Health Care 2025: LUTES, MICHAEL
Lutes joined Bon Secours in 2022 as Richmond market president. The health system created his state president role this year; he now oversees the Richmond and Hampton Roads markets, including about 14,000 employees across the state. In May, the health system opened its approximately $80 million, 100,000-square-foot Harbour View M[...]
Energy 2025: HEWA, JOHN D.
In 2017, Hewa joined the member-owned utility as vice president and chief operating officer. Three years later, he took the helm of the Rappahannock Electric Cooperative following the retirement of Kent Farmer, who’d worked there for more than four decades. In addition to leading the cooperative that today provides electri[...]
Energy 2025: COSBY, CHRIS
Cosby signed on to lead ODEC in February, succeeding John C. Lee, who retired after leading the cooperative since 2023. He joined the cooperative in 2018 as a director of asset manager and most recently served as chief operating officer. Incorporated in 1948, Old Dominion Electric Cooperative is a not-for-profit generation and t[...]
Education 2025: HEMPHILL, BRIAN O.
Old Dominion merged with Eastern Virginia Medical School in July 2024 to form the largest suite of health care programs in state higher education, with 56 academic programs. Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences at Old Dominion University received a $20 million gift from Joan Brock and another $20 million gift from Den[...]
Government Contractors | Technology 2025: SEGURA, ENRIQUE
A native of Argentina, Segura is the billionaire chairman of ENSE Group, a holding company for multiple subsidiaries that mainly perform work for foreign governments. A resident of McLean, Segura maintains leadership roles at ENSE’s companies, including Securiport, which designs airport security systems; Harbass, which adv[...]
Government Contractors | Technology 2025: SERAFINI, JOHN
Founded by Serafini in 2015, HawkEye 360 is a geospatial analytics company that collects radio frequency data by satellite to identify and track activity and trends for military, maritime and intelligence clients. Before launching HawkEye, Serafini was senior vice president of Allied Minds. A former U.S. Army infantry officer, S[...]
Education 2025: ROBERTSON, GORDON P.
Robertson became chancellor of the private, conservative Christian university in 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 flagsh[...]
Government Contractors | Technology 2025: WALKER, TOM
Walker launched aerial drone services provider DroneUp in 2016 after spending 17 years as president of software company Web Teks. He also spent nearly 17 years as an officer in the U.S. Navy. DroneUp partnered with Walmart in 2021 to deliver items by drone, expanding the retailer’s delivery network, but in December 2024, D[...]
2025 Living Legends: HARDEE, CARL L.
In May, Hardee retired as president and CEO of Lawson Cos., the Virginia Beach residential real estate development, construction and management company that focuses on affordable, low-income and market-rate multifamily housing. He joined Lawson in 1991 as a regional property manager at subsidiary Lawson Realty, then became its p[...]
2025 Living Legends: MORRIS, NIGEL
In 1994, Morris co-founded Capital One Financial with Richard Fairbank, who remains the credit card giant’s chairman and CEO. Morris served as Capital One’s president and chief operating officer until 2004, when he decided it was time for something new. In 2007, Morris partnered with Frank Rotman to launch QED Invest[...]
2025 Living Legends: THOMPSON, BRUCE L.
One of Hampton Roads’ most prominent developers and hoteliers, Norfolk native Thompson is best known for developing the Cavalier Resort, which includes the restored historic Cavalier Hotel as well as two new hotels, restaurants and residences on 21 acres at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, a $435 million project. Thompson op[...]
Government Contractors | Technology 2025: BIDZOS, D. JAMES
A native of Greece, Bidzos is an internet and cybersecurity pioneer and an early advocate for encrypted commercial software. VeriSign, a company he founded in 1995 as a spinoff of RSA Data Security, is the world’s largest internet domain name registration and infrastructure provider. Any address with a .com or .net domain [...]