Highlights
15 and Counting...
From IIa President Bonnie Carroll
How
long does any company last? If you can think of small business, only 50%
survive longer than four years.
So think about companies like IIa, which have been in an extraordinarily
competitive market and it has only been in the last five years that government
contracting tools have become available to help level the playing field.
I am really proud of the history of IIa's development.
From the Beginning
The company started 15 years ago marketing to people who knew us personally and knew the capabilities we had to offer. People referred to IIa as "Bonnie's company" and then people understood what business they were talking about. To me, the most personally gratifying achievement is that it is no longer "Bonnie's company". Rather it is a maturing business whose success and growth are now dependent upon everyone of its staff and led by an absolutely top flight executive management team.
IIa now has four distinct business areas and is developing a fifth. One of those areas is information futures, which is the most closely derivative of the original work we began in 1988. It has world class information science leading us into new ideas about the future of information systems. We have grown an award-winning library and information services business unit under the leadership of Pat Powell, which is nationally recognized as "best in class". Our information technology services focus has grown so that we are now looked at as a desirable teaming partner by the largest technology services contractors. Under Deborah York's leadership, expect to see this as a major area of business experience, both in Oak Ridge and nationally. Our business area in education and training services under Martha Wallus just began about 18 months ago and has now won work across the U.S. and in Europe (see "Brand New…"). Finally, our newest area of business development is science and technology support services under the vision and leadership of David Harrill. Look for this area to become an exciting future for IIa.
Anniversary Theme:
Literacy and Lifelong Learning
In
addition to building a company that is committed to providing high-quality,
responsive, and cost-effective services to our customers, another thing
I am really proud of is IIa's history as a good corporate citizen through
our community service work. During our 15 years, we have contributed to
a wide variety of community services, but in keeping with the company's
technical beginnings, we have evolved a focus on literacy and lifelong
learning. In fact, we officially launched our anniversary celebration
with an announcement at the annual literacy luncheon here in Oak Ridge.
Each year for the past 10 years, Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary and Altrusa have sponsored this lunch to raise money for literacy. Several of our staff members, myself included, are members of one or both of those organizations and are active personal contributors to the event. More than 400 people attended the event this year, which featured author Sena Jeter Naslund (see "2003…"). We hope to raise $15,000 this year for literacy efforts in our region. Those of you who work on one of our library projects know that the theme of our library and information services is "Managing Libraries as Centers of Lifelong Learning." It is consistent with this proud tradition that we are encouraging that our staff throughout the corporation embrace this theme. We are providing every site with resources to participate in an anniversary celebration in conjunction with our May 22 open house here in Oak Ridge. In addition, we are asking each and every staff member to come together in a local team to carry out a community project that gives something back to the community in which you live and work.
Looking Ahead
When I started this company in 1988, what did I think it would look like today? I've talked about the most important ingredient, our staff. I've talked about the company as a good contractor and a good community citizen. With all of that in focus, what do the next 15 years look like?
In the very first column of this newsletter since we restarted it last year, I reflected on a management retreat we had had where we made some important decisions for IIa. One decision was to hire a Chief Operating Officer, and now we have Bruce Bowland with us in that capacity. We also decided to restructure the business units and focus on strategic development. We have and are continuing to work on that. We've grown from less than 50 to just at 150 employees and have arrived at a new plateau in the size an complexity of our business base.
At the management retreat two years ago, we committed to build the infrastructure to become a $25 million/year company. We have put building blocks in place. The executive team is planning another retreat this summer to come together to lay out the road map to ensure that this future happens. We welcome all input and advice, not only now, but as we grow, because each of you are our most important assets. We are working on the definition of IIa in 2010, so stay tuned…
(Note: according the Small Business Administration, the winning businesses in their listing of "2002 State Small Business Week Winners" have been operating for an average of 15 years.)
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