byline: Virginia Business

CRAIG P. ABOD

PRESIDENT, CARAHSOFT TECHNOLOGY CORP., RESTON

Abod has built Carahsoft into a $6 billion company over the past 17 years.

With 1,900 employees, Abod has led Carahsoft to become a top-ranked General Services Administration schedule and NASA’s Solution for Enterprise-Wide Procurement (SEWP) contract holder that provides solutions to more than 3,000 prime contractors, value-added resellers, system integrators and other channel partners.

The company recently started working with Amazon Web Services and the data storage company Buurst to help public sector organizations aggregate data quickly and securely migrate those workloads to advanced AWS cloud-native services. Last year, Carahsoft landed an $81 million Air Force contract for the Space Command and Control Division. That came after a $1.5 billion purchase agreement to provide software products and licenses to the U.S. Navy in 2019, as well as $247.7 million in cloud computing support services for the U.S. Army.

A University of Maryland graduate with his bachelor’s degree in computer science, Abod was named the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the greater Washington, D.C., area in 2015. He previously worked for DLT Solutions and Falcon Systems before founding Carahsoft in 2004. He also serves on the executive committee of the Government Business Executive Forum.

 

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REGGIE AGGARWAL

FOUNDER AND CEO, CVENT INC., McLEAN

Last year was a terrible year for most businesses, let alone a market leader in meetings and events. But Aggarwal has come back from the brink of disaster with Cvent, which now pulls in $840 million in revenue.

After laying off 10% of its workforce in 2020, the company has launched a new virtual-driven product and a strategic partnership with Encore, a leading global event-production company. They combine technology and production capabilities to create virtual and hybrid events.

“Going forward, you’ll need to do hybrid for any large conference because you get a large audience that won’t come otherwise, whether because of convenience, travel budget, overall costs, etc.,” Aggarwal said in a statement.

Aggarwal left a stable law career to launch Cvent in 1999, when he saw a need to make meeting planning easier for the CEOs with whom he formed a networking group. When the dot-com bubble burst, his early success was plunged into near bankruptcy, but Aggarwal rebounded. Now privately held through Vista Equity Partners, Cvent has grown to nearly 4,000 employees, 23,000 customers and 230,000 users worldwide. In July, the company announced it will merge with a blank check company to go public again in the fourth quarter of 2021.

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MAHFUZ AHMED

CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRINCIPAL FOUNDER, DIGITAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS LLC (DISYS), McLEAN

In a sea of staffing firms, Ahmed’s company stands out. Most in the industry suffered slumps of more than 10% last year, but DISYS reported 3% year-over-year growth due to clientele in the pharmaceutical, insurance and banking industries.

Earlier this year, DISYS acquired the legal entities of Signature. With combined annual revenues of $860 million, the transaction created one of the largest providers of information technology staffing services in the U.S. and the nation’s second-largest minority-owned staffing firm.

Ahmed, who co-founded the company in 1994 while working for Northrop Grumman, is credited with leadership and vision that fueled his recent success, which earned him a place on Staffing Industry Analysts’ list of the most influential people in staffing for four years. This comes after a decade of consistent growth to become one of the largest staffing firms in the U.S., with 45 offices worldwide.

And Ahmed isn’t stopping there. He’s leading expansion into the Canadian market space with a new headquarters in Toronto, and he’s investing in tools to support remote work for DISYS’ 5,000 employees around the world.

A George Mason University and Harvard Business School graduate, Ahmed is a native of Bangladesh.

 

 

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TOM ARSENEAULT

PRESIDENT AND CEO, BAE SYSTEMS INC., ARLINGTON

While some CEOs are proud just to have survived the pandemic, Arseneault thrived — during his first year at the helm no less.

Last year, the $11.9 billion British defense company purchased Raytheon Technology Corp.’s former GPS and airborne tactical radios businesses for $2.2 billion and began integrating the two later in the year. In September, Arseneault will take over as the vice chair of the Defense Industry Initiative. He was promoted to his current role after 22 years with BAE, which employs 5,400 people in Virginia and 35,000 worldwide and ranks among the top 10 prime contractors to the U.S. Department of Defense.

Arseneault joined BAE after the company purchased Sanders, a division of Lockheed Martin, in 2000. He previously served in engineering and program management positions with General Electric and TASC. The Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Boston University alumnus also serves on the Aerospace Industries Association Board of Governors Executive Committee, and he is a two-time recipient of Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 award.

 

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ROY AZEVEDO

PRESIDENT, RAYTHEON INTELLIGENCE & SPACE AT RAYTHEON Technologies Corp., ARLINGTON

Azevedo told Forbes that Raytheon Intelligence & Space has some of the “coolest” technologies on the planet. Unfortunately, they must remain a secret.

That’s because his unit, created with the largest-ever aerospace merger, primarily serves the U.S. Department of Defense. That’s also why it remained solid enough to celebrate its first birthday in April despite a suffering industry.

Still, the achievement requires adept leadership that in April earned Azevedo his second Wash100 Award, for leading and advancing space technology and other technical capabilities to assist the U.S. military advancements as well as drive company growth.

Before the merger, he was vice president and general manager of the company’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems business. He also sits on the boards of Raytheon’s business arms in the U.K., Australia and Saudi Arabia. Azevedo is a graduate of Northeastern University, with a degree in electrical engineering.

With $15 billion in annual revenues and 39,000 employees in the U.S. and abroad, the unit does more imagery collection and processing than any other company worldwide, according to a recent article in Forbes. In December 2020, Raytheon purchased Blue Canyon Technologies, which is now part of Azevedo’s unit.

 

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WILLIAM L. BALLHAUS

CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, BLACKBOARD INC., RESTON

Though the pandemic put a spotlight on education technology, Ballhaus has been a quiet player in the market.

Now in his fifth year at Blackboard, for which annual revenues are now $630 million, Ballhaus remains active on the UCLA Anderson School of Management Board of Advisors and the Great Meadow Foundation board of directors.

The most recent big news for Blackboard was in 2018, when the company hit $700 million in revenues and cut ties with e-learning giant Moodle after a six-year partnership. Blackboard sold its learning management software to London-based Learning Technologies Group (formerly Moodlerooms) for $31.7 million in 2020.

Ballhaus has appeared on many distinguished lists and received prominent awards, including the Top 50 SaaS CEOs of 2017, named by The SaaS Report.

A graduate of the University of California at Davis, Ballhaus also has a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA. He was president and CEO of SRA International before joining Blackboard in 2016 and previously was president and CEO of DynCorp International. Ballhaus also is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

 

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TOM BELL

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, ROLLS-ROYCE NORTH AMERICA INC.; PRESIDENT, DEFENCE, ROLLS-ROYCE HOLDINGS PLC, RESTON

Bell has led Rolls-Royce North America since 2018 and also oversees the British company’s global defense contracting division, which has 9,000 employees worldwide.

Although the name Rolls-Royce for many invokes the high-end automobile line, Bell’s focus is on military aircraft. In February 2021, the company received a $96.9 million delivery order for propulsion systems to support the U.S. Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules line, running through Jan. 31, 2022.

Of particular importance to Virginia is the company’s decision last year to close its Prince George County aircraft component plant, eliminating 280 jobs there by this summer.

Bell is on a deadline to lower emissions from his operations to net carbon zero by 2030. He has called the effort a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to combat climate change.”

A Louisiana State University and Florida Institute of Technology graduate, Bell has more than 35 years of experience in the aerospace and defense industries. He started his career with Martin Marietta (now Lockheed Martin) in human space flight and spent 20 years with The Boeing Co. Bell serves on the boards of the National Defense Industrial Association and the Aerospace Industries Association.

 

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D. JAMES BIDZOS

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, VERISIGN INC., RESTON

The founder of Verisign, Bidzos is among the state’s top-earning executives and received more than $10 million in total compensation last year. The company, which serves as a domain name registry and internet infrastructure provider, saw financial improvement in 2021, with a 4% year-over-year increase to $326.9 million in revenue for the second quarter.

