ARA History
Founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1979, ARA has grown steadily and now has offices throughout the United States and Canada. Today, ARA is an internationally recognized employee-owned research and engineering firm. We provide superior technical services and products to our customers, meeting significant national challenges by creatively applying technology to solve critical problems. The corporate culture remains strongly rooted in our history and purpose, with an outstanding commitment to quality, employee empowerment, and the inherent strengths of flexibility in a changing environment.
1979
ARA Employees: 7
Harry Auld and Neil Higgins form Higgins, Auld & Associates, the predecessor to ARA.
1980
ARA Employees: 13
Jimmie Bratton joins the company. Soon after, the name is changed from Higgins, Auld and Bratton Inc. to Applied Research Associates.
1980
ARA Employees: 13
ARA establishes its first out-of-Albuquerque office by acquiring the South Royalton, VT, office. The office was the foundation for the New England Division (now the Integrated Products Division).
1982
ARA Employees: 33
ARA initiates the Southeast Division in Raleigh, NC (now the Software Enterprises Division). A major effort there was determining blast effects on trees for the Army Ballistic Research Laboratory.
1982
ARA Employees: 33
The Capital Area Division is established in Alexandria, VA, to provide on-site service to the Defense Nuclear Agency (now the Defense Threat Reduction Agency).
1983
ARA Employees: 49
The Southern Division is started in Vicksburg, MS. The office served the Defense Nuclear Agency and the Army Waterways Experiment Station.
1986
ARA Employees: 83
ARA establishes the Rocky Mountain Division in Colorado.
1987
ARA Employees: 94
ARA wins a large contract to support research for the Air Force Civil Engineer at Tyndall AFB, Panama City, FL and the Gulf Coast Division is established (now the Engineering Science Division).
1987
ARA Employees: 94
ARA’s corporate offices separate from the Southwest Division (Albuquerque, NM) to improve service to all divisions.
1993
ARA Employees: 228
Vertek, ARA’s manufacturing arm, is started at the New England Division. A major part of their business is the manufacture of CPT trucks. Vertek is now part of the Integrated Product Division.
1993
ARA Employees: 228
ARA is awarded the Defense Nuclear Agency’s Test Operations Technology and Test Support (TOTTS) contract. The Shock Physics Division is created to support the contract (now the Test Technology Division).
1993
ARA Employee-Owners: 228
The Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is created as a mechanism for transferring ARA ownership and preserving ARA identity.
1997
ARA Employee-Owners: 360
The Emerald Coast Office is upgraded to a division.
1999
ARA Employee-Owners: 477
ARA acquires ERES Consultants and becomes the ERES Consultants Division. The merger made ARA the largest highway and airport pavement research and consulting company in the U.S. at the time. ERES split into the Mid-West Division (now Transportation Infrastructure Division) and Mid-Atlantic Division.
2000
ARA Employee-Owners: 510
The number of ARA employees tops 500 – ARA is no longer a “small business”.
2009
ARA Employee-Owners: 1432
ARA acquires Virtual Heroes, which becomes a division. Virtual Heroes creates immersive, 3D interactive learning solutions and high-fidelity synthetic virtual environments.
2013
ARA Employee-Owners: 1142
The HEMR Special Projects Group graduates to division status and becomes the Arlington Division (now the Algorithms, Modeling & Assessments division).
2013
ARA Employee-Owners: 1142
The Crystal City Operations (CCO) office graduates to division status and becomes the Analytical Solutions Division.
2015
ARA Employee-Owners: 1100
ARA Holdings, Inc., a 100% ESOP owned S-Corp, was incorporated and ARA became a wholly-owned subsidiary under that entity.
2017
ARA Employee-Owners: 1189
ARA acquires Neya Systems LLC, known for their development of unmanned systems for defense, homeland security, and commercial users. Neya Systems becomes a division.
2017
ARA Employee-Owners: 1189
ARA acquires BerrieHill Research Corporation, a leading provider of Electromagnetic Modeling/Simulation, Design, Analysis and Fabrication for the Air Force and Intelligence Agencies. BerrieHill Research becomes a division (now called the Applied Electromagnetics Division).
2021
ARA Employee-Owners: 1500
The Southeast Division split into two divisions – the Software Enterprises Division and Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance. Arlington Division is renamed Algorithms, Modeling & Assessments.
Today
ARA Employee-Owners: 1700 and counting
ARA continues to offer innovative technologies and solutions to problems to improve our safety, security, and way of life.
