Principal: Kris Tremaine, SVP, ICF International
Ownership: ICF International
Subsidiary agencies: 7, including Macro International, Z-Tech, Ironworks Consulting, and GHK Consulting
Offices: Fairfax, VA, and Rockville, MD
Revenue: $48,135,325
Headcount: 280
ICF SCM, the strategic communications and marketing group of ICF International, posted revenue growth of 12.4% to $48.1 million last year, despite the economic climate’s ongoing challenges, including federal budget sequestration and October’s 16-day government shutdown.
"We do a lot of government and commercial work, so due to the shutdown, we had a lot of contracts we couldn’t work on," says SVP of ICF International Kris Tremaine.
"However, we were able to redeploy people and we weathered the storm."
Private sector growth
ICF SCM’s business from the private sector continues to grow, particularly in the energy and healthcare industries. On the federal side, the firm won new contracts with the National Institutes of Health NCI Smokefree campaign and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"On the commercial side, we are helping insurance companies as they have to do more direct-to-consumer work because of healthcare reform and exchanges," she adds.
The agency’s domestic practice saw continued success across a wide range of markets in 2013, including public and commercial health, energy, defense, and nonprofits. Account wins included the FDA Center for Tobacco Products and AIDS.gov.
As the integration of tech and marketing becomes more common, CMOs are getting bigger budgets for tech, Tremaine notes. To keep up, the firm’s tech practice focuses on systems integration and back-end builds.
"This is something tech agencies don’t typically do," she explains, "but we are bringing it all under one roof so our clients do not have to outsource."
Key hires in 2013 included Frances Heilig and Mary Schwarz as VPs, Matt Escoubas and Paula Darte as principals, and Bruce Campbell as executive creative director. There were no significant departures.
With the hires, the firm reorganized and revitalized several areas, says Tremaine.
"We enhanced and expanded upon an already robust senior-level digital strategy team focused on optimizing the online user experience and fostering consistent and strategic engagement," she adds.
Furthermore, the agency has implemented a newly formed strategy and planning team that works horizontally across all account teams to ensure integration with ICF’s business consulting capabilities.
