40 years of DAI

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In his role as COO, empowered by Barclay to “herd cats” and pull the operating groups together, Boomgard realized that centrifugal forces remained strong. The geographical spread of projects, each one dealing with different clients and local stakeholders, fostered a sense that “our business is different, so we do things our way.” Boomgard, adopting common parlance, referred to these airtight group structures as “silos,” and he was committed to breaking them down. The group VPs, Betsy Marcotte included, were skeptical, unconvinced that standardized rules and processes would add any value to their projects. But at some point in her discussions with Boomgard, Marcotte either offered or was “voluntold” to come up with an alternative. “I was responsible for figuring out the solution to the problem that I really didn’t want to acknowledge we had,” she recalled. By this time, Barclay, confident that the succession plan would come to fruition in 2008, had begun thinking about what he could do to improve the practice of development in the field as a whole. He began planning an initiative called the Development Practitioners Forum to speed up the circulation of knowledge and information for development professionals worldwide, determined that they—no more than DAI—should not have to reinvent the wheel. At its September 2008 meeting, the Board appointed Boomgard as DAI’s new CEO, effective January 1, 2009. Gunning announced this to the company’s staff a few days later. The handoff was smooth and uneventful, as Barclay moved over to launch the Forum and Boomgard took on a job for which he was very well prepared. “Thanks to Tony Barclay’s stewardship,” Boomgard said, “DAI enters this transition at the very top of its game.” Determined to take the company to a new level, however, he had already begun to implement Marcotte’s reorganization plan. The idea was simple: break down the strong groups into a much smaller set of practice areas that were, of necessity, dependent upon common project management, business development, and financial expertise provided by the company. At the operational heart of the new structure were about a dozen “managing directors” representing the practice areas and the international offices. Routinely interfacing with their teams were staff under the direction of Robert Dressen, Zan Northrip, Kevin Haggerty, On January 1, 2009, Jim Boomgard became CEO. 97
Award Winners In 2006, DAI was named Greater Washington Government Contractor of the Year (large contractor category) in the annual GovCon awards. The awards, affectionately known as the “Oscars” of government contracting, are presented annually by the Northern Virginia Government Contractors Council, the Professional Services Council, and Washington Technology magazine. Two years later, Tony Barclay was individually honored by the same group as Executive of the Year. Typically, Barclay shared the honor with his colleagues, insisting that “this award really belongs to my fellow employee owners at DAI.” 98 Cindy Limoges, and Jean Gilson, who handled project management, new business acquisition, finance, human resources, and strategy and marketing, respectively. The reorganization helped remedy the disconnect between the home office and the field as well. For every project team, the Bethesda home office set up its own task force dedicated to achieving a seamless interface between the field and the back office. To oversee all of this, Boomgard appointed Betsy Marcotte as Senior VP for Operations. Many Faces, One Company Even as DAI pulled itself together into a more coherent business, the dynamics of the development arena gave rise to additional practice areas and new global offices—new faces and new interfaces in an increasingly complex development world. One practice area grew from two initiatives spanning a 10-year period. By the late 1990s, DAI teams had witnessed the social and economic cost of HIV/AIDS for years. Specialists still considered it a public health problem, something for doctors rather than development professionals. But a few professionals at DAI were convinced that it was something more. In 2001, Joan Parker and a few colleagues created an HIV/AIDS Response Team, dubbed H/ART, to provide targeted economic assistance to families and communities seeking to build back lives battered by the disease. While the H/ART team was able to integrate into broader development efforts in such threatened areas as Africa and Haiti, direct support from donor agencies was hard to obtain. “We were early movers when there was no market,” recalled Barclay. That began to change in 2003 with the creation of PEPFAR, and although the emphasis remained on doctors and drugs, more attention was gradually paid to the social context of AIDS. PEPFAR cracked a door that DAI pushed open. During
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2 DAI, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA www.
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FOreWOrd There are three reasons we
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chapter One Something to believe In
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Chapter One Something to Believe In
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Development By 1979, the notion tha
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It was Charles Franklin “Charlie
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law in Delaware, where many small c
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ects in Africa. Hatch held a newly
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Most staff members who joined DAI i
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tise, energy, and especially money.
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Barclay encountered Charlie Sweet,
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after Barclay. In early 1978, he be
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norm after this. The offering docum
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gathered in the well-appointed surr
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Chapter Two Learning by Doing, 1981
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spending, and demand in the technic
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several senior managers, including
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Back on the Growth Path Don Mickelw
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second was that the firm was ready
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spurs and become assets in the firm
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A Different Direction By 1981, soon
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in rural enterprise development and
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cided to begin providing annual cas
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DAI began to grow again, he grew re
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front, it seemed likely that ICF wo
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Chapter Three The Fresh Faces of De
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Page 74 and 75: Chapter Four Farther and Faster, 20
Page 76 and 77: Barclay could not have known then t
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Page 84 and 85: highly successful. Said Abu Hijleh,
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Page 90 and 91: Transformation and Transition The e
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Page 94 and 95: Chapter Five Pulling Together, 2005
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Page 98 and 99: Ownership, however, could be figura
Page 100 and 101: advantage, USAID would favor a comp
Page 102 and 103: As Jim Boomgard noted, “Developme
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Page 112 and 113: immense—and DAI’s projects are
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Page 117: DAI Advancing Human Prosperity
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40 years of DAI

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