in Virginia and hold significant C-suite or equivalent leadership positions at for-profit businesses. Those under consideration included business owners, CEOs, chief operating officers and other C-suite-level executives. We divided nominees into those working for small businesses ($20 million or less in annual revenues) and large businesses (more than $20 million in annual revenues). In making our decisions, we also considered nominees’ overall career accomplishments, community engagement and the role the leader has played in mentoring women and girls.
We congratulate our stellar first group of winners and look forward to honoring more women executives in future editions of the Virginia Business Women in Leadership awards.
The below has been excerpted from the original Virginia Business article to highlight our founder and CEO, Linda Nash. For the full article and to read about all 30 honorees, please click here.
SMALL BUSINESS
LINDA NASH
Founder and CEO, WellcomeMD, Richmond
Linda Nash comes from an entrepreneurial family and has done her part to uphold that tradition by founding four businesses — “so far,” she adds. The trick, she explains, “is finding a need and filling it.”
In 2016, Nash founded WellcomeMD, a concierge medicine service in which doctors carry only 10% of the caseload of a regular practice, because she saw a need for more personalized health care. The patient-membership service model allows doctors “to drill down into the options to help people live their best lives,” Nash says. In addition to its operation in Richmond, WellcomeMD has two North Carolina locations and an office in Naples, Florida. In the past three years, its patient membership has grown at a rate of 325% annually.
She also heads Linda Nash Ventures, which helps startup businesses grow and thrive, and Nash has served on the boards of many nonprofits, including the Ellen Shaw de Paredes Breast Cancer Foundation, the United Way of Greater Richmond and the Powell Economic Education Foundation. She was a finalist for the Wells Fargo Women in STEM award in 2019 and has been named the Most Influential Woman in Concierge Medicine by Concierge Medicine Today.
Nash believes good leaders have to be “somewhat vulnerable. You need to admit mistakes and show you’re human,” she says. But she also believes in confronting issues and “having hard conversations. Avoiding conflict causes conflict.”
Congratulations to Linda Nash and the full cohort of deserving women leaders!
