October 27, 2025
Under Townes-Whitley’s leadership since 2023, SAIC posted $7.48 billion in 2024 revenue, ranking as the 20th-largest public company based in the Greater Washington, D.C. area.
There is a significant shift within the Fortune 500 as Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) announced that CEO Toni Townes-Whitley will step down, effective immediately after two years of leadership, Washington Business Journal reports.
In a regulatory filing, SAIC said Townes-Whitley separated from the company “without cause,” making her eligible for unspecified benefits and severance. The former CEO released all claims and has a two-year noncompete. The announcement came after the markets closed Oct. 23. Under Townes-Whitley’s leadership since 2023, SAIC posted $7.48 billion in 2024 revenue, ranking as the 20th-largest public company based in the Greater Washington, D.C. area. The technology company saw revenue growth of 0.47% between 2023 and 2024 and employs roughly 24,000 people, making SAIC the 23rd-largest employer in the area.
As the board has tapped former Leidos CFO Jim Reagan as interim CEO until a permanent leader is named, Townes-Whitley says she has the “utmost confidence” that he will take the company to new heights. “I have collaborated closely with Jim during my time here, and I have the utmost confidence in his and the team’s ability to capitalize on and fully realize the Company’s growth prospects,” she said in a statement.
“With its talented employees, SAIC is in good hands until a permanent CEO is appointed.”
While SAIC board chair Donna Morea released a statement thanking Townes-Whitley for her leadership, her departure is notable, as she is one of two women of color to lose their positions in just one week.
According to Fortune, both Townes-Whitley and Priscilla Almodovar, former CEO of Fannie Mae, have stepped down in October 2025. With both companies being headquartered in the D.C. and northern Virginia area, there are ties to federal agencies. Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored entity (GSE), has been facing hurdles with the Trump administration—first with the President considering an IPO—and then with the Federal Housing Finance Agency removing eight members of its board and installing director Bill Pulte as chair.
SAIC has ties to the executive branch of the government, with $7.5 billion in revenue from serving as a contractor to the Department of Defense and other branches, providing IT and engineering services to the military, NASA, and more.
Townes-Whitley was one of only two Fortune 500 companies with Black women serving as CEOs, alongside TIAA’s Thasunda Brown Duckett. Almodovar was the only Latina to serve at the same level. Both women made the 2025 Most Powerful Women list, with Townes-Whitley listed as 95, but with her departure, the group is left with only 52 female chief executives.
The corporate world has seen the effects of President Donald Trump’s executive order that rolled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). A Bloomberg report highlighted that white men made up a majority of new directors at 500 companies for the first time since 2017.
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