Growing the top line will be the top priority for Colin Doherty when he takes over as president and CEO of BTI Systems on Monday.
By Jacob Serebrin.
“I think growing the customer footprint is a really important metric,” he says. “That’s something we’re going to focus in on hard.”
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Mr. Doherty comes to the company, which is based in Ottawa and Boston, a little over three months after the network infrastructure provider raised $27 million in equity funding.
He says that money has the company well positioned to accelerate its research and development so it can provide strong products for both optical and packet networking while expanding its go to market strategy.
While the company’s U.S. market has been strong, Mr. Doherty says there are “a lot of opportunities in the U.S. we haven’t tapped.”
Mr. Doherty says he sees the growing demand for bandwidth and the increasing popularity of cloud computing as good signs for the company, which develops network infrastructure and software to facilitate communication between data centres.
Mr. Doherty comes to BTI from Massachusetts-based Arbor Networks, which sells network security and monitoring software. Mr. Doherty says his experience as CEO of Arbor and his previous experience in the telecoms business – which includes a stint at Nortel – has him prepared for the new role.
“I’m familiar with the customer set,” he says. “I’ve got a lot of experience scaling companies, which I think is really fun.”
Mr. Doherty will replace the company’s outgoing CEO Steven Waszak, who joined the company as its president in 2009. Mr. Waszak is leaving in order to spend more time with his family, said Sally Bament, senior vice-president of Global Marketing at BTI.
She said Mr. Waszak was based out of his home in California and due to BTI’s “key presence in Ottawa and Boston,” had to travel frequently.
Mr. Waszak has “done a tremendous job,” she said.
While Mr. Doherty was coy when asked about the possibility of an IPO, it doesn’t appear likely for the immediate future.
Mr. Doherty said he plans to spend the next two weeks meeting the company’s staff and speaking with key customers.
“It’s a great company with a great foundation of customers,” says Mr. Doherty.
