
DATE: Sunday, May 4, 1997                   TAG: 9705030846

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIKA REIF, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  115 lines

REGIONALISM PROPONENTS PUT TRUST IN DUVAL TO RUN PARTNERSHIP

When Barry E. DuVal decided not to run for another City Council term last year, he wasn't abandoning Newport News. He was broadening his territory.

DuVal now runs a many-tentacled organization bent on leading the entire region to new economic heights. At 37, he exercises the skills of a planner, negotiator, promoter and diplomat.

Consider, after all, the people he must work with: chairmen and chairwomen, presidents, superintendents, mayors, military commanders. Their domain: big business, local governments, schools, civic groups and military bases - 53 entities in all.

In essence, they are the people who run Hampton Roads. And they have put their trust in DuVal to run the Hampton Roads Partnership as its first president.

DuVal has a track record of gaining support from his peers and from the public. His 1988 Newport News City Council victory was slim, but in 1992, he amassed the most votes in city history when he ran for an at-large seat. In 1990, the council unanimously appointed him the city's youngest mayor at 30, choosing him again in 1992 and 1994.

He successfully brought new businesses to Newport News and worked to bridge party politics among divisive City Council members, say those who know him.

The image: He's a good guy. He's from here. He knows what he's doing.

``Young, energetic, articulate, smart,'' said Hampton Mayor James L. Eason.

``Very focused,'' said Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf.

``Positive,'' added Neil Young, assistant city planner in Newport News, since DuVal's era.

Which might explain why he's a good fit for his latest role: a diplomat who must work with diverse and sometimes competing interests. But the young psychology major from James Madison University hadn't always wanted to be a politician.

In college, he earned a certificate in paralegal studies alongside his degree, then found long hours in the law library dull. He decided he wanted to own a business and became ``intrigued with the idea of public service,'' he said.

A Menchville High School graduate, he returned to Newport News, where he still lives with his wife and three children. He joined his father in the family real-estate business, DuVal Associates Inc.

``It's never occurred to me to leave the area,'' he said.

Six years of operating a business while serving as mayor - a full-time chore at part-time pay - makes him acutely appreciative of his current 60-hour work weeks.

Besides DuVal, the $400,000 Partership budget pays for a secretary, a communications director and an analyst who's in charge of special projects and funding applications. DuVal spends much of his time promoting the partnership. On one recent work day, he spoke to a Newport News Kiwanis Club, then some Old Dominion University Ph.D. students and professors and finally the James City County Board of Supervisors.

And he has wrestled rhinos.

The gray plastic rhinoceros on his desk in the World Trade Center is all he needs to recall the 75 days spent leading a charge to bring a National Hockey League expansion team to Hampton Roads.

``It was exhilarating,'' DuVal said. ``It was sort of like a roller coaster: My fear was that I wouldn't fall off.''

Which he did in February, when Hampton Roads and the proposed Rhinos team were removed from the league's consideration.

Yet DuVal described the experience as ``a very good exercise for our region, that we were able to quickly mobilize and try and respond as a region to an outside investor.''

It was good for DuVal as well, said former state Sen. Hunter B. Andrews, a Partnership director. DuVal was able to coordinate input from the Partnership's 15 cities and counties during the mad Rhinos rush.

``He accentuated his ability in getting people to work together,'' Andrews said.

That is nothing new for DuVal. In 1993, he was elected chairman of the Hampton Roads Mayors and Chairs Caucus, the body of local leaders representing the 1.5 million residents of Hampton Roads.

``I had relationships with all the mayors, all the city managers, and relationships with most of the business community,'' DuVal said between sips of coffee. ``As a result of my position, I have been a strong proponent of regional cooperation.''

And later, between phone calls, he explained what that means. It involves getting groups like the Virginia Port Authority and the Hampton Roads Maritime Association to work together toward port development. It could mean getting the chambers of commerce and Local Visitor and Convention Bureaus to devise ways to boost tourism.

Do the above with organizations geared to sports, transportation, technology and water resources, and it falls under a strategy called Plan 2007. The goal is to create a region brimming with diverse, high-quality jobs by the year 2007, which is Hampton Roads' 400th anniversary.

His job also includes teaching leaders of three other regions - Roanoke, Lynchburg and Northern Virginia - how to establish a public-private partnership. Hampton Roads Partnership is the first endeavor of its kind in the state. Past efforts did not involve the private sector, DuVal said.

It all stems from Virginia's unique position of being the only state to have independent cities and counties.

``We have to create vehicles to cooperate through,'' he said.

At a recent public event, DuVal emphasized the need for legislators to push for regional funding at the state level.

``Regions grow and prosper, not individual cities and counties,'' he says and often repeats.

DuVal has previously expressed interest in running for Congress, but he slowly and carefully responded to recent similar queries by reiterating his dedication to the partnership.

``There's an element of enjoyment when you feel like you're making a difference,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

Barry E. DuVal

Graphic

HAMPTON ROADS PARTNERSHIP

The Hampton Roads Partnership comprises municipal, military,

education and business communities. A public-private joint venture

established in 1996, the partnership's goal is to establish a

strategic agenda to improve the area's economic development

opportunities. Its office is in the World Trade Center in Norfolk. KEYWORDS: REGIONALISM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MUNICIPAL

COOPERATION HAMPTON ROADS PARTNERSHIP