He succeeds Philip Felt, co-founder of Divurgent, who had served as CFO since the company’s 2007 inception. Felt will lead the board of directors’ finance committee.
Ward most recently served as senior director and market CFO of the Atos North America Healthcare division. In his new role, he will focus on improving operations, risk mitigation and financial performance.
“We’re excited to have John at the helm of our finance and accounting departments during this exciting time at Divurgent,” Divurgent co-founder and CEO Colin Konschak said in a statement. “John’s experience scaling companies similar to ours will accelerate our ability to better serve our existing client base while expanding into new markets and solution areas.”
Divurgent also announced last week that it had hired Sam Hanna as its chief strategy officer and executive vice president of innovation and consulting .
Founded in 2007, Divurgent provides health care consulting services to hospitals, health systems and affiliated providers. In the past decade, the company has been featured on the Inc. 5000 list (recognizing the fastest-growing privately held companies) six times.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) announced Wednesday that 10 new companies have been accepted into its two-year Virginia Leaders in Export Trade (VALET) program, which helps companies work on international exporting growth strategies.
The VALET program helps Virginia companies to establish domestic operations for exports and encourages using international exporting as a growth strategy. During the two-year program, businesses learn international sales plan development services through trainings from international service providers, meetings with potential partners, educational events and market research. There are currently 46 companies participating in the VALET program. Since VALET’s inception, 368 Virginia companies have been accepted into the program.
These companies are joining the VALET program:
American K-9 Interdiction LLC, Isle of Wight County
Virginia exports more $37 billion in goods and services annually, supporting more than 257,000 jobs and generating $2 billion in annual tax revenue, according to VEDP.
“International trade is a critical driver of Virginia’s economy, including jobs and capital investment, and will be an important component of the commonwealth’s economic recovery efforts post-pandemic,” VEDP President and CEO Stephen Moret said in a statement. “We are thrilled that these Virginia companies have chosen to accelerate their international sales efforts via the VALET Program, and we look forward to putting our resources to work for their global success.”
Virginia’s General Fund revenue for December 2020 increased 15.1% compared with December 2019, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday.
Total revenue collections rose 7.8% through December on a fiscal year-to-date basis, which was well ahead of the 1.2% growth forecast. The increase was driven by growth in payroll withholding, corporate income tax, sales and use taxes, and recordation tax collections, according to the governor’s statement.
“Our diligence in following our long-term financial plan has put Virginia in a stronger position to weather this health crisis and ensure a sustainable recovery,” Northam said in a statement. “As we look ahead to a post-pandemic world, this continued solid revenue performance gives us confidence that we can meet our budget priorities, enhance our cash reserves and provide relief to Virginians who need it.”
Payroll withholding tax collections grew 10.6% during December 2020 and — thanks to the holiday shopping season — sales and use tax collections (reflecting November sales) rose 5.2% in December 2020.
“A clearer assessment of the season will be possible after receiving December sales tax payments due in January,” Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said in a statement. “January nonwithholding payments will also give us a better indication of taxpayer behavior for calendar 2020 tax returns.”
Corporate income tax collections increased 37.7% during December 2020 compared to December 2019 and collections of wills, suits, deeds and contracts (mainly recordation tax collections) were $63.6 million — $40.4 million more than the same time in 2019.
Ahead of a forecasted 1.2% increase, total revenue collections rose 7.8% on a fiscal year-to-date basis. Payroll withholding tax collections (which comprise 63% of General Fund revenues) increased 2.9%, slightly ahead of the annual estimate of 2.7% growth.
The contract goes toward work on the Total System Support Responsibility (TSSR) program, which will provide program management, engineering technical support, aircrew and maintenance training, supply chain and spares management, technical data and publications, program depot maintenance and overall customer support.
“We remain fully committed to delivering essential services for Joint STARS that Northrop Grumman uniquely provides to our warfighters,” Janice Zilch, Northrop Grumman vice president of manned airborne surveillance programs, said in a statement. “The overall modification and sustainment work will ensure continuous safety and system readiness for the E-8C fleet against evolving threat environments.”
Joint STARS provides real-time battle management situational awareness and wide area search to warfighters using target detection, radar imagery and battle management systems. It locates, classifies and tracks surface targets.
Teams working on the project are based in Warner Robins, Georgia; Lake Charles, Louisiana; and Melbourne, Florida.
