2011 is a new beginning for The Columbia Group. Or rather, it's the end of the company's beginning, and the start of a new period of growth, maturation, and competition. The Columbia Group has succeeded where many companies fall short, in entering the top 8% of companies in our market today. And while there can be no denying that this is quite an achievement, we have far from arrived. Our larger size means that the competitive landscape has changed for us. As we move into this new arena, we must focus on those strengths and abilities that will allow us to compete among strong and well established competitors.

In effect, The Columbia Group has graduated. And like every new graduate, we must take those abilities that have allowed us to succeed up to this point, and enhance them with the skills and competencies that will carry us to meet the challenges ahead. For The Columbia Group, this means a continued emphasis on Rule #1: customer satisfaction, and Rule #2: employee satisfaction. But it will also mean an enhanced focus on Rule #3: financial performance. And to this end, The Columbia Group aims to generate $400 million in revenue by 2013. This number may seem daunting, but it is the result of over six months of extensive planning and thought. Across every division of our company, we will have to focus on becoming better, faster, and lower cost than the competition.

For our customers, we must adopt a more structured approach to quality assurance. Without a doubt, The Columbia Group's employees have already shown that they are committed to superior customer service. But adopting a more structured quality assurance process will keep us ahead of the competition, and allow us to provide more efficient and lower cost services. We must also continue to proactively anticipate our customers' needs.

For our employees, our initiative to be better, faster, and lower cost requires The Columbia Group to make strategic workplace development efforts. As our employees are the foundation of our company, it is imperative to invest our resources into recruiting and hiring. Once they are onboard, we will support employees through mentorship programs, as well as by creating a concrete connection between employees, professional development efforts and their compensation and promotion.

Finally, a better, faster, and lower cost approach with regards to our financial performance requires us to grow in order to offer a better value to our customers. As a larger company, we can offer more capabilities to our clients, and use the savings accomplished from economies of scale to decrease our G&A costs. To realize these goals, we must mature our business development process, continue to grow organically, and use acquisitions and mergers to increase our service offerings in targeted areas.

You may be asking, "Why would we want to take on all of this? Aren't our current achievements enough?" The answer to this, simply, is that success is harder when you are up against such a high caliber of competition. Among our new competitors, size and the processes that come with it, matter. As our new company vision, 100², states, within three years, we aspire to be a top 100 government contractor and one of the top 100 companies to work for in the United States. And we think that this is a goal worth striving for.

– Rod Buck