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byline: Courtney Mabeus-Brown

Raytheon rebrands to RTX as part of business reorg

A year after moving its headquarters to Arlington County, Fortune 500 aerospace and defense contractor Raytheon Technologies Corp. has rebranded as RTX.

The new name, launched to coincide with the Paris Air Show and the company’s 2023 investor meeting, comes as RTX consolidates its business units from four to three: aerospace and defense technology supplier Collins Aerospace, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina; aerospace manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut; and Raytheon. The company previously operated as four segments, which included Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense. Those segments are now consolidated under Raytheon, which is based in Arlington.

“This is more than a new brand,” RTX said on its website, announcing the shift. “It is a signal of the next step in our company’s transformation.”

The company had previously announced its realignment plan in January and said in a news release June 18 that its reorganization is on track to be complete July 1.

“While we honor our legacy, we are always looking to the future — and that future is RTX,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gregory Hayes said in a statement. “Over the past few years, we have solidified our industry-leading positions with a $180 billion backlog across the highest growth commercial aerospace platforms and franchises serving the most critical defense priorities. RTX is leveraging its breadth, scale and operational discipline to serve our customers and deliver value to our shareowners, with a clear path to achieve our 2025 financial commitments. Furthermore, with the business realignment and the strategic investments we continue to make, RTX is uniquely positioned for sustained profitable growth well beyond 2025.”

The company reported more than $67 billion sales in 2022 and estimates between $72 and $73 billion in 2023. As part of its realignment, the company said, more than $200 million in sales will transition to Raytheon through the consolidation of its Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Raytheon Intelligence & Space capabilities. More than $2.7 billion in sales are being shifted to Collins Aerospace from Raytheon Intelligence & Space. That shift also includes 4,700 positions, C4ISRNET reported, as well as a greater volume of work related to the Pentagon’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control, a program to connect the military branches into a unified network.

As part of the reorganization, Raytheon previously announced that Chief Operating Officer Christopher Calio would expand his role to become president of RTX effective March 1. Roy Acevedo, who previously served as president of Raytheon Intelligence & Space and was the company’s top-ranked executive in Virginia, retired in March and has served as an adviser to Calio. Wesley D. Kremer, who served as president of Raytheon Missiles and Defense, will lead the newly combined Raytheon. He is based in Arizona, according to his LinkedIn account.

RTX employs more than 180,000 people globally.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that Christopher Calio’s role is expanding to become president of Raytheon’s parent company, RTX.

GDIT receives $383M Navy contract

Falls Church-based General Dynamics Information Technology Inc. will help train more than 100,000 U.S. Navy and allied sailors on surface combat systems under a $383 million contract announced June 15.

The contract, awarded by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren on behalf of the service’s Surface Combat Systems Training Command, has a one-year base and four option years. The command trains warfighters to maintain, operate and tactically employ surface combat systems across operations. Under the contract, GDIT will provide classroom and simulation settings on shore and on board Navy ships around the globe, including providing instructor support, curriculum development, training aids and program management.

“For over 30 years, we have supported a wide range of Navy training activities,” Brian Sheridan, GDIT’s senior vice president for defense, said in a statement. “We are looking forward to continuing to provide the Navy with modern training services to strengthen its overall fleet operations and warfighting readiness.”

The latest contract awards builds on other training services GDIT, a business unit of Reston-based General Dynamics Corp., provides to the U.S. military. On March 23, the Pentagon announced that GDIT won a nearly $1.8 billion contract to provide flight simulation training services to the Army. Under that contract, which includes a five-year base and seven option years, GDIT will use advanced simulation technology to train Army helicopter aviators in multiple cargo, attack, utility and training helicopter platforms at Fort Rucker, Alabama, GDIT said in a news release in April. GDIT will own, operate, maintain and upgrade virtual flight simulators and provide related training and program management.

