StoriesHow PeopleFirst Leadership Powers Growth at Ascend
Ascend brings Alpine’s PeopleFirst leadership to life, showing how people-first private equity can drive growth while preserving integrity.
Roger Musick had a vision for rural America: Give independent broadband and utility providers the software they needed to run efficiently, connect communities, and compete at scale. For more than two decades, Roger led Innovative Systems from his hometown of Mitchell, South Dakota. But by 2020, he faced a crossroads: Who would carry his legacy forward?
After more than four years of partnership, Alpine Investors sold Innovative Systems to GTCR in August 2025, marking a new chapter in the company’s story. What resulted by the time of sale was a different Innovative Systems, a PeopleFirst company with recurring revenue, enduring customer loyalty, and improved customer satisfaction.
A Founder with a Mission
Roger Musick founded Innovative Systems in 1998 with a commitment to serving rural broadband providers. He saw that small telecom and utility providers lacked the modern tools they needed. Over time, Innovative’s software became the backbone of connectivity in rural America.
But as Roger approached retirement, he recognized his need for a strategic partner in the next chapter of the business. His sons had chosen different career paths, and the company’s future leadership was uncertain. The business had reached a natural inflection point—a strong foundation with loyal customers and a chance to invest for the next stage of growth.
“We saw Roger’s passion, and we saw a business with a strong foundation and untapped potential. It was a classic Alpine situation—helping a founder hand the reins to a new team while honoring his legacy,” shared Patrick Eble, Principal at Alpine Investors.
In late 2020, Patrick Eble connected with Roger and moved quickly on the opportunity. At the time, Innovative had about 60% recurring revenue, but was operating without a modern website or robust sales and marketing. The company hadn’t yet transitioned to a subscription model, which would help them invest in new product features and ongoing improvements.
Alpine’s investment thesis for the deal was to support a leadership transition, professionalize operations, and prioritize a complete shift to a recurring revenue model. The team also planned to scale the sales organization and go-to-market function, add a dedicated customer success and business development function, and invest heavily in product development using customer feedback.
Building an A-Team
After the deal closed in December 2020, Roger retained a board seat at Innovative and rolled a portion of his equity to retain his stake in the company’s future success. Alpine placed seasoned operator Ali Jenab as the new Innovative CEO from day one to lead the 200+ employee team.*
Innovative’s transformation began immediately. Along with Ali, Alpine repatriated two top leaders—Amanda Sayigh and Austin Monahan—from its CEO-in-Training (CIT) talent program that recruits and develops high-potential MBAs to become future CEOs within Alpine’s portfolio companies.
After leading a successful exit as CFO at Alpine portfolio company Perennial EdTech, Amanda Sayigh joined Innovative as CFO and CRO before later becoming COO and CFO. Austin Monahan was brought on to Innovative as CRO and later grew into the role of President.
The team continued to build out a strong leadership bench with key hires, including Nathan Knuth as a VP of Engineering, who later grew into a CTO role. With new leadership in place, Innovative was ready to start making meaningful changes.
It was a classic Alpine situation—helping a founder hand the reins to a new team while honoring his legacy.
Innovative’s leadership team pictured from left to right: Amanda Sayigh, Ali Jenab, and Austin Monahan
Revenue Model Transformation
Under CEO Ali Jenab and the new team’s leadership, the business nearly doubled in revenue, transitioned its customer base to subscription offerings, and invested meaningfully in its emerging payments product.
The revenue model transition was a bold shift. Customers on long-standing maintenance contracts were carefully moved to subscriptions. The new revenue model simplified pricing and improved customer experience by allowing the team to seamlessly deliver its latest software to all customers simultaneously. As a result, customer retention was strong because they ultimately could understand the value.
“When managers began to see the subscription contracts not as a threat but as a foundation for product improvement, the skeptics became advocates,” shared David Malkin, senior associate at Alpine. “Once they saw the value, retention stayed strong and customers came with us.”
Beyond the subscription transition, Alpine helped expand payments into a high-volume revenue stream, broadened the company’s reach into municipalities and utilities, and modernized sales, marketing, and back-office operations through Alpine’s in-house value creation team, Atlas. The result was a more scalable, professional organization.
Even as the business changed, Roger’s presence remained. He continued to sit on the board, offering perspective and continuity. Alpine made a community donation to Roger’s alma mater in Mitchell, South Dakota—a gesture of gratitude that reflected both Roger’s roots and the company’s future.
“Every promise we made to Roger on day one—we kept. That matters as much as the financial results,” Patrick shared.
“Every promise we made to Roger on day one—we kept. That matters as much as the financial results.”
PeopleFirst in Action
As the business scaled operationally, Alpine also worked to scale its culture. PeopleFirst is Alpine’s playbook for how we build and lead great companies. For Innovative Systems, PeopleFirst became the framework that turned a founder-led company into a connected, empowered organization positioned to scale.
