[00:00:00] Threats to our nation grow. The world's most powerful naval fleet must remain mission ready. That's why the United States Navy relies on Johnson Controls for the critical cooling technology used aboard its warships. The equipment we manufacture at our state-of-the-art climate controlled facility in York, Pennsylvania, plays a crucial role in the Navy's ability to defend our freedom.

[00:00:34] Our team is very proud to be a strategic supplier to the US Navy since 1917. Johnson Controls Navy Systems is a place for those who want to make a difference and be part of something bigger My name is John Washabaugh, and I'm the director of plant operations. We have heavy fabrication, we have assembly, and we have machine shop [00:01:00] atmospheres all co-mingled.

[00:01:02] We're looking for people who have the training in trades, and we're also looking for folks that want to come in at an entry level. The opportunity for advancement here is, is huge. We try to talk to our employees to understand what career paths they'd like to have. Folks want to learn new things. They want to be adaptable and continue to meet the demand of the United States Navy.

[00:01:27] We value our people. I, as the director of operations, know just about every employee here. I know who their children are. I know what they like to do. We have a very good relationship with the Department of Defense and the United States Navy. They are here often, so you can feel that sense of belonging that we have here.

[00:01:46] We are helping the war fighter keep the United States free.

[00:01:52] There is only one Johnson Controls Navy Systems. What we do here is meaningful. Join us in [00:02:00] forging products for the sea, for those forged by the sea.

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[00:00:00] A whole new neighborhood is being created here at Hill East. It's the largest undeveloped parcel in the district. This is a blank canvas. We can create an oasis on this side of the river. We get to help a neighborhood to grow, to get more energetic. We gonna make sure that the whole Washington, DC is incorporated.

[00:00:23] It's the right thing for the city. It's the right thing to do. And really, it's just getting started.

[00:00:36] Donatelli Development has had a long history in partnering and working with the district government, and we also have great partners. We work with Blue Sky Development, GTM Architects, McCullough Construction. As a company, we've really focused on transit-oriented development. We have a great working relationship and a lot of experience working together, implementing what are very complex projects above metro stations in the city.

[00:00:59] I [00:01:00] think the key to our success as a team is how soon we come on board. Chris usually calls us about 12 to 18 months before he's ready to break ground. We work with all the consultants from schematic drawings through design development, up through the construction drawings. Blue Sky and Scotty, they have, uh, a lot of experience working with the leadership of the city and are really adept at getting us a lot of local workers to implement our projects.

[00:01:27] I look to make sure that we have small local minority businesses involved in all the projects that we do. Development in DC is a multi-billion dollar game, so if we can continue to spend millions of dollars employing individuals and putting them dollars back into our community, we have done a significant job.

[00:01:44] We have learned to give them the best product that we can do with the budget that we have. We want our buildings to be built, and we know to do that we need to collaborate with the general contractor and with the developer. Over the past 21 years, we've [00:02:00] completed every project we've started, and when we work with people like Donatelli and GTM, it's a slam dunk in terms of what we can accomplish.

[00:02:09] Hill East is a 68 acre parcel called Reservation 13. It's the largest undeveloped parcel in Washington, DC. The projects here were a long time coming. We worked very closely with the neighborhood groups in implementing this, these first two buildings here. So in this building, Park Kennedy, the neighborhood has been overwhelmed when they walk into this building and see what we've done with a plot of land that was just sitting here for 20 or thir- 30 some odd years.

[00:02:34] Park Kennedy is the jewel of 7F. You have a builder that's saying that I wanna build something for all Washingtonians, so the influent and the less influent can live harmoniously together. The Park Kennedy has 262 units, and it has a lot of amenity spaces, from the atrium to roof lounges, to game rooms, and a [00:03:00] wonderful looking courtyard.

[00:03:01] In the past, when you build affordable buildings, it was just a straight up and down building. Now they have the outdoor space, they have the gyms, they have entertainment in the building. This building is LEED Silver. This building has a green roof, the mechanical system is very efficient, and our envelope is very tight.

[00:03:20] All of that helps us to create a LEED building. The Ethel, which is just across the street, is 100 permanent support housing units. What The Ethel does is not only is it providing with the number one thing that people need in DC, which is housing, but in addition to housing, we're talking about vocational training, we're talking about mental health support.

