The U.S. Army awarded Reston-based Fortune 500 federal contractorLeidos Holdings Inc. a $306 million follow-on contract to help the branch operate and maintain the Saturn Arch aerial platform, the company announced Monday.
The Saturn Arch aerial platform works to neutralize improvised explosive devices. Under the contract, Leidos will provide ground and flight operations for the aircraft in areas outside the continental United States. Work on the contract will be performed at Bridgewater Airport in Virginia and locations outside the continental U.S.
“Leidos is proud to continue our longstanding support for the Saturn Arch program,” Micah Stauffer, Leidos vice president of QRC Airborne ISR Systems, said in a statement. “Our airborne solutions operation is uniquely positioned with the operational experience, key infrastructure and strategic industry partnerships necessary to ensure the success of the warfighter’s mission.”
Leidos under the contract will equip the aircraft with new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems that are designed to improve aircrew survivability and beyond-line-of-sight operations, according to a company statement.
With annual revenues of $11.09 billion last year and 37,000 employees, Leidos specializes in technology and engineering services for defense agencies.
As public universities and medical centers have depleted previously allocated federal dollars, Gov. Ralph Northam is directing more than $116 million in federal CARES Act funding to higher education institutions in Virginia, the governor announced Tuesday.
Funding will go to public universities and medical centers in support of telework, distance learning, personal protective equipment, sanitization and cleaning materials as well as COVID-19 testing for students, staff and faculty.
“Virginia has some of the best colleges and universities in the nation, and they are working overtime to keep students, staff and faculty safe,” Northam said in a statement. “This additional $116 million in federal funding will go a long way towards closing COVID-related budget gaps at these institutions, and will ensure they can continue to provide a world-class education in the midst of this public health crisis.”
Of the new funding, approximately $115.6 million will go directly to institutions to cover previous and upcoming COVID-19-related expenses through Dec. 30. The Virtual Library of Virginia, a consortium of Virginia’s public and nonprofit libraries, will also receive $600,000 in funding to purchase educational films, documentaries and television programming for distance learning.
“College life looks very different in the age of COVID-19,” Secretary of Education Atif Qarni said in a statement. “We are proud to support the commonwealth’s colleges and universities as they work to protect the safety of their students, faculty, and communities, and continue to provide the high-quality education Virginia is known for.”
The five institutions receiving the largest funding are:
Small business | Mark Baumgartner, CFO
Pender & Coward PC, Norfolk
It’s safe to say Mark Baumgartner knows the ins and outs of Virginia Beach-based law firm Pender & Coward PC, where he has served as chief financial officer since 2017.
Prior to becoming the firm’s CFO, Baumgartner had 20 years of experience working as a Pender & Coward attorney, including a decade as a shareholder at the firm, which last year reported more than $13 million in revenue. He still maintains a busy law practice in addition to carrying out his CFO duties, which he has expanded to include responsibility for the firm’s technology.
“There is a lot of overlap, I think, in today’s world between financial reporting and information technology,” he says.
A year and a half ago, Baumgartner embarked on overseeing a complete overhaul of the firm’s IT infrastructure, including cybersecurity, software platforms and devices such as computers, servers and phone systems. The technology upgrades came just in time for the COVID-19 pandemic, as the project was completed just weeks before the firm transferred to remote work in mid-March.
Baumgartner also spearheaded the automation of monthly reporting revenues through the company’s accounting system, which allows him to spot trends and provide shareholders with the latest performance indicators. He also streamlined reporting for case matter management, accounting and billable hours.
Pender & Coward CEO Dave Arnold says, “We had to have somebody on the inside of this firm who understood IT well enough to oversee it and make recommendations to our partners, and Mark — and it’s certainly not in his job description as CFO — undertook that role. This was in addition to having his busiest year as a practicing lawyer.” (Baumgartner specializes in corporate and transactional law, real estate, environmental law and litigation.)
Monthly revenue reporting, which was once a labor-intensive process, is now automated, which allows Baumgartner to report monthly practice-specific metrics to firm shareholders. He considers this his greatest accomplishment as CFO. It allows shareholders to react more quickly to the ebbs and flows of business — particularly amid the unpredictable COVID-19 landscape.
“The ability to see [practice profitability] quickly on a monthly basis … has been a big benefit, and I share that with the shareholders so they can see that information in real time as the year progresses,” Baumgartner says. “It allows us to react much more quickly.”