Having started his career at IBM, Bidzos was previously president and CEO of RSA Security, which was bought by Dell Technologies in 2016. Bidzos also co-founded the RSA Laboratories, a cybersecurity research organization connected to the company, which created early encryption software. Ultimately, RSA’s software became the federal government’s standard for maintaining cybersecurity, as well as for thousands of government contractors. He started Verisign in 1995 and serves as its board’s executive chairman, while still maintaining a foot in RSA as its board vice chairman until 2002.

Bidzos also was named in tech industry trade magazine CRN’s Computer Industry Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

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JENNIFER BOYKIN

PRESIDENT, NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING; VICE PRESIDENT, HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES, NEWPORT NEWS

As the 135-year-old company’s first female president, Boykin has seen ups and downs since 2017, when she took the reins of Newport News Shipbuilding, the nation’s largest military shipbuilding company and the state’s top industrial employer, with more than 26,000 workers.

In 2019, NNS, which is owned by Huntington Ingalls, was awarded part of the U.S. Navy’s largest shipbuilding contract, worth $22.2 billion. With General Dynamic Electric Boat, the shipbuilder is building 10 Virginia-class submarines, up from nine in the original contract. In March, the Biden administration ordered a 10th submarine, bumping up NNS’ share of the contract to $9.8 billion. However, one month earlier, Boykin laid off 314 staffers and demoted 119 managers as a cost-management measure, NNS’ first layoffs since 2015.

Currently, the NNS yard’s biggest project is the USS John F. Kennedy, the second aircraft carrier in the Navy’s new Gerald R. Ford class of nuclear-powered carriers that will replace Nimitz-class ships.

A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and George Washington University, Boykin serves on the academy’s board of visitors, as well as the boards of the Mariners’ Museum and RVA 757 Connects.

 

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MATT CALKINS

CO-FOUNDER, CEO AND EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN, APPIAN CORP., McLEAN

One might say that Calkins’ company keeps the public sector’s digital infrastructure humming. While Appian’s value might come behind the scenes, everyone can see the stock price soar.

But the CEO and co-founder of the cloud computing firm that logged $304.6 million in revenue last year said he never set out to reach billionaire status.

“I was thinking that we could make an organization that not only succeeded as a business but could change the world in a social way,” he recently told the Washington Business Journal.

Appian simplifies app development and workflow automation, freeing clients from the need for internal developers. Calkins, who previously worked at MicroStrategy in the late 1990s, co-founded Appian in 1999 with Michael Beckley, the company’s chief technology officer. The business employs about 1,200 people.

Calkins, a top competitor at the World Boardgaming Championships, has also created award-winning board games, including Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan and Tin Goose. Closer to home, the Dartmouth College alumnus serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council board and the Virginia Public Access Project’s Leadership Council.

 

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LEANNE CARET

PRESIDENT AND CEO, BOEING DEFENSE, SPACE & Security, The Boeing Co., ARLINGTON

Caret, who has been with Boeing since 1988, recently received her fifth Wash100 Award. This time, she was honored for driving innovative solutions across the technology and defense landscape.

One of those innovations is a drone, the MQ-25 Stingray, that in June successfully refueled a Navy jet in midair. It was the first time an unmanned aircraft has refueled a piloted F/A-18 jet.

Caret was previously president of Boeing’s Global Services and Support organization and has held a host of other executive roles. The Kansas State and Wichita State University alum also has completed leadership programs at Harvard and Notre Dame, and she was inducted in 2019 to the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame; she was also named to Fortune magazine’s Most Powerful Women list last year.

Overseeing a branch that brought in $34 billion in revenue last year, Caret has spearheaded modernization efforts to help Boeing continue being competitive in the defense market. In December 2020, the company received a potential $198 million contract modification to integrate a ground control station to support the MQ-25 aerial refueling drone. Boeing also made a record $50 million commitment to Virginia Tech in May to support its Alexandria-based Innovation Campus.

 

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BRUCE L. CASWELL

PRESIDENT AND CEO, MAXIMUS INC., RESTON

Serving as president since 2014 and CEO and director since 2018, Caswell has overseen a period of major growth at the $3.46 billion company. That includes a 300% increase in Maximus’ health services segment, which provides administrative services, program management and operational support for Medicaid, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

Founded in 1975 to help implement fraud controls in social services with technology, Maximus incurred new revenue streams from the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act and the Affordable Care Act. In 2018, Maximus acquired certain assets of General Dynamics Information Technology’s citizen-engagement centers for
$400 million, strengthening its market position.

A former IBM executive, Caswell speaks extensively about states’ challenges with Medicaid and health insurance exchanges. He holds a B.A. in economics from Haverford College and a master’s of public policy degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He also serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council board as vice chair.

 

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ANEESH CHOPRA

CAREJOURNEY, PRESIDENT, ARLINGTON

Chopra, who served as the first U.S. chief technology officer under President Barack Obama and Virginia’s secretary of technology for then-Gov. Tim Kaine’s administration, has remained committed to Virginia’s tech sector, particularly in health care.

In 2013, he co-founded CareJourney, an open data membership service with a rating system for physicians, networks, facilities and markets. In May, the company announced its collaboration with AaNeel Infotech and South Texas Clinical Partners Accountable Care Organization to launch Patient360, a web-based app that gives health care providers access to a patient’s history during appointments.

Chopra also chairs George Mason University’s President’s Innovation Advisory Council, which focuses on the state’s Tech Talent Investment Program to produce 32,000 additional computer science and engineering graduates over the next 20 years. GMU is responsible for graduating approximately 30% of those new degree-holders.

He also was part of President Joe Biden’s transition team focusing on the U.S. Postal Service, which has experienced severe delays during the COVID-19 pandemic. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Public Policy, Chopra unsuccessfully ran in 2013 for the Democratic nomination for Virginia’s lieutenant governor.

 

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JENNIFER CHRONIS

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, VERIZON PUBLIC SECTOR, GREAT FALLS

In her first year as senior vice president of Verizon Public Sector, Chronis’ division secured a $495 million Department of Defense contract to help connect 200 different research, development, test and evaluation laboratories.

The retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel joined Verizon in 2020 as vice president of its federal business, 10 years after retiring from the military. Over the past decade, she worked for Amazon Web Services and IBM in their public sectors, often focusing on their work with the DOD. In April, she was promoted to lead Verizon Public Sector, which includes the company’s first-responder network platform, Verizon Frontline.

A University of Virginia graduate who attended on an ROTC scholarship, Chronis is a member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board and was recognized by Washington Executive as a Top 25 DOD Executive to Watch in 2019 and 2020. She also was named to the Wash100 list of elite public-sector leaders. Chronis ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2015.

 

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MIKE CORKERY

PRESIDENT AND CEO, Deltek Inc., HERNDON

Corkery, who became Deltek’s CEO in 2012 after serving as its chief financial officer since 2010, has seen the software company double in size, now serving 30,000 customers around the world.

With about 3,200 employees, Deltek was named among the top large companies in The Washington Post’s 2021 ranking of Washington, D.C.’s best workplaces. Corkery, a graduate of St. Bonaventure University, was honored by the Northern Virginia Technology Council last year as a top tech executive in the region. Before joining Deltek, he was CFO and acting CEO of ICO Global Communications.

He’s also a group executive of software for Roper Technologies, the Florida-based parent company of Deltek since 2016. Outside of work, Corkery serves on the boards for NVTC, Year Up National Capital Region and the American Council of Engineering Companies Foundation. He also is part of the President’s Innovation Advisory Council at George Mason University and a member of the Flint Hill School board.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAMS: New York Giants and Boston Red Sox

MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Every Stroke Counts,” by Mark Brodie, a golf analytics book, so applying my geek tendencies to my golf game!

