Virginia is top state for business, education
Virginia is Number One for Public Schools in the Nation
The Commonwealth of Virginia ranks as America’s Top State for Business in 2024 by CNBC, with the nation’s no. 1 best public schools. This is the Commonwealth’s third win in five years.
“Congratulations to Virginia on being named America’s Top State for Business in 2024 by CNBC–a record six times achieving that designation. I know that Virginia succeeds because of our shared belief that collaboration and innovation yields great results for our businesses and their employees,” said FCEDA President and CEO Victor Hoskins.
Virginia has previously been named America’s Top State for Business by CNBC in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2019, and 2021.
Virginia ranks in the top half or better in each of the study’s 10 categories this year, “a rare feat,” noted CNBC. And the Commonwealth landed in the top 10 in the nation in four additional categories: Infrastructure – 3rd; Business Friendliness, 5th; Access to Capital – 8th; and Workforce – 9th.
For the first time, CNBC weighted infrastructure — including availability of shovel-ready sites — as the most important component for businesses when deciding on investment and cited the Virginia Business Ready Sites Program, in addition to Virginia’s world-class port, rail, roadway, and air transportation ecosystem as major contributors to the recognition.
CNBC’s annual ranking measures all 50 states on 128 different metrics in 10 key categories of competitiveness. North Carolina ranked second on the list, followed by Texas, Georgia and Florida.
Click here to read more from CNBC. Virginia Business, Washington Business Journal, and WTOP have more.
How Herndon-based Beacon CEO Julian Francis Grew the Company to an $9B Business
Fast-growing Herndon-based Fortune 500 company Beacon Roofing Supply‘s CEO Julian Francis was recently interviewed in Washington Business Journal by editor Carolyn M. Proctor. Beacon, founded in 1928 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, moved its headquarters to Herndon in late 2013, nearly a decade after its 2004 initial public offering. In 2014, it joined our list of the top locally based public companies at No. 26, and today it’s No. 17. During that time, the company’s revenue has grown from around $2 billion to more than $9 billion, a 350 percent increase.
“For me personally, it’s stepping outside and you see, whether it’s a house or a building, they’re always around — and there’s always a roof — and knowing how it goes together and knowing that in some ways that we’ve contributed to the communities in which we live and work, that’s really important,” said Julian Francis.
Beacon, which employs more than 8,000 people across the U.S. and Canada, has also climbed higher on the Fortune 500 — 20 spots up since 2023, now at No. 429. It’s acquired over a dozen companies in just two years.
Since 2022, Beacon has added about 50 new branches, including 49 from 16 new acquisitions, as of its first quarter earnings report filed in May.
Click here to read more in Washington Business Journal on how Francis grew Beacon into a $9 Billion business.
92 Fairfax County Firms Rank as Best Workplaces
Ninety-two Fairfax County area headquartered companies were recognized by the Washington Post in its 2024 Top Workplaces List. Here are the Fairfax County-based companies that landed in just the top 10 in each of the list categories. Click here to see the lists of all 92 companies. Note that the number preceding the company is the ranking on each list.
1000+ employees:
- 2 Goodwin Living (Alexandria)
- 4 Noblis (Reston)
- 6 ECS (Fairfax)
- 7 General Dynamics Information Technology (Falls Church)
- 8 Great American Restaurants (Falls Church)
- 9 CGI (Fairfax)
- 10 Long & Foster Real Estate (Fairfax)
500-999 employees:
- 2 CENTURY 21 New Millennium (Alexandria)
- 3 TekSynap (Reston)
- 4 ASM Research (Fairfax)
- 5 Acclaim Technical Services (Reston)
- 6 American Systems (Chantilly)
150-499 employees:
- 5 VAE (Springfield)
- 6 Intact Technology (Reston)
- 8 Procentrix (Herndon)
- 10 Dev Technology Group (Reston)
50-149 employees:
- 2 Stratos Solutions (Chantilly)
- 5 OneGlobe (Reston)
- 7 Actualize Consulting (Reston)
- 8 TSPi (Reston)
Leading leases
Aerospace-and-defense and engineering tenants together drove about half of all Northern Virginia’s commercial leasing volume during the second quarter of 2024, per a CBRE report, according to Washington Business Journal. In the biggest lease of the quarter, Northrop Grumman signed a flat renewal for 310,000 square feet at 12900 Federal Systems Park Drive in Fairfax. It signed another flat renewal for 24,000 square feet at 14800 Conference Center Drive in Chantilly. Engineering firm Bechtel renewed its lease for its headquarters at 12011 Sunset Hills Road in Reston Town Center for 289,000 square feet, representing a 13 percent expansion. KBR, another engineering firm, signed a renewal for 105,000 square feet at 15020 Conference Center Drive in Westfields — in Fairfax County’s Route 28 South submarket.