General Dynamics employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and in 2022 reported $39.4 billion in revenue, an increase of 2.4% from 2021. GDIT employs more than 30,000 people, including 8,250 in Virginia.

Buc-ee’s to open in New Kent by 2025

It’s official. Buc-ee’s, the Texas-size travel center chain, completed its purchase of property in New Kent County and will open its first Virginia location in the next two years, with three more slated across the state, S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. said in a news release.

A groundbreaking date for the New Kent site has not been set because the company is finalizing its building plans, said Nathan Shor, a senior vice president with S.L. Nusbaum Realty and exclusive tenant representative for Buc-ee’s in Virginia. Shor, who represented the seller in the transaction, would not say where Buc-ee’s is planning to locate its additional locations in the commonwealth.

Buc-ee’s New Kent LLC purchased 27.686 acres located at Exit 211 off Interstate 64 from Kent Farms Holdings Company, LLC for $6,506,210. The property will be constructed as a Buc-ee’s Super Center and include more than 75,000 square feet of retail space, 120 fueling positions, multiple electric vehicle chargers and parking for more than 650 vehicles, including bus and RV parking.

New Kent County’s Economic Development Department announced in March on its Facebook page that Buc-ee’s, the Texas-based retailer that bills itself as having the cleanest restrooms in America and the “friendliest beaver” mascot, had filed a conditional use permit with the county Planning and Zoning Department, generating hundreds of comments and thousands of shares.

At more than 75,000 square feet, the new Buc-ee’s location will be among the company’s largest. While the Buc-ee’s website says that its New Braunfels, Texas, location is the largest convenience store in the world at 66,335 square feet, that site is being dethroned by a 74,000-square-foot Buc-ee’s under construction in Sevierville, Tennessee, according to CBS affiliate television station WVLT. It appears the New Kent location could top the Tennessee Buc-ee’s.

The Buc-ee’s chain has opened more than 25 locations throughout the South in the past two decades.

 

Carpenter acquires Belgian foams biz for $468M

Richmond-based Carpenter Co. has completed its acquisition of Belgium-based Recticel’s engineered foams division for $468 million, a deal that makes makes Carpenter the world’s largest vertically integrated manufacturer of polyurethane foams and specialty polymer products, the company announced Wednesday.

Founded in 1950, Carpenter is a manufacturer and supplier of foam, fiber and chemicals used in “comfort cushioning products” such as bedding and carpet padding.

The acquisition, which represented about two-thirds of Recticel’s business, includes Recticel’s Foam Partner and Otto Bock operations, Carpenter said in a news release. The division has about 2,800 employees at 32 locations across 20 countries and had about $600 million in sales in 2022.

Carpenter has more than 4,000 employees in the U.S., Canada and Europe and the acquisition gives the company presence in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Before the acquisition, Carpenter operated eight locations in Europe. The acquisition makes Carpenter the largest flexible polyurethane foam producer and solutions provider in Europe.

“We are very excited to welcome the employees of Recticel, Foam Partner and Otto Bock into Carpenter,” Carpenter CEO Brad Beauchamp said in a statement. “We believe that combining these great businesses with ours will result in the best flexible foam company throughout all market segments and geographic locations. We believe that this acquisition will bring additional innovations in polyurethane foam beyond our industry leading materials like Serene foam, Hybrid TheraGel memory foam and others. Recticel is also known for their leadership in sustainability and recycling of foam materials and we expect that to pair very well with our own developments on those issues that are facing the industry.”

 

Richmond ad agency Yebo announces closure after 35 years

Formerly known as the Barber Martin Agency, Richmond-based Yebo has announced its closure after 35 years.

The firm changed its name to Yebo, pronounced “Yay-bow,” in early 2020 to better reflect the firm’s mission. The name means “yes” in the Zulu language of Southern African, which includes Zimbabwe, birth nation of Yebo President and CEO Robyn Zacharias.

