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What started out as a hobby for Bill Vaughan ended up becoming a lucrative livelihood that has catapulted him to the head of one of the most respected new information technology consulting firms in Virginia.
"I chose business as a vocation in college because I wanted to do something business-oriented," said Vaughan, president of Keiter, Stephens Computer Services Inc. "But computers, at first, though they were needed for schoolwork, were more of a hobby than anything." Vaughan, who oversees 94 employees at the company's 17,000-square-foot office in the West End, got into the information technology solutions business back when the idea was merely a gleam in the eye of most companies.
The fact that Vaughan has been in the computer systems loop for nearly 20 years has contributed greatly to Keiter, Stephens' growth since its establishment in 1994. Just last year, the Deloitte & Touche Fast 500, a list compiled annually to keep track of leading tech firms, listed 47 Virginia companies - 9 percent of the nationwide list. Keiter, Stephens came in at No. 186.
Vaughan said being on that list "put us on the map and we just got nominated again this year. I'm glad because this really shows that we can be consistent and grow at a steady pace." Making the Fast 500 also made other companies take notice. Some of the larger information technology companies began to court Keiter Stephens.
Vaughan said his company was attractive because it had matured and become fairly well-known. "There is a lot of consolidation going on in this area right now," he said. "We wanted to be a part of that." But Vaughan and his colleagues chose carefully. There was something in particular he was looking for. "We knew that IT consulting was popular with a lot of the larger companies but it had to be the right fit," he said. "We still needed to be able to operate autonomously and if we couldn't do that there was no need in trying to talk to anyone." Last month, Charlotte, N.C.-based Personnel Group of America Inc., a publicly traded information technology services and commercial staffing company, acquired Keiter, Stephens and created the synergy Vaughan said his company was looking for.
Lisa Spenik, vice president of Keiter, Stephens, joined the company in 1993 as it was about to break away from an accounting firm where Vaughan started out. "We definitely had goals when I came here," Spenik said. "When I came here, 22 people worked here. Now we hooked up with PGA, which offers us strong employee recruiting and retention tools. We are up to 94 employees. .*.*. Bill made it happen."Spenik added that the PGA transaction gives Keiter, Stephens the opportunity to offer its employees PGA stock options, a big incentive. (It trades on the New York Stock Exchange.) Vaughan's commitment to computer services began in college in the late 1970s when he interned with the now-defunct Engineering Technology Inc. "It was a local consulting firm that provided services to DuPont," he recalled. "I was excited because at that time everything was so new and while I was learning in school, I was also learning the industry by doing."
Upon graduation in 1980, Vaughan continued his consulting pursuits with Engineering Technology, until partners from a start-up accounting firm approached him about computer consulting. That accounting firm was Keiter, Stephens, Hurst, Gary & Shreaves. In 1984 Vaughan was the technology services division - literally. "Initially I was dealing with more hardware-oriented stuff," he said. "But as time went on the opportunity came about to develop financial service applications for clients of the accounting firm using some of the latest and greatest software and technology - at least at that time." It was then that the fork in the road began to form, Vaughan said. "We started seeing programming for a market on a larger scale. Customers began to develop a desire for all their solutions - computer-wise - to come from one place, one provider." When Spenik joined the company in 1993, after work group technology consulting stints in Northern Virginia and Washington, its focus had grown to application development and network engineering. "Those are the things that drove and really continue to drive businesses," Vaughan said. "The nature of our client base quickly changed to Fortune 500 and 1000 companies."
Finally in 1994, Vaughan's ventures became so successful that his company spun off from the accounting firm to carve its niche as an independent high-tech firm. Vaughan reached an agreement with the accounting firm to retain the name Keiter, Stephens, said Charles Moncure, principal at Dominion Partners LC, an investment banking concern that negotiated for Vaughan in the PGA deal. "The name has value in the local marketplace and both sides felt like it was the right thing to do," Moncure added. "The accounting firm and the computer firm are separate entities now and neither side had a problem with it." In its first year as a separate company, Vaughan's Keiter, Stephens had $200,000 in sales. "By the end of this year" four years later, he said, "we expect to exceed $8 million."
Robert J. Stolle, executive director of Greater Richmond Technology Council, said Keiter, Stephens is definitely an up and coming IT services firm. "There's no question that since their spinoff they've been one of the fastest growing firms in the area," said Stolle. "Their success has come from the particular ability to service customers. They allow clients to improve their technology base through training on Lotus notes and other services." One thing Vaughan's employees and co-workers like most about him? "He's president but he doesn't act like one who never speaks and has his door closed all the time," said Spenik. "He really delivers on his promises and is open to suggestions. The most unique thing is that he follows trends in this industry without actually being a follower who lets others dictate his ideas about the business."
Vaughan expects the fruits of his early "hobby" to top $10 million in sales in 1999, while taking employment numbers to more than 100. Vaughan targets multitiered server applications on the Web as the newest area to pursue in consulting. So far Vaughan's biggest critic is his 4-year-old daughter, Sarah, who Spenik says thinks her father goes into the office, "sits in a big chair and just spins around all day." Maybe Sarah is onto something. Vaughan's company is, after all, a spin-off. "It's funny people are constantly calling us and finding out that we're not part of the accounting firm anymore," Vaughan said. "We are a true consulting firm, with our own thing going strong."
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