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Government Contractors | Technology 2025: McINTYRE, SCOTT

McIntyre was retained as CEO after Guidehouse, a federal contractor and global provider of technology and consulting services, was acquired by a Bain Capital Private Equity affiliate for $5.3 billion in 2023.

Guidehouse was previously owned by Veritas Capital since 2018. Employing about 18,000 people in 55 locations across the globe, Guidehouse was formed when Veritas purchased PricewaterhouseCoopers’ U.S. public sector business, for which McIntyre served as managing partner. He became Guidehouse’s CEO with that ownership change.

In September 2024, Guidehouse ranked No. 4,732 on Inc. 5000’s annual list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

In June, the company announced a $1.5 billion, three-year AI initiative, aiming to launch an AI platform for multiple industries.

The Wall Street Journal reported in April that Guidehouse is among several consultancies that offered cuts to their contracts in negotiations with the Trump administration as it sought to slash spending.

McIntyre has been named to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of top government contracting leaders for nine consecutive years.

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: Iran, before and at the outset of the revolution, as a kid

FAVORITE TEAM: D.C. United

Education 2025: ADAMS-GASTON, JAVAUNE

Under Adams-Gaston’s leadership since 2019, Norfolk State has racked up achievements ranging from regularly ranking among U.S. News & World Report’s top 20 historically Black and to attaining a 10-year reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

The public university attracted big-dollar donations, from grants of more than $53 million for scholarships and student support and a $40 million gift from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in 2021. The HBCU also launched a campaign to raise a $90 million endowment by its 90th anniversary this year.

Adams-Gaston has led NSU’s online curriculum expansion to include master’s degrees in cybersecurity and cyber psychology. She played key roles in forging partnerships with companies like Netflix, Apple and Amazon.

She served on former President Joe Biden’s HBCUs advisory board and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Her term on the NCAA Board of Governors ended in 2024.

Before joining NSU, Adams-Gaston was senior vice president for student life at Ohio State University and held executive positions at the University of Maryland. She holds a doctorate from Iowa State University.

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Health Care 2025: DAVIS, MELINA

In 2014, Davis became executive vice president of MSV, a trade organization that represents more than 30,000 physicians, physician assistants, residents and students. Four years later, she took the helm as CEO.

MSV successfully advocated for laws to allow Virginia professionals to seek mental health care and help for career fatigue without fearing repercussions to their medical licenses. Partnering with Vital WorkLife, MSV manages SafeHaven, which offers clinicians resources like peer coaching and counseling.

MSV and the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services announced in 2024 they were launching the Adult Psychiatric Access Line, a resource for health care professionals treating adults with substance use disorders.

Previously, Davis was CEO and president of the American Lung Association of the Atlantic Coast. She also founded PlanG Holdings, a consumer platform that allows people to donate to charitable causes.

Davis has a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. She joined the United Network for Organ Sharing’s board in April and serves on the Virginia Credit Union board.

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Government Contractors | Technology 2025: DEAN, WILLIAM H. ‘BILL’

In 2023, Dean opened the doors to a new, 168,000-square-foot building on his company’s manufacturing campus in Caroline County, completing a five-year,

$63 million phase three expansion that created more than 500 jobs in Virginia. It’s among several expansions for Dean, who grew the small business that his grandfather started in 1949 as an electrical construction company to employ more than 6,700 across more than 30 offices worldwide. The privately owned design-build systems integration company reportedly earned $1.3 billion in 2021 revenue.

Dean became CEO in 1997. A North Carolina State University alumnus, Dean serves on the board of the Washington Airports Task Force.

In 2024, MC Dean won a potential $116 million Information Systems Agency contract to provide IT support for the U.S. European Command and Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic. It also expanded late last year with a new logistics facility in South Hill that will one day employ up to 100 people, as well as a new location in South Carolina. The company plans new presences in California and Germany, it said last year.

Education 2025: PAINO, TROY D.

In 2024, UMW introduced three new majors (applied mathematics and statistics, data science as well as management and entrepreneurship) and three new minors (disability studies, global history and professional writing). The school also signed a partnership with the University of Virginia, streamlining the admissions process for UMW accounting majors who meet qualifications.

Paino received the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators’ 2023 President’s Award, which recognizes a president or chancellor who has, over a sustained period, advanced the quality of student life on campus.

In 2024, the university became part of a consortium receiving a $25,000 National Endowment for the Humanities grant to develop curriculum around AI.

