byline: Virginia Business

Paulk has led Hirschler since 2018, when she became the first female president of the now-78-year-old firm, which has more than 90 attorneys in offices in Fredericksburg, Richmond and Tysons, and is the state’s seventh largest law firm. Paulk also heads Hirschler’s litigation section. 

After graduating from Mary Washington College (now the University of Mary Washington) with a degree in theater in 1992, Paulk took a job as a paralegal. She loved the work and later enrolled at the University of Richmond for law school, specializing in construction law. 

In 2013, she became the 85th person and 30th woman to achieve the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, which requires swimming around the island of Manhattan, across the English Channel and across the Catalina Channel. She repeated the achievement in 2017, becoming the first person to complete a Double Triple Crown.

In October 2023, Paulk swam 34 miles across Lake Gaston, which straddles the North Carolina and Virginia border, in 19 hours, 39 minutes and 8 seconds. Earlier this year, she was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame.

Wajsgras was named CEO of Intelsat in April 2022, shortly after the company’s emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and financial restructuring. Merger discussions between Intelsat and competitor SES stalled in 2023, but in April, the McLean-based satellite-services provider announced an agreement where it will be acquired by its Luxembourg-based competitor for $3.1 billion. The combined companies will be headquartered in Luxembourg, but are expected to retain a strong national presence.

While Wajsgras has agreed to stay on until the deal closes, expected in the second half of 2025, he said he expects to end his tenure at Intelsat once the acquisition is complete. He previously spent 14 years at Raytheon (now RTX).

Before the acquisition was announced, Wajsgras spoke at the Satellite 2024 conference in March about Intelsat’s interest in the satellite-to-cell market, as well as the possibility of investing in a medium Earth orbit (MEO) constellation.   

Wajsgras is a graduate of the University of Maryland and earned his MBA from American University. He serves on the boards for Parsons and Martin Marietta Materials. He is a seven-time honoree on Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list.

Bain joined Long & Foster Cos. in 2010 as president of its insurance and home warranty businesses. Berkshire Hathaway affiliate HomeServices of America acquired Long & Foster in 2017, and in 2018, Bain took on oversight of Long & Foster Property Management and Long & Foster Rental Service Center. Bain rebranded the property management business as HomeServices Property Management two years ago, and in early 2022, launched Insight Home Inspections. In March 2023, he became Long & Foster’s president and CEO.

Bain and other real estate executives have lately been dealing with class-action lawsuits that allege the real estate industry has colluded to keep homebuyers’ agents and brokers’ commissions high. Bain, in an interview with The Georgetowner on March 13, said allegations of “collusions and conspiracy” were untrue. “We are aggressively defending our position.” Two days after the interview was published, the National Association of Realtors reached a $418 million settlement in multiple federal class-action suits, although it still must be approved by the court and possibly the Justice Department.

Founded in 1968, Long & Foster has more than 200 offices and 9,000 real estate agents.

Tibbetts added the role of president to his chief operating officer position in February, when Armada Hoffler also announced it expects to appoint him as CEO in spring 2025 upon current CEO Louis Haddad’s retirement. Haddad will then serve as executive chairman for a year.

A real estate investment trust that operates across seven mid-Atlantic states, Armada Hoffler has 6.2 million rental square feet in its portfolio and an estimated $630.5 million of projects in its development pipeline. It has over 160 employees.

Before joining the company in 2019, Tibbetts was the Port of Virginia’s president and COO. Under his leadership, Armada Hoffler’s portfolio net operating income grew by 45%, and he oversaw more than $1.2 billion in transactions.

A James Madison University and William & Mary graduate, Tibbetts also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program. He serves on the Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors.

DOGS OR CATS: I am 100% a dog person. We have a 100-pound boxer who thinks he is human.

ONE THING I’D CHANGE ABOUT VIRGINIA: I wish I could change the winter weather in Virginia to something more like Florida’s climate.

Yochai was tapped as Zim American’s president in October 2022. The U.S. company, a subsidiary of Israeli cargo shipping company Zim Integrated Shipping Services, moved to the Hampton Roads region in 2001, and last year announced it was investing $30 million to relocate and expand its U.S. headquarters, which moved from Norfolk to Virginia Beach in July.

In 2011, Yochai joined Zim’s parent company, which has operations in more than 90 countries serving approximately 34,000 customers in more than 300 ports worldwide. 

Zim Integrated Shipping’s total revenue was $5.16 billion for the full year of 2023, compared to $12.56 billion in 2022 due to a decrease in freight rates, but finances appear to be perking up this year. In the first quarter of 2024, Zim reported $1.56 billion in revenue, a year-over-year increase of 14%.

