Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: JIM KOONS
Koons owns and operates 20 auto franchises in the mid-Atlantic region, under the umbrella of the nation’s 13th largest used-vehicle dealership and Virginia’s biggest, according to Automotive News. Koons’ father, John, opened the first location in 1964 in Falls Church, and Jim Koons bought out his brother’s stake in the business in 1992. With more […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: ARTHUR ‘BO’ FISHER III
Bo Fisher spoke of “the great loss of my father, partner, boss and best friend,” when his father, Art Fisher, died in 2004. Already serving as president of Fisher Auto Parts, the younger Fisher was unanimously elected to succeed his dad as CEO and chairman of the board. He also serves as chairman of Federated […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: GREG BARONI
Philanthropist, entrepreneur, sports team owner and tech executive Baroni co-founded McLean-based Attain LLC, a management, tech and compliance consulting firm, in 2009. The company split in 2021, selling its federal arm to Reston-based health care company Maximus for $430 million. Attain’s remaining education, nonprofit, health care and state and local government sectors now operate private[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: STU SHEA
A fixture in the national security industry, Shea has led the expansion of a 6-year-old private company into a major defense contractor through a series of acquisitions, including the 2021 purchase of Northrop Grumman’s federal IT and mission support services business. The growing company recently moved its headquarters from Herndon to Reston, which serves as […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2023: ERIC TERRY
With four decades of hospitality experience, Terry has advocated for the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association‘s 1,500-plus industry members since joining as president in 2014. During the pandemic, Terry led the VRLTA in persuading state legislators to allocate $250 million in federal stimulus funds for industry relief. He also spearheaded support for legislation approved [&h[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: MAX PETERSON
Peterson, who joined AWS in 2012 and started his current role in 2021, has more than 30 years of public sector experience, with stints at Dell and CDW-G. Now he’s guiding the $80.1 billion Amazon.com cloud subsidiary through a variety of high-tech federal projects. So far, AWS landed a spot (along with Google, Microsoft and […]
Government | Politics 2023: MAMIE E. LOCKE
Locke was the Atlanta Historical Society’s archivist in 1981, when she was asked to interview for a political science teaching position at Hampton University, where 42 years later she is a professor emeritus. She served as vice mayor and mayor of Hampton before her election to the state Senate in 2004. As many of her […]
Nonprofits | Philanthropy 2023: ISAM GHANIM
In his second year as president and CEO at ChildFund International, Ghanim continues to advance the organization’s mission of improving the well-being of children in some of the world’s poorest places. The 85-year-old international children’s charity has assisted more than 21.1 million children and family members in more than 20 countries with programs and services […]
Education 2023: KATHERINE A. ROWE
In 2018, Rowe took the helm of the nation’s second-oldest university, William & Mary, bringing with her a diverse educational background that includes degrees in literature, graduate work in cinema and media studies, and 16 years as an English professor and department chair at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania. A Shakespearean scholar, she also co-founded […]
Real Estate 2023: ROBB ‘R.J.’ JOHNSON
With 30-plus years of industry experience, Johnson worked with The Staubach Co. beginning in 1995, ultimately serving as president for the mid-Atlantic region until it merged with Fortune Global 500 commercial real estate company JLL in 2008. Johnson has served JLL clients from offices in Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., for the past 15 […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2023: THOMAS J. BALTIMORE JR.
Baltimore joined the lodging real estate investment trust in 2016, shortly before its 2017 spinoff from McLean-based Hilton Worldwide Holdings. He has led the company through some of its toughest times as the pandemic squelched business and leisure travel. Park continues to bounce back from the pandemic-related downturn, reporting $2.5 billion in 2022 revenue, up […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: D. JAMES BIDZOS
An early advocate of encryption in commercial software, Bidzos is an internet and cybersecurity pioneer. Verisign is the largest internet domain name registry and infrastructure provider. Any address with a .com or .net domain suffix is registered with Verisign. With 350 million registered addresses on its list and 3.5 million more registering in the first […]