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American Systems acquires Epsilon, adds 400 employees

Chantilly-based government IT contractor announced this week that it has acquired North Carolina-based cybersecurity company .

American Systems, which provides IT and engineering services to the federal government in aid of national security, said the transaction marks its largest acquisition to date, with more than 400 Epsilon employees joining the company.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and neither company immediately returned requests for comment. It is unclear whether any Epsilon executives will take on leadership roles at American Systems and if there will be any layoffs due to the merger.

“Acquisitions are an important element of our growth strategy, and we work hard to ensure that we select companies that are a good fit for us, both strategically and culturally,” American Systems President and CEO John Steckel said in a statement. “Epsilon shares our commitment to supporting national priorities, and their culture will mesh well with ours. This acquisition marks an important milestone in our strategic growth, broadening our customer base and deepening our ability to support them in their efforts to modernize and transform securely, rapidly and efficiently.”

The company says Epsilon’s service offerings will be integrated with American Systems in January 2026. Until then, Epsilon will continue to support select markets as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

Founded in 2009, Epsilon is also a . It is headquartered in Weaverville, North Carolina, but has a key office in Crystal City.

“Joining American Systems allows us to take everything that we have built over the past sixteen years and make it even better.” said Epsilon CEO Peter Penzell. “Expanding on what we have built while giving our employees the opportunity to become employee-owners in American Systems creates an amazing opportunity for everyone.”

PilieroMazza and Deep Water Point and Associates advised American Systems on the transaction, and KPMG Corporate Finance and Miles & Stockbridge advised Epsilon.

Founded in 1975, American Systems ranks among the top 100 employee-owned firms in the nation, with more than 1,600 employee owners. It surpassed $400 million in annual revenue in 2020.

SAIC names chief growth officer

Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. () announced Monday that it has promoted to , leading business .

Ritchie, who began his career at SAIC as a software engineering intern, has served as the company’s Chief Technology Officer since 2022. SAIC credits his efforts in that role with advancing the company’s enterprise growth strategy, contributing to numerous key awards and strengthening SAIC’s leadership in secure multi-cloud solutions.

In his new role, Ritchie will work to enhance communication between SAIC’s innovation, technology and teams, with a goal of delivering integrated solutions in critical areas such as , space and autonomy. He will report to Tim Turitto, executive vice president of enterprise operations and chief of staff to SAIC CEO Toni Townes-Whitley.

“Bob’s appointment reflects our forward-looking vision at SAIC, where deep technical expertise and mission-focused business development are unified to deliver unmatched outcomes for our customers,” Turitto said in a news release. “By combining these functions, we are accelerating innovation and ensuring our solutions anticipate and align with the nation’s most pressing priorities.”

Ritchie, who holds a degree in computer engineering from Virginia Tech, previously worked at Capital One, where he was director of software engineering. In 2019, he returned to SAIC to lead its software practice.

SAIC has about 24,000 employees and reported annual revenue of $7.48 billion for fiscal 2025.

OpenAI reaches new agreement with Microsoft to change its corporate structure

Summary

  • , announce new tentative agreement
  • Deal described as “next phase” of their partnership
  • OpenAI nonprofit to hold $100B stake in for-profit arm
  • Few details released on the new structure
  • Regulators and competitors watching closely

OpenAI has reached a new tentative agreement with Microsoft and said its nonprofit, which technically controls its business, will now be given a $100 billion in its for-profit corporation.

The maker of  said it had reached a new nonbinding agreement with Microsoft, its longtime partner, “for the next phase of our partnership.”

The announcements on Thursday include a few details about these new arrangements. OpenAI’s proposed changes to its have drawn the scrutiny of regulators, competitors and advocates concerned about the impacts of .

OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and its nonprofit board has continued to control the for-profit subsidiary that now develops and sells its AI products. It’s not clear whether the $100 billion equity stake the nonprofit will get as part of this announcement represents a controlling stake in the business.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said last week that his office was investigating OpenAI’s proposed restructuring of its finances and governance. His office said they could not comment on the new announcements but said they are “committed to protecting charitable assets for their intended purpose.”