Northrop Grumman employs more than 90,000 people and reported $33.8 billion in 2019 revenue.
Arlington-based Accenture Federal Services (AFS) announced Wednesday it has been awarded a $50 million U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) contract to work on the agency’s financial management systems for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO).
Under the five-year contract, AFS will provide program management, operations and maintenance services to modernize USPTO’s Information Delivery Product master system.
“We are proud to support USPTO and enable the delivery of next-generation IT and enterprise data platform services to strengthen the performance of the agency’s financial management system,” Rasha Nahas, managing director and the U.S. Department of Commerce lead for AFS, said in a statement. “We look forward to working collaboratively with USPTO to deliver advanced technologies as part of our broader support for the agency’s mission, including analytics, cloud, intelligent automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence.”
AFS is a subsidiary of Irish Fortune Global 500 company Accenture. AFS has clients within the national security, federal health, military and civilian services industries. Last year, Accenture reported more than $40 billion in revenue.
Colliers International announced Tuesday that Jessica Butterworth has been appointed as a partner at Colliers International Virginia.
Since 2018 Butterworth has served as the director of engineering services, a role in which she oversees building engineering services for the Colliers offices in Richmond, Charlottesville, Norfolk, Fredericksburg, as well as Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina.
As a partner, she will be based in Colliers’ Richmond office and continue in her current role.
“This company, its culture and my colleagues are what sets us apart from our competition, and I am grateful to be presented this opportunity,” Butterworth said in a statement. “I am proud of everything we have accomplished and look forward to being a part of this organization’s ongoing success by offering exceptional service to our clients.”
Butterworth joined the firm in 2007 as an office manager and has held other positions including assistant property manager, property manager and building services coordinator. She is an Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) member and is a certified property manager candidate and real property administrator candidate.
“This announcement speaks first and foremost to the incredible leadership contributions Jessica makes to our clients, our colleagues and our standards of excellence,” Colliers Virginia President J. Scott Adams said in a statement. “It also speaks, in large part to her efforts, to the phenomenal growth we have experienced in the real estate management services area during her tenure of increased responsibility.”
The Sanghani Center will move its headquarters to Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus, which will be under construction starting this year. The gift will support recruiting, research and fellowships at the center, which opened in 2011 and was formerly called the Discovery Analytics Center.
“We thank the Sanghanis for their landmark contribution,” Virginia Tech President Tim Sands said in a statement about the couple, both of whom graduated from Virginia Tech. “This gift fuels growing momentum as we expand the university’s footprint in the greater D.C. area and explore the human-computing frontier. The Sanghanis’ investments in data analytics and artificial intelligence will advance Virginia Tech as a catalyst for discovery, growth and opportunity.”
Funding will also be allocated to a Sanghani Center scholars program for minority students pursuing graduate degrees in artificial intelligence, a focus of Mehul Sanghani’s company. Founded in 2006, Octo specializes in information technology and artificial intelligence consulting for the federal government. Some of the company’s clients include the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the General Services Administration.
Mehul and Hema Sanghani. Photo courtesy Virginia Tech
The center will be located in the Innovation Campus’ first academic building, which is expected to open in August 2024. The campus will be located in the Alexandria portion of National Landing, approximately 2 miles from Amazon.com Inc.’s $2.5 billion East Coast HQ2 Headquarters.
“Higher education is the perfect vehicle for a gift like this,” Mehul Sanghani said in a statement. “With Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus coming online, we were presented with the unique opportunity to be part of growing our university’s standing as a world class institution that uses innovation — specifically artificial intelligence and data analytics — to transform our society for the greater good.”
Virginia Tech expects up to 750 master’s students will be enrolled at the Innovation Campus by the end of the decade.
“This is a transformative gift that opens up new possibilities at a pivotal time,” said Lance Collins, vice president and executive director of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, in a statement. “Support from alumni like Mehul and Hema broadens the scope of what we can accomplish. As we build this campus, having partners like the Sanghanis makes a major difference, and we are extremely grateful.”
Naren Ramakrishnan, the center director, says the gift will allow for “more ambitious” research and education objectives.
“These funds will be used to create endowments to support the recruitment of top-notch academic and research faculty, launch new educational programs, pursue high-risk seed projects, and recruit promising Ph.D. students,” Ramakrishnan said in a statement.
