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Government | Politics | Lobbying 2025: SCOTT JR., DEL. DON

After bumping longtime Del. Eileen Filler-Corn from the top House role in a 2022 shakeup, Scott became Virginia’s first Black speaker in 2024 when Democrats retook the chamber. It wasn’t the only unexpected turn in his history: In 1994, as he was finishing up his law degree, Scott was arrested on federal drug charges. He would serve more than seven years in prison. In January, he received a pardon from outgoing President Joe Biden.

While Scott, now a well-regarded attorney, has faced sporadic attacks from Republicans over his criminal record, he is forthright about his past and has made criminal justice reform a priority.

First elected to the General Assembly in 2019, he quickly got attention for his progressive and sharp tongue. As speaker, he has negotiated a working relationship with Gov. Glenn Youngkin, although Scott criticized the governor for not standing up to President Donald Trump over federal job cuts.

A former executive at KRA, Scott is a partner at the law firm of Breit Biniazan. He is seeking his fourth term in the House of Delegates.

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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 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 electricity to nearly 182,000 connections across parts of 22 Virginia counties, Hewa is also CEO of Hyperscale Services, an REC affiliate that serves large data center members, and president and CEO of BrilliT, an REC subsidiary that provides cybersecurity, data analytics and to REC and other cooperatives.

Earlier in his career, Hewa worked at cooperatives in Florida and Texas. He also served as the vice president of research, engineering and technical services at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in Arlington County.

In addition to an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Tennessee, Hewa earned a doctorate in engineering from George Washington University.

Hewa serves on the boards of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

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Government Contractors | Technology 2025: MONET, BILL

Monet leads Akima, an Alaska Native corporation that handles federal contracts for the for-profit NANA Regional business owned by Indigenous Iñupiat shareholders. Akima has approximately 10,000 employees across the world.

With more than 30 years of experience in modernizing processes for federal, state, local and commercial clients, Monet is chief operating officer of NANA in addition to his duties as CEO and president of subsidiary Akima. A Virginia Tech alum, Monet has an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and a master’s degree in science from George Washington University. This year, he was named to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of top contracting executives for the sixth straight year.

In November 2024, Akima opened a location in Tampa, Florida, to provide support to MacDill Air Force Base, which is home to two four-star combatant commands: U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. The company also moved its Huntsville, Alabama, location to a larger office.

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 Cooperative is a not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative owned by 11 members — like Rappahannock Electric Cooperative and Southside Electric Cooperative — serving consumers “in 70 counties along 59,000 miles of distribution lines.”

To get the job done, ODEC owns 100% of a generation facility in Maryland and natural gas peaking facilities in Louisa and Fauquier counties. Additionally, ODEC owns 50% of the coal-run Clover Power station in Halifax County and 11.6% of the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station in Louisa County. The membership cooperative has also entered into long-term power purchase agreements for wind and solar operations.

Previously, Cosby held different positions at General Electric, Dominion Energy and Alstom Power. Before launching a career in the utility industry, he served on active duty in the U.S. Navy as an officer and pilot, flying the P-3 Orion, for 10 years.

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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 , 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 Dennis and Jan Ellmer for student scholarships.

This has been an equally big year for ODU, having celebrated groundbreakings for a $24 million baseball complex project, the $25 million Barry Art Museum expansion and a new $184 million Biological Sciences Building.

Under Hemphill’s tenure, which began in 2021, the university received R1 research classification, launched a $500 million capital campaign and received a $5 million Mellon Foundation Award to fund humanities internships.

Hemphill previously was Radford University’s president and led the creation of Radford University Carilion through a merger with the Jefferson College of Health Sciences. He also is a past president of West Virginia State University.

Hemphill has a bachelor’s degree from St. Augustine’s University, a master’s degree from Iowa State University and a doctorate in administration and policy studies from the University of Iowa.

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Government Contractors | Technology 2025: LING, CANDICE

Since taking over Microsoft’s federal arm in 2023, Ling has focused on forging partnerships and advancing artificial intelligence, cloud computing and emerging technologies for federal customers. She previously served as Microsoft’s civilian federal sector vice president and as a industry leader in Asia. She also spent 19 years with Canadian consulting firm CGI.

