After being a SecureDocs customer at two companies, Steve Morrison joined SecureDocs in 2019 and leads the accounting, finance, and human resources functions.
Prior to joining SecureDocs, Steve was CFO at RightScale where he led the strategic sale of the company to Flexera, Inc. Before that, Steve was CFO at Butler America, a leading outsourcing firm, where he led the strategic sale of the aerospace engineering division and the financial sale of the company’s healthcare unit. He has held CFO roles at several other technology firms including 724 Solutions, ValenTx, and SmartReceipt.
Originally from Canada, Steve moved to Santa Barbara in 2003 after spending two years in Hong Kong while at 724 Solutions. He holds a BA from Western University in London, Ontario and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western.
Below is an interview with Steve on his experiences working with virtual data rooms and SecureDocs.
Q: You’ve used virtual data rooms (VDRs) throughout your career, both to facilitate corporate transactions and as long-term corporate repositories. What is it about VDRs that make them the ideal solution for both use cases, and what set SecureDocs apart from other solutions you’ve worked with?
A: CFOs are always focused on transactions, whether actively closing a deal or planning several years in the future. So it is important that relevant information is stored in a secure, easy-to-use repository before a transaction starts to avoid scrambling to gather information. Once you get to the active transaction phase, you are able to proceed quickly and maintain control over the information flow.
Q: Before joining SecureDocs, Inc., you used SecureDocs virtual data rooms as a customer while working at various other companies. How were you able to use SecureDocs VDRs in those situations to facilitate successful M&A transactions?
A: Going through due diligence is an arduous process at the best of times. The key to closing a deal is to be able to provide requested information to multiple parties (other side of transaction, bankers, corporate counsel, auditors, etc.) in a timely fashion. SecureDocs easily facilitates the sharing of data and the tracking of who is actually accessing specific information.
Q: As CFO, what data room features are most critical to accomplishing your goals and responsibilities?
A: Simple is best -- the room needs to be easy to set up and populate with data and to add and delete users, must have the ability to control access to various users (internal and external), and the ability to see activity in the room.
Q: On a daily/weekly/monthly basis, how do you use a SecureDocs virtual data room to manage documents?
A: When not closing a deal, I use SecureDocs as the repository for all data of interest to the company’s executives, board of directors, and shareholders (corporate presentations, financials, plans, audits, legal issues, etc.). This is, of course, the same information that will be shared in a transaction.
Q: What advice would you give to other CFOs considering using a VDR?
A: Having a VDR allows you to maintain control of your company information. This is important on a day-to-day basis, of course, but absolutely essential when you get to a transaction. This allows you to provide required information in a timely fashion -- allowing a deal to happen quickly and with minimal disruption to the organization.