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byline: Katherine Schulte

Dominion Business Center in Chesapeake sells for $5M

The two-building Dominion Business Center in sold for $5 million, Cushman & Wakefield | ‘s Capital Markets Group announced Aug. 16.

Located at 1001, 1005 and 1009 Scenic Parkway, Dominion Business Center sits on about 21 acres within the 325-acre Dominion Commerce Park.

The center is 90% leased to a group of 15 office and flex users, including mechanical contractors, healthcare providers, construction firms and roofing companies. The office building, 1001 Scenic Parkway, is 19,593 square feet and includes the Sentara Therapy Center – Grassfield and Edward D. Jones & Co. LP in its tenants. The flex property is 33,955 square feet.

Olds Enterprise LLC bought the property from DCP Office LLC. Clark Simpson with Thalhimer handled the negotiations on behalf of the seller, with assistance from Christine Kaempfe, member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors and a Certified Commercial Investment Member.

Arlington tech contractor acquires Herndon software company

Arlington-based national security contractor announced Tuesday its first , of -based and analytics company Trusted Concepts Inc.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to welcome Trusted Concepts into the Two Six team,” Two Six Technologies CEO Joe Logue said in a statement. “Trusted Concepts’ co-founders and entire staff are top-tier professionals with world-class expertise. The two companies are extraordinarily complementary, with a shared strategic vision and strong cultures focused on innovation, mission impact and attracting the industry’s best talent.”

Trusted Concepts is a technology services contractor that focuses on U.S. national security missions. The company has more than 130 employees and developed TrustedKeep, a security product that provides object-level encryption for federal customers.

“Two Six Technologies is the ideal strategic partner for Trusted Concepts, and joining Two Six enables us to reach the next stage of our and our long-term goals,” Michael Frazier, co-founder and CEO of Trusted Concepts, said in a statement.

The Carlyle Group combined IST Research and Two Six Labs to form Two Six Technologies in February 2021. Two Six Technologies now has more than 430 employees and a technical presence in more than 40 countries.

Two Six Technologies recently announced its hire of Daniel J. “Rags” Ragsdale as vice president — architect.

DXC Technology shifts CIO to COO

Tysons-based Fortune 500 IT company promoted Chris Drumgoole to executive vice president and , it announced Thursday, when Drumgoole assumed the role.

“Going forward as COO, my focus will be to further enhance the productivity of our workforce, simplify and streamline operations and processes, and ensure clarity and accountability while meeting our margin objectives,” Drumgoole said in a statement.

Drumgoole will report to Mike Salvino, DXC’s president and CEO, and will be responsible for the company’s business and administrative operations and oversight of its IT strategy, operations and infrastructure. Drumgoole joined DXC as its chief information officer in March 2020.

“In a short amount of time, Chris and his team have made a significant impact at DXC,” Salvino said in a statement, “from simplifying our IT infrastructure to enabling our global workforce to be fully operational and work virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Before joining DXC, he was chief information officer at General Electric Co., where he led its global operations. He previously had been the chief operating officer of Terremark Worldwide Inc., a Verizon Communications Inc. subsidiary.

He serves on the advisory boards of PetSmart Inc. and Florida International University’s College of Engineering & Computing, and is a member of the board of directors of ONUG, a forum for IT business leaders. He volunteers with Year Up, which works to address inequities in pathways to employment with tuition-free job trainings.

Drumgoole studied management information systems at Pace University in New York.

Arlington tech contractor names VP architect

Arlington-based national security contractor named Daniel J. “Rags” Ragsdale its vice president – architect on Aug. 4.

“I’m beyond excited to have the opportunity to work closely with the deeply passionate and well-respected experts who comprise the Two Six Technologies team,” Ragsdale said in a statement. “I’m very confident that collectively we will accelerate the delivery of leap-ahead capabilities, which will be instrumental in addressing the increasing array of threats to U.S. national security interests.”

Ragsdale was most recently the U.S. ‘s acting director of defense research and engineering for modernization, where he helped with development and disruptive integration of advanced technologies. He has also been the DOD’s principal director for cyber.

Before his return to the DOD in 2019, Ragsdale was the founding director of Texas A&M Cybersecurity Center, where he led cybersecurity research and educational activities. He previously served as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program manager, where he managed a $175 million portfolio of research and development programs.

