Happy Anniversary Attain—Celebrating 10 Wonderful Years! 

August 28, 2019 marks 10 years since we became fully operational through the purchase of public sector assets from the BearingPoint estate—and what a wonderful decade it has been.

To mark this momentous occasion, Attain Partners CEO Greg Baroni and President and COO Manish Agarwal made a short video, reflecting on the past 10 years, and sharing their vision for Attain Partners’ future. You can watch that video here.

10-Year Video

You also can find information about our history, awards, culture, and client work on our 10-Year Anniversary page.

On our actual anniversary, we are celebrating with Team Attain Partners at our various office and client-site locations. We know that our people are at the center of our growth—and we can’t thank them enough!

To keep the celebration going, we are also planning an Attain Partners Gives Back week in September culminating in family-friendly events near our McLean, Raleigh, and Morgantown locations. What better way to ring in 10 years of our success than to work together in the Attain Partners Way to Obsess Externally.

Follow Attain Partners on LinkedInTwitter, and Facebook to learn more about these events and see how Attain Partners Gives Back to our communities.

Looking ahead at the next 10 years, our path forward is full of promise. We are excited to continue our work disrupting the status quo, as we take our built-to-last, values-driven consultancy to the next level by focusing on next-generation solutions and impact.

Founding Attain Partners to Create Sustained Impact

As we approach our 10-Year anniversary, we sat down with Attain Partners’ leaders to hear how they feel about this momentous occasion in their own words. Read on to hear about Attain Partners’ accomplishments and plans for continued growth directly from CEO, Greg Baroni. 

Attain Partners: This year we celebrate Attain Partners’ 10-Year Anniversary. What thoughts and emotions come to mind when you think about this milestone?

Greg: When I think about our 10-year anniversary, I experience a flood of different emotions. Largely, I feel a deep sense of joy and gratitude reflecting back on how much impact we’ve had, from growth to accomplishments, over the past decade. 

Just look at the immense growth that we have experienced in our first 10 years—in 2009, we started with seven employees in a temporary office. Today, we have grown to over 750 employees in 40 states plus the District of Columbia. To say that I am grateful to those who believed and made this possible is an understatement.

Attain Partners: What made you start Attain Partners? Where did you draw inspiration in order to start and build this elite consulting firm?

Greg: When I founded Attain Partners, I was at a unique crossroads in my professional career. I was looking for a new start, trying to figure out if I should pursue an opportunity to lead an existing organization or take a chance and start a new company. My friend and colleague, John O’Neill, and I decided to start a consultancy that we expected would serve as a transition landing pad. What started out as a bridge opportunity became so much more than that—through the hard work and dedication of our leadership and team members, this “transition company” turned into the tremendously impactful consultancy that we know as Attain Partners today.

Attain truly came to life as a company following a long process in which we were awarded key assets from the BearingPoint estate after they had filed for bankruptcy in early 2009. It was quite a journey in and of itself with many ups and downs, but thanks to the herculean efforts of our initial group of seven and many sleepless nights, we officially purchased the assets on August 28, 2009, the same date of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s groundbreaking “I Have a Dream” speech. I still remember the small celebration we had that day with the seven of us, champagne, and sparkling cider—it was the beginning of an impactful legacy for Attain.

It was during this earliest phase of our development that I realized we weren’t building a bridge, but rather a strong, enduring consultancy. I remember thinking, “If I’m going to make this my last chapter, what are the pillars that would make this important?” It was then that I developed our three, core principles. The successes we’ve achieved over the past decade truly reflect these core principles upon which Attain Partners was founded—built-to-last, next-generation, and values-driven.

Once our foundational principles were in place, I went to work on creating our seven core values that today define Attain Partners’ culture—The Attain Partners Way. These were based on core values I had written and practiced in previous roles and fine-tuned for what I believed was most important to a company’s culture for enduring success and impact.

I knew I wanted to create a values-driven company that would last, so that is exactly what I formed with Attain.

Attain Partners: How do you see the progress of Attain Partners so far? Is this where you expected Attain Partners would be at its 10-year anniversary?

Greg: When I think about our milestones, I look for impact, which has exceeded my expectations. While I candidly expected that, at this point, our company would be bigger than we are today, driving innovation and outcomes for our clients, I am confident that we are on the right track. Our culture of intention—The Attain Partners Way—has life and emboldens our work. I am so proud of our people and their commitment to Attain Partners and our clients. Looking at the number of new partners, the team members who have grown the company over the past decade, and the hundreds of new employees working to disrupt the status quo and improve the lives of those we touch, our momentum is extraordinary.

