byline: Virginia Business

Divaris co-founded his real estate firm 50 years ago in South Africa, where he earned degrees in accounting and real estate marketing, and then brought the company to Virginia in 1981. The following year, Divaris Real Estate, one of the companies now under the Divaris Group umbrella, opened its doors in Virginia Beach.

Today, the firm manages or leases more than 40 million square feet of office, retail and industrial space nationwide under subsidiary Divaris Property Management.

Divaris Real Estate announced in May an influx of eight agents — all of whom came from Long & Foster Commercial — to its Tysons office. Closer to home, Gerald Divaris and former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell have proposed building a new 450-room hotel and parking garage on Virginia Beach city-owned property on 17th Street.

The Divaris Group continues to be a family business, with Michael B. Divaris, Gerald’s cousin and co-founder, as president and Tony Divaris, his nephew, as chief operating officer. The company’s history includes the creation of Virginia Beach Town Center with Armada Hoffler, a process that started in 1986.

Bennett lost his father, Paul O. Bennett, this year, and the Virginia House of Delegates and the state Senate signed a joint resolution honoring him. Bennett adopted the love of trucking from his dad, a professional truck driver, and has advocated for the trucking industry for  more than 40 years.

The nation’s trucking industry has been hit hard in recent years by driver shortages, supply chain woes and high diesel prices. At the federal level this year, the VTA is supporting the Veterans Improvement Commercial Driver License Act to eliminate a two-year waiting period for new CDL training facilities to accept GI Bill benefits. It passed the U.S. Senate in November 2023 and the House of Representatives on April 30.

In 2019, Bennett was recognized by the American Trucking Associations for his 30 years of service to the ATA federation as president and CEO of the VTA.

A University of Richmond graduate who grew up in Burkeville, Bennett worked for the Virginia State Crime Commission from 1982 to 1984 as a research analyst and legislative coordinator before joining VTA’s predecessor organization. As a teen, he drove a tractor on his uncle’s tobacco fields.

As the longest-serving president and CEO in the 55-year history of PBS, Kerger has served as its leader for nearly two decades, and in June, PBS’ board extended her contract five more years. She has grown it from traditional TV broadcasting to multiplatform digital media, with 330-plus member stations.

Before joining PBS, Kerger was with the Educational Broadcasting Corp., the parent company of WNET, for more than a decade, ultimately becoming chief operating officer. Before that, she was principal gifts director for the Metropolitan Opera. She completed her bachelor’s degree at the University of Baltimore.

Honored with the Giants of Broadcasting and Electronic Arts Award, Kerger also has received the Advancing American Democracy Award from the Benjamin Harris Presidential Site.

Kerger is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Women’s Forum and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a board member of the Dana Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, where she formerly served as chair.

PBS’ latest accolades include being named the Webby Media Company of the Year in the spring while also receiving 11 nominations for the 84th annual Peabody Awards, the most of any organization.

Stephens took the helm of the Hampton Roads Chamber in 2013. The chamber promotes business concerns in the region, which is home to Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval complex, as well as significant manufacturing and hospitality sectors.

The chamber has maintained its U.S. Chamber of Commerce five-star accreditation, placing it in the top 1% of all U.S. chambers. Its civic leadership development program, Lead757, has more than 1,600 graduates from various industries.

A retired U.S. Army colonel, Stephens is a graduate of West Virginia University, the U.S. Army War College and Golden Gate University. He is a gubernatorial appointee to the Virginia Offshore Wind Development Authority and serves on boards for the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership and Lead Virginia.

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With over 35 years under her belt at Booz Allen Hamilton, Dotson has led the Fortune 500 global management consultancy’s national security and global defense business since 2022. Previously, she led the firm’s National Security Sector teams, and before that, its Joint Combatant Commands account that includes clients throughout the Department of Defense’s technology community.

In July 2023, Booz Allen agreed to a $377 million settlement related to allegations that it had fraudulently billed the government for a decade.

Booz Allen closed its 2024 fiscal year in March with what it called its best fiscal year since going public 14 years ago, reporting $10.66 billion in revenue, an increase of 15.2%.

In June, Booz Allen announced it had acquired PAR Government Systems, a provider of mobile situational awareness technology for the defense and intelligence sectors. In July, it was announced that Booz Allen had received a seven-year, $419 million National Science Foundation contract to aid in IT support.