Founded in 1988 by Bob Barber and Bill Martin, the firm announced its closure on its social media accounts on June 9. The firm moved to the Scott’s Addition neighborhood in Richmond from Chesterfield County’s Boulders Office Park in 2017. Its services ranged from advertising and marketing to social media and branding.

Zacharias, who started out as an administrative assistant at the agency in 1996, became president in 2006 and acquired the company as sole owner from Barber and Martin in 2014. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mass communications and public relations from St. Andrews University in North Carolina.

“We have had the pleasure of serving hundreds of clients over the years by providing high-quality innovative creative, production and media solutions,” the firm said in posts on its Facebook and Instagram pages. “With our team of brilliantly minded and service-driven employees we were able to repeatedly exceed our clients’ expectations.”

A phone call and email to the firm were not immediately returned Thursday.

Over the years, the firm’s clients included the Virginia Lottery, nTelos Wireless, Bassett Furniture, McGeorge Toyota, Southern States Cooperative and Richmond International Raceway.

 

Richmond riverfront amphitheater gets green light

Red Light Ventures LLC’s $30 million, 7,500-person riverfront amphitheater received a green light Monday from Richmond City Council, which approved a performance grant that paves the way for construction of the proposed music and performance venue to start as soon as this summer.

With plans to host up to 35 major acts annually, Red Light Ventures says the amphitheater could be open in time for the 2025 outdoor concert season. It will erect the amphitheater on four acres of land on the James River it will rent from NewMarket Corp. behind the American Civil War Museum at the historic Tredegar Iron Works. The project was initially pitched in summer 2022 by Charlottesville-based music industry executive Coran Capshaw, who also runs music company Red Light Management, through which he has managed the careers of Dave Matthews Band and hundreds of other major music performers. Concerts at the amphitheater will be arranged via Starr Hill Presents, Capshaw’s Charlottesville-based concert promotion company.

A City Council committee on June 5 unanimously recommended approval of a 20-year performance grant based on an incremental new real estate tax and admissions tax generated by the new venue to offset the project’s cost and the full council approved the public-private partnership Monday.

The performance grant is capped at $37 million, Richmond Economic Development Director Leonard Sledge told the council’s organizational development committee June 5, adding that financial models estimate that grant’s total at $26.4 million. As part of the deal, the development team has agreed to stage a benefit concert during the amphitheater’s first year in operation, with proceeds to be donated to a nonprofit that will address “a critical community need,” Sledge said. Additionally, the venue’s bathrooms will be open to the public on nonevent days, and the amphitheater will also be available to the city and nonprofit groups for civic events, including graduations and cultural events.

The new venue also fulfills goals laid out in Richmond’s growth plan about developing tourism attractions to elevate the city’s image and to “continue to delight existing and future residents, employers and visitors,” Sledge added.

Grant Lyman, Southeast region president for concert promoter Live Nation, a partner in the project, said the new amphitheater fills a void for touring artists between Washington, D.C., and the Carolinas. “The fan and artist’s experience here in Richmond will be world-class, bringing fans downtown to the riverfront with a background that showcases the city’s urban growth,” Lyman told the committee June 5. “Richmond can often be overlooked by big-name artists who are looking for a venue that’s large enough to meet the demand of their fan base, as well as capable of supporting their production needs.”

Some residents of the nearby Oregon Hill neighborhood have opposed the venue or sought to delay it, however, saying they were not given adequate input about cutoff times, noise and parking. The venue does not include parking, but as part of its agreement with the city, the amphitheater will be required to submit a parking plan annually to make sure to make sure existing parking is used and that venue attendees are not parking in residential neighborhoods.

“We feel like there’s no reason to rush this through in a week after negotiations have been taking place for probably a full year,” Charles Pool, a representative of the Oregon Hill Home Improvement Council, told council members during a public comment period Monday.

Stephanie Lynch, who represents Richmond’s 5th district, said a meeting is planned for Tuesday to address remaining recurring concerns about the amphitheater.