 

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DAVID DACQUINO

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, SERCO INC., HERNDON

The year has been busy for Dacquino, whose company purchased Whitney, Bradley & Brown, a Reston-based federal tech contractor, in May for $295 million. In March, Serco — a subsidiary of the U.K.-based Serco Group plc — scored a potential eight-year, $600 million contract from the U.S. Navy to provide anti-terrorism support. The Herndon-based subsidiary employs about 8,000 people in defense, citizen services and transportation.

Dacquino, whose background includes several executive positions at Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and the North American division of VT Group, as well as time spent as president and CEO of SkyLink Aviation Inc., joined Serco in 2015 as its senior vice president of defense services. In 2017, he became the $1.7 billion company’s chairman and CEO.

A graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in aeronautical engineering technology and an MBA from California State University at Northridge, Dacquino is a board member of Nathan Associates Inc. and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. In February, he was named a Wash100 Award recipient for the second time.

 

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MIKE DANIELS

VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL PUBLIC SECTOR, GOOGLE CLOUD, GOOGLE LLC, RESTON

At Google, which he joined in 2019, Daniels leads business development for public sector cloud sales, an $8 billion business. In April, the sector expanded its list of government and security compliance certifications, including Cloud DNS, making more products available to the U.S. government and agencies in India, Japan, Australia and Canada.

In 2020, Google Cloud launched several tools to help government agencies manage communications, customer service and other tasks during the COVID-19 pandemic, and its parent company has expanded its reach in Virginia, particularly in Loudoun County, where Google invested $1.2 billion in data centers and announced in March it plans to invest $600 million more.

In a January summit, Daniels predicted that remote work will continue post-pandemic. “2020 has shown us that teams can continue to work, even thrive, without ever meeting in person, and we expect that trend to continue,” he said.

A graduate of The Ohio State and Ohio Northern universities, Daniels previously oversaw public sector sales at billion-dollar tech businesses Salesforce and Oracle Corp., and he is a member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council board of directors.

 

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WILLIAM H. ‘BILL’ DEAN

CEO AND PRESIDENT, M.C. DEAN INC., TYSONS

Dean is the third generation to lead the family business founded in 1949 by Marion Caleb Dean. Formerly a small electrical firm, M.C. Dean now employs more than 2,000 people in Virginia (among 4,695 total) and earned $1.068 billion in fiscal year 2020.

Dean became president and CEO of the company in 1997 and began to expand into design and construction work, allowing M.C. Dean to score larger federal contracts.

In May, the company announced it had entered the second phase of a $25 million expansion, having broken ground on its 84,000-square-foot plant in Caroline County. Expected to open this fall, the facility will be home to ModularMEP, M.C. Dean’s line of modular electrical buildings for project sites across the country. M.C. Dean also was one of three companies awarded an $875 million, 10-year contract by the U.S. Air Force to update the power equipment for federal installations worldwide.

Dean was inducted into alma mater North Carolina State University’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Hall of Fame in 2015. He serves on the Washington Airports Task Force’s board of directors and is a past president and co-founder of the Dulles South Alliance.

 

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PAUL A. DILLAHAY

PRESIDENT AND CEO, NCI INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC., RESTON

In his fifth year at the helm of systems integration company NCI, Dillahay credits artificial intelligence adoption with a strong 2021 outlook for the business.

In January, the General Services Administration awarded NCI an $807 million task order to support the GSA’s IT strategy and the adoption of AI, machine learning, automation and other emerging technologies. The contract is the company’s largest award in its 32-year history, with a one-year base and a maximum of seven performance years.

A graduate of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania, Dillahay joined NCI as its CEO in 2016 after holding multiple executive roles at Lockheed Martin, USIS, GE and CACI International Inc. He also has completed executive education at the Kellogg School of Management and Harvard Business School. In April, he received his third Wash100 award and told ExecutiveBiz that NCI plans to bid on close to $2 billion worth of federal requests for proposals this year.

In 2020, NCI reported $268 million in revenue, employing more than 1,000 people.

 

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TINA M. DOLPH

PRESIDENT AND CEO, SIEMENS GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGIES INC., RESTON

For three years in a row, Dolph has won a Wash100 Award for driving federal sector expansion. She joined Siemens’ U.S. government arm as its leader in 2018 after a long career in federal contracting, including at Lockheed Martin, ASRC Federal and PAE Inc.

A graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Le Moyne College in New York, Dolph has been involved with the integration of large acquisitions, including Lockheed’s integration and divestiture of PAE and integrating CSC’s applied technologies division into PAE. Before joining Siemens, she served as chief strategy officer at CRDF Global, a nonprofit focused on innovative ways to promote security and stability worldwide.

Dolph also serves on the boards of Northern Virginia Technology Council and Hope for the Warriors, a national organization that provides assistance to wounded veterans and the families of those killed in action.

“My dad … taught me what it meant to be successful,” she told Virginia Business. “It’s not about money or stature but rather the mark you leave on the people around you.”

BEVERAGE OF CHOICE: Any of the amazing red wines offered in our Virginia wineries.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Philadelphia Eagles

 

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JENNIFER FELIX

PRESIDENT AND CEO, ASRC Federal Holding Co., HERNDON

After a long career in finance, including time spent at General Dynamics, Science Applications International Corp. and Vencore Inc., Felix joined ASRC Federal in 2019 as its chief operating officer. After six months, in April 2020, she was named president and CEO of the 7,000-employee company, which provides engineering, IT and infrastructure support to federal agencies.

A University of Maryland graduate, Felix won WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Award for private company CEO and received her first Wash100 award in April. She also serves on the local Washington, D.C., board of the March of Dimes.

In 2021, ASRC won several major federal contracts, including a five-year, $212 million NASA Research and Education Support Services deal and a potential seven-year, $457 million contract with the U.S. Air Force to provide inventory and supply chain management at an Oklahoma base. In May, the company was awarded a $217 million contract to support cybersecurity operations across the Department of Defense Information Network. Felix also oversaw a rebranding of the company last year, updating its messaging and website to focus on customer missions.

 

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REX D. GEVEDEN

PRESIDENT AND CEO, BWX TECHNOLOGIES INC., LYNCHBURG

A graduate of Murray State University, Geveden served as chief operating officer at BWXT, a $2.1 billion nuclear industrial conglomerate, before becoming its president and CEO. Prior to that, he was executive vice president of Teledyne Technologies Inc., president of Teledyne DALSA and associate administrator of NASA, where he spent 17 years.

This year BWXT was awarded $2.2 billion in U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts and an extension of a Department of Energy contract worth up to $690 million involving the cleanup of a uranium enrichment plant in Ohio. Analysts expect the company will post full-year sales of $2.19 billion in 2021.

With about 7,000 employees, BWXT has 12 major operating sites in the U.S. and Canada. The company also holds contracts with the U.S. Navy, including one that makes it the sole nuclear fuel provider for the branch. Last November, the company was entangled in some controversy after former U.S. Sen. David Perdue purchased BWXT shares just before he took over the chairmanship of the Senate subcommittee overseeing the Navy fleet. BWXT said that the company was not aware of the stock buy until media reports revealed it.

 

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AMY GILLILAND

PRESIDENT, GENERAL DYNAMICS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INC., FALLS CHURCH

Gilliland was the third woman in history to lead the entire brigade of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. Now she heads a workforce of 30,000 for an $8.5 billion global technology enterprise.

Raised by a single mom who was an Army civil servant for 40 years, Gilliland comes from a family with three prior generations of military service that began with her great-grandfather. Gilliland served in the Navy for six years and has been with General Dynamics Corp. since 2005, rising to president of its information technology branch in 2017.

She also received degrees from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, and she completed the Wharton School’s executive education program in accounting and finance. Gilliland is on the board of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and in April she joined the board of BNY Mellon.

During her time at GDIT, the company doubled in size with its $9.6 billion purchase of Falls Church-based IT company CSRA in 2018. In 2020 the company retained the $4.4 billion, 10-year Defense Enterprise Office Solutions (DEOS) contract that had previously been awarded to CSRA.

