GTSI undertakes major rebranding

The departure of chief operating officer Jeremy Wensinger isn’t the only big change at GTSI; in fact, it’s not GTSI anymore.

The company’s parent, Unicom Global, is dropping the GTSI name and has rebranded the company Unicom Government Inc., said Corry Hong, Unicom’s founder, president and CEO.

With Wensinger’s departure, Hong is also the CEO of Unicom Government, he said.

Unicom acquired GTSI in June 2012, taking the company private in the process. So far, the rebranding has not extended to the GTSI website, which is still company’s primary online presence.

In addition to rebranding GTSI, Unicom also is rebranding InSysCo, a services company GTSI acquired in 2011. InSysCo will now be known as Unicom Logistics. GTSI Financial Services Inc. has been renamed Unicom Capital LP.

The company also has rebranded another recent acquisition, Network Engines Inc., renaming it Unicom Engineering, Hong said.

With the restructuring of the GTSI business, Wensinger’s “operational status with Unicom Government was revised as an outcome of the consolidation of the larger corporate entity and management operations,” Hong said in an email.

Wensinger will serve as a consultant to Unicom Government on an as-needed basis, Hong said.

“As a practical matter, the change will have no significant effect upon Unicom Government’s operations, as I have been effectively managing the company since its acquisition in June 2012.” he said.

Since its founding in 1981, Unicom has acquired numerous companies and now has 25 corporate entities under the Unicom Global umbrella.

GTSI was founded as Government Technology Services Inc. in 1983, and at one time was the largest value-added reseller serving the government market, with nearly $1 billion in annual revenue.

But, as the market changed and IT products became more of a commodity, the company saw its revenue fall. It also was attempting to remake itself as a services and solutions provider, a driver behind the acquisition of InSysCo.

The company’s revenue took a major hit in 2010 and 2011, as it was rocked by allegations that it was serving as a front for small business that funneled contract dollars from the small-business prime contractor to GTSI. The scandal was kicked off following an investigation by the Washington Post.

GTSI was suspended from government contracting by the Small Business Administration for nearly a month, and entered into an agreement with SBA that included closer monitoring and the departure of its then CEO Scott Friedlander, though he was never accused of any wrongdoing.

The company brought in Sterling Phillips in late 2010 to serve as CEO. He and Wensinger stabilized the company, though the aftermath of the scandal and SBA suspension continued to impact results.

In May 2012, the acquisition by Unicom was announced. The deal closed in June, and was worth $76.7 million, a 47.9 percent premium over the company’s share price at the time.

The acquisition was Unicom’s first serious foray into the federal market. Hong described the deal as a “dream come true” for the immigrant from South Korea.