Fairfax’s econ dev leader honored by White House

Fairfax County Economic Development President and CEO Victor Hoskins has a new accolade to add to his list of achievements.

Hoskins, who has served in his role in Fairfax County since 2019, received a lifetime achievement award from the White House, the county EDA said Thursday. The award honors Hoskins for his “lifelong commitment to building a stronger nation through volunteer service.” Hoskins’ award was signed by President Joe Biden and was presented to him by the U.S. India SME Council on Tuesday at the University of North America in Fairfax.

Hoskins was nominated for the award by the India council, a nonprofit member organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for small and midsize businesses owned by Indian Americans and other Asian Americans. He has volunteered with several regional organizations, including the Connected DMV board and the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative. He also is on George Mason University’s President’s Innovation Advisory Council.

“Thank you to the U.S. India SME Council for nominating me for this great honor. It was gracious of you all to nominate me and I greatly appreciate that you deemed me worthy of receiving the honor,” Hoskins said in a statement. “I am speechless. I am tremendously humbled to receive such an incredible honor.”

Hoskins told Virginia Business he would hang his award in his Tysons office, adding that he sees “volunteering as a privilege and a personal investment in our communities.”

Before arriving in Fairfax, Hoskins led economic development in Arlington County and helped to attract Amazon.com’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters to Virginia. A graduate of Dartmouth College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hoskins was recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Washington, D.C., district office with a Director’s Partnership Award in 2022. Fairfax worked with 146 business that announced 12,647 jobs in 2022 and was home to the region’s largest economic development deal that year when Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. announced it was renewing the lease at its McLean global headquarters for another 15 years. The hotelier’s plans included a $50.3 million capital investment and plans to grow from about 800 employees to about 1,150 during the next five years.