1969–2006: Early history ICF was founded in 1969 as the
Inner City Fund. Its first president was
Clarence D. Lester, a
Tuskegee Airman, who was joined by three
U.S. Department of Defense analysts. The company reorganized as a consulting firm and renamed itself
ICF Incorporated. The firm transitioned from venture capital to consulting on energy issues for U.S. federal agencies, which was the company's main focus throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. ICF acquired Kaiser Engineering in 1988 and went public in 1989. Under this banner, the company worked in consulting, engineering and construction services. ICF and Kaiser split in 1999 when an investment group bought the consulting business for about $70 million. In 2006, the consultancy was renamed ICF International and in September that year, the company went public, trading on the
NASDAQ as ICFI. The company received criticism of its management of the
Road Home program in the aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina. In an article in
The Washington Post, the company said it had addressed problems raised in those criticisms, and that state and federal fraud-prevention rules were in flux and made the grants administration process more time-consuming. The company later supported the
Hurricane Sandy relief efforts for the State of
New Jersey.
2007–present: Expansion of commercial work Beginning in the 2000s, ICF grew in size and scope through a series of acquisitions. These acquisitions expanded the services offered by ICF and moved the company more into the commercial space. In 2007, federal, state and local government contracts generated 92 percent of company revenues. In 2012, the company expanded its international business by acquiring
London-based GHK Holding Limited, a consulting agency working with government and commercial clients. In 2014, ICF acquired
advertising agency Olson for $295 million.
Skittles, whose "Marshawn Lynch’s Skittles Press Conference" was named
PRWeek's Product Brand Development Campaign of the Year in 2016; and
Puppy Bowl sponsor
Bissell. In 2016, ICF created ICF Olson, a public relations and marketing division. In 2017,
PRWeek reported that ICF/ICF Olson had experienced high growth in its public relations and digital business.
2019: ICF NEXT In 2019, ICF launched subsidiary ICF NEXT, led by John Armstrong, who had previously co-founded IBM's Interactive Experience (iX) internal agency. In 2023, ICF Next ceased operations in the United Kingdom, dissolving the UK company in 2024. ==Operations and services==