Four Richmond-area executives to be inducted into Business Hall of Fame

As appeared in Richmond Times-Dispatch, Feb 12, 2021 Gregory J. Gilligan

Four local business executives will be inducted into the Junior Achievement Greater Richmond Business Hall of Fame in May.

The four join 114 other business leaders who have been inducted into the program since it was established in 1988. Inductees are chosen for their contributions to business in the Richmond area.

The program is sponsored by Junior Achievement of Central Virginia. A virtual event is being planned for May 20.

The 2021 inductees are:

• Moses Foster-president and CEO of the West Cary Group, a Richmond-based advertising, marketing and data analytics firm. He started West Cary Group in 2007 and has grown it into one of the largest black-owned agencies in the country. A Virginia Tech graduate, Foster worked at WCVE Channel 23, Huntsinger & Jeffer advertising firm and Capital One. While at Capital One, he had jobs in brand management and was on the company digital team and eventually rose to senior director of its in-house ad agency.

• Christy and David Cottrell of RetailData, the retail pricing and promotions data-collection company based in Henrico County. RetailData was founded in 1988 by Christy Cottrell to initially collect prices on products sold at supermarkets. David Cottrell joined the company as a co-executive a few years later. They sold RetailData in 1999 but bought it back in 2005. In 2010, they sold a majority interest to Markel Ventures, the investment arm of Henrico-based specialty insurer Markel Corp. The couple serve as co-chairmen of RD Holdings, the parent company of RetailData. The company has expanded its focus over the years to collecting data for other industries including mass merchandisers, office suppliers, pet suppliers and drug retailers.

• Walter A. Stosch, a principal consultant with Stosch, Dacey & George public accounting firm and longtime former state lawmaker from Henrico. Before the merger of his firm in 1988, Stosch was a founding senior partner of the regional CPA firm, Gary, Stosch, Walls & Co. He specializes in litigation consulting and forensic accounting services including business valuations and economic damages. Stosch retired in 2015 after 33 years in the General Assembly. He served in the House of Delegates from 1983 to 1992, when he joined the Senate, where he represented the 12th Senate District, which covers parts of Henrico and Hanover counties.