A University of Maryland graduate, Dotson made Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of top government contracting executives for the second year and was named its most popular executive by a popular vote.

In August, Ortberg succeeded Dave Calhoun, who stepped down after a turbulent four-year tenure as the Arlington Fortune Global 500 aerospace and defense giant’s chief executive.

Ortberg is the retired president and CEO of aerospace and defense contractor Rockwell Collins, now absorbed into Arlington-based defense contractor RTX. He started in 1983 as an engineer at Texas Instruments and joined Rockwell Collins in 1987 as a program manager. He previously served on RTX’s board of directors. In an email to staff, Ortberg said he will be based in Seattle, where he will focus on rebuilding trust in Boeing’s commercial aircraft division.

Boeing has been plagued by problems with its 737 Max planes such as fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 and a midair wall-panel blowout on a January commercial flight. Also, this summer, two Boeing Starliner astronauts were stranded on the International Space Station, likely until a spacecraft made by rival SpaceX can retrieve them in February 2025.

In July, Boeing announced that it would buy back Spirit AeroSystems in a $4.7 billion, all-stock transaction with an aim of taking over quality control of plane construction. Also that month, Boeing finalized its guilty plea to a federal criminal fraud conspiracy charge, under which it will pay at least $243.6 million in fines.

Boeing, which employs 170,000 workers worldwide, posted 2023 revenue of $77.79 billion, up from $66.6 billion in 2022.

Jones has led Inova Health System since 2018. The Northern Virginia health system employs more than 24,000 people across its five hospitals and numerous other facilities, including the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and Level 4 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

A urological surgeon, Jones previously led Cleveland Clinic Regional Hospitals and Family Health Centers. After studying zoology as an undergraduate at the University of Arkansas, Jones stayed with the Razorbacks for med school. He also earned an MBA from Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

Jones is chair of the board of the American Medical Group Association, a trade association, and sits on the boards of the Greater Washington Partnership and the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

In June, Inova announced it had raised $83 million in the past year, surpassing the “Schar Challenge” issued by donors Dwight and Martha Schar when they made a $75 million matching gift to Inova in May 2023. Inova plans to start construction in late 2024 on a $612 million Springfield hospital and a new Alexandria hospital, part of the $1 billion, 1.1 million-square-foot Inova campus at the former Landmark Mall site. Both are expected to be completed in 2028.

With more than 30 years of experience in insurance and financial services, Spiro has led the Henrico County-based property, casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and advisory firm since 2017. A portfolio company of Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle Group, The Hilb Group has more than 2,200 employees in 29 states. The firm celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2024 and has continued to grow, having completed more than 165 acquisitions. 

In June, the Hilb Group acquired German American Insurance, a subsidiary of German American Bancorp, for $40 million. The insurance agency (now known as German American Insurance — a Hilb Group Company) continues operating in southern Indiana and Kentucky. 

In a news release, Spiro noted that this acquisition fits with The Hilb Group’s goal of growing by acquiring “leading insurance brokers in key markets and building on the great reputation.”

Spiro, who has an economics degree from Princeton University, served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of commercial property and casualty insurer Chubb from 2008 to 2016. Before that, Spiro was a managing director in Citigroup Global Markets’ financial institutions investment banking group.

In 2017, McGuireWoods’ board of partners elected Harmon to be the first Black chairman of the state’s largest law firm. In the role, Harmon is the face of the firm, responsible for its big-picture strategy and vision. 

In addition to leading McGuireWoods, Harmon continues to work as a trial lawyer skilled at communicating complex information to juries.

He has represented major companies including Yahoo, DuPont, CSX Transportation and UPS Ground Freight. Before becoming chairman, Harmon led the firm’s business securities litigation department.

A West Point graduate, Harmon earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. He served as a first lieutenant in the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division during Operation Desert Storm. 

In a 2020 essay published in The Wall Street Journal, Harmon detailed memories of seeing a cross burn in front of a house that sat across the street as a 14-year-old growing up in Jefferson, New York. The way his father refused to give in to anger after that incident, Harmon wrote, taught him that it’s never too late to learn not to hate. He’s spent years leading Bible studies to prisoners.