Pearson-Kelly CEO talks succession planning at SBJ event

Pearson-Kelly Technology CEO Chelsey Bode spoke yesterday at a Springfield Business Journal event of the succession-planning process that went into her 2021 purchase of the managed service provider business from her father.

Bode discussed the process during a live interview by SBJ Editorial Vice President Eric Olson. Bode was the second interview guest of the year for SBJ's 12 People You Need to Know series at The Backlot, Alamo Drafthouse Springfield's restaurant and bar.

Succession planning started in 2011 after Bode's father, Mike Kelly, purchased his business partner's 50% stake in the company. Bode said at that time, she was clear about her future at the company.

"Good news and bad news: Good news is you taught me a lot over the years, bad news is you taught me a lot over the years," Bode recalls telling her dad. "I'm not going to work my own tail off to just increase my own price tag on buying you out someday."

Bode said the two initially had a handshake agreement under which she would gain a percentage of the business over time based on her salary.

"We didn't overcomplicate it, because we had so much work to do at that point," Bode said. "I'm getting to earn this portion without really any type of financial obligation outside of my own time, effort."

Bode said she and Kelly would later hire Piatchek & Associates founder John Piatchek to serve as consultant for the succession plan. Bode said "getting that emotion out of the way" with a third party involved was key in negotiations.

"We started in 2011 and I bought it in 2021," she said. "It was definitely just a long conversation, but it allowed us to communicate it to our recruits, to our current employees, to our clients."

Bode purchased the 81% of the business she didn't already own from Kelly in fall 2021, according to past reporting.

Last year, under Bode's leadership, the Springfield managed service provider purchased Rogers, Arkansas-based Digital Printing Solutions for undisclosed terms, SBJ previously reported.

With the move, annual revenue reached $10 million and the staffing count was brought to 45 for the company that also operates an office in Joplin.