Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer proclaimed Aug. 9, 2022, as Ramon W. Breeden Jr. Day, in honor of the real estate mogul.
Since starting The Breeden Co. in 1961 out of the trunk of his Pontiac convertible and the back room of a grocery store, Breeden has led his company to be a vertically integrated real estate development firm with a portfolio of more than 25,000 apartments and 2 million square feet of retail and office space.
Breeden stepped down from his roles as president and CEO in January, but remains the company’s chairman of the board. Timothy Faulkner, then the company’s chief operating officer, succeeded him.
Breeden has served on The University of Virginia’s McIntire Foundation board, as well as boards for the Tidewater Builders Association, Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance, and Virginia Beach Education Foundation.
Sterling-based moving and storage company JK Moving Services announced Friday it promoted David Cox to president.
Cox will assume responsibility of day-to-day operations, and founder Chuck Kuhn will remain CEO of the company.
“[Cox] is a natural leader, and his industry knowledge, focus on technology and innovation as well as keen business sense have helped our company grow even during the global pandemic,” Kuhn said in a statement. “I will remain firmly involved with the company; however, responsibility for day-to-day operations for both the Residential and Commercial divisions will rest with David.”
Cox served as executive vice president of JK Moving’s residential moving services for five years. He previously held several roles within Suddath Relocation Systems, including senior vice president of quality assurance and reimagination and president of network operations. Prior to joining Suddath Relocation Systems, Cox worked with Graebel Cos. Inc. in several roles, including overseeing operations in Colorado, northern California, Oregon and Washington as regional vice president.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and served two years in the Peace Corps teaching English to students in Albania.
Kuhn founded JK Moving 40 years ago. The United States’ largest independently owned moving company, JK Moving provides local, long distance and global relocation services to commercial, residential and government clients. The company is the American Trucking Association’s Independent Mover of the Year.
Apruzzese joined AT&T more than two decades ago in accounts payable and has served in roles ranging from legislative affairs to domestic and international corporate security. As president, he helps set and implement AT&T’s public policy and philanthropic initiatives in Virginia.
When the pandemic scrambled everyone’s plans, he says, employees and customers had to pivot quickly. Apruzzese puts into perspective what the soaring demand for virtual connections has meant for his company: “On an average day now, about 468 petabytes of data cross our network, up 40% year over year. That’s the equivalent of streaming nearly 100 million 2-hour-long movies in HD.”
Apruzzese serves on the board of directors for nonprofit Jobs for Virginia Graduates, which supports youth initiatives such asBoys to Men Mentoring Network of Virginia and Girls on the Run Hampton Roads.
EDUCATION:Bachelor’s degree,Georgia State University
FIRST JOB: Paper carrier for The Sentinel in Carlisle, Pennsylvania
HOBBY/PASSION:Playing the guitar, visiting Virginia’s great wineries and cooking on my Big Green Egg
Desch
MATTHEW J. DESCH
CEO, IRIDIUM COMMUNICATIONS INC., McLEAN
Desch’s company operates a constellation of 66 satellites providing communications services such as broadband, voice and data communications.
As the pandemic pushed his staff to telework, Desch connected with his approximately 600 employees via a regular videocast, saying, “You can’t overcommunicate with a remote workforce.”
The coronavirus pandemic “tested the kind of culture our company really has, and who we were as an employer,” he says. The company changed the way it worked but still grew its bottom line: Total revenue in 2020 reached $583.4 million, up 4% from 2019.
A member of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee and the board of Unisys Corp., Desch has been with Iridium since 2006. He sees a company responsibility to inspire student interest in space and STEM subjects.
EDUCATION:The Ohio State University (B.S.) and The University of Chicago (MBA)
HOBBY/PASSION: An active private pilot, I’m passionate about anything that elevates us above the Earth. You can see why I love the satellite business.
French
CHRISTOPHER E. FRENCH
PRESIDENT AND CEO, SHENANDOAH TELECOMMUNICATIONS Co. (SHENTEL), EDINBURG
This summer, French marked the end of an era for the company he has led since 1988. After decades of providing wireless mobile service, Shentel sold its wireless operations to T-Mobile for $1.95 billion.
The deal provided a return of $936.6 million to shareholders via a special dividend of $18.75 per share, with about $19.6 million reinvested in shares of the company’s common stock.
The sale also is resulting in a company restructuring that will bring a workforce reduction of about 30%, or 340 employees, across its six-state, mid-Atlantic service area.
In the deal’s aftermath, Shentel is focused on expanding broadband access through its Glo Fiber fiber-optic service and Beam, its fixed wireless broadband service. Amid the pandemic, Shentel worked with school systems to ensure the availability of broadband service to student households.
Among other civic roles, French serves on the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education board.
EDUCATION: University of Virginia (B.S., MBA)
VACATION SPOT: An uncrowded beach
HoBBY/PASSION:Family
Myers
J.D. MYERS II
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND REGION MANAGER OF VIRGINIA OPERATIONS, COX COMMUNICATIONS INC., CHESAPEAKE
Myers sees the pandemic as both the biggest challenge and greatest accomplishment of the last year for the 2,400 employees he oversees at Cox Communications.
“As providers of critical infrastructure, we had to stay on,” he says. His employees worked to provide the reliable broadband connection that families, businesses and hospitals needed “to stay connected, to continue to serve their own customers and to fight to keep people alive.”
A former U.S. Army officer active in mentoring and civic organizations, Myers is a trustee for the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and serves on the GO Virginia Region 5 Council.
EDUCATION: American University (B.A., dual master’s degrees)
PHILANTHROPY:Maya Angelou said, “When you learn, teach. When you get, give.” I remember going to school hungry, but have worked hard to ensure my daughters will never know that feeling. Therefore, it’s my obligation and privilege to support organizations like Virginia’s food banks, especially this past year. I also recognize the gift of time and never turn down an opportunity to mentor when given the chance.
HOBBY/PASSION: Philanthropy, golf and weight training. Golf offers a mental challenge, and weight training challenges my body. So they’re a perfect balance.
PRESIDENT, BALLARD FISH & OYSTER CO. Inc., CAPE CHARLES
Ballard left his job as an investment banking analyst in 2008 to focus on selling Misty Points, Chincoteague Salts and Littlenecks, oysters and clams that have been his family’s livelihood for five generations, going back more than 125 years. Ballard Fish & Oyster Co., which employs more than 150 people across all its locations, is the parent company of Cherrystone Aqua-Farms and Chincoteague Shellfish Farms.
Virginia leads the East Coast in hard clam and Eastern oyster production, according to a report from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. But the multimillion-dollar industry faced hardships in 2020, with restaurants closed due to the pandemic.
A graduate of Washington and Lee University, Ballard is an associate board member on the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and serves on the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association board.
In April 2020, Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Ballard to the state’s
COVID-19 Business Task Force. This March, Ballard announced the sale of Cherrystone Family Camping Resort to Sun RV Resorts for $9.8 million.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Advice is the most insincere form of communication.
FIRST JOB:Retail associate at Wild River Outfitters in Virginia Beach
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“A Time for Mercy,” by John Grisham
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION:Norfolk Canyon, off Virginia Beach
Freeman
GEORGE C. FREEMAN III
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, UNIVERSAL CORP., RICHMOND
Freeman’s entry to Universal Corp., the world’s biggest supplier of leaf tobacco, came through the legal profession. A former associate with Hunton Andrews Kurth, Freeman served as Universal’s general counsel and secretary for nearly five years. He became the company’s president in December 2006, and in 2008, he took over chief executive and board chairman duties.
A former Supreme Court clerk for Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr., Freeman lately has been diversifying the company, including the $170 million acquisition last September of Silva International Inc., an importer of dried vegetables, fruits and herbs. Along with the acquisitions of other plant-based businesses, including FruitSmart Inc. and Carolina Innovative Food Ingredients, Freeman expects 10% to 20% of the company’s income to be in that sector by fiscal year 2022, he said last year.
Universal’s $1.98 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending in June 2021 was up 4% from the previous year, and it was one of 39 companies based in Virginia to land on the Fortune 1000 list this year.
Freeman also serves on the boards of Tredegar Corp. and the insurance company Mutual Assurance Society of Virginia.
Heatwole
CORWIN HEATWOLE
CEO, FARMER FOCUS, HARRISONBURG
A sixth-generation farmer who grew up helping raise poultry, Heatwole bought his first farm at 23, learned organic farming, grew his flocks and in 2014 started Shenandoah Valley Organics, now called Farmer Focus.
Heatwole leads Harrisonburg’s sixth-largest employer, with more than 500 workers. Farmer Focus now represents more than 60 family farms that are certified humane and sell USDA Organic chickens under the Farmer Focus brand. Using a product ID, customers can trace their poultry to the farms where the birds originated and read about the farmer in online profiles.
In December 2019, the company announced that it had closed a $15 million funding round with Open Prairie and other investors, led by Richmond-based NRV. Heatwole said the investment for marketing and modernizing plants would increase the company’s volume.
Farmer Focus is currently expanding further, building two facilities in Acorn LC Industrial Park, a move expected to create 110 jobs.
Houff
NEIL A. HOUFF
PRESIDENT AND TRANSLOADING OPERATIONS MANAGER, HOUFF CORP., WEYERS CAVE
Houff studied agriculture and economics at Virginia Tech, graduating in 1996 and joining his family- founded company — which grew from a dairy farm in Weyers Cave — building on specialized equipment that applied liquid fertilizer. Houff’s Feed and Fertilizer was founded in 1975, becoming a prominent Shenandoah Valley business. It rebranded as Houff Corp. in 2017.
The employee-owned company has its roots in agriculture, offering crop protection, seed sales and fertilizer. It also provides industrial services, including transloading, storage and third-party logistics. It expanded its transload operations to Clifton Forge in 2018, serviced by CSX Corp.
Houff Corp. also aligns with sister companies Blue Ridge Petroleum Co. and IDM Trucking Inc., which together form Railside Enterprises Inc. Houff serves on the board for IDM Trucking, which hauls more than 12,000 loads per year across the mid-Atlantic region. He’s also active in the Virginia Crop Production Association board, and last year he was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam to his second four-year term on the state Board of Agriculture and Consumer Services, on which Houff serves as vice president.
Pryor
WAYNE F. PRYOR
PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA FARM BUREAU FEDERATION, HADENSVILLE
Pryor leads Virginia’s largest nonprofit agricultural membership organization, with nearly 130,000 members. A Goochland County hay and grain producer, Pryor was elected to his eighth two-year term as the federation’s president in December 2020. His organization counts more than 500 employees in Virginia.
He serves as board president and chairman of the Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. and as president, CEO and chairman of Virginia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. Pryor also serves on several agricultural insurance boards, and he’s active in other areas of the industry, including serving in leadership roles for the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture, Innovation & Rural Sustainability, as well as the Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. Additionally, he’s a member of the Virginia Cattlemen’s Association and the Virginia Cooperative Extension Leadership Council.
One of the Virginia Commonwealth University alum’s current goals is to expand broadband access in rural areas, a focus of Gov. Ralph Northam’s administration, which is advocating for full coverage in the commonwealth by 2024.
Ryan
MATTHEW RYAN
CEO, SHENANDOAH GROWERS INC., HARRISONBURG
In June, former Starbucks Inc. Chief Marketing Officer Ryan was tapped as the new CEO of indoor agricultural company Shenandoah Growers, replacing Tim Heydon, who led the business through its major expansion over the past 20 years and will transition into an advisory role for the company’s board of directors.
Ryan has an impressive resume, having previously overseen brand management at The Walt Disney Co. before joining Starbucks. He also has served on Kaiser Permanente’s board since January 2020.
Founded in 1989, Shenandoah Growers provides organic herbs and leafy greens to more than 18,000 retailers nationwide, all grown indoors with a vertical farming system employing hydroponics, aeroponics and aquaponics. Ryan says that the company has “the strongest track record and the best technical and biological know-how” in the indoor-grown agriculture market. The company made some major leadership hires this year, including Chief Operating Officer Cameron Geiger and Chief Financial Officer Mike Buckley, who hail, respectively, from Walmart Inc. and Postmates, as well as Chief Science Officer Tessa Pocock.
A Harvard graduate, Ryan has a bachelor’s degree in history and literature.
DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA BEACH DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, VIRGINIA BEACH
Adams’ ability to sell Virginia Beach to both outside and current businesses is evident in the number of expansion announcements he has overseen in the past year.
Those announcements include a $15.8 million investment from Acoustical Sheetmetal Co. to expand its Virginia Beach complex and create 200 jobs; Premium-PPE’s investment of $5.3 million to expand its operations and create 180 jobs; and a $4 million investment from industrial contractor SJS Executives to expand and add a fourth location, which will create 49 jobs.
Adams joined the city in 2015 as a purchasing agent and was promoted to finance operations administrator before stepping into his current role in 2018 after his predecessor, Warren Harris, resigned and later pleaded guilty to felony embezzlement charges.
Prior to coming to Virginia Beach, the Mississippi native held positions in both the private and public sectors in his home state. He earned an MBA from Hult International Business School and a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Mississippi State University.
Ball
R. BRIAN BALL
SECRETARY OF COMMERCE AND TRADE, COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, RICHMOND
A University of Virginia “double ’Hoo” with degrees in economics and law, Ball has been championing the robust growth of Virginia’s economy since his appointment in 2018.
His talents are reflected in recent major economic wins during the pandemic, including Microsoft Corp.’s $64 million investment to establish a new software development and R&D regional hub in Fairfax County, creating 1,500 jobs, and manufacturer Crown Holdings Inc.’s investment of $145 million to establish a manufacturing operation in Henry County, creating 126 jobs.
Ball has also been a driving force in helping Norfolk retain the North American headquarters of CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics. The project is expected to keep 600 jobs in Norfolk and create 400 jobs in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia.
Before joining the public sector, Ball was a corporate attorney at Williams Mullen. He currently serves as vice chair for both the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority. He also co-chairs the Governor’s Coordinating Council on Homelessness and serves on several other boards.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED: I’m more patient than I used to be, although some would disagree with that assessment.
Bobe
CORRIE BOBE
DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, DANVILLE
A Danville native and Virginia Tech alum, Bobe has been involved in economic development in the city since 2009 and last year became Danville’s economic development director.
With the Caesars Virginia casino on Danville’s horizon, Bobe is overseeing a period of change and development in her hometown. She has championed the marketing of industrial park property, such as the Southern Virginia Megasite, as well as the redevelopment of River District properties.
In May, after years of waiting, city officials announced a $62.5 million mixed-use renovation of the White Mill, the symbol of Danville’s history as a textile hub — as well as its collapse in the 1990s.
During Bobe’s tenure, the city has also seen interest grow in Danville due to an extensive workforce training program launched in cooperation with the state’s community college system and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership.
Bobe is part of a regional cooperative effort in which the city partners with Pittsylvania County in drawing developers to co-owned industrial parks, and she also collaborates with the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Working in economic development has provided me with a unique opportunity to play an active role in reshaping the future of this region.
Buell
CATHERINE BUELL
HEAD OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT, AMAZON IN THE COMMUNITY, AMAZON.COM INC., WASHINGTON, D.C.
A driven and experienced community development executive, Buell joined Amazon last year after working for the Greater Washington Partnership as its vice president for policy and programs.
She is leading the launch of Amazon’s new Housing Equity Fund, a more than $2 billion commitment to preserve existing housing and create inclusive, affordable workforce housing developments through below-market loans and grants to housing partners, public agencies and minority-led organizations. The fund benefits moderate- to low-income families and individuals in Arlington and two other communities: Washington state’s Puget Sound region and Nashville, Tennessee. Amazon already has deployed $382 million to the Washington Housing Conservancy to convert the Crystal House apartment complex near Amazon’s HQ2 headquarters in Arlington into a development of more than 500 affordable homes.
Prior to Amazon, Buell served as president and CEO of the Atlanta Housing Authority. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Spelman College and a law degree from Georgetown Law School. She serves on the boards of Venture Philanthropy Partners and Community of Hope.
Chalk
JARED CHALK
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORFOLK ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, NORFOLK
Since joining the city of Norfolk in 2005, Chalk has worn many hats: interim director of economic development, special assistant to the city manager, and secretary-treasurer of the Norfolk Economic Development Authority among them.
Today, as the leader of Norfolk’s economic development efforts, Chalk has focused attention on retaining and bringing in jobs that benefit community stakeholders, including minority-owned small businesses. He also is overseeing the redevelopment of Military Circle Mall, which could include an arena, and has three developer groups (including one partnering with Pharrell Williams) vying for the project.
Chalk also was pivotal in bringing the country’s eighth-largest fiber internet company, MetroNet, to Norfolk, setting up competition for Cox Communications and making Norfolk a “gigabit city” in the process. A Bridgewater College graduate, Chalk also has a certificate in real estate finance and development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: I don’t like to lose at anything and will turn anything into a competition.
DuVal
BARRY DuVAL
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, RICHMOND
As the state’s secretary of commerce and trade from 1998 to 2002, DuVal has been pivotal in Virginia’s business community. During his tenure in Gov. Jim Gilmore’s administration, the state attracted a record-setting 1,500 economic development projects that resulted in 156,850 new jobs and $13.7 billion in private investment.
Since 2010, DuVal has led the state’s largest business advocacy group, which he has grown from fewer than 1,000 members to more than 26,000 members today. Last year, he and the chamber released a special report focusing on returning to business post-pandemic, “Blueprint for Getting Virginians Back to Work.”
This year, the Virginia Chamber’s main job is developing the next statewide strategic plan, known as Blueprint Virginia 2030, focusing on workforce development, education, infrastructure, energy, health care and other areas. DuVal will present the plan to the governor-elect at the organization’s December economic summit.
In addition to his work in the public sector (including as mayor of Newport News), DuVal served as president and CEO of DuVal Associates Inc., a diversified real estate firm, and later as president and CEO of Kaufman & Canoles Consulting LLC.
Hart
H. GARRETT HART III
DIRECTOR, CHESTERFIELD COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, CHESTERFIELD
Under Hart’s leadership, Chesterfield County has become a leader in job growth in the Richmond region. Hart, who assumed his position in 2015, has 40 years of experience in local government and economic development.
He started his career as Louisa’s first town manager; moved to New Kent County, where he served as county administrator; and then was marketing manager for the Virginia Peninsula Economic Development Council. Prior to coming to Chesterfield, Hart served as corporate vice president of McKinney and Co. He serves on the Chesterfield Chamber board and the ChamberRVA Port Committee.
Hart is proud of the innovative assistance program the economic development team created and deployed to assist businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic. The county was able to aid 439 businesses, providing $5.2 million in grants for business and child care expenses. Restaurants also benefited from “Chesterfield Eats to Go,” an interactive online map that targeted restaurants open for takeout or delivery, and “Take It Outside,” an initiative to allow restaurants to serve outdoors amid the pandemic.
Haymore. Photo by Mark Rhodes
TODD P. HAYMORE
MANAGING DIRECTOR, GLOBAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, COMMERCE & GOVERNMENT RELATIONS GROUP, HUNTON ANDREWS KURTH LLP, RICHMOND
As a former Cabinetsecretary and agency head under three governors of both political parties, Haymore spent almost 12 years helping create economic opportunities for Virginia. He continues working with businesses in his current position, guiding them through challenges relating to business expansion or relocation.
Haymore serves as vice chair of state economic development initiative GO Virginia’s Region 4 Council, which covers the Richmond and Petersburg regions, as well as localities to the south and east. Part of his focus is on developing Petersburg’s advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster, advising several companies involved in that burgeoning sector.
The Danville native’s reach extends to economic development projects around the state, including advanced manufacturing opportunities in Southwest and Southern Virginia, as well as Hampton Roads’ development as an offshore wind hub, building upon Dominion Energy Inc.’s project off the shore of Virginia Beach.
A close confidant of former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, he’s also heavily involved in McAuliffe’s second bid for governor in November. Haymore serves on several boards, including Virginia Commonwealth University’s board of visitors.
Haymore has been recognized for his economic development and trade efforts by various associations, including the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia International Business Council.
Hoskins
VICTOR HOSKINS
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FAIRFAX COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, FAIRFAX
Under Hoskins’ leadership, Fairfax County is making progress in becoming a technology giant, with Macedon Technologies, Microsoft and Peraton Inc. all expanding in the county over the past year. In 2021, the county had a total of 11 Fortune 500 companies headquartered there, the most of any locality in the state.
A longtime Northern Virginia mover and shaker, Hoskins came to Fairfax in 2019 with an enviable resume, after serving as director of Arlington Economic Development, where he led the team that attracted Amazon.com Inc.’s multibillion-dollar HQ2 East Coast headquarters to Arlington.
Since Hoskins’ arrival, Fairfax has retained Volkswagen Group of America Inc.’s North American headquarters under a 20-year lease, and Macedon announced it is expanding its corporate headquarters in Reston. Hoskins also had a hand in Microsoft’s announcement of its 400,000-square-foot software R&D center, which will have 1,500 employees, earning recognition as 2020’s largest transaction in Northern Virginia. Next up, StarKist Co. is relocating its headquarters from Pittsburgh to Reston in 2022.
A major proponent of regional cooperation and co-founder of the Northern Virginia Economic Development Alliance, Hoskins received Leadership Fairfax Inc.’s regional leadership award in 2020.
Jones
MAURICE JONES
CEO, ONETEN, NORFOLK
In March,Jones stepped down from his position as president and CEO of national nonprofit Local Initiatives Support Corp. to head OneTen, a coalition of Fortune 500 corporations and CEOs that is focused on training, hiring and promoting 1 million Black Americans without four-year college degrees into family-sustaining jobs and careers over the next 10 years.
Co-founded by former CEOs of American Express and Merck & Co. Inc., the coalition is working with companies across the country to influence changes in corporate hiring and advancement practices. It also connects employers with talent partners and nonprofits supporting diverse workforce development initiatives.
During Jones’ tenure at LISC, he oversaw a period of growth and expansion, including more than $2 billion in community investments in 2020. He also led LISC’s COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts in 2020 and deepened the organization’s commitment to racial equity with the start of Project 10X, a $1 billion initiative to bridge racial gaps in health, wealth and opportunity.
A native of Mecklenburg County, Jones previously served as the deputy secretary of housing and urban development for the Obama administration and as Virginia secretary of commerce under Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Jones also is a former publisher of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper.
Landrum
STEPHANIE LANDRUM
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ALEXANDRIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP, ALEXANDRIA
Despite the many challenges brought by the pandemic, Landrum is proud of how Alexandria continued making major economic development deals over the past year.
In November 2020, Hilco Redevelopment Partners purchased a shuttered, 20-acre power plant site on the Potomac River, with plans for a mixed-use development. And a month later, Inova Health System announced plans for a $1 billion Alexandria Hospital campus to be built on the site of the former Landmark Mall. Alexandria also has seen an acceleration of development around Potomac Yard, including the $1 billion Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.
Amid the pandemic, Landrum spearheaded efforts to support the city’s local business community through the Alexandria Back to Business grant program, which provided nearly $6 million in federal and local funding to more than 600 small businesses.
Landrum was promoted to president and CEO of AEDP after holding various leadership roles in the organization since 2005. In 2019, she was named the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leader of the Year. A University of Virginia graduate, she also holds an MBA from U.Va.’s Darden School of Business and serves on boards including the Virginia Economic Developers Association and The Art League.
STEPHEN MORET
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP, RICHMOND
In 2018, Moret played a key role in landing Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion HQ2 East Coast headquarters, described as the largest single economic development deal in U.S. history. Named by Virginia Business magazine as its 2019 Virginia Business Person of the Year, Moret is a tireless promoter of Virginia as a great location for business, and is one of the key players in Virginia’s ranking as CNBC’s Top State for Business since 2019.
Moret and his VEDP staff have been working with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce to update Blueprint Virginia 2030, a comprehensive long-range plan for Virginia businesses that’s expected to be presented in 2022. And Business Facilities ranked Virginia No. 3 in the nation for workforce development last year, praising VEDP’s workforce training programs.
One of Moret’s key initiatives is the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a cooperative initiative with Virginia’s community colleges to provide free, fast workforce training and recruiting services for companies locating or expanding in Virginia. The Louisiana native started a similar program, FastStart, with great success when he was that state’s secretary of economic development.
A Louisiana State University alum, Moret holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a doctorate in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.
Owens
EDWARD OWENS
CHAIRMAN, VIRGINIA TOBACCO REGION REVITALIZATION COMMISSION, SOUTH BOSTON
South Boston’s mayor, Owens was elected chairman of the powerful Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission in January.
He has served on the commission for the past 16 years and is its second longest-serving member after state Del. Terry Kilgore, whom Owens succeeded as chairman.
The commission, which provides funding for economic development and workforce education initiatives in formerly tobacco-dependent communities, covers an area including 40 localities in Southern and Southwest Virginia. Owens seeks to make a big impact on the economically challenged regions and has described broadband expansion and scholarships for workforce development as the commission’s most crucial investments.
A college basketball star, the 6-foot-6 Owens was inducted in 1992 into the Athletic Hall of Fame at Hampden-Sydney College, from which he graduated in 1980 with a psychology degree. He has served on the South Boston Town Council since 1998 and was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam in June 2021 to serve on Virginia State University’s board of visitors. The owner of Edward Owens Insurance Agency, he was named the Halifax Chamber of Commerce’s 2013 Business Person of the Year, and he also has served on the Halifax Educational Foundation.
Payne,
WILLIAM H. ‘WILL’ PAYNE II
DIRECTOR, INVESTSWVA, BRISTOL
Payne has been pivotal in attracting business prospects to Southwest Virginia. In the last year, his public-private regional economic development marketing group, InvestSWVA, helped land a 160-job expansion in Scott County for New York-based eHealth Technologies and a 113-job, $7.9 million expansion in Washington County for SPIG Industry.
InvestSWVA also announced a partnership with Appalachian Power and Dominion Energy to advance manufacturing and development opportunities for energy storage technology in Southwest Virginia. And Payne’s group spearheaded Project Oasis, an initiative to promote data center development in the region.
A Richmond native and ’80s music fan, Payne keeps an Excel spreadsheet logging the more than 160 concerts he’s attended over the past 20 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy from William & Mary and is working toward an executive MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. He is vice rector of William & Mary’s board of visitors and chairs its administration, buildings and grounds committee. He also is a graduate of U.Va.’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Leading an effort to grow Southwest Virginia’s first malting-quality barley crop used in beer production, and expanding specialty grain market opportunities.
Rizer.
BUDDY RIZER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, LOUDOUN COUNTY
Loudoun’s economic development leader is also the self-styled “Godfather of Data Center Alley,” reflecting the fact that the county has the world’s largest concentration of data centers. More than 70% of all internet traffic passes through the county’s Ashburn area, and Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft are continually building more there.
The increased demand for cloud services and streaming video from remote workers during the pandemic caused some data center development projects to get fast-tracked in 2020. The pandemic also had Rizer focused on aiding the county’s small businesses. Loudoun doled out millions in relief funds via its COVID-19 Business Interruption Fund and allocated $250,000 in federal CARES Act money to help local restaurants offset costs for switching to outdoor dining service.
Rizer, a former disc jockey and radio station owner, holds a bachelor’s degree from Towson University. He sits on the boards of the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Northern Virginia Community College Foundation.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA:Virginia is its best when we act as one. While my job is to promote Loudoun, I recognize we all have a vested interest in Virginia’s economic development success.
Romanello
ANTHONY ROMANELLO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HENRICO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, HENRICO COUNTY
In April, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Amazon.com Inc. would be bringing a new, 2.6 million-square-foot robotics fulfillment center to Henrico, adding more than 1,000 jobs to Amazon’s existing workforce of more than 27,000 employees in Virginia. The facility is anticipated to launch in 2022.
It’s one of several economic development wins secured under the leadership of Romanello, a former Henrico County deputy manager who was appointed head of the Henrico Economic Development Authority in March 2019. Before coming to Henrico in 2016, he was county administrator for Stafford County and had served as West Point’s town manager.
Ranking second in the state as the locality with the most jobs, Henrico has seen major investments announced in recent years, including the $2.3 billion arena-anchored GreenCity development planned for the former Best Products headquarters site.
A Henrico native, Romanello holds a bachelor’s degree in history and American government from the University of Virginia and a Master of Public Administration degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. He serves on the board of Needle’s Eye Ministries.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Get rid of humidity.
FAVORITE VACATION: Anywhere my family is, and sand is not.
Sledge. Photo by Rick De Berry
LEONARD SLEDGE
DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, RICHMOND
Sledge was instrumental in helping Richmond bring in more than $409 million in new capital investment, adding more than 1,000 new jobs this past fiscal year.
He participated in the city’s selection process to bring Urban One Inc.’s proposed $562.5 million ONE Casino + Resort before voters in a November referendum. If approved, the project, which would be the only Black-owned casino in the nation, could generate more than 1,300 jobs and $170 million in new tax revenue over its first five years.
Prior to joining Richmond city government, Sledge served as executive director of the Henry County, Georgia, Development Authority and was director of economic development for the city of Hampton. He also has led William & Mary’s Office of Economic Development.
Named one of North America’s top 50 economic developers for 2019 by management consulting firm Consultant Connect, Sledge holds undergraduate degrees from Morehouse College and Georgia Tech and an MBA from the University of Phoenix. He is an avid fan of football and Marvel movies who also enjoys fishing in his spare time.
Smith
DOUG SMITH
PRESIDENT AND CEO, HAMPTON ROADS ALLIANCE, NORFOLK
Collaboration is paying off for the Hampton Roads area, and Doug Smith is leading the way as head of the Hampton Roads Alliance, an organization that represents 11 municipalities and more than 70 private sector investors. It was the first regional group to present an integrated, prioritized list of infrastructure needs that it would like to have funded through legislation pending in the U.S. Congress. The organization also has pushed for offshore wind development, among other initiatives.
Smith has headed the Alliance since September 2019, bringing with him a wealth of experience in city management and economic development. A native of Portsmouth, he served as city manager in Norfolk and deputy city manager in Virginia Beach and Portsmouth, where he also was chief plans and policy officer and economic development director. A former member of the Portsmouth City Council, he served in the private sector as CEO of Kaufman & Canoles Consulting, where he worked with national and local developers, municipalities, higher education institutions and corporations.