Bonta and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings also sent the company a letter expressing concerns about the safety of ChatGPT after meeting with OpenAI’s legal team earlier last week in Delaware, where OpenAI is incorporated.

“Together, we are particularly concerned with ensuring that the stated safety mission of OpenAI as a non-profit remains front and center,” Bonta said in a statement last week.

Microsoft invested its first $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and the two companies later formed an agreement that made Microsoft the exclusive provider of the computing power needed to build OpenAI’s technology. In turn, Microsoft heavily used the technology behind ChatGPT to enhance its own AI products.

The two companies announced on Jan. 21 that they were altering that agreement, enabling the smaller company to build its own computing capacity, “primarily for research and training of models.” That coincided with OpenAI’s announcements of a partnership with to build a massive new data center in Abilene, Texas.

But other parts of its agreements with Microsoft remained up in the air as the two companies appeared to veer further apart. Their Thursday joint statement said they were still “actively working to finalize contractual terms in a definitive agreement.” Both companies declined further comment.

OpenAI had given its nonprofit board of directors — whose members now include a former U.S. Treasury secretary — the responsibility of deciding when its AI systems have reached the point at which they “outperform humans at most economically valuable work,” a concept known as artificial general intelligence, or AGI.

Such an achievement, per its earlier agreements, would cut off Microsoft from the rights to commercialize such a system, since the terms “only apply to pre-AGI technology.”

OpenAI’s corporate structure and nonprofit mission are also the subject of a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk, who helped found the nonprofit research lab and provided initial funding. Musk’s suit seeks to stop OpenAI from taking control of the company away from its nonprofit and alleges it has betrayed its promise to develop AI for the benefit of humanity.

Boeing workers reject their latest contract offer, extending strike at three Midwest plants

Summary

  • 3,200 workers remain on since Aug. 4
  • Second proposal rejected Friday
  • Offer included 20% wage hike, $5,000 bonuses
  • Strike affects fighter jet, weapons system production
  • Boeing says it has contingency plans, no new talks

Another contract proposal has been rejected by Boeing workers who now have been on strike for nearly six weeks from three where aircraft and weapons are developed.

The vote on Friday refusing the latest proposal sends the workers back to the picket lines, according to the union representing the 3,200 striking workers who build , weapons systems and the U.S. ‘s first carrier-based unmanned aircraft. Fifty-seven percent of members voted against the proposal, the union said.

“Boeing’s modified offer did not include a sufficient signing bonus relative to what other Boeing workers have received, or a raise in 401(k) benefits,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 said in a statement.

“We’re disappointed our employees have rejected a 5-year offer, including 45% average wage growth,” said Dan Gillian, Boeing Air Dominance vice president and general manager, in an emailed statement. “We’ve made clear the overall economic framework of our offer will not change, but we have consistently adjusted the offer based on employee and union feedback to better address their concerns.”

Boeing said no further talks are scheduled.

“We will continue to execute our contingency plan, including hiring permanent replacement workers, as we maintain support for our customers,” Gillian said.

The strike, which began Aug. 4, is far smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. Still, the work stoppage has threatened to complicate the aerospace company’s progress in regaining its financial footing.

Boeing’s , Space & Security business accounts for more than one-third of the company’s revenue.

Negotiations had escalated in the days leading up to last month’s walkout, with the workers rejecting an earlier proposed agreement that included a 20% wage hike over the life of the contract and $5,000 ratification bonuses.

Boeing quickly countered with a modified agreement that didn’t boost the proposed pay raise but did remove a scheduling provision affecting the workers’ ability to earn overtime pay. They rejected that offer, too, and went on strike the next morning.

The 2024 strike shut down Boeing’s factories in Washington state for more than seven weeks at a bleak time for the company. Boeing was under several federal investigations last year after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight, an incident that renewed safety concerns surrounding that particular plane.

Two 737 Max jetliners crashed off the coast of Indonesia and in Ethiopia less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.

