Currents
Score 1 for Potomac
Reflections on 20 Years of Potomac
While “four score (and seven)” belongs to Lincoln, Potomac just reached its first score. Tomorrow, the company turns twenty.
When I started the firm, I wasn’t thinking about making it 20 years. I was trying to figure out how to get my first client. That ranged from what I felt was a brilliant idea of covering pharma conferences like PCC and PCF for Matthew Hay at Rx Compliance Report to the worst sales call of my career, trying to persuade the CCO of Cornell Medical Center to let me write their policies when I knew very little about hospital compliance.
Each day I sat down with my laptop on top of a TV tray (i.e., my “desk” in our one-bedroom apartment) trying to figure out how to sell work. I quietly prayed that I hadn’t made a tremendous mistake.
Then the call came. A former client needed help. Shortly thereafter, I had my first engagement. I could put a point on the board and, fortunately, a few dollars in the bank. I was about to get married. That felt like very good timing.
There was no twenty-year business plan. I studied Entrepreneurship in b-school and knew the statistics: roughly half of startups fail within five years. I was just hoping to beat the median. Looking back at my younger self, I’m grateful I had enough hubris to believe Potomac would be different. We leaned into our values and the idea that we should aim for excellence in all that we do.
The Building Phase
In the early years, every project began as a blank sheet of paper. We were carving a new path with a single client who trusted us as we wrote our own musical score.
- When a client asked us to help design what became the country’s first aggregate spend system, there was no established blueprint. I sketched out some ideas on a whiteboard, thinking, “let’s build it like this.” What began as scribbled notes on a whiteboard became a project named Concerto.
- When we conducted our first live monitoring project, new team member Dan Koerner and I started by doing a couple of ride-alongs ourselves. Shortly thereafter, we were training twenty compliance and legal professionals how to do it. Our qualification? We had tried it a few times so were “experts” on what could happen in the field. 18 years later, Dan leads our live monitoring program as a Senior Director.
- When we launched our first CIA training program, we had never built an eLearning course before. It was an excuse to learn. Michael Young joined as an Analyst, downloaded Articulate, and the next thing you know we were building training modules. It was clunky and time-consuming but our client was satisfied and we met the CIA deadline. Now a Senior Director, Michael continues to drive innovation and new ways of working at Potomac.
Those early efforts were not as polished as the deliverables we create today. But they were built carefully and methodically, sometimes anxiously, and always with the understanding that clients were trusting us to get the details right.
Decade 1
We cleared the five-year hurdle but the wheels were still moving slowly, one project win at a time. Winning or losing one client made the difference between growing and staying flat. One employee leaving the company would significantly change our capacity.
Two of the most memorable stories from this phase occurred just as some of our current Directors were joining the company.
Staffing Support
A friend of mine called me to say she was leaving her company for a new opportunity. She liked her new boss, who had just transitioned to Compliance from Legal and was going to need operational help with a CIA on its way. My friend didn’t want to leave her boss in the lurch. Relatively new Consultant Adam Oakley not only stepped into the compliance role, he scored the part of “Blair” in their internal training videos. Thirteen years later, now as a Senior Director, Adam and his team still support that client, who is now the Chief Compliance Officer. What began as a short-term need evolved into something enduring. Today, embedded and fractional compliance support is the fastest growing part of our business.
Transparency Solutions
About the same time came the first Sunshine filing. A client’s SaaS system had failed in epic fashion: the website would just spin endlessly…as the filing deadline approached. The client asked us to deploy Plan B. So, former employee Joel Norris, new Analyst Graham Rich, and I rolled up our sleeves and built an aggregate spend system using Microsoft Access. It was not elegant. But the Sunshine Report had the correct data and went seamlessly into the brand new Open Payments portal. A dozen years later, Graham heads our Transparency Service Line.
A Bahamian Getaway
Reaching ten years felt extraordinary. We had a real office in Arlington and were no longer fully remote. We had even hired our first Operations team member and were feeling more and more like a “real company.”
We celebrated with a trip to the Bahamas and what may have been the “most profitable Happy Learning” session in company history — a tutorial on how to play craps so we could bet together as a team. As former employees Spencer Rasmussen and Chris Hull threw dice against a felt table, we all scored a large pile of casino chips.
Decade 2
I am not a musical person; I can’t read music or carry a tune to save my life. But Potomac feels like jazz at times complete with its share of improvisations (Covid), its unexpected movements (from both client and employees), yet driven by a clear rhythm and beat. Throughout our second decade, our little band continued to add more players, taking on new challenges.
