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Real Estate 2023: DONNA MacMILLAN-WHITAKER
As the development partner to fashion and music superstar Pharrell Williams, MacMillan-Whitaker has achieved a significant level of prominence in Hampton Roads, but she’s no flash in the pan. MacMillan-Whitaker has worked in the commercial retail industry since 1985, representing national retailers throughout the mid-Atlantic region. She also founded Commercial Real Estate Services, which me[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: C. JEFFREY KNITTEL
As head of Airbus’ Americas arm, Knittel runs the European aerospace giant’s commercial aircraft business for North and South America, as well as its helicopter and defense units. He also chairs Acubed, Airbus’ Silicon Valley-based innovation arm, and serves on the board of Airbus Ventures, the company’s VC firm for early-stage technologies. Before coming aboard […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: SHAWN PURVIS
Assuming the roles of president and CEO of QinetiQ US in February 2022, Purvis has nearly three decades of experience working in defense, intelligence and cybersecurity. Purvis joined the tech company from Northrop Grumman, where she was most recently enterprise services sector president and a corporate vice president. Before joining Northrop Grumman in 2012, Purvis […]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: CAREY A. SMITH
An engineer by training, Smith joined Fortune 1000 defense contractor Parsons in 2016 as a division head and quickly rose to president, CEO and, most recently, chair. A five-time winner of Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 Award, she helped take Parsons public in 2019 and also led Parsons’ acquisition and integration of a string of companies, including […]
Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: ROBERT S. ‘BOBBY’ UKROP
Ukrop’s name is synonymous with his family’s former Virginia grocery chain that opened in 1937 and was purchased in 2009 by Dutch retail conglomerate Ahold. In recent years, Ukrop rebooted one of the Ukrop’s stores’ most beloved features: its line of prepared foods. Not long after the sale of the grocery chain, he and his […]
Government | Politics 2023: JASON MIYARES
Miyares, whose mother fled communist Cuba in the 1960s for the United States, is the first Hispanic person elected to statewide office in Virginia. He became the state’s attorney general in 2022 after representing part of Virginia Beach in the House of Delegates for six years. Since assuming office from a two-term Democratic AG, Republican […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2023: DOUG BRADBURN
Bradburn has been leading the most popular historic estate in the U.S. since 2018. The historic home of the first U.S. president and his wife, Martha Washington, welcomes an average of 1 million visitors each year. An author and scholar of early American history, Bradburn joined Mount Vernon in 2013 as the founding director of […]
Hospitality | Tourism 2023: CHRISTOPHER J. NASSETTA
Nassetta is the longtime president and CEO of one of the world’s largest hospitality companies. Hilton has a portfolio of 7,200 properties and 19 brands in 122 countries and territories, including high-end hotels Waldorf Astoria and Conrad and mid-level chains such as Doubletree by Hilton. Nassetta joined Hilton in 2007 after investment firm Blackstone acquired […]
Manufacturing 2023: HOWARD BROADFOOT
Broadfoot has been CEO of Electro-Mechanical since 2021, when he was promoted from chief operating officer upon the retirement of founder Russell Leonard. It’s been a busy couple of years since then. He shepherded the equipment electric manufacturer through its November 2021 acquisition by private equity fund Graycliff Partners for an undisclosed amount. He has […]
Real Estate 2023: BRENDAN BECHTEL
Serving as CEO since 2016 and chairman since 2017, Bechtel is the fifth generation to lead his family-owned global engineering, construction and project management company. Ranked the nation’s second largest construction company by Engineering News-Record, Bechtel Corp. has completed more than 25,000 projects in 160 countries since its 1898 founding in San Francisco. The firm’s [&helli[...]
Real Estate 2023: GERALD S. DIVARIS
Divaris co-founded Divaris Group in South Africa in 1974. Since 1981, the firm has been headquartered in Virginia. Divaris Real Estate, one of the companies under the Divaris Group umbrella, opened its first office in the United States in 1982 in Virginia. Along with its Virginia Beach headquarters, Divaris has offices in Newport News, Norfolk, […]
Real Estate 2023: FRANK ‘BUDDY’ GADAMS
Gadams and his firm are known for their commercial and residential projects, but he has also led community-based projects like the restoration of the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts. Gadams founded Marathon in 2000. He is also one of the founders of the YPO (formerly Young Presidents’ Organization) Virginia Chapter. A Downtown Norfolk Council member, […]
