On May 16, 2024, McGuireWoods Consulting senior advisor James Dyke received a Virginia Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award honoring contributions that left an indelible mark on Virginia’s business landscape. Dyke was one of four leaders to receive the award this year as part of the Virginia Chamber’s Centennial Milestone, celebrating 100 years fostering economic growth and prosperity in the commonwealth.
“We are delighted to recognize the individual achievements of each honoree who has helped shape Virginia as a best state for business,” said Barry DuVal, president and CEO of the Virginia Chamber. “Their visionary leadership and commitment to excellence serve as an inspiration for current and future generations of business leaders.”
Dyke served as Virginia’s first Black secretary of education and the first Black chair in the then 75-year history of the Northern Virginia Chamber.
In his speech, Dyke thanked the Virginia Chamber for “giving me the opportunity to help develop bipartisan policy-focused business support for needed improvements in education and workforce preparation programs — changes that will provide every Virginian with the opportunity to succeed and help grow our economy.”
He also noted the historic location of the award ceremony, which took place at the Jefferson Hotel. Sixty-six years ago, 29 Virginia business leaders, including members of the Chamber of Commerce, met with then-Gov. J. Lindsay Almond to urge him to “end the abomination known as massive resistance” — a commonwealth policy adopted in 1956 to block the desegregation of public schools mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954). Dyke said, “As Journalist Benjamin Muse wrote, ‘It may be confidently stated that Virginia business leaders finally brought vigorous and effective pressure, of which the public was not aware, to bring massive resistance to an end.’ ”
Noting that the award was presented two days before the 70th anniversary of Brown, Dyke stated, “I proudly stand here as a business advocate and a person of color at the very spot where, because of the business community, Virginia’s history took a decisive turn, a turn that was best for Virginia and that made it possible for me to be a part of your work and the recipient of your honor today.
“Unfortunately, the vestiges of school segregation continue today and hinder our ability to fully prepare our future workforce. The business community once again must step up and address that issue just as you did 66 years ago,” Dyke said.
