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TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2025: ANDERSON, WES

After 26 years of working for Microsoft, Anderson began a new venture at AT&T in December 2024.

He transitioned in February to his current role as president of public sector and corporate officer, where he leads a team of 3,200 employees who deliver advanced communications and technologies including 5G, fiber and professional services to government agencies, colleges and universities, K-12 schools and first responders.

In 2025, Anderson was named to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list of the top government contracting executives for the fourth time. In December 2024, Virginia Business listed Anderson among its 100 People to Meet in 2025 for his efforts to bring cloud and artificial intelligence innovations to Microsoft.

In April, the Federal Communications Commission granted AT&T and AST SpaceMobile the ability to test direct-to- connectivity on a spectrum for public safety. The approval will allow the companies to do trials of connections on the FirstNet network’s Band 14 spectrum via AST’s BlueBird satellites orbiting Earth. AT&T is the contractor for FirstNet. The companies expected public safety agencies on the FirstNet network to trial satellite communications this year.

AT&T reported $122.3 billion in 2024 revenues.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2025: MERRITT, JEFF

Merritt is responsible for leading more than 1,000 employees in Hampton Roads, Cox’s largest market in Virginia, representing more than 60% of the home and business and cable TV provider’s customer base in the state. Nationwide, Cox Communications, a division of Cox Enterprises, sees annual revenues of more than $13 billion.

In the role, Merritt focuses on the market’s day-to-day operations, employee engagement, government and community relations, business growth and talent development. He works on building partnerships with charitable, civic and business organizations.

He joined Cox in 2000 and previously served as vice president of residential sales in Virginia and as the market leader for Cox Communications’ Roanoke operation. Merritt serves on the boards of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, Hampton Roads Executive Roundtable, the Elizabeth River Project, and the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Old Dominion University and a master’s degree in natural resources and global sustainability from Virginia Tech. He is a native of Hampton Roads, born in Norfolk and raised in Chesapeake.

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Transportation 2025: WOODHOUR, WILLIAM

A University of Delaware alumnus, Woodhour has devoted 33 years to Maersk Line, rising to president and CEO in 2016.

Headquartered in Virginia with offices in Norfolk and Dulles, Maersk is the U.S. arm of Danish giant A.P. Møller-Mærsk and has the largest U.S. flag fleet in commercial service.

Founded in 1983 to support the U.S. Navy, Maersk Line today employs approximately 700 mariners and owns 20 U.S. flag registered container vessels. It provides ocean shipping services from over 300 worldwide.

In July 2024, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that, as part of a settlement with the department, Maersk Line would change its safety reporting policies and compensate a seaman the company had terminated after the seaman reported safety concerns regarding a container ship in 2020 to the U.S. Coast Guard without first notifying Maersk. The changed policy removes any requirement that workers notify the company before contacting the U.S. Coast Guard. It also requires the company to refrain from retaliating against seamen who contact the Coast Guard.

Woodhour serves as vice chairman on the National Defense Association’s board.

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Transportation 2025: YOCHAI, NISSIM

Yochai was tapped as Zim American’s president in 2022. The U.S. company, a subsidiary of Israeli cargo company Zim Integrated Shipping Services, moved to the Hampton Roads region in 2001. Last year, Zim American relocated and expanded its U.S. headquarters, moving from Norfolk to Virginia Beach.

In 2011, Yochai joined Zim’s parent company, which has operations in more than 90 countries, serving over 32,000 customers in approximately 300 worldwide.

Zim Integrated Shipping’s total revenue was $8.43 billion in 2024, compared with $5.16 billion in 2023. In the first quarter of 2025, Zim reported $2.01 billion in revenue, a year- over-year increase of 28%.

Yochai has a bachelor’s degree in business and economics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology. He previously was executive vice president of Zim’s trans-Pacific trade division based in Hong Kong, and he held executive positions with DHL Express, Fridenson Air & Ocean, and Aviv Shigur.

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Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2025: WOODFIN, JACK

Woodfin’s parents, John and Anne, started Woodfin Heating in 1977 to sell heating oil, growing it into one of the largest privately held HVAC-related businesses in Virginia. A Virginia Military Institute and University of Virginia Darden School of Business alum, Jack Woodfin began working with his parents in 1995 as a manager. He took over the business in 2010 after his father’s death.

Woodfin Co. provides HVAC installation and servicing, electrical and plumbing services, indoor air solutions, home security and fuel delivery. The company owns a range of other businesses, including EMC Mechanical Services, which Woodfin also leads as CEO, and Capital Heating and Cooling, as well as 20 convenience stores in the greater Richmond area.

Woodfin played on VMI’s varsity tennis team and still plays as a hobby. His other hobbies include watching NASCAR and go-kart racing. To celebrate reaching 10,000 Google reviews in June, Woodfin Co. announced it would donate 10,000 meals across Richmond, in partnership with Shalom Farms.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2025: DESCH, MATTHEW J.

Desch joined Iridium as CEO in 2006, took the company public in 2009 and subsequently replaced its first-generation network with new satellites that are expected to last into the mid to late 2030s.

