Employees work at the Vision Critical offices in Vancouver, in this file photo.Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail
Vancouver software firm Vision Critical is expected to unveil a corporate shakeup this month following the divestiture of its market research and consulting business earlier this year.
The company – a leading Canadian tech IPO candidate that has been beset by drama at its top ranks, as reported by The Globe and Mail last May – has already bid farewell to chief operating officer Derek Smyth. According to his LinkedIn page, Mr. Smyth has departed this month to become chief customer officer of another surging tech company, Intelex Technologies. The latter is a Toronto-based provider of environmental, health, safety and quality management software for enterprise customers that was recapitalized in a $160-million deal last year led by venture capital firms JMI Equity and HarbourVest.
Sources say other senior executive changes could be announced as early as this week as Vision Critical restructures to focus on its sole remaining line of business, selling market research software to enterprise customers.
Mr. Smyth's departure comes less than three months after independent chairman Ian Giffen was chased from the board by Angus Reid, the company's largest shareholder and former chairman and CEO, part of a corporate civil war that has gripped the top ranks of the Vancouver-based marketing software firm in recent years.
Mr. Smyth is a pivotal figure in Vision Critical's troubled recent history. He led OMERS Ventures' $20-million investment in Vision Critical in 2011 for a 10-per-cent stake, when he was managing director of the venture capital arm of the pension giant. Mr. Smyth joined the board, then left OMERS in 2013 to join Vision Critical's management team as executive vice-president.
While the relationship between Mr. Reid and Mr. Smyth had soured in the past two years, some sources said his departure had more to do with the corporate restructuring, and that he was actively involved in those plans following the divestiture of Vision Critical's services business. "There isn't any [drama]," said one source familiar with the situation.
Meanwhile, Mr. Reid and several other long-time investors in Vision Critical are believed to be looking to sell a significant chunk of their shares in a secondary offering. The group considered selling $50-million of their shares a year ago, but Mr. Reid called off the process.
Mr. Smyth declined to comment when contacted by the Globe.
Sean Silcoff