Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Education 2025: COLLINS, LANCE R.

Collins came to Virginia from Cornell University in August 2020 to build Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus and aid the commonwealth’s efforts to close a regional tech talent gap.

The first academic building on the Alexandria campus opened earlier this year, but computer science and engineering students started classes in temporary quarters in 2021. Virginia Tech also announced in May it’s setting up a new Institute for Advanced Computing in Alexandria that will be focused on AI, machine learning and quantum computing.

In Collins’ five years with Virginia Tech, the number of its computer science and computer engineering master’s degree students based in the D.C. area has grown to more than 500. Innovation Campus graduate students are part of Virginia’s $1.1 billion Tech Talent Investment Program, which aims to graduate 31,000 computer science and engineering grads in the next two decades.

Collins, who has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021. He also is a board member for Mitre, a McLean-based not-for-profit research and development company.

Return to the full list of this category’s recipients.

Health Care 2025: DAVIS-HAGENS, PAT

Davis-Hagens has had a busy 2025 as Bon Secours expands its Hampton Roads facilities. The health system opened its Harbour View Center, an approximately $80 million, 100,000-square-foot hospital in Suffolk, in May.

That month, Bon Secours also opened a primary care clinic in Portsmouth, and in June, its women’s imaging center in Portsmouth opened.

Additionally, Davis-Hagens oversees operations at in Franklin, Newport News and Portsmouth, as well as at other Bon Secours facilities in the area. Bon Secours Hampton Roads has about 5,000 employees.

Before taking her current post as president of the Hampton Roads market in 2021, Davis-Hagens was president of The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health in Ohio, part of the national Bon Secours Mercy Health system. She also worked for two decades at Illinois’ Provena Covenant Medical Center in a variety of leadership positions.

A former nurse, Davis-Hagens earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Salem State College in Massachusetts and an MBA from Plymouth State College in New Hampshire.

ON INTEGRATING AI: Very excited! Although scary, we have the ability to improve and enhance care delivery and patient engagement in their care.

Return to the full list of this category’s recipients.

Government Contractors | Technology 2025: DAHUT, KAREN

Dahut became CEO of , a subsidiary focused on and educational contracting, in 2022. Before joining , Dahut led ‘s $4 billion global business.

Dahut served in the U.S. Navy for six years, including at the Navy Research Institute in Maryland. As a civilian, she worked at the Logistics Management Institute, a Tysons-based nonprofit federal contractor, before joining Booz Allen.

Dahut has a bachelor’s from Mount St. Mary’s University and a master’s degree from the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. Named four times to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of top government contracting , Dahut also sits on the board of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and the Center for a New American Security.

Google Public Sector has a Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, a Data & Artificial Intelligence Center of Excellence and a Federal AI Solution Factory with Accenture Federal Services, supporting federal agencies. In March, defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced it is working with Google Public Sector to integrate Google’s generative AI capabilities to enhance national security, and scientific applications.

Government Contractors | Technology 2025: ASH, RON

In 2024, Ash succeeded John Goodman as CEO and board chair for Accenture Federal Services, an Accenture subsidiary that serves U.S. federal clients.

Ash served as chief operating officer at AFS since 2022. He joined Accenture in 1996 and moved to AFS in 2002, taking on various executive roles.

Ash landed for the first time in 2025 on Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of top . In September 2024, AFS received a $1.6 billion Air Force task order to scale and enhance cloud computing services. That was followed in January by a $3.5 billion Department of Energy contract for information technology services, although and Leidos have filed protests, and the department has agreed to reconsider the award, according to March news reports.

Accenture’s fiscal 2024 revenue was $64.9 billion, up 1% from 2023 and AFS accounted for 8% of the company’s global revenue in fiscal 2024. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said in March that efficiency efforts by the Trump administration had slowed sales and revenue.

An Ohio University alumnus, Ash has served as an executive sponsor of AFS’ Hispanic American Employee Resource Group.

Government Contractors | Technology 2025: ROZANSKI, HORACIO D.

Rozanski leads global management, technology, engineering and consulting firm Booz Allen, the largest provider of AI services to the federal . Booz Allen employs 35,800 people worldwide and reported fiscal 2025 earnings of $12 billion.

Born in Argentina, Rozanski started out at Booz Allen as an intern in 1991, working his way up to president and CEO in 2015. Under his leadership, Booz Allen has scaled up on AI and established a $300 million venture capital arm to support early-stage tech companies.

Recent federal spending cuts led to Booz Allen laying off 7% of its staff in May, but Rozanski “took advantage of that to restructure how we run our entire civil business,” he told Fortune.

Nevertheless, Booz Allen continues to land major contracts, including a combined $1.2 billion in awards this spring from the Air Force and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. And in January, Booz Allen and Amazon Web Services announced a strategic collaboration on federal tech solutions.

Rozanski chairs the board of Children’s National Hospital, is a vice chair of The Kennedy Center’s Corporate Fund Board, and a member of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience.

