byline: Virginia Business

In July, after more than two years of planning, Old Dominion merged with Eastern Virginia Medical School to form the largest suite of health care programs in the state, with 56 academic programs.

The newly integrated entity, in recognition of a $20 million gift from Joan Brock, is known as Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University. Dennis and Jan Ellmer also gave $20 million, announced in June, to provide scholarships to students pursuing health sciences degrees at ODU.

Under Hemphill’s tenure beginning in 2021, the university has received R1 research classification, launched a $500 million capital campaign and received a $5 million Mellon Foundation Award to fund humanities internships, in addition to Hemphill’s role achieving the merger.

Hemphill previously was Radford University’s president and led the creation of Radford University Carilion through a merger with the Jefferson College of Health Sciences. He also is a past president of West Virginia State University.

Hemphill has a bachelor’s degree from St. Augustine’s University, a master’s degree from Iowa State University and a doctorate in higher education administration and policy studies from the University of Iowa.

In a 2022 entry nominating Grinspoon for the Savvy Ladies’ Male Ally award at Hightower Advisors, which recognizes men in the financial field who value equality, VWG’s CEO, Elana Fine, talked about how Grinspoon created a culture at the firm that attracts, retains and promotes women. 

“Jeff gave me the room to lead and placed his trust in me so that our employees would trust me,” she wrote. Grinspoon won the award, and he noted that the women he works with display a great deal of empathy, an important quality for financial advisers. 

Listed among Forbes’ 250 top wealth advisers in the country and No. 3 in Virginia in Barron’s this year, Grinspoon previously was a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley. He founded VWG in 2011, and the firm partners with aggregator Hightower. 

In June, VWG had more than $2 billion in assets under management, according to Grinspoon.

A University of Maryland graduate with a bachelor’s degree and an MBA, Grinspoon started his finance career at Legg Mason.

Hoskins has led the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority since 2019, when he made the move from Arlington Economic Development after helping bring Amazon.com’s HQ2 East Coast headquarters to the state.

FCEDA has helped the county land a string of new headquarters recently, including nonprofit government contractor The Aerospace Corp., space cybersecurity firm SpiderOak and NetApp, which established its U.S. public sector headquarters in Tysons.

Among his many philanthropic and volunteer positions, Hoskins sits on the George Mason University President’s Innovation Advisory Council and the advisory council for Blueprint Virginia 2030. He is vice president of the Capital Area Food Bank’s board of directors.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In March 2023, Hoskins received a Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award from the White House.

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: Exponentially expand the number of internships for high school and college students

BOOK I’D RECOMMEND: “Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things,” by Adam Grant

Reston-based ASRC Federal is a family of companies that serve IT customers in the defense and civilian sectors. Felix joined ASRC Federal in 2019 as executive vice president and chief operating officer, becoming president and CEO in 2020.

ASRC Federal is a subsidiary of Arctic Slope Regional, an Alaska Native corporation, and employs more than 8,000 people. In 2023, ASRC Federal purchased Science Applications International Corp.’s logistics and supply chain management business for $350 million, and bought Broadleaf, a Manassas-based defense contractor, for an undisclosed amount.

In February, ASRC Federal subsidiary ASRC Federal Facilities Logistics was awarded an up to $500 million Navy supply chain management contract. In July, ASRC Federal subsidiary Vistronix was announced as an awardee on an $8 billion FBI IT support services contract.

A graduate of the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, Felix was a financial analyst in the hospitality industry before serving in executive leadership positions at Sotera Defense Solutions, Vencore and SAIC. In 2018, she was named Northern Virginia Technology Council’s Private Company CFO of the Year.

Founded by Serafini in 2015, HawkEye 360 is a geospatial analytics company that collects radio frequency data by satellite to identify and track human activity and trends for military, maritime and intelligence clients.

Before launching HawkEye 360, Serafini was senior vice president of Allied Minds. A former U.S. Army infantry officer in the 82nd Airborne Division, Serafini is a West Point graduate and has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

In December 2023, HawkEye 360 promoted its chief operating officer, Rob Rainhart, to president. That same month, the company announced that it had acquired RF Solutions from Colorado-based Maxar Intelligence for an undisclosed amount.

In April, HawkEye 360 secured $40 million in debt financing from the restructured Silicon Valley Bank to improve its technological infrastructure and continue the buildout of its satellite constellation. In June, the company held a grand opening ceremony for a new 13,297-square-foot office in Herndon. And in July, it announced that nine of its Cluster 8 satellites had entered initial operating status.