[00:03:46] Game changing There's a general excitement to having new development in a historic neighborhood that is underserved in retail space, in restaurants, uh, grocery stores. All these things are much needed in the neighborhood and [00:04:00] they're things that we plan on delivering for the neighborhood. So the neighborhood will see three or four or five more buildings going up.

[00:04:06] It gives us the opportunity to tie them together with streetscapes and have them really communicate when you're on the street. To be again partnered up with Donatelli Development and to build these other five parcels is really wonderful because we get to help a neighborhood to grow, to get more energetic.

[00:04:28] A whole new neighborhood is being created here at Hill East, and really it's just getting started. We look forward to developing additional award-winning buildings and providing great returns to our investor partners, while at the same time delivering great product to the community

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[00:00:00] For me, what is so special about Akin are the people. I have been here for almost 30 years, and from the day I got here, what I have felt is that sense of connection to each other, that sense of connection to our clients, and that sense of connection to our community. One thing that's really great about Akin and that they pride themselves in is really leanly staffing their teams.

[00:00:27] When I was a first year, I got to second chair deposition with a partner, which I thought was, at the time, crazy. And then as a third year, I got to take my own deposition with a partner guiding me through. So those are really substantive experiences that I don't think every firm offers you. I came to Akin as a first-year law student.

[00:00:44] I knew I wanted to be at a sophisticated institution to start my career, but I also knew I wanted public service and pro bono work to be a meaningful component of that experience. The relationships that I started building during my first summer were so strong and impactful that it [00:01:00] brought me back the next summer and eventually brought me back as a first-year.

[00:01:04] I had the opportunity to help out with a pro bono case that we had here at the firm representing a gentleman who testified before the January 6th committee, and that actually really was the project that planted the seed in my desire to kind of work in that space in, in white collar and congressional investigations.

[00:01:21] I came here as a Strauss Diversity and Inclusion Scholar with the intention of trying to do work in the LGBT rights space. From day one, you know, I got here, was having lunch with my mentors, and they let me know that I would take the first shot at drafting an amicus brief to the Supreme Court. To be trusted with that project and get to see it kind of all the way through, this was somewhere where the work that we did was actually gonna be valued.

[00:01:42] I came to Akin as a pro bono scholar my 1L year, and then came back as a second year in the Summer Associate program. I was leading discovery. I was writing and doing the initial drafts of all the briefs. I was defending and taking depositions, and that was, you know, all as a second year. The summer associate [00:02:00] experience is about personal discovery as much as it is about discovering your career.

[00:02:04] There is an official mentoring program where summers get mentors from all different levels, so you're able to connect with young associates. You're able to connect with partners and have a spread of people that you can go to for all different types of questions. Mentoring relationships make a difference on a daily basis.

[00:02:25] We had a summer associate who was really deciding between two of the most different practices you can think of, litigation and tax. And through the mentorship program really found her way to what she would be missing and what she might have regretted if she had made a different decision. One of the things I find really gratifying is how many people who work here say, "The thing that I find amazing about Akin compared to where I came from is that I am me here."

[00:02:57] And I can say that about myself too. I am me [00:03:00] here, and I wanna make sure that everybody feels that they can be who they are. The DNA of Akin is people who are excellent at what they do and who are really fun to be around while they're doing it. It feels like, you know, everybody knows your name, they know who you are, even starting from the very beginning, which kind of speaks to the kind of intimate culture that we have.

[00:03:18] We tell people we care about them, and we ask them to care about us in return, and we really do that. Akin is collegial. Supportive. Well-rounded. Engaging. Exciting. Akin is a fun place to work. Akin is home

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[00:00:00] Cornerstone was founded in 2002. In 2016, it was clear that we needed to take a look at the long term. And what we came to realize was that the one option that allowed us to stay true to our mission, and most importantly allowed us to maintain the culture that we felt was critical to our success, was an ESOP.

[00:00:23] Everybody that is here and part of this ESOP receives, if you will, additional compensation from the profits of the business rather than it going to some corporate entity or only to a group of founders or partners. We did have 10 former partners, and it says a lot about them to entrust all of their colleagues to take over the ownership of the firm.

[00:00:44] Whereas another firm might be holding to shareholders, we're beholden only to ourselves. Our ESOP really is the foundation for building our team culture, and our team culture is the mechanics that make things work for our clients. [00:01:00] To be an employee owner at Cornerstone I think means that you've got skin in the game.