Attain Partners: What is your favorite part about your job leading Attain Partners?

Greg: I love inspiring people, touching their lives in a meaningful way. I strive for a balance of practical leadership tied to vision and values that drive outcomes. Great leaders are trustworthy and compassionate! For me, I always wanted to serve the underserved which is why our company is dedicated to organizations and people serving in the public sector. I view it as such a privilege to be able to improve public service organizations. 

Ask any member of the Attain Partners leadership team what makes our company special and they will all give you the same answer: our people. We are intentional about our legacy and its impact on our clients, our employees, and our community. This drives our decision making every day. We’re building something that we hope a hundred years from now people will highly regard as the gold standard for consultancies.

As for me, I’ve grown tremendously as a leader by founding Attain Partners and working to expand our impact over the past decade. There’s a sense of emotional maturity that you have to have as a leader to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say honestly, “These are things we need to work on.” You have to be vigilant, and in this connection, I am still vibrantly committed to my own personal journey of growth as a leader. I know that my colleagues on our company’s executive committee are even more vigilant and I am a better leader because of them.

Attain Partners: What’s in store for Attain Partners in the next 12-months, five years, and beyond?

Greg: We will turn our attention to work force-multiplying our impact on the world by growing our firm, nurturing our culture, differentiating ourselves and expanding our capabilities. Guided by our core principles and the Attain Partners Way, we will continue to lead change in the world in which we live and work, inspiring our clients to invent the future by thinking outside the box and imagining the impossible. In the next decade, consultancies as we know them today will fundamentally change. Every dimension of the business will undergo radical disruption, followed by renewal. It is a pretty big opportunity and Attain Partners is poised to take advantage of it. Our focus over the next 12 months will be to double-down on delivering on our vision of the future, continuing to invest in disruptive business models focused on outcomes, differentiating ourselves and ‘asset-izing’ our business by changing our operational infrastructure to embrace more rapid market penetration, delivery solutions, and the client experience.

Attain Partners: What will be the biggest challenges in achieving your vision for growth? Biggest opportunities?

Greg: It’s a journey to build a company, so you have to have an unrelenting commitment to your vision, overcoming the challenges and obstacles along the way—that is exactly what we have done over the past decade and what we will continue to do. Built-to-last has meaning when you look around this company. We’re building a culture that transcends the people of the day and the trends of the time, and instead continually matures and endures. We’re building a body of work that impacts this world in which we live, work, and play. I cannot wait to see the impact we create over the next 10 years!

Obsess Externally—Attain Partners Gives Back

We believe that service to others is not just a responsibility, but a privilege. That’s why The Attain Partners Way—our seven core values—includes the value to Obsess Externally. Our employees share their time, talents, and treasures through the organizations that touch our lives each day in the communities where we live and work. Whether through volunteerism, mentoring a colleague, or providing  groundbreaking results to our clients, our culture of intention fosters a steadfast pledge to service.

As we grow, we continue to demonstrate a passion for service through active support of fundraising events and activities hosted by our three flagship philanthropies: the National Kidney Foundation Serving the National Capital Area, the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region, and The Women’s Center, located in Vienna, VA.

The National Kidney Foundation Serving the National Capital Area 

The National Kidney Foundation Serving the National Capital Area is a local chapter of the national foundation located in Washington, DC. The chapter is dedicated to preventing kidney disease, improving the health and well-being of individuals and families affected by kidney disease, and promoting organ donation in the region.

The National Kidney Foundation conducts extensive public and professional education, provides early detection screenings, advocates organ donation, and supports kidney research to identify new treatments.

 Attain Partners’ involvement:

  • President and COO Manish Agarwal is a Member of the Board of the National Kidney Foundation, and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Kidney Foundation Serving the National Capital Area.

  • CMO Ellen Walsh serves as a Member of the Board of the National Kidney Foundation Serving the National Capital Area.

  • Attain Partners participates in and assists with fundraising for the annual NKF Kidney Ball.

  • Attain Partners employees participate in the annual Capital Area Kidney Walk and Organ Donation Basketball Tournament. For the past several years, Team Attain Partners has been proud to be recognized as the top Capital Area Kidney Walk Corporate Fundraiser.

