Forsythe Eyes More Staff After Employee Buyout

Forsythe Technology plans to increase its number of employees by about 20 percent this year and focus on organic growth after the completion of an employee buyout, said Bill Brennan, president of the Skokie, Ill.-based solution provider.

“We expect to finish the year with probably 725 on-board people,” Brennan said, adding that the company now employs about 600 people. “That’s pretty quick growth and about as fast as you can absorb them.”

Brennan became president of Forsythe Technology upon succeeding Richard Forsythe last October. The privately held solution provider, whose wholly owned subsidiaries include Forsythe Solutions Group and Forsythe McArthur Associates, said its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) completed the acquisition of all outstanding company shares on March 31, after redeeming the remaining shares from existing shareholders, the largest of which was Forsythe, who founded the company in 1971. Terms were not disclosed. Forsythe had 2005 sales of about $517 million.

“We are in 36 cities right now. And what we intend to do is to continue to add resources in market and support the growth of the business through organic growth in the short term,” Brennan said. “We had some success with acquisitions in the past. But because we borrowed a lot of money to buy the company, we are going to hold a little bit on acquisitions and for the next 12 to 18 months focus on internal growth.”

The bulk of the new hires will come in the IT consulting area, with an emphasis on advisory services such as infrastructure and business continuity/disaster recovery and technology implementation services, including the company’s storage solutions business, he said.

The transfer of company ownership to employees will not change the solution provider’s overall strategy, Brennan said. “From the standpoint of the strategy direction that we are on, it’s consistent with where we were coming from,” he said. “There’s a tremendous opportunity, and it’s a matter of growing your capabilities and reach and range.”