Boeing Co., based in Arlington, Virginia, employs more than 170,000 workers in the U.S. and more than 65 other countries.

Navy Region Mid-Atlantic welcomes new commander

The , based in , has a new commander.

On Friday, after little more than a year on the job and 36 years in the service, Rear Adm. Carl Lahti was relieved by as commander during a ceremony at Vista Point onboard . Barnett was most recently commander of Region Hawaii and left its command in August.

As commander, Barnett will be the regional coordinator for all shore-based naval personnel and shore activities in the Mid-Atlantic region, which encompasses 20 states, 13 installations and numerous Navy reserve centers from Maine to Virginia and as far west as Illinois.

A native of Columbia, Tennessee, Barnett previously served as the commander for Navy Region Northwest and commander of Navy Region Southwest. Other assignments included commanding officer of Naval Base Coronado in California, chief of staff for commander at Navy Region Southeast and commander at Navy Installations Command.

Vice Adm. Scott Gray was the presiding officer for the event. Gray himself led the Navy Mid-Atlantic region earlier this decade, leaving in 2023 to lead the Navy Installations Command in Washington, D.C.

Lahti assumed command in July 2024, after succeeding Rear Adm. Wesley McCall, who took over after Gray. The Navy says that during his tour, Lahti provided a full spectrum of shore installation management as well as services to operating forces and Navy families within the region’s area of responsibility. The Navy credits him with “fostering a workforce that energetically resolved the Navy’s most complex challenges to sustain the fleet, enable the fighter and support the family.”

Immediately after the change of command, Lahti retired from the Navy after serving more than 36 years of commissioned service.

Wall Street coasts toward the finish of its best week in the last 5

Summary

  • hovers near record as best week in five winds down
  • Investors expect Fed to cut rates next week to aid economy
  • Trump pressures Fed, seeks to oust Governor
  • Oracle slides, climbs after EU antitrust deal
  • Bond yields edge higher; Asian markets rally

NEW YORK (AP) — is coasting toward the finish of its best week in the last five on Friday as U.S. stocks hang near their record levels.

The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged from the all-time high it set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 204 points, or 0.4%, as of 1:01 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% higher. Both likewise set records the day before.

Stocks have rallied with expectations that the  will cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its meeting next week. Such a move would give the economy a kickstart, and mortgage rates have already dropped in anticipation of it.

Expectations for a cut have built as recent reports suggested the U.S. job market could hit the precise balance that Wall Street has been betting on: slowing enough to convince the Fed that it needs help, but not so weak that it will mean a recession, all while  doesn’t take off.

A lot is riding on whether that bet proves correct. Stocks have already soared on it. And if the Fed ends up cutting fewer times than traders expect, including three this year, the market could retreat in disappointment. That’s even if everything else goes right and the economy does not fall into a recession and President Donald Trump’s don’t send inflation much higher.

Investors, “and I think the Fed, are convinced that we are not on the verge of a surge in inflation,” according to Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

A survey from the University of Michigan on Friday suggested expectations for inflation may not be worsening among U.S. consumers. Preliminary data suggested they’re bracing for inflation of 4.8% in the upcoming year, the same as they were a month earlier.

Expectations for inflation over the longer term crept higher, though they’re still below where they were in April, when Trump announced his worldwide tariffs.

In the meantime, Wall Street continues to drift around its record heights.

RH fell 4.3% after the furniture retailer reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that came up short of analysts’ expectations. It also trimmed its forecasted range for revenue this fiscal year amid what CEO Gary Friedman called “the polarizing impact of tariff uncertainty and the worst housing market in almost 50 years.”

Oracle sank 4.8% and was one of the day’s heaviest weights on the S&P 500 index. But that shaved only a bit off its surge from earlier in the week, when it soared to its best day on 1992 amid excitement about multi-billion dollar contracts signed related to artificial-intelligence technology.

