BELTWAY BIZ

P> Last-minute decisions: Dan Bannister's last-minute decision to forego the ill-fated Bosnian trade mission with Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown on Air Force 2 left the DynCorp CEO's friends shaken and thankful. Stepping down this summer as CEO, Bannister will continue as chairman of the Northern Virginia Technology Council for another term, starting in June, insiders report.

Kick-off event: The Capital Formation Committee of the Northern Virginia Roundtable, which hosted a dinner last fall uniting the local investor community, reportedly is taking on regional colors in preparation for a financial conference for Washington-area public companies. GRC CEO Jim Roth, homebuilder Dwight Schar of NVR and financial relations maven Doug Poretz hosted a breakfast at the Ritz Carlton Wednesday to kick off the effort.

A powerful team: Texas Instruments' software division officially kicked off its new government division -- Government Solutions Software Business. Like Oracle, TI will run the government operations from its federal base. Division executives have impressive resumes: Michael Dillard, a former leader of infotech planning at the CIA, runs the unit. Under him are Larry Singer, who built TI's state and local business and completed a fellowship at the Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and Annette Kerlin, former vice president for strategic business development at Sybase.

Speaking of Sybase: Sybase has recruited Mitch Kertzman, former Powersoft CEO and American Electronics Association chairman, to lead a sales and marketing turnaround announced last week by CEO Mark Hoffman, who will add to his duties the role of the departing COO.

A big display: A standout at FOSE was BTG's elaborate booth with satellite pavilions boasting the names of the company's key teaming partners.

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