The Kforce Story: 50 Plus Years of Great People Delivering Great Results

Left: A Romac office, mid-1990s.

Below: Ralph Struzziero graces the cover of the Summer 1990 edition of Romac’s newsletter, The Griffin .

Facsimile, or Fax, machines became popular by the mid-1980s. Trying to balance expenditures against revenue, Rich Cocchiaro struggled with the $300 price tag. Realizing if even one placement was lost to a competitor without it, Rich quickly decided he was being penny wise and pound foolish and made the purchase. Still, Joe Liberatore recalls they often drove to deliver resumes and applications. Kate Grantham, who started in 1993 as a receptionist in the Orlando office, remembers the days when the recruiters jotted down their notes on the appropriate forms while making their calls and then handed them over to the support staff to enter all the data—candidate information, personal notes, and follow- up notations. What they lacked in technology, they made up for with positive attitudes, a solid work ethic, and lots of energy. “Dave laid out a vision,” Michael recalled. “I thought to myself, this guy may be crazy, but I’m gonna’ sign up because he just might do it.” Buying the Romac Franchisor A number of events that ranged from a crisis in the savings and loan industry to the outbreak of the Gulf War and a spike in oil prices put the United States back into recession in the early 1990s. With a sluggish economy, Romac and Associates’ business suffered along with others. Al Dunkel, the oldest of the Romac partners, sold his franchises in 1983 and his share of the franchisor in the early 1990s leaving six owners remaining, most of whom were interested in liquidating their share of the business. Since May 1991, Ralph Struzziero had been acting as chairman and CEO. “We decided to try and

37 Turning Points