 

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JOHN B. GOODMAN

CEO, ACCENTURE FEDERAL SERVICES, ARLINGTON

Goodman marked his 23rd year at Accenture with an agreement announced in June to acquire Novetta, the McLean-based advanced analytics company owned by The Carlyle Group.

The move will add Novetta’s 1,300 employees to AFS’ 11,000-person workforce. Terms were not disclosed. “By joining forces, we will help clients in all government sectors become leaders in using sophisticated analytics and emerging technologies to solve problems in new ways,” Goodman said in a statement.

AFS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 company which reported more than $40 billion in revenue in 2020.

A graduate of Middlebury College and Harvard, Goodman is a board member of the Atlantic Council and the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and he serves on the Professional Services Council’s executive committee. Goodman has received numerous awards and honors, including four consecutive Wash100 awards since 2018.

FIRST JOB: Scooping ice cream at Baskin-Robbins

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Training our new puppy.

PERSON I ADMIRE: My wife, Sherri Goodman, who has broadened our understanding of how climate change affects our national security. [Sherri Goodman, a former U.S. deputy undersecretary of defense, is now a senior fellow at the Wilson Center.]

 

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CHARLES GOTTDIENER

PRESIDENT AND CEO, Neustar Inc., STERLING

Gottdiener, who took charge of the 2,000-person IT company Neustar in 2018 after the formerly public company’s $2.9 billion sale in 2017 to private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, has made significant moves during his time there.

After purchasing call authentication and fraud solutions company TrustID and selling its registry business to GoDaddy, in November 2020, Neustar agreed to acquire Verisign Public DNS, a free domain-name system, from Reston-based Verisign for an undisclosed amount. The service provides security and threat blocking on the internet. Also, earlier this year the company appointed five new executives, all promoted from within.

Incorporated in 1998, Neustar was formerly the Communications Industry Services operating unit within Lockheed Martin. Gottdiener, who’s a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and Grinnell College in Iowa, was previously managing director and chief operating officer at Providence Equity Partners and served on the boards of several companies in Providence’s portfolio, including Blackboard Inc. and SRA International. He also worked at Dun & Bradstreet, finishing as president of its global risk, analytics and internet solutions division.

 

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DeETTE GRAY

PRESIDENT, BUSINESS AND IT SOLUTIONS, CACI INTERNATIONAL INC., ARLINGTON

Gray, who joined CACI in 2017 as its president of U.S. operations, has been in charge of its international IT offerings for government agencies since 2019. The former middle school teacher and North Carolina native now oversees a significant sector of the Fortune 500 contractor’s business.

After leaving education, Gray worked her way up at Lockheed Martin, where she was vice president of enterprise technology solutions. She served as president of BAE Systems’ intelligence and security sector before she was hired at CACI, which employs 23,000 people and recorded $5 billion in revenue last year.

In July, CACI was awarded a $1.4 billion task order by the U.S. Department of Defense to continue supporting the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Decisive Action Task, a contract that can be extended five years. The company also won its largest-ever contract, a $1.5 billion deal with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in 2020 and added a second $376 million contract with the agency in April to provide mission technology. Gray has won Wash100 Awards for the past five years.

A graduate of North Carolina State and East Carolina universities, she is on AFCEA International’s board of directors.

 

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BRIAN HUSEMAN

VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC POLICY, AMAZON.COM INC., ARLINGTON

A former Department of Justice attorney and Federal Trade Commission general counsel, Huseman now is spending his days trying to make sure Amazon is a good neighbor in Arlington, where its $2.5 billion HQ2 is being built. That entails getting permits and meeting construction deadlines and costs, including the $14 million renovation of Metropolitan Park. After leaving the public sector to become Intel Corp.’s senior policy counsel in 2008, Huseman became director of public policy for the Americas at Amazon in 2012. He stepped into his current role in 2016.

A graduate of Oklahoma City University, Huseman has spent most of his adult life in Northern Virginia, including as a special assistant U.S. attorney in Alexandria. He also participated in community theater for several years and now serves on the board of Arlington’s Signature Theatre.

This year, Huseman has weighed in on antitrust legislation advanced in June that targets some of Amazon’s business practices, the result of a 16-month congressional investigation. Huseman said in a statement that third-party sellers on Amazon — counting more than a half million businesses — will have a harder time earning as much money with the legislation in place.

 

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LAURA K. IPSEN

PRESIDENT AND CEO, Ellucian Inc., RESTON

Ipsen has presided over some big changes this year at the 3,100-employee higher education software provider she leads. In May, the company hired longtime Dell Technologies executive Steve Harris as chief revenue officer. And in June, it was announced that Ellucian will be acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners for an undisclosed amount, with the deal slated to close in the third quarter of this year.

More than 2,700 college and university clients use Ellucian’s enterprise-planning software for advising, financial aid, and data and analytics.

Coming from Silicon Valley, where she worked for Oracle, Cisco Systems Inc. and Microsoft Corp., Ipsen says she took the job with Ellucian in 2017 because she liked the visibility of being one of only a handful of women leading large tech companies. She’s organized peer groups that discuss empowering women at Ellucian and is an occasional public speaker, as well as a member of Women Corporate Directors.

A University of Virginia alum, Ipsen also studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Jordan and is a senior fellow of the Silicon Valley chapter of the American Leadership Forum.

FIRST JOB: Guest services at Kings Dominion

HOBBIES: Glass blowing, racing and sailing

 

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SAMIR KAKAR

PRESIDENT, APTARA INC., FALLS CHURCH

For more than two decades, Kakar has served as an executive at the digital publishing company Aptara, which consults on projects for some of the world’s largest publishers.

Formerly known as TechBooks, Aptara was founded in 1988 in Falls Church, where Kakar is based. A native of India, he received two degrees from the University of Delhi and joined Aptara in 1993 as its vice president for content technology, later becoming chief technology officer. Since 2015, he’s been president and overseen three-digit growth, employing more than 4,000 people.

In 2012, the company was sold to iEnergizer, a publicly traded U.K.-based company, for $144 million.

Over the past year during the pandemic, Aptara has focused energy in promoting online workforce training, and it partnered with OpenSesame in September 2020 to provide more e-learning courses in a range of formats and languages. For the past 11 years, Aptara has been named a Top 20 Content Development Company by Training Industry magazine.

 

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Y. MICHELE KANG

FOUNDER AND CEO, COGNOSANTE LLC, FALLS CHURCH

Kang founded Cognosante 13 years ago to transform U.S. health-care system technology, and as of the end of 2020, she’s now a part owner of a professional women’s soccer team, the Washington Spirit. “I believe it is essential for successful women to take the lead in advancing other women, and I look forward to doing so for the women of the Washington Spirit,” she said.

The University of Chicago and Yale School of Management alumna has received numerous professional honors in the past decade, including 2015 EY Entrepreneur of the Year for the Washington, D.C., region. After merging with Fox Systems in 2010, Cognosante began to win government contracts related to Medicaid reform, and it now has annual earnings of more than $1 billion. Kang previously was vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s health IT division.

Kang started the Cognosante Foundation in 2012 to help veterans and other young adults achieve financial independence, particularly female veterans starting businesses. She also is on the boards of the Washington National Opera, the Northern Virginia Technology Council and the Palm Beach Symphony.

 

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NAZZIC S. KEENE

CEO, SCIENCE APPLICATIONS INTERNATIONAL CORP. (SAIC), RESTON

Keene, a native of Libya, arrived in the United States in the late 1960s when her mother decided to leave her homeland, which was in the midst of revolution. She now leads a major government contractor with pro forma annual revenues of $7.1 billion.

A graduate of the University of Arizona, Keene oversees a workforce of more than 25,000 people and is a member of ADP’s board of directors and the Inova Health System board. In April, SAIC announced that it had entered into an agreement to acquire AI-focused data management company Koverse, and this was followed by a June announcement that it would acquire Arlington’s Halfaker and Associates LLC, a technology solutions provider with clients that include the Department of Defense and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The financial terms of both deals were not disclosed.

