After making 12 acquisitions in 2024 and expanding into Canada and the West Coast, Groundworks named a new president, chief technology officer and chief operating officer this year. In March, Malone noted that 2024 was “transformational for Groundworks,” a water management and foundation solutions company. Founded in 2016, the Virginia Beach company has been named eight years in a row to the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest- growing privately held companies and has 6,200 employees and 78 offices in North America.

The company provides residential foundation and water management solutions, including foundation repair, basement waterproofing, crawl space repair and encapsulation, plumbing, gutter installation and concrete lifting services, and soil stabilizing solutions for residential and commercial projects.

Malone also is the managing partner of private equity firm Succession Capital Partners, which he founded in 2009. A Rotary International Ambassadorial scholar, he has a master’s degree from the Adam Smith Business School at Scotland’s University of Glasgow and a bachelor’s from Hampden-Sydney College.

In 2023, he received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Mid-Atlantic Award.

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A licensed broker in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., Swaak is co-chief operating officer, partner and managing broker

for TTR Sotheby’s International Realty, which he joined in 2007 as a partner. The firm has handled some of the most expensive residential sales in the Washington, D.C., area, including the Fairfax County home purchased by the former owners of the Washington Commanders, Dan and Tanya Snyder. Last year, the River View estate was put on the market for $60 million, and as of July, it was still listed for sale.

Former vice president of national sales at New Jersey’s Realogy, Swaak also worked in hotel development and franchise sales.

In 2021, Swaak served as board president for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, and in 2022, he was named NVAR Realtor of the Year. He also sits on the boards of Virginia Realtors and Bright MLS, for which he is an executive committee member. Swaak received his bachelor’s degree in hotel administration and an MBA in finance from Cornell University.

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Serving as CEO since 2016 and chairman since 2017, Bechtel is the fifth generation to lead his family-owned global engineering, construction and project management company. Ranked the nation’s second largest construction company by Engineering News-Record in 2025, Bechtel Corp. has completed more than 25, 000 projects in 160 countries since its 1898 founding.

The firm’s portfolio includes massive infrastructure and industrial projects across the world, including the Ankara-Gerede highway in Turkey. Bechtel also was part of the team behind the 85-station, six-line Riyadh Metro network in Saudia Arabia, the first phase of which opened in November 2024.

Intel announced in March that it has delayed construction of its $28 billion semiconductor manufacturing project in Ohio, for which Bechtel is contracted to build 2. 5 million square feet. Formerly expected to be finished this year, the new due date is 2030. In July, Bechtel announced its appointment as project management consultant for the 2030 World Expo in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a six-month event expected to draw 42 million visitors. The company will oversee infrastructure delivery and the transformation of the expo site into an urban development after the event.

Bechtel sits alongside heavy hitters like Apple CEO Tim Cook and JPMorganChase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon on the powerful board of the Business Roundtable, the association of the nation’s top CEOs. The other Virginians on the Business Roundtable’s board of directors are Huntington Ingalls Industries President and CEO Christopher D. Kastner and Hilton Worldwide Holdings CEO Christopher J. Nassetta.

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Bringing more than 25 years of engineering and architecture industry experience, including 10 years of corporate operational leadership, Stone joined Dewberry in 2008 as the company’s chief operating officer. In 2010, he became CEO.

Stone came to Dewberry from O’Brien & Gere, where he held several corporate leadership positions. Dewberry has more than 2,500 employees in 60 locations. In 2024, the company reported $683.12 million in revenue. Earlier this year, Dewberry announced new presidents of its engineering, consulting and program delivery practices, as well as a new chief operating officer.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Virginia judge’s $43 million award to Dewberry Engineers (Dewberry), which sued rival Dewberry Group over the use of its trademarked name, ruling that Dewberry Engineers could not financially benefit from affiliates of Dewberry Group that weren’t named as defendants.

A water/wastewater engineer with technical expertise in design-build programs, Stone is a licensed professional engineer in 18 states and Washington, D.C., and a member of the Society of American Military Engineers.

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Head of one of the country’s largest regional Realtor associations, McLaughlin came to NVAR in 2015 after serving the Greater Lehigh Valley Realtors in Pennsylvania for more than a decade.

In January, McLaughlin was named to T3 Sixty’s 11th annual Swanepoel Power 200 rankings of the nation’s top real estate executives for the second consecutive year.

He has degrees from East Stroudsburg University and the State University of New York at Albany and completed an executive education program, Authentic Leader Development, at Harvard Business School. McLaughlin also serves on the board of directors for SentriLock.

NVAR represents 13,000-plus real estate professionals and 180 service providers, with 2023 sales exceeding $16 billion. The association offers continuing education for members, regional home sales reports and residential sales forecasts.