Government | Politics | Lobbying 2025: McDOUGLE, SEN. RYAN

A 23-year veteran legislator, McDougle was tapped as minority leader after Republicans failed to regain control of the state Senate in the November 2023 elections. He’s served as an ally to Gov. Glenn Youngkin, pushing for tax cuts and to return Virginia to federal vehicle emissions standards rather than the California rules the state has followed since a Democratic-backed law passed in 2021.

He also backed a cap on college tuition in the 2025 session, a measure that failed. In January, during the Richmond water crisis that delayed the start of the General Assembly’s session, McDougle said he wanted to look into the city’s spending of state funds to make sure they “were spent responsibly.”
McDougle, an attorney in private practice, previously worked as a prosecutor for Hanover County, specializing in domestic violence cases and co-founding the county’s Child Advocate Response Team.

McDougle serves on the Senate Commerce and Labor, Courts of Justice, Finance and Appropriations, Rehabilitation and Social Services, and Rules committees. He is a graduate of James Madison University and William & Mary.

Return to the full list of this category’s recipients.

Education 2025: ABDULLAH, MAKOLA M.

A scan of Abdullah’s accomplishments since joining the public, historically Black university in 2016 makes clear why his résumé includes so many accolades, prestigious board appointments and spots on top 10 and “best of” lists — not to mention a multimillion-dollar contract to stay on as president through 2029.

Under his leadership, VSU has seen enrollment grow more than 22% to more than 5,600 students, according to the State Council of Higher for Virginia.

The 142-year-old university has an unprecedented number of capital projects underway, including a 30,000-square-foot admissions building, a research and cooperative extension facility, improvements to Rogers Stadium and the new

$120 million Alfred W. Harris Academic Commons. In February, VSU earned the prestigious designation of an R2 “High Research Activity” institution, placing it among only 139 U.S. and fewer than 15 HBCUs.

The Chicago native earned a degree in civil engineering from Howard University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University. Abdullah also served on former President Joe Biden’s HBCU advisory board and is former chair of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities board.

Return to the full list of this category’s recipients.

2025 Living Legends: SANGHANI, MEHUL P.

Sanghani announced his departure in February from the technology firm he founded nearly 20 years ago, writing, “Octo is not just something I built; it’s a part of me, as essential as any bodily organ. It is not something that can ever be transplanted or excised.”

Sanghani was born in India and raised in Blacksburg, where his family operated a Red Carpet Inn. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1998 and worked in Silicon Valley before returning to Virginia to start Octo in 2006 at age 30. In 2022, IBM purchased Octo from Arlington Capital Partners for $1.3 billion.

In 2020, Sanghani and wife, Hema — also a Virginia Tech grad — donated $10 million to their alma mater. Part of that funding supports the Sanghani Center for Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics at Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus in Alexandria; it also funds scholarships for minority students studying AI.

Sanghani has served as vice president of Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business advisory council and also serves on the advisory board for Tech’s Innovation Campus. In his next act, he says he looks forward to spending time with his family, serving as a mentor and dedicating time to causes like food security, and educational access.

Return to the full list of this categories recipients

Government | Politics | Lobbying 2025: MIYARES, JASON

Miyares, the son of a Cuban refugee, became the first Hispanic person elected to statewide office in Virginia after voters backed his attorney general bid in 2021. This year, the Republican seeks a second term in office, facing former Del. Jay Jones as the Democratic nominee.

Miyares has touted successes in reducing crime through Operation Ceasefire, an initiative targeting 13 cities with high gun violence rates that his office said resulted in a 30% decline in homicides in 2024. Along with Gov. Glenn Youngkin, he’s also devoted significant attention to the opioid epidemic.

In January, Miyares announced that Virginia stands to receive up to $107.4 million in a multistate settlement proposed by OxyContin producer Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family. The attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit also collaborated with U.S. attorneys to investigate McKinsey & Co.’s role in advising Purdue.

The former Virginia Beach state delegate has launched multiple investigations into Northern Virginia schools, including two civil rights probes at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. After he called for the Trump administration to investigate the school’s admissions, the feds agreed to intervene in May.

Return to the full list of this category’s recipients.

Government Contractors | Technology 2025: STOTTLEMYER, TODD

With nearly eight years leading Acentra Health, Stottlemyer oversees a solutions company that employs approximately 3,000 people across the United States and India. Founded in 1994 as Client Network Services, the company was acquired by Carlyle Group in 2021, then merged with Nashville, Tennessee-based health care management and quality oversight company Kepro.

Following the merger, the company rebranded as Acentra Health in 2023. Today, it processes claims, billing and health benefits for Medicaid and Medicare, serving more than 140 million people. In 2024, Acentra Health announced it had renewed its $298 million contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Stottlemyer is a venture partner at Blue Delta Capital Partners and a Serco board member. He is also vice chairman of state economic development initiative GO Virginia’s powerful and influential state board and serves on the executive committee of the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board of directors. He is a graduate of William & Mary and Georgetown University Law Center.

Return to the full list of this category’s recipients.