In 2018, McCulloch Cline joined as a Consultant, shortly after we began supporting a client’s Global Medical Affairs division. Three promotions later, McCulloch joined our Director team this January. He has been instrumental in building our Operational Excellence service line and now helps our clients read from the same sheet of music.
When we turned eighteen, I wrote about coming of age. Twenty feels different. More about endurance. And a feeling of much greater maturity — even in just the last two years.
Twenty Years
Twenty years is long enough for a generation to turn over. I’ve watched compliance managers I first met as new hires become Senior Vice Presidents. Watched junior attorneys grow into General Counsels. I’ve watched people start their career and now, more and more frequently, have friends reaching retirement. Some even become Potomac ICs as part of their second act.
All the while, Potomac has plowed forward. From the financial crisis of 2009 onward through the pandemic. We’ve moved through 5 presidential administrations, flip-flopping across the political aisle. The advantage of advising on risk for a living is that you see its rhythms. Risk rarely disappears. It ebbs and flows. And evolves.
Looking Ahead
The world of compliance and consulting will not look the same in 2031, much less 2046. Artificial Intelligence is rapidly reshaping how knowledge is shared and tasks are performed. It’s changing the way technology is deployed all while adding new risks. Some of what we built in the early years would be handled very differently today.
Yet I believe what will not change is the need for integrity, accountability, professionalism, and discretion. Our values generate excellence. That in turn, breeds trust — the trust to apply the lessons and skills of the past to a new and evolving future.
My longstanding coach and good friend Alison recently sent me a poem. In it was a line that applies to a lot of things in life: “You will get where you are going by remembering who you are.”
With Extreme Gratitude
With a nod to Lincoln, it feels “fitting and proper” to remember the people who built this place. Those who took risks, who stayed through uncertainty, who pushed through the unglamorous early work. There is no 20th anniversary without them.
Since Potomac was founded, we’ve worked with more than nine score clients. Many of them have grown alongside us and are still clients today. Many others have been acquired. Some no longer exist, succumbing to the risks facing small biotechs.
To those who took a chance on us, especially when there was little brand behind “Potomac”, I am forever deeply grateful. Your confidence in us has allowed us to build the firm we are today. I can’t possibly name everyone and I sincerely appreciate those who I may have missed.
Thank you: Cindy Cetani, Michael Shaw, Julie Kane, Marty Putenis, Christine Cullen, Beth Margerison, Jan Jacovini, Regina Cavaliere, Jim Gibney, Mark Dizon, Patrik Florencio, Steve Franchetti, Cheryl Chamallas, Garineh Dovletian, Matt Allegrucci, Melanie Polloway, Melissa Gothie, Latarsha Stewart, Jeff McHugh, Dobson Schofield, Rich Eschle, Dan Dunham, Heather McCullom, Lori Kagan, Becky Lakata, Michelle Kelly, Maria Woods, Eric Bottelier, John Petrolino, John Knighton, and Matthew Hay.
To our former team members: you helped build the foundation. Even though your path led elsewhere, your fingerprints remain on this company.
Thank you: Joanne Wyman, Ian Hermann, Sheeba Dandurand, Joel Norris, Chris Hull, Spencer Rasmussen, Shannon Ropeleski, Eric Davis, Christian Malias, Pat Wallace, Rawan Fusisi, Whitney Halperin, Kelly Schaller, Paul Mariano, Carla-Marie Ulerie, Rachel Bunting, Chris Allen, Jenni Heo, Julia Tubridy, Kate Bell.
To my friends who, whether formally or informally, have helped advise me or Potomac, from operations to strategy. Or just being a sounding board for my crazy ideas.
Thank you: Alison Whitmire, Noah Shannon, Michael Kelberg, Keith Moss, Josh Tuzman, Ben Ellis, Regina Krasner.
To our current team — our 25 employees, 12+ independent contractors, and the many third parties that currently support us: You are the daily proof that this company is far more than the person who started it. We have an amazing team and are committed to moving forward with intention as we look to lead, build solutions, solve problems, and advise our clients.
Twenty years ago, I hoped I hadn’t made a tremendous mistake. Today, I feel immense gratitude and pride. Gratitude for the effort taken, the relationships formed, the excellence of our work, and the opportunity to lead a company that has lasted for 20 years.
Score 1 for Potomac. And thank you to everyone who made it possible.