“He didn’t just take over as CFO. He overhauled the way the position was handled,” Arnold says. “There was no other attorney in this firm qualified to understand the process in order to make informed recommendations and decisions. He manages one of the largest and most profitable practices in the firm. And I don’t know when he sleeps.”
With greater transparency into the firm’s profitability, Baumgartner is able to study data such as billable hours and where and how the firm’s money is being spent to better inform his budgeting process during a time when revenue forecasting has become more challenging due to the pandemic.
Baumgartner advises other CFOs to take the time to identify and understand which data points are important to a business in order for it to thrive.
“Sometimes the most important metrics aren’t necessarily dollars and cents,” Baumgartner says. “They might inform the ultimate decision, but data is just one tool for the overall financial picture.”
With the technology project put to bed and COVID-19 adjustments becoming the new normal, it’s smooth sailing for Baumgartner — literally. He and his wife, Penny, plan to sail from the East Coast to Antigua on their 39-foot Jeanneau-brand boat, Southern Cross, in early November.
“It’s a very good socially distanced thing to be out on a sailboat, that’s for sure,” Baumgartner says.
Large Business | Carla Stoner, CFO
Harbor Group International LLC, Norfolk
Carla Stoner doesn’t come from a typical CFO background of working strictly as an accountant or CPA, but she had the chops to grow Norfolk-based real estate investment and management firm Harbor Group International LLC (HGI) from $3.8 billion in assets under management to approximately $13 billion today.
When Stoner came to HGI in 2012, she had more than 20 years of experience serving in financial leadership roles with real estate companies. Since then, she’s expanded HGI’s accounting and finance divisions, which were much smaller when she joined the company.
“I’ve always viewed myself as a real estate person who happens to have a degree in accounting — not [as] an accountant who happens to work in real estate,” she says.
Stoner’s responsibilities at HGI included evaluating the company’s technology platform and adding to its finance team, which at the time employed only 15 people — none of whom were CPAs. Today, the team has 45 members, including 11 CPAs. She considers the team’s expansion to be her greatest accomplishment as HGI’s CFO because it has allowed investors to get better financial reporting.
“I really think spending those first years focused on professionalizing the finance team laid the groundwork for some of the growth in the company,” Stoner says. “Reporting to outside investors is extremely important and even if you’re providing good returns, if you’re failing on investor reporting, you’re running the risk of losing investors.”
The additions to her team also allowed Stoner more time to lead HGI’s $1.8 billion acquisition of a portfolio of 13,000 apartments across the country from Los Angeles-based Aragon Holdings earlier this year. With only 90 days to close the transaction and 300 new employees to bring on board, Stoner was also tasked with ensuring the company’s profitability during the acquisition, says HGI Chairman and CEO Jordan Slone.
“She was responsible for the business plan to make sure that it was going to be profitable from an operations standpoint for the company,” Slone says. “She did it with really flying colors.”
After fully negotiating the contract and guaranteeing that financing was in place, Stoner worked with HGI’s property management and human resources teams to onboard the new employees.
“When we do one of those acquisitions, our company can double or grow by a third on one single day,” Stoner says. “We have to be prepared to hire and train the people.”
From that transaction, Stoner stresses the importance of managing liquidity — especially during uncertain times such as the pandemic.
“This is the time to make sure there are plenty of cash reserves,” Stoner says. “I believe that this is something that could be going on for the long haul. Liquidity planning is a critical defensive component that the CFO really needs to focus on right now.”
In addition to her traditional CFO duties, Stoner is also responsible for the company’s legal and information technology departments, human resources, asset management and compliance, Slone says.
“She cares about people, and she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty,” he says. “There’s a lot of people that can talk the talk, but they can’t walk the walk. If she notices a problem, she goes to the source.”
Apart from her responsibilities to the company, outside of work Stoner can be found cheering on the Hokies at Virginia Tech‘s Lane Stadium, playing golf at Princess Anne Country Club or caring for her rescue pets: two 17-year-old Maine-coon-mixed-breed cats (brother and sister Duke and Daisy) and 6-year-old mixed-breed dog Vixey, who loves to wear her Virginia Tech bandanna on game days.
