The story of ReasonedPath began long before the company had a name.

While still a college student, Kent Augustine learned a lesson from one of his finance professors that would stay with him throughout his career: sometimes there isn't a right answer or a wrong answer, but there is usually a best answer. The challenge is understanding enough about the situation to find it.

That professor later asked Kent to join his investment firm as an investment and systems advisor. It became Kent's first professional job and, in retrospect, an early version of work he would return to decades later: understanding a problem, bringing together business and technology perspectives, evaluating the alternatives, and helping someone determine the best path forward.

Later, Kent founded Customsoft. Over the next 26 years, building and leading a technology company meant developing products and solutions, serving customers, building teams, adapting to changing technologies and markets, and making countless decisions where there was rarely a single obvious answer. Kent often found himself providing business advice while working with clients on technology solutions. His approach was to understand as much as possible about each client's business, including going where the work was actually being done.

The next chapter took Kent inside state government. At the New Mexico Department of Health, working alongside public-health professionals reinforced the importance of understanding the mission behind the technology. Later, as CIO of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, that lesson became even more tangible. Supporting the New Mexico State Police meant understanding how technology and information affected people doing difficult work in the real world. When the people you serve put on body armor and carry a gun every day, having a mission takes on a whole new meaning. During those years, DPS and the New Mexico State Police implemented some of the most significant technology advances in the department's history. But Kent's focus was always on using technology to make the work of the department more effective.

From the beginning, Kent got out of the office and into the field to better understand the agency. He regularly visited State Police districts across New Mexico, sat with dispatchers, rode with officers working in rural communities, and joined special missions such as nighttime helicopter patrols to see firsthand how technology was used in the field. He was as comfortable visiting the fleet warehouse or forensic laboratory as he was at headquarters. Those experiences reinforced an increasingly important principle: technology, data, processes, and strategies are tools. Their value comes from how well they support the people and mission behind them.

When Kent began thinking about what would come next, his career had almost come full circle. He had been an advisor, an entrepreneur and technology-company leader, a government technology executive, and a public servant. Each role provided a different perspective on how organizations make difficult decisions and turn them into successful outcomes.

Along the way, Kent built an extensive network of professionals across government, technology, public safety, health and human services, and the private sector, including people whose experience and judgment he trusts and with whom he has worked successfully. That network became another important part of what Kent could bring to clients: the ability to draw on trusted professionals and specialized expertise based on the needs of an engagement.

As Kent described the idea for his new company to a longtime colleague and fellow government technology leader, she made an observation that captured what he was trying to build: there are usually multiple paths. Experience, knowledge, and judgment help determine which path makes the most sense for the circumstances.

It echoed the lesson Kent had learned from his finance professor nearly four decades earlier.

That idea became ReasonedPath.

The name reflects how we approach problems: understand the mission, the people, and the circumstances; consider the alternatives; and reason through the paths available. What works for one organization may not be the right answer for another. ReasonedPath brings together Kent's experience and perspective with a network of trusted professionals and specialized expertise to meet the needs of each engagement.

That combination of experience and perspective allows ReasonedPath to help a company executive better understand how a government leader thinks and help a government professional bring a more entrepreneurial perspective to solving problems. We bring those perspectives together to help clients understand their choices and make well-reasoned decisions based on their own mission, challenges, opportunities, and goals.

Because there may be many possible paths, the goal is to find your best path.

Ready to find your best path? Contact us to start a conversation.