Dealer Spotlight

Barry Simon has been blessed with a built-in defense system that safeguards against complacency. He uses terms such as “fail forward” and cautions not to trip into pride-based assumptions like the notion that everything his company does represents the best way. After 40 years in Read More

At times, the family-owned and operated office technology dealership gets pigeon-holed. It’s viewed as being so steeped in its traditions that it doesn’t have the wherewithal or perspective to advance as a business in an environment M&A mavens leverage to acquire them by the Read More

There is no denying that John Lowery had enjoyed much success in the years since 1984, when he founded Applied Imaging with his wife, Sandy. Theirs was the traditional from-the-ground-up story—they borrowed $5,000 from Lowery’s father and used a line of credit from the equity in Read More

If the office technology dealership industry had its own Mount Rushmore, it’s safe to say one of the etched profiles would be that of Chip Miceli. The president and CEO of Pulse Technology, the soon-to-be Schaumburg, Illinois-headquartered dealership, is nothing short of an Read More

The last thing that Gary Johnson wanted to do was buy himself a job. After a long career in the industry that included stints with Wolco Business Systems, Zoom Imaging Solutions and Xerox’s Global Imaging Systems, Johnson had purchased a home in southern California. He was more Read More

When analyzing the scope and availability of potential acquisitions at his disposal, Rick Bastinelli—the president of Centric Business Systems of Owings Mills, Maryland—likes to keep an open-but-analytical mind. After all, there’s ample reason for Bastinelli to target the Read More

For all of his success as the founder and CEO of Loffler Companies, Jim Loffler doesn’t feel as if his company has finally arrived. Sure, the Bloomington, Minnesota-based dealership has checked off many of the boxes for success—15 locations, 565 employees, and projected sales in Read More

Patrick Flesch remembers that special feeling he had while climbing into his car, fresh off his first copier sale of a $2,000 Sharp unit to a small construction company in Oak Brook, Illinois. That sense of satisfaction that accompanied closing the deal was more than enough to Read More

The day was March 29, 1998. Chip Crunk stood perched on a forklift and addressed his employees on the sad reality of what lay before them. RJ Young’s building was a pile of smoldering ashes, having burned to the ground the previous day. The president and CEO of the Nashville, Read More

Hailing from the great state of Texas, where the folks are known for living large, Jim Sheffield wants you to know that he doesn’t have any great designs on being the biggest office technology dealership in the country. But he does have his sights set on being the best. That Read More

With the Seattle Space Needle looming in the backdrop of the company’s block-wide main campus, Copiers Northwest has some impressive technology and retail heavyweight neighbors in the form of Amazon and Facebook, with Microsoft a short distance away and Google soon to set up shop Read More

Darren Metz loves a good story. The CEO of Nashville, TN-based Novatech has heard many tales of companies he’s vetted as potential acquisitions for the 20-year-old dealership, which is set to soon eclipse the $100 million barrier for annual sales. M&A has become a brisk Read More

The onyx stone is believed to carry special powers—the ability to protect its bearer during dangerous situations and ward off negativity consciously directed toward you. Black onyx is also the gemstone of choice for the 10th wedding anniversary. Perhaps someone felt the extra Read More

Bob Christensen isn’t quite ready to spend lazy days with his wife Sue, boating on the Atlantic Ocean while sipping margaritas under bright and sunny skies. But when the day comes that the president of AXSA Imaging Solutions of Longwood, FL, has finally had his fill of the office Read More

Like many other dealers in the office technology sector, Dan Reilly has plateaued several times during the course of his 30-plus-year career. When you hit that growth wall, the president of Sacramento, CA-based Caltronics Business Systems has learned that it is necessary to Read More