STU SOLOMON
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CONNECTED DMV, ARLINGTON COUNTY
Formerly Accenture’s location managing director for the metro D.C. area, Solomon grew the multinational consulting company’s Washington office from 2,300 employees to more than 6,300 during his 30-year tenure.
Connected DMV’s many partners are looking for similar big accomplishments from Solomon, who, with his wife, Gina, made the initial donation in 2019 to launch the public-private nonprofit regional economic development organization promoting collaboration between the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia — the DMV.
In June, the group released its 69-page Regional Economic Development Strategy blueprint, calling for regional branding and marketing efforts for the greater D.C. region. Additionally, the document called for better job and educational opportunities for lower-income people and more focus on attracting emerging sectors, including quantum computing and hydrogen fuel.
During the pandemic, Connected DMV also convened a who’s who of 51 state and local government and business leaders to form its COVID-19 Strategic Renewal Task Force, which has been focused on regional approaches to economic recovery.
Solomon has served on the boards of the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., the Greater Washington Board of Trade and the Wolf Trap Foundation. He holds a bachelor’s degree and MBA from Baylor University.
Spore
JAMES ‘JIM’ SPORE
PRESIDENT AND CEO, REINVENT HAMPTON ROADS, NORFOLK
During Spore’s 24 years as city manager of Virginia Beach, the city won a variety of accolades, including Best Place to Live in America and one of the top five Best Managed Cities in the Nation.
In 2015, Spore retired from his position as the leader for the city of nearly 500,000 residents, with four military installations and millions of annual beach tourists, but he didn’t take any downtime. He immediately took over as leader of Reinvent Hampton Roads, a nonprofit community group that assists with regional job creation and functions as GO Virginia Region 5’s support arm.
A graduate of the University of Illinois with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in urban planning, Spore also holds a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Colorado. He has served as a member of the Hampton Roads Transit Long-Range Planning Advisory Committee and the state Department of Rail and Public Transit’s Transit Capital Projects Revenue Advisory Board.
Prior to his Virginia Beach tenure, Spore was city manager for Garland, Texas, and Burnsville, Minnesota, and he served as director of community development for Lakewood, Colorado, and Elgin, Illinois.
Stephens. Photo by Mark Rhodes
BRYAN K. STEPHENS
PRESIDENT AND CEO, HAMPTON ROADS CHAMBER, NORFOLK
Stephens joined the Hampton Roads Chamber as its leader in 2013 after a 28-year career in the U.S. Army, from which he retired as a colonel, and also heading a Texas-based equipment manufacturer, Kalmar.
A graduate of West Virginia University, Golden Gate University and the U.S. Army War College, Stephens serves on several boards, including the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, the United Way of South Hampton Roads and GO Virginia Region 5. His chamber also achieved five-star accreditation in 2016 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, placing it in the top 1% of chambers across the country.
With casinos coming to Norfolk and Portsmouth, Stephens has encouraged the cities to provide transportation between the resorts, which will be less than 10 miles apart. “It’s definitely going to change the complexion of our region and draw a lot of people into Hampton Roads who would not normally have come,” he told Virginia Business earlier this year.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Dry martini
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM:Dallas Cowboys
FAVORITE SONG:“My Way,” by Frank Sinatra
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:Significance in life comes from service.
Tucker
TELLY TUCKER
DIRECTOR, ARLINGTON ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ARLINGTON COUNTY
Tucker’s interest in economic development started when the Lynchburg native was working as a middle school teacher and was hired as a summer camp counselor by the city’s economic development department to teach kids about entrepreneurship.
He went on to become economic development director for Danville, where he was a key player in attracting commercial van manufacturer Morgan Olson to bring more than 700 jobs to backfill an Ikea factory that was about to lay off its 300 workers.
On the heels of that deal, Tucker was hired by Arlington County, landing one of Virginia’s most prestigious and high-profile economic development jobs just as Amazon.com Inc. is revving
up its multibillion-dollar HQ2 headquarters in Arlington.
So far, Tucker has overseen deals including Microsoft’s relocation of its U.S. regulated industries team, including Microsoft Federal, to Rosslyn.
Prior to his time in Danville, Tucker was assistant director of economic development for James City County. A James Madison alum, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and business administration in international business.
He’s also an accomplished concert pianist who once performed at the Kennedy Center for President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton.
Wakefield
JENNIFER WAKEFIELD
PRESIDENT AND CEO, GREATER RICHMOND PARTNERSHIP, RICHMOND
Wakefield’s accomplishments during the past six months include coming up with a new strategic framework for the Greater Richmond Partnership, doubling the size of its board and creating new committees to engage investors.
Wakefield, who joined the partnership in 2017 as its senior vice president of marketing, ascended to the leadership of the public-private regional economic development organization in late 2020, following the unexpected early departure of her predecessor, Lara Fritts.
Prior to the partnership, Wakefield served for 11 years as vice president of marketing and communications for the Orlando Economic Development Commission (now the Orlando Economic Partnership) in Florida, where she launched an international branding campaign for the region, increasing leads by 50% and broadening awareness of Orlando as a business location among C-suite executives.
Wakefield, who was named one of the top 50 economic developers in the country by Consultant Connect in 2020, serves as chair of the nonprofit International Economic Development Council’s marketing committee. She also serves on the Management Roundtable and the Richmond Federal Reserve Industry Roundtable.
She holds a master’s degree in communications from the University of Central Florida and a bachelor’s degree in public relations and advertising from the University of West Florida.
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ATLANTIC UNION BANKSHARES, RICHMOND
A native of Radford who graduated from Virginia Tech and received his MBA at William & Mary, Asbury now leads the largest regional bank headquartered in Virginia. Atlantic Union, which employs 1,839 people in Virginia, reported $677 million in revenue in 2020. It also has $19.6 billion in assets. Asbury previously held executive positions at community banks in New Mexico and Alabama, as well as working for 17 years for Bank of America. In 2016, he became Atlantic Union Bankshares’ president and was named CEO in 2017.
Asbury said the past year was the most challenging he has seen. The bank processed more than 15,000 Paycheck Protection Program loans for $2.2 billion as of March, and it recently opened two new branches in Richmond. Asbury is also chairman of the Virginia Bankers Association.
FIRST JOB: My first college summer job was at Ferguson Enterprises in Radford where I worked in the warehouse. I still know a lot about plumbing from this, and how to operate a forklift!
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Set goals and go after them. I have learned to not just react to whatever comes your way.
Aston
G. ROBERT ASTON JR.
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, TOWNEBANK, PORTSMOUTH
Aston, who co-founded TowneBank in 1998, began his banking career in 1964 and held leadership roles at Citizens Trust Co., Commerce Bank and BB&T of Virginia.
TowneBank has 2,700 employees, 1,800 of them in Virginia, and last year earned $411 million.
Aston is a board member for Virginia Wesleyan University, the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, Reinvent Hampton Roads and the GO Virginia Foundation. In 2019, he received the Urban League of Hampton Roads’ Martin Luther King Jr. Award, which recognizes community service, demonstrating King’s values and positive contributions to others.
He attended the National Installment Credit School at the University of Oklahoma and the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Virginia and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Old Dominion University.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: The ability to improve the lives of others.
TOP FACTOR THAT HELPED COMPANY WEATHER THE PANDEMIC:Our culture of serving others and enriching lives.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“Seeing Around Corners: How to Spot Inflection Points in Business Before They Happen,” by Rita Gunther McGrath
Barkin
THOMAS BARKIN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF RICHMOND, RICHMOND
Since 2018, Barkin has led the Fed’s Fifth District, after 30 years at management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. He also previously served as chairman of the Federal Reserve’s Bank of Atlanta. The Fifth District includes Virginia, Maryland, North and South Carolina and part of West Virginia, and Barkin’s areas of oversight are policy, bank regulation and supervision, and payment services.
Barkin sits on the powerful Federal Open Market Committee, which makes decisions about U.S. monetary policy. In May, he told CNBC and an Atlanta Rotary group that he thought inflationary pressures would subside in 2022 and that the Fed could wait on hitting employment and inflation goals before raising interest rates.
Closer to home, he has made it a priority for the Fed to bridge the economic gap between rural and urban areas, as well as finding solutions to racial economic disparities.
He serves on the Emory University board of trustees, U.S. Golf Association executive committee and the Greater Washington Partnership’s board. He received his bachelor’s degree, MBA and law degree from Harvard University.
Bentley
JEFF BENTLEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHWEST FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, HERNDON
After more than 30 years in consumer and commercial lending, Bentley joined Northwest Federal in 2014 as a senior vice president and was promoted three years later to lead the institution.
Bentley has overseen a period of growth for the state’s fourth largest credit union, which was founded in 1947. Last year, its assets grew from $3.6 billion to $4.1 billion. In July 2019, Northwest merged with Constellation Federal Credit Union, adding 8,000 new members.
Last year, the credit union wrote 1,560 Paycheck Protection Program loans to small businesses totaling $111 million.
Bentley also serves as the chairman of Northwest Federal’s philanthropic foundation, which focuses on children and college students. He also has served on the Montgomery County, Maryland, Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors.
Branch
VICTOR BRANCH
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, RICHMOND MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, RICHMOND
The Richmond market president for Bank of America, Branch started his career in 1984 at BOA predecessor Sovran Bank. The Dinwiddie County native oversees roughly 2,000 area Bank of America employees, 25 branch offices and the bank’s Henrico County-based technology and operations center.
He serves on the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Venture Richmond, Virginia Historical Society and the Richmond Metropolitan YMCA, and was named in 2020 as a Richmond Times-Dispatch Person of the Year.
Branch serves on the board of visitors for William & Mary, from which he received his bachelor’s degree in sociology.
FIRST JOB: Server at Shoney’s Restaurant in Petersburg.
HOBBY/PASSION:Working in my garden and jogging
PERSON I ADMIRE:My mentor at Bank of America, Mary DePillars, a trailblazer who opened doors for others to follow.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption,” by Bryan Stevenson
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA:I would change Virginia’s slow adaptation to change and move away from its steadfast commitment to traditions.
Based in Roanoke, Camden manages Truist’s operations in the western part of Virginia as one of 24 regional presidents within the bank’s 15-state footprint.
Truist was formed in 2019 by the merger of mega-banks BB&T and SunTrust Bank. It debuted at No. 217 on the Fortune 500 list and rose in rank to No. 119 this year. The bank earned nearly $4.5 billion in profits last year on $24.4 billion in revenue.
After the merger, Truist announced it planned to close two BB&T branches and one SunTrust location in Camden’s market, leaving about 20 branches in the Roanoke Valley.
A Richmond native, Camden earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Hampden-Sydney College and attended the Virginia Bankers School of Bank Management. He worked at Wachovia and Wells Fargo before joining SunTrust as a commercial banking executive for Virginia and the Carolinas in 2010. He was then named SunTrust’s president and CEO for its Savannah, Georgia, region in 2014.
Cassaday
STEPHAN Q. CASSADAY
FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CASSADAY & CO. INC, McLEAN
Cassaday’s been ranked as Barron’s No. 1 financial adviser in Virginia every year except one since 2014. In 1993, after more than a decade on Wall Street, Cassaday founded his firm, which manages $4.4 billion in assets and employs 65 people.
He and his wife, Mary, are major donors to Central Union Mission, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, PRS/Crisis Link, Salvation Army, Save the Children, Smile Train, So Others Might Eat, The Lamb Center, The House DC, the Washington Jesuit Academy, Wounded Warriors and Youth for Tomorrow.
He endowed a scholarship at his alma mater, Radford University, and sits on the board of directors for the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Focus on your key strengths and delegate everything else. Invest in people, practice radical inclusion and empower them to think like owners. Be vulnerable, admit your mistakes, make customers raving fans.
PERSON I ADMIRE:My wife. Elegant, beautiful inside and out, street-smart math teacher with poor taste in men. My best friend and adviser. I would be nothing without her.
A certified financial planner and the managing director for investments at his Wells Fargo Advisors firm, Caudron was named one of the top four advisers in Virginia by Barron’s this year and has been on the list since 2014.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology and an MBA from Georgetown University. A father of four, he has coached his kids’ sports teams, and his hobbies include tennis, platform tennis, skiing and cycling.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Be patient. Despite recent extraordinary gains in the stock market, long-term wealth accumulation is made gradually, by being diversified and patient during good times and bad.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: I enjoy helping others. Our clients look to us to help them with their investment planning to save and build portfolios toward financial independence. I am so honored when a client thanks me for the good work that we do in our team.
Chandler
THEODORE ‘TED’ L. CHANDLER
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, NEW RICHMOND VENTURES, RICHMOND
The former chairman and CEO of the now-defunct Fortune 500 title insurance group LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., Chandler is the managing director of a venture capital firm he co-founded in 2011 with fellow Virginia 500 honorees Jim Ukrop and Bob Mooney.
NRV invests in early stage companies that have moved beyond proof of concept and show the potential for high growth. Chandler sits on the boards of several of the companies backed by NRV, including WealthForge and Health Warrior.
Chandler holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Virginia and a law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law, where he serves as a member of the advisory board.
He also sits on boards for the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges and U.Va.’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and he co-chairs the Richmond and Hampton Roads regional collaborative RVA757 Connect. He has chaired the boards of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Massey Cancer Center, the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Partnership for Nonprofit Excellence, the Maymont Foundation and the Richmond Arts Foundation.
Chandra
RAVI CHANDRA
HEAD OF BRANCH MOBILE STRATEGY/BRANCH CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, BRANCH BANKING, WELLS FARGO & CO., CHARLOTTESVILLE
Chandra took on a new role for Wells Fargo after formerly serving as regional president of the company’s operations in Charlottesville, Roanoke, Blacksburg and parts of Central Virginia. Still based in Charlottesville, he now leads a national team of strategy consultants supporting the third-largest U.S. bank’s network of more than 5,100 branch locations.
Chandra started at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo in 1990 as a teller in San Jose, California. He worked his way up in positions in Oregon and Nevada before moving to Virginia.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Northridge. Chandra serves on the board of directors for Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) of Northern Virginia and recently finished a four-year term on the Virginia Bankers Association board.
HOBBY/PASSION:Music is my passion. I used to be a DJ in high school. I also have passion around being a #girldad to my two daughters.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:We became owners of a new Peloton. I can’t get enough of it — sometimes two times a day.
DeVito
MICHAEL DeVITO
CEO, FREDDIE MAC, McLEAN
A veteran of Wells Fargo, DeVito took over in June as the head of Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. The government-backed entity, which buys bundles of mortgages from banks and other lenders so that they have enough cash to make more mortgages, is the company with the highest revenues in Virginia. In 2020, Freddie Mac saw a 12% decrease in revenue compared with 2019, bringing in $66.2 billion. In the second quarter of 2021, the company reported $3.7 billion in net income, an improvement from the previous four quarters.
A graduate of Ithaca College, DeVito was with Wells Fargo for 23 years, most recently serving as its executive vice president and head of home lending. He succeeded former CEO David Brickman, who left Freddie Mac in January to lead a commercial brokerage.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, started in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession to oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, was unconstitutional. The outcome meant that investors in the two companies lost their claim to $124 billion, and both firms’ stocks fell more than 30% after the ruling.
Di Rita
LAWRENCE ‘LARRY’ DI RITA
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, WASHINGTON, D.C.
In addition to being president of Bank of America’s Greater Washington market, Di Rita is the financial giant’s strategy and public policy executive. The company has 213,000 employees, including 4,000 in Virginia.
Di Rita earned degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He served as a Navy officer until 1994, leaving the military to join the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation and later progressing to the staffs of U.S. Sens. Phil Gramm and Kay Bailey Hutchison, as well as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Di Rita is secretary and treasurer of the Rumsfeld Foundation and is on the boards for the U.S. Navy Memorial and the Center for a New American Security, a think tank specializing in national security.
PERSON I ADMIRE:U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Sammy Perez. My college roommate who came from tiny Canutillo, Texas — pretty far from the nearest ocean — and rose to command of an aircraft carrier battle group. A man of true personal and professional integrity.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:The best way to persuade tends to be with data and a story, rather than just one or the other.
Edelman
RIC EDELMAN
FOUNDER, EDELMAN FINANCIAL ENGINES, FAIRFAX
This has been a momentous year for Edelman, who stepped down as chairman of his financial planning firm and also is finishing up his nearly 30-year radio show (while starting a new one this fall).
He will continue as a strategic adviser and member of the board of directors, as well as remaining the firm’s largest individual shareholder.
He founded the firm with his wife, Jean, in 1986 with the goal of educating people about money and has become a guru of personal finance, having written several bestsellers, including “The Truth About Money,” also the title of his PBS show that aired 2011 to 2013.
In 2018, Edelman’s company merged with Financial Engines, and the combined company manages $270 billion in assets for 1.3 million clients. It has 242 employees in Virginia and 1,500 worldwide. In recent months, he has advocated for investors to become more educated about cryptocurrency and to include it in their portfolios in spite of its volatility.
HOBBY/PASSION: My wife and I collect rare books on astronomy.
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I’d let governors run for re-election.
Edwards
ELENA EDWARDS
CEO, USA, ALLIANZ PARTNERS, HENRICO COUNTY
With 17 years in the insurance industry, Edwards was promoted last June to lead the German company’s U.S. business. Allianz, which sells travel insurance and provides international medical assistance, employs about 1,000 people in the Richmond area.
Edwards joined Allianz in 2019 as general manager of the U.S. unit, after holding executive roles at Genworth Financial and General Electric companies.
The travel industry took a huge hit in 2020 when the pandemic forced people to stay home. However, as restrictions began to be lifted this spring, Allianz started offering plans with epidemic coverage for COVID-19 or future pandemics. In May, Edwards won a Top Workplaces leadership award for the Richmond area based on employee surveys conducted anonymously.
Edwards studied mechanical engineering at Union College and earned an advanced degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She is a vice president of the Science Museum of Virginia Foundation board.
RICHARD FAIRBANK
Fairbank
CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP., McLEAN
With a background in banking and credit, Fairbank started Capital One in 1994. Today, it ranks 99th on the Fortune 500, although it saw a 6% decrease in revenues last year, recording $31.6 billion, while profits fell 51% to $2.7 billion. Capital One has nearly 52,000 employees worldwide.
Earlier this year, Capital One was hit with a $390 million federal civil penalty for willfully violating anti-money-laundering policy between 2008 and 2014.
Fairbank, who previously was head of banking for a national strategy consulting firm and chaired MasterCard International’s global board, is a billionaire and has not received a base salary since 1997.
In June, Fairbank told employees in an email that they could continue working remotely on Mondays and Fridays once the company’s offices reopen in the fall. The company will adopt a flexible hybrid model. Since last spring, the bank started closing branches, a plan hastened by the pandemic.
In July on a second-quarter earnings call, Fairbank said customers are paying higher rates on their credit cards this year, accompanied by purchase volume 25% higher than the second quarter of 2019.
Finnegan
ROB FINNEGAN
CEO, WEST CREEK FINANCIAL, GLEN ALLEN
Finnegan has been at the helm of the startup financial technology firm since 2017, as it rapidly started to increase its role in consumer leasing.
The company has been rapidly expanding since its founding in 2015. Within five years, it had exceeded $200 million in revenue, had partnered with more than 10,000 retailers and financed 200,000 customers’ purchases. West Creek uses machine learning and analytics to rate a borrower’s credit worthiness rather than relying solely on credit scores. The company also loans money for outright purchases and lease-to-own arrangements through retailers of furniture, mattresses, appliances and HVACs.
Finnegan, one of the co-founders, previously worked for 2nd Order Solutions, a consulting firm that uses data analytics to develop credit models. He also was with Capital One for 17 years, starting at its founding and holding several executive level posts. When he left, Finnegan was senior vice president of new account market and decision sciences. Before his career in finance, the University of Virginia alumnus was a systems engineer for Mitre Corp.
Frantz
MARK A. FRANTZ
GENERAL PARTNER AND CO-FOUNDER, BLUE DELTA CAPITAL PARTNERS, McLEAN
Blue Delta Capital is a venture capital fund that invests in federal government clients in the technology sector without taking an ownership interest. Frantz, who has an extensive background in investment and technology, co-founded the company in 2009.
He’s worked with or invested in dozens of companies, including Sourcefire, NetWitness, The Carlyle Group and Blackboard, and served as managing general partner of In-Q-Tel, a venture capital affiliated with the U.S. intelligence community. He also served on the board of CRSA Holdings Inc., which General Dynamics Corp. purchased in 2018 for $9.7 billion, and is currently on the board of ASGN Inc., the parent company of Apex and ECS Federal.
One of Blue Delta’s biggest deals recently was PAE’s $92 million purchase of intelligence analysis firm Metis Solutions in December, after the capital firm had begun partnering with Metis in 2016.
A graduate of Alleghany College and the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned both an MBA and a law degree, Frantz was associate director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs during President George H.W. Bush’s term.
Gayner
THOMAS S. GAYNER
CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., GLEN ALLEN
Gayner oversees investing activities for Markel Corp., a Glen Allen-based Fortune 500 holding company that has nearly 19,000 employees worldwide.
Markel, which Gayner joined in 1990 to form Markel Gayner Asset Management, holds insurance, reinsurance and investment operations worldwide.
In 2019, it had a record year, with revenue rising 39.2% over the previous year to $9.35 billion. The pandemic appears to have slowed growth, with Markel reporting $9.7 billion in revenue during 2020.
“We are grateful and amazed by how our employees responded to the global pandemic and continued to serve the needs of our customers, trading partners, shareholders and each other,” Gayner wrote with Co-CEO Richard Whitt in announcing the 2020 financial report. “Markel enters 2021 well positioned to continue the momentum of our excellent fourth quarter.”
Before joining Markel, Gayner was a vice president of Davenport & Co. and a CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He sits on the boards of Graham Holdings LLC, Colfax Corp. and Cable One, where he serves as lead independent director. Gayner also is a member of the Virginia Retirement System’s Investment Advisory Committee, which is responsible for making investment recommendations to the state agency’s board.
Grinspoon
JEFF GRINSPOON
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PARTNER, VWG WEALTH MANAGEMENT AT HIGHTOWER ADVISORS, VIENNA
Grinspoon founded VWG in 2011 with two of his Morgan Stanley colleagues in response to the shift in wealth management services following the Great Recession. He started his career with Legg Mason.
This year, the firm, owned by Hightower Advisors, has more than $1.6 billion assets under management and has been ranked on Forbes’ Top 100 wealth advisers list. Grinspoon has also made Forbes’ and Barron’s top adviser rankings.
With bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business from the University of Maryland, he serves on the board for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. Grinspoon also has dedicated time toward charitable work for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Don’t be shy to apologize for something you’ve done wrong, and don’t be loud about something you’ve done right.
FIRST JOB: Selling credit card processing equipment
HOBBY/PASSION: My family is my passion.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Eating at a restaurant (been a long time)
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Code Breaker,” by Walter Isaacson
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Our health is the single most taken-for-granted thing.
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: A wider bridge coming over the Potomac
Hamilton
SIMON HAMILTON
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND PORTFOLIO MANAGER, BAIRD/THE WISE INVESTOR GROUP, RESTON
In addition to overseeing Baird/The Wise Investor Group’s portfolio, Hamilton is also host of the small Reston firm’s “Wise Investor Show” and “Midweek Update” podcasts, which offer insights into how the market is behaving. Before joining the firm in 2007, Hamilton was vice president of investments at Smith Barney and previously filled the same role at Ferris, Baker Watts in Baltimore, his hometown. For several years, Hamilton has been named a top financial adviser by Financial Times, Forbes and Barron’s. In his spare time, he serves as Vienna Youth Soccer’s vice president of travel soccer.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:Seeing in real time how my efforts can produce both quantifiable and psychological positive outcomes for real people and their families
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: I was around the edges of everything. Smart, but not the smartest; on the sports teams, but not the best athlete; went to the “cool” parties, but wasn’t the first to be invited!
HOBBY/PASSION:Youth sports — I love coaching, organizing, and watching my kids and their friends compete.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE:I’m a simple man: a fine lager.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Baltimore Ravens
Harris
H. HITER HARRIS III
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, HARRIS WILLIAMS & CO., RICHMOND
Thirty years ago, Harris co-founded a global investment banking company specializing in mergers and acquisitions with a friend from Harvard Business School, Christopher Williams. Today the firm has more than 400 employees across eight global offices and operates as a subsidiary of PNC Financial Services.
The company, which advises companies buying or being sold to other corporations, promoted more than two dozen people to more senior positions in its offices in February, with particular focus on energy and health care sectors.
A Hampden-Sydney College alum who was a kicker on the football team, Harris serves on the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges board and the University of Richmond board of trustees. He also was inducted into the Greater Richmond Business Hall of Fame in 2015.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:Throughout Harris Williams, our professionals are dedicated to fostering long-lasting, trust-based relationships with clients and colleagues alike. Everything we do at Harris Williams is intended to foster lasting relationships. Watching those relationships deepen and grow over the past 30 years has brought me great joy and makes me very proud of what we have accomplished together.
Henderson
CHARLES R. HENDERSON JR.
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HAMPTON ROADS MARKET PRESIDENT, BANK OF AMERICA, NORFOLK
A West Virginia native who graduated from Hampden-Sydney College, Henderson has lived in Hampton Roads for four decades. He oversees Bank of America’s Hampton Roads business and also its charitable arm.
Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic, Henderson credited CEO Brian Moynihan’s leadership for assisting bank employees, including a freeze on all job reductions in 2020 and increased child care benefits.
The company has 213,000 employees, including 4,000 in Virginia, and recorded $85.5 billion in revenue for fiscal year 2020. A member of LISC Hampton Roads’ local advisory committee, Henderson also serves on the Virginia Bankers Association Education Foundation board.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Be willing to accept job assignments that may be outside of your comfort zone as a means of learning new skill sets and making connections.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: Charlie has been a champion of the nonprofit sector while driving growth for the bank over his 46-year career.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:Celebrating our grandson’s (Brooks) first birthday and the anticipation of the birth of our granddaughter
in October.
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Encourage more collaboration among municipalities to unleash the enormous
potential of our commonwealth.
Hodges
CECILIA A. HODGES
REGIONAL PRESIDENT, GREATER WASHINGTON, D.C., AND VIRGINIA, M&T BANK, VIENNA
Named the regional president of the Virginia and Washington, D.C., region for M&T in 2018, Hodges marked her 25th anniversary with the bank this year and oversees 60 regional branches.
A Virginia Tech graduate from Rocky Mount, she is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore board and has dedicated time to the region’s Easter Seals chapter and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. Hodges also has taken an active role in organizing charitable activities in Virginia and Greater Washington for M&T.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Bring your authentic best self to everything you do. Be kind and generous with your time and make every effort to be helpful to those you come in contact with.
FIRST JOB: Lifeguarding at the neighborhood pool was my first paid job. As a young child I swept a lot of floors and did odd jobs at my parents’ building supply business, and I did a lot of babysitting.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I’d like to see more robust economic opportunity and top-notch education for citizens in the rural parts of the state like where I grew up in Southwest Virginia.
D. JERMAINE JOHNSON
JERMAINE JOHNSON
GREATER WASHINGTON AND VIRGINIA REGIONAL PRESIDENT, PNC FINANCIAL SERVICES GROUP INC., VIENNA
Johnson was promoted last August to head PNC’s Greater Washington regional market, which includes Northern Virginia and neighboring Maryland counties.
He oversees retail, corporate and institutional banking, wealth management and community activities for one of the nation’s largest banks, with more than $560 billion in assets. In June, PNC closed on its $11.6 billion purchase of BBVA USA, bumping its ranking from the country’s ninth-largest bank to the fifth.
With a bachelor’s degree in finance from James Madison University, Johnson worked for Bank of America and GE Healthcare Financial Services in executive positions before joining PNC in 2005. Before assuming his current post, he was PNC’s executive vice president and market manager for corporate banking in greater Richmond and greater Maryland.
He serves on the board of directors for the Greater Washington Board of Trade and has been an audit committee member for the March of Dimes, and he is the 2021 chair of Junior Achievement’s Washington Business Hall of Fame, which will hold its induction event virtually in December.
BRIAN R. KAHN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, FRANCHISE GROUP INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
Known partly for its employees dressed in Statue of Liberty costumes during tax season, Liberty Tax Inc. became known as Franchise Group in September 2019. Kahn soon became its CEO, steering the corporation through several deals as it shifted its model to focus on buying and investing in franchises and businesses that could be franchised.
In March, Franchise announced it had completed the purchase of Pet Supplies Plus for $700 million and that it had sold the Liberty Tax business to NextPoint Acquisition in a deal that included $182 million in cash and $67 million in shares of NextPoint.
Franchise’s other business lines include American Freight, the Vitamin Shoppe and Buddy’s Home Furnishings.
In May, Kahn purchased $36 million worth of shares in Franchise. He is also managing partner of Vintage Capital Management, an equity firm he founded
in 1998 in Orlando, Florida.
A Harvard graduate, he has served as chairman of the board for rent-to-own stores Buddy’s Home Furnishings, API Technologies Corp and White Electronic Designs Corp., and he was a director for Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises.
Lee
EVELYN LEE
GREATER WASHINGTON REGION PRESIDENT, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., WASHINGTON, D.C.
Lee manages the Greater Washington area, including Northern Virginia, for Truist, which formed from the SunTrust and BB&T merger, one of the biggest bank deals in recent years. A SunTrust executive for 19 years in several divisions, including senior living, not-for-profit and corporate banking, Lee is a William & Mary alumna. She also is a founding board member of the D.C. International Charter School and is on the executive committee of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
FIRST JOB: Working at a small local deli. I was on the 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. shift, so I did the early morning baking through sandwich lunch prep.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Parting the Waters,” by Taylor Branch
Lucia
FRANK L. LUCIA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, DELTA DENTAL OF VIRGINIA INC., ROANOKE
A longtime health insurance leader, Lucia has been with Delta Dental’s Virginia branch since 2017. The nonprofit provides dental insurance for more than 2 million members and has 370 employees in the state. Delta Dental’s national foundation provided $1.1 billion in COVID-19 relief funding to help support dental care in underserved communities and also assisted dentists with low- and no-interest loans during the height of the pandemic. The Delta Dental Virginia Foundation contributed more than $4 million to organizations in the state to improve oral health in 2020.
