o Booz Allen Stock Down 13%; Cutting 7% of Workforce
o Tysons-Based Meibel Raises $7 Million for AI Runtime Platform
o Alexandria-Based SpecterOps Makes Key Hires After $75M Round
o Chantilly-Based Red River Names Anthony Christie as CEO
o Bowie-Based Inovalon Names Ed Chidsey to Lead Insights Business
o Briefly Noted: X-energy, Guidehouse, memoryBlue, Internet Society
Booz Allen Stock Down 13%; Cutting 7% of Workforce
McLean, Va. – Facing headwinds from the recent cuts to the federal government, McLean-based government contractor Booz Allen announced lower-than-expected quarterly results on Friday and announced that it will cut about 7% of its workforce. The company’s stock was down 12% in morning trading on Friday. During the earnings call, CFO Matt Calderone said Booz Allen expects to cut about 7% of its workforce of about 36,000 employees, with most of the cuts coming in the civil sector. Also during the call, CEO Horacio Rozanski outlined the federal landscape the company is facing.
“All presidential transitions create some degree of near term disruption followed by opportunity. Half a year later, we now see that these dynamics are indeed in play at a rate and speed that is beyond what we originally expected. As the Trump administration focuses on reducing government spending, increasing efficiency, and reimagining agency emissions, Booz Allen must once again adapt and accelerate,” said CEO Horacio Rozanski on the earning call, according to a transcript from Investing.com.
“The federal government is rethinking agency missions, finding ways to accomplish those missions differently, and looking for ways to reduce spending and increase efficiency. To get there, we are seeing agency reorganizations, reductions in government personnel and spending levels, as well as contract reviews. These are especially acute in civilian agencies, and as a result, we are seeing a decrease in the pace of awards in civil as well as run rate changes in some of our contracts,” Rozanski said.
Tysons-Based Meibel Raises $7 Million for AI Runtime Platform
Tysons, Va. – Meibel, the Tysons-based developer of a platform designed to manage how AI behaves in production, said it has raised $7 million in a new round of seed funding, led by Mosaic General Partnership. Array Ventures, Denver Ventures, Cofounders Capital and Service Provider Capital also took part in the round, which the company will use to accelerate adoption across industries. Meibel’s core platform aims to put technical teams in control of how AI performs in production.
"The future of AI will be won at runtime," said co-founder and CEO Kevin McGrath. "Meibel gives teams the control layer they need to manage how AI behaves while it is live. That includes how it retrieves data, makes decisions, and adapts to new inputs in real-time. We are building the runtime platform for AI systems that operate reliably, adapt in real-time, and explain every decision they make at scale."
Alexandria-Based SpecterOps Makes Key Hires Following $75M Round
Alexandria, Va. – On the heels of its recent $75 million funding round, Alexandria-based SpecterOps, a cybersecurity startup focused on identity risk management, said it has hired a trio of C-level executives. New hires include Tim Bender as CFO, Pat Sheridan as CRO and Bryce Hein as CMO. Bender most recently served as the CFO of ZeroFox, Sheridan was the senior vice president of Americas sales at Sophos and Hein was the CMO at Sysdig. The company said the moves will help scale its go-to-market, financial and marketing strategies, ultimately expanding the reach of its flagship platform, BloodHound Enterprise. The hires come two months after SpecterOps raised $75 million in its second round of funding, led by Insight Partners.
Chantilly-Based Red River Names Anthony Christie as CEO
Chantilly, Va. – Red River, a Chantilly-based developer of cybersecurity and IT infrastructure, has named Anthony Christie as its new CEO. Christie has served on the company’s board since 2021 and most recently served as executive chairman and interim CEO, following the departure of Brian Roach in November. Earlier, he was the COO of Trace3, CMO of Level 3 Communications, and CTO and CMO of Global Crossing.
Bowie-Based Inovalon Names Ed Chidsey to Lead Insights Business
Bowie, Md. – Inovalon, a Bowie-based developer of cloud-based software used in data-driven healthcare, has named Ed Chidsey as the president of its Insights business. Chidsey most recently served as the senior vice president and global head of the Data, Valuations, and Analytics business for S&P Global’s Market Intelligence division.
Briefly Noted
(Rockville, Md.) Rockville-based X-energy, a developer of small modular nuclear reactors and fuel technology, has named Jesse Walker as its vice president and chief supply chain officer. Walker previously spent 21 years at Northrop Grumman, where he served in executive roles including vice president of global supply chain and corporate director of supplier management.
(McLean, Va.) McLean-based Guidehouse, a provider of advisory, technology and managed services, has named Greg Meyer as a new partner. Meyer, who will focus on advancing high-growth initiatives and expanding digital capabilities, has spent the past seven years as a managing director at Accenture.
(Tysons, Va.) Tysons-based memoryBlue, a provider of B2B lead generation services and technology, has named Glenn Haertel as its chief revenue officer. Haertel previously held senior leadership positions at Displaydata, Factor 8 and Blacklidge.
(Reston, Va.) The Reston-based Internet Society, a non-profit working to ensure global access to the Internet, has named Seun Ojedeji to its Public Interest Registry (PIR) board of directors. Ojedeji is a technology executive and former board director at AFRINIC (the Internet number registry for Africa). The board also has reappointed Lena Beck Rørvig and Mike Silber to new three-year terms.