Virginia News & Features

Warren M. Thompson is founder, president, and chairman of Thompson Hospitality Corporation, one of the largest contract food service and facilities management companies in the United States, with a portfolio of more than 65 restaurants across 17 different brands.

Virginia’s unique place in American history goes back to the very beginning, with the establishment of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, in 1607.

Steven Chen is the founder of PFP Cybersecurity, a cybersecurity firm in Fairfax County, and a partner at Blu Venture Investors, a venture capital fund focused on early-stage firms in several fields, including cybersecurity. VEDP Vice President of Knowledge Work Meghan Welch spoke with Chen about the cybersecurity funding environment in Virginia.

Candice Ling is a senior vice president at Microsoft and head of the company’s federal government business unit. Previously, she served as the company’s government industry lead in Asia. VEDP President and CEO Jason El Koubi spoke with Ling about Microsoft’s cybersecurity work with the federal government and potential future developments in the cybersecurity industry.

Brad Medairy is executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, a Virginia-based Fortune 500 company where he leads the national cyber account and focuses on the cyber missions of national-level clients like the FBI, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Cyber Command. VEDP President and CEO Jason El Koubi spoke with Medairy about the key cybersecurity issues his company works on for its clients and the future of cybersecurity with the rise of AI and quantum technology.

Quokka entered the cybersecurity world with a big reputation — under its previous name, the company landed on the front page of The New York Times after discovering a critical security vulnerability in some Android smartphones that sent user data to Chinese servers. In 2019, the company’s further investigations into mobile apps exposed that the massive social media app TikTok was sending data to China.