Of the Sanghani’s $10 million gift, $7.4 million will support the center, $1.5 million will go to a food access program for students and the remaining funding will support Virginia Tech Athletics and the Global Business and Analytics Complex that is planned for the Blacksburg campus.
“Virginia Tech is where we both met and it opened the doors of opportunity to both Mehul and myself,” Hema Sanghani, a manager at CGI Federal Inc., said in a statement. “We believe we have a responsibility to give back to the school that has afforded us so much, and that investing in higher-education will have a return that not only supports our university, but also helps the greater good.”
Maryland-based tech company Smartronix LLC announced Monday it has acquired Fairfax-based analytics company Datastrong.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Smartronix LLC provides cloud, C5ISR, advanced engineering and IT services, while Datastrong specializes in data architecture, design and business analytics for government and commercial clients.
“Our acquisition of Datastrong represents an important step forward in expanding the suite of offerings Smartronix can deliver to clients via the cloud,” Smartronix CEO Peter B. LaMontagne said in a statement. “Our clients are seeing explosive data growth which makes it more challenging to gain insights, and Datastrong’s solutions will help us address this as an ongoing priority.
Through the acquisition, Datastrong will bring with it Department of Justice and Department of State clients.
“Smartronix is the right home for us, and a good cultural fit,” Datastrong founders Jacqueline Meriwether, Andrew Patterson and Michael Carr said in a joint statement. “We are confident that our employees and clients will benefit greatly from joining forces with Smartronix given their cloud solutions capabilities, broad customer base and extensive portfolio of contract vehicles.”
Colorado Springs, Colorado-based tech contractor Vectrus announced Dec. 28, 2020, that it would acquire Herndon-based Zenetex — a transaction valued at $112 million.
Vectrus provides operations, logistics and IT services to the U.S. government, and Zenetex provides services to defense and national security clients. The acquisition will expand Vectrus’ client base and adds more than $700 million to its contract backlog.
“I am excited to welcome the Zenetex employees to Vectrus,” Vectrus President and CEO Chuck Prow said in a statement. “Zenetex broadens our reach into the intelligence community and expands our engineering and digital technology offerings, which is critical as we expand our capabilities to help our clients transition to a more instrumented and converged approach to supply chain and facility management.”
This year, Zenetex is expected to generate more than $200 million in revenue. In 2019, Vectrus generated sales of $1.4 billion.
“Zenetex and Vectrus make an extremely powerful combination and I couldn’t be happier with this next step in our team’s journey,” Zenetex Chairman and CEO Mark Green said in a statement.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Ernst & Young, Covington & Burling LLP and Wolf Den Associates advised Vectrus during the transition. Zenetex used KippsDeSanto & Co. and Greenberg Traurig LLP as advisers.
Three office buildings in Henrico County collectively sold for $19.2 million, Colliers International announced Tuesday.
The office buildings, known as the Midtown Office Portfolio, total 155,368 square feet. The buildings include One Holland Place (at 2235 Staples Mill Road) and Vistas I & II (at 5540 and 5516 Falmouth Street). The portfolio was 92% leased to tenants including Kroger, PPD, the Commonwealth of Virginia and Azura Vascular Care.
Vistas I & II office buildings. Photo courtesy Colliers
“Richmond continues to be a desirable market for capital providing resiliency and stability since last spring,” Colliers Executive Vice President Will Bradley said in a statement. “The Midtown Office Portfolio in particular provides unmatched location, pandemic resilient fundamentals and tenancy which resonated with investors.
The four-story One Holland Place building was constructed in 1987 and totals 85,819, according to Henrico County property records. The building was most recently assessed at $8.3 million. Vistas I & II are collectively 42,429 feet and were also built in 1987, according to property records, and were most recently assessed at $7.37 million.
Bradley and Colliers Vice President Mark Williford represented the seller, Allegiancy, in the transaction. Midtown Richmond LLC purchased the property.
This marks Collier’s second major office building portfolio transaction this year near the Glenside exit from Interstate-64 in Henrico County. In March, Bradley and Williford handled a $15 million transaction for a 116,000-square-foot office portfolio on behalf of Grander Capital.
“We received significant investor interest in one of the most volatile investment climates in recent history, which further speaks to Richmond’s position as a top mid-Atlantic investment market,” Bradley said in a statement.
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