Keene, who became CEO in 2019, was hired by SAIC as president of its global markets and missions sector in 2012 and also served as its chief operating officer. Previously, she worked in senior roles at CGI and American Management Systems, after starting her career at Electronic Data Systems. In May, Keene received WashingtonExec’s Chief Officer Award for Public Company CEO.

 

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C. JEFFREY ‘JEFF’ KNITTEL

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AIRBUS AMERICAS INC., HERNDON

As a leader in the commercial aircraft industry, Knittel has had to navigate Airbus’ way through one of the hardest times ever in the industry.

With more than 35 years of experience in aerospace and transportation finance, Knittel is responsible for Airbus’ business throughout the Americas, including 5,000 employees, its helicopters, and the space and defense unit in North America. He reports to the $78 billion French global manufacturer’s CEO and chairs A3 by Airbus, the company’s Silicon Valley-based innovation arm, as well as serving on the board of Airbus Ventures and the Airbus Canada Limited Partnership.

Although commercial airlines are still not seeing as many passengers as before the pandemic, numbers are up somewhat, and in June United Airlines placed its largest order ever with Boeing and Airbus, worth $30 billion for the two companies.

Knittel is a member of the boards of the National Air and Space Museum and the National World War II Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aviation management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and graduated from the Advanced Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

 

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ROGER A. KRONE

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, LEIDOS HOLDINGS INC., RESTON

Krone, the chairman and CEO of an $11.09 billion company that employs 39,000 people worldwide, is a licensed commercial pilot and has aerospace engineering degrees from Georgia Tech and the University of Texas at Arlington, as well as an MBA from Harvard.

Krone joined Leidos in 2014 after more than two decades with The Boeing Co. and, before that, 14 years as a program manager with aerospace and defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in February and chairs the Professional Services Council.

Leidos has had a busy year so far, scoring NASA, Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as promoting a slate of new executives, including heads of its national security space department and corporate operations. Earlier this year, Krone took a novel tack to encourage vaccinations, announcing that the company will pay a total of $1 million to 10 randomly selected workers who enter Leidos’ vaccine lottery.

NEW LIFE EXPERIENCE: Becoming a grandfather

MOST RECENT BOOK READ: “Panama,” by Thomas McGuane

FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: Anywhere you can scuba dive.

 

 

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WILLIAM J. ‘BILL’ LYNN III

CEO, LEONARDO DRS INC., ARLINGTON COUNTY

Before joining Leonardo DRS, the U.S. arm of the Italian defense and aerospace conglomerate Leonardo SpA, in 2012, Lynn had a distinguished public sector career. From 1987 to 1993, he was counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee and was deputy defense secretary during President Barack Obama’s first term.

This winter, Leonardo DRS was on the verge of going public before its parent company hit the pause button in March due to “adverse market conditions,” although Leonardo SpA added in its statement it plans to potentially revisit the idea of an IPO. The subsidiary was valued at $2.54 billion in early March. Aside from the IPO business, Leonardo DRS notched more large contracts with the Navy and the Army over the past year, including a shared five-year, $211.6 million deal to help the Navy assemble and test insertion equipment.

A graduate of Dartmouth College, the Cornell Law School and Princeton University, Lynn has received four distinguished public service medals from the Defense Department and a distinguished civilian service award from the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

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STEPHANIE MANGO

PRESIDENT, CGI FEDERAL, FAIRFAX

In February, Mango helped launch Chief, a private network to bring more women into top positions across various industries and allow for those already in power to share their ideas and knowledge with other women. A month later, she was promoted to president of CGI Federal, the U.S. subsidiary of the $9 billion Montreal-based company.

A two-degree holder from the University of Virginia, Mango also continued as acting leader for the security, assistance, justice and health programs business unit, overseeing its client portfolio that includes the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Justice, and Health and Human Services, as well as the intelligence community and other agencies. She started at CGI Federal 25 years ago and managed the company’s mergers with Sunflower Systems and TeraThink Corp. In 2018, when she was senior vice president, Mango was named national security executive of the year at WashingtonExec’s first Pinnacle Awards.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Keep your ideals high, and cut yourself and others a break if you fall short. If you always reach your ideals/target, you probably aren’t aiming high enough.

ONE THING I WOULD CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: No more 17-year cicadas!

 

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MARK P. MARRON

PRESIDENT, CEO AND DIRECTOR, EPLUS INC., HERNDON

After extensive experience throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Marron landed at ePlus Inc. more than 15 years ago and climbed the ranks to eventually lead the $1 billion technology solutions provider starting in 2016.

He oversaw the company’s acquisition of SLAIT Consulting LLC in 2019, which expanded ePlus’ security consulting and managed services capabilities and solidified a mid-Atlantic presence, adding locations in Virginia Beach, Richmond and Charlotte, North Carolina.

For fiscal year 2021, which ended March 31, the company reported $1.56 billion in net sales, a 1.3% decrease from the previous fiscal year, but Marron said in a statement that the company saw improved margins and lower costs, which drove up operating income 11.6% for the year. “In what was an unprecedented year, I am extremely proud of the entire ePlus team for responding with agility and unwavering commitment to support our customers’ evolving needs.”

Before joining ePlus, Marron worked for NetIQ and Computer Associates International Inc., a provider of infrastructure software products and solutions. He graduated from Montclair State University with a computer science degree.

 

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SCOTT McINTYRE

CEO, GUIDEHOUSE LLP, McLEAN

McIntyre became Guidehouse’s CEO in 2018 after the former PricewaterhouseCoopers U.S. public sector business — where McIntyre served as managing partner — was purchased by Veritas Capital. Today, he is in charge of more than 9,000 employees around the world, with clients in public and commercial markets.

In May, Guidehouse announced its plans to invest $12.7 million in a campus in McLean, establishing its global headquarters and creating 900 jobs in Fairfax County.

With degrees from Johns Hopkins University, Washington & Jefferson College, and Willamette University, McIntyre has received several professional honors, including five consecutive Wash100 Awards and the most votes in the contest’s popular vote.

In 2019, Guidehouse acquired Navigant Consulting for $1.1 billion, increasing its footprint in the commercial market, while continuing to bid for government contracts. In the past year, the company has won State Department and Department of Defense contracts in the hundreds of millions, although Guidehouse’s bid for a $350 million Transportation Security Administration contract failed last year.

McIntyre is a board member for the Baldrige Foundation, which funds awards that recognize organizational performance excellence and is affiliated with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

 

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GEORGE MENDIOLA

PRESIDENT, FSA FEDERAL, ASHBURN

Mendiola, a native of Guam, made his way to Virginia for college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and an MBA from Radford University, then launching a career in federal contracting.

Over the years, he served as the federal civilian group vice president for Engility Corp., overseeing a portfolio of projects for the departments of Justice and Defense, as well as 2,500 employees. In 2017 he joined FSA Federal, a joint venture of Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and Amentum that was founded in 2004 — although the company was then known as Forfeiture Support Associates.

In March 2020 the company secured a potential $1.3 billion contract from the Department of Justice to provide support services for 14 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The contract has led to a reworking of FSA, which has deployed about 1,400 people across the country to accomplish the work under the potential six-year contract.

Mendiola and fellow Radford alumnus Levar Cole — who served together in student government — established an annual leadership scholarship at the university in 2003 that recognizes undergraduates and graduate students with good grades, demonstrated leadership abilities and financial need.

 

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JOHN S. MENGUCCI

PRESIDENT AND CEO, CACI INTERNATIONAL INC., ARLINGTON

Although it’s less rare in the federal contracting sector than in other areas of business, it is still notable that Mengucci oversaw a major increase in revenue in fiscal year 2020, as CACI’s earnings increased by $800 million to $5.7 billion.

