Inside this Issue:

IIa Enters 19th Year Technically Strong & Financially Sound
President attributes success to a company of hardworking, values-driven people.

IIa closed 2006 in a very strong position, both technically and financially.  We continue to have extremely satisfied customers, which was highlighted by our receipt of a number of significant awards and recognitions.  Based on IIa’s recognition as the Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year at Eglin Air Force Base, the company received the U.S. Small Business Administrator’s Award of Excellence.  Staffs at various projects have achieved the Air Force’s four- and five-star designations, Best in Command citations, 100% award fees, and nothing less than exceptional and excellent evaluations. (more)

In Profile:  a woman with heart, a man of the people, and a funny lady
Meet Elizabeth (Dickerson) Kendall, Richard Smith, and Vicky Stever.

You hear their voices on the phone or read their names in the newsletter.  But in our geographically dispersed company, it’s hard to know much more about people in other parts of the company.  This new series of employee profiles will give you a little insight to your IIa colleagues. (more)

IIa Focus:  Lifelong Learning…Enhance and Advance Your Career
You can continue to learn everyday right where you work.

According to Ron Gross, a recognized leader in the field of lifelong learning, L(earning) your living will enhance your job, no matter where you are on your career path.  Studies show that 80% of our learning occurs outside a formal classroom and primarily on a subconscious level.  (more)

Pop Culture Survey Results

IIa Cartoon Characters (Crossword Puzzle)

IIa Enters 19th Year Technically Strong & Financially Sound

President attributes success to a company of hardworking, values-driven people

From IIa President Bonnie C. Carroll

IIa closed 2006 in a very strong position, both technically and financially.  We continue to extremely satisfied customers, which was highlighted by our receipt of a number of significant awards and recognitions.  Based on IIa’s recognition as the Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year at Eglin Air Force Base, the company received the U.S. Small Business Administrator’s Award of Excellence.  Staffs at various projects have achieved the Air Force’s four- and five-star designations, Best in Command citations, 100% award fees, and nothing less than exceptional and excellent evaluations. Because of these commendations and the consistent level of customer service and quality of work,  IIa is well-positioned for many of our contracts that are up for bid this year. 

Looking back over last year, we were focused very strongly on our corporate values with the major “At IIa, We Value…” education and recognition campaign.  Through this, we found that living our values is pervasive throughout the entire company (at the end of the campaign, 93% of employees were recognized for at least one value and 46% of employees recognized a colleague). 

As a company, we want to live these values as well.  We want to go beyond words to recognize not only the dedication of our employees, but also how your adherence to our mission, vision, and values continues to move the company forward.  For that reason, we are pleased to have been able to provide a number of incentive awards and special bonuses.  This year, the company presented the new Impact Award.  Five of these incentive awards were determined by a committee of employees from nominations submitted by employees.  We are delighted by the results and I was very happy to be able to personally notify the winners of the awards. In addition, this year we were able to give bonuses throughout the company, which is good for all of us. 

Now, as we move into our 19th year of operation, we are creating the infrastructure that we need to take us solidly into the future.  As you know, there has been some corporate restructuring in the last year.  The first step was to create a technical operations organization with John Rumble as director and a formal business development organization with Pat Powell as director.  These two groups joined with our directors of finance and human resources and our chief information officer to create a solid senior management team that reports to me.

The second step of that organizational change has been to look at our technical projects to begin to develop a stronger infrastructure with opportunities for advancement and promotion into levels of management for the company.  To that end, we have made our first two appointments, with Franciel Azpurua-Linares and Shelaine Hetrick taking the lead of two business groups.  To institutionalize this process, we are in the midst of a major initiative to develop a company-wide compensation plan to include job descriptions and equity career ladders to achieve equity across the company.  The new career ladder system is designed to encourage professional development plans that will coincide with corporate goals.

Holding true to our values, we are looking to the future with innovation in mind.  This year, the company provided a founding grant to establish a non-profit, research and development laboratory known as the Informatics Research Laboratory.  The mission of IRL is to evaluate and advance the application of library, information, and computer sciences, and information technology for the management of information content.   

IIa ended the fiscal year as one of two remaining bidders on a major $130 million information technology services contract.  Our technical strength and sound financial position were certainly contributors to our selection as one of the two finalists.  This is a result of the work you do every day to give us our outstanding customer satisfaction credentials.  We can all be proud that we are one of the two remaining bidders for this incredible small business opportunity.  Your work, your dedication, and your adherence to our values make IIa a very special small business, one that has very satisfied customers who return to us again and again for our services.