Last year, after the global communications company acquired Reston-based Satelles, Iridium unveiled the Iridium Satellite Time and Location service, which is expected to generate more than

$100 million in service revenue annually by 2030. Iridium posted revenues of $830.7 million in 2024.

In May, Iridium announced a $13 million relocation  of its Tysons headquarters to a 55,000-square-foot space at 1676 International Drive in McLean. The site is expected to add 117 jobs and be ready in March 2026. It also announced a partnership with Tampa, Florida- based Syniverse to bring direct-to-device satellite connectivity to mobile network operators worldwide.

Desch graduated from Ohio State University and has an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has served on the President’s National Security

Advisory Committee since 2011 and on the board of directors for Unisys since 2019. In 2025, he was named to Executive Mosaic’s Wash100 list for the 11th consecutive year.

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TELECOMMUNICATIONS 2025: FRENCH, CHRISTOPHER E.

In April 2024, Shentel completed its acquisition of Horizon Telcom, a commercial fiber provider, for $385 million. The combined company has approximately 15,400 fiber route miles across seven states. Shentel rebranded the Horizon commercial and residential fiber businesses to Glo Fiber.

Shentel’s 2024 revenue increased 21.9%, to $328.1 million, mostly due to $47.7 million of revenues earned in the newly acquired Horizon markets.

Glo Fiber provides services to approximately 363,000 homes and businesses. Shentel plans to expand the Glo Fiber line to approximately 600,000 homes and business passings by the end of 2026.

In March 2024, Shentel sold its tower portfolio to Vertical Bridge for $310.3 million in cash.

French has served as president of the company since 1988 and has been a member and chairman of its board since 1996. A double graduate of the University of Virginia with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and an MBA, he serves on the board of directors for The Virginia Foundation for Community College Education.

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Transportation 2025: ANDERS, DEVON

Since Anders became president of InterChange in 2000, the and industrial land development company’s portfolio has grown to nearly 2 million square feet and over

500 acres of prime industrial and commercial land. That includes more than a dozen warehouses in the Shenandoah Valley and a cold storage facility in Mount Crawford.

The company’s 150,000-square-foot expansion of its Mount Crawford cold storage facility is expected to be completed in 2026.

InterChange Group ranked No. 20 on the Global Cold Chain Alliance’s 2024 North American Top 25 list of the largest refrigerated warehousing and logistics providers in Canada, Mexico and the United States, with its temperature-controlled capacity listed at more than 17.6 million cubic feet.

An Eastern Mennonite University alumnus, Anders leads more than 400 employees in the Shenandoah Valley and Portsmouth. Before joining InterChange, he was a controller at Packaging Services and an audit manager at PBMares (then PBGH).

Anders chairs the Virginia Association’s Valley Logistics Chapter and serves on the GCCA Warehouse’s board.

INTERESTING PLACE I’VE TRAVELED: In 2023, my wife and I did a weeklong self-guided bike tour in eastern Italy, Slovenia and northern Croatia.

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Transportation 2025: CLARKE, RANDY

Banas oversees the $3.9 billion Hampton Roads Bridge- Tunnel Expansion, the largest highway construction project in Virginia’s history and one of the largest projects in the country.

In May, the tunnel boring machine, nicknamed Mary, saw its mining operations pass the halfway point with nearly 60% of the more than 7,900-foot second tunnel excavated. As of June, estimated substantial completion for the expansion project remains February 2027. Once complete, VDOT officials expect it to ease congestion.

A project manager with HNTB for more than 10 years, Banas also has worked on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge- Tunnel expansion, the Arlington National Cemetery Southern Expansion and the Elizabeth River Tunnels project. Prior to HNTB, he spent five years as assistant construction manager with Parsons Brinckerhoff (now WSP USA) working on projects including the Gilmerton Bridge replacement in Chesapeake and the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in Alexandria.

In November 2024, Banas received the Honorable Ray LaHood award from WTS International’s Hampton Roads chapter and the Icon Award from the Hampton Roads Chamber.

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Transportation 2025: BRICH, STEPHEN

With about 30 years in , Brich oversees VDOT’s more than 59,000 miles of road, 21,000 bridges and other structures, six tunnels and three ferry systems. Appointed in 2018, he manages more than 8,000 VDOT employees and an $8.9 billion annual budget for the nation’s third largest transportation agency.

The most notable VDOT project underway is the $3.9 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion, which is expected to be completed in February 2027 — a year past its original schedule.

Also underway is the $756 million I-64 Gap Widening Project, which will widen 29 miles of roadway in New Kent and James City counties from two lanes to three lanes in each direction. The overall project, divided into three independent sections of I-64, has an expected completion date of summer 2029.

A Hampton Roads native and graduate of Old Dominion University and the University of Virginia, Brich serves on the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board. In May, the board approved almost $18.2 million in Smart Scale funding for a diverging diamond interchange and other improvements at Exit 211 on I-64, where Buc-ee’s is planning to open a second travel center in Virginia.

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