CEO of Sacramento-based Unify explains long comeback

When Unify Corp. reported a quarterly profit last November after years of annual losses, a few heads turned. When the Sacramento business-software firm nearly doubled those profits to $1.1 million in the next quarterly report last Tuesday, people really began to take notice.

The numbers may not sound like a lot – unless one considers the abyss from which Unify has emerged after what happened early this decade. Serious accounting irregularities began to show up in July 2000, and former CEO Reza Mikailli ended up being convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy for grossly overstating earnings and profiting from insider trading.

The company's stock plummeted from $37.50 to less than $1, as the losses accelerated with the collapse of confidence in the company. The damage lasted years.

Fast forward to the present, with Unify finally coming into the black, signing up hundreds of new clients and watching its stock again move higher. The stock closed at $6 a share Friday, down 10 cents on the day but way above its low of $1.25 during the past year.

CEO Todd Wille, who witnessed the bleak days as an employee with the company and who took the helm in October 2000, talked with The Bee about Unify's newfound success.

Q: How did you turn the company around?

A: Probably the biggest impact is the merger/acquisition of Gupta Technologies in November 2006. We were like Siamese twins separated at birth. We were very similar technology-oriented companies. … We had similar products and similar types of customers.

Unify had always been very strong on technology. … We were just very competent technically but not so strong, if you will, in sales. Gupta was extremely strong in channel sales. … It truly has been an amazing success since then.

Q: Have things gone better than expected?

A: We certainly thought putting these two companies together, we could create success. But frankly it has exceeded my expectations – the speed absolutely. The other part that's been amazing to us is all the new customers we've acquired. We set a target of 50 new customers this year. We've done 191 this fiscal year – nine months into it.

Q: How do you plan to keep ahead of the game?

A: We've been very good at listening to all of our customers. You've got customers who are maybe a little more boisterous with their requests. You can't overlisten to those people and not listen enough to the masses, if you will, even though they may not be quite as vocal. We're really good at understanding the entire customers' view.

Q: And what about your new Composer migration-software product?

A: That business is really just hitting its stride. We think there's an unlimited future for that business at this point. … It allows migration of legacy (older, original software) applications, and it's really under our whole strategy of application modernization. Composer really comes from the way you look at an application. We break a legacy application into its pieces, recompose and reassemble that application in the new modern technology. You get a platform of choice – Java or Microsoft.

Q: Why the move to Roseville? (Unify plans to move its headquarters to Roseville from Natomas in May.)

A: There's a strong technology corridor if you take HP and kind of the new Roseville area and draw a line over to Intel in Folsom. … Our new location is right between those two. A larger number of our employees live in that part of the city. Recruiting will be improved. We'll have more candidates. … We will reduce our facility costs dramatically as well.

Q: What exactly does Unify do for companies?

A: The first business is providing database software, then product-development software. (With Composer)we provide software to build custom applications. … We're in essence an enabling technology used to take an existing application, which in this case was a Lotus Notes-based application, and migrate that application over to a newer technology, a newer platform.

Q: How much of your business is international?

A: We have customers in 45 countries. As a percent of revenue, it's 70-plus percent, mostly in Central Europe. Over the last couple of years it has increased. The U.S. percentage has declined a little bit, and that's primarily as U.S.-based competitors have been converted by Microsoft, Oracle and IBM.

Q: How badly did the legal problems that occurred earlier set back the company?

A: We were near death, I think we could honestly say. Our customers were shaken. Our investors were shaken and ran. … Part of the enjoyment is getting relisted for Nasdaq (The company announced last week it is applying to be listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market. It is now traded on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board market.) I came in and was part of the fix-it team. For us to have seen how bad it was and where we are today, it's really quite gratifying.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Mark Melnicoe, (916) 321-1976.