Lucia moved to Roanoke from Wisconsin, where he had served as president of Dean Health Plan. A graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the University of Miami, he also is a CPA. Before joining Dean, Lucia worked with Pricewaterhouse Coopers, WR Grace Inc. and Cigna Corp.
During his time in Virginia, Lucia has devoted time to community organizations Verge, the Valleys Innovation Council and Virginia Health Catalyst.
FIRST JOB: Masonry apprentice. I carried cinder block.
HOBBY:Skiing, being outdoors, woodworking
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: In business and in life, there are certain things that simply can’t be rushed.
Paul Manning
PAUL B. MANNING
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, PBM CAPITAL Group LLC, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Manning founded PBM Capital, a private equity firm, after selling his infant formula company, PBM Products LLC, for $800 million in 2010 to Perrigo. In recent years, he has become known as a significant philanthropist, donating $1 million in spring 2020 to establish the Manning Fund for COVID-19 Research, money that has gone to eight projects to research vaccines and treatment.
In 1997, Manning built his company from a $1 million investment into the world’s leading provider of private-label infant formula and then founded other companies, mostly related to health care. Manning has served on the boards of several startups in which his company has invested.
A University of Massachusetts alum, Manning made a $1 million gift to his alma mater to support commercializing scientific research projects, and he’s served on several committees at U.Va., including its most recent capital campaign. Manning also donated $100,000 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin’s campaign, according to finance reports released in July.
Matheis
DENNIS A. MATHEIS
PRESIDENT, SENTARA HEALTH PLANS; EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, SENTARA HEALTHCARE, VIRGINIA BEACH
Matheis heads up Sentara’s health insurance plan, previously known as Optima Health, which covers more than 875,000 members and has 2,600 employees. Sentara is also the majority owner of Virginia Premier, a Medicaid managed-care organization that the health care system purchased in 2020 from the
VCU Health System.
A University of Kentucky alum, Matheis is on the executive committee of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the board of directors for the Virginia Association of Health Plans, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Norfolk Forum. He is also on the board of DarioHealth.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Develop your own personal plan. Focus on the next three years of your career, develop mile markers and periodically step back to ask yourself if you are on the right track to achieve your goals.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:A person’s health and well-being are critical to leading a happy and productive life. It is incredibly rewarding to be part of an organization whose primary focus is providing access to high quality health care, through both financing and delivery. I am especially passionate about helping to advance the affordability and quality of health services.
McDuffie
MARY McDUFFIE
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, VIENNA
McDuffie has worked at Navy Federal since 1999 and was promoted to CEO in 2018. She is the first woman in this role for Navy Federal, the world’s largest credit union, with 10.6 million members, 346 branches and $148 billion in assets.
Navy Federal was named No. 59 in 2021 on the 100 best companies to work for list by Great Place to Work and Fortune magazine, based on employee surveys. This is the credit union’s 10th consecutive appearance on the list.
A Wellesley College alumna, McDuffie was executive vice president of delivery channels and communications at Navy Federal, leading the marketing department and launching its mobile banking service. She was promoted to CFO and then quickly to CEO. Much of her focus has been on customer experience; the credit union developed its first mobile app under her leadership.
Previously, McDuffie was senior vice president of marketing for Star Systems Inc. and a senior manager at J. Walter Thompson Inc., a communications company.
McInerney
THOMAS McINERNEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, GENWORTH FINANCIAL INC., RICHMOND
For the past five years, Genworth was in negotiations with Beijing-based China Oceanwide Holdings Group, which sought to acquire the company for $2.7 billion. In April, Genworth announced it had terminated the deal, which was delayed more than a dozen times.
McInerney, who joined Genworth Financial Inc. in January 2013 as its CEO, has overseen a challenging period for the Fortune 500 company, which offers long-term-care insurance and private mortgage insurance with nearly 4 million policy holders. He has spent his career in insurance since 1978 and was with ING Group, the Dutch multinational banking and financial services company, for 32 years.
Genworth began 2021 with an announcement that it was laying off employees and shaving $50 million in operating costs. Its net income was $178 million in 2020, short of 2019’s $343 million net income. McInerney said early this year that Genworth planned a public offering of its rebranded mortgage insurance business, Enact Holdings.
The company has faced challenges in both insurance markets, first through the housing market collapse and then with escalating costs for long-term care that predate McInerney’s leadership.
A graduate of Colgate University and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, he serves on Tuck’s board and also those of VA Ready and the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance.
McLaughlin
SHANE McLAUGHLIN
NORTHERN VIRGINIA REGION BANK PRESIDENT,WELLS FARGO & CO., LEESBURG
McLaughlin has worked for Wells Fargo since 2004, becoming a community bank president a decade ago and then being promoted in 2017 to head the Northern Virginia territory, which spans from Fairfax and Loudoun counties to Winchester and Culpeper. A Virginia Tech alumnus, McLaughlin is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington. He’s also on the advisory boards for Bright Beginnings Inc. and George Mason University’s College of Human Development and Education.
Wells Fargo is ranked No. 37 on the 2021 Fortune 500, and it recorded $1.95 trillion in assets in the past fiscal year.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Ensure you and your team have time for those important family moments.
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: Shy and spent all of my time playing basketball and running.
FIRST JOB: Round Hill Garden, gardener
PERSON I ADMIRE: I admire my wife because she discovered her passion in life and turned it into her career as a teacher.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM:Georgetown University Hoyas
FAVORITE BEVERAGE: San Pellegrino
Montgomery
JOSEPH W. ‘JOE’ MONTGOMERY
MANAGING DIRECTOR, INVESTMENTS, THE OPTIMAL SERVICE GROUP OF WELLS FARGO ADVISORS, WILLIAMSBURG
Montgomery has led The Optimal Service Group since its founding in 1975. The firm has 13 employees and has $17 billion under advisement.
A William & Mary graduate, Montgomery was co-captain of his college football team and was invited to the Philadelphia Eagles training camp, where he played center but didn’t make the final cut.
Montgomery has been named to top financial adviser lists and was inducted into Barron’s Advisor Hall of Fame in 2019. He topped Forbes magazine’s best wealth advisers list in Virginia the last two years.
He is a trustee of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation board and vice chair of the Virginia Retirement System board, and he has also served on boards at W&M.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Seeing the happiness that success brings to people and the good they can do when they succeed.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Visiting The Grove at the University of Mississippi. Didn’t know it was on my bucket list until I was there.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: Price is only an issue in the absence of value.
SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Grass skiing
Mooney
J. ROBERT ‘BOB’ MOONEY
CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, PHLOW CORP., RICHMOND
After decades in accounting and venture capital, Mooney joined Phlow Corp. last year and was instrumental in landing a $354 million federal contract to start a development pipeline for medications and pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States. The four-year contract has an additional $458 million in options. He also was a key organizer in the $20 million Series A financing that Phlow secured in 2021 from private equity investors.
Mooney, who served as CFO for Ethyl Corp. and William & Mary’s Mason School of Business, co-founded and served as managing director of venture capital firm New Richmond Ventures (NRV), along with fellow founders Ted Chandler, former chairman and CEO of LandAmerica Financial Group Inc., and Jim Ukrop, former chairman and CEO of Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc.
A William & Mary alum, Mooney has strong ties to Richmond’s arts community and is vice chair emeritus of the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance board. He also raised funds for the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School and chairs the finance and investment committee at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. In August, he won Virginia Business’ Virginia CFO Award for small business.
Morris
NIGEL MORRIS
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, QED INVESTORS, ALEXANDRIA
A co-founder of Capital One Financial Services with Richard Fairbank, Morris was the McLean banking giant’s first president and chief operating officer. Now he manages the fintech venture capital firm he co-founded in 2007. Among its investments are stakes in Credit Karma, SoFi, NuBank and Avant.
Morris announced last June that his company was launching the Just Five program to tackle addiction and reduce its stigma. The issue hits close to home for the U.K. native, whose business partner, Greg Mazanec, died in 2019 after suffering from substance use disorder. QED is partnering with Operation Lighthouse, a nonprofit set up by Mazanec’s family.
“I say all the time that if I have a sore arm or a sore shoulder, I’ll come into work, and I’ll whine about it. But if I couldn’t sleep last night or I’m paranoid about going outside or I’ve been taking too many sleeping pills or drinking too much wine, I won’t talk about it,” Morris wrote in a June op-ed for TechCrunch about ending mental health stigmas in the tech industry. “I’ll say that I’m going to my doctor to get my shoulder fixed, but I won’t say that I’m going to talk to my therapist.”
Murray
JAMES B. MURRAY JR.
CO-FOUNDER AND MANAGING PARTNER, COURT SQUARE VENTURES; CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENTIAL PRECINCT, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Murray, who co-founded Court Square Ventures (named for Charlottesville’s downtown courthouse neighborhood) in 2000, finished his term as rector of alma mater University of Virginia, where he continues to serve on the board of visitors, in July.
He also is the co-founder of a nonprofit collaboration among U.Va., William & Mary, and other institutions, including presidential estates Montpelier and Monticello, that’s known as Presidential Precinct. It hosts leadership discussions about democracy and other broad topics for participants from around the world. Murray is a graduate of W&M’s law school and served on that university’s board of visitors.
Murray started Columbia Capital of Alexandria, a firm that manages more than $3 billion in investments, and he previously served on the Export-Import Bank of the United States advisory board, including as chair.
He also has been a guest lecturer at several universities, co-wrote the book “Wireless Nation: The Frenzied Launch of the Cellular Revolution in America,” and holds a U.S. patent for a wireless maritime ignition control system.
O’Neill
DANIEL J. O’NEILL JR.
REGIONAL PRESIDENT VIRGINIA-EAST, TRUIST FINANCIAL CORP., RICHMOND
After SunTrust and BB&T merged last year to create the sixth-largest bank in the nation, O’Neill was named president of Truist’s Virginia-East region, based in Richmond.
Having worked at SunTrust since 1990, O’Neill was previously president of the bank’s mid-Atlantic region and head of wholesale risk. Previously he was a Nasdaq trader for Merrill Lynch and was with Riggs National Bank and Citibank.
A graduate of College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business in New York, he also completed an advanced risk management program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
O’Neill also serves on the Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Bankers Association boards. Last year, Truist partnered with Sentara Healthcare and the state to launch a COVID-19 emergency fund to provide free meals to families during the height of the pandemic, with Truist committing $500,000 toward the $2.6 million fund.
Pagnato and David Karp founded PagnatoKarp Partners to manage the assets of CEOs, wealth creators and families with ultra-high net worth. They had worked at High Tower Advisors and went on their own during the Great Recession, with the aim of providing more transparency.
They sold PagnatoKarp to Chicago-based Cresset Asset Management last year but retain leadership roles. The combined company had $13.8 billion in assets under management as of June, when the purchase took place. The transaction amount was not disclosed.
Pagnato, who was named Northern Virginia’s top wealth adviser by Forbes in 2021, graduated from Florida Atlantic University and began his career as a microbiologist looking for life in outer space for NASA and McDonnell Douglas. He then entered the financial industry and worked for 19 years at Merrill Lynch.
He has been a Barron’s and Forbes top financial adviser for decades, and Pagnato is also an advisory council member for the Stanford Center on Longevity based at Stanford University.
Ricketts
JEFF RICKETTS
PRESIDENT, ANTHEM BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD VIRGINIA, RICHMOND
Ricketts joined Anthem in 1984 and rose through the ranks to lead its Virginia operation in 2017. Anthem has 8,730 employees in the state and offers an array of health plans, including ones through the marketplace exchange for most of the state.
A James Madison alum, Ricketts is a Richmond native, “the son of a preacher who worked in the prison system,” he says. “Both of my parents taught me the value of hard work, staying grounded, taking responsibility for your actions and, most importantly, to help those in need.”
He’s also co-chair of Gov. Ralph Northam’s primary care task force and serves on several boards, including ChamberRVA, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Virginia Center for Health Innovation and Virginia Business Council.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: A fierce but fair competitor.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED: People do what you incent them to do — and that does not always mean a monetary incentive, and it’s not necessarily positive incentives. Nothing good happens when incentives aren’t aligned with desired outcomes. This goes for life and in business.
Ryan
TOM RYAN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, LANGLEY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, NEWPORT NEWS
Langley, the state’s fifth-largest credit union, continues to grow its assets under Ryan’s leadership. Since he was tapped to lead the Hampton Roads credit union in 2012, assets have doubled from $1.7 billion to $3.9 billion, with a $400 million increase during the past year.
Membership has also grown from 165,000 to 295,000. Members had about $2.9 billion deposited with Langley and about $2.6 billion in loans in 2020.
Previously an executive vice president and chief operating officer for Digital Federal Credit Union, Ryan has 35 years of credit union experience.
He serves on the Boys & Girls Club of the Virginia Peninsula and Langley for Families Foundation boards. In 2020, the foundation and the credit union together donated $1.4 million, their largest annual amount ever, to Hampton Roads organizations, including the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank; scholarships for students at Hampton, Christopher Newport and Old Dominion universities; and local United Way funds. About $364,000 went to grants as a response to COVID-19.
Schaufeld
FREDRICK D. SCHAUFELD
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, SWAN & LEGEND VENTURE PARTNERS, LEESBURG
The founder of investment firm SWaN & Legend, Schaufeld is a partner in Monumental Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Capitals, Wizards and Mystics teams and Capital One Arena, and he is a part owner of the Washington Nationals Major League Baseball team.
Before starting SWaN in 2006, he founded Electronic Warranty Corp, which was acquired by Asurion in 2008 and is now called NEWAsurion. Schaufeld and his partner, Tony Nader, are credited with pulling Best Buy Corp. out of financial trouble by suggesting in 1996 that it sell comprehensive consumer warranties at much lower prices than competitors.
Schaufeld sits on numerous companies’ boards, including KIND, Sugar23, Noodle Partners, Custom Ink and José Andrés’ ThinkFood Group.
He and his wife, Karen, are active in organizations that support education, health, arts and the environment. They have endowed a scholarship fund at their alma mater, Lehigh University, which two of their three children also attended. In April, the Schaufelds, who own the Hill Top House Hotel property in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, got the green light for a demolition permit, allowing them to build a $139 million hotel expected to open in summer 2024.
Schenck
JAMES SCHENCK
PRESIDENT AND CEO, PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, McLEAN
Since Schenck became president of PenFed in 2017, its assets have grown from $17 billion to $27 billion, and membership has increased from 1.3 million to 2.2 million. During the past year, loan originations rose from $10.1 billion to $16.8 billion.
Founded in 1935, PenFed is the second-largest federal credit union based in Virginia.
Schenck is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and has an MBA from Harvard. In the Army, he flew Black Hawk helicopters in Korea and was a night vision instructor pilot. Assigned to the Pentagon, he served as a special assistant to the secretary of the Army and on the staff of the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans.
He taught economics and finance at West Point and in 2015 Schenck was named one of HillVets Foundation’s 100 most influential veterans and recognized for the contributions PenFed makes to veterans. In 2020, PenFed’s charitable arm gave nearly $3 million to veterans and first responders who were impacted by the pandemic.
Schiavon
ALBERTO SCHIAVON
CEO, ELEPHANT INSURANCE SERVICES LLC, GLEN ALLEN
A native of Venice, Schiavon is an alum of University of Padova in Italy and Manchester Business School in England. He joined Elephant in 2017 to lead marketing and pricing and was promoted in less than a year to CEO. The Henrico-based insurance company has 602 employees, with 526 in Virginia, and it was recognized last year as one of the top workplaces in the Richmond area by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Elephant recently expanded into Georgia. The company also launched a new work-from-home discount in Illinois, Maryland, Ohio, Texas and Virginia, rewarding policyholders who aren’t commuting as frequently.
In June, Elephant launched Helping Herd to donate $300,000 to organizations that were impacted by COVID-19 or are providing relief.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:We have a whitewater rafting expert on our leadership team at Elephant. She recently led a group of us on a wet but exhilarating ride on the James River. The experience was a blast!
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: I love visiting Hawaii because it has a great mix of nature, history, culture and diversity.
Shockley
CHRIS SHOCKLEY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA CREDIT UNION, RICHMOND
Shockley, who grew up in Roanoke, began his banking career as a teller while attending Radford University. In 2003, he joined the state’s third-largest credit union, Virginia Credit Union, with more than 300,000 members and about $4.5 billion in total assets as of the end of 2020, becoming CEO in 2016. He chairs the Virginia Council on Economic Education board and is treasurer of the YMCA of Greater Richmond board.
Shockley also serves on the board of the Virginia-West Virginia chapter of National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a cause close to his heart after losing his sister to the disease.
VACU was named an outstanding organizational partner by the Association of Fundraising Professionals last year for its endowment of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Financial Success Center and contributions to a state employee financial wellness program. In July, the credit union was recognized by the Virginia Credit Union League for its financial education programs for youth and adults. During the height of the pandemic, VACU offered free online workshops for 60,000 people.
Shockley said trust, transparency and communication throughout the organization helped them weather the pandemic. “When you go through something like we experienced this past year, it tests you in ways you never imagined. I am so proud of my teammates’ determination and resolve in the face of complex challenges at work and in their personal lives.”
Snyder
PETE SNYDER
CEO, DISRUPTOR CAPITAL, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Snyder sought the Republican nomination for Virginia’s governor this year, placing second to fellow businessman Glenn Youngkin in the GOP’s unassembled convention in May.
Snyder, who founded Disruptor to invest in companies looking to break the usual mold, became prominent outside venture capital circles last year when he and his wife, Burson, founded the Virginia 30 Day Fund to send forgivable $3,000 loans to small businesses that needed help with cash flow gaps. As of January, the fund had raised more than $4 million and assisted 1,000 businesses.
A former Fox News contributor and William & Mary graduate, Snyder founded Arlington-based social media marketing firm New Media Strategies and sold it to Meredith Corp. for $30 million, later founding Disruptor.
Snyder invested in Media Group of America, founded by two Republican operatives, which publishes the Independent Journal Review. He also
has served on William & Mary’s board of visitors.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE:Tito’s Vodka, rocks. Two limes.
Stanchina
JOHN STANCHINA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, MARSH & McLENNAN AGENCY — MID-ATLANTIC LLC, RICHMOND
Marsh & McLennan subsidiary Rutherfoord hired Stanchina in 1994 to establish surety bond operations in Richmond. Until then, he had been in Charlotte, North Carolina, working for Fidelity & Deposit Co. of Maryland.
In Richmond, Stanchina rose through the ranks as division manager, division president and president. He oversees the global professional services company’s mid-Atlantic hub of 11 states and serves on the agency’s strategic steering committee. Based in New York, Marsh & McLennan reported $17.2 billion in worldwide revenue last year, a 3% increase from 2019.
Marsh offers commercial property, casualty, personal lines and employee benefits to businesses and individuals across North America. This year, it acquired Greensboro, N.C.-basedCompass Financial Partners, which supplies retirement consulting and investment advice.
A graduate of Muskingum College in Ohio, Stanchina has served as a board member for the Young Presidents’ Organization, the Valentine Richmond History Center, Greater Richmond SCAN and Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School.
PERSON I ADMIRE: My dad. He always lived by certain principles — integrity, work hard and play hard, and the CEO was no more important than the janitor. He was also a student of business.
SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Snow ski. (I don’t want to be in a cast!)
ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Reduce the humidity in July and get back to being more business-friendly politically.
Stevenson
KEVIN P. STEVENSON
PRESIDENT, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER,PRA GROUP INC., NORFOLK
Stevenson helped start the 25-year-old debt-purchasing company and has served in a number of roles, becoming president and CEO in 2017. It earned $1.1 billion last year, up from 2019’s $1 billion in total revenue.
A former controller with Household Recovery Services and Household Bank, Stevenson says the same thing makes him passionate about his work today as it did at the start of PRA: to do things the right way for the right reason and focus on the long term.
Last year, PRA opened a call center in Danville, and it has offices in North and South America, Europe and Brisbane, Australia. It employs 4,000 people worldwide, with 1,600 based in Virginia.
Stevenson studied accounting at The Ohio State University and has volunteered his time with the Greater Norfolk Corp. and Equi-Kids, an organization that provides therapeutic horseback riding.
FIRST JOB: Flipping burgers at McDonald’s. My first full-time job out of college was in financial and regulatory reporting for Household Bank.
HOBBY/PASSION: Motorcycles
FAVORITE APP: Waze
FAVORITE VACATION: Motorcycle vacation: Tail of the Dragon and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
SOMETHING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Get on a horse.
Tope
JANET N. TOPE
REGION BANK PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA EAST, WELLS FARGO & CO., RICHMOND
Tope joined Wells Fargo 33 years ago after graduating from Florida State University with a business degree. In 2016, she was promoted to her current role as president of the region that covers Richmond, the Peninsula and Hampton Roads. Ranked 37th on the Fortune 500 in 2021, Wells Fargo reported $80.3 billion in revenue last year.
Tope sits on several boards, including the Virginia Bankers Association, the Richmond Forum and Communities in Schools of Richmond. She also is a member of the Regional Leadership Circle of the Greater Richmond Partnership.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Never stray from your values/principles. You can add value just by listening and asking questions.
FIRST JOB: Retail sales
PERSON I ADMIRE:My husband, Doug. He is an amazing husband and father and is a true example of someone who sees the good in others. He encourages and supports — showing confidence in others when they may not be sure what they could accomplish. He models ethical values like no one I have seen and sets an example for others to strive to achieve. He is the voice of reason in most any situation, and I admire his strong character.
Whitt
RICHARD R. ‘RICHIE’ WHITT III
CO-CEO, MARKEL CORP., RICHMOND
Having joined Markel 20 years ago, Whitt has been controller, chief administrative officer of the company’s international operations, chief financial officer and co-chief operating officer. He also led the company’s international operations in London for two years before returning to Richmond in 2005. Whitt became Markel’s co-CEO in 2016, serving alongside Thomas S. Gayner. A Virginia Tech alum, his first job after graduating was with KPMG, where he was a senior auditor.
A Fortune 500 holding company for insurance, reinsurance and investments with 64 offices in 16 countries, Markel employs nearly 19,000 people. Its subsidiary, Markel Ventures, invests in companies outside the insurance marketplace, and in 2020, it acquired Lansing Building Products.
Markel was coming off a banner year in 2019, having earned $2.1 billion in income, which was more than the four previous years combined, and nearly double any single previous year.
The pandemic took its toll, though Markel reported $1.2 billion in comprehensive income in 2020.
Whitt serves on the boards of the Virginia Tech Foundation and St. John’s University School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science.
Woodriff
JAFFRAY WOODRIFF
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, QUANTITATIVE INVESTMENT Management LLC, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Woodriff said he first became interested in data science as a child, describing a game he played then. “I would obsessively roll a pair of dice to see seven win, and six and eight duke it out,” the U.Va. alum said in his bio for the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science, which he and his wife, Merrill, who’s also a U.Va. grad, were instrumental in founding.
In 2003, Woodriff parlayed that obsession into creating his $3 billion hedge fund, which uses data science to manage investments. Woodriff has supported dozens of startup companies. Before founding QIM, he was a director at Société Générale, a French multinational investment bank.
The Woodriffs set up the private family foundation Quantitative Foundation that makes philanthropic gifts, including the largest private gift in U.Va.’s history. In 2019 they pledged $120 million to build on U.Va.’s Data Science Institute, which became the School of Data Science last year.
A native of Charlottesville, Woodriff is also behind the Woodriff Center of Developing Entrepreneurs (CODE) building, a 170,000-square-foot space for early-stage tech startups, coworking and other businesses, on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. It’s expected to be completed this year.
The past year has been a bit of a mixed bag for Amin and Shamin Hotels, one of the United States’ largest independent hoteliers.
Shamin, which owns more than 60 hotels, saw its Hilton Richmond Hotel and Spa in Short Pump enter receivership in January after falling behind on loan payments amid the pandemic.
That said, Shamin completed renovations on The Landing at Hampton Marina this year, and the company purchased a Hampton Inn & Suites in Newport News along with three Virginia Beach hotels. Amin is also one of 50 investors in Richmond’s proposed ONE Casino + Resort.
In July, Amin was tapped as one of the state’s five cannabis regulatory board members.
Amin earned his bachelor’s and MBA degrees from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before joining Shamin as chief financial officer in 2002. He was named CEO in 2008.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Don’t ask others to do anything that you would not do yourself.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:Climbing Grays Peak (14,278 feet) and Torreys Peak (14,267 feet) in Colorado this past July
Baltimore
THOMAS J. BALTIMORE JR.
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PARK HOTELS & RESORTS INC., TYSONS
A lodging real estate investment trust, Park Hotels has a portfolio with 57 hotels and resorts, offering more than 32,000 rooms.
While weathering the pandemic, Park temporarily closed some hotels. Properties that remained open saw a sharp drop in reservations. For 2020, the company reported $852 million in revenue, a 70% decrease from 2019.
That said, Baltimore, who has led Park since 2016, when he joined the company shortly before its spinoff from Hilton, believes the storm may be passing.
“I continue to be extremely encouraged by our portfolio’s performance over the past several months,” he said in a June statement. “Leisure demand trends continue to accelerate at a faster pace than we had initially anticipated.”
From April through December 2020, Baltimore waived his base salary, contributing $500,000 to a $2.5 million fund to address hardship among employees. Even so, he received $12.66 million in total compensation for the year, about a 54% increase over what he received in 2019.
Baltimore earned his bachelor’s degree and MBA from the University of Virginia. He’s a member of the board of directors of American Express Co. and Prudential Financial Inc.
Bowman
LESLIE GREENE BOWMAN
PRESIDENT, THOMAS JEFFERSON FOUNDATION, CHARLOTTESVILLE
Since 2008, Bowman has led the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates Monticello, the Albemarle County estate of America’s third president.
It’s a high-profile job. In 2013, Bowman sat next to musician Dave Matthews as he prepared to speak at Monticello’s annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. A year later, she walked with President Barack Obama and French President François Hollande as they toured the historic site.
For all her time in the public eye, Bowman is, at heart, an academic. After earning her bachelor’s in American history and art history at Miami University, Bowman received a master’s degree in early American culture as a Winterthur Fellow at the University of Delaware.
Throughout Bowman’s tenure at Monticello, she’s worked to create educational programming that showcases the “honest, inclusive” history of the free and enslaved people who lived at the historic mountaintop home.
“In Jefferson’s words, we ‘follow truth wherever it may lead,’” Bowman said in a statement about Monticello creating an exhibit space dedicated to Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who bore at least six of Jefferson’s children.
Bradburn
DOUG BRADBURN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, GEORGE WASHINGTON’S MOUNT VERNON, MOUNT VERNON
It’s an exclusive club. Just 11 individuals have served as the leader at George Washington’s Mount Vernon since 1858, when the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association purchased the estate from Washington’s heirs.
A noted scholar of American history, Bradburn came to Mount Vernon in 2013 to serve as the founding director of the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington. He is the author and editor of three books and numerous articles on topics such as the history of the American founding and leadership.
Only a few months after Bradburn joined Mount Vernon, he inadvertently found himself at the center of a minor controversy when Politico reported that President Donald Trump had suggested to Bradburn during a 2018 tour of Mount Vernon that it would have been smarter for Washington to name the home after himself. The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association criticized the story as inaccurate and lacking context.
Bradburn graduated with degrees in history and economics from the University of Virginia before earning his doctorate in history from The University of Chicago.
Carroll
JAMES CARROLL
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CRESTLINE HOTELS & RESORTS LLC, FAIRFAX
Carroll has led Crestline Hotels & Resorts LLC for more than a decade. He first arrived at the third-party hospitality management company in 2004 as its treasurer and later was named chief financial officer and then chief operating officer.
An indirect subsidiary of the Barceló Group based in Mallorca, Spain, Crestline manages 125 hotels — properties with brands such as Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt, as well as independent hotels. The company employs more than 5,000 associates, about 600 of whom are in Virginia.
While it was a grim year for the hotel industry overall, Crestline expanded its portfolio of managed hotels by 10% during the pandemic.
Previously, Carroll worked at Dell Technologies Inc., where he held several operations and financial management positions, and served as a naval aviator and lieutenant commander inthe U.S. Navy.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from theHarvard Business School.
Carroll sits on the board of directors for Armada Hoffler Properties Inc. in Virginia Beach and ServiceSource, a nonprofit providing support services to people with disabilities.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Take care of your team.
Christner
KIMBERLY L. CHRISTNER
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CORNERSTONE HOSPITALITY LLC, WILLIAMSBURG
Although Cornerstone Hospitality manages branded hotels, the company is probably best known for its work developing distinctive boutique hotels designed with décor reflecting the history and culture of the regions where the properties are located.
Partnering with Craig Larson, Christner formed Cornerstone Hospitality in 2012. Today, the company owns and manages 18 hotels and
15 food and beverage outlets and banquet venues. Additionally, the company conducts market research for individuals or town leaders considering boutique hotel opportunities.
A year after launching, Cornerstone Hospitality teamed up with Virginia-based MB Contractors and Architectural Partners to form a partnership called Creative Boutique Hotels LLC.
Focusing on developing boutique hotels in historic buildings in small markets, the partnership produced the Craddock Terry Hotels and Event Center in Lynchburg, the Western Front Hotel in Saint Paul and the Sessions Hotel in Bristol.
Previously, Christner worked for Williamsburg-based Beck Co. for almost two decades, including five years as CEO.
She received her bachelor’s in business administration from Saint Leo University in Florida and has earned several certifications from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell.
The pandemic hit a couple of months after Coleman came aboard as executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation. The foundation’s two living-history museums, Jamestown Settlement and the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, were forced to close for 15 weeks.
Since visitors couldn’t experience history in person, Coleman and her staff hustled to create virtual experiences, ranging from a tutorial on how to make Powhatan-style twined baskets to streaming video from a dugout canoe.
