For nearly thirty years, PSST had been a steady presence in the education sector — the kind of company with products that threw off reliable cash flow, but with no real sales engine to drive growth. The business didn’t need rescuing. It needed direction.

At acquisition, PSST had just launched an ACA compliance product — not because they saw a market opportunity, but because clients had asked for it. Whether ACA would become a long-term play was anyone’s guess.

PennSpring’s first decisive act was a leadership upgrade. We recruited Mark Lattis, a seasoned CFO with the operational instincts to see the whole board. In time, he would step into the CEO role, bringing both discipline and ambition to the table.

With leadership in place and infrastructure strengthened, PSST made its next big move: acquiring Paragon Compliance. The deal opened doors into three strategically valuable markets — New York, Ohio and Connecticut — and positioned the company for scale.

Meanwhile, organic growth got a turbocharge. We built out channel partnerships with benefits brokers, HR firms and third-party administrators, turning PSST’s existing credibility into a platform for expansion.

The result: a company that had once been content to hold its ground was now pressing into new markets, with the leadership, partnerships and momentum to keep moving forward.