Nokia Federal’s Mike Loomis Wins 2nd Wash100 Award
for Impressive Industry Collaborations
Executive Mosaic is ecstatic to announce Mike Loomis, Nokia Federal Solutions president and CEO, as a two-time Wash100 Award winner for his impressive industry collaborations, industry-pacing contract awards and positioning the company at the forefront of cutting-edge wireless connectivity.
Loomis brings more than 25 years of telecom and technology experience to GovCon. He’s led Nokia Federal Solutions since its stand-up in 2024 to speed up the development of the parent company’s advanced technologies for the federal government.
The polls are open for the 2026 Wash100 Award popular vote competition! Vote for Mike Loomis and other leading GovCon executives today at Wash100.com.
“A second-straight Wash100 Award is a strong confirmation of the leadership and influence Mike brings to GovCon,” said Jim Garrettson, Executive Mosaic CEO and the founder of the Wash100 Award. “As president and CEO of Nokia Federal Solutions, Mike has continued to advance secure, resilient communications and next-generation networking capabilities that directly support defense and prepare the Department of War for the future fight.
“He pairs deep technical expertise with a genuine understanding of customer priorities, building trusted partnerships across government. This second Wash100 recognition underscores the consistency of Mike’s impact and the growing role he plays in shaping innovation across federal contracting and national security,” Garrettson continued.
Loomis quickly discovered following his Army service that he loved contributing to a mission and serving folks he admired. This sense of purpose, mission and duty eventually led him to Nokia, which he joined in 2012.
“There was a sense of duty and purpose beyond just the financial results that you have in industry,” Loomis told ExecutiveBiz during a 2022 Executive Spotlight interview. “You get many other things in industry as well as the satisfaction of innovation, but I’ve just always had a soft spot in my heart for the mission.”
Why Is Mike Loomis Winning a 2026 Wash100 Award?
Loomis won his second Wash100 Award in 2026 for his smart industry teamings with other leading technology firms that advanced wireless communications technology. Loomis helped the Marine Corps experiment with new technologies for secure communication. Nokia Federal Solutions in May 2025 provided its Banshee tactical private wireless technology to the Marine Corps, giving the service a scalable and powerful wireless solution for demanding combat environments.
Loomis has entered Nokia Federal Solutions in key industry collaborations to keep it at the forefront of state-of-the-art technology and demonstrate 5G as an economic competitiveness lever. The company is participating in the Department of War-funded Advanced Spectrum Coexistence Demonstration, an effort supported by the National Spectrum Consortium.
Here, Nokia Federal Solutions is demonstrating integrated technologies for facilitating real-time spectrum-sharing between 5G and government spectrum-reliant systems. The ASCD is designed to confirm common sense approaches to spectrum sharing, bolster cooperation between industry and government, and grow confidence in coexistence technologies.
Another key industry collaboration facilitated by Loomis includes work between Nokia Federal Solutions and Verizon. Nokia’s 5G technologies and Verizon’s network management services were integrated into Lockheed Martin’s 5G.MIL hybrid base station, where they demonstrated commercial 5G interoperability with military communication networks.
Who Is Mike Loomis?
Loomis started his career in 1994 as a product engineer at Solectron, now called Flex, and a customer service operations manager for Bay Networks before joining Nortel in 1999. He served in the Army’s prestigious 82nd Airborne Division during Desert Storm before beginning his GovCon career.
Loomis quickly moved up the ranks of federal contractors following his military service with director positions at both Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent, before joining Nuage Networks from Nokia as vice president in 2012.
He entered Nokia Federal Solutions into another paradigm-shifting collaboration in January of this year. Nokia Federal Solutions, with Skydweller Aero and Tangram Flex, received a contract from the Air Force to showcase a rapid-deployment airborne private network, more colloquially known as a flying 5G cell tower.
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What Are Mike Loomis’ Recent Career Achievements?
Loomis played a big role in inspiring Nokia to invest in its research and development to keep it at the cutting-edge of technology. The company in November 2025 announced it was spending $3.5 billion on advancing artificial intelligence and next-generation connectivity with another $500 million going to R&D capital expenditures and manufacturing in assorted locations. This is in addition to the company’s new semiconductor fabrication plant in northern California and an advanced packaging and test complex in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Loomis is known for industry-shaping contract awards. Nokia Federal Solutions and Skydweller Aero announced in October that they would unite their technologies to demonstrate an airborne 5G private system under a 365-day Small Business Innovation Research Phase I contract from the Navy.
Contracted under the Intelligent Radio Access Network for Beyond 5G Resilient Tactical Networks effort, the award requires the two firms to develop a deployable 5G “network-in-a-box.” The technology will be used by Skydweller’s Perpetual Flight solar-powered autonomous aircraft using Nokia’s Banshee Flex Radio. The goal is low-latency, high-speed connectivity in contested or remote environments.
What Does Mike Loomis’ Success Mean for GovCon?
Loomis’ success at Nokia Federal Solutions signals several important trends and impacts for GovCon. It reflects a broader shift toward collaborative ecosystems and teaming, mission-led contracting strategies and the integration of commercial technology into federal mission needs.
Congratulations to Mike Loomis on his 2026 Wash100 Award!
Click here to cast your ballot for Loomis in the 2026 Wash100 popular vote competition.