The American Red Cross in the National Capital Region 

The American Red Cross in the National Capital Region supports the national relief organization’s mission to prevent and relieve suffering—at home and around the world—through five key service areas: disaster relief, supporting America’s military families, collecting and providing lifesaving blood donations, health and safety services, and international humanitarian services.

Attain Partners’ involvement:

  • CEO Greg Baroni serves as a member of the Chairman’s Advisory Council.

  • Managing Director Susan Jones serves as a Member of the American Red Cross National Capital Region Board.

  • Attain Partners supports the Annual Golf Invitational Tournament and the organization’s annual gala.

The Women’s Center 

Based in Fairfax, Va., the mission of The Women’s Center is to significantly improve the psychological, career, financial, and legal well-being of women, men, and their families, regardless of their ability to pay.

As a counseling and resource center, the clinical staff at The Women’s Center includes therapists and career counselors who provide indispensable counseling to benefit local women, men, and families.  
 
Attain Partners’ involvement:

  • CEO Greg Baroni is Chairman of the Board of The Women’s Center.

  • Each year, Attain Partners sponsors a group of professionals to attend The Center’s Leadership Conference.

  • Attain Partners supports The Women’s Center Annual Gala and is an annual Patron Sponsor of the organization.

  • Attain Partners provides pro-bono services to The Women’s Center in support of their Salesforce implementation.

In addition to our flagship causes, we embrace a “what matters most to our employees matters to us” philosophy and support a roster of more than 20 charitable organizations important to Attain Partners’ people and the firm’s philanthropic initiatives. We have enjoyed actively engaging in the communities where we live, the industries we serve, and the organizations that share our goal of improving people’s lives over the past ten years and look forward to continued service as Attain Partners continues to grow in the decades to come.

Learn more about Attain Partners’ philanthropic efforts and community involvement here (and see pictures of our team members in action!): https://attainpartners.com/about/

The Attain Way

At Attain Partners, we provide the culture and collaborative work environment that fosters creativity, encourages bold, new ways of thinking, and values a commitment to excellence—producing the best results for our clients and a rewarding work environment for our team members.

How do we do this? We live out The Attain Way every day in our work and philanthropic efforts.

The Attain Way is comprised of seven core values that align with our bold and entrepreneurial approach to business. These core values guide every decision we make and every interaction we have with our clients and those in the communities in which we live and work.

“Our values embody our character that we, as members of an elite professional services company, believe a trusted partner and a client advisor should possess. Our values are not only the foundation of Attain Partners’ culture, but they also provide an inspiring, motivational framework for driving excellence, achieving the best results for our clients, and attaining insanely great results. That’s the Attain Way,” said Greg Baroni, CEO.

The Attain Way: Seven Core Values that Drive Success 

  1. Invent the Future – We believe that hope is a critical ignition to creating a better world. Our clients are striving toward great things. We work with you to create a breakthrough vision of the future and execute with purpose and diligence to secure results.
  2. Be Bold – Our clients face tough challenges, but we believe that the glass is half full. We will confront the current reality, whatever it may be, but maintain an unwavering faith in achieving and delivering a purposeful end result.
  3. Obsess Externally – Our entire focus is on serving our constituent public, including the society at large and the communities in which we live.
  4. Be the Best – We strive to be the best in everything we do, while meeting deadline and budget commitments. We don’t just sell it – we live it!
  5. Team for Speed – True teamwork creates agility. We collaborate with our colleagues and clients, bringing passion, focus and perseverance to our work.
  6. Execute with Discipline – Great ideas are nothing without discipline and deliberate execution. With stunning intensity, we lead by example and create an empowering environment for great work.
  7. Have Absolute Integrity – Our word is our bond. We act with honesty, respect each other and honor all commitments. No exceptions!

In addition to our core values, we pride ourselves on fostering a culture of growth that rewards healthy risk-taking and encourages Team Attain Partners members to advance in their careers.

We continuously invest in our greatest assets—our people. In addition to providing industry-leading employee benefits, in 2018, we took an innovative approach to redefining our career tracks to better align with our rapidly expanding workforce.

Attain Partners’ new career tracks allow our team members to differentiate among unique skill sets—Consulting, Specialist, Client Services, Sales, and Business Services. Utilizing these career tracks allows us to create more opportunities and promotion paths for our people, focus on different strengths and priorities across Team Attain Partners, and better align accountabilities and rewards to support our team members. With an unparalleled career path, Attain Partners is a place for great ideas and the people who have them.

