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Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: LAURA K. IPSEN

After 25 years in Silicon Valley as an executive for Oracle, Microsoft and Cisco Systems, Ipsen was hired to lead higher ed tech company Ellucian in 2017. With 3,800 employees worldwide, Ellucian has an annual revenue approaching $1 billion and works with more than 2,900 customers across 50 countries, serving 20 million students.

Ipsen is a University of Virginia alumna who studied Arabic at Yarmouk University in Jordan. In 2025, Ellucian was named among the GSV 150, a list of the top 150 private companies leading digital learning and workforce skills. Calibre One also named Ipsen to its list of top 25 U.S. woman leaders of private equity-backed software companies.

In July, Ipsen began serving on the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board. She also sits on the board of U.Va’s School of Data Science and chairs the Business-Higher Education Forum’s board.

Ipsen also serves on Daimler Truck Holding’s supervisory board and is a member of the Fast Company Impact Council, Fortune’s CEO Initiative, and Women Corporate Directors.

Living Legends 2025: WILLIAM A. ‘BILL’ PAULETTE

In 1975, armed with $1,000 to invest, Paulette laid the foundation for what would become KBS. What started as a one-person company with an office in a sheet-metal shop has grown to a top-ranked mid-Atlantic construction firm, with $321 million in annual revenue and 110 employees in offices in Richmond and Virginia Beach.

Its notable projects include the Virginia Department of Transportation and Virginia State Police Joint Operations Center, Richmond’s Northside YMCA renovation and the Locks Tower, a 355,000-square-foot downtown Richmond apartment development.

A 1969 Virginia Military Institute alumnus, Paulette hails from South Hill and serves as a deacon at Richmond’s River Road Church, Baptist. He is a former member of VMI’s board of visitors and a past president of the VMI Keydet Club. Paulette also previously served on the boards of the Virginia State Board for Contractors and Make-A-Wish Greater Virginia.

In 2022, Paulette’s son, Will, succeeded him as president and CEO of the company.

Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: STEPHEN TRUNDLE 

Trundle has led Tysons-based home security tech company Alarm.com since 2003, coming aboard from its founding parent company, MicroStrategy (now known as Strategy), where he served as chief technology officer. The company sold the spinoff security business to investors in 2009, and Alarm.com, which now has 2,000 employees, went public in 2015.

Alarm.com has become known for its rapid expansion, as the market for connected home and business security services has increased. In 2020 and 2021, it was named to Fortune magazine’s list of the top 100 Fastest Growing Companies, marking a 22% growth rate from the previous three years and bringing in

$639 million in revenue in 2021. In fiscal 2024, its revenue increased to $939.8 million, up from $881.7 million in 2023.
On June 30, Trundle visited the Nasdaq stock exchange and rang the opening bell to mark a decade on the index.

In February, Alarm.com acquired Louisiana’s CHeKt, a cloud-based remote video monitoring system provider, which will continue to operate independently. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Trundle holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and from Dartmouth College.

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Government | Politics | Lobbying 2025: LUKE TORIAN

As chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Torian oversees the creation of the single biggest piece of legislation his chamber passes every year: the state budget. Difficult in the best of times, the budget process in recent years has been complicated by divided .

In 2023, with Republicans in control of the House of Delegates and Democrats leading the Senate, it took six months for both parties to agree to amendments to the two-year spending plan. This year, the process was finished in June, with about $1 billion in tax rebate checks and $900 million in cuts by Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

Elected to represent part of Prince William County in the General Assembly in 2009, Torian took over leadership of House Appropriations in 2020, when Democrats seized control of the legislature. After a two-year hiatus when Republicans controlled the House, he returned to the post in 2024. He also chairs the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus and is vice chair of the Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission.
A retired Baptist pastor, Torian holds degrees from Howard University, Virginia Union University, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Winston-Salem State University.

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Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: JOHN S. MENGUCCI

Previously CACI’s chief operating officer and president of U.S. operations, in 2019 Mengucci became president and CEO of the contractor, which made the Fortune 500 this year. CACI has 25,000 employees worldwide and reported $7.7 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue, up 14% from 2023.
Before CACI, Mengucci was president of Lockheed Martin’s information systems and global solutions civil segment.

CACI completed its $1.27 billion acquisition of Fairfax-based Azure Summit Technology in October 2024. That month, CACI also bought Reston’s Applied Insight.

In CACI’s third-quarter earnings call, Mengucci estimated the financial impact of recent Trump administration federal cuts to be about $1 million. CACI raised the minimum of its fiscal 2025 revenue forecast, projecting $8.55 billion to $8.65 billion.

In November 2024, a federal jury found CACI liable for the abuse two decades earlier of three Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib and awarded the men $42 million. CACI’s attorneys maintained there was no evidence its workers participated in abuse. As of early August, the company had not said whether it will appeal the verdict.

A Clarkson University and Syracuse University graduate, Mengucci is vice chair of Clarkson’s board of trustees and serves on the Professional Services Council’s executive committee.

PERSONAL MOTTO: Strategy is a place we come from.

