Keeping the Door Open: Chris Mitchell’s Journey with Cobalt

Opening Doors the Old-Fashioned Way  

Chris started in the industry straight out of high school, working in a warehouse for an automatic door distributor outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Over time, he advanced to work for regional manufacturers and then to national-level companies. But after 25 years of working for others, something shifted. 

“I wanted to get back to the roots—back to focusing on the customers and employees.” 

That’s when he learned the original founder of Piedmont, Pat Keane, was looking for help. A friend connected them. “The rest is history,” he says. Chris joined Piedmont Door Solutions as a VP before becoming President & CEO, where he continued to center the business on relationships, trust, and local responsiveness. 

Foundations in Service 

From the beginning, Piedmont built its values around service and people. Founded in 2001 by Pat Keane in Charlotte, North Carolina, the idea for Piedmont came from Pat’s realization that customers were underserved in a fragmented industry.  

“Commercial doors have many parts—door design, hardware, automation, security, and emergency response systems—that are often handled by different vendors,” explains Chris. “Piedmont brings those solutions together and streamlines the process for customers.” 

But it wasn’t just about integration. Pat, and later Chris, knew that people are what make businesses successful—a core value that’s foundational to Piedmont even today. 

Saying “No” to Private Equity—At First

As Piedmont expanded under Chris’s leadership, it naturally drew interest from private equity firms, including Alpine’s access solutions platform, Cobalt Service Partners. Like many founders, Chris was skeptical. 

“The first couple of times Cobalt reached out, I told them I wasn’t interested in selling. But you never close the door.” 

Chris was hesitant to take a call from a private equity firm. He worried about employees getting lost in the shuffle and wanted to protect the business he’d built. What changed his mind wasn’t a flashy pitch or pressure tactics. It was a conversation. 

“[Cobalt] didn’t come to us with a 50–60 [page] slide deck. They asked us what we needed to scale,” Chris recalls. “They knew we were the experts in our business, and they were the experts in theirs. That mutual respect was key.” 

Chris realized with Cobalt that private equity didn’t have to mean layoffs, cost cuts, or cultural compromise. It could mean partnership, growth, and continuity. 

“I’ve seen some leaders work until they have to retire—not want to retire—and I think that strategy can put good businesses at risk,” says Chris. “For me, the opportunity with Cobalt allowed me to secure the future of Piedmont—the brand, the strategy, the people and the customers. It allowed us to literally preserve Piedmont for generations to come.”

Protecting People First 

Customers were happy with the transition and remained loyal to Piedmont. But one of Chris’s biggest concerns was how an acquisition would impact his employees. The Cobalt team ensured Piedmont’s employees had opportunities for growth after the sale—something that was non-negotiable for Chris. 

“Cobalt took time to understand what made Piedmont special. They wanted to listen—to our employees and to our customers,” he says. “We’ve had a number of promotions since the transaction. I’ve watched people grow personally and professionally, which was incredibly important to me.” 

Reinforcing Growth 

One of the biggest challenges Chris faced pre-acquisition was attracting and retaining skilled technicians. Cobalt’s commitment to solving this issue was clear from Day One. 

“Cobalt came with their sleeves rolled up to help us with tech recruiting—building out a meaningful, true bullpen process,” Chris says. “It’s very difficult, very time-consuming, very costly. And—more often than not—if you make a bad hire in our industry, you’ve lost a year.” 

Cobalt provided physical resources and scalable infrastructure to address field hiring in a sustainable way, enabling Piedmont to grow their technician count by over 25% and revenue  at a new record rate within the first year post-transaction. 

These tangible results validated Chris’s belief that Cobalt understood the complexities of the industry—not just at the boardroom level, but in the day-to-day operational trenches. 

From CEO to Strategic Partner 

Chris chose to stay on the team post-acquisition, but in a different role than he was used to: Strategic Advisor. 

“What I’m focused on today is working with the M&A team on businesses we’re bringing into the platform and helping them with their go-to-market strategy.” 

As an advisor within the broader Cobalt platform, Chris now helps other founders navigate the same decision he once faced. 

For any founder weighing the decision to sell, Chris’s advice is simple: 

“You have to decide what you’re looking for—for your business, your employees, and your customers. Cobalt will work with you to structure a transaction that works for your future and theirs. It’s a win-win.” 

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