byline: Virginia Business

Matheis has led Sentara Health, a not-for-profit health system with 12 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina, since 2022, overseeing more than 32,000 workers.

Having previously led the Norfolk hospital system’s insurance brands, Matheis has stressed Sentara’s commitment to health care education. A long-time financial supporter of Eastern Virginia Medical School, Sentara pushed for a merger between EVMS and Old Dominion University — a vision that became a reality in July. ODU announced in June that Sentara Health has committed about $350 million in dedicated funding to the medical school’s integration into ODU’s new Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences division.

In December 2023, Sentara Health announced plans to more than double its 220 residency training programs in the next few years to address physician shortages.

Before joining Sentara, Matheis held senior roles at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Missouri, Cigna Healthcare and Humana Health Plan.

Matheis, who has a degree in accounting from the University of Kentucky, serves as co-chair of the Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable. He sits on several boards including Lucid Diagnostics, a cancer prevention medical diagnostics company.

Accounting firm Keiter’s managing partner since 2019, Wallace has more than three decades of finance experience. In his current role, Wallace oversees the firm’s growth strategy and tax services for corporate clients.

With $42.89 million in revenue and nearly 200 employees, Keiter was named a firm to watch this year by Accounting Today.

Wallace previously served as tax department leader and a member of Keiter’s teams for state and local tax, international tax, mergers and acquisitions, manufacturing, and retail and distribution. Before joining Keiter in 2010, he was chief financial officer for The Riverstone Group and a partner at KPMG.

Wallace holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting from the University of Virginia. He is a member of the Alliance of Merger & Acquisition Advisors, and he is an advocacy cabinet member and serves as an at-large board director for the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants. He also serves on the board for the Richmond chapter of the American Heart Association and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Greater Richmond Partnership, CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, and a tax committee member of the Leading Edge Alliance.

With more than two decades at Verizon, Hallbach served in a number of senior executive positions before being promoted to her current position in 2022.

Verizon Public Sector is the telecommunication company’s government contracting arm and is responsible for Verizon Frontline, a 5G communications service for first responders. In May, the U.S. Navy chose Verizon Public Sector to provide wireless devices and services as one of the contractors on a potential 10-year, $2.67 billion contract.

In December 2023, Verizon Public Sector was awarded a $15 million Navy task order to provide voice and data services for the military branch’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation division.

Most recently, Verizon Frontline and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) partnered on a three-year cooperative research and development agreement to address advanced disaster response research.

A graduate of Brown University with an MBA from the University of Maryland, Hallbach serves on the board of directors for the Northern Virginia Technology Council. In September, she was named chair of the Executive Mosaic 4×24 Leadership Series’ 5G Group.

Novack has been president of Balfour Beatty’s building operations in the mid-Atlantic since January 2023, tasked with providing strategic oversight for construction operations in Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland and Pennsylvania.

He has been with the Dallas-based contracting and management company for more than two decades, providing operational support for approximately $2.5 billion in projects. Novack been involved with a variety of major projects, including the Virginia State Capitol’s visitors center, the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Prince William County, NPR’s headquarters in Washington, and a new gate at Dulles International Airport.

Earlier this year, Novack announced a construction milestone when the final beam was placed atop two residential towers at 2000 and 2001 S. Bell St., formerly Crystal Plaza One, in Arlington County. Both towers are expected to be complete in spring 2025, offering a combined 775 units, as well as retail space on the ground floor totaling 22,000 square feet.

Novack attended Alfred State College in New York, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in construction management, and George Mason University, where he completed his MBA.

Robertson became chancellor of the private, conservative Christian university in July 2023 following the death at age 93 of his famous and controversial father, Pat Robertson, who founded the school in 1977.

Gordon Robertson had succeeded his father in 2007 as president and CEO of Christian Broadcasting Network and host of its flagship weekday news magazine show “The 700 Club.”

Virginia’s second largest private university, Regent offers degrees in more than 150 areas of study to students online and on its 70-acre campus in Virginia Beach.

In June, Robertson received a 2024 Community Builders Award from the Hampton Roads Community Action Program, recognizing work to improve the community through education, volunteerism, business and outreach. 

Robertson graduated from Yale University in 1980 and earned his law degree from Washington and Lee University in 1984.

He practiced law in Norfolk for 10 years at Vandeventer Black (now merged with Woods Rogers) before he says a religious epiphany moved him to leave the law and lead CBN’s expansion into Asia. There he founded the Asian Center for Missions and the Philippines chapter of CBN’s humanitarian nonprofit, Operation Blessing.

The leader of ECS Federal, ASGN’s federal consulting subsidiary, since 2022, Heneghan was an English teacher before turning to tech. He previously served as ECS’ chief operating officer and held executive roles at Stanley Associates and CGI Federal.

