PITTSBURGH — The Linc Corporation, an organization of 103 independently-owned franchises and 12 company-owned mechanical service contractors of Linc Service Holdings, has undergone some organizational changes, including naming a new president and taking steps to move away from the financially troubled Enron Corp.

In September 2001, a holding company named ServiceCo Holdings Inc. was formed to coordinate the Linc franchise company (Linc Service Contractor Network), the Linc equity company (Linc Service Holdings), FieldCentrix Inc. (mobile software), Automated Building Systems (airport maintenance), and IPT (software company/call center work).

“A year ago, these companies threw their stock in a common pool and an outside investor put in $50 million to form ServiceCo,” said Judy Johnson, marketing representative for ServiceCo. “The five companies came together with the idea that there was a synergy between them. Tracy Price, the president of FieldCentrix, is also the president of ServiceCo.”

Linc Corp. made the announcement that Scott Giacobbe, formerly a vice president of Linc Service Holdings and vice president and general manager of one of the company-owned businesses, was named president and CEO of Linc Corp. Chuck Davidson, president and CEO of Linc Service Holdings, was named to the board of directors of Linc Corp.

Giacobbe replaced Brad Petzold. Petzold had come to Linc from Enron. Johnson said that Enron has played a role in ServiceCo, but it will soon disappear from the landscape.

“Enron is an investor in ServiceCo Holdings,” Johnson said. “The Enron share is actually being de-invested, and we are quite far along in having someone pick up Enron’s piece of it. ServiceCo is not owned by Enron, nor is it named in the [Enron] bankruptcy.

“It is clearly in the interest of ServiceCo to swap out Enron with someone else as an investor. I expect this to be done [in late January].”

Johnson said that at one time, Enron owned the Linc Service Contractor Network and Linc Service Holdings. “In September 2001, the two Linc companies went into this pool with the other three companies and went from being owned by Enron to being owned by ServiceCo,” she stated. “We all became cousins last year.”

Giacobbe described the reorganization as “a strategy to bring the Linc Corporation and the Linc Service Holdings companies closer in alignment, benefiting from cross-fertilization of ideas and best-in-class business practices. By sharing best practices between our two organizations, and investing together, we will strengthen our competitive advantage.”

Johnson added that the changes have not had a major effect on the contractor membership. “It’s been pretty stable for the last year,” she said. “People are looking forward to switching the investment mix of the company but it is not a direct relationship to them.

“The franchisees are all independent companies themselves and the Linc Corporation provides technology. So it is a pretty far relationship between Enron to ServiceCo to Linc. These are basically mechanical contractors doing their business using Linc to purchase a business model.”

Johnson said there are plans to expand both the franchisee base and the equity company. “We are looking forward to a continued growth for our franchisees — a dynamic ‘measured growth’ year,” she said.

“We are moving ahead with different leadership.”

Publication date: 01/20/2003