Yochai has a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology. He previously was executive vice president of Zim’s trans-Pacific trade division based in Hong Kong, and he held executive positions with DHL Express, Fridenson Air & Ocean, and Aviv Shigur.

Hardy became the first female president in Sands Anderson’s then-175-year-old history in 2017. The trajectory that took her to the top at the state’s ninth largest firm has been far from a straight line.

A graduate of Johnston-Willis Hospital School of Nursing, Hardy worked as a registered nurse for 15 years, including a stint as a psychiatric nurse, before graduating from law school at William & Mary in 1995. Hardy also earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond and an MBA from
Old Dominion University. 

As Sands Anderson’s leader of the health care group, Hardy leans on her nursing experience when representing clients in medical malpractice, and investigations and proceedings before the Department of Health Professions. She’s also a member of the firm’s government, business and litigation groups and assists Virginia treasurers with collecting delinquent real estate taxes. Additionally, Hardy serves as the managing shareholder for the firm’s Fredericksburg office.

Hardy sits on the board of trustees of Mary Washington Healthcare and is legal counsel for the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance at the University of Mary Washington. 

The owner of a 45-acre farm, Hardy raises Angora goats and shears and spins their wool into yarn. She also enjoys riding motorcycles.

A Wellesley College alumna, McDuffie served as Navy Federal Credit Union CEO from 2019 until her retirement, announced in September 2023. Dietrich Kuhlmann, formerly the credit union’s chief operating officer, succeeded McDuffie on March 1.

Before joining the credit union in 1999, McDuffie was senior vice president of marketing for electronic payments company Star Systems. She started her career with the ad agency J. Walter Thompson.

As Navy Federal’s first woman CEO, McDuffie led more than 22,000 employees at the world’s largest credit union. She previously served on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore board.

Navy Federal serves armed forces, veterans, civilian and contractor personnel, as well as their families. The credit union has more than 13 million members and managed $178 billion in assets as of March 31. Fortune placed the credit union on its 100 Best Companies to Work For list in 2023, marking the credit union’s 13th consecutive year on the list.

Nassetta is the longtime president and CEO of one of the world’s largest hospitality companies. Hilton has a portfolio of 7,600 properties and 24 brands in 126 countries and territories, ranging from luxury brands like Waldorf Astoria to suite hotels such as Embassy Suites by Hilton.

Nassetta joined Hilton in 2007 after investment firm Blackstone acquired the company in a $26 billion deal. Hilton went public again in 2013. In the past 15 years, Nassetta has more than doubled the company’s footprint.

Hilton cemented its post-pandemic return to the Fortune 500 list, rising from No. 431 in 2023 to No. 389 this year. Hilton reported 2023 net income of $1.15 billion for 2023, a year when the company added 395 hotels and launched two new brands, Spark by Hilton and LivSmart Studios by Hilton.

A graduate of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce, Nassetta spent 10 years at Host Hotels & Resorts, serving first as chief operating officer and then as president and CEO before taking the helm at Hilton in 2007.

Nassetta was named chair of the U.S. Travel Association in 2023 and sits on CoStar Group’s board of directors.

Caswell joined government contractor Maximus in 2004 and has served as president since 2014; he became CEO in 2018. He started his career at what’s now PricewaterhouseCoopers before moving on to IBM, where he served as vice president of state and local government and education, as well as director of federal business development.

Headquartered in Tysons, Maximus was founded in 1975 and has provided administrative support for programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare, welfare-to-work, health care reform and student loan servicing. Maximus reported $4.9 billion in revenue for fiscal 2023, a 5.9% increase from the previous year.

Caswell holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Haverford College and a master’s in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was WashingtonExec’s 2022 public company CEO of the year.

Monet leads Akima, an Alaska Native corporation that handles federal contracts for the for-profit NANA Regional business owned by Indigenous Iñupiat shareholders. Akima has more than 10,000 employees across the world.

With more than 30 years of experience in modernizing processes for federal, state, local and commercial clients, Monet is chief operating officer of NANA in addition to his duties as CEO and president of subsidiary Akima. A Virginia Tech alum, Monet has an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a master’s degree in science from George Washington University. He is also a five-time awardee on Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of leading government contracting executives.

In April, Akima subsidiaries inked a $499 million contract to provide design-build construction services to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District and won a spot on a $750 million communications and enterprise IT support services Air Force contract. In June, a subsidiary secured a $480 million Space Force contract for Satellite Control Network tracking station operations. And in July, another subsidiary was awarded a $563 million contract to provide installation support services at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.