Microsoft competes with Amazon Web Services, Google and Oracle for tech and digital modernization task orders under the Department of ‘s $9 billion Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract. DOD has spent about $1 billion on the program; it’s not clear how that money has been divvied up.

In 2025, Microsoft handed over the reins to its U.S. Army Integrated Visual Augmentation System headset contract, valued at up to $22 billion, to Anduril Industries. Microsoft had been the prime contractor on the critical Army project, but soldiers complained of problems with the goggles.

Ling received a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. She landed for the second time in 2025 on Executive Mosaic’s annual Wash100 list of top government contracting executives. She also serves on the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board.

Government Contractors | Technology 2025: RIDDLE, ADAM

In 2023, Riddle was named chairman and CEO of Rolls-Royce North America and president of its division. He has more than a decade of experience with the British , defense and engineering company.

Before taking on his latest roles, Riddle headed up Rolls-Royce’s global services division. Previously, he was director of strategy and future programs. Before coming to Rolls-Royce, Riddle worked for Boeing in defense operations. He is a West Point graduate and former U.S. Army officer.

In 2024, Rolls-Royce Holdings reported more than $23 billion in underlying revenue, up from $19.75 billion in 2023. The company has 34 U.S. locations across 26 states and over 5,000 employees, while in Canada, it employs nearly 700 people across three provinces.

In July, the company completed the sale of its naval propulsors business to Canada-based Fairbanks Morse Defense, which is also purchasing Rolls-Royce’s naval handling business.

Rolls-Royce announced in July a $75 million investment into its Aiken, South Carolina, engine plant to expand manufacturing. Shortly beforehand, in June, the company announced a $24 million investment to expand operations in Mankato, Minnesota, where it manufactures backup power systems for data centers.

Government Contractors | Technology 2025: RYAN, TERRY

Ryan was named CEO of global risk management firm Constellis Holdings in 2021, having previously served as its lead director.

Before coming to Constellis, Ryan was CEO of Adroit Systems, VT Group and Tenax . He also held senior executive positions at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Mercury Systems and ManTech International, as well as in the federal as director of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance systems for the Office of the Secretary of .

Constellis is a holding company for contracting firms that provide risk management and mission support services to government and commercial clients worldwide. In September 2024, Constellis announced a realignment of its internal business units into two new business divisions.

In February, the company won a contract valued up to $700 million from the U.S. Navy for base operations and life support services for military installations and federal agencies around the globe. In July, Chantilly-based Omniplex World Services Corp., a division of Constellis, laid off 199 workers in Virginia after the end of an Amazon Web Services contract.

Ryan is a former U.S. Marine officer who graduated from Ohio State University and the National Intelligence University.

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 advises foreign governments on debt renegotiation; and Alex Stewart International, an assayer of metals and minerals and an operational auditor of mines and petroleum operations.

Segura, who has an economics doctorate and an MBA, previously was a World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank official before entering the private sector, where he made his fortune. He also served in several diplomatic assignments beginning in the 1990s.

Known for his philanthropic support of Catholic and Hispanic causes and civic engagement, Segura founded and chairs both The Trust for the Americas and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History board. He also is a member of the Dean’s Executive Board for Harvard Kennedy School.

Segura’s son, Juan Pablo Segura, is the state’s commerce and trade secretary. In 2023, Securiport donated $1 million to the Renew Virginia PAC ahead of the younger Segura’s unsuccessful GOP run for the state Senate.

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, Serafini is a West Point graduate and has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of .

In February, HawkEye announced organizational changes among its top leaders, and the company has added several new officials to its advisory board. In June, HawkEye 360 launched its Cluster 12 group of satellites from New Zealand aboard a Rocket Lab Electron rocket. India also agreed to pay the company $131 million in May for SeaVision software to counter illegal maritime activity.

Serafini serves on the board of advisers for the National Security Space Association and the board of governors for the Middle East Institute.

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