Leaders in the banking and development/philanthropy communities, along with a county manager who helped guide the community in growth during the 1960s-70s, will be inducted into the Arlington Business Hall of Fame for 2023.
The trio – Bob Hawthorne, Lola Reinsch and the late Bert Johnson – may be different in many ways, but “each of their accomplishments, support and advocacy for local business have shaped Arlington into the community that it is today,” Arlington Chamber CEO Kate Bates said.
The honors will be presented at the Chamber’s 37th annual Arlington Best Business Awards dinner, to be held May 16. The trio will join a pantheon that includes Giuseppe Cecchi, Robert Smith, William Buck, John Shooshan, Emerson Reinsch, Russell Hitt, Sidney Dewberry, Ashton Jones, W. Sydney Albrittain, James Cole, Jonathan Kinney, Joseph Wholey, Mort Zetlin, Dr. Kenneth Haggerty, Fred Burroughs, Preston Caruthers, Joel Broyhill, Herb Morgan, Elizabeth Campbell, Dr. Jack London, Neal Nichols, Henry Lampe, David Guernsey, Bob Peck, Rich Doud, John Milliken, Scott McGeary, Erik Gutshall and Sonia Johnston.
Bios of the 2023 inductees:
• Robert “Bob” Hawthorne was born and raised in the Westover community of Arlington County and began a banking career in 1971 at the Clarendon Bank and Trust, which later was merged into First American Bank of Virginia.
In 1992, he joined George Mason Bank which later merged into United Bank. When he retired in 2021, he held the position of market president for Arlington and Alexandria.
During his career as a commercial lender, Hawthorne facilitated loans in excess of $1 billion to local businesses and real-estate projects. In the community, Hawthorne served on the boards of directors of organizations such as the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, Arlington Community Foundation, Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and Washington Performing Arts Center. He also helped to start the organization Medical Care for Children and was instrumental to the founding of Leadership Arlington, now Leadership Center for Excellence.
• Like Hawthorne, Lola Reinsch is a native Arlingtonian, and currently serves as president/owner and CEO of the Reinsch Cos. She is also the owner and manager of rental -apartment communities and developer of real-estate entities in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.
After graduating from Purdue University, Reinsch held leadership roles in human resources, the fashion industry and national and real-estate marketing with B.F. Goodrich, IBM, Singer Co., Memorex Corp. and Coldwell Banker Commercial Brokers. She subsequently joined her family venture, the Reinsch Cos.
Reinsch continues a long-standing legacy of community involvement and philanthropy begun in the 1960s by her parents, Emerson and Dolores Reinsch. She is an avid patron of organizations as diverse as the Red Cross, local hospitals, Marymount University, George Mason University, National Capital Treatment & Recovery, Synetic Theater, Signature Theatre, Inova and VHC Health. She also has served on the boards of several banks, professional organizations, Marymount University and the Arlington Community Foundation, among others.
• Bert Johnson (1915-92) served as Arlington county manager from 1962 to 1976, a period when his experience in finance and budgeting were invaluable as the county continued its post-World War II growth and began planning for the arrival of the Metro system and increasing development of commercial corridors such as Crystal City.
Johnson had the second longest tenure among the 12 individuals who have served as county manager since the position was established 90 years ago. His 14 years were surpassed only by the 15 years of his immediate predecessor, A.T. Lundberg.
After he retired in 1976, Johnson served in consulting capacities with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Civil Service Commission, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of State and the government of the Virgin Islands, and served as an adjunct professor of government at American University.
