Assured Decisions Secures Success With Help From JREF

By Mary E. Becker



Not long after that fateful day of terrorism on September 2001, Assured Decisions, a high-end information technology business in Columbia, received a $100,000 loan from JREF (The Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund, Inc.). The timing could not have been more perfect. Assured Decisions develops information system security solutions for government agencies. Since 9/11 and the war in Iraq, business has doubled, focusing mostly on homeland security.

To assist with the firm's goal to increase staffing to meet the surge in business demand, JREF, a Columbia-based, not-for-profit organization, provided the company with funds to hire four engineers. "As a member of the intelligence community for over 30 years, I employ only the senior people in the field," says Edward Sheehan, managing member of Assured Decisions, LLC. "JREF enabled us to hire our first group of engineers, who were a great addition to the firm and have joined the best people in the industry."

While Assured Decisions welcomes and targets corporate clients, its current business is conducted exclusively with the U.S. government, most of which is classified. Working with the Department of Defense and its agency in Maryland, the firm serves as a contractor that provides services as well as products. On the services side it provides system security engineering services primarily focused on developing security architectures and designing solutions. On the product side, it provides a suite of security engineering tools that greatly reduce the amount of time spent developing security requirements and solutions. Sheehan adds, "Assured Decisions helps the intelligence community protect the highest classification of nationally sensitive information."

Assured Decisions was created by four men, including Sheehan and partners James Coyle, George Linderborn and Shawn Campbell, who have more than 100 years of combined experience in engineering, designing, developing and securing information systems. They started the business in 2001 in Carroll County. The company moved to Columbia in January 2002 because of better accessibility to its clients, most of which are in Washington, D.C., and central Maryland.

In terms of financing, the firm's long-term objective is to move to a long-term line of credit, but in late 2001, the company did not have the required two years of operation under its belt for approval and the banks only offered loan-based financing. In turn, Farmers and Mechanics Bank referred the company to JREF, which partners with area banks and other organizations to assist small and emerging businesses located in Howard County.

During the application process, the experience and forward thinking of Sheehan and his colleagues immediately impressed JREF's board of directors. The company's principals had gone as a team from company to company for more than a decade before starting Assured Decisions. Sheehan says JREF was attractive to Assured Decisions because it is a county-oriented program located in Columbia. "We wanted to be recognized by a local group and JREF provided that venue," says Sheehan. "Our intention is to make Assured Decisions a good place to work and to give back to Howard County."

Today, the company employs 16 people. In 2002, it expected to break $1 million in service sales and ended up conducting $1.1 million in business. In 2003, it plans to increase to $2.3 million and over $4.0 million in 2004. In addition, the company has doubled in terms of employment in the last nine months and there has been much increased interest in its product side of the business. To show its appreciation to the community, the company is planning two golf tournaments, one in June at Troy Farms and another in the fall. The goals are twofold: to bring the company's business associates to the county as a team and to fundraise for local nonprofits.



Mary E. Becker is executive director of JREF (www.jref.org) and can be contacted at 410-313-6170.