Avigilon VP Communications Exits

Darren Seed was really good at communications. I recommend him highly.

We've interacted with lots of communications / PR / marketing people over the years and he compared quite favorably.

Some comparative observations that might be of interest to business readers here:

• A surprising number of communications / PR / marketing people can not hold a pleasant, human conversation. Seed could. This is not everything but if you are going to come off as a robot or a jerk, it is going to be hard to convince people (which after all is the point in such roles).
• He was up front when he did not know things (many of them lie or hide) and was good at following up with information when he received it.
• Most importantly, Seed was able to make his case reasonably and thoughtfully, countering our concerns, which helped Avigilon's coverage. By contrast, you get a lot of communications / marketing / PR people who feel threatened by negative questions and give up or make excuses why they cannot make a case.

I do not know all the details going on with Avigilon here but it seems strange.

I agree with all your points John. I've dealt with dozens (hundreds?) of Communications/IR people and while he could brush up on his financial knowledge, Darren's relationship building was very good and I would recommend him to any Vancouver company looking to hire for that role. I think he played a part in helping some investors turn the page on past indiscretions by Avigilon and how the company deployed their cash. I can tell he has had an affect on how IPVM wrote about Avigilon. 

Outside of this firing, Avigilon looks like they are finally making the right moves with products, people and profitability. They are just stuck in a tough place given they can't compete with Hik in the low-end and lack the name recognition of a Sony, Panasonic, Bosch, etc.

When they do end up being sold, I know nobody will be ecstatic. Not Alex, the employees, customers, investors or the buyers.