Coleman also maintains a lively presence on Twitter (@HistoryGonWrong), where she fangirls over popular culture and discusses the importance of looking at history through multiple perspectives.
In 2018, Time magazine listed her among 31 people “who are changing the South.”
Coleman was formerly president and CEO of the American Civil War Museum in Richmond. She also worked for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, where she was director of historic programs. While there, she led an effort to stage a reenactment of a slave auction that drew national attention.
A native of Williamsburg, Coleman earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in museum studies from Hampton University.
Fleet
CLIFF FLEET
PRESIDENT AND CEO, COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG FOUNDATION, WILLIAMSBURG
Although the pandemic caused the nation’s largest outdoor living-history museum to close for three months, Fleet stayed plenty busy. In 2020, the foundation significantly expanded its digital footprint while raising $62 million in donations.
In September 2020, Fleet watched as Colonial Williamsburg archaeologists excavated the site of the old First Baptist Church, one of America’s oldest churches founded by Black people. In February 2021, the foundation announced a partnership with William & Mary to relocate the Williamsburg Bray School, an 18th-century institution that educated enslaved and free Black children, from W&M’s campus to Colonial Williamsburg’s Historic Area.
A William & Mary alum who holds a bachelor’s degree in history and religion and graduate degrees in history, business administration and law from the school, Fleet joined the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in early 2020.
He previously was president and CEO of Richmond-based tobacco manufacturer Philip Morris USA and held leadership positions at its Fortune 500 parent company, Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc.
Fleet is a member of the board of trustees of the William & Mary Foundation and was appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam to sit on the American Revolution 250 Commission.
George
MICHAEL GEORGE
FOUNDER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CRESCENT HOTELS & RESORTS, FAIRFAX
In the two decades since George founded Crescent Hotels & Resorts, the business has grown to operate more than 100 hotels and resorts and more than 250 restaurants and bars in the U.S. and Canada. George’s clients include real estate investment trusts, private equity firms and major developers.
Crescent operates a collection of independent hotels under its own label, the Latitudes Collection, while also managing properties for the Marriott, IHG, Hyatt and Hilton brands.
One of the Hilton properties George manages made headlines in October when it changed its name from the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort to the Hilton Phoenix Resort at the Peak to avoid the offensive term for Native American women. “We wanted to consider the values and perspectives from our associates, guests and the community when determining what was most important in the name,” George said in a statement.
Prior to founding Crescent, George served as senior vice president of operations for Destination Hotels, as chief operating officer for Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. and as senior vice president of operations for then-Interstate Hotels and Resorts.
Gray
ROBERT GRAY
CHIEF, PAMUNKEY INDIAN TRIBE, KING WILLIAM COUNTY
For more than a quarter century, Gray has sat on the Pamunkey Tribal Council. And in 2015, he was elected its chief.
Gray grew up in Philadelphia but moved to the Pamunkey Indian Reservation in King William County in 1988.
As a younger man, Gray served in the U.S. Air Force before earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Arkansas. He later joined the Virginia Air National Guard and worked as a federal civilian employee for the U.S. Air Force.
Before retiring from the Air Force in 2011 as a chief master sergeant, Gray was deployed for multiple overseas tours. In 2017, he retired from the federal civilian service.
As chief of the Pamunkey Tribe, Gray frequently speaks about the HeadWaters Resort & Casino, the $500 million project that the tribe is developing with Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough alongside Norfolk’s Harbor Park. The casino, set to open in 2023, is expected to generate about 2,000 construction jobs, 2,500 permanent jobs and $185 million in annual revenue, not to mention at least $3.5 million each year for the Virginia Indigenous People’s Trust Fund.
Knight
JUSTIN G. KNIGHT
CEO AND DIRECTOR, APPLE HOSPITALITY REIT INC., RICHMOND
Knight has spent his career working for Apple Hospitality REIT and the real estate investment trusts that preceded it, all founded by his father, Glade M. Knight. Since 2014, Justin Knight has served as CEO at Apple Hospitality.
Today, Apple Hospitality’s portfolio consists of 232 hotels, mostly properties under the Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt brands, across 35 states.
Facing the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, Knight volunteered to decrease his target compensation for 2020 by 60%.
In May, Knight reported that the REIT had sold three hotels since the beginning of the year for a combined total of $24 million.
Four years ago, Knight suffered serious injuries when the small plane he was piloting, with his son on board, crashed into a cornfield in Buckingham County.
A member of the National Advisory Council for Brigham YoungUniversity’s MarriottSchool of Business, Knight received his bachelor’s in political science and an MBA from the university.
Knight sits on the board of trustees for Venture Richmond.
McClenny
RITA McCLENNY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, VIRGINIA TOURISM CORP., RICHMOND
On June 15, McClenny addressed the Virginia Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, asking lawmakers to dedicate $50 million of the $4.3 billion Virginia has received from the federal American Rescue Plan for state and local tourism efforts.
Under her plan, $20 million of that relief funding would be used by Virginia Tourism Corp. for marketing efforts, and $30 million would be divided by state localities to pay for tourism marketing expenses.
Virginia has lost $14.3 billion in travel expenditures due to the pandemic, according to McClenny.
The president and CEO of VTC since 2012, McClenny usually has happier news to share with lawmakers. In 2019, visitors to Virginia spent $27 billion, which contributed $1.8 billion in state and local taxes.
A state agency, VTC works to market the state as a premier travel destination and as a desirable location for shooting films and television shows.
Prior to heading up VTC, McClenny served as head of the Virginia Film Office for more than 20 years. A Southampton County native, she received her bachelor’s degree in economics from Fisk University in Nashville.
McGlothlin
JIM McGLOTHLIN
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, THE UNITED CO., BRISTOL
After a long career, this octogenarian sits on the cusp of delivering his boldest endeavor yet.
Partnering with high school friend and Par Ventures LLC President Clyde Stacy, along with Hard Rock International, McGlothlin plans to open the $400 million Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Bristol at the site of the old Bristol Mall in 2022.
McGlothlin and Stacy began lobbying for a casino in the birthplace of country music several years before the Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 2000 allowing commercial casino gaming in Portsmouth, Danville, Norfolk, Richmond and Bristol — pending approval by local voters in referendums. In November 2020, 71% of Bristol voters said “yes” to the casino, which is expected to create about 2,000 jobs and $130 million in annual revenue.
If that weren’t enough, in April, McGlothlin opened the Car Barn, a new business that’s part classic car museum/part car lot.
In 2009, a Ukrainian company purchased United Coal, the company McGlothlin co-founded in the 1970s. Today, McGlothlin’s United Co. focuses on coal, oil and gas exploration services, investment management and real estate development, as well as the operation of golf courses and RV parks.
Nassetta
CHRISTOPHER J. NASSETTA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, HILTON WORLDWIDE HOLDINGS INC., McLEAN
COVID-19 dealt quite a blow to the hotel industry. An industry giant, Hilton didn’t escape unscathed.
The company closed 2020 with $4.3 billion in revenue — a steep drop from the $9.5 billion it reported in 2019. The drop was big enough for Hilton to fall off the Fortune 500, sliding from No. 338 to No. 596 on the magazine’s list of the top 1,000 U.S. companies by total revenue.
At the end of 2020, Hilton said it employed 141,000 people,32,000 fewer than it reported in 2019. For the first quarter of 2021, Hilton announced a net loss of $109 million.
Nassetta, who has led the company since 2007, seems optimistic about its post-pandemic recovery. “We are on pace to see record leisure demand in the U.S. over the summer months,” he said during a May call to investors.
In 2020, Nassetta earned $55.87 million in total compensation.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Nassetta previously served as CEO for Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. His first real job was unclogging toilets at a Washington, D.C., hotel.
Vinay
VINAY PATEL
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, FAIRBROOK HOTELS LLC, CHANTILLY
When he was 8 years old, Patel’s parents, originally from the Indian state of Gujarat, migrated from Malawi in eastern Africa to Richmond, where they bought a small motel.
Growing up, Patel pitched in at the family business, cleaning rooms and checking in guests. When it came time for college, Patel commuted to Virginia Commonwealth University and continued helping out at the motel.
By 2003, Patel took over the family business, which continues to grow. Today, Fairbrook Hotels owns 11 hotels in Virginia and Maryland.
In recent months, Patel has been interviewed by NPR and The New York Times, discussing how the pandemic impacted his business. While his properties ran at 80% occupancy before the pandemic, they now run at 40% to 60% occupancy, depending on the location.
In November 2020, then-U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appointed Patel to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. Patel also serves as the vice chair of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:When you help others, you really help yourself.
FAVORITE SONG: “The Way It Is,” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Appreciate everything and everyone.
Stacy
CLYDE STACY
PRESIDENT, PAR VENTURES LLC, BRISTOL
The Bristol Herald Courier named Stacy and his longtime friend Jim McGlothlin as the 2020 Bristolians of the Year for their work developing the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Bristol, which is slated to open next year.
McGlothlin credits Stacy with conceiving the idea of bringing jobs to the economically challenged area by building a casino at the vacant Bristol Mall, which Stacy purchased in 2018 for $2.6 million. The duo went on to hire lobbying and public relations firm Alliance Group Ltd. to coax Richmond lawmakers into legalizing casinos — a feat others had tried without success for decades. At the time, Stacy and McGlothlin described their proposal as a moonshot idea — a bold solution to a big problem.
Amazingly, it worked. In 2020, the General Assembly approved legislation to allow casinos in five Virginia cities, including Bristol. In November 2020, 71% of Bristol voters approved of the idea in a referendum.
A former coal mining executive who headed Rapoca Energy Co., Stacy also invested in Dharma Pharmaceuticals LLC, a licensed medical cannabis processor that was sold in July to Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries Inc.
Terry
ERIC D. TERRY
PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA RESTAURANT, LODGING & TRAVEL ASSOCIATION, RICHMOND
Terry brought three decades of experience in the hospitality industry when he came aboard as leader of the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association in 2014.
A dedicated advocate, Terry promotes the interests of his association’s 1,500 member companies. This year, that’s meant lobbying lawmakers for much-needed relief funds and talking with business leaders and media about the impact of extended unemployment payments on Virginia’s tight labor market, which has disproportionately affected hotels and restaurants.
In April, Terry sent a letter to the chairs of the General Assembly’s appropriations committees asking Virginia’s lawmakers to dedicate more than $270 million from the state’s share of federal American Rescue Plan funds to assist hospitality-related industries.
A graduate of Virginia Tech’s Hospitality and Tourism Management program, Terry previously worked in leadership positions for then-The Redstone Cos. Benchmark Hospitality International Inc. and Malibu Entertainment Worldwide Inc.
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: The beach
PERSON I ADMIRE:Ronald Reagan was the first president I ever voted for, and he did an unbelievable job fixing the economy, fighting communism and instilling a pride in America.
Thompson
BRUCE L. THOMPSON
CEO, GOLD KEY | PHR, VIRGINIA BEACH
Virginia Beach’s historic but crumbling Cavalier Hotel almost certainly faced a wrecking ball before Thompson came to the rescue in 2013.
In his youth, Thompson had worked security and cut grass for the renowned property, and he wanted to see it saved. It took $85 million in renovations from Gold Key | PHR, but the hotel reopened in 2018.
Additionally, Gold Key is developing an assemblage of other surrounding properties to create an oceanfront campus known as Cavalier Resort. The $125 million Marriott Resort Virginia Beach Oceanfront began welcoming guests in June 2020. Gold Key completed construction of upscale condo development 42 Ocean in spring 2021. The 12-story Embassy Suites, the final piece of the Cavalier campus, should open by 2023.
Thompson also submitted a proposal for the redevelopment of Norfolk’s Military Circle Mall to the Norfolk Economic Development Authority.
Since his son, Josh, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2007, Thompson has worked to raise money for scientific research for ALS and to build facilities for people with disabilities. Josh Thompson died in October 2020 at age 46.
PRESIDENT, CMA CGM AMERICA LLP AND APL NORTH AMERICA, NORFOLK
Aldridge took over as president of CMA CGM America in June 2020, and he has served as president of CMA CGM subsidiary North America, the nation’s oldest ocean carrier, since 2017.
In February, the French company announced the $36 million expansion of its Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia operations, adding 400 jobs. Many of those jobs are expected to be in Hampton Roads; in Arlington, the firm will open Zebox, a startup incubator. Aldridge is responsible for CMA CGM’s U.S. operations and 11,000 employees at 18 ports.
Then in May, the largest-ever cargo ship to call on the East Coast arrived at the Port of Virginia in Portsmouth. At the length of about three-and-a-half football fields, the Marco Polo, operated by CMA CGM, holds enough containers that they would span more than 61 miles if put end-to-end.
“We think about it in terms of our customers,” Aldridge said in an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “Every one of those containers is a customer we focus on. There are over 10,000 customers on that ship.”
A Marist College alumnus, Aldridge started his maritime career with SeaLand Service and was CEO and president of US Lines, which became part of CMA CGM.
Anders
DEVON ANDERS
PRESIDENT, INTERCHANGE GROUP INC., MOUNT CRAWFORD
In September 2020, InterChange Group Inc. purchased a minority stake in the 22-mile privately owned Shenandoah Valley Railroad, part of a larger expansion plan for the third-party logistics company. The line will ultimately connect its cold storage warehouse to the Virginia Inland Port system in Front Royal.
An Eastern Mennonite University alumnus, Anders has led InterChange for more than two decades.
The firm has a building portfolio of almost 2 million square feet, including a 250,000-square-foot cold storage facility off Interstate 81 in Mount Crawford that has room to grow to 600,000 square feet. A third phase of expansion is scheduled soon, Anders said late last year. Anders is also a director on the Virginia Maritime Association board, as well as a member of GO Virginia Region 8 Council, which boosts economic development in the northern Shenandoah Valley.
InterChange has made a commitment to solar power in the past, and Anders announced in July that it would add an array to its new cold storage facility, giving InterChange the ability to offset 70% of the structure’s energy usage.
Anderson
ADAM ANDERSON
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, T. PARKER HOST, NORFOLK
Anderson, a former Army reservist who joined the century-old shipping firm T. Parker Host in 1998 as a boarding agent, developed and negotiated its first terminal operation contract by the time he was 24, according to the company. He has served as its chief executive for a decade.
He has overseen fast growth for the company, which opened a logistics division in 2017 and the following year acquired the former Avondale Shipyard in Louisiana through a joint partnership. Host has begun an overhaul of the yard in recent months, and with $10 million in federal block grant funding, the former wharf will be converted into a modern cargo dock.
Host has approximately 70 Virginia-based employees and more than 490 worldwide, and in 2018 and 2019, it made the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing privately owned companies. In 2020, Host was the oldest company listed on the Virginia Chamber’s Fantastic 50 list, marking 245% growth between 2015 and 2018.
Anderson, who regularly speaks about the maritime sector at industry events, is a member of the Coal Institute, the New York Coal Trade Association, the Pittsburgh Traffic Club, the Virginia Maritime Association and the Hampton Roads Coal Association.
Aument
JENNIFER AUMENT
CHIEF EXECUTIVE, GLOBAL TRANSPORTATION, AECOM, ARLINGTON
Aument joined the Fortune 500 Los Angeles-based infrastructure consulting firm in April, working out of its Arlington office.
Aument manages transportation projects around the world for AECOM, which provides planning, design and engineering services for transportation and building projects, as well as water and energy facilities. Past AECOM projects include the Los Angeles International Airport’s expansion and a new subway line in New York City. AECOM reported $13.2 billion in revenue last year.
Before joining AECOM, Aument was president of North America operations for Transurban, which operates the dynamically tolled Express Lanes along interstates 95, 395 and 495 in the Washington, D.C., metro area.
Aument joined Transurban in 2006 and oversaw the 52-mile network of toll roads in the Washington region, including 31 reversible miles on I-95, and was involved with the $2.6 billion Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.
She previously worked with Bechtel Infrastructure to develop the Metrorail’s Silver Line and was a Virginia Port Authority commissioner until 2020. A West Virginia University and George Washington University graduate, Aument serves on the board of the Eno Center for Transportation, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan think tank.
Born into a family of commercial watermen on the Northern Neck, Bowen worked at a fish processing plant while attending Old Dominion University. In his final year at ODU, he spent a summer fueling aircraft at Norfolk International Airport.
Bowen has spent 44 years at the airport, including 33 with the Norfolk Airport Authority. During the height of the pandemic, the airport took a massive hit, with ridership declining by 94% at one point. Short-term layoffs and furloughs followed, but by May, passenger activity was at 290,984, 18% behind May 2019’s total, but hiring and pay raises have resumed.
In May, Breeze Airways, a new low-cost airline started by the founder of JetBlue, announced it would set up its first East Coast hub at Norfolk International Airport, producing 116 jobs. A $26 million bond issue will refund existing bonds and save nearly $6 million in interest during 10 years.
In June, Bowen announced he will retire on March 1, 2022. The airport authority’s board will conduct the selection process for his replacement.
Brich
STEPHEN C. BRICH
COMMISSIONER, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, RICHMOND
Virginia kept moving, even during a worldwide pandemic. Brich credits the General Assembly for granting VDOT, which has a budget of about $6.4 billion, the financial flexibility to allow work to keep flowing.
An alumnus of Old Dominion University and the University of Virginia, Brich was an intern in the city of Norfolk’s traffic engineering division, which paved the road for his future work. Currently, he is overseeing the state’s largest-ever infrastructure project, the $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion.
In May, the project hit a milestone when the 350-foot-long Tunnel Boring Machine being constructed for the project — nicknamed “Mary” for former NASA scientist Mary Winston Jackson — passed a virtual factory acceptance test. Mary is expected to arrive in Hampton Roads from Germany in November, with boring set to start in early 2022. Also in May, the state awarded a $170 million design-build contract for improvements along Interstate 81 in the Salem Construction District.
By mid-2021, truck traffic was about 10% above pre-COVID levels, although Northern Virginia is still seeing decreased volumes, which Brich attributed to the federal government remaining in telework status. Elsewhere, “it’s rebounded and then some,” he says.
HOBBIES: Surfing, boating, fishing
Brown
GEORGE BROWN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CP&O LLC; VICE PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION, NORFOLK
The Norfolk native spent a decade working as a longshoreman —following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather — after spending three years in the Army, retiring as a sergeant in 1975. Brown then graduated from Old Dominion University on the G.I. Bill and switched over to management.
Brown has led CP&O, a partnership between Cooper/T. Smith and Ports America, since 2004. The company handles stevedoring and terminal services at major ports across Hampton Roads. At any given time, it employs between about 75 and 300 longshoremen.
May was among the busiest months for the company, Brown says, attributing the high volume to “just pent-up demand, pent-up volume overseas getting here. Just bigger ships, and more containers.”
Prior to leading CP&O, Brown served as a senior vice president for East Coast operations for Cooper/T. Smith. In his spare time, he enjoys golfing. His first jobs, at 11 years old, were delivering the morning newspaper and cutting grass.
In addition to his work at CP&O, Brown serves on the boards of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association and the Virginia Maritime Association, and he previously served as treasurer of the National Maritime Safety Association.
Coffee
PIERCE COFFEE
PRESIDENT, NORTH AMERICA, TRANSURBAN, FALLS CHURCH
In February, Coffee was promoted to president of Transurban’s North American operations, which manage express lanes along Interstates 95, 395 and 495 in Northern Virginia.
Before stepping up to replace Jennifer Aument, who left to lead AECOM’s global transportation business, Coffee served as vice president of customer experience and operations. In that role, she was responsible for customer service, tolling, account management and enforcement operations. She joined the Australian company in 2009 after holding leadership roles at Qorvis Communications LLC and Visual CV. She also previously led Transurban’s marketing department from the company’s Australian headquarters before returning to the U.S.
In June, Transurban got a little closer to expanding its operations into Maryland when the state’s Transportation Authority approved the firm to develop toll lanes on Interstate 95 in order to ease congestion around the Washington, D.C., suburbs. The company will operate and maintain express lanes and charge toll rates in a contract that extends until 2087.
Coffee has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, where she played club lacrosse.
The Cohen brothers run Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry, which was founded by their father, Yoram, in 1999. With more than 4,800 vessels — which comprise more than 200 million gross tons — it represents 13% of the world’s shipping fleet, according to the company.
In April 2021, the company announced it had launched new platforms to help improve access for seafarers taking licensing examinations and applying for documents and credentials, The Maritime Executive reported.
LISCR Chief Operating Officer Alfonso Castillero says the advancements were more important than ever, considering the challenges brought by the pandemic.
“These new platforms are a key part of Liberia’s continued implementation of technology,” Castillero says. “This time of COVID-19 and the continued restriction of travel has continued to necessitate the industry to continue to think outside the box and adapt to allow for technology to be used whenever possible.“
In 2013, the company’s $120,000 donation to former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate in this year’s race, led to questions because of the unusual alliance, The Washington Post reported then. The company also faced questions for its business during the regime of former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
Coleman
MICHAEL W. COLEMAN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CV INTERNATIONAL INC.; PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION, NORFOLK
Coleman grew up with the family business, launched by his father, B. Wayne Coleman, in 1985. “It was always in my mind that … I wanted to be like him and wanted to run the business one day,” he says.
Coleman became CV International’s president in 2006 and CEO in 2018. Working summers during high school and college for the supply chain business, he says he was fascinated by the diversity of products and industries he was working with. “We’re dealing with people all over the world and helping people move their products all over the world, dealing with so many different industries and so many different commodities,” Coleman says.
Following a huge surge in volume related to the pandemic, CV International added about 18 employees in the past year, bringing its total to 88, with 53 based in Virginia.
Coleman is a member of the Hampton Roads Coal Association, serves on the Hampton Roads Shipping Association and Greater Norfolk Corp. boards, and was appointed to the Virginia Board for Branch Pilots. He became president of the Virginia Maritime Association in 2020 and in 2021 was appointed to the Virginia Freight Advisory Committee.
Connor
CHRISTOPHER J. CONNOR
PRESIDENT AND CEO, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF PORT AUTHORITIES, ALEXANDRIA
In May 2020, Connor testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, urging Congress to include $1.5 billion in economic relief for the nation’s public ports in any COVID-19 response. Helping port workers maintain readiness would be critical for the future, he said.
Connor, who took over as chief of the American Association of Port Authorities in 2019, renewed that call for investment as shipping volume began to increase in 2021. AAPA outlined the need in a letter to the Biden administration as Congress mulls a massive infrastructure bill.
Investment is crucial to remain competitive, Connor says. “Spending one dollar on maritime infrastructure returns two to three dollars to the national economy in terms of jobs, growth and productivity.”
AAPA advocates for 130 public port authorities across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.
In addition to his job, Connor is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors and sits on the board of The Pasha Group and the business advisory board for Xylyx Bio. A graduate of Vanderbilt University, Connor also received a cybersecurity oversight certification from Carnegie Mellon University.
Crofton
JAY CROFTON
CO-OWNER AND PRESIDENT, CROFTON INDUSTRIES INC., PORTSMOUTH
In August 2018, torrential rains flooded Lynchburg’s College Lake, and officials evacuated 150 nearby homes, fearing a dam break. Crofton Industries responded and spent 10 days performing an underwater assessment and debris removal, stabilizing the dam.
That’s just one of many projects the company has completed since its founding in 1949 by Navy veteran Juan Crofton as a commercial diving company. More recently, Crofton Industries won its bid to help replace a 614-foot portion of the Portsmouth seawall, and it has been involved with replacing the Bonner Bridge on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.
Jay Crofton, one of Juan Crofton’s four children, serves as president of the company, which provides professional diving services, cranes, marine construction and engineering for the industry. His siblings also are part of the operation.
Although the company has grown over the past 72 years, its original work boat, The Cromo, is still part of the business and is used as a cleaning ship.
Cuomo
JOHN CUOMO
CEO AND PRESIDENT, VSE CORP., ALEXANDRIA
Cuomo was named the head of VSE Corp. in April 2019, after nearly 20 years in the aerospace industry, including stints at B/E Aerospace Inc. and Boeing Distribution Services.
VSE provides aftermarket distribution and maintenance, repair and overhaul services for land, sea and air transportation. Its clients include the U.S. military and the Postal Service, as well as commercial airlines.
Revenues were down slightly for the first three months of 2021, with VSE reporting$165 million as of March 31, compared with $177.4million for the same period of 2020. But as travel began to rebound, VSE’s aviation section declared its third quarter of consecutive growth.
In April, the company reported $37.5 million in new contracts with the Air Force, as well as a foreign ally. A month earlier, VSE had announced a 15-year engine accessories distribution agreement worth up to $1 billion with a global aircraft engine manufacturer.
A Florida Atlantic University alumnus, Cuomo received a law degree from the University of Miami and an MBA from the University of Florida. He also completed an advanced management program at Harvard Business School earlier this year, and he is a member of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
Davis
JEROME L. DAVIS
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER, METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON AIRPORTS AUTHORITY, ARLINGTON
Davis started off as a sales rep selling food products for Procter & Gamble, and he later rose to executive roles there, at Frito-Lay and at Maytag Corp. By the time he was tapped to lead the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in 2014, he thought he was ready to retire, he told the Washington Business Journal.
With air travel taking significant hits during the pandemic, concessions and parking at Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International airports, which MWAA governs, also declined sharply. In the first eight months of 2020, concessions were down more than 63% from the same period in 2019, and parking was down by 84%, the Washington Business Journal reported.
As the pandemic eased, air travel was rebounding at both airports. Dulles added additional international routes, and a $650 million renovation of Reagan’s north concourse continued.
Davis serves on the board of Destination D.C. and is a graduate of Florida State University. He also served on the board of directors for GameStop Corp. until retiring from that board in June, although he was still part of the governing body during the Reddit-driven stock boom, in which shares went up by 850% since January.
Edwards
STEPHEN EDWARDS
CEO AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,VIRGINIA PORT AUTHORITY, NORFOLK
The Port of Virginia set a record in May, when it handled nearly 315,000 20-foot equivalent units, surpassing its previous record by 30,000. Edwards, who took over his position in January, says he does not expect significant slowdowns soon.
“What is most important is to look at how we processed this volume at the berth, truck gates and rail ramps,” Edwards says. “Our overall performance metrics reflect an operation that is performing well for customers and the cargo owners. We’re processing month-on-month record volumes with a very high level of efficiency.”
Edwards, who replaced former port chief John Reinhart, was previously CEO of Los Angeles-based TraPac. One of his goals is to persuade importers and exporters to pick Virginia over other ports, including those on the West Coast that are closer to Asia. Edwards also serves on the boards of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and Through Transport Mutual Insurance Association.
The port authority took in $512.9 million in revenue in 2020 and is set to become the deepest and widest port on the East Coast once a $350 million dredging project set to be finished in 2024 is completed.
Estes
ROBEY W. ‘ROB’ ESTES JR.
CEO, ESTES EXPRESS LINES, RICHMOND
Though shipments dropped about 20% when the pandemic first hit in 2020, that changed fast, Webb Estes, an Estes Express Lines vice president and the son of CEO Rob Estes, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch earlier this year. By last fall, the company’s annual growth was up 15% year over year.
Estes is the grandson of founder W.W. Estes, who started the company with one truck in 1931. In 2020, the company generated $3.5 billion in revenue and ranked No. 140 on Forbes’ list of America’s largest private companies. Today, Estes Express Lines, which employs more than 18,000 people, is looking to add more than 2,500 employees nationwide, and it has opened several new terminals, with others under construction.
Estes took over as president in 1990 and became CEO in 2001, suceeding his father, Robey Estes Sr., who died in 2006. In December, the Estes family donated $1.85 million to support construction of the 16-story Wonder Tower at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU. The company added $150,000 to the gift in January.
An alumnus of William & Mary, Estes is a generous donor and served for 16 years on the Mason School of Business Foundation board until 2020.
Goldman
GEORGE GOLDMAN
PRESIDENT, ZIM AMERICAN INTEGRATED SHIPPING SERVICES LTD., NORFOLK
Container ships handled surging volumes alongside increased demand for some goods during the pandemic, even as supply chains slowed. Containers couldn’t get unloaded and returned fast enough for some shippers, and Goldman said he doesn’t see that changing soon.
“I do think we have a long way to go” said Goldman during the 2021 Georgia Foreign Trade Conference, The Journal of Commerce reported. “I don’t see us getting out of this thing any time soon.”
Goldman has led ZIM’s American division since 2015. With operations in more than 100 countries, the Haifa, Israel-based shipping giant started 2021 by listing on the New York Stock Exchange. It also broke its income record, Port Technology reported.
As tensions flared between Israelis and Palestinians earlier this spring, ZIM was targeted by activists protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza. A ZIM-operated container ship turned back to sea after protesters in Oakland prevented it from unloading, according to news reports.
A graduate of San Jose State University in California, Goldman spent much of his career with APL, working in Hong Kong, Scottsdale, Arizona, and Singapore in executive roles before joining ZIM in 2015.
Govind
GANA GOVIND
PRESIDENT, SOFTEON, RESTON
Surges in online commerce during the pandemic left some companies scrambling to keep up. With offices in Peru and India, as well as Reston, Softeon is a leader in supply chain software to help manage warehouses, including incorporating emerging technologies, like mobile robots, to help companies improve fulfillment processes.
Softeon announced earlier this year that its cloud-based warehouse management software would be used by KSP Fulfillment, a third-party logistics firm in Minnesota. KSP, which is completing a 182,000-square-foot warehouse this year in suburban Minneapolis, with plans to build others on the East and West coasts, works with medical, pet care, agricultural and other industries on order placement and warehousing.
Govind founded Softeon in 1999 and has a master’s degree in physics from the University of Madras in India. In 2019, Softeon announced a minority investment from Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm. Softeon also opened its Warehouse of the Future Innovation Lab in May 2020 to test its sorting and weighing technology for broader use.
Hoelting
PAUL HOELTING
PRESIDENT, TFORCE FREIGHT, RICHMOND
In a leadership shuffle this spring, Hoelting took over as president of the newly renamed TForce Freight, formerly known as UPS Freight. In April, the company was sold to Canada-based TFI International for $800 million.