Tech M&A surge
The D.C. region has experienced a recent surge in tech mergers and acquisitions. reported Washington Business Journal‘s Nate Doughty. In June, government IT contractors MindPoint Group in Tysons and ClearCloud in Reston, were acquired by larger private equity-backed competitors; and Reston IT contractor Hubble Technology was bought by Minneapolis cybersecurity firm NetSPI. Most of the M&A activity has involved government contractors, but other tech companies in the region are also capturing buyers’ attention. For example, German construction software provider The Nemetschek Group paid $770 million for Reston-based GoCanvas Holdings in a deal that closed on July 2. Industry observers say there are more deals to come in large part due to buyers’ growing interest in tech-focused national security players or cybersecurity firms, many of which are based in the D.C. region. Additionally, the year-long pause in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes combined with healthy stock market returns has given investors more confidence to pursue M&A.
Setting a new standard
Crescent Hotels & Resorts has entered into a management agreement with an affiliate of Comstock Holding Companies covering the JW Marriott at Reston Station. The new hotel, Virginia’s first JW Marriott and only the second in the Washington, D.C. region, will anchor the latest phase of development at Comstock’s Reston Station, the mixed-use and transit-oriented neighborhood in the Dulles Corridor. Scheduled for a 2025 Opening, The JW Marriott at Reston Station will include a hotel and luxury condominiums. “It’s incredibly exciting to be involved in this prestigious development,” said Michael George, President and CEO of Crescent Hotels & Resorts. “Crescent excels in the luxury full-service hotel sector, and Reston Station is a highly sought-after location. The addition of the JW Marriott Hotel to the Reston Station neighborhood will set a new standard for luxury and service in both the Dulles Corridor and the D.C. region.” Hospitality Net has more.
A moveable feast
Muller Cos. founder and CEO David Muller’s three construction services companies recently moved into a new 30,000-square-foot headquarters near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. The 220-employee firm is aiming to expand its headcount to 300 by the end of 2024, reported Washington Business Journal in subscriber content. Consultancy DFM Development Services, the first firm Muller founded in 2005, helps developers navigate bureaucracy to get their projects off the ground. Next came civil construction firm Muller Inc. in 2007, and later, Muller Infrastructure, which launched earlier this year. The new venture is a public-private partnership development services firm that’s expanded the company’s footprint into Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and North Carolina.
Hiring spree
India-headquartered Hexaware Technologies, which has offices in Reston and Tysons, announced workforce expansion plans to hire between 6,000 and 8,000 employees globally in 2024 “subject to favorable global market conditions.” In the U.S., Hexaware will hire in locations to include its offices in Tysons and Reston. “I’m thrilled to announce that Hexaware is expanding,” said Rajesh Balasubramanian, Executive Vice President & Global Head – Talent Supply Chain at Hexaware. “We’re actively seeking talented individuals across the globe to join our team.” HRD America has more.
Enhancing transatlantic security
Tysons and Medford, Massachusetts-based MITRE announced a new partnership with the Atlantic Council to collaboratively develop research and events that foster understanding of the current threat environment and new approaches to some of the world’s toughest security and civil challenges, according to a MITRE announcement. “Only by connecting the right people and ideas at the right time across industry, government, and academia can we as a society advance global safety and stability,” said Keoki Jackson, senior vice president, general manager, MITRE National Security. “Drawing on MITRE’s technical prowess and the Atlantic Council’s strategic insight, this powerful combination connects some of the best minds in global security to support NATO and grow our transatlantic partnership.”
Addressing the evolving threat environment
Herndon-based HawkEye 360 has launched nine satellites designed to enable better radio frequency data collection, broader bandwidths and multi-band signal capture capabilities for enhanced geospatial analysis and monitoring, reported ExecutiveBiz. The Cluster 8 satellites, deployed into a mid-inclination orbit in April, have entered initial operating status. Alex Fox, chief growth officer at HawkEye 360, said, “The successful deployment and operation of Cluster 8 addresses our customers’ needs for more RF data and analytics at the mid-latitudes with new capabilities important to addressing the evolving threat environment.”
