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Pat Keane
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Company · acquired by Cobalt Service Partners

Piedmont Door Solutions

Founded 2001 in Charlotte, NC by Pat Keane · 10 branches (NC, SC, GA, AL, FL, TX, MD) · sold to Cobalt, Nov 2023

The Charlotte door company that became Cobalt's founding platform

Page as of Sept 28, 2026The sale ↓

Legacy

The founder’s story · from the public record

Pat Keane started Piedmont Door Solutions in Charlotte in 2001 because, as the company tells it, customers in the commercial pedestrian door market were not being served the way they deserved. A commercial entrance has many parts: the door itself and its hardware, the automation, the access and security systems and the emergency egress, and those pieces were split across separate vendors. Piedmont's answer was to put all of them under one roof and give customers a single point of contact. Cobalt company page: Founding Story · Cobalt: Spotlight on Chris Mitchell (Dec 2023)

Keane's other conviction was that people, not products, separate one door company from another. That is the line Chris Mitchell repeats most often. Mitchell had spent 25 years in the industry, starting on a warehouse floor at an automatic door distributor outside Atlanta and working up through regional manufacturers to national companies, when a friend told him Keane was looking for help stepping back from the day to day. He joined in 2015, invested in the business in 2016 and became President and CEO; he describes his first meeting with Keane as 'an absolute dovetail' of a sales background and an entrepreneur's perspective. Alpine Investors: How Piedmont Found the Right Partner (Jun 2025) · Cobalt: Spotlight on Chris Mitchell

By 2023 the company had grown from one Charlotte office to nine locations across the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic, selling several manufacturers' brands without tying itself to any of them. Mitchell's explanation of how Piedmont sells is to listen first: 'We're given two ears and one mouth for a reason.' The customer reviews the company publishes name its own people, including operations manager Jim Adams, and its branch pages promise AAADM-certified technicians and emergency repair on every make of door. Cobalt: Spotlight on Chris Mitchell · Piedmont website: reviews and locations

Cobalt reached out in the summer of 2023. Mitchell says he turned them down the first couple of times and was wary of private equity, but that Cobalt arrived without a fifty-page deck and asked what Piedmont needed to scale. He and Keane sat down with the Cobalt team that summer the way they had sat down together in 2015. Mitchell's stated reason for selling was to avoid ever having to transfer ownership on someone else's terms: he had watched leaders work until they had to retire rather than wanted to, and saw that as a risk to good businesses. Cobalt company page: Why Cobalt? · Alpine Investors story (Jun 2025)

The deal closed in November 2023 and was announced on December 6 as the launch of Cobalt itself, with Piedmont as its first company. Keane said he felt 'tremendous pride' in 22 years and gratitude that Piedmont's legacy would live on; Mitchell stayed as CEO, Tarrell Graham was promoted to COO and Keith Mehltretter and Jim Adams to regional vice presidents. Eighteen months later Mitchell had moved to a strategic advisor role on Cobalt's platform, helping with M&A and go-to-market for new companies, and Cobalt's team page lists Roger Costa as Piedmont's CEO. Cobalt launch announcement (Dec 6, 2023) · Alpine Investors story (Jun 2025) · Cobalt: Our Team

The team

The people who built it

Piedmont's own site has no team page. The people it names publicly are the founder and seller-side CEO, the three managers promoted at close (Graham, Mehltretter, Adams), technicians and staff thanked in customer reviews (Jim Adams, Chip), and the CEO Cobalt now lists.

Chris Mitchell, President and CEO of Piedmont at the sale (Cobalt spotlight)
Chris Mitchell, President and CEO of Piedmont at the sale (Cobalt spotlight) · source
Piedmont and Cobalt group photo from the launch announcement
Piedmont and Cobalt group photo from the launch announcement · source
Piedmont headquarters, Charlotte (Cobalt company page)
Piedmont headquarters, Charlotte (Cobalt company page) · source
Piedmont service trucks (company About page)
Piedmont service trucks (company About page) · source
Header image from Alpine's Piedmont story
Header image from Alpine's Piedmont story · source

In the community

What they gave back · on the record
  • Piedmont exhibits at hospital-engineering, data-center and fitness-industry shows: NCHEA in Winston-Salem (Aug 2025), Data Center World in Washington, DC (Apr 2025) and the HFA Show in Las Vegas (Mar 2025). Piedmont events page
  • A nonprofit customer's published review credits Piedmont with working within its budget on an installation and returning for later service; another thanks the company for waiving a service fee. Piedmont homepage reviews
  • Chris Mitchell says Cobalt built a technician 'bullpen' recruiting process with Piedmont after the sale, and that there have been a number of internal promotions since the transaction. Alpine Investors story (Jun 2025)

