When Keith Stevens and his brother Doug decided to sell their IT consulting and staffing firm PSI to two leaders already in the company, everyone involved thought the deal could wrap up in about six months.
Two years later, Proteam Solutions Inc. is now owned by Monty Ragland, also promoted to CEO, and Monica Dominic, now chief client officer. Through the vicissitudes of goal-setting and seeking financing – and even some disagreements about what to do next – the Stevens brothers fended off several outside offers.
"We continue to get offers from companies," said Keith Stevens, founding CEO, who had owned 70%. Doug Stevens had been a vice president and led finance.
“Could we have maybe sold it for more?” Stevens said. “Yeah – but we would have missed out on so much more.”
It’s important that the firm remains minority-owned, and now also woman-owned, Stevens said. Ragland and the Stevens brothers are Black, and graduated from Linden McKinley High School in Columbus. Incorporated as PSI II LLC, the new co-owners now can “build generational wealth,” he said.
"A lot of pride comes with it," Ragland said in a joint interview. "People that look like me and Keith and Monica don’t often lead organizations, especially not technology organizations. ... We've got an opportunity to be mentors, to be an example."
Succession to employees also preserves the company's culture they helped build, Stevens said.
"We wanted that legacy to not be lost," Ragland said. "You sell it to someone outside, they don’t really care what you built in the past."
The mix of progress and setbacks toward the sale brought heightened emotions, the partners said, all alongside the daily needs of running a growing company.
“For several years, we've gone to school on how to buy a company with no money," Ragland said. "It was a lesson in exploring different funding options, a lesson in patience.
"Had (the Stevenses) not been on the other side of the table, it surely would have been a totally different feel."
Worthington-based CFBank emerged as the lending partner this January.
“They came to the table and hit it out of the park for us," Dominic said.
The new owners are not disclosing terms or how they divide the equity stake. BakerHostetler represented the buyers in the transaction, and Dublin-based Washbush Business Law LLC represented the brothers. The group relied on an informal advisory board with industry and acquisition expertise.
How PSI built and preserves its legacy
Friday marks PSI's 30th anniversary. Keith Stevens started it with a $500 loan from a friend – only after he helped her move to a new apartment. His brother joined two years later.
At first the company focused on staffing for light industry, evolving until it became entirely tech-focused as of 2008. Ragland prefers the term "staff augmentation" – PSI consults on IT ranging from enterprise architecture to application development, places contractors or contract-to-hire workers and recommends candidates for full-time jobs.
It's grown to one of Central Ohio's largest IT consulting firms and in the top 10 minority-owned businesses, with $12.6 million in revenue last year. Based on the east side near the airport, PSI has 130 employees including contractors in a hybrid of office, remote and at client sites.
Even though some clients started to cut tech spending last year, flattening growth, 2021 was still one of the company’s best years, Ragland said. This year it’s pacing ahead of targeted 20% growth.
Intel Corp.'s entry into Central Ohio and other developments inspired Ragland to "think bigger" about the future, he said. Now that hybrid and remote work is more widely accepted, Dominic said, the firm can expand throughout more of Ohio and new states.
In March Stevens stepped down after 10 years as chairman of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. He's an adviser to PSI but leaving operations to focus on UpRys, the Columbus business consulting group for nonprofits he launched last year. Doug Stevens is executive vice president.
Stevens met Ragland more than a decade ago, when the Howard University graduate was a recruiter with a different company. Ragland joined PSI seven years ago as vice president.
Ever since Dominic started in sales with the company 10 years ago, she said, she's pestered Stevens to let her buy a stake. When Stevens first talked to Ragland about succeeding him, he suggested the former Columbus Business First 40 Under 40 honoree as right hand.
"Keith and Doug always said it wasn’t just about money in selling the company," Dominic said. "That speaks volumes to the way they created PSI for 30 years."
In February both were promoted as a transitional step to the sale: Ragland to president and COO and Dominic to vice president of customer success, from executive director of customer sales.
On July 29, the group gathered with advisers and spouses in the conference room, plowing through 217 pages of documents to sign in blue ink.
"Forty-five minutes later, we all kind of looked at each other and said, 'That’s it? Where’s the fireworks?'" Dominic said. "It was like: Whew, OK, now the real work starts."