TForce Freight handles less-than-truckload shipping across all 50 states, as well as Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Hoelting previously served as senior vice president for sales and marketing for UPS Freight and has worked in the transportation industry for more than three decades.
In 1993, he went to work for Overnite Transportation, which was purchased in 2005 by UPS and became UPS Freight. The company, with more than 23,000 trailers and more than 6,300 tractors, reported more than $3 billion in 2020 revenue. Hoelting is a member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Virginia board, and he holds degrees from the University of Nebraska and William & Mary.
In June, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that UPS and TForce Freight faced a $3.8 million penalty in a settlement for violations over the handling and reporting of hazardous waste in some facilities. The companies have two years to comply.
Kuhn
CHARLES ‘CHUCK’ KUHN
FOUNDER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, JK MOVING SERVICES, STERLING
Kuhn runs the nation’s largest independently owned moving company, with more than $146 million in revenue in 2020 and 1,152 employees.
Faced with a nationwide driver shortage, JK increased annual guaranteed income for experienced over-the-road class-A drivers to a minimum of $100,000.
Kuhn is also known for his conservation efforts throughout Loudoun County and elsewhere. Earlier this year, he purchased the historic White’s Ferry, which since the 1700s has shuttled passengers across the Potomac River from Virginia to Maryland. The ferry closed in late 2020 following a property rights dispute. In June, through a partnership with Dutch developer Yondr Group, Kuhn’s JK Land Holdings LLC purchased 270 acres in Loudoun and Prince William counties that will be used for data centers.
Kuhn and his company have received the Loudoun Laurels award, the Washington Business Journal’s Corporate Citizen of the Year award and Old Dominion Land Conservancy’s Conservation Steward Award.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Work hard. Hire well. Be clear about your goals, values and what you stand for. Treat everyone — your customers, your employees and those in your community — with care and respect.
Miller
PERRY J. MILLER
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CAPITAL REGION AIRPORT COMMISSION, RICHMOND
Miller credits a conservative approach to finance over the years and cost-cutting measures made during the early days of the pandemic for helping the Capital Region Airport Commission maintain a healthy cash position during COVID-19.
The commission, which has 178 employees, reported $43.8 million in revenue in 2020.
Miller, who is on the boards of ChamberRVA and Richmond Region Tourism, also serves as secretary and treasurer of the American Association of Airport Executives and president-elect of its Southeast chapter.
Miller says his first job as a cook at a Houston fried chicken restaurant made him realize the importance of teamwork and that customers could be a good source for feedback. Today he’s passionate about helping others.
“I consider it a blessing to be shared when a person is fortunate enough to be in a position to help someone else achieve success,” Miller says. “That opportunity should not be sacrificed to selfish ambition.”
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Q Ginger Beer
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA:Virginia is well on its way to mitigating the negative perceptions associated with the Confederacy, but more emphasis ought to be directed to its beautiful landscapes and attractions as a tourism destination.
Milliken
JOHN G. MILLIKEN
CHAIRMAN, VIRGINIA PORT AUTHORITY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, ARLINGTON
Before retiring from law firm Venable LLP in 2015, one of Milliken’s focuses was transportation. In the past year, Milliken led the search for former Virginia Port Authority CEO and Executive Director John Reinhart’s replacement, Stephen Edwards, who started his new position this year. Now it’s nearly time for Milliken’s retirement from the VPA board, which he’s served on intermittently since 2002. His retirement date is June 2022.
Aside from the board, Milliken was Virginia’s secretary of transportation from 1990 to 1993, and he’s currently a board member of the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing and the Washington Airports Task Force. In 2017, he received the Arlington Community Foundation Spirit of Community Award. The University of Virginia School of Law alumnus is also a senior fellow in residence at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Washington Nationals
HOBBIES:Golf, baseball, collecting Chinese stamps
FIRST JOB: Order filler at a bulk paper warehouse
PERSON I ADMIRE:Anyone willing to seek and hold public office
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration,” by Isabel Wilkerson
Potter
JOHN E. ‘JACK’ POTTER
PRESIDENT AND CEO, METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON AIRPORTS AUTHORITY, ARLINGTON
Domestic and international passenger activity at Virginia’s two largest airports, Ronald Reagan Washington National and Washington Dulles International, fell 72% between April 2020 and April 2021. Those figures are due in large part to the pandemic.
While the pandemic may have temporarily stalled air travel, it didn’t stop the opening of a new 225,000-square-foot concourse at the Reagan airport. The 14-gate concourse serves as the hub of American Airlines’ regional operations.
Potter has led the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which manages and operates the two major D.C. airports, since 2011. He oversees 1,700 employees.
Running two airports is a role he’s well compensated for. In 2019, Potter, a former postmaster general, took home more than $720,000, The Washington Post reported, making him one of the country’s highest-paid airport executives.
The authority also oversees the management and construction of Metro’s 23-mile Silver Line Dulles extension. The second phase is expected to open in 2022.
A Bronx native, Potter has a degree in economics from Fordham University and was a Sloan Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Price
KEVIN PRICE
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, VIRGINIA INTERNATIONAL TERMINALS LLC, NORFOLK
More than two decades on the waterfront helped Price prepare for his role at Virginia International Terminals, a nonprofit created by the Virginia Port Authority. As COO, he oversees operations, information technology, expansion, maintenance, safety and security for Norfolk International Terminals, Portsmouth Marine Terminal, Newport News Marine Terminal, the Richmond Marine Terminal and the Virginia Inland Port in Front Royal.
Not only does Price concern himself with performance at the terminals today, he must plan for the future.
“It’s a balancing act,” he said in a Virginia Port Authority biography. “Vessel productivity, truck turn times, rail dwell. … We will not lose sight of these key performance indicators. However, we must also commit to casting a vision for tomorrow’s sustainable growth. How and where will we innovate, building a better terminal experience for all stakeholders?”
Price earned a bachelor’s degree from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania and has a diploma from Lloyd’s Maritime Academy in terminal management. He has also worked on a master’s degree at the University of Denver’s Transportation Institute. Before joining VIT in 2018, Price worked with Sea-Land Service Inc., APM Terminals and Global Container Terminals.
Rear Adm. Charles W. Rock
REAR ADM. CHARLES ‘CHIP’ ROCK
COMMANDER, NAVY REGION MID-ATLANTIC, U.S. NAVY, NORFOLK
There’s no denying the Navy’s impact on Hampton Roads. About 90,000 active-duty sailors and thousands more civilian employees, contractors and families call the area home, bringing the total “Navy Family” up to more than 300,000 people. Rock, a native of Syracuse, New York, oversees all of it, as well as a 20-state region of naval stations and reserve outposts. Six of those are in Hampton Roads.
The Navy estimated its economic impact on Hampton Roads for 2019 at more than $15 billion, a figure that represents direct capital expenditures, including salaries, and payments for installation services.
Construction of a new fleet communications center — estimated to cost about $100 million — on Naval Station Norfolk is expected to be done in 2022. The Navy also is partnering with Virginia Beach to lease 400 acres of underutilized land at Naval Air Station Oceana for private development.
Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base, is also home to the service’s newest nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.
The Navy is “a proud partner of Hampton Roads,” Rock says. “We can’t do our job without the community’s support. I’m just extremely grateful for all the support we’ve received, pandemic or not, and continue to receive by the Hampton Roads community. It’s humbling and really overwhelming.”
FIRST JOB: Lifeguard
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“2034: A Novel of the Next World War,” by Elliot Ackerman and retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis
Squires
JAMES A. SQUIRES
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP., NORFOLK
Norfolk Southern is packing to leave for its Atlanta headquarters later this year, but the Fortune 500 railroad company is making sure its impact in Hampton Roads will still be felt. In May, the company announced plans to contribute $5 million in grants to local nonprofits over five years.
“Norfolk has been home to Norfolk Southern for decades,” Squires says. “The Hampton Roads community has helped to shape Norfolk Southern and will remain part of who we are. Even as we relocate our headquarters, we will continue to actively support the prosperity of the Hampton Roads community to express our ongoing gratitude and commitment.”
Also in May, the company reached a $257.2 million deal to expand passenger rail in the New River Valley, which has not had passenger service since 1979. The initiative also includes infrastructure improvements to the Route 29/Interstate 81 corridor. Legal agreements between Norfolk Southern and the state are expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
Squires became president of Norfolk Southern in 2013. After graduating from Amherst College, he spent a year in Japan on a fellowship, and from 1985 to 1989, he served as a Japanese language expert in the Army.
Wheeler.
SCOTT WHEELER
CHAIRMAN, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION; CEO, BAY DIESEL & GENERATOR CORP., VIRGINIA BEACH
Wheeler grew up in St. Louis and moved to Virginia in the early 1970s following his service in the U.S. Army. He worked first for Virginia Tractor Co. before starting Bay Diesel in 1982. The company overhauls and repairs engines for oceangoing vessels, while also selling and servicing industrial generators. Wheeler moved from president to CEO in December 2020.
He also continues to lead the board of the Virginia Maritime Association, which looks out for the interests of about 500 Virginia companies in the maritime industry. In a 2018 Virginian-Pilot essay, Wheeler wrote, “My philosophy is simple — show up, work hard, stay informed and make good decisions.”
Outside of work, Wheeler serves on the governing boards of WHRO Public Media and the World Affairs Council of Greater Hampton Roads, as well as the regional advisory board for Truist Bank, created from the merger of SunTrust and BB&T banks.
White
DAVID C. WHITE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION, NORFOLK
White, who joined the VMA in 2003, is responsible for making sure both Virginia’s congressional delegation and its state leaders understand the concerns of the nearly 500 maritime companies that make up the association’s membership. He also serves as executive vice president of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association, which negotiates the collective bargaining agreement with the International Longshoremen’s Association, a crucial part of keeping Virginia’s maritime industry working.
In 2020, shippers were faced with unprecedented challenges as the pandemic disrupted the global economy while demand soared for vital goods. It was time to encourage creativity, flexibility and adaptability, White says.
The VMA has worked in recent years to expand its membership, opening chapters in Southern and Northern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, a network that helped meet members’ needs during the fluctuations in volume, White says.
Aside from work, the William & Mary alumnus is a member of the WHRO Public Media board and the Elizabeth River Project environmental cleanup effort. He also chairs the Virginia Freight Transportation Advisory Committee, a group created in 2020 to advise the state on freight and logistics infrastructure and technology.
Wiedefeld
PAUL J. WIEDEFELD
GENERAL MANAGER AND CEO, WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY, WASHINGTON, D.C.
With the number of Metrorail and Metrobus riders plunging by 90% last year during the height of the pandemic, it was a challenging time to lead the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Wiedefeld, who joined the agency in 2015 after serving as CEO of the Baltimore-Washington International Airport, has spent the past six years leading Metro’s aggressive expansion and renovation program, particularly on the Dulles-bound Silver Line, as well as balancing its budget during the pandemic.
As of mid-2021, ridership has yet to recover, as telecommuters walk to their home offices rather than ride Metro’s trains and buses, but federal stimulus funding has staved off major job cuts and shorter hours. To attract more riders, Wiedefeld asked his board in June to reduce fares, decrease wait times between trains and extend hours. Still, Metro projects only about a third of pre-pandemic commuters will return this summer, and it expects to be carrying about 75% of its former passengers in three years.
Wiedefeld, who has a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Rutgers University, previously was CEO of the Maryland Transit Administration and consulted with Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Williams
ROLF A. WILLIAMS
OWNER, ANDERS WILLIAMS & CO. INC.; VICE PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA MARITIME ASSOCIATION, NORFOLK
Williams is the third generation to steer his family’s shipping business. He wears three hats as president of both Anders Williams Ship Agency and Anders Williams Trucking and as executive vice president of Marine Oil Service, which is based in Norfolk and New York.
The William & Mary alumnus has been on the board of the Virginia Maritime Association since 2013 and is one of three vice presidents, while also serving on the board of the Hampton Roads Shipping Association.
One of the VMA’s major efforts is encouraging expansion in the Hampton Roads area to make the Port of Virginia and associated shipping stations hospitable for larger crafts by dredging the Norfolk Harbor. The association also joined other groups to develop a comprehensive infrastructure package to improve ports, waterways and freight movement projects in order to secure funding for Virginia in President Joe Biden’s proposed $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan.
Williams, who trained in shipping in Norway, has served on several Norfolk boards and also is Virginia’s honorary consul for Norway and Sweden and dean of the Consular Corps of Virginia.
Woodhour
WILLIAM E. ‘BILL’ WOODHOUR
PRESIDENT AND CEO, MAERSK LINE LTD., LEESBURG
Woodhour is president and CEO of the U.S. arm of the world’s largest shipping company, A.P. Moller-Maersk. Maersk Line, a Norfolk-based subsidiary, was founded in 1983 to support the U.S. Navy. Its 20 container vessels operate around the world in support of U.S. military, government and humanitarian missions. It also serves commercial customers.
Woodhour took Maersk Line’s helm in 2016 following a nearly 25-year career with the parent company. He has worked in marketing, sales, and line management, and prior to his promotion, Woodhour was a vice president in A.P. Moller-Maersk’s headquarters in Copenhagen.
Maersk ships from more than 300 ports and has the largest fleet of U.S.-flagged ocean vessels. The U.S. line is based in Norfolk and employs about 3,500 mariners. In March, as the massive Ever Green container ship created a traffic jam at the Suez Canal for nearly a week, Maersk noted that the stuck ship would result in global backlogs, and the parent company anticipates high demand and earnings to continue the rest of 2021.
Woodhour, who earned degrees at the University of Delaware and attended Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program, serves as vice chairman of the National Defense Transportation Association board.
REGIONAL PRESIDENT, VIRGINIA AND RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL GROUP INC., NORFOLK
Asked to name one thing he’d change about Virginia, Adams says he’d like to see more collaboration between the commonwealth and North Carolina.
Chances are that has at least a little to do with the fact that in fall 2020, Adams began overseeing an effort to rebuild the Raleigh, North Carolina, market for Colliers while continuing to shepherd the company’s Central and Eastern Virginia teams, which employ more than 450 people. The work is going well, Adams says: “Raleigh is ahead of plan and accelerating with new employees, clients and substantial transactions.”
Adams began working in the industry nearly 30 years ago as an assistant project manager for CBRE, Colliers’ former parent company.
EDUCATION:B.A. and MBA, University of Virginia
FAVORITE SONG: Jackson Browne’s “Doctor, My Eyes”
SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN: Max out my credit card.
Apperson
ERIC E. APPERSON
PRESIDENT OF CONSTRUCTION, ARMADA HOFFLER PROPERTIES INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
A few years after graduating from Hampden-Sydney College in 1985, Apperson went to work for Armada Hoffler, which builds, acquires and manages office, retail and multifamily properties located primarily in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast United States.
He has been president of Armada Hoffler Construction since 2000, overseeing its management, growth and financial health.
In May, the first tenants moved into 27 Atlantic Apartments, a $100 million, 17-story apartment tower on the Virginia Beach oceanfront built by Armada Hoffler Construction, which had its most profitable year ever in 2020.
Armada Hoffler may be best known for constructing most of the buildings in Baltimore’s Harbor Point area. In December, the company announced plans for a joint venture with Baltimore-based Beatty Development Group to develop and build a global headquarters there for T. Rowe Price.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Our people, our employees.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:The importance of honesty and integrity.
Ballard
STEPHEN B. BALLARD
PRESIDENT AND CEO, S.B. BALLARD CONSTRUCTION CO., VIRGINIABEACH
A Norfolk native, Ballard launched his construction company in the late 1970s by completing projects for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority and doing minor renovations for his neighbors. Initially, he centered the company on concrete contracting but later expanded into general contracting.
In the Hampton Roads area, S.B. Ballard Construction built Kellam High School and the Lyman B. Brooks Library at Norfolk State University and upgraded the football stadium at Old Dominion University, named S.B. Ballard Stadium in honor of his contributions to the school.
In February, Rush Street Gaming, developer and operator of the upcoming $300 million Rivers Casino Portsmouth, announced it had chosen a joint venture between Ballard Construction and Mississippi-based Yates Construction as the project’s general contractor.
Ballard also serves as one of seven members of the city of Virginia Beach’s Wetlands Board. Selected by the City Council, the members review permit requests for the use, alteration or development of tidal wetlands, sand dunes and beaches.
Bechtel
BRENDAN BECHTEL
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, BECHTEL GROUP INC., RESTON
Bechtel, the fifth generation of his family to lead the prominent global engineering, construction and project management company, was appointed CEO in 2016 and chairman a year later, at age 36.
He started working for the family company during summer breaks in high school and later earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from Middlebury College in Vermont and two master’s degrees from Stanford University.
Over the years, Bechtel took on roles of increasing responsibility in field construction and project management, as well as overseeing several large projects, including the Dulles Corridor Metrorail extension. The pandemic drove down the company’s income last year to $17.6 billion, a 19% decrease from 2019.
“Despite the challenges of 2020, the toughest in our company’s history, we stood with our customers to drive progress and achieved one of the best safety records ever,” Bechtel said in a March 2021 statement about the company’s 2020 earnings.
Bortell
BRIAN BORTELL
PRESIDENT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, TIMMONS GROUP INC., RICHMOND
Bortell launched his career as an entry-level engineer at Timmons Group more than three decades ago. By 2004, he’d settled into his current executive role at the Richmond-based civil engineering, technology and surveying firm.
Timmons Group, which employs more than 400 people, has worked on several prominent projects in the Hampton Roads region, including the Tech Center and the Discovery STEM Academy, both in Newport News. It also is handling civil engineering work for Bon Secours’ forthcoming $30 million emergency center in Chesterfield County; construction started in May. In April, the company announced the addition of new offices in Newport News and Wilmington, North Carolina, and the company’s focus on wind energy projects is increasing, with a goal to have 100 employees in that sector by 2023.
The Virginia Tech alum, who holds an MBA from Averett University, is fond of competing in marathons and triathlons and has finished the Hawaiian Ironman race multiple times. He’s a member of Sports Backers’ board and is a graduate of Leadership Metro Richmond.
GARY BOWMAN
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, BOWMAN CONSULTING GROUP LTD., RESTON
Trained as a civil engineer at Virginia Tech, Bowman founded his Reston-based engineering services firm in 1995, and today it employs 750-plus people in more than 30 offices across the United States. Before starting his company, Bowman was a principal for 15 years at Urban Engineering.
This has been a big year for Bowman Consulting, which went public in May, raising $51.73 million by selling 3.69 million shares at $14 a share. In January, the company announced it had acquired Herndon-based engineering firm KTA Group Inc., which provides engineering, mechanical, electrical and plumbing services. Bowman Consulting has a wide array of projects on its plate, including working on data centers and Dominion Energy Inc.’s substation security system, designing more than 20 Walgreens stores and developing the Dulles International Park in Sterling. In the first quarter of 2021, the company generated just under $32 million in gross revenue.
“Adding KTA’s comprehensive skill sets and experience greatly enhances our ability to serve as a one-stop provider of design services to our clients,” Bowman said.
Bowman serves on the advisory board of Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering.
Breeden
C. TORREY BREEDEN
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE BREEDEN CO. INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
Breeden, whose name is well-known across the Hampton Roads region and beyond, focuses on land acquisition and development of new communities across the Southeast U.S. for the multifamily, single-family and commercial construction company founded 60 years ago by his father, Ramon W. Breeden Jr.
The Breeden Co., which has 400 employees and reported about $355 million in 2020 revenue, has a portfolio encompassing more than 15,000 apartments and 2 million square feet of retail and office space. Torrey Breeden started at the company in 1997 after earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia. He enjoys traveling and pilots the company’s corporate jets and several helicopters.
Over the summer, the company broke ground on a $2.4 million expansion to its headquarters on Lynnhaven Parkway.
FIRST JOB: I was a Cutco knife salesperson. I did not sell door to door, but it was close.
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: I was athletic. I played football and baseball.
HOBBY/PASSION: Ballroom dancing. It is beautiful to watch; it is beautiful to participate.
Clark
BOB CLARK
Professional Engineer, President, BASKERVILL, RICHMOND
After working more than 25 years at Richmond-based engineering, architecture and interior design firm Baskervill, Clark still enjoys what he does. “We’re designing spaces where great work and great discovery is happening,” he says. “It’s powerful.”
The Virginia Military Institute alumnus came to Baskervill as a mechanical engineer in 1995 after five years serving as an engineering officer for the U.S. Air Force. He became company president in 2004.
Early in the pandemic, Baskervill laid off 25 employees and later furloughed others, but now the firm is back up to 100 employees across the United States and Poland.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT MY FIRM: I hope they’d say the same about us as we would about them: that we celebrate great design, no matter its origin.
HOBBY/PASSION: I really enjoy snowboarding with my kids. In the early years, I would slow down so they could keep up, but now that they’re in their late teens, the dynamics have changed. The tables have turned!
Clarke
GEORGE B. CLARKE IV
PRESIDENT, MEB, CHESAPEAKE
While earning his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Virginia Tech, Clarke worked for his father’s construction company, Kenbridge Construction Co. Shortly after graduation, Clarke launched MEB in 1982.
Today, he leads about 230 employees, with all but a handful working in Virginia. The company, which earned $216 million in 2020 revenue, shortened its name from MEB General Contractors to MEB last year after an 18-month rebranding process, and it also has refreshed and expanded its headquarters in Chesapeake.
MEB is the construction manager for a $112 million project designed to protect the historic Norfolk Grandy Village and Chesterfield Heights neighborhoods from flooding. The project involves building concrete retaining walls, raised roadways and two pump stations for stormwater removal, as well as making stormwater and utility improvements.
PERSON I ADMIRE:John R. Lawson II, executive chairman of W.M. Jordan Co. — a great friend and a great businessman.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM:Any Virginia Tech team.
Detwiler
JEFFREY S. ‘JEFF’ DETWILER
PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE LONG & FOSTER COS., CHANTILLY
After graduating from Princeton University with a degree in psychology in 1983, Detwiler worked for a variety of finance institutions, including Bank of America, Countrywide Home Loans and Credit Suisse First Boston. In 2009, he joined Long & Foster, Virginia’s largest residential real estate company, as its president and chief operating officer.
In 2017, after the family-owned company was sold to HomeServices of America Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary, Detwiler became its CEO.
“It’s like so many other things, you kind of fall into it. It just sort of unfolds in front of you,” Detwiler said of his career on an episode of the “Go With John Show” podcast, hosted by John Jorgensen, an agent in Long & Foster’s McLean office.
Detwiler leads 1,800 employees and 11,000 real estate agents in seven states and Washington, D.C. The company posts nearly $30 billion in annual sales. In January, Detwiler was ranked No. 35 on the Swanepoel Power 200 list, which ranks top executives in the residential real estate industry. Detwiler also serves on the boards for Upstream, a data management platform for the real estate industry, and the Greater Washington Board of Trade.
Divaris
GERALD S. DIVARIS
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, DIVARIS GROUP, VIRGINIA BEACH
With prominent national real estate sales and management companies under the Divaris Group umbrella, Gerald Divaris and his cousin Michael Divaris have one of Hampton Roads’ most familiar last names. They arrived in Virginia Beach in 1981, relocating the company they founded seven years earlier in Cape Town, South Africa, their home country.
The two men still lead the corporation, which now has offices across the state as well as in North Carolina, South Carolina and California. Divaris Real Estate Inc. manages, sells and leases about 31 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space on the East Coast and employs about 175 people. Among the company’s high-profile tenants are Kohl’s, Best Buy, Banana Republic and P.F. Chang’s, and Divaris Group is perhaps best known for developing and managing Virginia Beach’s Town Center, a bustling mixed-use project with offices, retail, hotels and restaurants.
Gerald Divaris also sits on the board of Realty Resources, a national network of retail brokers that he co-founded, and is a founding member of the Central Business District Association, which supports the growth of Virginia Beach’s business community. He is a Virginia Beach regional board member of TowneBank and serves on the board of the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Foundation.
Faust
DANIEL FAUST
CHIEF EXECUTIVE – AMERICAS EAST, AECOM, ARLINGTON
Since 2016, Faust has led international infrastructure design firm AECOM’s design and consulting services business for the Eastern U.S. and Latin America, overseeing about 8,000 employees.
The top Virginia-based executive at the Los Angeles-based Fortune 500 company, Faust joined AECOM in 2005 after serving as the Delaware River Port Authority’s chief engineer. His duties have included supervising highway and bridge projects and leading AECOM’s surface transportation market sector.
A graduate of the University of Delaware and Drexel University, Faust says, “It’s important to be flexible and open to new opportunities. AECOM is unique in its breadth and depth of services, which allows our people to reinvent themselves and try new things.”
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:Our people — AECOM has the best expertise in the business. Our professionals are passionate about partnering with our clients and advancing the communities where we live and work.
Fiorillo
TONY FIORILLO
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ECS GROUP OF COS., CHANTILLY
Fiorillo started at ECS, a Chantilly-based, employee-owned engineering firm, as a field technician in 1993, becoming president in 2020. In January, he was named CEO, managing approximately 2,000 employees.
ECS focuses on geotechnical, construction materials, environmental and facilities engineering, and it has more than 70 offices across the country. In its engineering portfolio are projects at Fairfax’s Metro Park, Inova Fairfax Hospital and the AP Moller-Maersk Shipping Terminal in Portsmouth.
Taking the helm of the company, Fiorillo stepped into the shoes of Henry Lucas, who co-founded ECS in 1988 and plans to stay on as board chairman through 2022. An alumnus of Auburn University, George Mason University’s business school and the University of Florida, Fiorillo prefers to cede the spotlight to others, noting in a 2020 interview that Lucas was a “tremendous mentor” and that succeeding him was “humbling and daunting at the same time.”
Fiorillo also is a board member for U.S. Hunger, a nonprofit formerly known as Feeding Children Everywhere, which has activated more than 830,000 volunteers to package and distribute 140 million meals for children in need.
Francis
JULIAN G. FRANCIS
PRESIDENT AND CEO, BEACON ROOFING SUPPLY INC., HERNDON
A United Kingdom native, Francis in 2019 took the reins at Herndon-based residential and commercial roofing materials distributor Beacon Roofing Supply, where he oversees more than 7,500 employees at 500-plus branches. The company was ranked No. 420 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list, reporting $6.94 billion in sales last year.
The largest publicly traded roofing materials company, Beacon saw strong sales in the first quarter of this year, posting revenues of more than $1.3 billion in March, although it saw an $80 million drop in profits in fiscal year 2020 compared with 2019. The company was started in 1928 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, with 32 regional employees.
Previously, Francis was president of Owens Corning’s insulation business, the Ohio company’s largest business segment. He also served as vice president and publishing director at Reed Business Information, now part of the LexisNexis portfolio.
Francis earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a doctorate in materials engineering at Swansea University in Wales, as well as an MBA from DePaul University in Chicago.
Franklin
W. TAYLOR FRANKLIN
CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, FRANKLIN JOHNSTON GROUP MANAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT LLC, VIRGINIA BEACH
In 2013, Franklin and his father, Wendell Franklin, along with Steve Cooper and Tom Johnston, left Norfolk-based real estate firm S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. to launch a new multifamily management and development company.
After starting with a portfolio of 3,551 residential units throughout Virginia and North Carolina, today’s Franklin Johnston Group has more than 500 employees who develop and manage over 115 properties and 19,000 units in seven states.
Taylor Franklin’s responsibilities at the company include overseeing company operations, new business and partner acquisitions, and new development opportunities.
Last year, the Franklin Johnston Group opened Coastal 61 at Oxford Village, a 248-unit complex near Virginia Wesleyan University, where Franklin earned his bachelor’s degree in 2004. “I remember going to college, driving past this site and thinking how underutilized it was,” Franklin said in 2019 at the groundbreaking.
In addition to his day job, Franklin sits on the board of directors for the Neptune Festival, is chairman and president of the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic Foundation board and is past chair of Norfolk Collegiate School’s board.
Gadams
FRANK ‘BUDDY’ GADAMS
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, MARATHON DEVELOPMENT GROUP INC., NORFOLK
Gadams is well known for changing the landscape of Norfolk over the past decades, with multiple apartment developments shaping downtown. Lesser known is the impact he is making in developing new medical therapies.
As a major donor to the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters in Norfolk, Gadams also is a significant investor in the hospital’s ReAlta Life Sciences. ReAlta, which is developing anti-inflammatory treatments, recently closed on a $20 million financing package and secured a $3.2 million grant from The Virginia Catalyst fund. Gadams led the startup’s financing initiative.
Gadams’ Marathon Development was also in the news recently when two of his Norfolk luxury apartment complexes sold for $38.9 million to Waverton Associates of Portsmouth.
A James Madison University graduate, Gadams invested an inheritance from his grandmother in his first apartment building in Norfolk in 1998. He flipped the building, earning five times his investment.
Gadams has ridden booms and busts in real estate, including battling several lawsuits sparked by the 2008 Great Recession. But the developer bounced back, turning downtown Norfolk’s Bank of America building into a massive residential development called Icon Norfolk in 2017.
Gannon
MATTHEW GANNON
MANAGING DIRECTOR AND MARKET LEADER, D.C. REGION, COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL LLC, WASHINGTON, D.C.
As managing director and market leader for Colliers’ Washington, D.C., region, Gannon is responsible for more than 50 real estate professionals who cover one of the busiest areas in the company.
An international real estate and investment management corporation, Colliers has a presence in 67 countries. In 2020, the company brought in $3.3 billion in corporate revenue and managed $40 billion in assets. For the quarter that ended March 31, 2021, Colliers reported revenues of $774.9 million.
Before joining Colliers in 2019, Gannon worked as vice president of leasing for Paramount Group Inc., a New York City-based company that owns and manages Class A office properties, overseeing its D.C.-area office portfolio. Before that, he served as Vornado Realty Trust’s vice president of leasing.
A graduate of Fordham University, Gannon serves on the board of directors of the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Association of Greater Washington, D.C.
Graul
DONALD D. GRAUL
CEO, THE BRANCH GROUP INC., ROANOKE
With more than 38 years of industry experience, Graul was hired to lead Roanoke-based construction company The Branch Group last December. He joined Branch from Centreville-based Parsons Corp., where Graul was executive vice president of construction and a senior executive for alternative project delivery. He also previously worked for AECOM.
