- Dive into Part 1 of our series on this year’s Wash100 Award winners from the AI industry
- Get the details on top GovCon executives like Craig Abod from Carahsoft
- Unpack DOW AI investment insights at the 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24!
In an industry with no shortage of accolades, the Wash100 Award still tops GovCon executives mid-scroll. Founded in 2014 by Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson, the award has grown into GovCon’s most closely watched recognition, not for its size, but for its selectivity.
Each year, a select group of just 100 executives from across government and industry are chosen for the most prestigious award in GovCon. This is after a rigorous, competitive review, a distinction that sets it apart from other industry lists.
Why Is the Wash100 Award Prestigious?
What makes the Wash100 genuinely prestigious is its forward-looking premise. Rather than simply honoring past achievement, the award singles out leaders EM believes are best positioned to shape the coming year’s biggest moves in GovCon, spanning innovation, vision and consistent delivery on mission-critical work. In an industry built on relationships and reputation, winning a Wash100 Award signals command and leadership in shaping GovCon.
The 2027 Wash100 Award season is fast approaching! Nominations open in mid-November.
AI is one of the most transformational technologies in GovCon. AI-enabled automation, data analytics and decision-support tools let agencies do more with less. It also is central to U.S. national security as the Pentagon and the intelligence community view AI adoption speed as a direct factor in maintaining military and technological advantage. Agencies also leverage AI to extract actionable data insights at scale, especially for real-time threat detection and predictive maintenance.
Nearly half of the 2026 winners are professionally involved in AI in a significant way. These are just a selection of some of the amazing members of the 2026 Wash100 Award class.
Check back soon for more pieces highlighting GovCon industry leaders. Now meet the AI leaders reshaping GovCon and the moves that earned them the Wash100 Award.
Take command of moving agentic AI from pilot to production by attending the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24. Bolster your expertise on compressing the decision cycle at the edge and building trust, traceability and governance at our intriguing Agentic AI Across Mission and Enterprise panel discussion. Get your pressing questions answered by Capt. Patrick Thompson, Navy C5ISC director of infrastructure and cybersecurity service, during the question-and-answer session. Secure your seat today!
Vice President and Head of Government, OpenAI
2026
Joseph Larson is a Marine Corps Reserve officer and former Anduril and Palantir executive who also helped stand up the Pentagon’s Project Maven, the department’s foundational AI effort. OpenAI in February signed an agreement with the Pentagon to provide a cloud-only AI deployment. Larson now leads OpenAI’s federal government business, a marquee example of pure-play AI vendors entering GovCon.
CEO, BigBear.ai
2018, 2019, 2026
Kevin McAleenan is a former Department of Homeland Security secretary and Customs and Border Protection commissioner. He founded Pangiam before its acquisition by BigBear.ai, an AI-native decision-intelligence company serving defense, homeland security and trade missions. BigBear offers an air-gapped hardware AI, a model-agnostic and multimodal generative AI platform that directly deploys into secure, air-gapped environments for security classifications up to top secret/sensitive compartmented information, or TS/SCI.
CEO, Unanet
2023–2026
Halliday has led Unanet, a self-described AI-first enterprise resource planning provider for project-based businesses, through double-digit revenue growth. He has also guided the firm through the launch of Champ AI, its natural-language copilot suite.
Dive into governing mission and operational data for AI at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Intel Summit on Sept. 24. Get beyond the headlines at our No Mission AI Without the Data panel discussion about unifying data across classification boundaries and deploying agents across finance, contracts, capture and cyber directly from Maj. Gen. Mark Cunningham, Marine Corps director of intelligence. Sign up now!
CEO, SAP NS2
2024–2026
Harish Luthra leads SAP NS2’s push to align secure cloud transformation, AI integration and regulatory compliance for defense and civilian federal customers. The SAP HANA Cloud brings together data across systems with a cloud-native database for analytics and AI-driven applications.
Executive Vice President & President of Mission Technologies, HII
2018, 2020–2026
Andy Green runs HII’s Mission Technologies division, which spans unmanned systems, cybersecurity, AI and mission-critical defense technology. HII Mission Technologies develops machine learning, deep learning and generative AI capabilities that provide human-AI teaming for intelligence, surveillance and decision-support missions.
President, Carahsoft
2014, 2015, 2017, 2018–2026
Craig Abod has grown Carahsoft from an IT reseller into a major developer of AI, cloud and cyber technologies for U.S. federal agencies. Carahsoft’s technology portfolio includes AI, machine learning and high performance computing capabilities to help agencies connect technology and industry partners with services that fulfill mission needs.
