When Tony Orlando (B.S. ’91, MBA ’98) returned to his alma mater last fall, he said he almost didn’t recognize the place. Modern buildings lined both sides of Hampton Boulevard, creating a more mature campus feel from what he recalled as a student.
“I’ll be honest, I could not find Webb Center, and that used to be the center of campus,” he said, adding it was rewarding to see how both Old Dominion University’s campus and the community evolved.
Orlando was one of several featured speakers at an October 30, 2025, celebration announcing the partnership between the University and Google, including the debut of MonarchSphere, a first-of-itskind AI innovation and enablement ecosystem for higher education powered by Google Cloud and part of the University’s Forward-Focused Digital Transformation.
As an alumnus and Google Public Sector representative, the moment resonated. He said his alma mater felt very different from the largely commuter campus he had attended.
“This was a full-blown university that had entered the modern era. And, I was here to talk about MonarchSphere and AI innovation,” he said.
Orlando has worked for Google Public Sector for three years. He serves as managing director of Partner Ecosystem and Specialty Sales Solutions and is responsible for leading the comprehensive partner sales strategy and spearheading the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into public-sector and workplace solutions for government and education customers. He especially values seeing the impact his role has on citizen services and helping to make the country safer from digital threats through work involving civilian and federal defense and national security.
Born in Iceland to a Navy family, Orlando lived in Ireland and Scotland before his father landed at Naval Station Norfolk where he retired after 20 years of service.
“He retired not because it was the end of his career,” Orlando said. “He retired so my brother and I could finish high school without having to move.”
Orlando graduated from Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and was unsure what he wanted to do next, he said. His father encouraged college.
“I went to Ҵý, because it was local. I didn’t have to move,” Orlando said. The decision proved pivotal when he discovered the University’s career development services.
Instead of surfing or working odd jobs as he expected, Orlando joined Virginia Power every other semester through the University’s cooperative education program.
“That was the tipping point, because I got into the professional world at the end of my freshman year,” he said. “I started working with people who were 20 and 30 years my senior, and I was doing the same work they were doing.”
It was at Virginia Power — now Dominion Energy — that Orlando was introduced to management information systems and began exploring ways technology could solve business problems. He earned his bachelor’s in business administration in 1991 and returned a few years later for his MBA, completing it in 1998. The graduate program is where he “learned how to learn,” he said — a trait that has shaped his career.
“My education really put me in a position to capitalize on every opportunity I was afforded professionally,” said Orlando, who also served on the University’s MBA
Advisory Council. “I had to work for everything, but it was my foundation. I’ve become a lifelong learner.”
Orlando said it was rewarding to help the University take a leap forward in the AI era.
“I had nothing but pride for being a Monarch, for being at Ҵý and for being from Hampton Roads.”