The Branch Group, which posted $500 million in 2020 revenue, has more than 850 employees and is fully employee-owned.
A University of Nebraska civil engineering alumnus, Graul completed the senior executive program at London Business School. He has been inducted into the National Academy of Construction and is an active member of several professional associations. He sits on the board of directors of The Beavers, a national heavy engineering construction association.
PERSON I ADMIRE: Phil Jackson. He built championship teams out of dysfunctional teams.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE:Iced tea (unsweetened — frowned upon by my staff)
Haddad
LOUIS S. ‘LOU’ HADDAD
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ARMADA HOFFLER PROPERTIES INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
Haddad came to Armada Hoffler Construction Co. in 1985 as an on-site construction superintendent, and two years later, a few months shy of age 30, he was promoted to president of that company. Haddad eventually became president of all the commercial real estate company’s entities, and in 1999, he rose to CEO.
Today, the company employs approximately 150 people, including 120 in Virginia. During a February earnings call, Haddad said that members of Armada Hoffler’s board and the company’s executives took voluntary pay reductions during the pandemic, but that all other members of their team received yearly pay increases on time in fall 2020, as well as year-end bonuses. “Their performance throughout this difficult year has been nothing short of remarkable,” he said, “and that performance must be rewarded.”
Haddad and his wife, Mary, co-founded a foundation in 1999 that develops and supports educational projects designed to assist at-risk students and provides scholarships for students who want to go on to earn certifications or attend college. In 2019, he was appointed to the University of Virginia board of visitors.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: The ability to change skylines, foster careers and add to the greater good
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Project Hail Mary,” by Andy Weir
FAVORITE BEVERAGE: Iced tea
Hitt
BRETT HITT
CO-CHAIRMAN, HITT CONTRACTING INC., FALLS CHURCH
After earning a bachelor’s degree in building construction from Georgia Tech in 1984, Hitt joined his family-owned company, starting as a project manager. He was named co-president in 2005, and 12 years later became co-chairman of the board.
Started by Hitt’s grandfather and grandmother, Warren and Myrtle Hitt, as a residential painting and decorating business in 1937, Hitt Contracting is one of Virginia’s largest general contractors, frequently taking on industrial projects such as warehouses and data centers. The company brought in $2.6 billion in revenue last year and has 1,200 employees across 12 locations, with 800 working in Virginia.
Last September, Hitt’s father, chairman emeritus Russell A. Hitt, died. “My dad’s focus has always been an incredible work ethic and taking care of the people around you,” Brett Hitt said. “These principles are the core ideology of Hitt today.”
HOBBY/PASSION: I love reading and learning new things.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: The birth of his first grandchild: “Makes you realize that life is precious and so much bigger than just ourselves.”
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “The Ministry of Common Sense: How to Eliminate Bureaucratic Red Tape, Bad Excuses, and Corporate BS,” by Martin Lindstrom
Hourigan
MARK HOURIGAN
FOUNDER AND CEO, HOURIGAN GROUP, RICHMOND
In 1993, Hourigan founded his Richmond-based construction and development firm, which operates throughout the mid-Atlantic and has offices in Richmond, Charlottesville and Virginia Beach.
Hourigan, in partnership with Washington, D.C.-based real estate investment company DSC Partners, broke ground in May on a 560,000-square-foot spec building at Deepwater Industrial Park near the Richmond Marine Terminal.
Additionally, Hourigan is working on Charlottesville’s Apex Plaza, an eight-story office building with sustainable design features that’s billed as Virginia’s tallest building made of timber.
The company also co-designed and built Dominion Energy Inc.’s distinctive, reflective corporate headquarters in downtown Richmond, while also overseeing the implosion of the utility’s former HQ building.
In June, Hourigan was selected as the Engineering News-Record mid-Atlantic Contractor of the Year. It saw a 40% increase in revenue in 2020, up from $335.37 million in 2019.
A University of Richmond business school alum, Hourigan sits on advisory boards for Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture and Urban Studies and the Myers-Lawson School of Construction. He also serves on the board of the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond and as the chair of the executive committee of ChamberRVA.
JON JENNINGS
PRESIDENT, L.F. JENNINGS INC., FALLS CHURCH
Led by Jennings since 2000, family-owned general contracting firm L.F. Jennings Inc. delivers everything from commercial to multifamily to parking garage projects.
Founded in 1952 by Lawrence Floyd Jennings, Jon Jennings’ grandfather, the company began as a masonry contracting business. Jon Jennings’ father, Larry T. Jennings, joined the enterprise in 1965. By the 1980s, the firm began building larger-scale properties for commercial developers.
Today, the company employs more than 350 people, with projects across the state, as well as in Maryland and Washington, D.C. Among its highlights are the new Fredericksburg Nationals baseball stadium, the 2020 renovation of the 110-year-old Stumpf Hotel in Richmond and Loudoun United’s Segra Field.
ROBB ‘R.J.’ JOHNSON
EXECUTIVE MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BROKERAGE, MID-ATLANTIC REGION, JLL, TYSONS
Johnson develops and executes real estate planning and major facility acquisition projects for clients of international commercial real estate company JLL, where he’s worked since 2008.
With more than 30 years of experience in real estate, Johnson specializes in strategic planning, real estate finance and development, transaction structures and portfolio analytics.
After graduating from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in public policy, Johnson began his career as an associate for McLean real estate company Casey Miller Borris and Burns.
In 2019, he won the Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Association of Greater Washington, D.C.’s James L. Eichberg Broker of the Year award.
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: I focused my attention on parties and hot rod cars.
WHAT A COMPETITOR WOULD SAY ABOUT ME: Competent, driven, fair and, perhaps, overly detailed.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK: Collaborating with great people, creating client delight and the satisfaction from winning in business.
SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:Eat Beyond Meat.
Johnson
STEVE JOHNSON
FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, JOHNSON COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT, BRISTOL
Johnson founded Bristol-based Johnson Commercial Development in 1995. It may be best known for developing The Pinnacle, a $150 million, 240-acre shopping center that opened in 2014 directly off Interstate 81 in Bristol, Tennessee.
In early 2020, Johnson, along with Principal Chief Richard Sneed of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, announced plans for a $500 million casino, lodging and entertainment complex at The Pinnacle. At the time, the General Assembly was already considering legislation to allow voters to decide whether to legalize casino gambling in five Virginia cities, including Bristol. But Bristol, Virginia, city officials instead backed the competing $400 million Bristol Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which was approved by voters in November.
A former star tight end for the Virginia Tech Hokies football team, Johnson went on to play for the New England Patriots and the Dallas Cowboys, and he pledged $1 million in 2013 to build the Steve Johnson Practice Fields at Virginia Tech. Currently he is aiming to produce more housing in the Bristol region, Johnson said in March.
Kettler
ROBERT C. ‘BOB’ KETTLER
FOUNDER AND CEO, KETTLER INC., McLEAN
A third-generation builder, Kettler founded a small construction business in 1977, growing it into a multimillion-dollar real estate company.
The company that bears his name has developed more than 25,000 multifamily residential units, 5 million square feet of commercial space, more than 71,000 homes and many mixed-use communities. Additionally, Kettler employees manage approximately 20,000 apartments in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.
The Kettler name is familiar among Washington Capitals fans as well, with the Arlington practice arena for the NHL team known for 12 years as the Kettler Capitals Iceplex. In 2018, Kettler dropped the naming rights for that facility in favor of the second floor at the Capital One Arena.
Last fall, Kettler broke ground on the Brentford at The Mile luxury apartments in Tysons. The construction of these 411 apartments is the second phase of development at The Mile, a 45-acre mixed-use project being developed by Kettler and PS Business Parks Inc.
Bob Kettler has served on the boards of the Trust for the National Mall, The Kennedy Center, George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College and several other organizations.
King
ROBERT M. ‘BOB’ KING
PRESIDENT, RETAIL SALES AND LEASING, HARVEY LINDSAY COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE, NORFOLK
In 2019, after more than 40 years with the company, King took the helm of Harvey Lindsay Commercial Real Estate, which provides brokerage services and asset and property management in Hampton Roads. He stepped into the shoes of his brother, William E. King, who left to pursue private investment opportunities.
The King brothers are the adopted sons of Harvey L. Lindsay Jr., who married their mother after their father, a Navy pilot, was killed in an aircraft accident. Bob King, a graduate of Duke University and Old Dominion University, has led the firm’s retail leasing team since 1985. He also serves on the board of the ODU Educational Foundation, the university’s primary academic fundraising organization.
Harvey Lindsay Sr. founded the company in 1919, when its primary focus was on residential sales. Harvey Lindsay Jr., who remains active as chairman at age 92, steered the company toward expansion in sales, leasing, development and management of commercial properties.
Lafayette
LAURA DILLARD LAFAYETTE
CEO, RICHMOND ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, RICHMOND
Lafayette serves almost 7,000 members of the Richmond Association of Realtors and the Central Virginia Regional Multiple Listing Service. She’s also the executive director of the Partnership for Housing Affordability, a nonprofit that champions affordable housing policies and developments.
As a gubernatorial appointee to the Virginia Housing Commission, Lafayette studies issues related to the availability of safe and affordable housing for Virginians.
Additionally, Lafayette is the immediate past chair of the boards of HousingForward Virginia, which works to ensure affordable housing in Virginia, and the Maggie Walker Community Land Trust, which seeks to develop and steward permanently affordable housing opportunities to foster racially equitable communities. In addition to volunteering her time to other nonprofits, Lafayette serves on the vestry of Christ Church Episcopal in Glen Allen.
After receiving her bachelor’s degree in religion from William & Mary, Lafayette pursued postgraduate work at Yale Divinity School and the University of Virginia. Earlier in her career, Lafayette worked as press secretary and speechwriter for Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.
Hardee
CARL HARDEE
PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE LAWSON COS., VIRGINIA BEACH
With more than three decades of experience at The Lawson Cos., Hardee has overseen the company’s operational and financial stability, as well as its organizational growth, since 2016, when he succeeded Lawson Cos. Chairman of the Board Steve Lawson as president and CEO.
Founded in 1972, Lawson manages and owns nearly 6,000 apartments, with about 1,200 units in development. The company’s Seaside Harbor Apartments in Virginia Beach were featured in a recent U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development case study, which highlights projects that use innovation in affordable housing. Completed in 2018, the project created 76 quality affordable housing units for people with developmental disabilities, families with accessibility needs and the workforce at the Oceanfront.
Hardee earned his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Military Institute in 1987 and is a U.S. Army veteran who served in the Gulf War. He serves on TowneBank’s Portsmouth/Suffolk board of directors and the local advisory committee of the Hampton Roads office of Local Initiatives Support Corp.
Lawson
JOHN R. LAWSON II
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, W.M. JORDAN CO., NEWPORT NEWS
Lawson came to the Newport News-based construction company in 1975 as a field engineer. Over the years, he went on to work as an estimator, project engineer, superintendent and project manager before being named in 1986 as W.M. Jordan Co.’s president and CEO.
Lawson, who transitioned to executive chairman in 2018, funnels his energy into advancing innovation and fostering the company’s unique corporate culture.
W.M. “Bill” Jordan and Bob Lawson, John Lawson’s father, launched the company in 1958, and today it has about 300 employees and earned more than $649 million in 2020 revenue.
In 2017, Virginia Tech awarded Lawson, who graduated Tech with a bachelor’s degree in geophysics, the William H. Ruffner Medal, the university’s highest honor. Lawson lent his name to Virginia Tech’s Myers-Lawson School of Construction and served on the university’s board of visitors from 2002 to 2010.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: There are great opportunities everywhere. Keep your eyes open and antennas up. But the most important factor is execution.
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL:Not a great student, but I was curious and liked to be organized … and I dressed well!
Leon
MILES LEON
PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, S.L. NUSBAUM REALTY CO., NORFOLK
Leon joined the Norfolk-based real estate company in the early 1990s after First Commercial Real Estate Services, an office and warehouse brokerage firm Leon co-founded, was folded into S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co.
As president, Leon oversees company operations and business development at the 115-year-old company, which manages, develops and provides sales and leasing services for shopping centers, apartment communities and office, industrial and investment properties throughout the mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. The company has more than 1,000 employees, about 820 of whom are in Virginia.
Leon serves on numerous boards, including the Downtown Norfolk Council, The King’s Daughters Health System Children’s Health System and the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater. He’s also a trustee for Old Dominion University Real Estate Foundation.
PERSON I ADMIRE:My father, Arnold Leon, who didn’t start out with much, but his hard work as an attorney and businessman inspired me.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM:University of Georgia Bulldogs
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:I’m definitely not the smartest guy in the room and enjoy learning from others every day.
Litton
T. RICHARD LITTON JR.
PRESIDENT, HARBOR GROUP INTERNATIONAL, NORFOLK
In addition to overseeing day-to-day operations at the Norfolk-based real estate investment and management firm Harbor Group International, which has more than 1,200 employees worldwide, Litton chairs the HGI Investment Committee, manages HGI’s transactions group and is involved in institutional capital-raising efforts.
With $13.5 billion in real estate investment properties, HGI invests in and manages diversified property portfolios, including office, retail and multifamily properties.
In May 2021, HGI announced it had closed a $558 million commercial real estate collateralized loan obligation, a security backed by commercial real estate loans.
Prior to joining HGI in 2004, Litton worked as a corporate law partner at Hampton Roads law firm Kaufman & Canoles.
Litton earned his bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs and his law degree from the University of Virginia. He’s a founding director of Tidewater Friends of Foster Care and serves as its current secretary and treasurer, as well as a foster parent for the city of Norfolk. Litton also serves on the board of the ACCESS College Foundation, which has awarded scholarships for postsecondary education to more than 73,000 low-income students.
Malone
MATT MALONE
CEO AND OWNER, GROUNDWORKS COS., VIRGINIA BEACH
Groundworks has acquired 19 other foundation- services firms since 2016, when Malone formed the Virginia Beach-based holding company for businesses that conduct foundation repair, basement waterproofing, crawl space repair, water management systems and concrete lifting.
Today, Groundworks operates more than 40 offices in 27 states, with more than 3,200 employees. It appeared on the 2020 Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing privately held companies.
In January 2020, Groundworks announced a partnership with the Cortec Group, a multibillion-dollar private equity firm. “They grind just like the men and women of Groundworks, and, most importantly, they value people,” Malone said in a statement. “We did diligence on numerous potential growth capital partners, but, after speaking with the CEO of the Cortec portfolio company, YETI, I was sold.”
In 2009, Malone founded Succession Capital Partners, the only professional buyout firm headquartered in the Virginia Beach/Norfolk area. Prior to that, he spent several years working in finance.
A Rotary International Ambassadorial Fellow, Malone earned a bachelor’s degree from Hampden-Sydney College and holds a master’s degree in international finance from the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
McLaughlin
RYAN T. McLAUGHLIN
CEO, NORTHERN VIRGINIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, FAIRFAX
McLaughlin, who took the helm at NVAR in 2015, oversees a 32-person staff, as well as a Realtor school and store. NVAR represents about 13,000 real estate professionals from the Washington, D.C., metro area, making it one of the largest regional Realtors associations in the United States.
Previously, McLaughlin was CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He served on the Lower Macungie Township (Pennsylvania) Board of Commissioners from 2009 to 2015, and he holds a bachelor’s degree from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in political science from the State University of New York at Albany.
McLaughlin also serves as vice chair on the National Association of Realtors 2021 Association Executives Committee Roster and is a member of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce board.
FIRST JOB: I worked at a local Italian cafe making cappuccinos and espresso drinks before Starbucks was a thing.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: The traffic in Northern Virginia.
FAVORITE SONG: “Seek and Destroy,” by Metallica
Milkovich
BOB MILKOVICH
CEO, RAND CONSTRUCTION CORP., ALEXANDRIA
Milkovich joined Rand Construction Corp. in January 2019 as its chief, the culmination of more than 30 years of commercial real estate and leadership experience.
The privately owned, national commercial general contractor specializes in retail and restaurant construction, as well as tenant interiors and building renovations, and its projects include headquarters for Arlington’s Avalon Bay and the March of Dimes. Last year, six Rand projects won awards from the Associated Builders and Contractors group in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and the company exceeded $400 million in sales last year.
Milkovich previously was CEO and trustee of First Potomac Realty Trust, a Bethesda, Maryland-based publicly traded real estate investment trust; president of Spaulding & Slye Investments, a comprehensive real estate services and investment company; and region director for Archon Group LP, an investment and management arm of the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs.
He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Maryland, where Milkovich was quarterback on the football team. Today, he serves on the board of directors for the University System of Maryland Foundation.
Paulette
WILLIAM A. ‘BILL’ PAULETTE
FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, KBS INC., RICHMOND
In 1975, Paulette founded a one-person construction company with $1,000. Today, KBS Inc. delivers multimillion-dollar projects, including the Virginia Department of Transportation headquarters, the Virginia State Police Joint Operations Center and the 2013 expansion and renovation of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk.
Last year, KBS completed a $25 million expansion of Richmond’s Virginia War Memorial, adding educational facilities, administrative office space, a lecture hall and a parking deck, as well as a new shrine honoring veterans from the Global War on Terror. KBS also built the museum’s 2010 expansion, which tripled its size. According to the company, 85% of KBS’ current projects are from repeat customers.
Known as “Bunny” among his fellow cadets at Virginia Military Institute, Paulette graduated in 1969 with a civil engineering degree. He’s served on the institute’s board of visitors and as president of the VMI Keydet Club. KBS also constructed VMI’s Paulette Hall, which houses locker room facilities. Growing up in South Hill, Paulette lived across the street from his future wife, Carolyn.
Peterson
JON M. PETERSON
CEO AND CHAIRMAN OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, PETERSON COS., FAIRFAX
When he ascended to Peterson Cos.’ top role in 2018, Jon Peterson stepped into the large shoes of his father, Milton V. Peterson.
The senior Peterson died in May at the age of 85, with a legacy of building some of the Washington, D.C., area’s earliest planned communities in the 1970s with fellow developer Til Hazel. Milt Peterson was the developer behind Maryland’s National Harbor, a mixed-use waterfront destination that’s home to residences, stores, restaurants, the MGM National Harbor casino resort and an observation wheel. It drew more than 28 million annual visitors in pre-COVID times.
A Middlebury College alum and lacrosse aficionado, Jon Peterson serves on the George Mason University board of visitors. He’s also a member of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance board and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties’ Northern Virginia regional board.
A Balfour Beatty team member since 1987, Phillips has overseen construction of more than 45 projects totaling $4 billion, including the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico and the $1.4 billion National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East Headquarters at Fort Belvoir.
In recent company news, Balfour Beatty, partnering with Greensboro-based Samet Corp., broke ground in February on the new Forsyth County Courthouse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It’s slated to open in April 2023.
The company announced last year it had been awarded a $127 million redevelopment project to turn Washington, D.C.’s Randall School, which historically served African-American students, into an arts campus and residential apartment building.
The U.S. branch of the London-based corporation employs 4,500 people and reported $5 billion in revenue in 2020.
Phillips is a member of the Associated General Contractors of Virginia Inc., the Society of American Military Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He earned his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Penn State.
Roberson
STEWART D. ROBERSON
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MOSELEY ARCHITECTS, RICHMOND
For more than four decades, Roberson worked in K-12 education, a career that included 16 years as superintendent of schools in Hanover County. For his life’s next chapter, he decided to try something different.
In 2011, Roberson took the helm at Moseley Architects, which serves clients in the K-12, higher education, civic, justice, senior living and multifamily housing sectors. The firm has performed work on the Fredericksburg Courthouse, James Madison University’s School of Business and Old Dominion University’s Kornblau Field.
During Roberson’s tenure, Moseley has merged with three other firms, most recently the Charleston, South Carolina-based Cummings & McCrady.
Even as he leads the architectural, engineering, planning and interior design firm, Roberson continues to work for Virginia’s students. In February, Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Roberson to the state Board of Education, and he’s chair of the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education and the Standards of Learning Innovation Committee. He also sits on the board of trustees of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.
Roberson earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Virginia.
Robinson
COLIN ROBINSON
AREA MANAGER AND RICHMOND BUSINESS UNIT LEADER, GILBANE BUILDING CO., RICHMOND
Robinson joined Gilbane as a project engineer in 2000. Today, he leads the Richmond office for the Providence, Rhode Island-based construction company.
At the time of Robinson’s 2020 promotion, Executive Vice President Paul Choquette III described him as having led “some of the most complex and technical projects Gilbane has ever completed.” Robinson was project manager for the renovations of Richmond’s Carpenter Theatre, which reopened in 2009, and the Altria Theater, which was completed in 2014.
Last year, Gilbane completed a renovation of Altria Group’s corporate headquarters in Henrico County that included an addition, and the company is finishing construction of the Virginia General Assembly’s new 14-story tower, a $181 million project started in 2016.
Gilbane has more than 3,000 employees and reported $6.5 billion in 2020 revenue. A James Madison University alum, Robinson is a Richmond native.
Rogers
LOUIS J. ROGERS
FOUNDER AND CEO, CAPITAL SQUARE 1031, GLEN ALLEN
In 2012, Rogers founded Capital Square 1031, a firm that helps investors qualify for tax cuts (under IRS Section 1031) by spending their earnings on other properties.
Rogers came from Hirschler, where he founded and led the law firm’s real estate securities practice group from 1987 to 2004. Additionally, he helped form and lead Triple Net Properties LLC, which became the nation’s largest sponsor of securitized Section 1031 exchange programs.
Capital Square has completed more than $3 billion in transactions since its founding, although that could change with the American Families Plan, a $1.8 trillion federal spending bill that would cap the 1031 exchange at $500,000.
Rogers’ firm has recently entered real estate development, focusing on tax-advantaged properties. The company is currently building three mixed-use developments in Richmond’s Scott’s Addition neighborhood.
WHAT MAKES ME PASSIONATE ABOUT MY WORK:I live to work, and work is like play when you genuinely enjoy what you do.
HOW MY ORGANIZATION WEATHERED THE PANDEMIC:Capital Square has experienced real estate professionals who are able to get the job done from home, while on the road or from the office.
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Margarita
PAUL C. SAVILLE
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NVR INC., RESTON
In 2005, Saville was named CEO of NVR, a publicly traded homebuilding company that sells and constructs homes under the Ryan Homes, NVHomes and Heartland Homes brands.
One of the nation’s leading homebuilders, NVR was founded in 1980 and now serves home buyers in 14 states. The company also operates a mortgage banking and title services business.
Saville, who joined Ryan Homes in 1981 and worked his way up to chief financial officer in 1993, now leads about 6,100 full-time employees, up by 400 from the end of 2019. NVR reported more than $7.5 billion in 2020 revenue.
In 2018, Saville was the highest-paid CEO of a publicly held Virginia company, receiving $39.1 million, mostly in option awards, but his earnings came back down to earth in 2019 and 2020. Last year, he made $4 million in salary and bonuses. Saville is an alum of William & Mary and the University of Pittsburgh’s business school.
Schall
BENJAMIN W. SCHALL
PRESIDENT, AVALONBAY COMMUNITIES INC., ARLINGTON
Schall joined AvalonBay in January as president of the publicly traded real estate investment trust. He will succeed Timothy J. Naughton as CEO at the end of 2021, with Naughton transitioning to executive chair after more than 30 years at the company.
AvalonBay acquires, develops and manages multifamily communities across the country, and more than 650 of its 3,100 employees are based in Virginia. The company was on the 2021 Fortune 1000 list. As of March 31, it owned or held interest in 290 apartment communities, with most of its Virginia holdings in Fairfax and Arlington counties and Alexandria.
A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Business School, Schall previously was president and CEO at Seritage Growth Properties, a New York-based publicly traded real estate investment trust. He also held executive roles at Rouse Properties Inc. and Vornado Realty Trust.
Schoppmann
KYLE SCHOPPMANN
PRESIDENT, MID-ATLANTIC DIVISION, CBRE GROUP INC., WASHINGTON, D.C.
Schoppmann oversees day-to-day strategic direction, performance and growth of her division for all CBRE lines of business, and she is a member of CBRE’s diversity, equity and inclusion council, which has been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for the last eight years.
After joining CBRE as managing director of brokerage services in 2007, Schoppmann quickly moved up to senior marketing director and later to executive managing director. The Duke University and University of Michigan graduate was managing director for CBRE’s tri-state region before taking her current post. She also has received several honors for her work, including being named one of Washingtonian magazine’s Most Powerful Women in Washington in 2019.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:I enjoy cycling and used to race mountain and road bikes. When my local spin studio closed due to the pandemic, I bought a Peloton and love it!
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATIONS:Paris and Kauai, Hawaii. For a quick getaway, Delray Beach, Florida.
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:Be yourself and play to your strengths, especially in new situations. Remember that no one can be you the way you can be you.
Stone
DONALD E. ‘DON’ STONE JR.
CEO, THE DEWBERRY COS. INC., FAIRFAX
Stone, who has more than 35 years of engineering experience, took the reins at Dewberry in 2010. Two years earlier, he arrived at the family-owned planning, design and construction firm as chief operating officer and leader of the infrastructure engineering services practice.
During his tenure, Stone has overseen several significant acquisitions, including Alabama-based Edmonds Engineering. Dewberry, which has more than 2,000 employees and more than 50 offices, reported $463 million in 2020 revenue.
In March, the firm won a $2.6 million contract to develop the state’s first Coastal Resilience Master Plan, and in May, the Virginia Department of Transportation selected the firm to provide engineering services for the $200 million widening of Interstate 81 in Roanoke County and Salem. Previously, Dewberry was lead consultant on Virginia Beach’s Sea Level Wise project and worked on developing a coastal protection plan for Louisiana.
Before joining Dewberry, Stone spent 25 years at O’Brien & Gere, where he rose to president of the company’s total water solutions division. A graduate of the Citadel, Stone served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, retiring as a captain in 1983.
Suit
TERRIE L. SUIT
CEO, VIRGINIA REALTORS, GLEN ALLEN
Suit was named CEO of Virginia Realtors, the state’s largest trade association, which supports about 36,000 Realtors and real estate professionals, about eight years ago.
Getting her start in the industry in 1985 as a Realtor, Suit went on to work for about two decades in mortgage lending.
In 1999, Suit, a Republican, was elected to the House of Delegates, serving until 2008. In 2010, Gov. Bob McDonnell appointed Suit to be assistant to the governor for commonwealth preparedness and later named her Virginia’s first secretary of veterans affairs and homeland security.
Suit earned her associate degree at Tidewater Community College, her bachelor’s degree in political science from Old Dominion University and an MBA from the University of Mary Washington.
HOBBY/PASSION: I am frequently called the Crazy Cat Lady due to my passion for taking in rescue cats. At one time we were up to 13, but now we are down to only five, with a sixth about to join our family.
MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Where the Crawdads Sing,” by Delia Owens.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Not a thing. I love Virginia.
Swaak
DERRICK SWAAK
PARTNER AND MANAGING BROKER, TTR SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY, McLEAN
Swaak came aboard TTR Sotheby’s International Realty as a partner in 2007, and he serves as managing broker for the high-end residential markets in McLean and The Plains.
A Cornell alumnus with degrees in hotel administration and business, Swaak is currently president of the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, which has more than 12,000 members.
Before joining Sotheby’s, Swaak was vice president of national sales for Realogy Corp., and he was employed earlier in hotel development, acquisitions and franchise sales.
In 2018, he was appointed to a task force to develop a long-term redevelopment plan for downtown McLean, where his family lives, and Swaak previously served as board chair of the McLean Project for the Arts.
HOBBY: Hiking
WHAT I WAS LIKE IN HIGH SCHOOL: Studious and adventurous
FIRST JOB:Bellman in a hotel
Van Metre
ALBERT G. ‘BEAU’ VAN METRE JR.
CHAIRMAN AND PARTNER, VAN METRE COS. INC., FAIRFAX
Beau Van Metre’s father, Albert G. Van Metre Sr., founded Van Metre Cos. in 1955 as a builder of single-family homes. Today, the real estate company has about 500 employees and subsidiaries in development, construction, apartments and commercial real estate.
Beau Van Metre became vice chairman of the privately held company in 2002, and in 2008 he was appointed chairman. The firm is behind the construction of about 16,000 houses and major office and retail projects in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, and in 2020 the company earned $350 million in revenue, down from $436 million in 2019.
Van Metre and his sister, Alison Van Metre Paley, established the Van Metre Family Foundation, which benefits education, the arts, veterans, people living in poverty and animal welfare. The foundation has donated more than $3.3 million to charities since 2014, including donating a parcel of land in Loudoun for Capital Caring’s The Adler Center for palliative care. Van Metre also donated 37 acres in Ashburn to George Mason University in 2009.
Van Metre’s son-in-law is NASCAR driver Kurt Busch, and his daughter Ashley is a professional polo player who was on a 2018 team with Prince Harry.
Warfield
LEE WARFIELD
PRESIDENT, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD | THALHIMER, RICHMOND
As president, chairman and CEO of one of Richmond’s oldest commercial real estate firms, Warfield is responsible for strategic direction and leadership for the firm’s 10 offices and 450 associates in Virginia and South Carolina. He’s overseen the successful launch of Thalhimer offices in Hampton Roads, western Virginia and the Carolinas.
Since joining Thalhimer as an associate broker in 1995, Warfield has represented national retailers such as Home Depot, Sam’s Club and Kroger. After rising through the ranks, Warfield was promoted to president in 2011. In 2016, he became the firm’s CEO, making him only the fourth person to hold that position since Thalhimer’s founding in 1913.
In May, the company announced a partnership with Richmond-based Cyberclean Systems to use robot vacuums to clean and disinfect commercial spaces.
Warfield serves on the board of directors of Sports Backers, a Richmond nonprofit that organizes annual races, including the VCU Health Richmond Marathon and the Ukrop’s Monument Avenue 10K. A James Madison University graduate, Warfield enjoys playing basketball and tennis and is a Boston Celtics fan.
Abod has built Carahsoft into a $6 billion company over the past 17 years.