Another company that’s benefited from the AI frenzy, Super Micro Computer, rose 3.4% after saying it’s begun high-volume shipments of racks using Blackwell Ultra equipment from Nvidia that can be used for AI.

Microsoft climbed 2.2% after European Union regulators accepted the tech giant’s proposed changes to its Teams platform, resolving a long-running antitrust investigation.

The European Commission said Friday that Microsoft’s final commitments to unbundle Teams from its Office software suite, including further tweaks following a market test in May and June, are enough to satisfy competition concerns.

In stock markets abroad, indexes edged lower in Europe after rising in much of Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.9% to another record, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rallied 1.2% for two of the bigger moves.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to recover some of its drop from earlier in the week. It rose to 4.07% from 4.01% late Thursday.

Yields have been mostly sinking as expectations built on Wall Street that the Fed will resume cutting rates soon.

The Fed has been on hold through 2025, mostly because of the risk that Trump’s tariffs could send prices for all kinds of U.S. household purchases much higher. Lower interest rates can make inflation even worse.

That inaction, though, has infuriated Trump. He has threatened to fire Fed Chair , whom he has nicknamed “Too Late,” and has escalated his attempt to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, accusing her of mortgage fraud.

On Thursday, the asked an appeals court to remove Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the announces its next decision on interest rates Wednesday. Trump initially sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.

Norfolk Airport cancels development contract for 165-room hotel

SUMMARY:

  • canceled its after a developer left the project
  • The 165-room hotel delayed until 2028, about two years
  • Airport may build the hotel itself and hire a third-party operator

The Airport Authority’s plans to build a 165-room hotel at have been delayed by approximately two years until 2028, as the authority recently canceled the contract with the team due to an alleged contract violation.

Norfolk Airport Authority CEO said the authority terminated the contract after discovering that one of the project’s developers had left the project, and the remaining developer failed to notify them immediately.

In September 2023, the authority selected a development team dubbed ORF Hospitality, a partnership between Virginia Beach-based LTD Hospitality and Arizona-based investment firm Caliber Cos. The plan was for the hotel to be a Courtyard by Marriott, and it would address a shortage of hotel rooms in the city. Perryman said the contract with the team was signed in February 2024.

However, Perryman said the authority learned in November 2024 that Caliber had pulled out of the project, and didn’t get confirmation from LTD until January of this year. Perryman said he was never given a reason why Caliber departed, but that the team the authority had selected “was no longer that team.”

In April, the airport authority sent LTD a notice stating the company was in default of the contract and gave the firm 60 days to remedy the matter and bring Caliber back on board, Perryman said. That never happened, and on July 22, the authority sent LTD a notice to terminate the contract, stating that the developers failed to meet the agreement terms.

The letter accused the development team of making “material misrepresentations, both orally and in writing” in its proposal submitted to the authority, including its capacity to perform, financial capabilities and other areas. The letter also accused the team of making misrepresentations in pre-selection interviews upon which the authority “relied to its detriment.”

“​​We selected a team that consisted of the two partners,” Perryman said. “And in fact, during the interview, we asked, ‘What’s the relationship?’ And they said, it’s a 50/50 partnership. So when you look at the public procurement process, when you have a change of a team of that nature, I had no choice but to tell them they were in default.”

Neither LTD nor Caliber immediately returned requests for comment.

As early as January of this year, Perryman says he was optimistic that the project could be ready for completion by 2026. But with the contract cancellation, he said the opening of the hotel would likely be delayed about two years, with a 2028 opening being most likely.

The developers had not broken ground on the hotel and, to Perryman’s knowledge, a final contractor had not yet been selected. He said the original project’s estimated cost ranged from $40 million to $50 million, and that the price will now likely increase due to and cost escalation.

He said the airport authority is now exploring different options. Still, the most likely new option is the airport building the hotel itself and bringing in a third-party operator to manage it. Perryman said the hope is for the authority to solidify a plan around November. It’s unclear if the Courtyard by Marriott branding will still be used.

Despite the setbacks, Perryman maintains that the hotel remains a significant priority for the airport.

