Federal Contractors/Technology: STU SHEA

Shea started his career in national security by building some of the CIA’s earliest computer systems. Today, he’s leading the integration of three businesses into one, as well as moving into a new corporate headquarters in Reston Town Center.

A national security contractor formed in 2017 after private equity fund Veritas Capital purchased Harris Corp. Government Services, Peraton purchased Chantilly-based IT contractor Perspecta Inc. and Northrop Grumman’s federal IT and mission support services businesses in 2021 for a total of $10.5 billion. About 19,000 people work for the combined company, and in 2022, Peraton was named a U.S. Best Managed Company by Deloitte Private and The Wall Street Journal, the only Virginia company named to the list.

Shea is a graduate of the University of Kansas and State University of New York at Albany.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: The 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team. There hasn’t been a team since that played with such raw emotion for the love of the game.

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Stop building endless data centers in prime real estate locations, forcing people to live far from work and not addressing citizens’ infrastructure needs.