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Them’s the brakes
Total compensation for S&P 500 CEOs nationwide last year marked its smallest year-over-year increase since 2015, with pay increasing 0.9% from 2021. Here in Virginia, CEOs faced even greater headwinds — their total pay increased just 0.3% from 2021 to 2022, down from a 4.9% increase between 2020 and 2021. The slowdown was a resu[...]
StartVirginia: October 2023 Heard Around Virginia
Aravenda, a Fairfax e-commerce software company targeting consignment shops and resellers, landed a spot in the latest women founders cohort of the Google for Startups Accelerator. Aravenda’s software helps consignment and resale shops track inventory and manage payouts to people who sell there. Customers can use the software to buil[...]
The Pharrell factor
Some celebrities seem to forget their roots. Fortunately for Hampton Roads, Pharrell Williams is not that kind of star. The Grammy-winning musician with a worldwide following has invested in the area repeatedly over the past several years and is poised to continue. Even as his career took a new path this year when he was tapped as t[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: MAX PETERSON
Peterson, who joined AWS in 2012 and started his current role in 2021, has more than 30 years of public sector experience, with stints at Dell and CDW-G. Now he’s guiding the $80.1 billion Amazon.com cloud subsidiary through a variety of high-tech federal projects. So far, AWS landed a spot (along with Google, Microsoft and Oracle)[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: CANDICE LING
Ling took over leadership of Microsoft’s federal arm in July after Rick Wagner, the sector’s president since 2020, stepped down to pursue new opportunities. Ling previously served as civilian federal sector vice president for Microsoft, a position she held since October 2021, and she also spent 19 years with Canadian consulting fir[...]
Media 2023: MIKE REED
Reed has held USA Today publisher Gannett’s top position since its 2019 merger with GateHouse Media owner New Media Investment Group, where he was CEO. Under his leadership, the company has not only been writing headlines but making them. On June 5, during Gannett’s annual shareholder meeting, hundreds of Gannett journalists walked[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: JOHN HENEGHAN
A former English teacher who went into tech in the 21st century, Heneghan has led ASGN’s federal consulting subsidiary since 2022. He previously was the company’s chief operating officer, and Heneghan held executive roles at Stanley Associates and CGI Federal. ECS expanded last fall with ASGN’s acquisition of cybersecurity business I[...]
Education 2023: ANNE M. KRESS
As president of Virginia’s largest community college — and one of the largest community colleges in the country — Kress oversees faculty, staff and nearly 70,000 internationally diverse students on six campuses near Washington, D.C., including NOVA’s Medical Education Campus in Springfield. In May, Gov. Glenn Youngkin visited the c[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: KAREN DAHUT
Last year, Google announced it was standing up a subsidiary focusing on government and educational contracting. In October 2022, Dahut left Booz Allen Hamilton, where she led its $4 billion global defense business, to become CEO of Google Public Sector, based out of Google’s Washington, D.C., and Reston offices. She replaced founding[...]
2023 Virginia 500: Federal Contractors | Technology
Craig P. Abod PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, CARAHSOFT TECHNOLOGY, RESTON Reggie Aggarwal FOUNDER AND CEO, CVENT, McLEAN Mahfuz Ahmed CHAIRMAN AND CEO, DEXIAN, McLEAN Ryan Angold CEO, ADS, VIRGINIA BEACH Tom Arseneault PRESIDENT[...]
Federal Contractors | Technology 2023: JUDI DOTSON
With more than 30 years working for the Fortune 500 global management consultant, Dotson leads Booz Allen Hamilton’s national security and global defense business. In 2022, Dotson succeeded Karen Dahut, who now serves as CEO of Google’s public sector organization. Under Dotson’s leadership, Booz Allen has performed work for the U.S[...]
Arts | Entertainment | Sports 2023: PHARRELL WILLIAMS
* EDITOR’S NOTE: Since this entry was written, Williams has moved with his family to Paris, where Louis Vuitton’s corporate headquarters is located. He previously had dual homes in Virginia Beach and Miami. Williams made a worldwide splash in June when the 13-time Grammy winner debuted his first fashion collection as men’s creative[...]
Amazon HQ2 opens to high expectations
Let the tech wizardry begin: Amazon.com Inc. held the grand opening and ribbon cutting for the first phase of HQ2, the ecommerce goliath’s $2.5 billion East Coast headquarters in Arlington County, on Thursday. Dignitaries in attendance included Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey, JBG Smith Propertie[...]
For The Record June 2023
CENTRAL VIRGINIA Henrico County-based Fortune 500 tobacco manufacturer Altria Group Inc. settled at least 6,000 state and federal lawsuits related to its stake in Juul Labs Inc. for $235 million in May. The settlements will be paid in the second quarter of 2023. Altria purchased a 35% stake in e-cigarette company Juul for $12.8 bill[...]
June 2023: Heard around Virginia
Agricultural biotech startup AgroSpheres will invest $25 million to expand in Albemarle County, creating an estimated 50 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced May 4. The company, founded in 2016 by Payam Pourtaheri and Ameer Shakeel when they were undergraduates at the University of Virginia, will increase production at its facility at[...]
Our new AI overlords
A worker who never tires — who never needs to take a coffee break, who doesn’t get sick, who doesn’t disagree and who doesn’t have a messy home life or those pesky families that get in the way of productivity. And most importantly, a worker who doesn’t require a paycheck. For some CEOs, that’s the ultimate promise of the future bein[...]
On cloud nine
In 2007 — the same year that Apple unveiled the iPhone and Netflix introduced the idea of “streaming” movies — Buddy Rizer started aggressively targeting an industry that many of the people he worked for in Loudoun County didn’t yet fully comprehend. “It was not an easy story to tell at first,” Rizer recalls of his early years purs[...]
Hokie-hatted host
You can “take the boy out of Winchester, but I don’t think you can take Winchester out of me,” says Brian Sullivan, the anchor of CNBC’s new evening business and financial news roundup show, “Last Call.” The one-hour show, which broadcasts from CNBC’s global headquarters in New Jersey on weeknights at 7 p.m. EST, premiered March 8[...]
StartVirginia: May 2023 Heard around Virginia
Richmond-based Babylon Micro-Farms Inc. raised $8 million in a series A funding round led by VentureSouth, the company announced April 4. The money will help expand go-to-market efforts and grow the company’s client base in the U.S. and beyond. Founded in 2017, Babylon enables businesses and communities to grow produce, and its softw[...]
Tech support
With the combination of new tech businesses and older companies employing artificial intelligence and other innovations, Virginia needs lawyers who know the difference between bitcoin and blockchain. As the commonwealth becomes home to more defense contracting giants, along with Amazon.com Inc.’s HQ2, law firms and law schools are b[...]








