Alert Management Systems was acquired by two of its senior managers, Mary Crosslin and Kara Lawrence, both of whom are also long-time board members. Former owners Rob and Tom Ross will retire from the rental software industry, although Tom Ross will retain an advisory position on the Alert board of directors for an undisclosed period of time.
Crosslin and Lawrence will serve as co-presidents, with Crosslin taking the position of chief operating officer and Lawrence will be CEO.
Lawrence began with AMS as a senior accountant in 2008, and has since been promoted to controller and then chief financial officer. She holds a position on the board of the Pikes Peak Institute of Management Accountants.
Crosslin started her career in the security software industry, where she gained experience in sales, project management and corporate training. She joined Alert in 1998, led the consolidation of the company’s software support and installation teams in 1999. She joined the board of directors in 2005.
Crosslin has visited rental operations all over North America, Australia, Hawaii and the Caribbean.
“The company is on a very positive sales and financial trajectory,” said Lawrence. “Two new software support technicians have been added in the past month. We will continue to retain all other personnel and hope to add more in coming months.”
Alert produces the Alert EasyPro products, whose users write millions of rental contracts per year. Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., the company has been in the rental business for 40 years.
"The most important trend is the continuing move of virtually all software and related resources to the Cloud," said Rob Ross in a recent interview with RER. "This technology allows large and small rental companies alike to modernize and streamline their businesses. The benefits include the ability to reduce capital expense, especially for server replacement, and to improve security, especially for handling credit card payments and other sensitive data."