[00:01:04] You have a say in where we can go. Everything that I do now is based upon what would I do as an owner at Cornerstone, or what would my colleagues do as an owner at Cornerstone. The fact that we're an ESOP, it means that I have a vested interest in the continued success of this organization. The ESOP is a financial way of ensuring that we take care of each other and we look out for each other's needs.

[00:01:30] There's nothing more team than being an employee owner. I think the ESOP benefits our clients by encouraging everyone to be an active participant in the business. The best way to ensure the success of a lobbying service company is to serve its clients well. We work tirelessly irregardless of office, political disposition, or region to ensure the success of all of our clients.

[00:01:57] When our clients see that we're an [00:02:00] employee-owned firm, they see us as a whole firm approach that each one of us is able to contribute on whatever issue. Everybody here has the opportunity to have a role in the company. There's not pressure to do things, and I think that's been key to the way that we've done our work and to continue to do our work well.

[00:02:18] For people thinking of, "Do I come to Cornerstone? Is this the right place to work?" It's such a selling point to say to a prospective employee that when you come in, you're gonna be an employee owner on day one. While I have lots of ideas and thoughts about where we might go in the next five, 10, or 15 years, it's really incumbent upon our next generation of leaders to think through what that is.

[00:02:38] Keeping the culture that's worked so well for 20 years probably needs to stay at the top of the list

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[00:00:00] I see Chainalysis as very critical infrastructure for the entire crypto ecosystem. We're a blockchain data platform. We're gonna help these crypto businesses grow their own business by understanding where transactions are coming from, where they're going to. What we do is we work with primarily public sector customers and some global organizations to enable them to fight crime associated with the blockchain.

[00:00:28] Government agencies around the world reach out to us. They wanna be trained in cryptocurrency. They wanna know why cryptocurrency is a national security implication. We are helping governments understand what cryptocurrency is, helping them to regulate, educating them. A lot of scams and frauds on blockchain.

[00:00:47] We work on connecting to the blockchain nodes, getting the data from the nodes, and making sense out of that data so that it can be helped for investigative purposes. We have so many investigations under us that we've been able to, [00:01:00] you know, help people get money back that they were scammed from or, you know, bring back funds that were used for illicit activity to the people that were victims of that illicit activity.

[00:01:09] That, at the end of the day, it just makes you feel good at night.

[00:01:17] What drew me onto the team was how smart everyone was, how knowledgeable everyone was. We are at the very beginning of our hyper-growth stage, and it's allowed me to kind of level up my career in a way that I don't think I would have had the opportunity to do elsewhere. So when this opportunity came across and I thought, "This is perfect," because I have the skills to do what I need to do.

[00:01:38] I can bring it to a new industry, fight crime, and make it a better place. Chainalysis is a truly global and diverse company, and that's what I like the most. As far as diversity, it's part of the fabric of Chainalysis. We have a very diverse team in Singapore made up of people from all over the APAC regions.

[00:01:57] I'm based in Denmark, and we have an [00:02:00] office with a somewhat Danish work culture, and then we have the bigger Chainalysis, which is definitely a US company. So the culture is very much care about each other to make each other better. That's a big part of the culture for me. That's there all the time. So for me, working at Chainalysis and being a leader in the finance team, it was very big for me to be able to interview as many women as I interviewed men and making sure POCs were part of the interview process.

[00:02:29] So we have folks who have extensive crypto experience and then others who don't, and they come from all different backgrounds. We have folks coming from traditional finance. We have folks that were in PR for crypto businesses. Folks who have experience in the private sector. Being able to collaborate with genuinely smart, interesting, intelligent people who have both diversity of thought, diversity of background, and being able to kind of bring that all together makes us better.

[00:02:59] Candidates do [00:03:00] not need to know about crypto. I had very little crypto knowledge before I joined the team, so don't let that deter you from applying. Everything I learnt was during my interview process, but I knew what Chainalysis' core value was, and therefore I wanted to learn. I joined Chainalysis more than I joined crypto, and then Chainalysis got me excited about crypto.

[00:03:22] But I just... I knew a few people in Chainalysis and, and got drawn by, by wanting to work with them because they're, they're brilliant. Do you wanna learn about crypto? If the answer is yes, then I would say join us. Chainalysis is innovative, resourceful, and thought-provoking. Chainalysis is the future.

[00:03:41] Chainalysis is the best decision that I've made in my career.

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