Minneapolis-based Microsoft partner announces leadership transition for 2024
Boyer & Associates will have a new president as of Jan. 1, 2024. The Minneapolis-based Microsoft partner recently announced that Vice President Lee Witkop will succeed Founder Jack Boyer as president.
After 30 years leading the business, Boyer is making a gradual move toward retirement. He will remain involved with the firm for two years, lending his visionary guidance but leaving the daily management of the company to Witkop.
Witkop previously served as the fast-growing company’s VP of Sales and Marketing. He has already begun transitioning into his new role, which will become official at the start of the new year.
Colleen McCoshen, Boyer’s longtime second-in-command, will retain her role as Chief Operating Officer. McCoshen has been with Boyer for 26 years.
“Jack has fostered an inclusive culture, with a team that’s stronger than ever. While his role is changing, mine is not,” McCoshen said.
A great start and a great finish
The year 2024 also marks the company’s 30th year in business. Boyer started the firm in February of 1994 with an investment from his mother-in-law. Initially, he sold and supported solely Microsoft Dynamics SL. The business took off quickly, and by October of that same year he had already landed a project for North American Van Lines, a large moving company franchise.
“Getting that client within my first year of business made me realize that this was going to work,” Boyer said. “That was one of my absolute highlights.”
McCoshen has been part of the Boyer team for 26 of the 30 years the Microsoft partner has been in business. She said Jack Boyer has been patient and supportive over the years to not only herself but others as well.
“He is a driven person with an entrepreneurial mindset that is commendable. Though we’re different people, we work well together. … This retirement is well deserved,” she said.
McCoshen was with the company when it added Microsoft Dynamics GP, NAV and 365 Business Central to its selection of Microsoft ERPs.
In December of 2020, the company added a CRM practice to its stable ERP business. That blend of ERP and CRM, combined with a renewed focus on Microsoft-only software, has led to steady growth for the Minneapolis-based company over the last few years.
Boyer is confident he’s leaving the company on an upward trend that will only continue.
“Our 20 percent growth four years in a row and a Microsoft Partner of the Year award feels like a great way to end my run as president,” he added.
New president, same purpose
“I’m truly honored that Jack and the leadership team are trusting me in this role,” Witkop said in an internal meeting announcing the decision. “I’m obviously excited. What Jack has grown with the help of many people over the last 30 years is truly amazing.”
Witkop assured the team that little would change in the company’s overall mission and future goals.
“The thing that’s not changing is our purpose,” he said. Boyer is all about making organizations better, and to that end the Microsoft partner has spent the last year rolling out expanded services for its growing list of clients across the nation. New services include a restructured managed support program, fractional accounting, useful dashboards, integrations and more.
With these changes already in place, Witkop said clients shouldn’t expect to see many big changes when his role changes.
“It’s more a title I would say than any huge change,” he said. “If we do things right, customers should only see benefit.”
What’s next for Microsoft partner
The leadership team is confident that the company will continue its upward trend with Witkop at the helm. In fact, Boyer believes that Witkop is better equipped than himself to take Boyer to the next level of growth.
“When it comes to leading, bringing in a passionate, capable, younger person can be a huge boost to a company, and I believe it will be here,” Boyer said.
He added that the transition has been a year in the making, not a sudden decision. Witkop joined the company’s leadership team in 2020 and his transition into the president role will be finalized on Jan. 1.
As anyone who knows the company’s founder well might guess, Boyer doesn’t plan to go away entirely. Starting in 2024, he will officially relinquish the title of president and continue working part-time as the firm’s founder. He plans to spend more of his free time volunteering at NPH, a Chicago-based organization that runs hospitals and orphanages in nine Latin American countries. Boyer and his wife, Kate, have four god-children through the organization.
“(The company) still has my name on it … It’s still my biggest investment, my fastest-growing investment, and I want to keep it that way,” he said. “This is a high trust move, and I think it’s a really good move.”
