In August, Fairfax, Va.-based ICF International opened its first office in West Virginia. The firm is expanding its reach in the six-state Appalachian region.

The new office - located in the BB&T tower in downtown Charleston - will focus primarily on education consulting.  

"We're building a portfolio of work that's going to make a difference," said Kimberly Hambrick, the office's regional director. "We've been very well received. The education market is large enough for many vendors."

Hambrick and her colleagues, Caitlin Howley and Tony Marchesi, met at a nonprofit educational research firm in Charleston. They have a combined 57 years in experience - with most of that time spent working in West Virginia.

"We have a very strong contextual awareness of this region," said Marchesi, a former University of Charleston professor and assistant dean who specializes in higher education.

Added Howley: "We're not outsiders coming in and telling people how things should be done. We're here to listen."

ICF has 50 offices in the U.S. and six international locations. The firm has 4,000 workers worldwide.

In addition to education, ICF has consultants who specialize in energy, climate change, health, human services, homeland security, transportation and emergency management.

The firm's bread and butter: Evaluating programs and initiatives to determine if they're effective. Most federally funded government programs require an evaluation, and ICF will help an organization secure funding to pay for the assessment.  

"We can find out if the program is meeting the needs it was supposed to meet," Hambrick said.

ICF consultants also work with clients to design and implement programs.  

"We're known as an end-to-end solution company," Hambrick said.

In West Virginia, ICF's Appalachian office already has been hired to evaluate a high school dropout prevention program.

"Our understanding of education is about helping children do what they do better," said Howley, the firm's senior advisor who specializes in rural education. "It's looking at education not as a problem to be solved, but that everyone has potential."

On larger projects, the Appalachian office can team up with ICF's 230-employee education division.

Hambrick, Howley and Marchesi frequently travel to ICF's Virginia headquarters to collaborate with their colleagues.

"It's a large company, but it doesn't feel like a large company to us," Hambrick said.

BusinessWeek recently spotlighted ICF International on its annual list of "Top 50 Hot Growth Companies." Earlier this year, the firm's CEO was named Greater Washington Contractor "Executive of the Year" by the Fairfax, Va., Chamber of Commerce.

"A lot of companies are barely surviving," Marchesi said. "But this company has grown tremendously."

Reach Eric Eyre at erice...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4869.