Earlier this week, Commercial Integrator exclusively broke the news that G Paul Hess is succeeding Randy Stearns as CEO of D-Tools, completing a long-planned leadership succession.
Here, we offer an exclusive in-depth interview with both outgoing CEO Stearns and incoming CEO Hess. In it, Stearns reflects on his tenure and legacy at the organization, while also sharing insight into why now is the ideal time for him to “downshift.” Hess, meanwhile, traces his own history benefiting from D-Tools solutions as an integrator. Plus, he offers a glimpse at his strategic priorities and opines on how D-Tools is poised to even further accelerate its growth.
If you have any questions about the planned leadership succession that saw Randy Stearns downshift and G Paul Hess take the reins at D-Tools, this exclusive interview has all the answers. We hope you enjoy this candid conversation.
Commercial Integrator: Randy, I’d like you to reflect on your tenure as CEO of D-Tools and think about some of the things you’re most proud of, relative to the company’s growth and its transformation over the past decade. Once you downshift and you’re not as involved day-to-day, what are you going to look back on and say, “I’m really proud of that”?
Randy Stearns: First, I’ll start by saying that my 10 years at D-Tools have been an amazing journey — probably the favorite part of my career. I love the company, the team, the product, and the mission! It’s been challenging, exhilarating, and rewarding.
Randy Stearns calls his 10 years at D-Tools an amazing journey and perhaps his favorite part of his storied career. Photo courtesy of D-Tools.
Looking back, when I walked through the door of D-Tools 10 years ago, the company had so much going for it even back then: really strong market awareness, dominant in terms of market share, a strong and passionate team, and a remarkable track record of financial success. The company had been profitable for forty-some-odd straight months. The executive team had been in place and working together for 10 years when I showed up.
Randy Stearns on D-Tools’ Transformative Journey
I’m proud that I found a way to retain all those critical components of their past success while taking the company through a transformative journey, which included changing the business model, expanding the team, launching new products and programs, and more. I am also proud of the outstanding growth D-Tools experienced — over 20% year-over-year growth over the course of 10 years. Expanding the product portfolio is one of the things I’ve really enjoyed — not only building on SI, but launching D-Tools Cloud and the outstanding success it has had in the marketplace, and the launch of our industry information and insights (I3) program and the impact that program is having on the industry is super exciting, as well. So, looking back — just great memories with the team and great accomplishments by the team — all building on Adam Stone’s legacy.
Commercial Integrator: It’s quite a legacy! So, G Paul, I’d like to know what excites you most about stepping into the CEO role at D-Tools and any immediate priorities you might want to tick off as this next chapter in D-Tools’ history begins.
G Paul Hess: I started in this industry — in the mid-’90s — as an integrator. I was one of the first users of D-Tools, and D-Tools is the tool that enabled me to properly quote, bid and document projects and beat my competition on some really incredible projects. That professionalism and the data accessibility I had allowed me to do that. So, I credit D-Tools with my early success as an integrator and on biggest projects I was able to complete. It’s full circle: I was an integrator; I was a very early user; and I’ve had the good fortune to work through the manufacturing side since then. What excites me is, number one, I’m a product of this industry. I’ve been in this industry my whole career — even predating my exit from business school, going back to my high school and college years. I have such a high passion for the industry, for the products and for the integrators in this industry. D-Tools has such an incredible legacy, and it has been on an incredible growth trajectory. So, I’m very fortunate to join a company that already has so many great things going for it. My number one job and goal here is to help accelerate that even faster than the great growth that the team has already delivered for the company.
Commercial Integrator: Randy, I’d like to shift over to talking about the factors that led you to decide that now is the right time to step back from the day-to-day CEO role. Obviously, the company is experiencing a renaissance right now…tremendously successful. What makes you say now is the time to step away, or at least backshift a little bit and hand the baton to G Paul?
Randy Stearns: Three things contributed to this feeling like the right time to step away from the business. The first is simply my personal situation and interest in other life pursuits. I’m at an age and stage of my career where I’ve been running businesses for 32 years. While exciting and exhilarating, that can also be exhausting. And, at some point, it’s just time to take a step back and pursue a less rigorous pace. I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard for a long time. I look forward to spending more time with my 8-year-old daughter and having a little more freedom in my day-to-day life than I have historically. That’s more on the personal side.
Randy Stearns: G Paul Hess Ideal to Take D-Tools to Next Phase of Growth
From a market-timing standpoint, as it relates to D-Tools, with the recent capital infusion into the business, with AI having the impact that it’s having in the software industry, moving the ground constantly underneath our feet, there are opportunities and threats abound. It is critical that we seize those opportunities in the right and best way, and I feel like someone who has more fire in their belly and energy might be better equipped to take the company through this next phase of growth and innovation. G Paul is a great choice for doing just that.
The other timing element is probably less important to this conversation, but it relates to the time of year — having completed the 2026 planning and sharing the plan with the team, having budgets are in place, and departmental kick-offs complete, team members have a good path to run on. This creates a bit of space in the calendar to transition more smoothly.
So, I think those are all three contributors to the timing of this transition.
Commercial Integrator: G Paul, you’re probably not going to be able to give away too many specific strategies or initiatives that you have in the pipeline or that you’re planning, but can you give us any kind of insight or preview about how you’re hoping to enhance D-Tools’ value proposition for channel stakeholders who have depended on it for so many years, just like you have?
G Paul Hess: Randy touched on it: AI is the buzzword. Every manufacturer, every company, is looking for some way to attach AI to their name or their business, but it truly is a turning point in technology. My job is to empower the team and to accelerate the growth and the investments so we can continue on our incredible growth trajectory.
