Dear Friends and colleagues,
This message is an open letter to my team members, clients, partners, peers and other business associates whom I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working alongside over the past 15 years during my career at Access.
As you may know, I have been employed at Access for most of my career. I spent 8 years building the business that I sold to Access in 2005, and in total, have spent over 15 years at Access, including over 10 years as CEO.
To provide some perspective on this fantastic journey, here are some impressive stats:
Access has grown and transformed nearly one hundred-fold in revenue and EBITDA since I first joined Access with uninterrupted growth in both year after year.
- We expanded from a few dozen team members to a few thousand team members
- We have completed over 160 acquisitions, including public company carve outs, forced DOJ divestitures, a doubling-in-size/bet-the-company deal and dozens of high quality locally-owned and operated businesses across records management, software and consulting
- We have expanded into 5 new countries
- We navigated a financial crisis in 2008-2009 and are now navigating through the COVID-19 global pandemic
Through it all I have had the honor and privilege of being in a front row seat as a leader in this amazing organization. It truly humbles me to think of what we have accomplished together at Access.
Now, we are about to embark on our next technology and innovation transformation. And, as many of you may have heard me say before, at some point, I will hand the reins over to a new leader, the right leader, to take this organization even further to its next levels of success.
That day is now here and I have retired as Access CEO.
Please know that this was a very hard step to make for me and my family. Who I am today as a leader and a person has largely been shaped by the world-class team that I have had the privilege of working alongside during this time. Access has meant everything to me professionally for well over a decade and has been the most important part of my life outside of my family. I did not make this decision lightly.
I worked with the Access board of directors to identify my successor – the right person for the CEO role here at Access. We were looking for a leader who can guide the company through our next phase of exciting growth as we diversify into more digital offerings, but also a leader who understands the importance of culture and carries similar core values.
I am proud and excited to announce that we have selected an excellent individual, Ken Davis, to lead the organization through its next phase of growth. I am genuinely excited about this next step for the company because I believe that it is the right decision for the business as a whole, our clients, team members, partners, and the business community.
I will stay involved in the business, but at a different level. I will help guide Ken’s transition to CEO to ensure that it is the most seamless process possible and join as a member of the board in the near term. However, my top priority is to give our new CEO the greatest chance for success, and I will support Ken in whatever strategic advisory role makes the most sense for the company, our clients and the team.
While it’s true that I have ended my tenure leading such an incredible team and company, I am genuinely excited about the next chapter and bringing Ken on as our new CEO. His first day as CEO was this week – Monday, March 15th – so please reach out to say hello and give Ken a warm welcome!
In the meantime, I want to make sure to say thank you. I have an immense amount of gratitude for our valued team members, clients, and partners – for the contribution you’ve made to my life and to Access. I truly appreciate it. What we have accomplished together as a team is a testament to the work being done every day by each one of you, so thank you. Thank you so very much.
Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn. I’d love to hear from you! Until then, I hope you will always continue to REACH for your very best and live pono.
Aloha,
Rob Alston