With 1,900 employees, Abod has led Carahsoft to become a top-ranked General Services Administration schedule and NASA’s Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) contract holder that provides solutions to more than 3,000 prime contractors, value-added resellers, system integrators and other channel partners.
The company recently started working with Amazon Web Services and the data storage company Buurst to help public sector organizations aggregate data quickly and securely migrate those workloads to advanced AWS cloud-native services. Last year, Carahsoft landed an $81 million Air Force contract for the Space Command and Control Division. That came after a $1.5 billion purchase agreement to provide software products and licenses to the U.S. Navy in 2019, as well as $247.7 million in cloud computing support services for the U.S. Army.
A University of Maryland graduate with his bachelor’s degree in computer science, Abod was named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the greater Washington, D.C., area in 2015. He previously worked for DLT Solutions and Falcon Systems before founding Carahsoft in 2004. He also serves on the executive committee of the Government Business Executive Forum.
Aggarwal
REGGIE AGGARWAL
FOUNDER AND CEO, CVENT INC., McLEAN
Last year was a terrible year for most businesses, let alone a market leader in meetings and events. But Aggarwal has come back from the brink of disaster with Cvent, which now pulls in $840 million in revenue.
After laying off 10% of its workforce in 2020, the company has launched a new virtual-driven product and a strategic partnership with Encore, a leading global event-production company. They combine technology and production capabilities to create virtual and hybrid events.
“Going forward, you’ll need to do hybrid for any large conference because you get a large audience that won’t come otherwise, whether because of convenience, travel budget, overall costs, etc.,” Aggarwal said in a statement.
Aggarwal left a stable law career to launch Cvent in 1999, when he saw a need to make meeting planning easier for the CEOs with whom he formed a networking group. When the dot-com bubble burst, his early success was plunged into near bankruptcy, but Aggarwal rebounded. Now privately held through Vista Equity Partners, Cvent has grown to nearly 4,000 employees, 23,000 customers and 230,000 users worldwide. In July, the company announced it will merge with a blank check company to go public again in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Ahmed
MAHFUZ AHMED
CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRINCIPAL FOUNDER, DIGITAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS LLC (DISYS), McLEAN
In a sea of staffing firms, Ahmed’s company stands out. Most in the industry suffered slumps of more than 10% last year, but DISYS reported 3% year-over-year growth due to clientele in the pharmaceutical, insurance and banking industries.
Earlier this year, DISYS acquired the legal entities of Signature. With combined annual revenues of $860 million, the transaction created one of the largest providers of information technology staffing services in the U.S. and the nation’s second-largest minority-owned staffing firm.
Ahmed, who co-founded the company in 1994 while working for Northrop Grumman, is credited with leadership and vision that fueled his recent success, which earned him a place on Staffing Industry Analysts’ list of the most influential people in staffing for four years. This comes after a decade of consistent growth to become one of the largest staffing firms in the U.S., with 45 offices worldwide.
And Ahmed isn’t stopping there. He’s leading expansion into the Canadian market space with a new headquarters in Toronto, and he’s investing in tools to support remote work for DISYS’ 5,000 employees around the world.
A George Mason University and Harvard Business School graduate, Ahmed is a native of Bangladesh.
Arseneault
TOM ARSENEAULT
PRESIDENT AND CEO, BAE SYSTEMS INC., ARLINGTON
While some CEOs are proud just to have survived the pandemic, Arseneault thrived — during his first year at the helm no less.
Last year, the $11.9 billion British defense company purchased Raytheon Technology Corp.’s former GPS and airborne tactical radios businesses for $2.2 billion and began integrating the two later in the year. In September, Arseneault will take over as the vice chair of the Defense Industry Initiative. He was promoted to his current role after 22 years with BAE, which employs 5,400 people in Virginia and 35,000 worldwide and ranks among the top 10 prime contractors to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Arseneault joined BAE after the company purchased Sanders, a division of Lockheed Martin, in 2000. He previously served in engineering and program management positions with General Electric and TASC. The Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Boston University alumnus also serves on the Aerospace Industries Association Board of Governors Executive Committee, and he is a two-time recipient of Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 award.
Azevedo
ROY AZEVEDO
PRESIDENT, RAYTHEON INTELLIGENCE & SPACE AT RAYTHEON Technologies Corp., ARLINGTON
Azevedo told Forbes that Raytheon Intelligence & Space has some of the “coolest” technologies on the planet. Unfortunately, they must remain a secret.
That’s because his unit, created with the largest-ever aerospace merger, primarily serves the U.S. Department of Defense. That’s also why it remained solid enough to celebrate its first birthday in April despite a suffering industry.
Still, the achievement requires adept leadership that in April earned Azevedo his second Wash100 Award, for leading and advancing space technology and other technical capabilities to assist the U.S. military advancements as well as drive company growth.
Before the merger, he was vice president and general manager of the company’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems business. He also sits on the boards of Raytheon’s business arms in the U.K., Australia and Saudi Arabia. Azevedo is a graduate of Northeastern University, with a degree in electrical engineering.
With $15 billion in annual revenues and 39,000 employees in the U.S. and abroad, the unit does more imagery collection and processing than any other company worldwide, according to a recent article in Forbes. In December 2020, Raytheon purchased Blue Canyon Technologies, which is now part of Azevedo’s unit.
Ballhaus
WILLIAM L. BALLHAUS
CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, BLACKBOARD INC., RESTON
Though the pandemic put a spotlight on education technology, Ballhaus has been a quiet player in the market.
Now in his fifth year at Blackboard, for which annual revenues are now $630 million, Ballhaus remains active on the UCLA Anderson School of Management Board of Advisors and the Great Meadow Foundation board of directors.
The most recent big news for Blackboard was in 2018, when the company hit $700 million in revenues and cut ties with e-learning giant Moodle after a six-year partnership. Blackboard sold its learning management software to London-based Learning Technologies Group (formerly Moodlerooms) for $31.7 million in 2020.
Ballhaus has appeared on many distinguished lists and received prominent awards, including the Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2017, named by The SaaS Report.
A graduate of the University of California at Davis, Ballhaus also has a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA. He was president and CEO of SRA International before joining Blackboard in 2016 and previously was president and CEO of DynCorp International. Ballhaus also is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Bell
TOM BELL
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, ROLLS-ROYCE NORTH AMERICA INC.; PRESIDENT, DEFENCE, ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC, RESTON
Bell has led Rolls-Royce North America since 2018 and also oversees the British company’s global defense contracting division, which has 9,000 employees worldwide.
Although the name Rolls-Royce for many invokes the high-end automobile line, Bell’s focus is on military aircraft. In February 2021, the company received a $96.9 million delivery order for propulsion systems to support the U.S. Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules line, running through Jan. 31, 2022.
Of particular importance to Virginia is the company’s decision last year to close its Prince George County aircraft component plant, eliminating 280 jobs there by this summer.
Bell is on a deadline to lower emissions from his operations to net carbon zero by 2030. He has called the effort a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to combat climate change.”
A Louisiana State University and Florida Institute of Technology graduate, Bell has more than 35 years of experience in the aerospace and defense industries. He started his career with Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) in human space flight and spent 20 years with The Boeing Co. Bell serves on the boards of the National Defense Industrial Association and the Aerospace Industries Association.
Bidzos
D. JAMES BIDZOS
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, VERISIGN INC., RESTON
The founder of Verisign, Bidzos is among the state’s top-earning executives and received more than $10 million in total compensation last year. The company, which serves as a domain name registry and internet infrastructure provider, saw financial improvement in 2021, with a 4% year-over-year increase to $326.9 million in revenue for the second quarter.
Having started his career at IBM, Bidzos was previously president and CEO of RSA Security, which was bought by Dell Technologies in 2016. Bidzos also co-founded the RSA Laboratories, a cybersecurity research organization connected to the company, which created early encryption software. Ultimately, RSA’s software became the federal government’s standard for maintaining cybersecurity, as well as for thousands of government contractors. He started Verisign in 1995 and serves as its board’s executive chairman, while still maintaining a foot in RSA as its board vice chairman until 2002.
Bidzos also was named in tech industry trade magazine CRN’s Computer Industry Hall of Fame.
As the 135-year-old company’s first female president, Boykin has seen ups and downs since 2017, when she took the reins of Newport News Shipbuilding, the nation’s largest military shipbuilding company and the state’s top industrial employer, with more than 26,000 workers.
In 2019, NNS, which is owned by Huntington Ingalls, was awarded part of the U.S. Navy’s largest shipbuilding contract, worth $22.2 billion. With General Dynamic Electric Boat, the shipbuilder is building 10 Virginia-class submarines, up from nine in the original contract. In March, the Biden administration ordered a 10th submarine, bumping up NNS’ share of the contract to $9.8 billion. However, one month earlier, Boykin laid off 314 staffers and demoted 119 managers as a cost-management measure, NNS’ first layoffs since 2015.
Currently, the NNS yard’s biggest project is the USS John F. Kennedy, the second aircraft carrier in the Navy’s new Gerald R. Ford class of nuclear-powered carriers that will replace Nimitz-class ships.
A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and George Washington University, Boykin serves on the academy’s board of visitors, as well as the boards of the Mariners’ Museum and RVA 757 Connects.
Calkins
MATT CALKINS
CO-FOUNDER, CEO AND EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, APPIAN CORP., McLEAN
One might say that Calkins’ company keeps the public sector’s digital infrastructure humming. While Appian’s value might come behind the scenes, everyone can see the stock price soar.
But the CEO and co-founder of the cloud computing firm that logged $304.6 million in revenue last year said he never set out to reach billionaire status.
“I was thinking that we could make an organization that not only succeeded as a business but could change the world in a social way,” he recently told the Washington Business Journal.
Appian simplifies app development and workflow automation, freeing clients from the need for internal developers. Calkins, who previously worked at MicroStrategy in the late 1990s, co-founded Appian in 1999 with Michael Beckley, the company’s chief technology officer. The business employs about 1,200 people.
Calkins, a top competitor at the World Boardgaming Championships, has also created award-winning board games, including Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan and Tin Goose. Closer to home, the Dartmouth College alumnus serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council board and the Virginia Public Access Project’s Leadership Council.
Caret
LEANNE CARET
PRESIDENT AND CEO, BOEING DEFENSE, SPACE & Security, The Boeing Co., ARLINGTON
Caret, who has been with Boeing since 1988, recently received her fifth Wash100 Award. This time, she was honored for driving innovative solutions across the technology and defense landscape.
One of those innovations is a drone, the MQ-25 Stingray, that in June successfully refueled a Navy jet in midair. It was the first time an unmanned aircraft has refueled a piloted F/A-18 jet.
Caret was previously president of Boeing’s Global Services and Support organization and has held a host of other executive roles. The Kansas State and Wichita State University alum also has completed leadership programs at Harvard and Notre Dame, and she was inducted in 2019 to the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame; she was also named to Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women list last year.
Overseeing a branch that brought in $34 billion in revenue last year, Caret has spearheaded modernization efforts to help Boeing continue being competitive in the defense market. In December 2020, the company received a potential $198 million contract modification to integrate a ground control station to support the MQ-25 aerial refueling drone. Boeing also made a record $50 million commitment to Virginia Tech in May to support its Alexandria-based Innovation Campus.
Caswell
BRUCE L. CASWELL
PRESIDENT AND CEO, MAXIMUS INC., RESTON
Serving as president since 2014 and CEO and director since 2018, Caswell has overseen a period of major growth at the $3.46 billion company. That includes a 300% increase in Maximus’ health services segment, which provides administrative services, program management and operational support for Medicaid, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Founded in 1975 to help implement fraud controls in social services with technology, Maximus incurred new revenue streams from the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Affordable Care Act. In 2018, Maximus acquired certain assets of General Dynamics Information Technology’s citizen-engagement centers for
$400million, strengthening its market position.
A former IBM executive, Caswell speaks extensively about states’ challenges with Medicaid and health insurance exchanges. He holds a B.A. in economics from Haverford College and a master’s of public policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He also serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council board as vice chair.
Chopra
ANEESH CHOPRA
CAREJOURNEY, PRESIDENT, ARLINGTON
Chopra, who served as the first U.S. chief technology officer under President Barack Obama and Virginia’s secretary of technology for then-Gov. Tim Kaine’s administration, has remained committed to Virginia’s tech sector, particularly in health care.
In 2013, he co-founded CareJourney, an open data membership service with a rating system for physicians, networks, facilities and markets. In May, the company announced its collaboration with AaNeel Infotech and South Texas Clinical Partners Accountable Care Organization to launch Patient360, a web-based app that gives health care providers access to a patient’s history during appointments.
Chopra also chairs George Mason University’s President’s Innovation Advisory Council, which focuses on the state’s Tech Talent Investment Program to produce 32,000 additional computer science and engineering graduates over the next 20 years. GMU is responsible for graduating approximately 30% of those new degree-holders.
He also was part of President Joe Biden’s transition team focusing on the U.S. Postal Service, which has experienced severe delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Public Policy, Chopra unsuccessfully ran in 2013 for the Democratic nomination for Virginia’s lieutenant governor.
Chronis
JENNIFER CHRONIS
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, VERIZON PUBLIC SECTOR, GREAT FALLS
In her first year as senior vice president of Verizon Public Sector, Chronis’ division secured a $495 million Department of Defense contract to help connect 200 different research, development, test and evaluation laboratories.
The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel joined Verizon in 2020 as vice president of its federal business, 10 years after retiring from the military. Over the past decade, she worked for Amazon Web Services and IBM in their public sectors, often focusing on their work with the DOD. In April, she was promoted to lead Verizon Public Sector, which includes the company’s first-responder network platform, Verizon Frontline.
A University of Virginia graduate who attended on an ROTC scholarship, Chronis is a member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board and was recognized by Washington Executive as a Top 25 DOD Executive to Watch in 2019 and 2020. She also was named to the Wash100 list of elite public-sector leaders. Chronis ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2015.
Corkery
MIKE CORKERY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, Deltek Inc., HERNDON
Corkery, who became Deltek’s CEO in 2012 after serving as its chief financial officer since 2010, has seen the software company double in size, now serving 30,000 customers around the world.
With about 3,200 employees, Deltek was named among the top large companies in The Washington Post’s 2021 ranking of Washington, D.C.’s best workplaces. Corkery, a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, was honored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council last year as a top tech executive in the region. Before joining Deltek, he was CFO and acting CEO of ICO Global Communications.
He’s also a group executive of software for Roper Technologies, the Florida-based parent company of Deltek since 2016. Outside of work, Corkery serves on the boards for NVTC, Year Up National Capital Region and the American Council of Engineering Companies Foundation. He also is part of the President’s Innovation Advisory Council at George Mason University and a member of the Flint Hill School board.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAMS:New York Giants and Boston Red Sox
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“Every Stroke Counts,” by Mark Brodie, a golf analytics book, so applying my geek tendencies to my golf game!
Dacquino
DAVID DACQUINO
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, SERCO INC., HERNDON
The year has been busy for Dacquino, whose company purchased Whitney, Bradley & Brown, a Reston-based federal tech contractor, in May for $295 million. In March, Serco — a subsidiary of the U.K.-based Serco Group plc — scored a potential eight-year, $600 million contract from the U.S. Navy to provide anti-terrorism support. The Herndon-based subsidiary employs about 8,000 people in defense, citizen services and transportation.
Dacquino, whose background includes several executive positions at Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and the North American division of VT Group, as well as time spent as president and CEO of SkyLink Aviation Inc., joined Serco in 2015 as its senior vice president of defense services. In 2017, he became the $1.7 billion company’s chairman and CEO.
A graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in aeronautical engineering technology and an MBA from California State University at Northridge, Dacquino is a board member of Nathan Associates Inc. and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. In February, he was named a Wash100 Award recipient for the second time.
Daniels
MIKE DANIELS
VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL PUBLIC SECTOR, GOOGLE CLOUD, GOOGLE LLC, RESTON
At Google, which he joined in 2019, Daniels leads business development for public sector cloud sales, an $8 billion business. In April, the sector expanded its list of government and security compliance certifications, including Cloud DNS, making more products available to the U.S. government and agencies in India, Japan, Australia and Canada.
In 2020, Google Cloud launched several tools to help government agencies manage communications, customer service and other tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its parent company has expanded its reach in Virginia, particularly in Loudoun County, where Google invested $1.2 billion in data centers and announced in March it plans to invest $600 million more.
In a January summit, Daniels predicted that remote work will continue post-pandemic. “2020 has shown us that teams can continue to work, even thrive, without ever meeting in person, and we expect that trend to continue,” he said.
A graduate of The Ohio State and Ohio Northern universities, Daniels previously oversaw public sector sales at billion-dollar tech businesses Salesforce and Oracle Corp., and he is a member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council board of directors.
Dean
WILLIAM H. ‘BILL’ DEAN
CEO AND PRESIDENT, M.C. DEAN INC., TYSONS
Dean is the third generation to lead the family business founded in 1949 by Marion Caleb Dean. Formerly a small electrical firm, M.C. Dean now employs more than 2,000 people in Virginia (among 4,695 total) and earned $1.068 billion in fiscal year 2020.
Dean became president and CEO of the company in 1997 and began to expand into design and construction work, allowing M.C. Dean to score larger federal contracts.
In May, the company announced it had entered the second phase of a $25 million expansion, having broken ground on its 84,000-square-foot plant in Caroline County. Expected to open this fall, the facility will be home to ModularMEP, M.C. Dean’s line of modular electrical buildings for project sites across the country. M.C. Dean also was one of three companies awarded an $875 million, 10-year contract by the U.S. Air Force to update the power equipment for federal installations worldwide.
Dean was inducted into alma mater North Carolina State University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Hall of Fame in 2015. He serves on the Washington Airports Task Force’s board of directors and is a past president and co-founder of the Dulles South Alliance.
Dillahay
PAUL A. DILLAHAY
PRESIDENT AND CEO, NCI INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC., RESTON
In his fifth year at the helm of systems integration company NCI, Dillahay credits artificial intelligence adoption with a strong 2021 outlook for the business.
In January, the General Services Administration awarded NCI an $807 million task order to support the GSA’s IT strategy and the adoption of AI, machine learning, automation and other emerging technologies. The contract is the company’s largest award in its 32-year history, with a one-year base and a maximum of seven performance years.
A graduate of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, Dillahay joined NCI as its CEO in 2016 after holding multiple executive roles at Lockheed Martin, USIS, GE and CACI International Inc. He also has completed executive education at the Kellogg School of Management and Harvard Business School. In April, he received his third Wash100 award and told ExecutiveBiz that NCI plans to bid on close to $2 billion worth of federal requests for proposals this year.
In 2020, NCI reported $268 million in revenue, employing more than 1,000 people.
TINA M. DOLPH
PRESIDENT AND CEO, SIEMENS GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGIES INC., RESTON
For three years in a row, Dolph has won a Wash100 Award for driving federal sector expansion. She joined Siemens’ U.S. government arm as its leader in 2018 after a long career in federal contracting, including at Lockheed Martin, ASRC Federal and PAE Inc.
A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Le Moyne College in New York, Dolph has been involved with the integration of large acquisitions, including Lockheed’s integration and divestiture of PAE and integrating CSC’s applied technologies division into PAE. Before joining Siemens, she served as chief strategy officer at CRDF Global, a nonprofit focused on innovative ways to promote security and stability worldwide.
Dolph also serves on the boards of Northern Virginia Technology Council and Hope for the Warriors, a national organization that provides assistance to wounded veterans and the families of those killed in action.
“My dad … taught me what it meant to be successful,” she told Virginia Business. “It’s not about money or stature but rather the mark you leave on the people around you.”
BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Any of the amazing red wines offered in our Virginia wineries.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM:Philadelphia Eagles
Felix
JENNIFER FELIX
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ASRC Federal Holding Co., HERNDON
After a long career in finance, including time spent at General Dynamics, Science Applications International Corp. and Vencore Inc., Felix joined ASRC Federal in 2019 as its chief operating officer. After six months, in April 2020, she was named president and CEO of the 7,000-employee company, which provides engineering, IT and infrastructure support to federal agencies.
A University of Maryland graduate, Felix won WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Award for private company CEO and received her first Wash100 award in April. She also serves on the local Washington, D.C., board of the March of Dimes.
In 2021, ASRC won several major federal contracts, including a five-year, $212 million NASA Research and Education Support Services deal and a potential seven-year, $457 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to provide inventory and supply chain management at an Oklahoma base. In May, the company was awarded a $217 million contract to support cybersecurity operations across the Department of Defense Information Network. Felix also oversaw a rebranding of the company last year, updating its messaging and website to focus on customer missions.
Geveden
REX D. GEVEDEN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, BWX TECHNOLOGIES INC., LYNCHBURG
A graduate of Murray State University, Geveden served as chief operating officer at BWXT, a $2.1 billion nuclear industrial conglomerate, before becoming its president and CEO. Prior to that, he was executive vice president of Teledyne Technologies Inc., president of Teledyne DALSA and associate administrator of NASA, where he spent 17 years.
This year BWXT was awarded $2.2 billion in U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts and an extension of a Department of Energy contract worth up to $690 million involving the cleanup of a uranium enrichment plant in Ohio. Analysts expect the company will post full-year sales of $2.19 billion in 2021.
With about 7,000 employees, BWXT has 12 major operating sites in the U.S. and Canada. The company also holds contracts with the U.S. Navy, including one that makes it the sole nuclear fuel provider for the branch. Last November, the company was entangled in some controversy after former U.S. Sen. David Perdue purchased BWXT shares just before he took over the chairmanship of the Senate subcommittee overseeing the Navy fleet. BWXT said that the company was not aware of the stock buy until media reports revealed it.
Gilliland
AMY GILLILAND
PRESIDENT, GENERAL DYNAMICS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INC., FALLS CHURCH
Gilliland was the third woman in history to lead the entire brigade of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. Now she heads a workforce of 30,000 for an $8.5 billion global technology enterprise.
Raised by a single mom who was an Army civil servant for 40 years, Gilliland comes from a family with three prior generations of military service that began with her great-grandfather. Gilliland served in the Navy for six years and has been with General Dynamics Corp. since 2005, rising to president of its information technology branch in 2017.
She also received degrees from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and she completed the Wharton School’s executive education program in accounting and finance. Gilliland is on the board of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and in April she joined the board of BNY Mellon.
During her time at GDIT, the company doubled in size with its $9.6 billion purchase of Falls Church-based IT company CSRA in 2018. In 2020 the company retained the $4.4 billion, 10-year Defense Enterprise Office Solutions (DEOS) contract that had previously been awarded to CSRA.
Goodman
JOHN B. GOODMAN
CEO, ACCENTURE FEDERAL SERVICES, ARLINGTON
Goodman marked his 23rd year at Accenture with an agreement announced in June to acquire Novetta, the McLean-based advanced analytics company owned by The Carlyle Group.
The move will add Novetta’s 1,300 employees to AFS’ 11,000-person workforce. Terms were not disclosed. “By joining forces, we will help clients in all government sectors become leaders in using sophisticated analytics and emerging technologies to solve problems in new ways,” Goodman said in a statement.
AFS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 company which reported more than $40 billion in revenue in 2020.
A graduate of Middlebury College and Harvard, Goodman is a board member of the Atlantic Council and the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and he serves on the Professional Services Council’s executive committee. Goodman has received numerous awards and honors, including four consecutive Wash100 awards since 2018.
FIRST JOB:Scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Training our new puppy.
PERSON I ADMIRE: My wife, Sherri Goodman, who has broadened our understanding of how climate change affects our national security. [Sherri Goodman, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense, is now a senior fellow at the Wilson Center.]
CHARLES GOTTDIENER
PRESIDENT AND CEO, Neustar Inc., STERLING
Gottdiener, who took charge of the 2,000-person IT company Neustar in 2018 after the formerly public company’s $2.9 billion sale in 2017 to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, has made significant moves during his time there.
After purchasing call authentication and fraud solutions company TrustID and selling its registry business to GoDaddy, in November 2020, Neustar agreed to acquire Verisign Public DNS, a free domain-name system, from Reston-based Verisign for an undisclosed amount. The service provides security and threat blocking on the internet. Also, earlier this year the company appointed five new executives, all promoted from within.
Incorporated in 1998, Neustar was formerly the Communications Industry Services operating unit within Lockheed Martin. Gottdiener, who’s a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Grinnell College in Iowa, was previously managing director and chief operating officer at Providence Equity Partners and served on the boards of several companies in Providence’s portfolio, including Blackboard Inc. and SRA International. He also worked at Dun & Bradstreet, finishing as president of its global risk, analytics and internet solutions division.
Gray
DeETTE GRAY
PRESIDENT, BUSINESS AND IT SOLUTIONS, CACI INTERNATIONAL INC., ARLINGTON
Gray, who joined CACI in 2017 as its president of U.S. operations, has been in charge of its international IT offerings for government agencies since 2019. The former middle school teacher and North Carolina native now oversees a significant sector of the Fortune 500 contractor’s business.
After leaving education, Gray worked her way up at Lockheed Martin, where she was vice president of enterprise technology solutions. She served as president of BAE Systems’ intelligence and security sector before she was hired at CACI, which employs 23,000 people and recorded $5 billion in revenue last year.
In July, CACI was awarded a $1.4 billion task order by the U.S. Department of Defense to continue supporting the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Decisive Action Task, a contract that can be extended five years. The company also won its largest-ever contract, a $1.5 billion deal with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in 2020 and added a second $376 million contract with the agency in April to provide mission technology. Gray has won Wash100 Awards for the past five years.
A graduate of North Carolina State and East Carolina universities, she is on AFCEA International’s board of directors.
Huseman
BRIAN HUSEMAN
VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC POLICY, AMAZON.COM INC., ARLINGTON
A former Department of Justice attorney and Federal Trade Commission general counsel, Huseman now is spending his days trying to make sure Amazon is a good neighbor in Arlington, where its $2.5 billion HQ2 is being built. That entails getting permits and meeting construction deadlines and costs, including the $14 million renovation of Metropolitan Park. After leaving the public sector to become Intel Corp.’s senior policy counsel in 2008, Huseman became director of public policy for the Americas at Amazon in 2012. He stepped into his current role in 2016.
A graduate of Oklahoma City University, Huseman has spent most of his adult life in Northern Virginia, including as a special assistant U.S. attorney in Alexandria. He also participated in community theater for several years and now serves on the board of Arlington’s Signature Theatre.
This year, Huseman has weighed in on antitrust legislation advanced in June that targets some of Amazon’s business practices, the result of a 16-month congressional investigation. Huseman said in a statement that third-party sellers on Amazon — counting more than a half million businesses — will have a harder time earning as much money with the legislation in place.
IPSEN
LAURA K. IPSEN
PRESIDENT AND CEO, Ellucian Inc., RESTON
Ipsen has presided over some big changes this year at the 3,100-employee higher education software provider she leads. In May, the company hired longtime Dell Technologies executive Steve Harris as chief revenue officer. And in June, it was announced that Ellucian will be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners for an undisclosed amount, with the deal slated to close in the third quarter of this year.
More than 2,700 college and university clients use Ellucian’s enterprise-planning software for advising, financial aid, and data and analytics.
Coming from Silicon Valley, where she worked for Oracle, Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp., Ipsen says she took the job with Ellucian in 2017 because she liked the visibility of being one of only a handful of women leading large tech companies. She’s organized peer groups that discuss empowering women at Ellucian and is an occasional public speaker, as well as a member of Women Corporate Directors.
A University of Virginia alum, Ipsen also studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Jordan and is a senior fellow of the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Leadership Forum.
FIRST JOB:Guest services at Kings Dominion
HOBBIES:Glass blowing, racing and sailing
Kakar
SAMIR KAKAR
PRESIDENT, APTARA INC., FALLS CHURCH
For more than two decades, Kakar has served as an executive at the digital publishing company Aptara, which consults on projects for some of the world’s largest publishers.
Formerly known as TechBooks, Aptara was founded in 1988 in Falls Church, where Kakar is based. A native of India, he received two degrees from the University of Delhi and joined Aptara in 1993 as its vice president for content technology, later becoming chief technology officer. Since 2015, he’s been president and overseen three-digit growth, employing more than 4,000 people.
In 2012, the company was sold to iEnergizer, a publicly traded U.K.-based company, for $144 million.
Over the past year during the pandemic, Aptara has focused energy in promoting online workforce training, and it partnered with OpenSesame in September 2020 to provide more e-learning courses in a range of formats and languages. For the past 11 years, Aptara has been named a Top 20 Content Development Company by Training Industry magazine.
Kang
Y. MICHELE KANG
FOUNDER AND CEO, COGNOSANTE LLC, FALLS CHURCH
Kang founded Cognosante 13 years ago to transform U.S. health-care system technology, and as of the end of 2020, she’s now a part owner of a professional women’s soccer team, the Washington Spirit. “I believe it is essential for successful women to take the lead in advancing other women, and I look forward to doing so for the women of the Washington Spirit,” she said.
The University of Chicago and Yale School of Management alumna has received numerous professional honors in the past decade, including 2015 EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Washington, D.C., region. After merging with Fox Systems in 2010, Cognosante began to win government contracts related to Medicaid reform, and it now has annual earnings of more than $1 billion. Kang previously was vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s health IT division.
Kang started the Cognosante Foundation in 2012 to help veterans and other young adults achieve financial independence, particularly female veterans starting businesses. She also is on the boards of the Washington National Opera, the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Palm Beach Symphony.
NAZZIC S. KEENE
CEO, SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. (SAIC), RESTON
Keene, a native of Libya, arrived in the United States in the late 1960s when her mother decided to leave her homeland, which was in the midst of revolution. She now leads a major government contractor with pro forma annual revenues of $7.1 billion.
A graduate of the University of Arizona, Keene oversees a workforce of more than 25,000 people and is a member of ADP’s board of directors and the Inova Health System board. In April, SAIC announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire AI-focused data management company Koverse, and this was followed by a June announcement that it would acquire Arlington’s Halfaker and Associates LLC, a technology solutions provider with clients that include the Department of Defense and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The financial terms of both deals were not disclosed.
Keene, who became CEO in 2019, was hired by SAIC as president of its global markets and missions sector in 2012 and also served as its chief operating officer. Previously, she worked in senior roles at CGI and American Management Systems, after starting her career at Electronic Data Systems. In May, Keene received WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Award for Public Company CEO.