“I’m thrilled to announce the addition of an accomplished military, DOD and DARPA veteran like ‘Rags’ to our leadership team,” Two Six Technologies CEO Joe Logue said in a statement. “’Rags’ reputation goes before him.”

Ragsdale is a retired colonel. He served in the Army for 30 years and served almost 15 years at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, including as its vice dean for education.

He is a U.S. Military Academy graduate and holds a master of science degree in computer science from the Naval Postgraduate School and a doctorate in computer science from Texas A&M University.

Two Six Technologies has more than 300 employees and a technical presence in more than 40 countries.

Gannett names first chief data officer

McLean-based Co. Inc. named Nate Rackiewicz its first chief data officer, it announced Monday.

Rackiewicz will lead a team to implement the company’s customer identity, data and analytics, as well as and modeling capabilities. He will report to Gannett’s chief marketing and strategy officer, Mayur Gupta.

“We are excited to welcome Nate to lead our expansive intelligence ecosystem across the company and enhance Gannett’s data-driven culture and mindset,” Gupta said in a statement. “His experience building and executing revenue-generating data science solutions will truly benefit our organization.”

Rackiewicz was the head of analytics at video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Inc., where he worked on building a global data science and analytics center and created an intelligence platform. Prior to that, he was vice president of consumer data and analytics for A+E Networks, and he held several leadership roles at Home Box Office, where he helped launch HBO GO.

“I am thrilled to be joining Gannett and spearheading data operations during such a pivotal time for the business,” Rackiewicz said in a statement. “Gannett is transforming from a legacy publishing company to a customer-obsessed, subscription-led content platform, and I am looking forward to leveraging data and analytics to inform our success and growth.”

Dragas Cos. plans 150-home development in Chesapeake

Virginia Beach-based Dragas Cos. will break ground on a single-family residential development project in in 2022.

The project, named , will lie on 65 acres off Elbow Road near Centerville Turnpike North. It will have 150 single-family homes of roughly 2,450 to 2,800 square feet each. The houses are expected to sell in the mid-$400,000 range. The development will have two lakes, pocket parks and access to the city park.

Chesapeake City Council rezoned the land in late July. The council approved the funding, and the project is in the design stage. It will eventually add four lanes to Elbow Road.

“It will be a pleasure to continue working within the city of Chesapeake,” Nick Baum, Dragas Cos. vice president of planning and business development, said in a statement. “We believe Crestfield will be a high quality, much-needed addition to the housing stock within this area.”

Hanover Harley Davidson building sells for $2.9M

A Hanover property that will become the new Peebles Golf Cars headquarters sold for $2.9 million, Colliers | Virginia announced Monday.

Located at 10441 Washington Highway, the facility sits on 5.3 acres. Peebles Golf Cars will move its headquarters from to the 31,815-square-foot property.

Old Washington Highway LLC bought the property from G & G Motorcycles Inc. Colliers’ senior vice presidents Peter Vick and Harrison Hall represented the buyer.

Lockheed Martin Manassas office wins modification to $190.27M Navy contract

The office of Corp.’s Rotary and Mission Systems sector will add work on a contract the company previously won. The modification is to a $190.27 million Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., cost-plus-incentive-fee contract. It is to exercise an option for engineering design development and supporting material procurement, the announced Friday.

Work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2023, and 65% of it will be performed in Manassas.

The 2021 fiscal year funds provide $5.4 million from procurement and $1.5 million from research, development, test and evaluation that will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.

Two Va. companies among group that won $950M Navy contract

Two Virginia companies were part of a group of companies that won a maximum $950 million construction contract from Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Mid-Atlantic, . Along with six other contractors, they can compete for task orders under the terms of the contract, the announced Friday.

-based S.B. Ballard Construction Co. and -based general construction company are the Virginia competitors, along with the Quantico office of Massachusetts-based renewable energy company Ameresco Inc.

S.B. Ballard Construction Co. won the initial $51.6 million task order for the corrosion control and paint facility at Naval Station Norfolk. All work will be performed in Hampton Roads and is expected to be completed March 2024.

The indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity multiple award design-build/design bid build construction contract is for large general projects, like new construction, demolition, repair, renovation and systems, in the NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic area of operations. The contract has four option years in addition to the base period and will last a maximum of 60 months. Expected completion is August 2026.

The seven minimum guarantee task order awards have $35,000 obligated in fiscal year 2021 funds.

310 Va. companies make this year’s Inc. 5000 list

This year, 310 Virginia companies are ranked on the most recent Inc. 5000. Inc. magazine released its annual list of the nation’s 5,000 fastest-growing privately-held companies Tuesday morning.