After a nearly 15-year career in sports entertainment marketing and content (including stints with World Wrestling Entertainment and the Columbus Blue Jackets NHL team), Stephenson joined the Washington Football Team as its vice president of digital marketing and programming just one year ago — ahead of what will be the biggest brand transition in the 88-year history of the former Washington Redskins franchise and perhaps the entire NFL.
“As cool as everything else I’ve done, this is the peak for me,” Stephenson says. “The magic of the NFL will never go away for me.”
That magic could have been tainted during tumultuous times for the team. The Washington Post ran articles this summer revealing sexual harassment and verbal abuse allegations within the Ashburn-based National Football League franchise. And amid a growing national movement for racial justice, calls for the team to drop the Redskins name grew too loud to ignore. Stadium name sponsor FedEx notified the team that unless it changed its name, which many saw as derogatory to Native Americans, FedEx would pull its branding from the stadium.
As part of its rebranding effort, the Washington Football Team in early September launched a new fan-focused ad campaign, “No Name But Team.”
On July 13, the team announced it was retiring the Redskins team name and logo.
But Stephenson views it all as an opportunity to make lasting changes at the franchise.
The temporarily named Washington Football Team is accepting input for branding suggestions through its new Washington Journey website. A passion project for Stephenson, the site has already received tens of thousands of submissions from fans. There still isn’t a firm timeline on when a new team name or logo might be announced, says Stephenson, as the team is still in its initial phase of gathering input. Fans, the community and the team’s partners will ultimately have a say in what to officially call the new incarnation of the former Redskins.
On top of branding challenges, Stephenson has also had to get creative with digital approaches to engaging fans, while the team plays to empty bleachers at FedExField due to the pandemic.
Starting with its Sept. 13 season opener versus the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Football Team (which has the eighth-highest NFL team valuation at $3.5 billion) is playing its 2020 season home games without spectators — but that didn’t stop them from getting the season opener win. On Sept. 22, Washington Football Team President Jason Wright said that the team wouldn’t yet welcome fans back to the stadium after seeing sports gatherings in Europe causing outbreaks, as well as delays in COVID-19 data from teams that hosted fans during the first few weeks of the season.
“I am eager for in-person viewing to return … but not at the expense of public safety,” Wright wrote in a blog post. “As a result, we are reviewing the data each week to see what is happening with other teams, looking at national and local infection rates, and reviewing state and local guidelines for safety. Right now, it’s still a ‘no.’”
To keep fans engaged, the team has launched more digital content, including pre- and post-game broadcasts, on-demand content, increased social media engagement and a virtual draft experience. They’re also riding a high after locking down new Head Coach Ron Rivera and overall No. 2 draft pick Chase Young, a defensive end.
“As long as we’re planning and detailed in our approach, we know that we’re going to do what it takes to have FedExField rocking next season,” Stephenson says. “We’re pretty pumped about that, and fans are responding.”
As of mid-October, the Washington Football Team was playing home games amid empty seats at FedExField. The team closed the stadium to fans due to the pandemic.
Virginia Business: What had you heard about the team before joining? Were the Washington Post stories about workplace harassment news to you?
Marcus Stephenson: To be honest, I did research. I’ve been in marketing and content for 15 years. I was referred to this position by a former colleague at the Columbus Blue Jackets. They told me some of the things that happened here. I did my own research. I felt honored, honestly, at that point. I felt empowered when I came in for the interview because if I didn’t get the answers I wanted, I wasn’t going to agree. I felt really good about what was told to me: “This is a new era. You’re going to be part of the change agent.” I wanted to be one of them mostly because of the legacy of this franchise … but then also, the NFL is everything to me. … As cool as everything else I’ve done, this is the peak for me. The magic of the NFL will never go away for me.
VB: What has it been like to join the team amid what will likely be the biggest branding change in NFL history?
Stephenson: First and foremost, it’s the pace. I think … doing something in months that previously usually takes years to do is ultimately what the challenge is. The philosophy of when you’re doing it for the right reasons and the right intentions, it empowers you to work fast, work hard, work smart. Because I came from an agency environment, I have that kind of mentality to work overnight, to think overnight and to make decisions quickly based on data and research. It made this decision to move in this direction easy because it combined data with … [taking] fans on a journey with us. … When you have that opportunity to be authentic and real to any audience, it’s hard not to get up in the morning for that.