Looking back over the year, and looking forward to what is already taking place in the coming year, I feel that we are well on our way to achieving our company vision...to be recognized as the benchmark of excellence in information management by the year 2010.  I send my heartfelt thanks to you all!

Bonnie C. Carroll, President 

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In Profile:  a Woman with Heart, a Man of the People, and a Funny Lady

You hear their voices on the phone or read their names in the newsletter.  But in our geographically dispersed company, it’s hard to know much more about people in other parts of the company.  This new series of employee profiles will give you a little insight to your IIa colleagues.

A Woman with Heart: Elizabeth (Dickerson) Kendall, Staff Accountant

Q.  What is something you had to learn the hard way?
A. There is a reason why people go to school and then start their family. 

Q. What do you sing or hum when you’re alone?
A.  “Walking After Midnight” or “Let’s Hear It for the Boy.”

Q.  What really makes you laugh?
A. I love listening to jokes that are about certain groups or types of people.  The ones that make me laugh the hardest are the ones that I can relate to.

Q.  If you could choose a totally different profession, what would it be?
A. I would be a computer programmer/technician because it is a growing field that fascinates me.  When I was younger, I used to take apart anything that was electronic and try to fix it.  Most of the items I tried to fix I had to throw away!  But when I did fix something, I felt like I had conquered the world.     

Q.  What other profession would you NOT like to do?
A.  I would not like to be a physician that works at a nursing home.  I’m an emotional individual who doesn’t deal with loss very easily.

Q.  What person, living or dead, has had the greatest impact on your life?
A. My life seems is planned around raising and caring for my son.  Without him, I don’t know what type of person I would be today.

Q.  What’s the best reward for a job well done?
A. The best reward for me is a simple acknowledgement.  Don’t get me wrong, I love money and I love to be taken out to eat, but these things wouldn’t be as special if the appreciation wasn’t expressed.  

Q.  If you had to give up all but one form of entertainment media, which would it be?
I would keep music because it doesn’t confine you to one spot.

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A Man of the People: Richard Smith, Eglin CCSS Education and Training Team Leader

Q.   What historical figure do you most identify with and why?
A.  Pope John Paul II and Billy Graham.  Both of these individuals did or have done God's work spreading the Word. They inspired, gave hope, and loved.  More people like these are so desperately needed today.

Q.  What is something you had to learn the hard way? 
A.  Patience.  When I was younger, I had no patience when trying to repair mechanical things.  Over the years, I have learned to take my time and to put down the tools and take a break when I am stressed.

Q.  What do you sing or hum when you're alone?
Boz Skaggs, Eagles, & Neil Diamond.

Q.  What really makes you laugh?
I really laugh at the "Pink Panther" films with Peter Sellers and I really get a good laugh at the Bud Lite "Real Men of Genius" radio commercials (thefuntimesguide.com/movabletype/archives/2004/10/bud_light_real.html.)

Q.  If you could choose a totally different profession, what would it be?
A.  It would have to be something where I deal with people, such as a sales representative, tour guide, or musician. I really enjoy interacting with people since I have learned so much over the years from others.

Q.  What other profession would you NOT like to do?
A. I do not enjoy working on things such as mechanic, construction worker, etc., because I find it difficult to achieve satisfaction from these kind of tasks.

Q.  What person, living or dead, has had the greatest impact on your life?
A.  My mother.  She grew up quite poor and suffered through the Great Depression. She worked her way through nursing school, became a Registered Nurse, and worked for 40 years as a nurse and always provided for me and my brother.  To encourage us, she said something that has always stuck with me: "Your education is something no one can ever take away."

Q.  What's the best reward for a job well done?
A.  The sincere thanks I receive from the people I have helped.

Q.  If you had to give up all but one form of entertainment media, which would you keep?
A.  Music and books. When I was active-duty military in a remote site in Sicily, there was no TV.  So I found other interests (reading, racquetball, bicycling, and chess). In fact, I learned how to play chess while I was there and I must admit, it is the greatest board game ever invented.

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Funny Lady: Vicky Stever, Eglin Library Project Manager

Q. What historical figure do you most identify with?
A.  Mark Twain.  He had wonderful adventures and the gift of making people laugh with the written word.

