No Barriers

With its sparse furnishings, a folding table and half-empty bookshelves, the spare bedroom loft of a home in Tampa's northern suburbs isn't the most likely base for a company that has grown to $7 million in annual revenue. But the owners of Wittenberg Weiner Consulting LLC — Lauren Weiner, founder and president, and Donna Huneycutt, executive vice president — long ago broke the mold for military contractors.

From their headquarters in Huneycutt's home, they fly to Washington, D.C., or Djibouti, a country bordering Somalia in northern Africa, or Sicily, where the Naval Air Station Sigonella supports operations of the U.S. 6th Fleet.

The business partners have built a consulting firm that boasts 65 employees, many with credentials that a billion-dollar enterprise would envy. Their ranks include a former director of operations for a high-level command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, a veteran adviser to federal budget and State Department officials, and a military strategist experienced in U.S. Navy and Defense Intelligence Agency projects, among others.