Economic Development: STU SOLOMON

Solomon spent 30 years at Accenture before leaving in 2017 as location managing director for metropolitan Washington, D.C., and forming Connected DMV two years later. The public-private nonprofit regional economic development organization promotes collaboration between Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

In June, Connected DMV released its DMV Hydrogen Greenprint, a plan to grow the region’s hydrogen ecosystem by 2030. The plan calls for bringing nearly 9,000 jobs and billions of investment dollars to the region. Other Connected DMV initiatives include Nextversity, which matches students of color with professional services jobs, and the Global Pandemic Prevention and Biodefense Center, a nonprofit aiming to establish a stockpile of human monoclonal antibodies.

Solomon serves on boards for the Washington Airports Task Force and Venture Philanthropy Partners+Raise DC. He holds a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Baylor University.

FIRST JOB: Little League umpire at age 15 and then quality control inspector at Playtex

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Grandkids. There’s not much better than spending time with these little people as they love, learn and grow.

SOMETHING I’D NEVER DO AGAIN: Jump out of an airplane. Nothing beats a jump with the Army’s Golden Knights.