From day one, Ali, Amanda, Austin, and the leadership team fully embraced Alpine’s PeopleFirst playbook. That meant putting people at the center of business strategy and turning core principles into everyday practices that drove alignment, accountability, and results.
The First 90 Days
Alpine’s signature F90 onboarding program was introduced immediately to help the new executives—including Ali—align on vision, people, and priorities within the first 90 days. This accelerated integration and created early momentum for change.
Ali especially leaned into a culture of consistent 1:1s and company-wide transparency. Quarterly all-hands meetings, weekly check-ins, and open communication channels helped ensure every employee understood the vision and their role in achieving it.
Putting the PeopleFirst Playbook to Work
The leadership team worked to create a One Page Plan (OPP), a pillar of Alpine’s PeopleFirst Leadership Program, which quickly became a central part of Innovative’s operating rhythm. The OPP captured the company’s mission, vision, and values and served as a living roadmap for goals and commitments. It guided board meetings, leadership discussions, and renewal planning.
In August 2022, the team rolled out the OPP company-wide through a two-day training led by Alpine’s PeopleFirst facilitator, Amy Day. Employees at all levels learned goal setting, feedback, and coaching tools to help them in their careers at Innovative and beyond.
During the first year of ownership, Alpine also trained all Innovative managers through its PeopleFirst Leadership Program (PFLP). The training focused on leading through difficult conversations, conducting transparent performance reviews, and linking compensation to impact. For the first time, Innovative implemented company-wide performance review cycles with clear criteria and open feedback.
“Ali bought into PeopleFirst immediately. He made communication, 1:1s, and vision-sharing a priority. That changed how the organization worked together—and how decisions got made.” —Patrick Eble
Through PeopleFirst, Innovative built alignment at every level, strengthened leadership capability, and preserved the close-knit culture Roger had started decades earlier. The results that followed were a direct reflection of the team’s commitment to turning a founder-led business into a PeopleFirst company.
Real Results
By 2025, Innovative Systems was a different company: Revenue and recurring revenue grew by 50%, digital payments had seen increased adoption, and Innovative’s platform was positioned for sustained expansion. Beyond financial results, Alpine helped strengthen Innovative’s customer and employee experiences in meaningful ways.
Customer Satisfaction Improvements
Customer NPS (Net Promoter Score)—a measure of satisfaction and loyalty—increased from 31 at entry to 43 at exit, signaling stronger customer relationships and confidence in the company’s products and service.
Employee Tenure Held Strong
Average tenure at Innovative Systems exceeded ten years—a sign of enduring loyalty and long-term commitment. Alpine’s focus on leadership development and transparent communication helped preserve the company’s close-knit culture during rapid transformation.
“Amanda and Austin were instrumental,” shared David. “They drove the renewal processes, operational planning, and culture-building that helped employees feel aligned and confident through transformation.”
In August 2025, Alpine announced the sale of Innovative Systems to GTCR, a private equity firm with deep expertise in telecom and payments. GTCR moved decisively, offering both conviction and continuity. Importantly, they brought in Scott Alcott, a former Comcast executive, to lead the company into its next chapter.
A Legacy That Lives On
Roger’s story had come full circle. The company he founded, nurtured, and passed on had not only survived the leadership transition—it had thrived. Today, under GTCR’s ownership and Scott Alcott’s leadership, Innovative continues Roger’s original mission to serve independent broadband and utility providers the software they needed to run efficiently, connect communities, and compete at scale.
For Alpine, this exit validates our firm’s ethos: supporting founder-led businesses into their next phase of growth while keeping promises to employees, customers, and communities.
“Innovative is a textbook example of the Alpine playbook,” David shared. “We supported a founder through transition, built a leadership team, executed a business model shift, and exited to a world-class partner.”
“Innovative is a textbook example of the Alpine playbook.”
*Remembering Ali Jenab
We are deeply saddened to share that Ali Jenab passed away in August 2025. Ali Jenab was a senior member of the Alpine CEO community for the last nine years, first as CEO of Perennial EdTech and more recently with Innovative Systems. Many of us considered Ali not only a colleague, but also a friend. He was a generous mentor, deeply committed to developing the next generation of leaders at Alpine—many of whom went on to become CEOs after working with him.
We were fortunate to have his leadership guiding the 200+ person team at Innovative Systems. Under his leadership, the business nearly doubled in revenue, transitioned its customer base to subscription offerings, and invested meaningfully in its emerging payments product. His legacy will leave a lasting mark on both Innovative Systems and the broader Alpine community.
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Ali had a vibrant spirit. He loved to laugh and had a sharp, joyful sense of humor. Above all, he was devoted to his family. He was incredibly proud of them, and nothing made him happier than spending time on adventures with his wife, Annette, and their sons, André and Alec.
In 2020, we spotlighted Ali as a member of our CEO-in-Residence program. Read more here about his career, approach to leadership and lessons he learned along the way.
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