For G Paul Hess, the question is how D-Tools can move even faster than the fast pace the company’s already been on. Photo courtesy of D-Tools.
G Paul Hess: AI is Going to Be a Big Part of Things
And AI is going to be a big part of that in both ways. It’s a part of how we do business internally, the processes and the tools that we use, but also, of course, for the integrators and how they use AI to be successful with our tools. The strategy and the roadmap the team has built have set our direction. The question is just — how do we move even faster than the fast pace the company’s already been on?
Commercial Integrator: Randy, I know that you are going to be staying on in a strategic advisory role. Do you want to talk a little bit about the nuts and bolts of the transition and what that role of yours will entail to ensure a smooth handoff and a full, smooth transition to G Paul?
Randy Stearns: It’s a fluid and evolving situation, but I’ll remain involved in different capacities. Most importantly, I will help ensure a smooth, efficient and orderly transition – everything from strategic pillars to the many subtleties inherent in any business like this. We’ve been working through a lot of that over the past weeks, and we’ll continue to do so in the months ahead.
Commercial Integrator: G Paul, I’m interested in how you intend to balance the company’s current momentum — I alluded to it being a fast-growing, highly successful company — with exploring some fresh new opportunities for innovation and growth. It’s about taking something already very strong, with strong DNA, but not being afraid to go in fresh directions. How are you going to balance those?
G Paul Hess: Absolutely — AI is going to be a big part of that, clearly. I’ve been fortunate to have various roles throughout the company, but product is a strong background: leading software teams and platform teams. So, I plan to utilize some of that experience to help with the acceleration. We’ll always be true to the core of who we are, but we’ll also continue to explore market expansion and how our tool aligns with very adjacent markets that will definitely benefit from what we bring to the table. It’s been very clear that integrators have always looked for a tool — just like I did 20-some-odd years ago — to help them streamline their business, improve their workflows, move quicker on proposals and make sure they’re getting to the right proposal number, including labor and all their parts and pieces. It’s such an integral tool. The proposal is the basic economic building block of the industry — everything starts with the proposal to getting the project, and that’s what D-Tools brings to the table. The vision is accelerating our progress and then expanding into the markets where we have incredible opportunities.
Commercial Integrator: Randy, I’m curious, what you see as both the biggest opportunities and the biggest challenges for D-Tools, how it might change in the future and why you think G Paul is so uniquely positioned as an individual and as a leader to address that landscape ahead.
Randy Stearns: What I would say is that product is at the root of this company and its success. Obviously, the people are mission critical, and they mean the world to us and bring this company forward, but, at the end of the day, when the market is looking at D-Tools, they’re thinking about product. And G Paul is way more of a product guy and technologist than I ever have been or ever will be. I think that’s really important for D-Tools as we think about the path forward. There’s a tremendous opportunity to complete the build-out of the ultimate end-to-end software solution that we’ve made good headway toward. I think his imprint on that product — the rate and method of development, and the ultimate solution he’ll bring to market — will turn the heads of the industry and allow us to be that much more dominant in the market than we are even today.
Commercial Integrator: Randy, you’ve said lots of complimentary — and duly so — things about G Paul as a technologist and a leader. That said, did you give him any advice or any guiding principles or words of wisdom as you’re passing the helm of D-Tools to him?
Randy Stearns: We’ve had many conversations and, honestly, I think G Paul is already completely aligned on the principles critical to this business’s success. One thing G Paul excels at is listening and fully hearing what’s coming from the market and employees, and responding in kind. D-Tools has always craved input from our customers, taken the time to understand their needs, and acting on them accordingly. G Paul is wired that way. So, there was nothing I needed to pass on from that perspective — it’s already in his DNA.
Commercial Integrator: G Paul, anytime there’s a leadership transition, there could be questions from the channel: How is this going to affect client relationships? How will this affect partner relationships? Any message you’d share that we can convey to D-Tools clients and your partners about the company’s direction, your vision for the future and how bright D-Tools’ future is under your leadership?
G Paul Hess: Randy just touched on it. I the number one message is, “continue with the feedback.” Our job is to make our integrators’ lives more efficient and provide a tool that fits their workflow and enables them to be successful. As Randy said, the culture of the company is very strong. It’s one that has thrived on feedback from the industry and worked with integrators as partners, and there will be even more of that. I want to continue to invest in that and make sure we’re at the forefront of listening and also pushing the technology to deliver what this industry needs to help integrators to be successful. There’s a reason that the top integrators choose D-Tools, and we will continue to make sure we stay at the top of that list with the incredible team we have, partners we have, and the investments we are making to do so.
Commercial Integrator: Any closing thoughts?
Randy Stearns: Dan, we’re super excited. The conversation with the team today went really well. I think G Paul’s introduction was very well received, and the team is excited about the path forward and the energy, experience, and fresh perspective he will bring. So, things are starting out on a really good foot.
G Paul Hess: Randy Stearns Will Be a Very Strong Partner
G Paul Hess: I think we should also highlight — and hopefully you’re picking it up here — that even though we’re sitting in different offices, only because we wanted the technology to work well for asking questions, we’ve had a longstanding industry relationship and have worked extremely well together. Randy will be a very strong partner in my onboarding and my learning about the company. He’s the subject-matter expert; he’s been the passion, the wave, the banner of the company. So, having a partner to help me accelerate my onboarding into that role will be great. I look forward to working with him. As I said in the meeting with the team earlier today, just congratulations and thanks for what a great position he has put the company in for us to continue this growth trajectory.