In their words

6 public statements by the founder and team
  • 2023-12-06
    Alpine Investors Launches Cobalt Service Partners press
    Chris Mitchell; Pat Keane; Tyler Hoffman; Anthony Gonzalez · cobaltsp.com; also Business Wire, Alpine newsroom, SDM, SSI, Locksmith Ledger, The Middle Market · Launch release. Quotes Mitchell ('go faster and bigger than we ever imagined') and founder Pat Keane ('tremendous pride in what we've accomplished over the past 22 years'). Names the three promotions and Cobalt's Co-CEOs.
  • 2023-12-06
    Spotlight on Chris Mitchell, President and CEO of Piedmont essay
    Chris Mitchell · cobaltsp.com (News & Insights) · First-person essay with portrait: Keane's founding idea, Mitchell joining in 2015, growth to nine locations, the 'two ears and one mouth' sales philosophy, why he did not want ownership to transfer on someone else's terms, and what set Cobalt's pitch apart.
  • 2023
    Founding Story / Why Cobalt? (Piedmont Door Solutions page) post
    Chris Mitchell · cobaltsp.com (Our Companies) · Two short statements signed 'Chris Mitchell, Co-Owner (2015 - Present)': the one-stop-shop idea behind the 2001 founding and the summer 2023 conversations with Cobalt aimed at preserving 'the Piedmont product and people for generations to come'.
  • 2025-06-20
    How Piedmont Door Solutions Found the Right Partner in Cobalt interview
    Chris Mitchell · Alpine Investors, Stories (with embedded video) · Interview-based story plus video: Mitchell's warehouse-floor start, turning Cobalt down twice, the no-slide-deck conversation, technician recruiting help, 25%+ technician growth and record revenue in year one, and his move from CEO to Strategic Advisor working with Cobalt's M&A team.
  • 2023-12-13
    PE Firm Launches Access Control Platform, Buys Piedmont Door Solutions press
    Chris Mitchell; Pat Keane · SDM Magazine · Trade-press pickup of the launch release with the Mitchell and Keane quotes.
  • 2023-12
    Kirkland Counsels Alpine Investors on Launch of Cobalt Platform and Acquisition of Piedmont Door Solutions press
    Kirkland & Ellis · Kirkland & Ellis · Buyer's counsel release: Kirkland advised Alpine and Cobalt; terms not disclosed.

Founder Q&A

In their own words · by email · published with permission

We’d like Pat Keane to tell this story in their own words. Ran this company, or built it alongside the founder? Ten questions by email, answered at your pace, published only with your OK.

The sale

As both sides told it · on the public record
Announced Dec 6, 2023 By Alpine Investors and Cobalt (Business Wire) Deal #1 (founding) for Cobalt Service Partners Founder role after close not stated Business Wire, Dec 6, 2023
What Cobalt Service Partners said

Alpine announced Cobalt's launch on December 6, 2023 with Piedmont as the founding acquisition, describing it as a premier provider of commercial doors and entrance solutions with locations across the Southeast, Southwest and Mid-Atlantic. Mitchell would continue as CEO; Graham, Mehltretter and Adams were promoted. Hoffman and Gonzalez said they wanted to offer founders 'a long-term home' and support blue-collar workers. Cobalt's company page dates the acquisition to November 2023.

Announcement
What the founder said

Founder Pat Keane said he felt tremendous pride in 22 years and gratitude that Piedmont's legacy would live on, and was excited by the possibility of its model expanding nationwide. Chris Mitchell said the partnership let Piedmont 'go faster and bigger' and secured its future for generations; in his essay and later interview he said he sold so that ownership would never have to change on someone else's terms, and chose Cobalt because it listened rather than pitched.

Source

Terms on the record: Nothing public. Kirkland & Ellis states terms were not disclosed. No price, structure, rollover or earn-out published. Advisors: Buyer: Kirkland & Ellis (corporate partner Brice Lipman leading) for Alpine and Cobalt. Seller: none named.

What happened after

Public signals since the sale · dated
  • 2023-11
    Close (Cobalt company page: 'Acquisition Date: November 2023'); announced Dec 6, 2023 as the launch of Cobalt Service Partners. source
  • 2023-12-06
    Cobalt publishes the Chris Mitchell spotlight essay and portrait; Tarrell Graham named COO, Keith Mehltretter and Jim Adams named Regional VPs. source
  • 2024-12 to 2025-03
    Piedmont starts a monthly blog (optical turnstiles, touchless devices, ADA doors, automatic vs manual) and lists 2025 trade shows on an events page. source
  • 2025-06-20
    Alpine story reports Mitchell has moved from CEO to Strategic Advisor on the Cobalt platform, and that Piedmont grew technicians by over 25% and revenue at a record rate in the first year after the sale. source
  • 2026-09-28
    Cobalt's team page lists Roger Costa as 'CEO, Piedmont Door Solutions' (25+ years leading industrial businesses); no announcement of his appointment was found. Mitchell does not appear on the team page. source
  • 2026-09-28
    Company site lists ten location pages including Dallas (Mesquite, TX) and Baltimore/DC (Columbia, MD) with a rebuilt branch-page template; the About page text still says 'seven locations' while listing eight cities. The site does not mention Cobalt. source

Then and now

Founder and leadership
Pat Keane
Founder (2001); stepped back from day-to-day operations around 2015
Left Quoted in the launch release; no role after the sale published source
Chris Mitchell
President and CEO; co-owner since 2015/2016
Stayed Strategic Advisor on the Cobalt platform, working with the M&A team on go-to-market for acquired businesses (Alpine, June 2025); no longer on Cobalt's team page as of Sept 2026 source
Tarrell Graham
Promoted to Chief Operating Officer at close
Now source
Keith Mehltretter
Promoted to Regional Vice President at close
Now source
Jim Adams
Operations manager (named in a customer review); promoted to Regional Vice President at close
Now source
Roger Costa
Now CEO, Piedmont Door Solutions (Cobalt team page, Sept 2026) source

Companies Cobalt Service Partners also bought

20 on the public record

All 21 transactions →

Sources

Everything above, dated Sept 28, 2026

Unverified at publish: No photograph of founder Pat Keane exists on any permitted source (hero photo is seller-side CEO Chris Mitchell); when Roger Costa became CEO and whether Mitchell is still an advisor after June 2025; whether the Dallas and Baltimore/DC branches were added after the sale (image files date from mid-2023, before close); employee count (never published); Glassdoor and Google ratings (not fetchable).