The technology company, which employs about 22,000 people worldwide, received a $1.5 billion contract from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency last year, its largest ever. In July, the company notched a $1.4 billion task order by the U.S. Department of Defense to support the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s Decisive Action Task, which could be extended five years and continues CACI’s 14 years of work with the agency. In 2021 the company hit the Fortune 500 list for the first time since its founding in 1962.

A graduate of Clarkson and Syracuse universities, Mengucci was promoted to CEO in 2019 after serving as CACI’s chief operating officer and president of U.S. operations. He previously held leadership positions at Lockheed Martin, including as president of information systems.

Mengucci’s individual accolades include making the Wash100 list the past two years. He serves on the board of trustees for Clarkson, which is in Potsdam, New York.

 

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BILL MONET

INTERIM PRESIDENT AND CEO, NANA REGIONAL CORP., PRESIDENT AND CEO, AKIMA LLC, HERNDON

Akima has an unusual history compared with other federal contracting companies; it’s an asset owned by the Iñupiat tribes of northwest Alaska. The portfolio of more than 40 companies that employ 8,000 people is under the umbrella of NANA Regional Corp., a for-profit Alaska Native corporation owned by more than 14,500 Indigenous Iñupiat shareholders from a 38,000-square-mile area in northwest Alaska, largely inside the Arctic Circle.

A graduate of Virginia Tech, George Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Monet joined Akima as its chief executive in 2012. In November 2020 he was tapped as the interim president and CEO of Akima’s parent company, replacing Wayne Westlake, who left after five years.

Despite the changes at the top, Akima moved up in Washington Technology’s Top 100 rankings of the largest federal contractors, moving from No. 39 to 28th place in 2021. In fiscal year 2020, Akima had $1.1 billion in federal contracts, including a subsidiary’s potential five-year, $40 million deal with the U.S. Air Force to train flight crews. Monet himself, who has 30 years of experience in government contracting, has received Wash100 Awards for the past two years.

 

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PHEBE NOVAKOVIC

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, GENERAL DYNAMICS CORP., FALLS CHURCH

Novakovic, who was named Virginia Business’ 2020 Business Person of the Year, managed during the pandemic to maintain a solid bottom line at General Dynamics, which employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and has annual revenues of close to $38 billion. Awarded the largest-ever U.S. Navy contract of $22.2 billion to build nine Virginia-class nuclear submarines, as well as other billion-dollar contracts with the Department of Defense and the Navy, the company is in fine fettle in 2021.

The daughter of a Serbian immigrant, Novakovic graduated from Smith College with a history degree. She then worked for a small military contractor and joined the CIA, earning her MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. After rising quickly up the ranks at the federal Office of Management and Budget and the Pentagon, Novakovic joined the private sector as vice president for strategic planning at General Dynamics in 2001.

Since 2013 she has served as chairman and CEO, overseeing the company’s 2018 acquisition of IT conglomerate CSRA Inc. for $9.7 billion, moving General Dynamics into position as a market leader in information technology contracting. Last year, Novakovic was elected to the board of directors for JPMorgan Chase & Co.

 

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MIKE PETTERS

PRESIDENT AND CEO, HUNTINGTON INGALLS INDUSTRIES, NEWPORT NEWS

Petters has led the country’s biggest military shipbuilding company and the state’s largest industrial employer since 2011, when it was spun off from Northrop Grumman.

The U.S. Naval Academy and William & Mary alum joined Newport News Shipbuilding, one of HII’s divisions, in 1987 and worked his way up the corporate ladder, eventually serving as president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding when HII was formed. Although the Fortune 500 company, which employs 41,000 people, had to take precautionary measures during the height of COVID-19, its shipbuilding branch remained busy. HII is a key subcontractor in the Navy’s $22.2 billion contract awarded to General Dynamics in 2019, under which NNS is building 10 nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines.

In July, HII announced it would acquire McLean-based defense contractor Alion Science and Technology Corp. from Veritas Capital in a $1.65 billion all-cash deal expected to close by the end of the year.

Petters, who was stationed on the nuclear-powered submarine USS George Bancroft and spent five years in the U.S. Naval Reserve, also serves on HII’s board.

 

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KEVIN M. PHILLIPS

CHAIRMAN, CEO AND PRESIDENT, MANTECH INTERNATIONAL CORP., HERNDON

ManTech was among many companies that found ways to do business during the pandemic. But it also raised $2 million through an employee-matching charitable campaign that benefited frontline workers and people in need. Phillips, who joined the management and tech
firm in 2002 after it acquired his former company, CTX Corp., now leads 9,400 employees at the Fortune 1000 corporation.

In addition to earlier contracts with the Navy and the Department of Homeland Security, ManTech earned a place on a $4.45 billion Department of Defense contract in March to provide security services under the department’s Special Access Program. The same month, the company hired a chief growth officer to focus on the federal civilian, defense and intelligence sectors.

Phillips has won numerous professional honors, including being named to the Wash100 list from 2017 to 2021. The William & Mary graduate, who also spent 10 years in the Army Reserve, is on the board of trustees of the William & Mary Foundation and chairs its audit committee. He also is the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s vice chair and was named to the council’s Tech 100 list in 2020.

 

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JASON PROVIDAKES

PRESIDENT AND CEO, THE MITRE CORP., McLEAN

The head of a not-for-profit organization that manages federally funded research and development centers, Providakes is an expert in optical and remote sensing and received his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University.

Mitre was founded in 1958 and has 8,400 employees, and although the organization is involved in many areas of study, some of its recent focuses include quantum science and cybersecurity. Providakes joined Mitre in 1991 as lead scientist and has held several other positions, including senior vice president of Mitre’s Center for Connected Government, now known as Mitre Public Sector. Some of his work has centered on modernizing infrastructure for national security, public health and Army technology. In 2019 he created Mitre Engenuity, a not-for-profit tech foundation focused on forging collaborations to strengthen critical infrastructure for the public good.

Providakes has served as a member of the Army Science Board and participated in several studies with the National Academy of Sciences.

 

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JAMES J. RHYU

CEO, STRIDE INC., HERNDON

In late 2020, K12 Inc. changed its name to Stride Inc., and named a new CEO in January. Rhyu, who replaced K12’s former CEO, Nathaniel A. Davis, has been with the online learning service for the past eight years. Its name change, Davis noted, was meant to demonstrate that the company is “no longer limited by the boundaries of the K-12 market” and had expanded its reach to lifelong learning. In 2019 the company reported more than $1 billion in revenue.

A graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the London Business School, Rhyu worked as chief finance officer and chief administrative officer of Match.com and as senior vice president of finance at Dow Jones & Co. He most recently was Stride’s chief financial officer.

In February, Stride selected 47 students to receive scholarships through its $10 million We Stand Together program, in which underserved Black students receive tuition-free, full-time enrollment to Stride’s online K12 Private Academy. The recipients are from 14 states and are in kindergarten through 11th grade. “A stronger, more inclusive nation begins with economic empowerment, academic equity and career readiness for all,” Rhyu said in a statement.

 

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TERRY RYAN

CEO, Constellis Holdings LLC, RESTON

Ryan leads a $1.7 billion, 24,000-employee federal contractor that works in 40 countries. He says he got his approach to business from the person he most admires: his mother.
“I witnessed her altruistic values having positive and enduring impacts on thousands of people,” he says.

A graduate of The Ohio State University and National Intelligence University who has spent more than 20 years in federal contracting, Ryan became Constellis’ CEO in January, a promotion from his former post as lead director.

He replaced Tim Reardon, who joined Constellis in 2018 and left to pursue other interests. Ryan is a former Marine who was an infantry commander and intelligence officer who then served in several executive positions in the Department of Defense, including director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Before joining Constellis, Ryan was CEO of VT Group and previously was president and chief operating officer of ManTech’s emerging markets group. Ryan also serves on the board of the National Intelligence University Foundation.

BEST ADVICE FOR OTHERS: Focus, focus, focus on what matters and tune out meaningless distractions.