VB: What has fan momentum looked like since the preseason was canceled due to COVID-19?
Stephenson: This offseason obviously was an extremely challenging time for not just our organization, not just the NFL, but everybody in general, an unprecedented type of summer that all of us have had. It started at the NFL Draft, where we all had to think very quickly right after we were quarantined [about how we were] going to pull off a national event like this. … We were able to build a virtual draft experience that was trailblazing for the league. … That gave us a lot of encouragement, and our fans encouragement, that, “These guys are doing some things differently here. Let’s ride this out. There are some reservations, but let’s ride this out.”
Combined with our offseason luck of Head Coach Ron Rivera coming in and then also [landing the overall] No. 2 draft pick … the work was easy for us because we capitalized on that. We just had to be ready.
VB: What kind of response have you gotten from asking fans to send in their own team-branding suggestions?
Stephenson: We’ve had thousands upon thousands, in the double-digit thousands, of submissions. We know that people care very much about this legacy. People care very much about this franchise and where it’s going. … We can’t be on coast mode. We have to be careful. … That’s what [WashingtonJourney.com] is designed for, is to have something every single day and include fans every single day so that on a macro level, if you want to give your own pitch, “Mad Men”-style, you can do that, but if on a micro level, if you just have a logo idea or just the thought, you can give that, too. We’re constantly looking. It feels magical right now.
VB: How and when will the branding decision be made?
Stephenson: We are going to take our time, as long as it takes. If Washington Football Team sticks — that will be informed by data. It will always be informed by data and real honest answers from our fans, our community and our partners. … Changing a brand is not [done] overnight. You can’t have it done in three weeks; you can’t have it done in six months. We’ve got to be diligent. Right now, it’s the intake phase. We’re analyzing all of the data that we have right now, all of the pitches, all of the submissions, all of the social listening data that we have, what our partners are telling us. Ultimately, I can’t guarantee that any one submission is actually going to be picked because it’s going to be a group effort, but I will say that where we’re at right now in the stage is where we want to be, and moving forward, you’re going to see things move a little more rapidly.
VB: Will any part of the former Redskins branding remain, including the colors?
Stephenson: To maintain its authenticity, everything is truly up in the air. Now, on a foundational level, we are the burgundy and gold, and that has stood for us for a hundred years. We are hoping that if fans want it, that sticks with us for the next hundred years. I’ve said this before and I mean it, if I were to tell you absolutely 100% we’re sticking with the burgundy and gold, that would be us making that decision and not us collectively making that decision. That’s the important part that we need to take from this, is that [team management is] not making the ultimate decision. We are collectively. If what you’re going to see moving down the road, if that feedback … turns into a different color scheme, then that’s something that we all made a conscientious decision together.
VB: What happens to all of the old Redskins merchandise and branding? Will the team continue to profit from it?
Stephenson: No, all merchandise related to the organization’s previous nickname has been removed. Part of our journey and what we’re going to show on WashingtonJourney.com is the replacing of any stadium [branding] or any on-field [branding] changing into our new brand. You probably saw that [this season] with the end zone and then the padding around the field. It was beautiful. Our stadium looked, in a weird way, brand new. That’s what you should expect to see. We are not erasing our legacy. When you see throwback clips of John Riggins, you’re going to see throwback clips of John Riggins. We’re not erasing that. It’s impossible, and we’d be crazy to want to erase that. We’re not an expansion team. We are the Washington Football Team that has been here, established in 1932. [Editor’s note: The team was founded as the Boston Braves in 1932 and moved to Washington as the Redskins in 1937.]
VB: What are new initiatives and projects you’re trying out to keep fans engaged while they’re away from FedExField?
Stephenson: It’s been an incredible challenge. … We use it as an opportunity. … We have a whole new radio crew, Julie Donaldson coming in, the first woman to be a full time [announcer] at the NFL on the radio booth. … We’re creating also on-demand content so you don’t miss anything. If you want those interactive updates, you can get them. If you want the walk-ins of our players, you can get them. Then, at the same time, if you want to just sit there and watch it, you can. … We have Tiffany Blackmon, who’s formerly of the NFL Network, hosting our pregame show with Santana Moss, a Washington Football legend.