10 Years on Team Attain Partners

Ask any member of the Attain Partners leadership team what makes our company special and they will all give you the same answer: our people. When Attain Partners was founded in 2009, it started with a core group of individuals who were all committed to doing business better by focusing on making lasting impacts for those we serve.

In last week’s post about The History of Attain, we shared our three founding principles: built-to-last, next-generation, and values-driven. We are proud to say that ten years later, we still run our organization in accordance with these three, driving factors.

One of the key elements in our success of staying true to our founding vision once again comes back to our people. Here is what some of our 10-year employees have to say about what makes Attain Partners a great place to work:

“The people! We hire the best people in the market, and we rally around each other to grow this firm—we’re a team.” – Phil Agee, Partner, Federal Services

“The teamwork and comradery make Attain Partners a great place to work. Add to that the flexibility to balance my work and home life and amazing mentoring I’ve received over the years, and Attain Partners has been a wonderful fit for me!” – Angela Burton, People Operations Senior Manager

“There are so many reasons to love Attain Partners.For me, it’s the entrepreneurial spirit, friendly atmosphere, and seven Core Values that drive our everyday working life.” – Wally Davis, Partner, Education, Nonprofit and Commercial Services

“I get to work with and learn from the true experts and thought leaders in my industry. Not many people can say that!” – David Moore, Manager, Education, Nonprofit and Commercial Services

“I appreciate the entrepreneurial spirit that is fostered within the organization. It really motivates people to strive for better service and outcomes for our clients.” – Michael Torbert, Partner, Federal Services

“Attain Partners is about more than the bottom line. Here, giving back to the team and our community is a priority—and that’s meaningful to me.” – Ellen Walsh, Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer

Interested in learning more about Team Attain Partners? See how we make it a priority to invest in our people.

History of Attain, LLC

History of Attain, LLC

A lot has changed since the paperwork was filed to create Attain, LLC. on January 14, 2009, and we became fully operational on August 28, 2009. From seven employees with a temporary office location to over 700 employees in 40 states plus the District of Columbia, we have grown from a start-up into an elite consulting firm, improving the lives of over 100 clients to date.

Though the company has evolved as its grown, one important constant remains the same—Attain is a built-to-last, next-generation, values-driven company. We were founded on these three, core principles that drive our mission and vision—and today, 10 years later, they remain the cornerstone of our business.

Read on to learn how Attain has lived out these core principles over the last decade as we’ve grown into a top-tier digital transformation firm.

Founding Attain, LLC

Attain, LLC founding partners first came together at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in the early 1980’s. Peat Marwick’s name changed several times over the years, first to KPMG (after its merger), then to KPMG Consulting and later to BearingPoint, Inc., but the practice our partners built and the quality services they continue to deliver have never changed.

In 2009, Greg Baroni and John O’Neill co-founded Attain, LLC, and through the purchase of a platform of business, catapulted the operation from ground zero to a company with more than 100 contracts and 150 employees focused on securing strategic contract vehicles, growing the team, and reinforcing strong relationships with clients.

Highlights: Key Contract Wins and Milestones

CIO-SP3: In 2012, Attain, LLC secured a prime contractor position on National Institutes of Health Information Technology Acquisition and Assessment Center (NITAAC)’s $20B CIO-SP3 Small Business contract vehicle. This single contract vehicle enabled us to establish initial relationships with future clients including Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), exponentially expanding our footprint in the federal market.

Eagle II: In 2013, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) notified Attain, LLC that it was named an awardee in the unrestricted category on the $22 billion Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions II (EAGLE II) multiple-award indefinite-delivery / indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract. A milestone achievement for Attain, the large IDIQ contract provided Attain, LLC entry into the National Security/Homeland Security market as a prime contractor.

SEC: In 2013, Attain, LLC was awarded our first work with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—the Business Process Reengineering (BPR) Center of Excellence (COE) and Application Management Support (AMS) contracts, including oversight of 55+ Enterprise applications, systems, and websites, including EDGAR and SEC.gov. These projects proved strategic in expanding our service to the SEC.

NARA: In 2015, Attain, LLC won the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunications Services contract. Attain, LLC’s largest win to date, our work with NARA delivered a new paradigm of IT infrastructure operations and services to elevate performance and cost-effectiveness across the agency, including our country’s Presidential libraries.

