Good morning.
This is the first opportunity I've had to meet so many of our clients and it is a pleasure to look out at the living, breathing heritage of Sunquest. This morning, I will ask for your continued loyalty and the opportunity to work with you to extend that wonderful heritage. I realize it's hard to give that to someone you don't know. So I'll take a minute, if you don't mind, and tell you a little about who I am,
where I came from,
why I have committed to Sunquest,
what I hope to contribute to you and to the company in terms of leadership,
and how I believe we'll get the job done for you.

(pic) I'm a sixth-generation Texan... a farm boy raised on a West Texan ranch. (pic) My family raised me to be hard-working, honest, and considerate of other people. (pic) My upbringing was full of 'Texas Wisdom':
As in -- It don't matter how long a ride you have, as how well you ride it.
or -- If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.
and -- Solvin' problems is like throwin' cattle. Dig your heels in on the big ones... and catch the little ones by the neck.
I'm grateful for the way I was raised and I want to do the same for my family. These are my boys -- Max, Zach, and Sam. I'm trying to instill the same work ethic and truthfulness in them that my family did with me... and that's a little bit of where I come from.

Many of you have been with Sunquest for a long time and I know a little bit about where you come from, but I want to know you better. I want to know what you like and what you don't like about Sunquest... the challenges you face and what you think Sunquest can do, or should do, to solve them. I want to know what keeps you awake at night and what it would take from us for your companies to see you as the clinical heroes we believe you are.

And I want you to believe that we care. By the end of this week, I hope you will leave here believing that the people of Sunquest define our success by how well you succeed. Your problems are ours. We are with you every step of the way, keeping you first in our minds every minute of the day. Our reward will be knowing that you're sleeping well because you've got what you need today, and that you trust us to provide what you'll need tomorrow.

But why should you believe me? People lie to you every single day. 90% of the people in this country think our President may be shading the truth about something. But three-quarters of those who believe it say it doesn't matter because it doesn't affect his job performance. I don't understand that and I'm not talking about the person or the politics. I'm talking about how we're all getting used to the idea that the truth doesn't matter. I think it does. And I don't think it's right to ask for a customer's loyalty unless you're willing to be 100% truthful with them.

I'll tell you another personal story. As a sixth generation Texan, I believe in roots and stability. Asking my family to pack up and move is not something I do lightly. I began with Sunquest in January but I didn't ask my family to move here right away. My wife, Cindy, understands that we're going to be living here for a long, long time. She didn't just look for a house... she took the time to find the home where we will raise our family.

When she found it, we asked Melissa, our nanny of 5 and 1/2 years to take care of our boys in Houston while we unpacked and got our home in order. But we missed them too much so we decided to bring them here right away. Because of the change in plans, they didn't all sit together on the plane. Our 8 and 10-year old ended up sitting next to a businessman, near enough so that Melissa could overhear the conversation. The man asked my sons why they were travelling to Tucson... and he got an earful.

They told him that something didn't happen when it was supposed to at the company I worked for. I wanted to tell the customers right away but my bosses said the customers didn't need to know until later. Max and Zach told this gentleman I didn't like that and I came to work at Sunquest because the people there are honest.

As they say in Texas: You shouldn't flirt with the truth... you should be married to it.

Sometimes the truth is hard to get at and earlier in my career I was easily seduced by evangelical descriptions of the technological future and silver bullet solutions: the wonderment of 64-bit computing... the giant repository in the sky... the vision of totally integrated 'big bang' solutions... complete and total solutions that worked great in a PowerPoint sales presentation... but just try and install one.

I believed in it. I committed to it. I sold the vision. And, as the technology revolution continued, I learned a lot. And one thing I've learned about futuristic visions is that ideas are just ideas. Words are just words. Action is everything. Investments of time, resources and money have to yield results in the real world. As we say in Texas -- Watch out for the one who is all hat and no cattle.

And I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I would much rather keep a promise than make an excuse. I wasn't satisfied with just making a sale, I wanted to make friends for life. I wanted their trust along with their order. I want to be part of what happens over the long haul. These are important things to know about yourself and I'll admit that it has limited the professional opportunities I've been willing to pursue.

The pace of development in IT created a lot of opportunities for professional development if you were willing to be vision-centered and if your true commitment was to feathering your own nest. That's not me and that's not Sunquest. I might appear to be the new kid on the block, but my relationship with Sunquest goes back a decade to when I was Director of Channels for Digital and I got to know Sid. I was impressed by the fact that Sunquest was led by a physician and staffed by clinicians. It was a reality-centered company grounded in the real world, focused on delivering products and services that really worked.