President of UMW since 2016, Paino was previously president of Truman State University in Missouri. He holds doctoral and master’s degrees from Michigan State University, a law degree from Indiana University and a bachelor’s degree from Evangel College.

Paino serves on the board of the Northern Virginia Technology Council and chairs the Virginia Council of Presidents.

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: Just got back from Greece (Athens and Santorini)

FIRST JOB: Maintenance worker

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Government | Politics | Lobbying 2025: HERRING, DEL. CHARNIELE

When Democrats took control of the House of Delegates in 2020, Herring became the first woman and first African American to serve as majority leader. After Republicans retook the chamber following the 2021 elections, she became caucus chair but returned to her majority leader role when her party narrowly reassumed power in 2024.

Early experience with homelessness helped shape Herring’s outlook, and she attended George Mason University through the school’s Student Transition Empowerment Program, which assists disadvantaged students in transitioning to a college environment. Herring later became a lawyer and was first elected to the General Assembly in 2009. She served as chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia from 2012 to 2014.

In recent years, Herring has carried several of Democrats’ signature pieces of legislation, including bills to legalize marijuana possession and join Virginia to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon market. In 2025, she sponsored an amendment that would enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution, which the House and state Senate passed.

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2025 Virginia 500: Health Care | Biotech | Pharmaceuticals

Education 2025: KELLY, REAR ADM. WILLIAM G. (U.S. COAST GUARD, RET.)

After nearly four decades of service in the U.S. Coast Guard, Kelly became CNU’s sixth president in 2023.

Founded in 1960 as Christopher Newport College, a two-year branch of William & Mary, CNU is a four-year public university with about 5,000 students. The new Science and Engineering Research Center is under construction and expected to open in January 2026.

Before coming to CNU, Kelly served as the 42nd superintendent of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where he is a 1987 alum.

Kelly has a master’s degree in instructional systems design from Florida State University and a certificate in human resource management.

His awards include the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Coast Guard Commendation Medal, Coast Guard Achievement Medal and the permanent Cutterman’s Pin.

Kelly was awarded the Federal Distance Learning Association Diamond Award and served as an adjunct professor at Florida State.

The New York native served as chair of the Coast Guard Academy’s board of trustees, president of the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance’s board of directors and as a member of the NCAA’s Minority Opportunities and Interest Committee.

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Government Contractors | Technology 2025: WENSINGER, JEREMY

In June 2024, Wensinger suceeded Chuck Prow as and contractor V2X’s president and CEO. Wensinger also serves on V2X’s board of directors. The change follows the 2023 move of V2X’s headquarters from Colorado to Tysons. V2X was formed by the $2.1 billion merger of Vertex and Vectrus in 2022 and has about 16,000 employees.

With $4.3 billion in 2024 revenue, V2X placed No. 737 on this year’s Fortune 1000 list. V2X serves national security, civilian, defense and international clients with solutions related to logistics, operations, and aerospace. In July, the Air Force awarded the company a potential $4.3 billion T-6 aircraft support contract.

Wensinger, who previously served as Peraton’s chief operating officer, has more than three decades of experience as a defense and contracting executive. He started his career at Harris Corp. and also was president of PAE’s National Security and Solutions business, chief operating officer of GTSI, and chairman and president of Cobham Defense Systems.

Wensinger has degrees from Bowling Green State and the University of South Florida.

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Government Contractors | Technology 2025: GILLILAND, AMY

As president of General Dynamics Information Technology, Gilliland oversees roughly 30,000 employees. She joined parent company General Dynamics in 2005 and became GDIT’s president in 2017.

GDIT reported $8.75 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024, contributing to General Dynamics’ overall revenue of $47.7 billion. The company has logged several high dollar contracts in recent years, including a potential $5.6 billion 10-year Air Force contract to support mission partner environmental operations announced in November 2024. GDIT also acquired Florida AI firm Iron EagleX in 2024, and in February, the company won a potential five-year, $1 billion contract from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to support cloud-based infrastructure.

Gilliland started a mental health campaign called “How are you, really?” at GDIT in 2021 after an employee’s suicide. GDIT partnered with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2024.

A former Navy surface warfare officer, Gilliland has a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and master’s degrees from Cambridge and Georgetown . She serves on the boards of BNY Mellon and The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and works to raise awareness for Rett Syndrome.