my reponse

I am starting a new thread because I have to - the rule that I can't post on the same thread as Pinto still applies.  Further there are a couple of interconnected matters to which I want to respond.  The first about Nick's departure and the second about the Board.

It has been interesting to watch hotcopper over the last couple of days.

Of course I wish Nick well.  I acknowledge that he made Alexium highly visible and that his drive and energy made a difference.  There can be no doubt that this last eighteen months must have been terribly hard for him.  I have a friend who lost her husband when their children were about the same age as Nick's and I walked beside her through the stresses, the challenges and the heartache that caused while she held a highly public CEO role.  I would imagine that it hasn’t been much different for Nick and whatever else has been going on for him I hope he finds peace and happiness, is able to come to terms with the situation he now finds himself in and is able to forge a new path for himself in due course.  I may write more on this in time – but it is not necessary for now.

I sincerely believe that we have no reason to fear the future of the business however.   We saw very clearly in Sydney that Dirk has a good handle on the business. I believe that I also saw a man who is straight - who is not playing at business and who is not going to make unrealistic predictions for the sake of the share price.  He might be a chemical engineer but his instincts lie more clearly with the role which he now occupies - though I am also pretty happy to have a guy who has patents to his name as the CEO.

On reflection anyway if you think about the way roles have worked, Dirk has most likely been responsible for operational performance for some time.   When Nick moved to Washington we were told over and over again that Nick’s focus was on what went on in Washington and “external matters”.  I’ve been in plenty of organisations where that split happens – the COO is the one who actually runs the business and the CEO sort of takes the glory.

That said I think we have seen enough of Nick to be justified in thinking he would have kept some sort of grip on operational matters, communication and strategy and that Dirk did not have a free hand.  For example the goal to generate revenue regardless of margins seems more like Nick than Dirk.

So now Dirk has the free hand he needs and I think that is a good thing.  I am assuming that Gavin will not have enough of a detailed understanding for what makes this business tick to try to direct it – and in any case I don’t think that is his nature.  That is probably a good thing.  We will need to bide our time to see how that plays out and I am prepared to give it time.  I am expecting there are a few things that will need settling down – the board, Dirk being given a chance to build a relationship with the board (and he is not on it) and any reworking of the strategy or its execution.

We saw that Bob understands very clearly what he is doing and what possibilities there are for his magical chemistry.   We also saw, I believe, a man who is loyal and committed and has worked incredibly hard for the business.  Those of us who read some of the emails in the Susta case will guess that at times he worked under considerable provocation - so I'm guessing he stayed because he believed in what he was doing and he cared. I'm grateful to him for that and I look forward to many more productive years from him and the creation of a world beating  team of alchemists. I hope that he too thrives as the future unfolds.

I've said often enough that it was time for change.  The range of reasons for this do not need to be listed though there are probably a few out there who know.  As for all businesses what we need is good business practice, a relentless drive for excellence and high performance, integrity, a drive for fact based decision making and outstanding relationships with the range of investors who can make a difference to our reputation.

Sure there might be some changes with Nick gone.  But somehow I'm expecting to see those changes to be just fine.  I await the future with a sense of optimism that I had lost more recently.

oh and while we are about it - let's not allow those dam bots and any doubt become a self fulfilling prophecy.  - that's not advice just my glorious plea to the universe.

Parsifal