Knittel
C. JEFFREY ‘JEFF’ KNITTEL
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AIRBUS AMERICAS INC., HERNDON
As a leader in the commercial aircraft industry, Knittel has had to navigate Airbus’ way through one of the hardest times ever in the industry.
With more than 35 years of experience in aerospace and transportation finance, Knittel is responsible for Airbus’ business throughout the Americas, including 5,000 employees, its helicopters, and the space and defense unit in North America. He reports to the $78 billion French global manufacturer’s CEO and chairs A3by Airbus, the company’s Silicon Valley-based innovation arm, as well as serving on the board of Airbus Ventures and the Airbus Canada Limited Partnership.
Although commercial airlines are still not seeing as many passengers as before the pandemic, numbers are up somewhat, and in June United Airlines placed its largest order ever with Boeing and Airbus, worth $30 billion for the two companies.
Knittel is a member of the boards of the National Air and Space Museum and the National World War II Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aviation management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and graduated from the Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Krone
ROGER A. KRONE
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, LEIDOS HOLDINGS INC., RESTON
Krone, the chairman and CEO of an $11.09 billion company that employs 39,000 people worldwide, is a licensed commercial pilot and has aerospace engineering degrees from Georgia Tech and the University of Texas at Arlington, as well as an MBA from Harvard.
Krone joined Leidos in 2014 after more than two decades with The Boeing Co. and, before that, 14 years as a program manager with aerospace and defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in February and chairs the Professional Services Council.
Leidos has had a busy year so far, scoring NASA, Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as promoting a slate of new executives, including heads of its national security space department and corporate operations. Earlier this year, Krone took a novel tack to encourage vaccinations, announcing that the company will pay a total of $1 million to 10 randomly selected workers who enter Leidos’ vaccine lottery.
NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE:Becoming a grandfather
MOST RECENT BOOK READ:“Panama,” by Thomas McGuane
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: Anywhere you can scuba dive.
Lynn
WILLIAM J. ‘BILL’ LYNN III
CEO, LEONARDO DRS INC., ARLINGTON COUNTY
Before joining Leonardo DRS, the U.S. arm of the Italian defense and aerospace conglomerate Leonardo SpA, in 2012, Lynn had a distinguished public sector career. From 1987 to 1993, he was counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee and was deputy defense secretary during President Barack Obama’s first term.
This winter, Leonardo DRS was on the verge of going public before its parent company hit the pause button in March due to “adverse market conditions,” although Leonardo SpA added in its statement it plans to potentially revisit the idea of an IPO. The subsidiary was valued at $2.54 billion in early March. Aside from the IPO business, Leonardo DRS notched more large contracts with the Navy and the Army over the past year, including a shared five-year, $211.6 million deal to help the Navy assemble and test insertion equipment.
A graduate of Dartmouth College, the Cornell Law School and Princeton University, Lynn has received four distinguished public service medals from the Defense Department and a distinguished civilian service award from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Mango
STEPHANIE MANGO
PRESIDENT, CGI FEDERAL, FAIRFAX
In February, Mango helped launch Chief, a private network to bring more women into top positions across various industries and allow for those already in power to share their ideas and knowledge with other women. A month later, she was promoted to president of CGI Federal, the U.S. subsidiary of the $9 billion Montreal-based company.
A two-degree holder from the University of Virginia, Mango also continued as acting leader for the security, assistance, justice and health programs business unit, overseeing its client portfolio that includes the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and Health and Human Services, as well as the intelligence community and other agencies. She started at CGI Federal 25 years ago and managed the company’s mergers with Sunflower Systems and TeraThink Corp. In 2018, when she was senior vice president, Mango was named national security executive of the year at WashingtonExec’s first Pinnacle Awards.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Keep your ideals high, and cut yourself and others a break if you fall short. If you always reach your ideals/target, you probably aren’t aiming high enough.
ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA:No more 17-year cicadas!
Marron
MARK P. MARRON
PRESIDENT, CEO AND DIRECTOR, EPLUS INC., HERNDON
After extensive experience throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Marron landed at ePlus Inc. more than 15 years ago and climbed the ranks to eventually lead the $1 billion technology solutions provider starting in 2016.
He oversaw the company’s acquisition of SLAIT Consulting LLC in 2019, which expanded ePlus’ security consulting and managed services capabilities and solidified a mid-Atlantic presence, adding locations in Virginia Beach, Richmond and Charlotte, North Carolina.
For fiscal year 2021, which ended March 31, the company reported $1.56 billion in net sales, a 1.3% decrease from the previous fiscal year, but Marron said in a statement that the company saw improved margins and lower costs, which drove up operating income 11.6% for the year. “In what was an unprecedented year, I am extremely proud of the entire ePlus team for responding with agility and unwavering commitment to support our customers’ evolving needs.”
Before joining ePlus, Marron worked for NetIQ and Computer Associates International Inc., a provider of infrastructure software products and solutions. He graduated from Montclair State University with a computer science degree.
McIntyre
SCOTT McINTYRE
CEO, GUIDEHOUSE LLP, McLEAN
McIntyre became Guidehouse’s CEO in 2018 after the former PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S. public sector business — where McIntyre served as managing partner — was purchased by Veritas Capital. Today, he is in charge of more than 9,000 employees around the world, with clients in public and commercial markets.
In May, Guidehouse announced its plans to invest $12.7 million in a campus in McLean, establishing its global headquarters and creating 900 jobs in Fairfax County.
With degrees from Johns Hopkins University, Washington & Jefferson College, and Willamette University, McIntyre has received several professional honors, including five consecutive Wash100 Awards and the most votes in the contest’s popular vote.
In 2019, Guidehouse acquired Navigant Consulting for $1.1 billion, increasing its footprint in the commercial market, while continuing to bid for government contracts. In the past year, the company has won State Department and Department of Defense contracts in the hundreds of millions, although Guidehouse’s bid for a $350 million Transportation Security Administration contract failed last year.
McIntyre is a board member for the Baldrige Foundation, which funds awards that recognize organizational performance excellence and is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Mendiola
GEORGE MENDIOLA
PRESIDENT, FSA FEDERAL, ASHBURN
Mendiola, a native of Guam, made his way to Virginia for college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and an MBA from Radford University, then launching a career in federal contracting.
Over the years, he served as the federal civilian group vice president for Engility Corp., overseeing a portfolio of projects for the departments of Justice and Defense, as well as 2,500 employees. In 2017 he joined FSA Federal, a joint venture of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and Amentum that was founded in 2004 — although the company was then known as Forfeiture Support Associates.
In March 2020 the company secured a potential $1.3 billion contract from the Department of Justice to provide support services for 14 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The contract has led to a reworking of FSA, which has deployed about 1,400 people across the country to accomplish the work under the potential six-year contract.
Mendiola and fellow Radford alumnus Levar Cole — who served together in student government — established an annual leadership scholarship at the university in 2003 that recognizes undergraduates and graduate students with good grades, demonstrated leadership abilities and financial need.
Mengucci
JOHN S. MENGUCCI
PRESIDENT AND CEO, CACI INTERNATIONAL INC., ARLINGTON
Although it’s less rare in the federal contracting sector than in other areas of business, it is still notable that Mengucci oversaw a major increase in revenue in fiscal year 2020, as CACI’s earnings increased by $800 million to $5.7 billion.
The technology company, which employs about 22,000 people worldwide, received a $1.5 billion contract from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency last year, its largest ever. In July, the company notched a $1.4 billion task order by the U.S. Department of Defense to support the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Decisive Action Task, which could be extended five years and continues CACI’s 14 years of work with the agency. In 2021 the company hit the Fortune 500 list for the first time since its founding in 1962.
A graduate of Clarkson and Syracuse universities, Mengucci was promoted to CEO in 2019 after serving as CACI’s chief operating officer and president of U.S. operations. He previously held leadership positions at Lockheed Martin, including as president of information systems.
Mengucci’s individual accolades include making the Wash100 list the past two years. He serves on the board of trustees for Clarkson, which is in Potsdam, New York.
Monet
BILL MONET
INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CEO, NANA REGIONAL CORP., PRESIDENT AND CEO, AKIMA LLC, HERNDON
Akima has an unusual history compared with other federal contracting companies; it’s an asset owned by the Iñupiat tribes of northwest Alaska. The portfolio of more than 40 companies that employ 8,000 people is under the umbrella of NANA Regional Corp., a for-profit Alaska Native corporation owned by more than 14,500 Indigenous Iñupiat shareholders from a 38,000-square-mile area in northwest Alaska, largely inside the Arctic Circle.
A graduate of Virginia Tech, George Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Monet joined Akima as its chief executive in 2012. In November 2020 he was tapped as the interim president and CEO of Akima’s parent company, replacing Wayne Westlake, who left after five years.
Despite the changes at the top, Akima moved up in Washington Technology’s Top 100 rankings of the largest federal contractors, moving from No. 39 to 28th place in 2021. In fiscal year 2020, Akima had $1.1 billion in federal contracts, including a subsidiary’s potential five-year, $40 million deal with the U.S. Air Force to train flight crews. Monet himself, who has 30 years of experience in government contracting, has received Wash100 Awards for the past two years.
PHEBE NOVAKOVIC
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP., FALLS CHURCH
Novakovic, who was named Virginia Business’ 2020 Business Person of the Year, managed during the pandemic to maintain a solid bottom line at General Dynamics, which employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and has annual revenues of close to $38 billion. Awarded the largest-ever U.S. Navy contract of $22.2 billion to build nine Virginia-class nuclear submarines, as well as other billion-dollar contracts with the Department of Defense and the Navy, the company is in fine fettle in 2021.
The daughter of a Serbian immigrant, Novakovic graduated from Smith College with a history degree. She then worked for a small military contractor and joined the CIA, earning her MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. After rising quickly up the ranks at the federal Office of Management and Budget and the Pentagon, Novakovic joined the private sector as vice president for strategic planning at General Dynamics in 2001.
Since 2013 she has served as chairman and CEO, overseeing the company’s 2018 acquisition of IT conglomerate CSRA Inc. for $9.7 billion, moving General Dynamics into position as a market leader in information technology contracting. Last year, Novakovic was elected to the board of directors for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Petters
MIKE PETTERS
PRESIDENT AND CEO, HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES, NEWPORT NEWS
Petters has led the country’s biggest military shipbuilding company and the state’s largest industrial employer since 2011, when it was spun off from Northrop Grumman.
The U.S. Naval Academy and William & Mary alum joined Newport News Shipbuilding, one of HII’s divisions, in 1987 and worked his way up the corporate ladder, eventually serving as president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding when HII was formed. Although the Fortune 500 company, which employs 41,000 people, had to take precautionary measures during the height of COVID-19, its shipbuilding branch remained busy. HII is a key subcontractor in the Navy’s $22.2 billion contract awarded to General Dynamics in 2019, under which NNS is building 10 nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines.
In July, HII announced it would acquire McLean-based defense contractor Alion Science and Technology Corp. from Veritas Capital in a $1.65 billion all-cash deal expected to close by the end of the year.
Petters, who was stationed on the nuclear-powered submarine USS George Bancroft and spent five years in the U.S. Naval Reserve, also serves on HII’s board.
Phillips
KEVIN M. PHILLIPS
CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, MANTECH INTERNATIONAL CORP., HERNDON
ManTech was among many companies that found ways to do business during the pandemic. But it also raised $2 million through an employee-matching charitable campaign that benefited frontline workers and people in need. Phillips, who joined the management and tech
firm in 2002 after it acquired his former company, CTX Corp., now leads 9,400 employees at the Fortune 1000 corporation.
In addition to earlier contracts with the Navy and the Department of Homeland Security, ManTech earned a place on a $4.45 billion Department of Defense contract in March to provide security services under the department’s Special Access Program. The same month, the company hired a chief growth officer to focus on the federal civilian, defense and intelligence sectors.
Phillips has won numerous professional honors, including being named to the Wash100 list from 2017 to 2021. The William & Mary graduate, who also spent 10 years in the Army Reserve, is on the board of trustees of the William & Mary Foundation and chairs its audit committee. He also is the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s vice chair and was named to the council’s Tech 100 list in 2020.
Providakes
JASON PROVIDAKES
PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE MITRE CORP., McLEAN
The head of a not-for-profit organization that manages federally funded research and development centers, Providakes is an expert in optical and remote sensing and received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University.
Mitre was founded in 1958 and has 8,400 employees, and although the organization is involved in many areas of study, some of its recent focuses include quantum science and cybersecurity. Providakes joined Mitre in 1991 as lead scientist and has held several other positions, including senior vice president of Mitre’s Center for Connected Government, now known as Mitre Public Sector. Some of his work has centered on modernizing infrastructure for national security, public health and Army technology. In 2019 he created Mitre Engenuity, a not-for-profit tech foundation focused on forging collaborations to strengthen critical infrastructure for the public good.
Providakes has served as a member of the Army Science Board and participated in several studies with the National Academy of Sciences.
Rhyu
JAMES J. RHYU
CEO, STRIDE INC., HERNDON
In late 2020, K12 Inc. changed its name to Stride Inc., and named a new CEO in January. Rhyu, who replaced K12’s former CEO, Nathaniel A. Davis, has been with the online learning service for the past eight years. Its name change, Davis noted, was meant to demonstrate that the company is “no longer limited by the boundaries of the K-12 market” and had expanded its reach to lifelong learning. In 2019 the company reported more than $1 billion in revenue.
A graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the London Business School, Rhyu worked as chief finance officer and chief administrative officer of Match.com and as senior vice president of finance at Dow Jones & Co. He most recently was Stride’s chief financial officer.
In February, Stride selected 47 students to receive scholarships through its $10 million We Stand Together program, in which underserved Black students receive tuition-free, full-time enrollment to Stride’s online K12 Private Academy. The recipients are from 14 states and are in kindergarten through 11th grade. “A stronger, more inclusive nation begins with economic empowerment, academic equity and career readiness for all,” Rhyu said in a statement.
Ryan
TERRY RYAN
CEO, Constellis Holdings LLC, RESTON
Ryan leads a $1.7 billion, 24,000-employee federal contractor that works in 40 countries. He says he got his approach to business from the person he most admires: his mother.
“I witnessed her altruistic values having positive and enduring impacts on thousands of people,” he says.
A graduate of The Ohio State University and National Intelligence University who has spent more than 20 years in federal contracting, Ryan became Constellis’ CEO in January, a promotion from his former post as lead director.
He replaced Tim Reardon, who joined Constellis in 2018 and left to pursue other interests. Ryan is a former Marine who was an infantry commander and intelligence officer who then served in several executive positions in the Department of Defense, including director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Before joining Constellis, Ryan was CEO of VT Group and previously was president and chief operating officer of ManTech’s emerging markets group. Ryan also serves on the board of the National Intelligence University Foundation.
BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS:Focus, focus, focus on what matters and tune out meaningless distractions.
FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Cleveland Browns
Salvino
MIKE SALVINO
PRESIDENT AND CEO, DXC TECHNOLOGY, TYSONS
Salvino joined the Fortune 500 end-to-end IT services company in 2019, and he hit the ground running. In 2020, DXC earned $19.6 billion while employing 138,000 people worldwide. The company was founded in 2017 after the merger of Computer Science Corp. and the Enterprise Services business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Corp.
In October 2020, DXC finalized the sale of its health business to Veritas Capital for $5 billion, which the company planned to use to reduce its debt by about $3.5 billion. The former managing director of Carrick Capital Partners and group chief executive for Accenture Operations is a graduate of Marietta College in Ohio. He serves on its board as well as those of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and the Atrium Health Foundation.
SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN:Worry too much over mistakes. We all will make some. The key is to learn from them, don’t make them again, and have a short memory.
FIRST JOB:Basketball counselor
HOBBY/PASSION:You will find me with my kids or running.
Sanghani
MEHUL P. SANGHANI
CEO, OCTO CONSULTING GROUP, RESTON
Sanghani got an early start on what takes many leaders a lifetime to accomplish, starting his company in 2006 at age 30. Also, he and his wife, Hema, both Virginia Tech graduates, are among the university’s youngest major donors with their $10 million gift, which includes funding the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria.
Some of the funding also will go to a scholars program for minority students pursuing graduate degrees in AI, one of Sanghani’s focuses, as well as improving food access for VT students.
“Higher education is the perfect vehicle for a gift like this,” Sanghani said in a statement when the gift was announced, adding that the university will use innovation “to transform our society for the greater good.”
Professionally, Sanghani has had a busy year. Octo Consulting merged with Fairfax software company Sevatec in December, creating a $300 million company with 1,100 employees. Octo’s clientele includes the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the General Services Administration. In July, Octo acquired Volant Associates, a Chantilly-based defense software development company, for an undisclosed amount.
Saylor
MICHAEL SAYLOR
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, MICROSTRATEGY INC., TYSONS
Saylor has been at the center of 2021’s bitcoin mania, spending $2.7 billion on the cryptocurrency as its price bounced up and down this spring and summer. Back in 2000, the last time Saylor was this high profile, he was a young tech exec at the top of the dot-com boom and one of the wealthiest people in the Washington, D.C., region.
MicroStrategy employs 2,000 people and has 4,000 corporate customers internationally. Founded in 1989, the company started as a data mining firm providing customer information to major corporations, including Victoria’s Secret and McDonald’s. A graduate of MIT, Saylor served in the U.S. Air Force and the Air Force Reserve. In 1998, MicroStrategy went public and doubled in value its first day. But by 2000, its stock plummeted from $3,130 to roughly $50 to $200 a share until last fall, when the company announced its plans for acquiring billions of dollars in bitcoin.
Saylor’s decision to embrace bitcoin, as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s fluctuating enchantment with cryptocurrency, has returned MicroStrategy and Saylor to renewed prominence. Although Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other prominent economists have warned about the instability of bitcoin, Saylor still believes in it, tweeting in late July, “#Bitcoin … will last forever.”
Schorer
STEVE SCHORER
CHAIRMAN AND CEO, ALION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CORP., McLEAN
Schorer’s company, part of Veritas Capital’s portfolio since 2015, is now being acquired by Huntington Ingalls Industries, which announced the $1.65 billion all-cash deal in July. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, with Alion becoming part of the Newport News-based military shipbuilder’s Technical Solutions division. In late June, Alion won a place on the U.S. Air Force’s $950 million contract for engineering, procurement, integration and logistics support, which could be extended to 13 years.
A graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a degree in electrical engineering, Schorer was named Alion’s chairman and CEO in 2017 after serving as president of DynAviation and DynCorp International. His résumé also includes stints with Lockheed Missiles and Space, Raytheon and Hughes Aircraft.
Founded in 2002, Alion specializes in intelligence, military training and simulation, cybersecurity and other technology solutions to defense and intelligence community customers, with the U.S. Navy accounting for about a third of its contracts. Schorer landed on the Wash100 list in 2021 for the second time, and he was a Top 25 Executive to Watch in 2020, named by WashingtonExec.
STU SHEA
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PERATON INC., HERNDON
Shea, who started his career in national security by building some of the CIA’s earliest computer systems, says he’s in the middle of one of his biggest career challenges: integrating two recently acquired large businesses into Peraton.
In May, the national security contractor completed its $7.1 billion, all-cash purchase of Chantilly-based Perspecta Inc., preceded by Peraton’s $3.4 billion acquisition of Northrop Grumman Corp.’s federal IT and mission support services business. Peraton’s workforce has grown from 3,500 workers last year to more than 24,000 employees this year, with revenues of $7 billion. In August Peraton also won a $979 million, five-year task order to support the U.S. Central Command’s information operations.
“We have three companies with really long traditions and history,” he says. “This will be a very different place because of that legacy.”
Shea, who previously oversaw the division of Science Applications International Corp. into Leidos Holdings Inc. and a new SAIC, and also founded the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, said he expects to maintain and grow Peraton’s workforce while consolidating its office space.
A graduate of the University of Kansas and State University of New York at Albany, Shea is a five-time recipient of Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 Award, which recognizes top leaders in government contracting.
Singer
JILL SINGER
VICE PRESIDENT OF DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY, AT&T PUBLIC SECTOR AND FIRSTNET, AT&T INC., RESTON
A national security expert with more than 30 years on the public and private sides of the federal government, Singer was appointed vice president of defense and national security for the telecommunications giant’s public sector business and FirstNet broadband program in June 2020. She lead’s AT&T’s federal contracting teams for defense and national security agencies, as well as overseeing AT&T’s work on the FirstNet nationwide public safety broadband network for first responders.
Singer joined AT&T in 2015 after building a resume in information intelligence within the government and in the private sector. She served as the chief information officer for the National Reconnaissance Office, deputy CIO for the CIA and director of the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service for the State Department. An alumna of the University of West Florida, where she serves on its board, Singer also is a member of the International Spy Museum’s governing board.
In 2021, AT&T’s public sector has inked some significant contracts, including a $725 million task order with the Department of Veterans Affairs and a $231 million Treasury contract to modernize both agencies’ data networks.
Smith
CAREY A. SMITH
PRESIDENT AND CEO, PARSONS CORP., CENTREVILLE
In April, Smith was tapped as the Centreville-based defense contractor’s new CEO, a promotion from her previous post as president and chief operating officer. She succeeds Charles “Chuck” Harrington, who retired after nearly four decades with the company.
Smith joined Parsons in 2016 as president of its federal solutions business, leading the acquisition and integration of four companies and helping take the company public in 2019. In January, Smith joined the company’s board of directors.
Earlier in her career, Smith held several leadership roles within the defense and aerospace industry. She was president of the defense and space business unit at Honeywell and held several positions at Lockheed Martin, including vice president of technical services and president and CEO of the company’s Canadian operations.
Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Ohio Northern University and her master’s degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University.
PERSON I ADMIRE:Linda P. Hudson, the former president and CEO of BAE Systems Inc. She was the first woman to lead amajor defense contractor.
FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: Aruba
FAVORITE SPORT TEAM(S):Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Eagles
Trundle
STEPHEN TRUNDLE
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ALARM.COM, TYSONS
Trundle has served as the Tysons-based security company’s leader since 2003. The publicly traded company with a market capitalization of more than $2 billion in December acquired Shooter Detection Systems LLC, which uses acoustic and infrared sensors and algorithms to detect gunshots and communicate incident details to occupants and security. Earlier last year, PointCentral, a subsidiary of Alarm.com, announced it had acquired Doorport Inc., an apartment intercom system.
Trundle himself made news this spring when he sold 20,000 shares of Alarm.com stock, totaling
$1.8 million, and in May during an earnings call for the year’s first quarter, the CEO said its software-as-a-service and licensing revenue was up by 16.8% from the previous year at $107.4 million.
Previously, Trundle held several positions at MicroStrategy Inc., a Tysons-based business software company founded by Michael Saylor in 1989. Trundle was chief technology officer when MicroStrategy launched Alarm.com in 2000 with the goal of creating a security system that would allow clients to monitor their properties via their phones. In 2009, MicroStrategy sold the subsidiary to a consortium of investors led by ABS Capital Partners for $27.7 million.
Turner
CLAYTON P. TURNER
DIRECTOR, NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, HAMPTON
In 2019, NASA named Turner the head of the Langley Research Center, making him the center’s first Black director. The agency’s oldest field facility, Langley is known today as the setting for “Hidden Figures,” the 2016 biopic about the Black female mathematicians who were instrumental in the 1960s space race.
In his role, Turner leads civil servants, contractor scientists, researchers, engineers and support staff, who are hard at work on projects that range from expanding the understanding of Earth’s atmosphere to developing new technologies for space exploration.
Turner launched his NASA career in 1990 as a design engineer with the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment project. Over his decades at the agency, Turner has worked on numerous other endeavors including the flight test of the Ares 1-X rocket and the entry, descent and landing segment of the Mars Science Laboratory.
Turner earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.
PERSON I ADMIRE:My mother. She navigated through near-impossible situations to enable possibilities and choices. She did all this in an environment that was not always supportive or conducive to her efforts, but she persevered. She had great faith.
Vecchiolla
TOM VECCHIOLLA
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ST ENGINEERING NORTH AMERICA INC., ALEXANDRIA
Vecchiolla heads ST Engineering North America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore-based ST Engineering, a global technology, defense and engineering group that specializes in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors.
Previously, Vecchiolla founded a Washington, D.C., consultancy firm to provide senior advisory services for global aerospace and defense clients. He worked for Massachusetts-based aerospace and defense company Raytheon Technologies Corp. for 15 years, with the last three years spent as president of Raytheon International Inc. In that post, he was responsible for the company’s sales and marketing efforts in more than 80 nations worldwide.
A career U.S. Naval officer, Vecchiolla served 22 years on active duty as a naval aviator, retiring with the rank of captain. Vecchiolla began working on Capitol Hill in 1996 as a Brookings Institution legislative fellow on the personal staff of U.S. Sen. William S. Cohen of Maine. Later, he served as legislative assistant for National Security and Military Affairs to then-U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine.
ST Engineering has major operations in 16 cities across 12 states and has about 5,000 employees.
Wallace
JASON S. WALLACE
CEO, ADS INC., VIRGINIA BEACH
In 1997, Luke Hillier created an offshoot of his family’s dive shop business known as Atlantic Diving Supply. Today, it provides military equipment, army procurement, logistics and supply chain solutions for federal agencies and protective services.
Wallace joined ADS in 2004. Over the years, he’s served in numerous roles, including head of operations and vice president of sales. An alumnus of Old Dominion University, he became CEO in 2014.
In recent years, Wallace has had to steer the company through controversy.
In August 2019 the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Hillier, ADS’ majority owner and former CEO, had agreed to pay $20 million to settle allegations of fraudulently obtaining federal contracts reserved for small businesses. ADS settled its part of the dispute for $16 million in 2017. Admission of liability was not a part of either settlement. In 2020, ADS received further scrutiny when it applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan worth between $2 million and $5 million after receiving $1 billion in government contracts in the last quarter of 2019 and $1.3 billion in backlog contract obligations in 2020, according to The Virginian-Pilot. The company was ranked the 22nd largest government contractor in fiscal year 2019.
Warden
KATHY J. WARDEN
CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., FALLS CHURCH
With broad experience in operational leadership and business development in government and commercial markets, Warden took the helm of the Falls Church-based aerospace and defense contractor in 2019. She leads about 97,000 employees.
A Fortune 500 company, Northrop Grumman reported about $36.8 billion in 2020 revenue, an increase of about 9% over 2019. The company reported $9.2 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2021, up from $8.6 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2020. In July, the corporation landed a $935 million contract to build the crew quarters for a space station as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
Since coming to NG in 2008, Warden has served in a number of roles, including vice president of mission systems and information systems. In 2017, she became Northrop’s president and chief operating officer.
Previously, Warden held leadership positions at General Dynamics Corp. and Veridian Corp.
Warden earned her bachelor’s degree from James Madison University and an MBA from George Washington University. Currently, she serves on the board of directors of Merck & Co. Additionally, she serves on JMU’s board of visitors and is the chair of the Aerospace Industries Association.
Wasson
JOHN WASSON
CEO, PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN, ICF INTERNATIONAL INC., RESTON
Upon joining the global consulting and digital services provider as an associate in 1987, Wasson steadily climbed the ranks. In 2003 he became ICF’s chief operating officer and in 2010 he was named president. In that role, Wasson managed all of ICF’s client-facing operating groups and the corporate business development function.
In January, Wasson became executive chairman of the company’s board of directors when former CEO Sudhakar Kesavan retired. He leads nearly 7,500 employees.
In 2020, ICF’s gross revenue was $1.51 billion, an increase of 1.9%. The company won contracts valued at over $1.96 billion. In January 2020 the company announced its $255 million purchase of Incentive Technology Group LLC, and the company plans to move its global headquarters from Fairfax to the new Reston Station development.
NASA announced in April it had awarded ICF a contract worth about $34 million to provide technical and administrative support to the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) National Coordination Office.
Wasson is a member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board and chair of the dean’s executive committee at the University of California, Davis’ College of Engineering, his alma mater. Wasson also received a master’s degree from MIT.
Williams
ARDINE WILLIAMS
VICE PRESIDENT OF HQ2 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, AMAZON.COM INC., ARLINGTON
On Twitter, Williams describes herself as a Workforce Wonk. In her job, she develops strategies to find and develop talent for Amazon’s $2.5 billion East Coast HQ2 in Arlington, where Amazon has committed to hiring 25,000 workers by 2030.
Sometimes, Williams also helps to develop talent for the world outside of Amazon. Her team runs Amazon’s Career Choice, a program where the company pays 95% of tuition for hourly employees interested in earning certificates and associate degrees to prepare them for in-demand career fields like aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design and health care.
Earlier, Williams was vice president of talent acquisition for Amazon Web Services. For that role, Williams, who began her career as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1983, worked to create a military apprenticeship program that helps members of the military community,veterans and their spouses transition to careers in cloud computing.
Amazon wooed Williams months into her retirement from Intel, where she had served as vice president of HR enterprise services.
Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Williams to William & Mary’s board of visitors in June. She also serves as vice chair of the advisory committee of the Capital CoLAB.
Wilson
GEORGE WILSON
PRESIDENT AND CEO, ECS Federal LLC, FAIRFAX
Wilson joined ECS in 2011 as chief strategy officer and was named president and CEO in 2014. With headquarters in Fairfax, the company delivers solutions and services in cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, application and IT modernization, and science and engineering for clients across the U.S. public sector, defense, intelligence and commercial industries. The company employs more than 3,000 professionals throughout the United States.
In 2018, ASGN Inc., a Henrico County-based IT and professional services company, acquired ECS Federal for $775 million. ASGN kept Wilson on as president.
Previously, Wilson worked for Stanley Inc., an Arlington information technology company, for more than two decades. He left the business in 2010 as its executive vice president.
Wilson holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from George Washington University. He served as a Navy lieutenant, integrating Tomahawk cruise missiles into submarines.
Wilson is a board member of Professional Services Council, a trade association for the government technology and professional services industry, and the Springfield-based Brain Injury Services, a nonprofit that serves individuals and families dealing with brain injuries, strokes and concussions.
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