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62 matter what kind of product you have if you lack that." is mindset among the leadership team was born of USRES' beginnings as a service provider, a business type that undeniably lives or dies by the quality of care it can deliver to clients. Eventually, after USRES had an actual product to offer in the shape of RES.NET, that same "customer-comes-first" mentality survived and spread into every aspect of how the company does business. It's why a number of their clients have been with them for 15, even 20 years. Guenther calls building that kind of client loyalty a "lost art." He insisted, "You need to find out what is [the client's] pain point? Because if you can fix that, then you become a partner. Once you become a partner, then you have open communication with your client. en it's very easy to grow and know: What direction do I go in? What products? Listen. e client will tell you." Rida Sharaf, SVP of USRES Operations, said, "We've always run the company with a 'mom-and-pop' type of feel. Our clients always have access to us. If the client doesn't wish to go through an automated call center, we will make it so. So customer service is still paramount." e fact that USRES' employees have so capably picked up Guenther's customer service torch and ran with it says a lot not only about their skills, but also about the CEO's leadership style. In many ways, Guenther's staff members paint him as their big-hearted coach, a veteran leader who encourages his team to cultivate their own problem-solving skills and who generally supports their game-time decisions. Sharaf stated, "We have a very unique management hierarchy, which enables all of us business unit leaders to really put forth honest input without fear of being labeled as someone who's nonconformist. So we're able to be very creative, and you know, credit given to our CEO, he puts a lot of trust in us and he sometimes will allow us to make the decision that we think is the most prudent." is trust encourages staff to leverage their collective brainpower and experience. Guenther says he believes this helps the employees feel like they're integral to the company, which fosters ownership in their actions that fosters a deep sense of caring. "As companies grow, you have to let go," explained Guenther, a father to five and grandfather to seven. "I'm a sports guy, so I take a lot from coaching. I can't play the game when I'm coaching. My job is to be able to get the right people to do it." He continued, "I think my style, more than anything, is to stay away from cloning myself. A lot of people I know, who have been in the industry, they want to have likeminded people because they feel like a team. I do pretty much the opposite. I want to get people who see things differently than I do." (Standing) Michael Bull, CFO; (Seated) Keith Guenther, CEO " ... if there's anything I'd say we led with, [it] was the technology. ... I realized there was no way we were going to be able to do all of this without having all of these databases, having all this information. I'm not a big tech guy, but it made sense."

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