Then, we have Scott Jackson in our post-game … along with … future hall of famer London Fletcher. Then, you’re anchored by our game day crew of Julie Donaldson, Bram Weinstein and then legend DeAngelo Hall. It’s a new … diverse group that speaks to today’s audience that is rallying around what our brand is and what we’re looking to do in this new era.
You’re only going to see more. The next step is our launch of our unfiltered programming, which we launched [in September], the first one being The Beat … that is solely digital, caters to a national audience, and is really focused around what we call the 360-degree view of a pro, so food, fashion, entertainment, lifestyle, pop culture, and gaming. … We’re doing some innovative stuff here, all by leveraging digital as a distribution platform.
VB: What will it be like to get fans back in the stadium post-pandemic?
Stephenson: We’re already getting started. … Obviously, it’s helping with the team’s new energy … but from a digital marketing perspective, … it’s tracking affinity. It’s using data, understanding what our future customers’ mindsets might be so that when we are putting them in a segment, for instance, or marketing to them via our own channels or paid channels, we’re talking to them in a way that they would want to be talked to, based on where they are in a customer journey.
We’re excited about where we are there because as long as we’re planning and detailed in our approach, we know that we’re going to do what it takes to have FedExField rocking next season, led by Head Coach Ron Rivera, and our new era of the Washington Football Team. We’re pretty pumped about that, and fans are responding. We’re seeing that in some of our social media metrics. We’re seeing that in our website visits. We’re near the top in the league in all of those metrics right now, based on fan interests.
VB: When did the team’s metrics start improving?
Stephenson: The boom definitely started in January with Coach Rivera’s hire, but then trailed off a little bit. Then, as you would expect, peaked again [after] Chase Young, our [overall] No. 2 draft pick. Then, it’s sustained, beginning in training camp all the way to obviously seeing a huge boom [after the season opener win against the Eagles]. We’ve maintained and climbed and not gone back into a valley. We’re seeing encouraging signs from metrics, visits, time spent from a website perspective, engagement rate from a social perspective. Things are only climbing.
VB: How has the organization dealt with marketing efforts around the team’s temporary name?
Stephenson: [We launched] our very first advertising campaign around the Washington Football Team. We’re calling it “No Name But Team.” … It’s a unification message that no matter what, we’re together, we’re going through this together. It’s evident by the journey that we’re taking, both figuratively and literally. What it’s meant to do is unify everyone in the [Washington, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland region]. We love it. Our fans have gravitated towards it. … We’re really excited because, in every capacity that you can imagine, “team” means more than just our stars. It’s our entire 53-man roster. … It’s everyone who this franchise has meant even just a little bit to. Our job is to reach into the hearts of our fans, our community and our partners, and to pull out what makes this franchise special and put it back into a both push-and-pull fashion for this campaign.
Small Nonprofit | David Silver, CFO Medical College of Virginia Foundation, Richmond
David Silver fell into the nonprofit world by chance.
After graduating as a Russian history major from the University of Maryland in the midst of the early 1990s recession, Silver worked for several years at hotels and restaurants, where he wound up performing back-office bookkeeping.
Discovering an aptitude for accounting, he pursued a master’s degree in business administration from Johns Hopkins University, where he eventually landed his first nonprofit higher education accounting position, working in the Johns Hopkins controller’s office. There Silver forged his career in nonprofit higher education, going on to work for the University of Maryland as the executive director, assistant treasurer and CFO for the university’s foundation.
In 2018, Silver was hired as CFO for Virginia Commonwealth University‘s Medical College of Virginia Foundation, a nonprofit foundation that oversees approximately $650 million in total assets. Through fundraising campaigns, it provides scholarships, professorships, research and program funds for VCU Health, the VCU/MCV health sciences schools and the Massey Cancer Center.
He inherited “a shop that in a lot of cases was frozen in time from the early 2000s,” Silver says. At the time he was hired, it had also been more than a year since the foundation had a permanent CFO, adds MCV Foundation President Margaret Ann Bollmeier.
During the past two years, Silver has worked to modernize the foundation’s financial and technology reporting procedures and has made mentorship and teamwork a priority.
“You’re only as good as a CFO or controller as your team,” Silver says, adding that it’s important to “really focus on developing your people. It’s super important as a manager to help your staff develop their skillset and be a resource and a mentor so they can grow.”