“I still think it is a fundamental amenity that we need to provide the traveling public,” he said. “We have no hotels near the airport in what I would consider close proximity, and it is something that is in high demand.”

Henrico EDA repurchases GreenCity site

SUMMARY:

  • EDA repurchased former HQ site on Thursday
  • $1M repurchase essentially returns developers’ previous payments on site
  • County is reviewing RFI responses for arena-anchored

The closed on its reacquisition of the site of the failed $2.3 billion development on Thursday.

The 93-acre property at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Parham Road is also the site of the former Best Products corporate headquarters campus.

Essentially, in reacquiring the property, the EDA paid back the GreenCity developers — Michael Hallmark of Los Angeles-based Future Cities and Susan Eastridge of Falls Church’s Concord Eastridge — the $1 million the developers had previously put toward the $6.2 million price of the property.

Announced in late 2020, GreenCity was pitched to be an environmentally friendly development anchored by an arena and including two hotels, approximately 2.2 million square feet of office space, 280,000 square feet of retail space and 2,100 residential units, plus green space and plazas.

But GreenCity failed after its developers were unable to make more than $5 million in overdue payments to Henrico by a March deadline.

Background

The county initially said in March it would reacquire the former Best Products campus property from the developers in a process anticipated to take about 30 days. However, the land transfer never occurred, and in April, the Henrico EDA sued two LLCs linked to the GreenCity developers, saying the developers had refused to convey the property back to the county.

According to the lawsuit, the EDA agreed to sell the 93-acre site to the developers in a November 2022 agreement for $6.2 million, and the sale took place on Feb. 28, 2023.

After paying the county $1 million in two installments on time in 2023, the developers failed to pay the remaining $5.2 million due Feb. 28, the complaint said. In March, the EDA sent a notice of default, giving the developers until March 13 to make the payment. When they failed to pay, the EDA notified Hallmark and Eastridge that the county would exercise its repurchase option of $1 million on April 15.

A Circuit Court judge had previously issued a summons to the EDA in April, seeking to garnish the $1 million repurchase fee. The developers filed a motion to vacate the judgment, and they had “refused to convey the property to the EDA … unless ASM agrees that the EDA may pay some or all of the repurchase price to [the developers] rather than to ASM,” Henrico said in its complaint.

And while all that was happening, the GreenCity developers were the subjects of another lawsuit brought by the aborted arena’s would-be operator, ASM Global. On Aug. 15, the two parties reached a settlement agreement in that $1.5 million legal dispute.

ASM Attorney Jeff Miller confirmed to Virginia Business on Aug. 18 that ASM and GreenCity had settled their lawsuit.

Next steps

Henrico County released a request for interest regarding the site in May, asking developers to submit plans for an arena-anchored development. Pitches from developers were due July 28. The property is part of a 200-acre district that has zoning and an approved master plan for a development “envisioned to include an arena, hotels and other uses,” according to a Friday news release from the county.

“We received a number of high-quality proposals from development teams,” Henrico EDA Executive Director Anthony Romanello told Virginia Business in late August.

County Manager John Vithoulkas is leading a review committee (of which Romanello is a member) for the proposals.

“We’re in the midst of reviewing those proposals,” Romanello added. “The hope is that the board of supervisors would formally identify a partner by December.”

After that, the property would be conveyed to the selected development team in January 2026, with a 17,000-capacity arena expected to open in 2028.

“We’re extremely pleased to receive control of one of the premier development sites along the East Coast and are eager to take the next steps to fulfill our vision for a major mixed-use development that will be centered around entertainment and tourism and will include an arena for touring concerts and sporting events,” Vithoulkas said in a statement on Friday.

Construction of residences on the adjoining 110 acres, known as Scott Farm, is set to start later this year, under the development of a Markel|Eagle Partners subsidiary, according to the county.

Virginia Business Associate Editor Josh Janney contributed to this report.