In fiscal 2023, ASGN earned $4.45 billion in revenue, down 2.8% from the previous year. In June, ECS announced that it had secured a spot on a potential $8 billion contract to continue providing the FBI with IT services and support and technology solutions. The deal is the largest contract vehicle ever awarded by the FBI.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, ECS created a secure, cloud-based information sharing environment to assist 32 international member nations in providing equipment and training to Ukraine. ESC also created and maintains the FBI’s CODIS DNA index system and supports DHS CISA with threat analysis, cybersecurity and data solutions. Through its ECS Cyber Center of Excellence, the company helps organizations stay secure through training and cybersecurity solutions.

In 2024, Heneghan received his third Wash100 Award and was named one of WashingtonExec’s Top Execs to Watch.

Mango took the helm of CGI Federal, the U.S. arm of Montreal-based IT and professional service consultancy CGI, in 2021. She joined CGI in 2004 when it purchased her former employer, American Management Systems. She was promoted to senior vice president in 2015.

Last year, CGI implemented Momentum, its financial and acquisition management system, at the Department of Veteran Affairs. CGI also expanded its partnership with the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command in managing the Marine Corps Platform Integration Center.

In August, CGI Federal announced plans to acquire Aeyon, a Fairfax County federal IT consulting firm, with the purchase expected to close in late September.

In February, CGI reported that a vulnerability in the Atlassian Confluence suite tool that’s extensively used by the federal government for IT and other support services was responsible for a Government Accountability Office breach. In June, CGI announced that it had won a place on a contract to modernize the FBI’s IT systems, valued at up to $8 billion.

Holding both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Virginia, Mango has been named one of the 2024 Top Execs to Watch and has appeared on Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of the top government contracting executives three times. She’s also won WashingtonExec’s National Security Executive Pinnacle Award.

A Hampton Roads native, Winter is the head of public policy in Virginia for Amazon, overseeing the e-commerce giant’s economic and community investments in Virginia, where it has its East Coast HQ2 headquarters in Arlington County. Since 2010, Amazon has reportedly invested more than $109 billion in Virginia through
cloud infrastructure, fulfillment centers and compensation for its 39,000 employees in the state.

Since starting with Amazon in 2021, Winter has created Amazon’s Future Engineering Robotics Camp for high school students to explore STEM fields. She leads engagement for childhood-to-career program Amazon Future Engineer, and is a conduit for Amazon Career Choice, an education benefit program that pre-pays tuition for degrees and skills development. The latter sees Winter leading engagement at higher education institutions such as Tidewater Community College, Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University. She has also been involved with the launch of a new delivery station and a new multistory robotics fulfillment center in Virginia Beach.

Before joining Amazon, Winter worked for Anthem, Amerigroup and law firm Kaufman & Canoles. Winter serves on the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority board, the Virginia Telehealth Network board, and is co-chair of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Innovation and Technology Executive Committee.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Chesterfield County, Republican power player LaCivita is a former Marine, a Purple Heart recipient and one of a handful of insiders who has former President Donald Trump’s ear. LaCivita got his start as a GOP political strategist in the 1990s, working on George Allen’s successful congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

In 2004, the Gulf War veteran became a media adviser to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a political organization that helped sink the presidential campaign of Democrat John Kerry and produced the term “swiftboating,” meaning an unfair or untrue political attack. During the Obama era, LaCivita ran Republican congressional and state legislative campaigns and also consulted on Ken Cuccinelli’s unsuccessful 2013 bid for governor.

In 2020, LaCivita joined Preserve America, a pro-Trump PAC, and later became chief strategist of Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC. As of March, he co-manages Trump’s 2024 campaign and is the Republican National Committee’s chief operating officer. In July, LaCivita got into a political spat on X with Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott. He also reportedly forced out Paul Dans, director of the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025 initiative, from which Trump has sought to distance himself.

Selzer has led The Conservation Fund since 2001, helping to protect vital lands and waters in the United States to provide greater access to nature, strengthen local economies and enhance climate resiliency. The only environmental group in the country chartered for both conservation and economic development, it has protected more than 8.8 million acres in all 50 states in the past 40 years.

Recent successes include adding about 1,000 acres to the Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge in Illinois earlier this year. Closer to home, The Conservation Fund donated 27 acres in Greene County to Shenandoah National Park in December 2023 to help protect park resources from development.

Selzer began his conservation career at Massachusetts’ Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences, where he researched marine mammal and seabird populations. Before being named president of The Conservation Fund, he led the organization’s efforts to integrate economic and environmental goals.

He has served on the board of directors of forest products company Weyerhaeuser since 2016. He also is chairman of the board of the American Bird Conservancy.