As the CFO of a small nonprofit, Silver wears a lot of proverbial hats, ranging from facilities management to human resources duties. One of his top priorities has been creating a space where employees enjoy working. With only 17 employees, Silver has worked to break down existing silos between the finance, marketing and fundraising teams to create a stronger and more collaborative environment. Eliminating chokepoints in collaboration between departments and updating the nonprofit’s information technology infrastructure and software also has resulted in increased employee retention, Silver says.
“He’s highly respected and really well-liked by our team,” says Bollmeier. “I really appreciate the relationship building that he’s done for us because that’s such an important part of all of our constituents having confidence in us.”
That confidence paid off after COVID-19 hit and enrollment at MCV and the needs of other MCV Foundation clients were in question.
Luckily, the foundation had enough funds on hand when the coronavirus hit and did not need to raise additional money to cover any needs for its campus partners. Silver has incorporated lessons learned from the unforeseen pandemic and its accompanying economic crisis into his strategic financial planning for the foundation.
“I’m going to be paying a lot more attention to liquidity and making sure that if the campus needs financial resources in a hurry that we can do that very quickly,” Silver says. “For me, this is probably the most important issue I’ve got to deal with right now … just making sure when the campus needs money, we have it and it’s ready.”
Aside from his duties to the foundation, Silver likes to decompress in the sky. A licensed private pilot since 2014, he rents and flies airplanes from the Hanover County Municipal Airport. Soon he hopes to obtain an instrument flight rules rating, which will allow him to fly in clouds or during days with poor visibility.
“Ever since I was a kid, I was fascinated by airplanes, and it was nice that I finally had the time and the resources to get my pilot’s license,” he says.
Large Nonprofit | Julie Brown, CFO
Farmington Country Club, Charlottesville
Julie Brown uses her construction industry experience to inform investments in capital projects at Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville.
Before her time at the club, Brown served for five years as controller and CFO of Charlottesville-based construction company Martin Horn Inc. And she brought that industry knowledge with her when she joined the club in 2012. Since then, Brown has built member support and buy-in for approximately $25 million in capital improvement projects at Farmington Country Club.
She’s also focused on growing the club’s bottom line.
When Farmington hired Brown, the club was bringing in $13 million in annual revenue, and it had 2,394 members. Eight years later, the club boasts more than $21 million in revenue and has increased its membership to more than 2,600 members.
Projects have included a $10 million project to renovate Farmington’s kitchen and guest rooms and add a grill and locker room. The club has 40 guest rooms, several dining rooms and a ballroom, along with amenities such as golf and tennis.
“In order to do capital projects, you’ve first got to educate the membership and get them to have confidence in the project,” says Farmington Country Club CEO Joe Krenn. “During the first round of projects, having [Brown] help me manage all of the [purchase orders] and understand all of the inner workings of how the construction world works … that was a huge help.”
Luckily, the club had already begun to reap the benefits of the projects by the time COVID-19 hit, which rocked the hospitality industry. On March 17, Farmington Country Club closed its doors for nearly three months until Gov. Ralph Northam eased restrictions in early June. In the interim, Brown was faced with seeking ways to avoid laying off the club’s 450-plus employees.
The club had to furlough 225 staffers, all of whom have since returned, Brown says. But with cash on hand, she was able to pay furloughed employees for six weeks while they filed for and received unemployment benefits through the state, costing the club approximately $2 million. The club also laid off a few employees in its child care center (which is still closed due to COVID-19 restrictions).
Brown oversees the club’s Lend a Hand initiative, which raises donations from staff and club members to help club employees during times of need. “[This] has in turn helped a lot of our employees maintain mortgage payments, car payments and medical bills [during the pandemic],” Brown says.
To prepare for 2021, Brown has a traffic-light-inspired financial plan for the club. Depending on the stage of the pandemic, Brown will implement one of three budgets: red (back to stringent restrictions), yellow (operating at a limited capacity) or green (returning to normalcy).
“We budgeted for 2020, and that budget pretty much became irrelevant on March 13,” Brown says. “I had to take a hard look at how I was going to budget for 2021 because … I don’t think this is going away anytime soon.”
Brown’s 2021 budgeting pivot and initiative to help employees during challenging times illustrates her evolving duties.
