Federal Contractors/Technology: LAURA K. IPSEN

After being acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners last year, Ellucian Inc., a higher education technology provider, acquired CampusLogic, which helps streamline financial aid for students. The company employs more than 3,200 people worldwide, about 250 of whom are in Virginia.

Ipsen started her job with Ellucian in 2017, leaving Silicon Valley after 25 years in various executive positions at Oracle, Microsoft Corp., Cisco and other firms. She has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Virginia and studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Jordan.

Ellucian won EdTech Breakthough’s Education Administration Solutions Provider of the Year in June, and Ipsen was named a Top 100 Influencer by EdTech Digest. She serves on the board of the Business-Higher Ed Forum, is a senior fellow of the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Leadership Forum and is a member of Women Corporate Directors, among other organizations. She also serves on the board of Daimler Truck.

PERSON I ADMIRE: My mother! She raised five kids while working full-time and earning
her Ph.D. at 58.

FAVORITE SONG: “Viva la Vida,” by Coldplay