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byline: Jason Roop

Leidos lands $470M TSA contract

Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Leidos has landed a potential five-year, $470.7 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security, according to a contract award notice published June 3.

The work is in support of checkpoint screening equipment deployment services for the Transportation Security Administration.

The scope of the work is outlined by the request for proposals to include on-site coordination, surveys, design support, coordination and execution of screening equipment installations, relocations and removals.

The TSA outlines its security checkpoint technology as walk-through metal detectors, carry-on baggage X-rays, explosives trace detection and bottled liquid scanners, among other measures, according to the RFP.

Leidos, which employs 38,000 people, reported $12.3 billion in 2020 revenue.

AT&T wins $725M task order from Veterans Affairs

AT&T’s Oakton-based Public Sector organization secured a $725 million, 12-year task order to modernize the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ data network, the company will announce Wednesday.

The contract is to deliver a modernized data communications platform that will serve as a foundation for innovative Veterans Affairs (VA) technology capabilities, according to the announcement. The task order falls under the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract for federal agencies. AT&T’s Public Sector has won nearly three dozen such awards, the company says.

The VA’s network is used to help manage the country’s largest integrated health care system, serving 9 million enrolled veterans annually at 1,255 health care facilities.

“It is a special honor to win the opportunity to help VA modernize its mission in the service of our many heroes,” said Chris Smith, vice president of Civilian and Shared Services, AT&T Public Sector and FirstNet, in a statement.

AT&T says it will work with the VA on such capabilities as wide area networking, virtual private networking and managed network services. Work includes making health care records digitally accessible in near real time, replacing paper records.

Indie movie starring Jon Heder to film in Central Va. this summer

“Tapawingo,” an indie feature film starring Jon Heder and Billy Zane, will film in Hopewell, Petersburg and Richmond this summer, Gov. Ralph Northam announced June 4.

Directed by Dylan K. Narang, it’s described as a coming-of-age comedy centered on “a listless oddball who becomes the unlikely bodyguard for a misfit teenager and finds himself in the crosshairs of the town’s family of bullies.”

The project, from Foggy Bottom Pictures, is the latest in a recent string of television and film productions shot in Virginia, including the TV productions “Swagger,” “The Walking Dead: World Beyond” and “Dopesick,” a Hulu miniseries starring Michael Keaton that’s based on the New York Times bestseller by former Roanoke Times journalist Beth Macy.

Those three projects contributed more than $120 million to the economy in a nine-month period, Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball said in a statement, noting that the film industry “continues to create high-paying jobs and generate instant revenue for Virginia businesses large and small,” he said.

Virginia Film Office Director Andy Edmunds noted the post-pandemic role of the film sector: “This industry was one of the first to stimulate our hardest-hit sectors like hospitality during the past year’s challenges, and we are thrilled about the continued support these resilient projects provide.”

Richmond’s Bryan Park is being prepped this week as a setting for the post-zombie apocalypse series on AMC, “The Walking Dead: World Beyond.” The series “Swagger,” a sports-themed drama from Brian Grazer and NBA star Kevin Durant, is set to air on Apple TV+.

 

Canon Virginia CEO retires after 41 years

Toru Nishizawa, president and CEO of Newport News-based Canon Virginia Inc. and Canon Environmental Technologies Inc., retired June 1 after 41 years with the multinational corporation known for its optical and imaging products such as lenses, cameras and scanners.

Canon has tapped Shingo Shigeta as his successor.

Nishizawa, who is returning home to Japan for his retirement, joined Canon after graduating Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1980.

After five years with Canon, Nishizawa was assigned to Canon Giessen in Germany and held leadership roles in Europe and Japan. Canon U.S.A. Inc. named him president and CEO of Canon Virginia in April 2012. The company credits him with transforming its Newport News facility into a regional technical headquarters for Canon U.S.A. Inc.

Nishizawa oversaw a 900,000-square-foot expansion of manufacturing, developed a research and development function and expanded into the aerospace and medical industries, Canon said in its announcement.

Canon Virginia, which has operated in Newport News for more than 35 years, manufactures new products and serves as a repair and refurbishment center. It is Canon’s largest manufacturing, engineering, recycling and technical support center in the Americas.

Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber hires executive director

Andy Bruns, a former regional newspaper publisher for Lee Enterprises, has been tapped as executive director of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce, the chamber announced June 4.

Bruns replaces Christopher Finley, who resigned in March to become director of marketing and public relations for LewisGale Regional Health System. Cheryl Ward has been serving as interim executive director.

A Southern Illinois University journalism graduate, Bruns had been regional publisher for Lee Enterprises since April 2020. He oversaw The Roanoke Times and Lynchburg News & Advance, among other publications. Before that, he held roles with Gannett and GateHouse Media.

“He has extensive leadership experience having spearheaded marketing and media organizations across the country for decades,” Zach Wimmer, president of the chamber’s board, said in a statement.

