Parsons has appointed Carey Smith, president and chief operating officer (COO) at Parsons, to the company’s board of directors. As president and COO, Smith leads Parsons’ global operations and drives growth strategy through technology innovation. “Carey has been central to our growth and success since joining Parsons,” said Chuck Harrington, chairman and CEO of Parsons and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient. 

Viasat has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire RigNet, a provider of ultra-secure, intelligent networking solutions and specialized applications. Viasat will purchase the company in an all-stock transaction worth approximately $222 million. “With the acquisition of RigNet, we are accelerating the diversification of our connectivity portfolio and establishing a global foundation for expansion of our remote enterprise service offerings,” said Rick Baldridge, Viasat's president and CEO. 

The Borenstein Group has been named a Top Marketing Agency in 2021 by Chief Marketer magazine, in its Top 2021 Chief Marketer 200 (CM200) Brand Engagement and Experience Agencies. “At Borenstein Group, we believe that the most important imperative to successful B2B and B2G branding is building digital trust," said Gal Borenstein founder and CEO of the Borenstein Group.

Dan Gabriel, chief executive officer with AM TRACE, recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz regarding its growth since the onset of COVID-19, covering topics such as expanding public health solutions, networking across communities and keys to retaining a highly skilled workforce. He also shared his thoughts on where the company will head in the future and how to combat future viruses and diseases. 

Jacobs has been awarded a five-year, $101 million task order for IT support services of critical networks by the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), Ground Intelligence Support Activity (GISA) and Enterprise Transport (GET). “This significant contract builds on our longstanding partnership with the U.S. Army,” said Jennifer Richmond, senior vice president for advancing national security at Jacobs. 

OneWeb has awarded Hughes Network Systems a three-year, $250 million contract to develop and manufacture essential ground system technology for the low Earth orbit constellation. "Today's announcement of a continued technology partnership with OneWeb reflects our position as the trusted innovator in the industry," said Pradman Kaul, president of Hughes. 

Leidos has been awarded a four-year, $64 million single award contract by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to modernize safety analysis tools and capabilities by developing the Operational Analysis and Reporting System (OARS). The company’s prime contract includes two two-year options. "Leidos is proud to work with the FAA to modernize their safety systems," said Fran Hill, senior vice president of Leidos Transportation Solutions.

Jacobs has transitioned to 100 percent renewable energy for company operations during 2020 and achieved net-zero carbon emissions for its operations and business travel. "Reaching our goal to become carbon neutral is a major step in improving the way we run our operations at Jacobs," said Jacobs Chair and CEO Steve Demetriou. 

AECOM has partnered with Bergen County Utilities Authority (BCUA) and Columbia University to monitor COVID-19 ribonucleic acid (RNA) in wastewater, which can be a leading indicator of infection rates, in the BCUA sewer shed. The team has collected, tested and analyzed more than 650 samples, with results indicating that wastewater monitoring statistically provides a seven- to ten-day leading indicator of reported COVID-19 cases.

Toni Townes-Whitley, president of U.S. regulated industries at Microsoft, has described how the company helped agencies increasingly pursue digital transformation efforts as the COVID-19 pandemic tested the government's mission resiliency. She wrote in a blog entry posted Monday that the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense implemented Microsoft offerings, such as Bing Maps Platform and Azure Government, to support continued operations.

John Song and Jean Stack, managing directors with Baird, recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz regarding the organization’s recent efforts within mergers & acquisition (M&A), following the close of NuWave’s acquisition of BigBear and Jacobs’ recent purchase of The Buffalo Group. The two leaders also discussed current market trends, and provided insight into Baird's upcoming Government & Defense Conference.

AECOM had added new leadership to its board of directors to strengthen the company’s strategy and drive value. AECOM  has nominated Diane Creel and Sander van’t Noordende as new independent directors for election to its Board of Directors at the company’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is expected to take place on Feb. 24, 2021. 

Jeff Nigriny, founder and former president of CertiPath, has succeeded Shawn Hughes as CEO of the Reston, Virginia-based network security and credentialing company. Hughes will transition to a new role as chief experience officer.

AAR has secured a $148 million follow-on indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to help the Naval Air Systems Command maintain and operate the U.S. Navy's C-40A transport planes. Nick Gross, senior vice president of integrated solutions at AAR, said the award marks the second consecutive for the company to “We are proud to have been selected for the second consecutive time to provide logistics support services to the C-40A fleet.

Ted Davies, chief executive officer of Altamira Technologies, a high-end engineering and analytics company focused on the national security market, recently spoke with ExecutiveBiz regarding how the company has continued its growth strategy by adding new leadership, integrating advanced technologies and winning contracts across the federal sector over the last year.