Leading Virginia’s companies on the list is No. 13 Olympic Media, a ad company based in . Incorporated in 2017, the firm focuses on politics and advocacy advertising and fundraising, sports media and entertainment marketing, intelligence and defense advertising and mission-critical digital assets and media and consumer brands, owning several content platforms. bases its compensation on the success of its ad campaign, rather than charging a flat fee.

The bases its on verified annual revenues from the most recent three years.

Olympic Media was founded by CEO Ryan Coyne, who was formerly chef financial officer for Alexandria-based marketing agency IMGE. A Philadelphia native who also worked as a Wall Street investment banking analyst for J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Coyne attributes his company’s rapid to its compensation structure, talent and word of mouth.

After learning the company had ranked so close to the top of the Inc. 5000 this year, Coyne felt proud of his team. “I think there’s kind of an enormous sense of responsibility to keep up the good work. You know, nobody wants to make it only once and it’s kind of on us now to continue doing what we’re doing and expand the business as best we can next year and the years after,” he said.

Last year’s top-ranked Virginia company was Sassy Jones at No. 75 — this year, the Richmond-based online jewelry and accessory retailer rose to No. 24. Three other Virginia companies were ranked in the top 100: No. 75, PingWind, an Annandale-based cybersecurity, program management, infrastructure and consulting ; No. 76, Go Powertrain, a Hinton-based supplier of new, remanufactured and recycled automotive parts; and No. 100, CTW Solutions dba Informed XP, a Chantilly-based IT systems development company.

Go Powertrain moved up on the list from No. 1337 in 2020 to cracking the top 100 this year.

“We’re so excited about the continued recognition as an Inc. 5000 fastest growing company,” Go Powertrain Owner and CEO Aaron Barnhart said in a statement. “It brings excitement to the workplace that we’ve built, and the people on our rapidly expanding team are the ones responsible for this achievement. We are so proud of our team.”

Ryan Coyne photo courtesy Olympic Media

Virginia companies on the list had a median growth rate of 152% since 2017 and brought in $18.4 billion in total revenue. Collectively, they added 33,559 jobs, and 173 out of the 310 Virginia companies were repeat winners. Last year, 280 companies in the state made the list.

Of the 310 Virginia companies on this year’s list, 213 are in Northern Virginia, with 128 of those based in Fairfax County.

North Carolina had 127 companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 list, and Maryland had 138 companies.

The top 25 Virginia companies on the Inc. 5000 list include (in order of ranking):

No. 13: Olympic Media, 20,330%, advertising & marketing, Arlington

No. 24: Sassy Jones, 12,736%, retail, Richmond

No. 75: PingWind,  5,118%, government services, Annandale

No. 76: Go Powertrain, 5,034%, manufacturing, Hinton

No. 100: CTW Solutions dba Informed XP, 3,910%, IT systems development, Chantilly

No. 197: Objective Area Solutions, 2,199%, government services, Arlington

No. 242: Cloth & Paper, 1858%, consumer products and services, Henrico

No. 262: Centurion Consulting Group, 1,769%, government services, Herndon

No. 263: Gravy Analytics, 1,768%, , Dulles

No. 279: ShineManagement, 1,664%, business products and services, Charlottesville

No. 291: Markesman Group, 1,583%, government services, Newport News

No. 306: Secure Planet, 1,497%, government services, Arlington

No. 314: Core One Solutions, 1,455%, government services, Sterling

No. 331: Black Bear Solutions, 1,413%,  IT Management, Alexandria

No. 336: Kern Technology Group, 1,399%, government services, Virginia Beach

No. 352: WheelsOnSite USA, 1,343%, retail, Sterling

No. 393: Broadleaf, 1,235%, government services,

No. 408: Donor Bureau, 1,185%, software, Arlington

No. 411: Kreative Technologies, 1,184%, government services, Fairfax

No. 432: 4P Foods PBC, 1,132%, food & beverage, Warrenton

No. 434: Hungry, 1,127%, food & beverage, Arlington

No. 453: Dobrin Properties, 1,073%, real estate, Richmond

No. 469: Old Dominion Strategies, 1,031%, government services, Reston

No. 511: The Building People, 953%, real estate, Leesburg

No. 519: Spinnaker Consulting Group, 941%, financial services, Richmond

This story has been updated and corrected since publication.