Bolstering strategic capabilities
Reston-based Scout Space, an in-space observation service provider focused on space security and comprehensive Space Domain Awareness (SDA), was selected to join the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency‘s (DARPA) Bringing Classified Innovation to Defense and Government Systems (BRIDGES) Consortium. DARPA selected Scout based on the company’s proposal outlining its approach to collaborating on “Advancing Autonomous In-Space Threat Response for Space Superiority.” “Resilient flight software is imperative to maintaining space superiority and a competitive advantage over adversaries, ensuring seamless operations and bolstering strategic capabilities,” said Philip Hover-Smoot, CEO of Scout Space. SpaceNews has more.
Inaugural space rescue workshop
The Aerospace Corporation, based in Chantilly, and Santa Monica-based RAND, which has an Arlington, Va. location, recently sponsored and co-hosted the first U.S. Space Rescue Workshop, bringing government, industry, and private space organizations together for a series of frank discussions and tabletop exercises, spotlighting the current state of human spaceflight rescue and practical means of bridging current capability gaps for potential rescue needs. “As the frequency of spaceflight and access to space continues to grow, humans will spend more time in space than ever before, and we all know that this is a place where things can and do go wrong. Our rescue workshop topics and tabletop scenarios were predicated on that probability,” said Uma Bruegman, Executive Director of Aerospace’s Space Safety Institute. “We see these activities as part of a series of engagements with leading stakeholders to comprehensively tackle one important piece of the broader space safety challenge.” Click here to read more.
Linchpin for national security
Tysons-based Booz Allen Hamilton and Arlington, Va.-based Shift5 have forged a strategic partnership to combine their capabilities and expertise to provide organizations in the defense and transportation sectors with cybersecurity awareness and maintenance intelligence to ensure the security and resilience of fleets and other assets, according to ExecutiveBiz. “Operational technology is a linchpin for national security, enabling U.S. critical infrastructure to perform essential functions,” said Brad Medairy, executive vice president and head of Booz Allen’s national cyber business.
Mission-critical space technology
Tysons-based Booz Allen Hamilton has strategically invested in Colorado-based Quindar Space, a space technology company to aid its space manufacturing and domain awareness efforts, reported ExecutiveBiz. The strategic funds offered to Quindar by Booz Allen’s venture capital organization will focus on programming and automating satellite operations. The move aims to strengthen mission-critical space technology worldwide. Chris Bogdan, executive vice president and space business head at Booz Allen, said, “This investment demonstrates Booz Allen’s commitment to shaping tomorrow’s capabilities and advancing our clients’ missions as a critical integrator and data solutions provider for the space domain.”
Addressing workforce shortages
Fairfax-based Claude Moore Charitable Foundation is launching a nonprofit to raise money to expand its work addressing Virginia’s workforce shortages, particularly those in the health care arena, reported Washington Business Journal. The new 501(c)3 nonprofit, Claude Moore Opportunities, will be led by CEO Dr. Bill Hazel Jr., a longtime local orthopedic surgeon and a former Virginia secretary of Health and Human Resources. The new nonprofit will raise funding and aims to create statewide partnerships between educational institutions and health care organizations to fill employment gaps. “More than 3 million Virginians do not have credentials or diplomas beyond high school. These credentials are necessary for well-paying careers that will support them and their families,” Claude Moore Charitable Foundation Director J. Hamilton Lambert said in a statement. “For decades, our organization has worked to fund organizations that help people get to a place where they have a job, support a family and become financially independent, but the need in Virginia far outweighs what we can fund as a private foundation.”
Get your passport ready!
Aeromexico is returning to Washington Dulles International Airport for the first time in years through the launch of a new daily flight service, Washington Business Journal. Aeromexico will compete with United Airlines, which also offers a daily nonstop flight between Mexico City International and IAD. In addition, the article notes that total passengers at IAD have reached 7.6 million so far year to date through April, the most recent figures made available from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. That’s up 9.2 percent over the prior year, a surge caused in part by international passengers, which, at 2.8 million, are up 16.5 percent during the same time period a year ago.
About the Fairfax County
Economic Development Authority
The Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) promotes Fairfax County, Virginia, as a business and technology center. The FCEDA offers site location and business development assistance, and connections with county and state government agencies, to help companies locate and expand in Fairfax County.
Want to know more about the services of the FCEDA, or how economic development helps Fairfax County? Visit the FCEDA website or e-mail info@fceda.org.