Lason lives; New owners help company escape troubled past; higher sales expected, acquisitions possible.(Ron Risher)

Byline: Brent Snavely

Ron Risher joined Troy-based Lason Inc. five years ago when the company's future was about as bleak as it gets.

Lason was facing massive debt, an accounting scandal and a shareholder lawsuit. But even then Risher saw signs of hope.

"It was easy to be down,'' said Risher, who joined Lason as CFO before becoming president and CEO in 2001. "But there was a lot of talent in this company and a number of businesses Lason bought had a great customer base.''

Risher believed the document- and data-management company could survive if it kept its middle managers and retained its customers.

He turned out to be right. After devising a new business plan, emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and settling a shareholder lawsuit, Lason is back.

This year, Lason is poised to increase its annual sales for the first time in seven years and is even on the hunt for acquisitions.

Lason has also received an infusion of money from New York City-based Charterhouse Group Inc., a private equity fund that bought the company last August.

"The management team has done a good job of saving a company that most people would have bet could not have been saved,'' said Chris Garcia, a principal at Charterhouse and chairman of Charter Lason Inc., a holding company for Lason.

The dark years

Surviving wasn't easy. In the late 1990s, Lason made several dozen acquisitions that took annual sales from $46.6 million in 1995 to nearly a half-billion dollars by 1999.

But Lason did little to integrate those companies. Debt from the acquisitions eventually caused Lason to fall behind on …