BOOK I’D RECOMMEND: “Reality-Based Leadership,” by Cy Wakeman

Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: JENNIFER TAYLOR 

Since 2020, Taylor has led the Northern Virginia Technology Council, one of the largest regional technology trade associations in the nation. NVTC represents tech industry players ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies to universities and nonprofits.

Under Taylor’s leadership, NVTC has seen its membership grow by more than 85% to more than 500 companies. The organization, along with three regional chambers, published a letter in support of George Mason University President Gregory Washington in July, after the Trump administration opened four civil rights investigations into the university.

A graduate of the University of Michigan and George Mason’s business school, Taylor, an Ohio native, was vice president of industry affairs at the Consumer Technology Association and held sales, marketing and development leadership roles for Caring Village, AARP and the American Red Cross.

At CTA, Taylor launched an apprenticeship program with IBM that has created hundreds of tech apprenticeships. Taylor is a trustee for Think Big for Kids and a board member for CodeVA.

She has received three alumni awards from George Mason, as well as multiple DC Tech Titans and American Red Cross Tiffany Leadership awards.

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Living Legends 2025: ROBERT S. ‘BOBBY’ UKROP

Although his family’s eponymous grocery chain has been out of business since 2009, Ukrop has continued his family’s legacy through the Ukrop’s Homestyle Foods brand of prepared foods and bakery operations, launched in 2010.

Known for its fried chicken, potato wedges, rainbow cookies and White House Rolls, Ukrop’s products are regionally available at Kroger, Wegmans, Publix and Food Lion, as well as Ukrop’s Market Hall. The company has limited distribution nationwide, particularly along the mid-Atlantic.

In 2019, the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business inducted Ukrop into its Alumni Hall of Fame. The 1969 graduate has served on UR’s board of trustees and the business school’s executive advisory council. He is immediate past chair of regional economic development organization the Greater Richmond Partnership.

Outside business, Ukrop, an avid golfer, is heavily involved in supporting regional athletics. In the early 1980s, he rallied support for building Richmond’s baseball stadium, The Diamond, which is now being replaced by CarMax Park, scheduled to open in 2026. He also co-founded Richmond Sports Backers, the athletic organization that manages Richmond’s Monument Avenue 10K race each spring and the city’s annual marathon in the fall.

 

Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: THOMAS A. BELL

Formerly chairman and CEO of Rolls-Royce North America, Bell became CEO of Fortune 500 , and information technology firm Leidos in 2023.

Bell is a two-time recipient of a Wash100 award from Executive Mosaic. Leidos has landed some huge wins under his leadership, including a Transportation Security Administration contract awarded in December 2024 valued up to $2.6 billion.

That’s been tempered with losses, though, including a $2.4 billion Department of Homeland Security Agile Cybersecurity Technical Security contract cancelled in May. More than $250 million of Leidos’ contracts have been cut by the Trump administration, more than any other company, according to The Wall Street Journal, and it has laid off more than 100 people based in Virginia since March.

Leidos reported $16.7 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024 and employs 47,000 employees worldwide. In May, Leidos acquired Chantilly-based AI tech company Kudu Dynamics for $300 million.

Bell earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and an MBA from the Florida Institute of Technology. He serves on the Aerospace Industries Association’s executive committee.

Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: SUSAN WEDGE 

After joining IBM in 2002, Wedge took on roles of increasing responsibility. In 2022, she was tapped to lead IBM Consulting’s U.S. public and federal market, a portfolio worth more than $2.2 billion that supports more than 4,000 U.S.-based consultants.

She also has served as IBM’s head of federal operational transformation practice, senior partner of its health and civilian portion of federal market business, and a senior consultant and program manager supporting an intelligence community customer. Before IBM, Wedge worked at American Management Systems, serving as a consultant, senior principal and leader of initiatives for public sector clients.

In June, IBM announced it was working with Centreville-based Parsons to build a new, state-of-the-art air traffic control system. In October 2024, IBM announced the launch of its Granite 3.0 large language model artificial intelligence tool. In April, Reuters reported that IBM shares slid 7% on news that 15 of its contracts, valued at up to $100 million, had been cut.

Wedge was named for the second time this year to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of the most impactful government contracting . She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.

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Government Contractors | Technology | Aerospace 2025: GARY J. SHAPIRO 

Lawyer, author and lobbyist Shapiro is the longtime leader of the Consumer Technology Association, a trade organization representing more than 1,200 consumer technology companies. CTA owns and produces CES, the world’s largest consumer technology trade show, which has been held in Las Vegas since 1978.

With more than three decades at CTA’s helm, Shapiro has increased the association’s impact and influence while also expanding CES globally, attracting exhibitors from more than 50 countries. In 2024, Kinsey Fabrizio took over as president of CTA from Shapiro.

In May, CTA hosted a “fly-in” week for company in Washington, D.C., to lobby against the Trump administration’s tariffs.

A Georgetown Law graduate, Shapiro previously worked on Capitol Hill and was an associate at the Squire Sanders law firm before joining CTA. In 2021, Shapiro received France’s Legion of Honour Award from French President Emmanuel Macron, recognizing his impact on technology.
Shapiro is an honorary member of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, a member of the CEO Update Roundtable, and serves on the boards of the Council of Manufacturing Associations and the Focused Ultrasound Foundation.