Virginia Business announces 2023 Va. CFO Awards winners

Virginia Business presented its 2023 Virginia CFO Awards Thursday during the magazine’s annual awards banquet honoring chief financial officers from nonprofits and businesses from across the commonwealth.

This year’s Virginia CFO Awards banquet — the largest annual gathering of CFOs in Virginia — was held at The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond.

“Being nominated for these awards is no small achievement,” Virginia Business President and Publisher Bernie Niemeier said during the awards ceremony. “All nominees are winners in their own right, helping to lead their companies to excellence around the commonwealth and in some cases the nation and globally.”

Thirty-four CFOs from around the commonwealth were nominated in four award categories, representing a variety of nonprofits, government agencies and for-profit businesses, both public and private. Organizations represented ranged from state universities to arts organizations, construction firms, health care providers, banks and more.

Winners and finalists for the magazine’s 18th annual Virginia CFO Awards were:

  • 2023 SMALL NONPROFIT/GOVERNMENT VIRGINIA CFO OF THE YEAR: Winner: Clyde Cornett, Virginia Community Capital Inc.; Finalists: Bill Davis, Virginia War Memorial Foundation Inc.; Lisa Olverson, Virginia Peninsula Foodbank
  • 2023 LARGE NONPROFIT/GOVERNMENT VIRGINIA CFO OF THE YEAR: Winner: Jim Barker, Delta Dental of Virginia; Finalists: Karol Gray, Virginia Commonwealth University; Don Halliwill, Carilion Clinic; Rodger Jacobson, Charities Aid Foundation America (CAF America); Lisa Lambrecht, HopeTree Family Services; Jarred Roenker, Norfolk Airport Authority; John Zabrowski III, VHC Health
  • 2023 SMALL COMPANY VIRGINIA CFO OF THE YEAR: Winner: Jason Chesky, Logenix International LLC; Finalists: Anna Amirsoltani, Cassaday & Company Inc.;Joel Flax, Cohen Investment Management
  • 2023 LARGE COMPANY VIRGINIA CFO OF THE YEAR: Winner: Cindy Yao, Markel Food Group; Finalists: Ali Azima, Thompson Hospitality Corp.;  Robert Gorman, Atlantic Union Bank; Pete Graham, PRA Group Inc.; Bill Littreal, TowneBank; Bob Wills, The Branch Group Inc.

The four winners will be profiled in the August issue of Virginia Business.

AWS reports it invested $51.9B in Va. from 2011-21

Amazon Web Services Inc. invested more than $51.9 billion in Virginia between 2011 and 2021, according to an economic impact statement released by the company Wednesday.

That investment total includes capital and operational expenditures in Virginia, including Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William counties, AWS said. During that same period, the company has contributed an estimated $8.2 billion total gross domestic product in the state. In 2021, AWS employed about 8,710 full-time workers in roles including data center engineers and technicians, solutions architects, software engineers, business developers. That same year, about 11,180 full- and part-time highly skilled workers supported AWS construction, operations and maintenance on-site at AWS facilities in Virginia.

AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc. and is the world’s largest cloud computing provider. Virginia became the home of AWS’ first data center in 2006; in 2022, the company paid more than $334 million in business personal property taxes in connection with its data centers. While the company would not disclose how many data centers it currently operates in Virginia, in January, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced that AWS plans to invest an additional $35 billion by 2040 to establish multiple data center campuses across the state and add 1,000 jobs.

Northern Virginia has long been the epicenter of the world’s data landscape. In 2022, the region accounted for 64% of the total new data center capacity brought online in primary markets across the U.S., according to the North American Data Center Trends Report by CBRE. More than 70% of the world’s internet traffic comes through Loudoun County’s Data Center Alley. 

Buddy Rizer, executive director of Loudoun’s economic development department, told Virginia Business that AWS is Loudoun’s largest data center operator. In January, AWS had at least 65 centers in operation or under development in the county, though Rizer could not provide an exact updated number Wednesday.

