Jennifer McNeill grew up in Alabama, built and sold software businesses in Calgary, and now lives part of the year in Las Vegas. It's a background that allows rare insight into business on both sides of the 49th parallel. Ms. McNeill, a dual citizen at age 54, is still managing her software company CipherSoft Inc. of Calgary, even though it is now owned by Unify Corp. of Sacramento. Recently, she shared her thoughts after a speech to the Women's Executive Network in Calgary.
What did you tell those Canadian executives?
They should be looking at the global opportunities rather than staying in the box. Canadian organizations sometimes hold themselves back because they lack the confidence of American companies.
In fact, at CipherSoft, we sell software in 52 countries and most people in those countries would prefer to deal with Canadians because we have a better way of dealing with people. Yet most Canadian companies don't know that.
Why do we limit ourselves?
Canadians are taught to have humility which to me is their most endearing quality. But they have this lack of confidence when comparing themselves to U.S. businesses.
Even after the U.S. financial and housing meltdown?
It is ingrained in personality. If I am working with a U.S. business person who is talking about their company, the sky is the limit for them. They are going to do whatever it takes to get wherever they need to go. But when you are dealing with Canadians, they may say, "Well, I made $200,000 last year. I got to travel, and I'm going to the beach. In the winter months I spend two to three months in Phoenix, so I am completely happy.'
The hunger is not there - which is not necessarily a bad thing because the quality of life in Canada is much better. But when it comes to the business world, in small to medium-sized businesses especially, they limit themselves on what they can do.
How did you get to Canada?
I grew up in Alabama, where I worked for a software company. I was a vice-president, the only woman executive among 300 people. Then I got a job offer here. I had come out of a very abusive relationship and Canada seemed like a good alternative.
At 30, I moved here with my kids. I bought shares in the company, I took over as CEO and president, and took that company and sold different pieces of it. I sold the final piece of it in 2000. Then we started CipherSoft in 2002 and sold it a year ago to a company out of Sacramento. I've been called a serial entrepreneur - I build companies and after a while I move on.
Doesn't that take a lot of moxie?
Some days you wake up and think 'I'm so smart' and an hour later you're thinking 'I'm the stupidest person in the world.' You have to completely ignore adversity and just plow through.
In the male world, you'd be told you've got balls.
Absolutely, that's what they say about me - in front of me sometimes. They don't even say 'Oops' any more - I'm not offended.
Where did that personality come from?
One factor is the ability to look at a negative and turn it into a positive. And my parents gave me confidence. My dad was an electrical engineer and he had his own business. When I was trying to decide what to do in school, I said I'd go into chemistry and he'd say 'Yeah, that's a good field.'
In the South there were very few fathers who didn't say just go get married. My dad would say, 'You've got to support yourself. You can't rely on a man to support you. What if he dies? What if he leaves?' Those messages were delivered subtly but they made me think, 'Right - I should support myself.' If I hadn't had that, I don't know what would have happened.
How is your life now?
I still run the company even though I sold it. On selling the company, my [second] husband and I decided that, with the kids almost out of high school, we would spend our winters somewhere warm, which all Canadians aspire to. We started passing more of our winters in Las Vegas, where we had bought property - before the market went upside down.
I come back to Calgary every six weeks for a week or 10 days. With technology you can be pretty much anywhere and my position requires me to be out in front of corporate relationships and building the business in a more public way. It is less expensive and easier to get to places from Las Vegas.
How are women doing in technology?
Somewhat better. The world of women in technology is not affected by a glass ceiling. The biggest thing is that women are told in Grade 5 or 6 that they cannot do math. So if they go into computer technology, it will be marketing, human resources or education, rather than thinking it's really cool to be smart in science or math. Someone somewhere has taught them in school, patted them on the head, and said 'This is probably not good for you.'
My daughter had a guidance counsellor in junior high who actually told her not to take the harder math course. I thought I was going to come unglued. If you have teachers who tell them 'Don't push your pretty little self,' girls aren't going to do it.
Is it different selling to Canadians than Americans?
It is. It is even different selling to geographies inside Canada. In the Maritimes, you sell based on relationship. In Toronto, it is strictly business - delivery, price - and Calgary is very much about who you know, and those relationships. As you get to the West Coast, it is a matter of how much patience you have. They're like snails, very slow, a very different mind.
In the U.S., there are different geographies but they all buy the same. It is, especially now, based on price and value and they have to believe there is some credibility to the company. They have to perceive value.
Will you start another company?
I don't know. I am tempted - I see opportunities all the time. This is the fourth company I've built and sold. Sometimes you sell to people who are not so smart and it is very frustrating. But I've been pretty impressed with this company [Unify] and they have asked me to stay on for a bit more.
Do Canadians fail at being serial entrepreneurs?
There is a certain number, but it is a much smaller percentage. For me it is the love of business. I love how it all works together.
What really concerns me as a Canadian is the companies that are really successful usually get purchased by American companies. So you don't get that passed-down-through-generations understanding of business. Instead, Joe and Betty are on the beach in the Bahamas because they sold the company. So the technology doesn't stay here and we lose that innovation.
Didn't you sell your company?
If someone writes a cheque big enough, you go "okay."
But one of the important things for me when Unify bought us was the IT stays in Canada and the team stays in Calgary. We had several companies following us around and I said, 'you keep the people in Calgary or we're not talking.'
What happens to other Canadian companies?
It's the beach. The beach is very enticing - or golfing. There is good and bad to it, because sometimes Canadians have a better perspective. But they are almost too laid-back. At least a portion of the companies should grow into something big.
Jennifer McNeill
Title: Vice-president and chief executive officer,
CipherSoft Inc., Calgary
Born: 1955 in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
Education: Bachelor's degree, computer science and math, Troy University in Alabama.
Career highlights:
Began career as a technology employee in Alabama
At 30, moved to Calgary to join Cipher Systems Inc.
Rose to major owner, president and CEO of Cipher Systems
After selling Cipher Systems, co-founded CipherSoft in 2002
In 2009, sold company to Unify Corp., remains CEO of the Calgary unit.
