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

sell the business somewhere around 1993,” he recalled. “That caused a lot of angst because the franchisees were concerned about who we’d sell the business to.” Awell-known name in the temporary healthcare industry tried to purchase Romac in order to add a professional arm to their primarily clerical business. The majority of the Romac franchisees, however, wanted no part of it, threatening to break away and form their own companies. The deal fell through. “At the time it seemed devastating,” Ralph said, “but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.” Ralph and the Romac and Associates owners continued talking to other potential acquirers. Then, in the course of a conversation in early 1994, Dave surprised Ralph with a direct question: “What would you think about my taking over the business?” Dave went to Maine to sell the Romac Board of Directors on the idea and negotiations began. He contacted Gordon Tunstall, a friend in the financial consulting business, to help him structure the acquisition. A complicated transaction, it took months of planning to assemble the roll-up by which proceeds from an initial stock offering would be used for the acquisition, thus providing the liquidity the Romac owners were seeking.

Consultant Gordon Tunstall’s financial advice has been invaluable to Romac and now Kforce since the mid-1990s. Image courtesy of Steven P. Widoff, photographer.

A mountain of paperwork went into these bound volumes documenting Romac International’s initial public stock offering in 1995.

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