In a close race that remained competitive until its end, Judi Dotson has won the 2024 Wash100 Award popular vote competition. Dotson is president of the global defense sector at Booz Allen Hamilton and received a record-shattering number of votes in comparison to past years’ races. Congratulations to Judi!
You know you’ve made it in government contracting if you’re considered for a Wash100 Award — actually receiving one is among the highest honors in the industry. Every year, Executive Mosaic sets out to praise the 100 most notable figures in GovCon through a rigorous evaluation process that weighs leadership capabilities, vision, innovation and reliability, among other metrics. Winners have included C-suite executives, federal agency officials, superior technologists and more.
Once the list is announced every January, EM opens the tradition to the public: for three months, our readers and the GovCon community get to participate by voting for their favorites among the recipients. Only one can prevail, and this year that is Judi Dotson!
Over 60,000 total votes were cast this year, a new high watermark for the race. Dotson accrued 1,000 by herself, a significant feat and never before achieved by an individual in this race.
“Judi’s record-shattering support from the GovCon executive landscape speaks not only to her popularity in our sector, but also to her ability to effect change and deliver positive impact within the public sector ecosystem,” shared Executive Mosaic CEO and Wash100 Award Founder Jim Garrettson.
“With this historic popular vote competition season, Judi has certainly cemented her legacy and her reputation as a GovCon leader, influencer and innovator. We congratulate Judi on her win, and we look forward to seeing the impact of her work continue to ripple across Booz Allen and the broader GovCon community,” Garrettson continued.
Signaling just how competitive the race was, the other contestants in the top 10 also each netted over 1,000 votes. Close behind Dotson was the silver medal champion, Jill Singer, vice president of federal solutions at AT&T and with the bronze, Karen Dahut, CEO of Google Public Sector (Dotson’s predecessor in her current role). These contestants fought long, hard and admirably!
Rounding out the top 10 were Carahsoft’s Craig Abod; Dotson’s colleague at Booz Allen, Steve Escaravage; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Brown Jr. (the highest ranked public sector representative at number 6); Oracle’s Kim Lynch; IBM’s Susan Wedge; the Department of Defense’s Dr. Kathleen Hicks; and the Defense Health Agency’s Lt. Gen. Telita Crosland.
Wedge deserves special notice for a race well run, as she spent nearly the first month and a half of the competition at number one.
One more hearty congratulations goes out to Dotson and her team at Booz Allen for this monumental victory! She joins the esteemed company of past winners Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, former U.S. Air Force CIO Lauren Knausenberger and Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Dr. Stacey Dixon.