Forty Years In: The Story Behind Prosource and Vitis Technologies

Forty years ago, Dave Russert and Ted Cook shook hands and launched a small operation called Cincinnati Copiers. Every morning, they loaded copiers into their vehicles and cold-called on area businesses. They didn’t stop for the day until they sold every machine.

“I knew if we didn’t sell [machines], the company was going to fail. Well, guess what? I wasn’t going to let it fail,” Ted recalls.

Stubborn determination wasn’t the only principle Dave and Ted insisted on. From day one, they set a standard that had nothing to do with copiers. Dave still gets a fire in his eyes when he talks about it.

“I wanted to make sure we were always very honest with the customer and with our associates,” Dave says. “I wanted honesty, and I wanted to provide great service, and that’s what we did.”

Over the years, Cincinnati Copiers became ProCopy. ProCopy became Prosource. Along the way, the company grew from two guys and a truck full of machines into a family of businesses, with Vitis Technologies now carrying that same commitment into managed IT and cybersecurity.

But the values Dave and Ted planted in the 1980s still run the company today: do right, show up, take care.

A second generation learns by walking the floor

When Ben Russert, Dave’s son, started working alongside his father, he made a deliberate choice. In the office, he didn’t call him Dad. He called him Dave.

“I didn’t want to be viewed as ‘special’ just because I was the owner’s son,” Ben says. “I showed up early, and I went home late.” Every day, he walked the office, getting to know all the associates. It was more than a habit, too. Ben really cares about the people who work for Prosource and for the customers we serve.

This perspective became a philosophy: hire people who want to solve problems, train them to do it well, and trust them to care about customers.

“We hire for, and we train for, and we develop our associates to be problem solvers,” he says. “Throughout this organization, we want to help fix problems and deliver an exceptional experience for our customers.”

A third generation modernizes without losing the roots

That passion for service now includes Ben’s son, Benny, who is helping lead Prosource into its next chapter.

“Technology has really forced us to change,” Benny says, pointing to how much the print and copier business has evolved and how rapidly the Vitis Technologies side of the company has to move to keep pace. “The industry that we’re in certainly pushes us to modernize, not every year but every month and every day.”

But Benny is careful about how that modernization happens. “Companies sometimes modernize too quickly, and they can lose their core values,” he says.

He explains that the core values of honesty and great service passed from his grandfather to his father, and now from his father to him.

When it comes to running a family business, all three have been intentional about balancing business and personal. “I think we do a fantastic job of that balance, which is why most people in the office have never heard me refer to Ben as ‘Dad,’ but instead, as Ben,” Benny notes.

It’s a small detail that says a lot about how this company works: it is family-run, but the business comes first. Together, we own what we do and the outcomes people are looking for, and we deliver with pride.

Building the next forty years

Dave and Ted summarize their view of what they’ve built together this way: “What we did was plant the tree, and we nurtured the tree. But now the tree is a huge oak, and all it can do is just keep growing.”

Forty years in, the company they started with a truck full of copiers now spans office technology, managed print, and IT services across two brands, four states, and eight offices.

“I’m super proud of the business we’ve built, the legacy that’s been laid, and the founding principles that we have maintained,” Benny says. “We’re a modern workforce, with team members who are willing to collaborate and who value our culture and the principles that this business was founded on. Ultimately, as we think about Prosource and Vitis forty years from now, we’re all creating a legacy together.”

Two founders sold copiers out of a truck and refused to let the company fail. Two more generations have kept the same commitment to honesty, service, and people, while building something bigger than any one of them could have on their own. Forty years later, that’s still the story: do right, show up, take care, and keep planting trees for the people who’ll one day stand in their shade.