Q.  What is something you learned the hard way?
A.  Not everyone wants to hear my opinion.

Q.  What do you sing or hum when you're alone?
A. Jimmy Buffet songs, different ones from whatever album I've heard most recently. Particular favorites are "Take Another Road" and "Window on the World" but the one you'll most often hear me sing is "It's Five O'clock Somewhere."

Q.   If you could choose a totally different profession, what would it be?
A.  An advertising executive who designs the clever campaigns that everyone remembers.  I want to be the person who thought up talking frogs for Budweiser or the Geico gecko.  The creativity would be a rush and pitching the ideas to clients—getting them involved with the dream—would be stimulating.

Q.  What profession would you NOT like to do?
A.  Childcare provider. I've heard that children are good—that they taste just like chicken—but I've never wanted to find out.

Q.   What person, living or dead, has had the greatest impact on your life?
A.  My father’s mother was a teacher who started her career in a one-room schoolhouse, while raising five children as a widow.  After many years teaching, she went back to school and earned her degree when she over 60 years old. She was the best reader of stories, did all the character voices, and taught me to love books and reading.

Q.  What's the best reward for a job well done?
A.  A big smile and a fistful of cash. Okay, I get by without the cash if I get the satisfaction of making someone happy or solving a problem.

Q.  What really makes you laugh?
A.  Shared mischief in a friendship where you click with a person so much you almost read her mind. You'll be having an identical thought at the same time (usually an "evil genius" sort of thought) and your eyes meet—boom! You bust up laughing.

Q.   If you had to give up all but entertainment media but one, which would you keep?
A.  What can a librarian say except "books?" But I'd vote for them regardless of my profession.  There are endless possibilities in books: worlds to explore, vicarious pleasures, and knowledge to change my life. 

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IIa Focus:  Lifelong Learning…Enhance and Advance Your Career

You can continue to learn every day right where you work

According to Ron Gross, a recognized leader in the field of lifelong learning, L(earning) your living will enhance your job, no matter where you are on your career path.  Studies show that 80% of our learning occurs outside a formal classroom and primarily on a subconscious level.  So you can start to learn better simply by paying attention.  Gross has a three-step strategy that you can use to make every work day a learning experience.

Step 1.  You have to “infuse” your work every day with L(earning).  How?  Start looking for something new to learn, find a way to work smarter, look for something that will enhance an existing skill.  Gross suggests that at the end of each day, you should ask yourself what you learned that day.  If your answer is “nothing,” you’ve got your work cut out for you tomorrow.

Step 2.  Teach what you have learned.  Now that you have figured out that new piece of software or a better approach to a perplexing problem, share it with a co-worker.  And don’t forget to let the boss know the value of your new learning.

Step 3.  When you get to choose an assignment or project, look for work that has something in it you want to learn.  Most bosses are impressed with this approach.

You can get more detail on Gross’s strategy for lifelong learning at adulted.about.com/od/nganddevelopment/a/learn_living_2.htm.

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Results: IIa Pop Culture Survey

Q.  What is the best book you read this year?

Following are the top six book recommendations:

1. The Da Vinci Code
2. Harry Potter (any one from series)
3. Angels & Demons
4. Short History of Nearly Everything
5. A Purpose-Driven Life
6. Chronicles of Narnia

Q.  What new technology did you buy (mp3 player, HD TV, etc.) or try (blogging, vlogging, podcasting, etc.) this year?

Following are the top five new technologies we have purchased or used this year:

1. Ipod (including nano & shuffle)
2. MP3 player
3. HDTV
4. DVD/R
5. Blogging

Q. If you could have watched one and only one of this year's TV series, what would it have been?

The six most popular shows are:

1. CSI/NCIS
2. 24
3. American Idol
4. Lost
5. Surface
6. Ghost Whisperer

(Note:  0f the 44 respondents who voted for the American Idol winner, 48% would have chosen Chris Daughtry!)

Q. What is the one place you wish you had gone on vacation this year?

The top five locations we wish we would have visited this year are:

1. Europe
2. Caribbean (various islands)
3. Hawaii
4. Florida
5. Alaska

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IIa Cartoon Characters ... (crossword puzzle)

Have a little fun with our employee crossword puzzle. The employees included in the puzzle (by last name only) are:

Watch your IIa e-mail for answers to this puzzle.

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