Business is a journey dotted with destinations. And if there’s one thing Justin Rebhun has learned as a salesperson and a leader, how you get to those destinations is not as important as simply arriving at them.
The president of FTG Texas, a Flex Technology Group company, Rebhun had specific beliefs about being successful as an account representative. And once he was thrust into a leadership position, Rebhun expected his account reps to follow the same playbook that enabled him to thrive. In time, he saw that cloning his sales style was not necessarily the lone path to winning business.
“That’s not realistic, and you’re never going to get that,” said Rebhun, a 2025 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “People work in different ways or maybe come from different backgrounds. They can be successful without being a type-A personality working 80 hours a week.”
Growing up “very middle class,” the desire to be highly successful has been a driving passion for Rebhun. The fear of wasted potential hung over him like a cloud, and he used it as motivation to invest everything into his career aspirations. Now, as a region president, he’s helping like-minded people to achieve their aspirations and flourish.
A graduate of Clarkson University where he played baseball, Rebhun cut his teeth in the software-as-a-service ecosystem, selling HR software for ADP and then legal software for Thomson Reuters. It wasn’t long before he wanted to pivot into enterprise sales, and a recruiter turned him on to a position at Flo-Tech. While Rebhun knew little about printers and copiers or the industry in general, the opportunity intrigued him and Flo-Tech had some attractive qualities.
Between the Lines
Perhaps it was the ballplayer in Rebhun that compelled him to focus on doing all of the little things well—showing up on time, being overly prepared and being a student of the game. He’s seen how competitors have struggled with attaining success because they were stuck in their ways and continuously repeated processes that didn’t yield dividends. What worked in 2008 isn’t necessarily going to work in 2025.
Along the way, Rebhun has benefitted from the wisdom of several key influencers. John Byxbee, the president of Flo-Tech/Flex Technology Group East and the man who hired Rebhun in 2018, has been a guiding force. It was Byxbee who stressed the importance of doing what you say you are going to do in business and becoming someone the executive leadership team can rely on. He also imparted on Rebhun the importance of recruiting and creating a succession plan in order to move up in the organization, which led him to focus on building successful teams.
“John felt it was important to create a process that is easily replicated, then plug new people into it and have them do well,” he noted. “If you can do those things as a leader, then you’re going to have a lot of opportunities in the company.”
Rebhun also appreciates the faith CEO Frank Gaspari showed in him. The dynamic and gregarious executive always stressed the importance of reinventing one’s self and there is brilliance in the basics. It’s a key nugget of advice that Rebhun now shares with his charges.
Gaspari also has a great eye for potential. “He took a chance on me when he could have easily hired an outside guy or an industry veteran for this job,” Rebhun added. “Instead, he gave me, a 33-year-old kid with no prior executive leadership experience, the opportunity to run a business. It goes to show you that if you produce results, you’ll have opportunities.”
Starting Over
The past 12-plus months have been a whirlwind for Rebhun. He moved to Texas from the New York Metro area in June of 2024. He’d been part of a Flex Technology Group East division that captured the Chairman’s Cup (awarded to the top Flex TG Company) at the organization’s national meeting the year prior. It wasn’t an easy move for Rebhun. New York was his home, close to family and friends, and he was quarterbacking a winner. It was safe.
However, tackling challenges, such as the opportunity to turn around the Texas branch, fits right into Rebhun’s wheelhouse. “It was a great opportunity for me and my career, and I’m pretty proud of taking that leap, because the easy thing to do would have been to stay in New York at a well-oiled machine with a proven team that is rolling,” he noted. “I left it for a business that’s in a turnaround phase.”
He’s not afraid of implementing changes and prefers to take the long view when it comes to setting the stage for success. At times, Rebhun sees the importance of taking a step backward in order to take two steps forward. While change is often necessary, it can get a bit messy.
“From what I’ve seen and experienced, most people take the path of least resistance, which is to keep charting along with the people you have,” he said. “You’re not going to lose big, but you’re also not going to win big. With the stated goal of growing this business to $50 million, we’re trying to win big. And that means we’re going to have to break some things. With that, we’ve had a lot of involuntary turnover since I got here. We’re just trying to get the right people on the bus and plug them into our proven process.”
Change for the Better
It’s all part of discovering what is best for FTG Texas. The former Marimon Business Systems historically called on higher education accounts and faith-based entities, but upon his arrival, Rebhun sought a path to more profitable industries including health care, retail and financial services. That change in go-to-market strategy has positioned FTG Texas to be on track to triple its profits this year over prior year.
“We’re going to continue to bring in great people and work hard,” he noted. “Hopefully, we’ll get there.”
Moving to Texas has yielded more benefits beyond Rebhun’s professional endeavors. He met and has been dating his now girlfriend, a fellow east coast native, (“I think she’s the one”) for more than a year and she recently moved in with him. The idyllic weather there allows him to feed one of his other passions, golf, year-round. Rebhun travels extensively for work and pleasure, logging 60-plus flights per year. He loves scouting out new restaurants in town and enjoying wine and cigars in his spare time.