Bruns has served on multiple nonprofit and chamber of commerce boards. He and his family have vacationed at Smith Mountain Lake since 2016, and moved there full time in April 2020.

Shentel appoints executive VP/COO

Edinburg-based Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. — better known as Shentel — has promoted Edward “Ed” H. McKay to lead its broadband business as executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective July 3.

McKay will oversee Shentel Cable, Shentel Business, Glo Fiber and Beam brands and the Edinburg-based company’s tower portfolio.

He will replace David “Dave” L. Heimbach, who announced his resignation to become president and COO of MetroNet Inc. During his three-year tenure, Heimbach pushed for Shentel to lay fiber optic lines to residences in the Shenandoah Valley area.

McKay’s 25-year telecom career started with GTE, UUNET, MCI and Verizon. He’s been on Shentel’s management team for 17 years, most recently as senior vice president of engineering and operations.

McKay has helped with transitioning the company’s wireless affiliate business to T-Mobile as part of the pending sale of its wireless operations, Shentel said in its announcement.

HII gets Navy order for new unmanned underwater vehicles

The U.S. Navy has ordered two of Huntington Ingalls Industries’ new unmanned underwater vehicles, the Newport News-based shipbuilding company announced this week.

HII says common applications for the REMUS 300 vehicle, which became commercially available in April, include mine countermeasures, marine resource work and search and recovery efforts.

The underwater drones can be carried by two people, run on lithium-ion batteries, reach speeds of up to 5 knots and can dive to 1,000 feet. Each can perform missions of up to 30 hours.

“REMUS UUVs have been used by the U.S. Navy for their defense operations for more than 20 years,” Duane Fotheringham, president of the Unmanned Systems business group in HII’s Technical Solutions division, said in a statement. “We are pleased to provide them with the new REMUS 300 to support their critical national security missions.”

Delivery is scheduled for mid-2022.

GDIT snags $219M Homeland Security contract

Falls Church-based General Dynamics Information Technology Inc. (GDIT) has won a five-year, $219 million contract with the contact center for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, G2Xchange FedCiv reported this week.

The contact center offers front-line support for people inquiring about immigration case status and related issues. The agency is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

GDIT is a subsidiary of Reston-based General Dynamics Corp., a Fortune 500 aerospace and defense contractor.

General Dynamics employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and reported $37.9 billion in revenue in 2020. In April, it reported first-quarter revenue of $9.4 billion, up 7.3% from a year ago.

Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council names new executive director

Erin Burcham, the Roanoke Regional Partnership’s director of talent solutions, is leaving the economic development group to become executive director of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council.

The tech council noted Burcham’s experience in talent and workforce development.

About a year ago, the tech council started working with the Valleys Innovation Council and the Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program to form an Alliance called Verge. Collectively, the groups focus on growing the region’s innovation economy.

Burcham has been with the Roanoke Regional Partnership since November 2017, serving as director of talent solutions. She previously worked as marketing and program coordinator at Virginia Tech Roanoke Center and as event planner for Roanoke’s EventZone.

A University of South Carolina graduate, Burcham earned her master’s degree in leadership studies with a focus on economic development from Virginia Tech.

“[Burcham] is a respected leader and a natural collaborator with deep connections across the region within the technology business sector, higher education and local governments,” Verge Executive Director and CEO Greg Feldmann said in a statement.

Burcham also serves on the Radford University Presidential Task Force for Experiential Learning and is an adviser for the Virginia Tech Foundation GO Virginia Biotech Innovation Infrastructure project.

Richmond Region Tourism program incentivizes hotel meetings

After a year of virtual events and canceled conventions, Richmond Region Tourism has launched a program to attract meetings to Virginia’s capital city and surrounding areas in four key economic development sectors.

The initiative, called Meaningful Meetings, also offers financial incentives from $250 to $1,000 to people and organizations who successfully refer such events. The amount is based on total hotel rooms booked and includes qualifying criteria.

The nonprofit tourism group, working with economic development teams in the region, said it identified the four target areas as the arts, sustainability, universities and diversity, equity and inclusion.

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, business travel is down 85% from pre-pandemic levels and is not expected to begin to slowly return until the second half of the year. Major events, conventions and business meetings have also already been canceled or postponed until at least 2022, the group says.

Dasha Runyan, vice president of sales at Richmond Region Tourism, noted Gov. Ralph Northam’s plan to lift COVID-19 restrictions at the end of May as an important factor in bringing back in-person meetings.

“Welcoming meetings and conventions to the region is now more important than ever to the community’s economic rebound,” Runyan said in a statement.

The tourism group said it booked meetings, conventions and tournaments in 2019 that represented more than $64 million in economic impact for the region.

The Meaningful Meetings program applies to Richmond, Colonial Heights, Ashland and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico and New Kent.