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ICF International was founded
in 1969 as the Inner City Fund, a venture capital firm
whose mission was to finance inner-city businesses.
Its first president was C. D. Lester (photo below),
a former Tuskegee Airman, who was joined in the enterprise
by three U.S. Department of Defense analysts. The firm's
consulting business proved more successful than its
investments, and in 1972, it was reorganized as a consulting
firm and renamed ICF Incorporated.
Focusing
on energy issues for U.S. federal agencies and for
industry throughout the 1970s, the firm expanded its
environmental business rapidly in the 1980s and began
to build its engineering capabilities. In 1988 the
firm acquired Kaiser Engineers, which
had originated as the engineering unit of Henry J.
Kaiser's industrial empire and grew to rank among the
largest engineering and construction companies in the
world. In the following year
(1989), the combined company went public and eventually
traded its stock on the New York Stock Exchange. The
combined company operated as "ICF Kaiser," maintaining
its consulting unit largely intact.
In 1999, ICF International ended its decade-long affiliation
with Kaiser Engineers through acquisition by its management
and CM Equity Partners, LP, an equity investment firm based
in New York City.
In 2002, ICF International acquired
two divisions of Arthur D. Little: Global Environment & Risk
(Americas) and Public Sector Program Management.
In 2005, ICF International
acquired Synergy, Inc., a leading
provider of strategic planning, analysis, and technology
solutions in defense command and control, operations, and
logistics. Synergy added to ICF's extensive
domain knowledge in defense logistics, finance, planning,
and operations with capabilities in quantitative analysis,
modeling and simulation, and information technology.
ICF provides end-to-end
strategy to implementation solutions in the
national security arena in these and additional
areas, including human capital management,
technology assessment, homeland security, strategic
communications, energy management, and environmental
management.
Also in 2005, ICF International
acquired Caliber Associates,
a Fairfax, Virginia, firm that provided high-end consulting
services, primarily to U.S. federal clients. Caliber was an
established leader in providing research, consulting, and
innovation in human services and human resource issues. This acquisition
enhanced ICF’s ability to serve the U.S.
Department of Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Department of
Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), and
the U.S. Department of Education (ED).
In 2006, ICF Consulting
was renamed ICF International to
reflect the firm's growing geographic presence and increased
scope of its service offerings from advisory services through
implementation and improvement. The firm also pursued an
Initial Public Offering (IPO) and now is a publicly traded
firm
listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol ICFI.
In 2007, ICF International acquired four companies:
- Energy and Environmental Analysis (EEA), Inc., based in Arlington, Virginia, which enhanced ICF’s capabilities in alternative fuels such as natural gas, and in automotive emissions and fuel efficiency technologies that impact greenhouse gas emissions
- Advanced Performance Consulting Group (APCG), a Washington, D.C., consulting firm that enhanced ICF’s capabilities in federal organizational performance, human capital, and strategic communications consulting
- Z-Tech Corporation, based in Rockville, Maryland, an established leader in health information and health technology services that expanded ICF's ability to develop more effective health information technology, health communications, health policy analysis, and health information clearinghouses
- SH&E,
one of the world's largest consulting firms dedicated to air transport,
helped position ICF as a leader in airline, airport, and aviation industry consulting, enabling ICF to significantly strengthen its transportation service offerings with federal, state, and industry clients
In 2008, ICF acquired Jones & Stokes,
an integrated planning and resource management firm, which expands the firm's environmental capabilities and offerings across such strategic growth areas as transportation, energy, climate change, and water resources.
In 2009, ICF acquired Macro International Inc., an advisory, implementation, and evaluation services firm providing research-based solutions to U.S. federal government agencies in health and other areas.
ICF International is now a global, diversified firm that combines the entrepreneurship and dynamism of a new company with a solid reputation in the consulting industry derived from 40 years of performance.
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