Here’s a multiple choice (*chat room) questionnaire for you – ‘scaling up‘ and ‘rapid growth phase‘ as Rick Engels is quoted as saying in the BroadSign [1] press release below is: –
- Orwellian doublespeak for laying off large chunks of staff
- Positive spin ahead of potentially losing your biggest customer
- Another way of describing that your major investor is now in jail
Answers on a postcard please!!!
The SaaS Provider Hires a Finance Expert to Help Handle Growing Operations Volume
MONTREAL, CANADA, November 05, 2008 – BroadSign International Inc., a worldwide provider of “Software as a Service” (SaaS) solutions for managing digital out-of-home networks, has appointed David Steichen as Chief Financial Officer.
David Steichen has a vast expertise in building world-class finance, accounting, and human resources organizations via streamlining financial reporting controls and corporate governance processes. His other areas of expertise include strategic international tax planning, internal audit and accounting.
Prior to joining BroadSign Mr. Steichen served as Chief Financial Officer of Analysts International Corporation, (NASDAQ – ANLY) a $400-million technology services firm based in Minnesota, where he was responsible for bringing the company into compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, as well as conducting due diligence and integrating multiple acquisitions. Before Analysts International, Mr. Steichen had held various managerial positions at Deloitte & Touche, where he spent 13 years assisting clients with completing public company filings with the SEC.
“David’s skills, experience and energy are indispensable for BroadSign, as we are going through a rapid growth phase,” said Rick Engels, President and CEO of BroadSign International. “We are scaling up the organizational infrastructure and enhancing business processes, and David is the right specialist to oversee this job.”
David Steichen looks like a solid guy [2] with almost 8 years at Analysts International and 13 years before that at Deloitte & Touche.
He’s not that new on the scene with BroadSign though. David left Analysts International in March when that company’s newly appointed CEO wanted to bring in his own people (not an issue and quite common at the CxO level).
It’s likely that David has actually been working for BroadSign for some time (maybe not as an employee but definitely involved) – we noticed for example that Rick Engels was parading David around back in June at InfoComm, in Las Vegas.
We suspect that this announcement had a lot to do with shoring up its reputation – after all appointing a CFO at any other time would be seen as a sign of strength.
*chat room
If you want a laugh then read the AKA COMMENT over on aka.tv [3], we quote…
“There has been lots of chat-room gossip regarding BroadSign’s market position – and this statement serves to show that the company is still moving forward with purpose. This hire looks likely to be attractive to external funders, and may well be the precursor to more positive announcements in the coming weeks”
Note to aka.tv – BroadSign don’t sponsor you or pay for adverts on your site anymore (even though you seem to have kept all their ads running) so you don’t need to be especially nice to them! The simple appointment of a CFO, albeit most probably quite a good one, will not end their troubles as quickly as you make out. Any new investors that BroadSign might court are going to be very wary of getting sucked into the Petters debacle. Like it or not lawsuits in the US have a habit of following the money!