FAVORITE SPORTS TEAM: Cleveland Browns

 

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MIKE SALVINO

PRESIDENT AND CEO, DXC TECHNOLOGY, TYSONS

Salvino joined the Fortune 500 end-to-end IT services company in 2019, and he hit the ground running. In 2020, DXC earned $19.6 billion while employing 138,000 people worldwide. The company was founded in 2017 after the merger of Computer Science Corp. and the Enterprise Services business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Corp.

In October 2020, DXC finalized the sale of its health business to Veritas Capital for $5 billion, which the company planned to use to reduce its debt by about $3.5 billion. The former managing director of Carrick Capital Partners and group chief executive for Accenture Operations is a graduate of Marietta College in Ohio. He serves on its board as well as those of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering and the Atrium Health Foundation.

SOMETHING I WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN: Worry too much over mistakes. We all will make some. The key is to learn from them, don’t make them again, and have a short memory.

FIRST JOB: Basketball counselor

HOBBY/PASSION: You will find me with my kids or running.

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MEHUL P. SANGHANI

CEO, OCTO CONSULTING GROUP, RESTON

Sanghani got an early start on what takes many leaders a lifetime to accomplish, starting his company in 2006 at age 30. Also, he and his wife, Hema, both Virginia Tech graduates, are among the university’s youngest major donors with their $10 million gift, which includes funding the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Alexandria.

Some of the funding also will go to a scholars program for minority students pursuing graduate degrees in AI, one of Sanghani’s focuses, as well as improving food access for VT students.

“Higher education is the perfect vehicle for a gift like this,” Sanghani said in a statement when the gift was announced, adding that the university will use innovation “to transform our society for the greater good.”

Professionally, Sanghani has had a busy year. Octo Consulting merged with Fairfax software company Sevatec in December, creating a $300 million company with 1,100 employees. Octo’s clientele includes the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the General Services Administration. In July, Octo acquired Volant Associates, a Chantilly-based defense software development company, for an undisclosed amount.

 

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MICHAEL SAYLOR

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, MICROSTRATEGY INC., TYSONS

Saylor has been at the center of 2021’s bitcoin mania, spending $2.7 billion on the cryptocurrency as its price bounced up and down this spring and summer. Back in 2000, the last time Saylor was this high profile, he was a young tech exec at the top of the dot-com boom and one of the wealthiest people in the Washington, D.C., region.

MicroStrategy employs 2,000 people and has 4,000 corporate customers internationally. Founded in 1989, the company started as a data mining firm providing customer information to major corporations, including Victoria’s Secret and McDonald’s. A graduate of MIT, Saylor served in the U.S. Air Force and the Air Force Reserve. In 1998, MicroStrategy went public and doubled in value its first day. But by 2000, its stock plummeted from $3,130 to roughly $50 to $200 a share until last fall, when the company announced its plans for acquiring billions of dollars in bitcoin.

Saylor’s decision to embrace bitcoin, as well as Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s fluctuating enchantment with cryptocurrency, has returned MicroStrategy and Saylor to renewed prominence. Although Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and other prominent economists have warned about the instability of bitcoin, Saylor still believes in it, tweeting in late July, “#Bitcoin … will last forever.”

 

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STEVE SCHORER

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, ALION SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CORP., McLEAN

Schorer’s company, part of Veritas Capital’s portfolio since 2015, is now being acquired by Huntington Ingalls Industries, which announced the $1.65 billion all-cash deal in July. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, with Alion becoming part of the Newport News-based military shipbuilder’s Technical Solutions division. In late June, Alion won a place on the U.S. Air Force’s $950 million contract for engineering, procurement, integration and logistics support, which could be extended to 13 years.

A graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a degree in electrical engineering, Schorer was named Alion’s chairman and CEO in 2017 after serving as president of DynAviation and DynCorp International. His résumé also includes stints with Lockheed Missiles and Space, Raytheon and Hughes Aircraft.

Founded in 2002, Alion specializes in intelligence, military training and simulation, cybersecurity and other technology solutions to defense and intelligence community customers, with the U.S. Navy accounting for about a third of its contracts. Schorer landed on the Wash100 list in 2021 for the second time, and he was a Top 25 Executive to Watch in 2020, named by WashingtonExec.

 

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STU SHEA

CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, PERATON INC., HERNDON

Shea, who started his career in national security by building some of the CIA’s earliest computer systems, says he’s in the middle of one of his biggest career challenges: integrating two recently acquired large businesses into Peraton.

In May, the national security contractor completed its $7.1 billion, all-cash purchase of Chantilly-based Perspecta Inc., preceded by Peraton’s $3.4 billion acquisition of Northrop Grumman Corp.’s federal IT and mission support services business. Peraton’s workforce has grown from 3,500 workers last year to more than 24,000 employees this year, with revenues of $7 billion. In August Peraton also won a $979 million, five-year task order to support the U.S. Central Command’s information operations.

“We have three companies with really long traditions and history,” he says. “This will be a very different place because of that legacy.”

Shea, who previously oversaw the division of Science Applications International Corp. into Leidos Holdings Inc. and a new SAIC, and also founded the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation, said he expects to maintain and grow Peraton’s workforce while consolidating its office space.

A graduate of the University of Kansas and State University of New York at Albany, Shea is a five-time recipient of Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 Award, which recognizes top leaders in government contracting.

 

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JILL SINGER

VICE PRESIDENT OF DEFENSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY, AT&T PUBLIC SECTOR AND FIRSTNET, AT&T INC., RESTON

A national security expert with more than 30 years on the public and private sides of the federal government, Singer was appointed vice president of defense and national security for the telecommunications giant’s public sector business and FirstNet broadband program in June 2020. She lead’s AT&T’s federal contracting teams for defense and national security agencies, as well as overseeing AT&T’s work on the FirstNet nationwide public safety broadband network for first responders.

Singer joined AT&T in 2015 after building a resume in information intelligence within the government and in the private sector. She served as the chief information officer for the National Reconnaissance Office, deputy CIO for the CIA and director of the Diplomatic Telecommunications Service for the State Department. An alumna of the University of West Florida, where she serves on its board, Singer also is a member of the International Spy Museum’s governing board.

In 2021, AT&T’s public sector has inked some significant contracts, including a $725 million task order with the Department of Veterans Affairs and a $231 million Treasury contract to modernize both agencies’ data networks.

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CAREY A. SMITH

PRESIDENT AND CEO, PARSONS CORP., CENTREVILLE

In April, Smith was tapped as the Centreville-based defense contractor’s new CEO, a promotion from her previous post as president and chief operating officer. She succeeds Charles “Chuck” Harrington, who retired after nearly four decades with the company.

Smith joined Parsons in 2016 as president of its federal solutions business, leading the acquisition and integration of four companies and helping take the company public in 2019. In January, Smith joined the company’s board of directors.

Earlier in her career, Smith held several leadership roles within the defense and aerospace industry. She was president of the defense and space business unit at Honeywell and held several positions at Lockheed Martin, including vice president of technical services and president and CEO of the company’s Canadian operations.

Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Ohio Northern University and her master’s degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University.

PERSON I ADMIRE: Linda P. Hudson, the former president and CEO of BAE Systems Inc. She was the first woman to lead a major defense contractor.

FAVORITE VACATION DESTINATION: Aruba

FAVORITE SPORT TEAM(S): Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Eagles

 

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STEPHEN TRUNDLE

PRESIDENT AND CEO, ALARM.COM, TYSONS

Trundle has served as the Tysons-based security company’s leader since 2003. The publicly traded company with a market capitalization of more than $2 billion in December acquired Shooter Detection Systems LLC, which uses acoustic and infrared sensors and algorithms to detect gunshots and communicate incident details to occupants and security. Earlier last year, PointCentral, a subsidiary of Alarm.com, announced it had acquired Doorport Inc., an apartment intercom system.

Trundle himself made news this spring when he sold 20,000 shares of Alarm.com stock, totaling
$1.8 million, and in May during an earnings call for the year’s first quarter, the CEO said its software-as-a-service and licensing revenue was up by 16.8% from the previous year at $107.4 million.

