Interview with President & CEO, Jeff Brewer

February 4, 2005 Since the dotcom decline, what has enabled you to thrive? Business Vitals is very focused on what we do: securing corporate information assets. We protect businesses through business consulting and ongoing managed services that secure the information technology infrastructure of our clients. For years companies have poured money into IT, with limited return or impact on the business. As a result, C-level executives have intensified scrutiny on IT spending, particularly after the dotcom bubble burst. However, these same companies know that information security is paramount to protecting their company reputation, brand and credibility with customers. The increase in federal legislation and industry specific requirements are demanding ownership at the executive level. What is your company's main strength? Building consensus on IT security requirements and relevance within customer organizations. We are not an IT or IT security company in the traditional sense. We are working side-by-side with our clients ensuring information security. Let me give you an example. Most IT departments will tell you that they have a disaster recovery plan. What we counsel our clients to do is to put their efforts into disaster prevention with regular, disciplined testing of that plan. What can you do to prevent your system being shut down by a hurricane, a fire, or a disgruntled or simply careless employee that missteps and shares confidential information via email? Could your business withstand the financial loss of a day or week without IT? One of the things Business Vitals does best is to help companies develop, implement and maintain prevention and disaster recovery capability so that business can continue even in the event of an unexpected natural or man-made disaster. What is your company's biggest challenge? Accelerating the level of candid discussions with organizations’ senior leadership. For years, IT has been viewed by business as mysterious and a significant cost-center. Non-IT executives know they need IT, but are unclear if and how these tech initiatives support their vision for the company. Making sure they understand why something as seemingly mundane as e-mail is business critical or a significant source of risk. The Wall Street Journal is full of reported security breaches within companies. Boeing’s CEO lost control of his email resulting in harm. Look at Comair. They had a computer meltdown on Christmas eve that canceled hundreds of flights and left thousands of travelers stranded. Within three weeks, Comair's president stepped down to "pursue other opportunities." If IT organizations are held accountable according to service level commitments to include effective BCDR plans or outsourced, secure email, these types of outages can be avoided. What does your company's leadership value most? Many in the IT world are passionate about IT for IT's sake -- having the latest and greatest seemingly critical hardware and software tools. But that is not what we are about at all. We are truly passionate about results-based performance. We want our people to understand how their insight, knowledge and actions impact our clients' businesses and our own business. What is the No. 1 trait you look for in employees and why? Integrity. It is the foundation for everything you want in a person, whether that person is a business associate, a client, a family member or friend. The second trait is the ability to think creatively. We want our people to see beyond the technology to its impact on business. Are you currently profitable? Yes, for 17 consecutive quarters. Which we believe is the single most important characteristic of financial stability. There still remain many technology companies that inspite of significant VC backing remain in the red. What is your customers' greatest need and how do you fill it? Protecting them from vulnerabilities – on the technology, people and process fronts. Business is complex enough without something as mission critical as IT being shrouded in mystery. Companies, brands, reputation and livelihoods are lost because of IT failures. Our mission is to make IT relevant and understood, reveal the security vulnerabilities that come with being too IT-dependent and ensure that IT planning is always within the context of our clients' business goals and metrics. Where will your company be in five years, and what will get you there? In five years Business Vitals will be even more geographically diverse domestically and internationally, with operations in other major metropolitan areas in the U.S. We are targeting annual revenues in excess of $100 million, with half coming from organic growth, the other half from mergers and acquisitions. And most importantly, we will continue to focus on information security services that protect the information assets of our clients and facilitate their success.