Loudoun has more than 200 data centers comprising more than 26 million square feet and at least 4 million more in development. Rizer estimated Loudoun’s data centers would contribute more than $700 million in local tax revenue in the county in 2023. In nearby Prince William County, which has become a new focus for data center construction, about 39 data centers total more than 6.9 million square feet with an additional 4.8 million square feet in development. Prince William’s data center tax revenues increased from $6.2 million in 2012 to $101.42 million in 2022.

In addition to its economic impact on the state, AWS announced initiatives around science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) education and workforce and job training, including for women in cloud technology. In October 2022, AWS opened its first East Coast-based skills center to provide free, in-person foundational courses on cloud computing. That location, in Arlington County, is near the company’s East Coast headquarters, HQ2, which recently started opening to employees at the end of May.

HII Mission Technology promotes two execs

Newport News-based Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.’s McLean-based Mission Technologies division has promoted Garry Schwartz, formerly a group president, to chief operating officer on June 1. At the same time, the company also promoted Todd Gentry to president of the division’s C5ISR (command, control, computers, communications, cyber, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) business group.

Schwartz joined HII in 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile. He previously led and expanded HII’s largest technology-centric business groups, HII’s Mission Technologies said in a news release. He has also worked in a senior leadership positions at McLean-based Alton Science and Technology, which was acquired by HII in 2021, as well as with Reston-based Fortune 500 contractor Science Applications International Corp. Schwartz retired from the Marine Corps in 2004 after more than two decades, serving as a commissioned officer as well as in the enlisted ranks in multiple combat tours. He has a master’s degree in operations research from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Gentry was previously senior vice president of Mission Technologies’ C5ISR business group. He joined HII in 2019 and has advanced in programmatic and operational leadership roles. Gentry also served as director of the advanced aviation assessment portfolio for the Army Aviation and Missile Command. He also served in various positions in direct support of the U.S. Special Operations Command and its service component commands. Gentry retired from the Army in 2013 after a quarter century.

“To drive growth and opportunity across the division, we continue to optimize business operations and overall performance,” Mission Technologies President Andy Green said in a statement. “Garry and Todd’s proven expertise building large business operations at HII, paired with their long history of success across the defense industry, demonstrates they are the exceptional leaders to support our customers’ missions and help us achieve our growth objectives.”

“I’m excited to continue working with them to expand the division and deliver advanced capabilities to the warfighters,” Green added.

CNSI-Kepro rebrands as Acentra Health

The health services tech company that formed from last year’s merger of McLean-based health care IT provider CNSI and Nashville, Tennessee-based health care management tech company Kepro is now branding itself as Acentra Health. The company announced the rebranding Tuesday.

“Our new company name and brand represent a new era and a transformational new company,” Acentra Health CEO Todd Stottlemyer, who previously led CNSI, said in a statement. “Acentra Health brings together a deep collective of expertise across all facets of the health care ecosystem that is unmatched in our industry today. Our team of technology and business experts, skilled clinicians and highly talented health care professionals work as one to help state and federal partners lead the way in accelerating better health outcomes for priority populations.”

The name Acentra is formed from the words “accelerate” and “central” and reflects the company’s resolve to be “vital partner” to public sector health agencies in delivering comprehensive health care solutions and services, Acentra said in a news release.  The company’s merger was completed in December 2022. At the time of the initial announcement, it said a rebrand would follow in 2023. The company will keep its locations in McLean and Nashville with McLean taking precedence as the company’s corporate headquarters. It is planning to launch a new website later this summer.

Acentra Health serves clients in all 50 states, and partners with 45 state Medicaid agencies and five federal agencies. The company has 3,000 employees and more than 4,500 credentialed clinicians, in addition to 450 physicians who serve on its advisory and review panel. The company manages and processes more than 1.5 billion claims and encounters and disburses over $26 billion in payments annually.