Followups – April 2014

Neustar gets one contract, awaits another

In early March, Sterling-based Neustar Inc. was awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Commerce to continue administering the official Internet country code domain of the United States.

Neustar has administered the .US Top Level Domain since 2001, when the Department of Commerce selected the company to build and manage it.

The company, however, still was awaiting word on another contract, administering local telephone number portability, which represents nearly half of its annual revenue. Neustar has handled that contract for the past 18 years.

Number portability means consumers essentially own their telephone numbers and can take them anywhere, no matter where they live or what telephone carrier they use.

The company’s stock declined by almost 20 percent in one day in January amid concerns about the future of that contract.

Neustar had announced that a revised bid for a contract starting July 2015 had been rejected by North American Portability Management (NAPM) LLC.

Neustar had submitted an initial proposal last April.

A decision on the contract had not been announced by mid-March.

Virginia Business profiled Neustar and its CEO, Lisa Hook, in an interview that appeared in the magazine’s May issue in 2013.

CEO’s Civil War film to have April debut
“Field of Lost Shoes,” a Civil War film written and produced by Dominion Resources CEO Thomas F. Farrell II, is scheduled to have its premiere in Richmond on April 13.

The movie follows seven Virginia Military Institute cadets who fight in the Battle of New Market in May 1864.

The invitation-only premiere will take place at the Carpenter Theatre, a part of the CenterStage performing arts complex in downtown Richmond.

Farrell, the chairman, president and CEO of Richmond-based Dominion, was listed among the most influential Virginians in the March issue The Big Book.

CORRECTIONS
The March issue of Virginia Business incorrectly reported the previous positions at Richmond-based Altria Group Inc. held by Martin J. Barrington, the company’s chairman and CEO. He had served as Altria’s vice chairman and before that was executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Barrington was listed among the commonwealth’s most influential Virginians.

Also in the March issue, the number of employees at AES Corp.’s headquarters was incorrect. The company has more than 300 employees there. The story looked at AES’ decision to keep its headquarters in Arlington.