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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, […]
Real Estate 2023: TIMOTHY HELMIG
After joining Monday Properties in 2005, Helmig has led the company to capital investments of more than $16 billion, an expanded multifamily portfolio of 5,300 units, and executed transactions totaling more than 35 million square feet. Helmig’s brother-in-law, Anthony Westreich, founded Monday Properties and acquired a 2.5 million-square-foot Rosslyn portfolio of buildings in 2007, two [&hel[...]
Education 2023: KARL McDONNELL
McDonnell is CEO of Strategic Education, an education services holding company that owns for-profit Strayer and Capella universities, the Jack Welch Management Institute and nondegree schools DevMountain, Hackbright Academy and Sophia Learning. Strategic Education was formed in 2018 by the $2 billion merger of Strayer Education and Capella Education. McDonnell was previously president and CEO [&he[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: REX D. GEVEDEN
Before joining BWXT in 2015 as its chief operating officer, Geveden was an executive at Teledyne Technologies, as well as a chief engineer and associate administrator at NASA, where he ran support contracts for the International Space Station and helped develop next-generation lunar vehicles. In 2017, he became CEO of the Lynchburg-based manufacturer of nuclear […]
