Power Moves: BuildWithin just announced its first graduating class

BuildWithin graduates first class

BuildWithin, the apprenticeship startup from Michelle Rhee and Phone2Action’s Ximena Hartsock, just announced its first graduating class.

The company was awarded a $7.9 million Apprenticeship Building America grant from the Department of Labor, with the funds supporting expanding apprenticeships and workplace learning nationwide. According to company leadership, three apprentices are graduating this month with job offers and six pre-apprentices just completed programming.

“This week’s event showed there is a new ecosystem developing around the apprenticeship model in the DC area,” said Rhee said in an email. “The attendance and engagement of everyone, from our business partners to city council members to employers, is evidence of the tremendous amount of support for, and excitement about, this new avenue and we anticipate more than 1,000 apprentices with be on the BuildWithin platform in the next year.”

Nadia Anderson joins SVLG

DC-based Nadia Anderson is the new senior VP and chief of staff and strategy at Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a business interest organization.

Nadia Anderson. (Courtesy photo)

Anderson previously worked in tech policy roles with Cruise and Uber. In the new position, she’ll work directly with the CEO on projects, programming and strategic guidance to the senior leadership team. Anderson said she’s spent her career working at the intersection of tech and public policy, and she’s eager to take on this new role.

“My goal in this new role is to help catalyze change and usher in a new era of Silicon Valley leadership,” Anderson said. “I hope to be a key partner in our work to move toward a new vision of corporate leadership and sustainable public policy on behalf of the nation’s leading innovators and problem solvers.”

Meet the new class of Mindshare startups

Mindshare just revealed its latest cohort of local founders looking for a leg up.

Mindshare, which was created to help DMV and adjacent companies grow and network with other local players, selects tech and product companies annually to participate in programming aimed at boosting collaboration and helping founders learn from one another. 65 CEOs were selected from 115 nominations for the 2023 cohort. Participants will attend classes on leadership and growing their businesses.

This year’s cohort includes leadership from: Astek Diagnostics; Global Action Alliance; Balance Theory; CAREier; AnswersNow; Seven Starling; SolasAI; BlackBoiler; Knowland; Mindgrasp; TRAXyL; Vianova AI; RealStaq; StraighterLine; AquaLith Advanced Materials; Evizia; SecureG; Joget; GovForce; Cavnue; Patient Sortal; Ntrepid; Tunnl; Slope; Uncommon Cures; Clutch; CallRevu; Wellthi Technologies; Ownerific; Mad Hatter AI; Ordway; Kamsa; Linshom Medical; Happyly; RiPSIM Technologies; Adlumin; OPEXUS; BluBinder; EnGen; Nanobiofab; ALIVE Podcast Network; BCMstrategy; RightHear; JUJU Spirits; ClearForce; SixMap; JobSync; Learning Without Tears; ThruGreen; ProudlyGive; Binkey; Sunny Day Fund; Team Handoff; Kion; Red Alpha; Matium; cove; Element; Cloudforce; Colvin Run Networks; Global Pal; Volt AI; Arcascope; DCANTER and Latin Goodness Foods.

Here’s who else made a spring job refresh:

• Virginia’s Mythics announced Aaron Cornfeld as the company’s new CTO. Cornfeld comes to the role from a gig as the director of public sector customer engineering for Google Cloud.
• Amanda Brownfield is the new CEO of IAP Worldwide Services, a professional and tech services company with offices worldwide.
• Excel Technologies, a Herdon, Virginia government IT firm, appointed Amy Norgren Salfi as chief strategy officer. Norgren Salfi spent over three decades working with Booz Allen Hamilton before this role.
• Compliance tech firm StarCompliance, based in Rockville, Maryland, added Terry Dawson as head of product. Dawson’s previous roles included stints at Refinitiv, GBG and RELX Group.
• Tom Lash, who was formerly a national security leader at AWS, Leidos and SAIC, was named CEO of Meadowgate Technologies in Annapolis Junction, Maryland.
• Reston, Virginia’s Science Applications International Corp (SAIC) added Barbara Graham to the role of senior VP of SAIC’s Navy business unit. There, she’ll manage the company’s $1 billion portfolio of Navy tech.
• Alexandria, Virginia’s VSE Corporation, a govtech company, named Michael Perlman as VP of investor relations and communications.
• Bard Marder is the new president and CEO of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, succeeding Lori Lucas. Lucas retired from the role at the end of last year.
• Cyber and IT firm Electrosoft Services named Wes Postol as senior VP of business development. In this role, he’ll lead Electrosoft’s defense and cyber strategic initiatives, among other projects.