NVAR announced it would open a member experience center in One Loudoun, a mixed-use community in Loudoun County, in the summer.

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On Jan. 1, Tibbetts became Armada Hoffler’s CEO, succeeding Louis Haddad, who’s now executive chairman. In 2024, Tibbetts became the clear successor at the real estate investment trust when he was promoted to president in addition to his previous position of chief operating officer.

Before joining the company in 2019, Tibbetts was the Port of Virginia’s president and COO. Under his leadership, Armada Hoffler’s portfolio net operating income grew by 45%, and he oversaw more than $1.2 billion in transactions.

Armada Hoffler operates across seven mid-Atlantic states and had an estimated $80.4 million third-party construction contract backlog as of March 31. It has over 160 employees, and in 2024, the company reported $708 million in total revenue, up from $667 million in 2023. Virginia Beach Town Center is one of the company’s premier projects.

A James Madison University and William & Mary graduate, Tibbetts also completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

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Since starting with the company as an entry-level engineer and working his way up to his current role, Bortell has had a career with Timmons Group that’s spanned three decades. As chairman
and CEO, he sets the strategic direction for the approximately 1,160-person firm and oversees its four operating divisions. Timmons’s fiscal 2024 revenue totaled $226 million.

Bortell received his MBA from Averett University and his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Virginia Tech. Under Bortell’s leadership, Timmons Group landed on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing privately held companies from 2016 through 2021.

In September 2024, Timmons acquired Dutton + Associates, a Chesterfield firm specializing in integrating historic properties into modern development projects.

In March, the company moved 400 employees into its new Chesterfield County headquarters from its Richmond base. Timmons also opened a Roanoke office in March, its 20th location in five states and Washington, D.C. In April, Timmons was ranked No. 125 on Engineering News- Record’s Top 500 Design Firms, up 10 spots from 2024.

Bortell serves on Feed More’s board and TowneBank’s Richmond region board.

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With more than 25 years of experience directing commercial real estate operations, Thomas is executive managing director and market leader for Colliers Virginia.

At Colliers Virginia, he oversees all brokerage operations, recruitment, retention and business development in Richmond, Hampton Roads and Charlottesville, including about 60 brokers. Thomas

joined Colliers from Henrico County’s Commonwealth Commercial Partners. Previously, Thomas was managing partner for GVA Advantis, overseeing regional brokerage operations.

In January 2023, the same month Thomas joined the real estate brokerage, Colliers became the leasing and management company for City Center at Oyster Point in Newport News, a high-density, mixed-use development.

Thomas is a Richmond native and a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, and he serves on the RVA757 Connects board of directors and Greater Richmond Association for Commercial Real Estate‘s board.

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Working from home, Ballard and his sister, Brenda, founded S.B. Ballard Construction by completing small projects for the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority and minor renovations for their neighbors.

Over the course of the past 40 years, Ballard has served as a project manager, superintendent, estimator, carpenter and laborer. As CEO of S.B. Ballard Construction, he oversees all construction operations and corporate functions, including strategic planning, project management, estimating, business development, corporate communications, safety and quality. In 2023, Jason Armstrong succeeded Ballard as president.

In January, the company finished Aviva Pembroke, a Virginia Beach senior living community with more than 150 residential units, as well as a spa, aquatic center and fitness center.

Also in January, the developers of the forthcoming $750 million Norfolk casino announced their construction team; Ballard Construction and Mississippi’s Yates Construction, which built Rivers Casino Portsmouth, are teaming up again. Construction began in February.

Ballard is a member of the Associated General Contractors of America, the American Concrete Institute and the American Society of Concrete Contractors.Return to the full list of this category’s recipients.

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In 2022, Gilbane Building tapped Reed to lead its Richmond business unit. One of the construction company’s youngest vice presidents, she has managed over $1 billion in contracts so far during her career.

In 2024, the Richmond Flying Squirrels selected Gilbane Building, along with Prestige Construction Group, to build the new stadium the Double-A team will lease. Now under construction and set to be completed in spring 2026, CarMax Park will be the centerpiece of the city’s $2.4 billion Diamond District mixed-use project and is projected to cost at least $110 million.

Gilbane has managed construction for multiple notable projects in Central Virginia, including the 415,000-square-foot Virginia General Assembly office building and the University of Virginia’s School of Data Science building.

Reed has helped Gilbane reach out to the community through the ACE Mentor Program of America, a free after-school program designed to attract high school students into pursuing careers in architecture, construction and engineering. She’s also a mentor in the Women in Construction Conference.

A registered architect, Reed graduated from Penn State — where she was a two- time All-American in rugby — with a bachelor’s degree in architecture.

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