Employee Profiles

Patrick Niehus, Founder and President

What was your vision when you started AE Strategies?
I value straightforwardness and maximizing efficiency, and I set out to build a company based on these characteristics. AE is right-sized to keep us streamlined, to remove administrative distractions, and to enable our staff to focus on serving the client. Our approach to creating employee loyalty and dedication to the client is to hire the best, provide them with the development and resources to be effective, surround them with other great people, and then let them focus on building value for our clients. I really enjoy surrounding myself with smart, ethical, client-minded people.

What makes AE Strategies a good place to work?
We’re tied to a niche of work that is growing – the continual need for government to efficiently and strategically manage people and projects. Our people are working where there is a real need and their work makes a difference in how government agencies function. Our employees have the chance to grow, to succeed, and to prosper in an environment that will have continual needs throughout our professional lives.

The culture at AE Strategies is distinctive in a number of ways. Our organization is flat – there are no layers to come between the consultant working with the client and top management. It’s rewarding for me to talk directly to my staff whenever either of us needs to have a conversation. I enjoy a direct, honest, and open culture and we try to minimize administrative interference.

What are the greatest challenges that AE Strategies faces?
Government costs saving efforts are already impacting our industry. We recognize that to succeed we must empower our clients to do more with less. Our offerings are designed to achieve measurable efficiencies and value for our clients, empowering them to improve operations without increasing costs.  We also must continually walk the fine line of growing our company while not adding unnecessary burdens that take up the valuable time that our employees spend serving clients. We’re very careful to retain the cultural foundation that AE Strategies was built on while continuing to formalize and improve our operations to the benefit of both employees and clients.