Re: Peet: He was behind one of the province's largest tech deals and now entrepreneur Greg Peet is sharing his experience and insights with a host of prominent biotech companies
Mission: To be involved with companies that are dynamic and growing and making a contribution to society. Assets: Decades of executive experience in B.C.’s tech industry Yield: One of the largest all-cash technology acquisitions in B.C. history
 By Andrew Petrozzi
For most entrepreneurs, delivering a suitable encore to brokering one of B.C.’s largest tech deals would be a challenge, but for tech entrepreneur Greg Peet, 53, the choice was obvious. “I have to acknowledge I told my wife an untruth, which was that I intended to retire, but I obviously didn’t,” said Peet, smiling graciously, his black jacket falling open to reveal a black shirt, dark gray and black cross-hatched pants; his low-profile black wrist watch and black eyeglass frames offsetting sharp blue eyes and closely cropped grey hair. Peet is co-chairman of the Premier’s Technology Council, which was established by B.C. premier Gordon Campbell in 2001, and an independent director of five tech companies, including Vigil Health Solutions Inc. (TSX:VGL), Optimal Geomatics (TSX-V:OPG) and Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX:ANP). Along with MDS Labs founder and chairman Don Rix and former Creo Inc. CEO Amos Michelson, he’s also involved financially and strategically in cancer survivorship data management firm Cogent Health Solutions. He remains, in short, a busy man. “It’s not the same as being a CEO,” Peet said of his current boardroom responsibilities. “To use a sports analogy, a CEO is a player. And as a director you’re more of a coach. That takes some adjusting to when you’re used to playing, but as long as the management team [is] interested in your ideas, it’s still very worthwhile.” Sitting serenely and straight backed in the B.C. Technology Industry Association (BCTIA) boardroom, Peet seems wary of the attention his most recent accolades of being named the 2007 BCTIA Person of the Year have attracted. He was previously feted with the 2002 Ernst & Young Pacific Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year Award. They’re nice tributes in an extraordinary career, but they pale in comparison with the media frenzy created by the July 2002 sale of Vancouver-based medical imaging management system supplier A.L.I. Technologies Inc. to IT giant McKesson Corp. (NYSE:MCK) in a $526 million cash deal. After serving in executive posts at Enterprise Technologies Corp. and Norsat International (TSX:NII), Peet joined A.L.I. in 1993 and became president and CEO. A.L.I. grew rapidly from an R&D company with 14 employees to become an industry-leading commercial enterprise with hundreds of employees and annual revenue in excess of US$100 million when it was sold in 2002. “The optimism I had then about how easy it was going to be was probably a little bit of hubris,” reminisced Peet while perusing a September 1999 BIV article on A.L.I. “In 1999 and 2000, we had a very difficult time penetrating the market.” But persistence paid off as A.L.I. wagered that companies involved in medical imaging management systems would be the interface between huge medical device manufacturers like GE Healthcare and medical informatics companies like McKesson. Besides having an excellent product, A.L.I.’s emphasis on customer support and service held it in good stead with clients, despite some initial difficulties. That proved to be a key selling point for McKesson. It also resulted in A.L.I. being named one B.C.’s best employers and earned it recognition as having the top-rated medical imaging product in most industry surveys from 2002 to 2004. Peet said that focusing on support and service is an area where small companies can compete with and out-duel their larger counterparts. After A.L.I.’s acquisition, he was named vice-president and general manager of McKesson’s Medical Imaging Group (MIG). He held the post for two years while he oversaw the companies’ integration and named a successor. After “retiring” from MIG in June 2004, Peet, a Duncan, B.C., boy was free to pursue other interests, including spending more time with his wife and 22-year-old daughter and improving his golf game. But the avid golfer with a nine handicap was not ready to walk away from corporate life. His abilities to work at the detailed and higher corporate strategic levels and chart how five-year business plans affect a company’s day-to-day operations and planning were just too valuable to retire. “Intuition is the result of exceptional knowledge of all the details,” Peet said. While Peet freely admits he’d rather be a player than a coach, he was no longer willing to invest the time and energy needed to be a full-time player. “I reached the point in life where I don’t want to do that,” he said. “Given what I want to do with my life, coaching and helping others get along is the next best thing.” Peet’s business philosophy is built on the belief that integrity always gets repaid. The ranking in importance of his core business priorities reveals the extent to which Peet has taken the lesson to heart: • Measure customer satisfaction: “If you’re not creating a product that solves a problem or creates satisfaction you’re not going to be around.” • Employee satisfaction: “The quality of your people is key. If you don’t have good and stable employees you can’t achieve great customer satisfaction.” • Integrity: “Do what you say at every level of the business. It has a dimension of integrity and high morality about the way you do business which always pays off.” • Financial performance: “If you do all of the first three things well, then the fourth usually comes.” As for business advice, Peet is quick to respond. “Don’t procrastinate. The worst mistake is no decision. Whether it’s right or wrong, make a decision, follow up on it and correct if necessary. Don’t wait.” Peet sees technology playing an important role in the province’s economic fortunes. He describes a “third wave” of B.C. technology companies on the horizon. While the first wave of B.C. tech companies were bought and swallowed in deals like Motorola Inc.’s $105 million acquisition of MDI Mobile Data International Inc. in 1988, subsequent second wave acquisitions of companies such as Creo and A.L.I. created global centres of excellence that not only remained in Vancouver but have also prospered. The third wave, according to Peet, will feature technology companies with senior management capable of running larger enterprises, which will form the next generation of corporate head offices in Vancouver. People who work with Peet praise his corporate acumen. “In my opinion, working with Greg is better than any MBA program out there,” said Vigil president Troy Griffiths. “As our chairman, I’ve leaned on him for guidance on all aspects of what we do and credit him with influencing and guiding most of the important programs we have implemented.” Griffiths describes Peet as smart, tough and honest. It’s an assessment Peet would agree with: “I don’t think you could find anyone that would tell you that I lack opinions,” he said with a chuckle. “And I’m not shy about exercising a CEO’s decision-making authority where appropriate.” And what are his thoughts on being named the BCTIA person of the year for 2007? “It wasn’t a lifetime achievement award, so it isn’t over yet.” •
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Photo: Dominic Schaefer From Business in Vancouver #926, July 24-30, 2007 |