Previously, Trundle held several positions at MicroStrategy Inc., a Tysons-based business software company founded by Michael Saylor in 1989. Trundle was chief technology officer when MicroStrategy launched Alarm.com in 2000 with the goal of creating a security system that would allow clients to monitor their properties via their phones. In 2009, MicroStrategy sold the subsidiary to a consortium of investors led by ABS Capital Partners for $27.7 million.

 

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CLAYTON P. TURNER

DIRECTOR, NASA LANGLEY RESEARCH CENTER, HAMPTON

In 2019, NASA named Turner the head of the Langley Research Center, making him the center’s first Black director. The agency’s oldest field facility, Langley is known today as the setting for “Hidden Figures,” the 2016 biopic about the Black female mathematicians who were instrumental in the 1960s space race.

In his role, Turner leads civil servants, contractor scientists, researchers, engineers and support staff, who are hard at work on projects that range from expanding the understanding of Earth’s atmosphere to developing new technologies for space exploration.

Turner launched his NASA career in 1990 as a design engineer with the Lidar In-Space Technology Experiment project. Over his decades at the agency, Turner has worked on numerous other endeavors including the flight test of the Ares 1-X rocket and the entry, descent and landing segment of the Mars Science Laboratory.

Turner earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.

PERSON I ADMIRE: My mother. She navigated through near-impossible situations to enable possibilities and choices. She did all this in an environment that was not always supportive or conducive to her efforts, but she persevered. She had great faith.

 

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TOM VECCHIOLLA

PRESIDENT AND CEO, ST ENGINEERING NORTH AMERICA INC., ALEXANDRIA

Vecchiolla heads ST Engineering North America Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Singapore-based ST Engineering, a global technology, defense and engineering group that specializes in the aerospace, electronics, land systems and marine sectors.

Previously, Vecchiolla founded a Washington, D.C., consultancy firm to provide senior advisory services for global aerospace and defense clients. He worked for Massachusetts-based aerospace and defense company Raytheon Technologies Corp. for 15 years, with the last three years spent as president of Raytheon International Inc. In that post, he was responsible for the company’s sales and marketing efforts in more than 80 nations worldwide.

A career U.S. Naval officer, Vecchiolla served 22 years on active duty as a naval aviator, retiring with the rank of captain. Vecchiolla began working on Capitol Hill in 1996 as a Brookings Institution legislative fellow on the personal staff of U.S. Sen. William S. Cohen of Maine. Later, he served as legislative assistant for National Security and Military Affairs to then-U.S. Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine.

ST Engineering has major operations in 16 cities across 12 states and has about 5,000 employees.

 

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JASON S. WALLACE

CEO, ADS INC., VIRGINIA BEACH

In 1997, Luke Hillier created an offshoot of his family’s dive shop business known as Atlantic Diving Supply. Today, it provides military equipment, army procurement, logistics and supply chain solutions for federal agencies and protective services.

Wallace joined ADS in 2004. Over the years, he’s served in numerous roles, including head of operations and vice president of sales. An alumnus of Old Dominion University, he became CEO in 2014.

In recent years, Wallace has had to steer the company through controversy.

In August 2019 the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Hillier, ADS’ majority owner and former CEO, had agreed to pay $20 million to settle allegations of fraudulently obtaining federal contracts reserved for small businesses. ADS settled its part of the dispute for $16 million in 2017. Admission of liability was not a part of either settlement. In 2020, ADS received further scrutiny when it applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan worth between $2 million and $5 million after receiving $1 billion in government contracts in the last quarter of 2019 and $1.3 billion in backlog contract obligations in 2020, according to The Virginian-Pilot. The company was ranked the 22nd largest government contractor in fiscal year 2019.

 

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KATHY J. WARDEN

CHAIRMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP., FALLS CHURCH

With broad experience in operational leadership and business development in government and commercial markets, Warden took the helm of the Falls Church-based aerospace and defense contractor in 2019. She leads about 97,000 employees.

A Fortune 500 company, Northrop Grumman reported about $36.8 billion in 2020 revenue, an increase of about 9% over 2019. The company reported $9.2 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2021, up from $8.6 billion in sales for the first quarter of 2020. In July, the corporation landed a $935 million contract to build the crew quarters for a space station as part of NASA’s Artemis program.

Since coming to NG in 2008, Warden has served in a number of roles, including vice president of mission systems and information systems. In 2017, she became Northrop’s president and chief operating officer.

Previously, Warden held leadership positions at General Dynamics Corp. and Veridian Corp.

Warden earned her bachelor’s degree from James Madison University and an MBA from George Washington University. Currently, she serves on the board of directors of Merck & Co. Additionally, she serves on JMU’s board of visitors and is the chair of the Aerospace Industries Association.

 

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JOHN WASSON

CEO, PRESIDENT AND CHAIRMAN, ICF INTERNATIONAL INC., RESTON

Upon joining the global consulting and digital services provider as an associate in 1987, Wasson steadily climbed the ranks. In 2003 he became ICF’s chief operating officer and in 2010 he was named president. In that role, Wasson managed all of ICF’s client-facing operating groups and the corporate business development function.

In January, Wasson became executive chairman of the company’s board of directors when former CEO Sudhakar Kesavan retired. He leads nearly 7,500 employees.

In 2020, ICF’s gross revenue was $1.51 billion, an increase of 1.9%. The company won contracts valued at over $1.96 billion. In January 2020 the company announced its $255 million purchase of Incentive Technology Group LLC, and the company plans to move its global headquarters from Fairfax to the new Reston Station development.

NASA announced in April it had awarded ICF a contract worth about $34 million to provide technical and administrative support to the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) National Coordination Office.

Wasson is a member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board and chair of the dean’s executive committee at the University of California, Davis’ College of Engineering, his alma mater. Wasson also received a master’s degree from MIT.

 

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ARDINE WILLIAMS

VICE PRESIDENT OF HQ2 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, AMAZON.COM INC., ARLINGTON

On Twitter, Williams describes herself as a Workforce Wonk. In her job, she develops strategies to find and develop talent for Amazon’s $2.5 billion East Coast HQ2 in Arlington, where Amazon has committed to hiring 25,000 workers by 2030.

Sometimes, Williams also helps to develop talent for the world outside of Amazon. Her team runs Amazon’s Career Choice, a program where the company pays 95% of tuition for hourly employees interested in earning certificates and associate degrees to prepare them for in-demand career fields like aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design and health care.

Earlier, Williams was vice president of talent acquisition for Amazon Web Services. For that role, Williams, who began her career as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1983, worked to create a military apprenticeship program that helps members of the military community, veterans and their spouses transition to careers in cloud computing.

Amazon wooed Williams months into her retirement from Intel, where she had served as vice president of HR enterprise services.

Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Williams to William & Mary’s board of visitors in June. She also serves as vice chair of the advisory committee of the Capital CoLAB.

 

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GEORGE WILSON

PRESIDENT AND CEO, ECS Federal LLC, FAIRFAX

Wilson joined ECS in 2011 as chief strategy officer and was named president and CEO in 2014. With headquarters in Fairfax, the company delivers solutions and services in cloud, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, machine learning, application and IT modernization, and science and engineering for clients across the U.S. public sector, defense, intelligence and commercial industries. The company employs more than 3,000 professionals throughout the United States.

In 2018, ASGN Inc., a Henrico County-based IT and professional services company, acquired ECS Federal for $775 million. ASGN kept Wilson on as president.

Previously, Wilson worked for Stanley Inc., an Arlington information technology company, for more than two decades. He left the business in 2010 as its executive vice president.

Wilson holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from George Washington University. He served as a Navy lieutenant, integrating Tomahawk cruise missiles into submarines.

Wilson is a board member of Professional Services Council, a trade association for the government technology and professional services industry, and the Springfield-based Brain Injury Services, a nonprofit that serves individuals and families dealing with brain injuries, strokes and concussions.