Ranked a Top Workplace: As a result of direct feedback from Team Attain members, Attain, LLC earned the prestigious recognition of being named one of the Washington Post’s Top Workplaces for 2016. We were thrilled that our team members also ranked Attain, LLC #8 on Consulting Magazine’s Best Firms to Work For list in 2017.

Strategic Acquisition: To further our growth, in 2016, Attain, LLC acquired ACF Solutions, a cloud-based technology provider that specialized in Salesforce Technology implementations for higher education and non-profit organizations. With this strategic acquisition, we expanded our digital transformation and cloud-based solution offerings.

CMMI-DEV Level Maturity: In 2018, Attain, LLC was named one of 40 companies in the U.S. to be appraised at Level 5 of the CMMI Institute’s Capability Maturity Model Integration for software development processes, setting us apart from industry peers and further demonstrating the enhanced value we bring to our clients to achieve mission success.

SEC ONE IT: In 2018, Attain, LLC was one of three companies awarded an unrestricted contract in the SEC’s One OIT project. The 10-year, $2.5 billion contract covers enterprise IT services for the SEC in areas including platform and applications development; operations and maintenance; business solutions delivery; information security; data management and analytics; IT governance; and technology business management.

NCAA: In 2018, Attain, LLC won a large contract supporting the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) facilitating the development of the Association’s strategic plan. Through this influential project, we are making a transformational impact not only on a globally recognized brand, but on how collegiate athletics will continue to evolve across the country.

USCIS VDOS: In 2018, Attain, LLC won work with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) called Verification DevOpsSec (VDOS). VDOS represents Attain, LLC’s first comprehensive DevSecOps engagement, its first engagement with USCIS, and, most notably, the first win that required us to solve a technical challenge rather than write and submit a proposal.

Consulting Magazine’s Fastest Growing Firms: Attain, LLC realized double-digit revenue growth for the sixth straight year in 2018, winning strategic contracts and delivering on our commitment to serve our clients’ missions through more than 300 client projects. As a direct result of this sustained growth, we were listed as one of Consulting’s Fastest Growing Firms for the third consecutive year (2016, 2017, and 2018).

Obsessing Externally

In addition to our client work, we strive to Obsess Externally (one of our seven core values), serving the needs of our constituent public, including society at large and the communities in which we live and work. As we grow, we continue to demonstrate a passion for service through active support of fundraising events and activities hosted by our three flagship philanthropies: The National Kidney Foundation Serving the National Capital Area, the American Red Cross in the National Capital Region, and The Women’s Center, located in Vienna, VA.  In addition to our flagship causes, we embrace a “what matters most to our employees matters to us” philosophy and support a roster of more than 20 charitable organizations important to Attain Partners’ people and the firm’s philanthropic initiatives. (Stay tuned for a future post on August 14th taking a deep dive into Attain’s philanthropic endeavors.)

Attain, LLC Today

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we are a leading management, technology, and strategy consulting firm comprised of innovative problem solvers who disrupt the status quo to change the world and improve the lives of those we serve. We are powered by extreme automation, leveraging a holistic, agile, secure, and customer-centered approach to digital transformation, to advance our clients’ missions across the government, education, healthcare, and nonprofit landscapes.

Driven by our three core principles and seven core values, we are more than just consultants—we’re trusted advisors and partners dedicated to helping our clients execute their visions and missions with purpose to achieve remarkable results.

Putting our people first, we have a diverse workforce of more than 700 full-time employees and a 96% employee satisfaction rate. Team Attain currently spans 40 states (plus DC) and we have five office locations up and down the East coast. In addition to serving over 500 clients, we have donated nearly $2.0m to charities for which our team members are passionate advocates. In recognition of our dedicated service to our clients and philanthropy partners, we have received over 25 awards in our 10 years of business.

As we celebrate 10 Years of Attain, we continue to focus on bold, innovative areas such as Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning, blockchain, and robotic process automation (RPA), and will extend our capabilities through Attain’s ecosystem of strategic alliance partners, including Salesforce and Red Hat.

Guided by our core principles, we continue to lead change and help our clients invent the future, by thinking outside the box and imagining the impossible. In 2019 and beyond, we look forward to continuing to change the world by boldly disrupting the status quo and improving the lives we touch.