Serafini serves on the board of advisers for the National Security Space Association.

In August 2023, Hyder succeeded Stewart D. Roberson as president and CEO of the architecture firm, as Roberson stepped into the board chair role. Hyder was no newcomer; he joined Moseley in 1993 after earning his bachelor’s degree from Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture. In the past 30 years, Hyder has served as an architect, operations manager and leader of the firm’s higher education sector, as well as vice president and secretary of Moseley’s board.

The 11-office architectural firm founded in 1969 serves clients in the K-12, higher education, civic, justice, senior living and multifamily housing sectors. In April, Moseley Architects broke ground on Augusta County’s new courthouse in Verona, and the firm is involved in major projects at Virginia Tech and Old Dominion University, as well as out-of-state ventures.

Moseley Architects was listed fifth on BD+C’s (Building Design & Construction’s) rankings of the nation’s largest senior living facility architecture and architecture engineering firms for 2023.

A family man, Estes follows in his great-grandfather’s footsteps leading Estes Express Lines, the largest privately owned freight carrier in North America. In January 2023, he was promoted to president and COO, succeeding his father, Rob Estes, who is now board chairman and CEO.

The 93-year-old Estes Express has acquired 24 terminals from the former transportation provider, Yellow, after the Tennessee-based company’s bankruptcy. Also, in April, the business opened three terminals in South Carolina, Nevada and New Jersey, and added more than 130 tractors and 6,000 trailers to its less-than-truckload (LTL) fleet of 10,000 trucks as part of the acquisitions. The company employs more than 23,000 people.

Meanwhile, Webb Estes is making headway on running his company sustainably, including acquiring 12 electric trucks and 300 electric forklifts. The company also is working with Watershed Technology to complete its first carbon footprint study so it can analyze emissions data. It is part of a Virginia Tech initiative to improve supply chain resiliency and sustainability.

A William & Mary alum, Estes joined the company full time in 2007.

Memory started with Transurban, an Australian transportation company operating express toll lanes in Northern Virginia, in November 2023 after serving as executive director of the E-470 Public Highway Authority in Denver.

At Transurban, he oversees the company’s 53 miles of toll lanes on the Capital Beltway and interstates 95 and 395, as well as the A25 Bridge in Montreal in Canada. He is responsible for major toll road infrastructure development, financing, construction and operations. Before working in Denver, Memory was chief operating officer at the North Carolina Department of Transportation and executive director of the North Carolina Turnpike Authority.

Transurban’s public-private partnerships in the Greater Washington area in the last 12 years have delivered four megaprojects representing $8 billion in economic impact, $4 billion in infrastructure and more than 53,000 jobs for Virginia.

Memory serves on the board of the Pentagon Memorial Fund, a group that raises money to support the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial, which informs the public about the terrorist attack there on Sept. 11, 2001.

He is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Since 2022, Wright has served as CEO of the U.S. division of the Munich-based global travel insurance and assistance company. In April, he received another title: managing director for North America. Elena Edwards had been CEO for North America, as well as chief markets officer and a board member for the parent company, until she retired last year.

In February, Allianz Partners USA announced a partnership with Allegiant Travel, allowing Allianz to offer travel protection products to Allegiant Air customers. Wright joined Allianz Partners USA in 2019 as chief financial officer. Previously, Wright worked at Fortune 500 insurer Genworth Financial as chief financial officer for the U.S. life insurance division.

After graduating with a degree in finance and marketing from the University of Richmond, Wright earned an MBA from the University of Maryland. He sits on the board of Virginia Learns, a nonprofit focused on achieving a more equitable K-12 education system in the commonwealth.

Cherot is the first physician to lead the 85-year-old March of Dimes, an organization founded in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to combat polio. Today, the March of Dimes focuses on healthy pregnancies and births.

An OB-GYN, Cherot joined the nonprofit in January 2023 as senior vice president and chief medical and health officer, leading the Office of Maternal and Child Health Impact. After the previous CEO left to lead Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Cherot was named CEO. Before joining March of Dimes, she was chief medical officer for Axia Women’s Health.

In 2023, the nonprofit awarded more than $5.3 million to research initiatives, trained more than 25,000 health care professionals on issues related to preterm birth and maternal health care, and advocated for policy changes at the state and local level to protect mothers and mothers-to-be.

Cherot earned her medical degree at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry; she earned an MBA and bachelor’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.