“The role is changing dramatically, insofar as that the traditional CFO is a numbers person taking care of the financials,” Brown says. The role of CFOs “is really changing to be that strategic partner with CEOs and COOs. [We] need to get out from behind [our] computers and really be a part of the entire organization … to be that strategic partner who is so desperately needed during these times.”
As a self-described “education freak,” Brown shares her financial knowledge outside of the club as a guest speaker for James Madison University’s Hart School of Hospitality, Sport and Recreation Management and the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, helping students understand how their education can inform their careers and build acumen in the country club sector.
“She’s a big part of our industry in regards to education,” Krenn says. “She’s helping teach what we’re doing here to all the other clubs in the nation.”
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Ntiva provides managed IT, cloud hosting, cybersecurity, communications and strategic IT consulting services, while eGuard monitors, maintains and secures customer IT infrastructures through a single point management system.
“eGuard Tech has long committed to differentiating our services by being the strategic technology and business consultant to our clients and delivering innovative technology solutions,” eGuard CEO Khaled Farhang said in a statement. “Our partnership with Ntiva has offered us the opportunity to expand on these services while providing a deep bench in the crucial areas of security and cloud solutions.”
The acquisition of eGuard expands Ntiva’s footprint into the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore markets and increases the company’s client base to more than 1,400 organizations across the U.S., according to a company statement.
“We are pleased to welcome the eGuard Tech team to the Ntiva family,” Ntiva CEO Steven Freidkin said in a statement. “eGuard Tech, founded in 2004, has a proven track record of providing outstanding services to their clients. As a company with a deeply rooted track record of building relationships and growing their employees, eGuard Tech is a perfect fit with the existing Ntiva culture.”
Falls Church-based defense and government services contractor Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE) announced Monday plans to acquire Burlington, Massachusetts-based Centra Technology Inc. for $208 million in cash.
“By acquiring Centra, PAE realizes a significant milestone in the execution of our strategic growth plan to be a provider of innovative, higher margin, knowledge-based offerings in attractive, resilient end markets,” PAE President and CEO John Heller said in a statement. “This exciting opportunity builds on our intelligence analysis capabilities while increasing customer access, accelerating growth and enhancing shareholder value.”
Centra provides intelligence analysis and is focused on mission-critical services for the intelligence community and other U.S. national and homeland security customers. The company employs more than 760 people, most of whom hold top secret security clearances. PAE also provides mission support services to government clients. The company employs more than 20,000 workers across its operations in 60 countries and reported more than $2.7 billion in revenue last year.
“This transaction will further enhance Centra’s capabilities and create new opportunities for our customers and employees,” Centra Chief Operating Officer Jack Barry said in a statement. “The customers, contracts and offerings of each business complement each other well and will be attractive for all stakeholders.”
The transaction was unanimously approved by both companies’ boards of directors and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year.
PAE used Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP as a legal adviser and Renaissance Strategic Advisors LLC acted as a strategic adviser for the transaction. Centra used Greenberg Traurig LLC for legal advising and Citizens Capital Markets Inc. for financial advising.
Herndon-based techcontractor Valiant Integrated Services LLC announced Friday that Chief Financial Officer Mike Pilon has been promoted as the company’s first enterprise chief operating officer in a string of new leadership appointments.
Dan Corbett
Dan Corbett will succeed Pilon, who had served as CFO since 2017. In his new role, Pilon will oversee operations, engineering and technology application services as well as the company’s growth plan. Corbett, who most recently served as vice president of operations with Falls Church-based Pacific Architects and Engineers (PAE), will lead finance, accounting, treasury and information technology at the company.
Valiant also announced Friday the creation of the chief growth officer role, which will be filled by Chris Bauer. He will focus on developing existing customer relationships and partnerships as well as brand recognition.
Chris Bauer
“From the strong platform that we have built to help our government partners achieve their mission, Valiant is now laser-focused on growing our business, expanding our capabilities, serving our customers and delivering unmatched value to all of our stakeholders,” Valiant CEO James Jaska said in a statement. “We are delighted at the appointments of Mike, Dan and Chris into their new positions further strengthening our executive team and organization.”
Valiant employs more than 5,500 people worldwide and provides support services to the U.S. government, its allied partners and international organizations. The company provides services including logistics, sustainment, advanced learning, readiness, mission and contingency operations, engineering and analysis operations as well as maintenance and management for aerospace, defense, national security, intelligence and civil government customers.
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