Trump administration requests emergency ruling to remove Cook from Fed board

Summary

  • Trump moved Aug. 25 to fire Fed Governor
  • Federal judge ruled removal illegal, reinstated Cook
  • Administration asks to act by Monday
  • Next Fed interest rate vote scheduled after deadline

WASHINGTON (AP) — The has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the ‘s board of governors by Monday, before the ‘s next vote on .

The request represents an extraordinary effort by the White House to shape the board before the Fed’s interest rate-setting committee meets next Tuesday and Wednesday. At the same time, Senate Republicans are pushing to confirm Stephen Miran, President Donald Trump’s nominee to an open spot on the Fed’s board, which could happen as soon as Monday.

Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board. Trump has accused Cook of mortgage fraud because she appeared to claim two properties as “primary residences” in July 2021, before she joined the board. Such claims can lead to a lower mortgage rate and smaller down payment than if one of them was declared as a rental property or second home. Cook has denied the charges.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb ruled that the administration had not satisfied a legal requirement that Fed governors can only be fired “for cause,” which she said was limited to misconduct while in office. Cook did not join the Fed’s board until 2022.

In their emergency appeal, Trump’s lawyers argued that even if the conduct occurred before her time as governor, her alleged action “indisputably calls into question Cook’s trustworthiness and whether she can be a responsible steward of the interest rates and economy.”

The administration asked an appeals court to issue an emergency decision reversing the lower court by Monday. If their appeal is succesful, Cook would be removed from the Fed’s board until her case is ultimately resolved in the courts, and she would miss next week’s meeting.

If the appeals court rules in Cook’s favor, the administration could seek an emergency ruling from the Supreme Court.

Either way, the Fed is expected to cut its benchmark interest rate next week by a quarter-point to about 4.1%. When the Fed reduces its key rate, it often, over time, lowers borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans, and business loans. Some of those rates have already fallen in anticipation of cuts from the Fed.

Should Miran, a top economic adviser to Trump, win approval in time to join the Fed next week, he could push for a steeper half-point reduction to the Fed’s rate.

Yet there are 12 officials who vote on whether and by how much to cut, including the seven members of the Fed’s board as well as five of the Fed’s 12 regional bank presidents, who vote on a rotating basis.

Trump’s two other appointees to the Fed — Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman — might also support a half-point cut, but several of the Fed’s bank presidents have expressed concern about stubbornly elevated and would almost certainly oppose such a large reduction.

If the Fed approves a quarter-point cut, it is possible there could be dissenting votes both from officials who preferred no cut and from those who support a half-point.

BWXT announces new chief strategy officer

BWX Technologies, a -based manufacturer of nuclear components and fuel, announced this week that it has tapped former executive Rik Geiersbach as its new .

Geiersbach most recently was vice president of strategy and corporate at Boeing, where he orchestrated and drove the development and implementation of the , Space and Security business unit’s strategy, , adjacency growth and research and development investment portfolios. He was also previously Boeing’s vice president of corporate strategy. Before Boeing, he was corporate director of strategic alliances at Northrop Grumman.

In the role, Geiersbach will report directly to President and CEO Rex Geveden.

“As chief strategy officer, Rik will lead the development, execution and integration of BWXT’s enterprise strategy and merger and acquisition initiatives,” said Geveden in a statement. “His deep experience in driving organic and inorganic growth initiatives will help secure our competitive positioning in the global security, clean , and nuclear medicine markets we serve, as well as align our strategic priorities going forward.”

Geiersbach has an MBA from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles and holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard University.

In August, BWXT announced plans to launch a subsidiary dedicated to the commercialization of fuel for the next generation of nuclear reactors.

In February, BWXT announced it had received $2.1 billion in Navy contracts to manufacture nuclear components for Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines, and in July, it won an additional $2.6 billion in contracts for nuclear reactor components. In early 2025, the company also completed its $100 million purchase of L3Harris’ Aerojet Ordnance Tennessee, in Jonesborough, Tennessee; in April, BWXT bought land in Tennessee for a centrifuge plant.

A Fortune 1000 company, BWXT has nearly 10,000 employees and 20 major operating sites in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.