Local software company gains certification with national women’s business network
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Lisa Livingood, CEO of software company GSI, which she founded with her husband, Carl, is shown in their South Strabane Township home.
Matt Engle
When Lisa and Carl Livingood arrived in Austin, Texas, in 1999 to take jobs in software companies, the tech industry was booming and start-up companies abounded, in what became the Lone Star State’s version of California’s Silicon Valley.
The South Strabane Township couple had worked in the engineering department of an electric utility before heading to Austin, so not long after they moved there, they decided to start a software company of their own to leverage their academic and work experiences and build a legacy for their new family.
The Livingoods, along with friends Julie and Mike Hamsa, created Geospatial Innovations Inc., a company that develops software for electric and natural gas distribution utilities. Engineers and technicians use GSI software to design and maintain electric poles and wires and gas pipelines.
“Starting a software company in Austin, Texas in 1999 was like the Wild West,” Lisa recalled last week. “There was an excitement in Austin for high-growth tech companies.”
At its start, Carl was providing consulting services to electric distribution utilities in the United States.
Field mobility
A year later, the company began providing software development services through contract employees, and in 2001, developed its first software product, known as Pocket Designer, for capturing electric powerline design data in the field using mobile and global positioning system technologies.
Within the next year GSI made its first major software sale to American Electric Power, one of the largest investor-owned utilities in the U.S. It opened an office in Austin and hired its first regular employee.
The year 2001 was also significant for GSI beyond launching its first product offering; it was also the year that it was incorporated as a woman-owned business.
That status was underscored last month when GSI became certified as a Women’s Business Enterprise by Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.
“With this certification from WBENC, which is the gold standard for supplier diversity certifications, we hope many more people will learn about our software products and services,” Lisa said. “We are truly excited and grateful for these opportunities.”
WBENC’s national standard of certification includes an in-depth review of the business and site inspection. The certification confirms the business is at least 51 percent owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women.
Today, GSI is owned by the Livingoods, who run the company from their South Strabane home, and Michelle Day, who in 2011 was an angel investor who helped to buy out the Hamsas, with Mike Hamsa remaining as the company’s chief technical officer. The company also established an advisory board to help the ownership team make better decisions.
The WBENC certification follows the company’s move in 2017 to name Lisa the CEO. She had previously served as secretary and treasurer of the company and was chairperson since 2014.
“Most large utilities have supplier diversity programs to promote women and minority-owned businesses,” Lisa said. “The WBE certification doesn’t mean that we’ll be favored to win more contracts, but it should mean that we’ll have more opportunities to compete for contracts.”
The certification is the latest milestone for a small tech company that not only survived the bursting of the tech industry bubble in the early 2000s, but continued to deliver new products and services to its customers, and add employees.
In the pocket
From 2003 through 2006, it added a “Pocket Collector” for inspecting and inventorying utility assets in the field; and a Pocket Scout for assessing storm damage in the field. The three products were later incorporated as a suite called GSI AssetManager.
In 2006, the company also undertook a project for the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, creating the Pocket LZ Surveyor to help troops assess landing strips in remote areas. In 2009, it developed its Forester software to help utilities with vegetation management.
In addition to helping to increase productivity in the field, the GSI products also allow workers to perform their tasks more safely in what are often rugged and remote environments.
Today, the company, whose services are now cloud-based, serves utility customers in 37 states, six Canadian provinces and in Australia. Through organic growth and acquisitions, GSI now has a total of 23 employees spread across its offices in Liberty Lake, Wash., and Austin, with six others working remotely in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Carl said Lisa’s move to the top spot in the company frees him up to spend more time to do what he likes the most – developing more business for GSI.
“I’m a sales guy,” he said.
The Livingoods said GSI is often approached by outside investors, but have decided to remain independent. “I see one to two e-mails a day from venture capitalists” expressing interest in the company, Carl said. “We decided to stay the course.”
With nearly two decades of running a successful business, Lisa said those with aspirations of launching a start-up should be prepared for hard work.
“I’d say be prepared for the ups and downs of business,” she said. “We’ve been in business for 19 years and it never has come easy for us. We’ve always had to work hard to grow the business.”
Matt Engle of Washington has joined the Pittsburgh office of RETTEW as a civil engineer in the firm’s construction services group. With 30 years of experience, he is a licensed professional engineer and has worked in the transportation, commercial and nuclear industries. Most recently with Westinghouse Nuclear as an operations manager, he is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and has a bachelor’s degree in mining and mineral engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
The surgical practice of Chito M. Crudo, M.D.; Hiram Gonzalez, M.D.; and Arshad Bachelani, M.D., moved from its Fayette Street office in Belle Vernon to the Monongahela Valley Hospital HealthPlex on Route 51 in Rostraver. The practice is now referred to as Mon-Vale Surgical Associates.
cfsbank President Neil Bassi recently reported at the bank’s annual meeting that the Charleroi-based financial institution achieved a 32 percent growth in lending and an increase in capital to 14.53 percent – more than three times the minimum federal requirement. Total Equity capital was $73.7 million an all-time high.
“The continuing growth of the bank in performance is matched by an internal expansion designed for the benefit of the customer and reflects the bank’s focus in geographic growth areas,” Bassi said, noting the June 1 opening of the Southpointe branch facility that currently houses the commercial operations and soon to be the retail/mortgage lending group. He said one of the goals for 2018 is to transition the underwriting, processing and escrow departments to the new Southpointe location while continuing to provide retail support for mortgage and business lending in Charleroi.
Other initiatives include upgrades to online mortgage applications, mobile technology and the bank’s external website.
cfsbank also has offices in Connellsville, Bentleyville, Rostraver, Monongahela, Seven Fields, Hempfield, Peters Township and Washington.