I respected Sunquest's core competencies: technologists with strong, clinically deep backgrounds... and businesspeople who believed that focusing on the customers' success was the best route to a healthy bottom line. I felt very lucky to be partnered with them.

I didn't feel so lucky later, when I was competing against them. When asked to provide a reference site, I would struggle to find 3 or 4 customers who were happy enough at that moment to say something nice about my company. My competitor from Sunquest would come in with a book listing all of their customers... it was 650 at that time. They'd drop the book on the table and say, "Call any one of them."

I was jealous because I know that a stable, satisfied customer base is the best sales tool there is. I wanted to work with you (pause) and that's the number 1 reason I came to Sunquest. You challenge the company and you keep it on the right track. And I know you've got lots of options. Choosing where to spend your money may be the purest form of democracy there is and you continue to vote for Sunquest.

As the Director of Channels at Digital... and later as the Director of Worldwide Healthcare... through my experience at FDC and other companies... I've been around every major player in this industry. My perspective is somewhat unique in that I've met most of them, negotiated with them and, in some cases, partnered with them... some are still here and some are long gone. The Healthcare Industry has been littered with flash-in-the-pan companies that have the hottest technologies one year and are gone the next.

Of those that still exist, I know most of the top executives personally. I know how they run their companies and their strengths and weaknesses. All of this came into play in my decision to join Sunquest. You're the number 1 reason and the people who lead Sunquest are the next.

When Dr. Goldblatt started Sunquest, there were many directions he could have chosen for the company. He could have entered the market to capitalize on short-term opportunities. He could have ridden the wave of hype, promising to be all things to all people. But he didn't. HeÕs not selling the future, he's building it.

I met Rich 6 years ago in (city), China, sitting at dinner with the Minister of Health for over a billion people. By the way, he beat me that day and won the contract. I respected him then and I respect him now. He is a brilliant businessperson and a man of his word.

I've known Joanna Broder since the days we worked together at Digital. She was fiercely loyal to the best interests of her customers there and they knew it. They would have stayed with her forever, or as Digital found out, they would have followed her anywhere. She brought that dedication to Sunquest and she's going to get it done for you even if she has to kick butt and take names within our organization to ensure your ongoing satisfaction.

And what can I tell you about Joe Stump that you don't already know? He is a legend in this industry and he's been with Sunquest forever. He started as a client and has remained loyal to the client's point of view.

Many of our employees are former customers. They came from clinical and laboratory environments and they understand this business. They know what keeps you up at night. The number 1 thing any healthcare IS customer wants is to deal with people who know what the heck they're talking about. Sunquest's employee retention rate is the highest in the industry and we're working hard every day to increase our level of knowledgeability... a challenge for everyone in an industry that changes so quickly.

The products were proven and supportable, yet exciting and progressive. The radiology package is the best one in the industry. I know because I was selling one that I thought was great. The package here is better. Sunquest also built the industry's best pharmacy package.

The company is clearly positioned for a large, dynamic market... a market starving for a partner they can depend on. I was very impressed by the people, the market position, and the possibilities. I also saw a chance to make a difference. I'm a person who likes to see a good thing get better and I saw a real opportunity to make a contribution.

We began by re-engineering your sales and marketing support. Your TAMs, your product managers, and your product specialists now have the tools and training in the products that raise the level of service they can deliver to you. Each and every member of our field organization is assigned a golden reference site for development and training. We have re-engineered the sales organization and now have resources dedicated to our installed base... resources dedicated to things that make the people in this room happy.

Happy clients are the best sales force a sales manager like me can ask for and we want that sales force to grow. We want your continued loyalty, ladies and gentlemen, and we'll do everything it takes to earn it.

Our market strategy is simple, yet powerful. We have refocused on and recommitted to our heritage, a heritage of delivering value to you. We are the world's leader in laboratory systems. We are becoming the leader in radiology and pharmacy systems. We will deliver the best total solution, solving your broader problems by offering the best clinical service and clinical expertise in the business. Just as we've been historically, Sunquest will be the benchmark of clinical service excellence in the healthcare industry.

It's an honor to stand here today associated with a company that has fantastic possibilities. Financially strong and growing. Focused on our core strengths and competencies. Winning and succeeding with all of our stakeholders: our employees, our partners, our investors, and most important of all -- you, our clients. Right now there are 1,000 of you... 1,600 installations in all. I truly believe that together we can reach the next level with new lab products as well as other clinically focused applications.
That's our strategy, ladies and gentlemen. Your success is our success, and as they say in Texas... that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It's been a pleasure to have this opportunity to introduce myself to you... and over the next five days, I'd like to meet as many of you personally as I can. Thanks and have a good one.