Power Moves: Meet the first CEO of the Tysons Community Alliance

Katie Cristol to head the Tysons Community Alliance

Starting July 5, Katie Cristol will be the first permanent CEO of the Tysons Community Alliance.

Cristol will replace acting CEO Richard Bradley, who’s held the role since 2021. She’s joining the org as it looks to establish a community improvement district, release a strategic plan, conduct market research and work on placemaking activation.

Cristol was most recently a member of the Arlington County Board, which she served on for eight years and chaired in 2018 and 2021. She’s also been a leader at the Virginia Municipal League, the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Human Services Policy Committee.

Cristol said she’s particularly excited to build on the strong relationship between the public and private sectors and plans to expand on coalition building and strategic planning.

“I am honored to be selected by the Tysons Community Alliance Board, and truly look forward to doing the work I love in our dynamic Northern Virginia region,” said Cristol in a statement. “I’m compelled by the organization’s focus on community building and inclusive, equitable economic growth, along with its vision for Tysons as a thriving regional downtown.”

Pankaj Chawla is the first chief innovation officer of 3Pillar Global

Pankaj Chawla. (Courtesy photo)

Fairfax, Virginia software developer 3Pillar Global just named Pankaj Chawla as its first-ever chief innovation officer.

In the new role, Chawla will be developing 3Pillar’s growth plans in vertical and horizontal service offerings. He plans to extend the company’s product and services offerings, specifically in AI, automation and cloud services. Before coming to 3Pillar, he was the CTO and managing director at Accenture Products and Platforms.

“Joining 3Pillar is a unique and exciting opportunity to create impactful products, services, and solutions,” said Chawla in a statement. “Together with the team, my goal is to leverage 3Pillar’s tremendous global talent and culture of innovation to drive continued growth and client success.”

The latest in local bragging rights

Two local companies are accepting some applause, taking home awards and earning shoutouts for their work and innovation.

Reston, Virginia’s GridPoint won the 2023 Edison Award for sustainability for its simplified carbon accounting integration product. GridPoint worked in partnership with Florida’s TimberRock to develop the technology, which lets customers automate energy-intensive equipment and distributed energy resources to reduce electricity demand and carbon footprints. GridPoint and TimberRock’s submission was selected from 400 applicants.

Meanwhile, RealLIST Startup Joylet was named an honorable mention in FastCompany’s 2023 World Changing Ideas Awards. The startup’s Newborn Bundle of Joy product, which supplies new parents with all the equipment they need and swaps it out as a child grows, was one of 19 products selected in the Consumer Products category. Joylet cofounder Natalie Poston said that it was selected from 2,200 entries.

Here’s who else made power moves in April:

• DMV-bred Case Western Reserve University Provost Ben Vinson III was named Howard University’s next president. He will take over from Wayne Frederick on Sept. 1.
• Michael Dalley is the new CEO of drone tech company Aerial Vantage, headquartered in DC.
• Germantown, Maryland’s Recovery Point Systems, a business resilience services company, promoted Jack Dziak to the role of CEO. Dziak was previously executive chairman.
• Mara Motherway is the new chief growth officer at Epirus, an energy tech company with offices in McLean, Virginia and Los Angeles, California. She was previously a senior VP at Peraton and a VP at Booz Allen Hamilton.
• DC’s Adlumin, a security operations developer, named Dan McQuade to the role of CTO.
• Sean DuGuay was appointed president and chief revenue officer for Arlington, Virginia IT services company M9 Solutions.
• Herndon, Virginia-based Deltek, a software and services provider, appointed Oracle alum Dinakar Hituvalli as CTO. In the role, he’ll oversee Deltek’s engineers and cloud operations work.
• ThriveWell, a healthcare IT company in Frederick, Maryland, added Majd Alwan in the role of chief strategy and growth officer.
• DC’s AACC, a science and medical lab organization, appointed MaryAnne Elma as chief science and policy officer.
• North Bethesda, Maryland’s CloudBolt Software named Craig Hinkley as its new CEO.