Tina Leone is no stranger to Southside, although she lived and worked in Northern Virginia for nearly 30 years.
She’d visited the region regularly to drive her race car at the Virginia International Raceway, stay at the Bee Hotel and patronize local businesses in Danville’s River District. Even her dog — a one-eyed schnoodle named Ellie — came from Danville.
“There were all these signs, all these ties to Danville,” Leone said.
The industrial character of the city’s River District felt familiar, too, she said. Originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Leone said the brick warehouse buildings and historic houses in Danville reminded her of home.
Leone is the new executive director of Danville’s River District Association, a nonprofit that works to revitalize and promote the River District. The RDA announced in January that Leone would lead the organization, after a months-long national search for a director.
“VIR is my favorite track,” Leone said. “When this position came up, it felt really serendipitous. It feels like home and it’s my favorite track.”
Former RDA executive director Diana Schwartz stepped down in June after nearly eight years with the organization.
The RDA works to bolster businesses in the city’s River District through marketing and promotions, funding, events, collaboration, entrepreneurship education and facade improvements.
The organization began its work in Danville in 1999, after several decades of decline in the city’s main industries of tobacco and textiles. In 2023, the RDA won the Great American Main Street Award, a designation that recognizes communities for their revitalization of historic commercial districts.
Leone said she was enticed by Danville’s revitalization and economic growth so far, and by its commitment to this work.
“It really says something about a community when they say they’re going to do something, and then they do it,” Leone said, mentioning Dan River Falls, a rehabilitated textile mill that has been converted into a mixed-use building.
Dan River Falls, the former White Mill of Dan River Mills, was standing vacant on the riverfront a few years ago. In Leone’s visits since then, she’s been surprised by how quickly the building has transformed.
“What has been accomplished so far has been amazing, by the [RDA] staff and board, by the city, by economic development, even just over the last five years,” Leone said. “Everyone is very much aligned in this upward trajectory that Danville is on.”
From Northern Virginia to Southside
Leone most recently was CEO of the Ballston Business Improvement District, a 25-block area within the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington with both commercial and residential properties.
Even though the two localities are very different, Leone said she anticipates that her work in Danville will have some similarities to this role, she said.
“Ballston was a great place with a lot to offer, but nobody knew about it, even though it’s right in the heart of Arlington,” she said. “It was a neighborhood that was often overlooked. … People thought you could work there but wouldn’t live there. And within 10 years, we had transformed it into having one of the top three densest census tracts in the entire Washington, D.C., region.”
Leone’s work in Ballston showed her that this kind of turnaround is possible. Encouraging people to come to a neighborhood supports the retail there, which in turn spurs more business, with positive ripple effects throughout the rest of the locality, she said.
Before that, she was president and CEO of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.
Downtown revitalization is critical to the region’s continued revitalization, said Clark Casteel, president of the Danville Regional Foundation, a nonprofit that also works to encourage revitalization in the region.
“As new industries invest here and more people discover the Dan River Region, having a vibrant downtown where people can live, work, and play becomes essential,” Casteel said in an email statement. “That requires an organization like the River District Association and a leader who wakes up every day with downtown’s success as their top priority.”
Leone’s track record of building public-private partnerships and driving economic opportunities “gives us confidence she’s the right person for the next chapter,” he said.
Leone said her work in Northern Virginia was “a very similar type of work.”
“But every place is unique,” she said. “So right now I’m learning. I’m in the education and meeting people phase.”
Leone was already familiar with parts of Danville. When she raced at VIR, she’d stay at the Bee Hotel, eat at Cotton and visit other restaurants and businesses in the River District.
She said she enjoys the slower pace of life in Danville, compared to the hustle, bustle and traffic of Northern Virginia.
She got into racing during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she had the time to pursue “a lifelong love of going fast in cars,” specifically BMWs.
Leone bought her first BMW in 1998, when she was 27, a purchase that she worked hard for, she said.
“Living inside the Beltway, you can’t experience what these vehicles can do,” Leone said.
During the pandemic, Leone visited the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina for a two-day instruction program on racing, where she learned that drivers can bring their personal cars to a racetrack.
So she bought the same model BMW Motorsports car that she’d driven in 1998, outfitted it and started spending more time on the track, racing with the BMW Car Club. Her coach introduced her to VIR about three years ago, and she fell in love with the track and enjoyed exploring the region around it.
“You’re never too old to try something new,” Leone said. “Keep your bucket list because if you have an opportunity, you’ve got to take it, much like this position. This is a great opportunity and a great community, and I could just see myself living here.”
While she looks for a house in Danville, Leone is staying at a hotel with her two dogs, Ellie and a Brittany spoodle named Alfred.
Leone adopted Ellie from Homeward Trails, a Northern-Virginia-based animal welfare nonprofit that opened a location in Danville last year.
“Homeward Trails posted her, they had just picked her up,” Leone said. “I found out they had transported her from Danville.”
Moving the RDA forward
The RDA was led by an interim director for about six months before Leone stepped into the position Jan. 26 — but the growth in the River District didn’t stop during that time.
In 2025, the city announced construction of a new six-tier parking structure in the River District, new businesses opened, construction continued at a riverfront park and a mural was completed at the entrance of the North Main Business District, an adjacent neighborhood that is undergoing a revitalization process.
The organization now has four staff members, including Leone. It posted revenues of about $720,000 in 2024, according to its IRS Form 990. Almost all of its revenue is generated from contributions.
Leone said the RDA board has outlined the organization’s main goals for the future in its strategic plans.
“That includes becoming the go-to resource for businesses in the River District,” she said. “We want our business owners to think of us first, if there’s issues, if there are things to be addressed, things we can do collectively to market and promote their businesses.”
That will lead to new programs, events and placemaking efforts, Leone said.
Placemaking means creating a specific look and feel for an area, she said. It involves public art, building facades and aesthetics.
“Danville has character, it has a specific character,” Leone said. “How do we bring out more of that?”
The RDA will work on those efforts alongside the city and organizations such as the Public Arts Commission and the newly consolidated historic architecture review board.
The RDA’s strategic plan also emphasizes business retention this year, which Leone said she believes will also inspire new business creation and recruitment.
“The more that they’re thriving, the more attention comes in,” she said. “When you look at Northern Virginia and D.C. right now, they’re losing businesses and restaurants left and right. We don’t want to see that. We want to make sure that we’re supporting our businesses and giving them every chance to do great.”
Right now, much of Leone’s focus is on learning — meeting people and educating herself about the city, the River District and the RDA.
“I’m hearing from people about what they want to see for our future, what we should be focusing on, and then we’re going to marry all that together,” Leone said.
One thing she’s been hearing from residents is a desire for restaurants and businesses in the River District to be open later.
“We have to think about what we can do to incentivize our restaurateurs and business owners, to work with them and make it worth their effort to be open in the evening,” she said.
A common challenge with nonprofits is funding, Leone said. She said she’s excited about continuing partnerships with Caesars Virginia, which is expected to bring in about 2 million annual visitors and at least $35 million in gaming tax revenue to the city this fiscal year.
“There’s important work ahead,” Casteel said. “For the River District to truly serve as an engine of regional growth, RDA must continue strengthening its support for entrepreneurs and small businesses while ensuring the benefits of revitalization reach across our community.”
A thriving downtown has ripple effects beyond Main Street, Casteel said. It’s an indicator that Danville is ready to compete for talent and continue growing.
Leone said she’s encouraged by the growth that Danville has experienced in recent years and the extensive collaborations that have worked toward that.
“Danville is a hidden gem,” she said. “We know how great it is. … Danville is going to be a force. It’s already on the map, now we just have to point more people here.”
