Mark Malone was appointed as Mikros Systems Corp’s (OTCQB:MKRS) President on November 1, 2017 to “take on additional operational responsibilities to guide Mikros’ continued growth with U.S. government clients and in select commercial markets.” Prior to that, in October 2017 and as Corporate Vice President, he sat down with Executive Casts to speak about his role at and impression of the company, what attracted him to the company, and the value he adds to the executive team. He also touches upon the importance of investor communication, an update on the company’s Elliot Lewis relationship and why commercial opportunities are important for Mikros going forward.
Below, please view the videos on:
- Mark Malone’s Background
- What Attracted Mark Malone to Join Mikros
- Value Addition Mark Malone Brings to Mikros
- Mark’s Impressions Since Joining Mikros in May 2017
- Importance of Investor Communication
- An update on MKRS’ Elliot Lewis Relationship
- Why Commercial Opportunities Are Important
Subscribe to Geo's YouTube channelMark’s Background
For the past 20 plus years of work with a number of different investment banks including Guggenheim Partners, Lazard Capital Markets and Deutsche bank primarily, in a number of different capacities. One of the things I worked a lot with was doing work with small emerging growth companies in helping with their needs, something I very much enjoyed, felt like I got a good education and what makes companies grow and what you need to do to make companies grow. So, when the Mikros opportunity came along, I thought it might be the time to take some of all the learning that I’ve had over the years and actually put it into process.
What Attracted Mark Malone to Join Mikros?
Mikros has a great product, they’ve had a great history in the defense space. I think that the opportunities out there from not only in the legacy and poor government business but also in potential commercial markets is really great and it’s a wonderful time to be taking that technology and trying to grow two different sectors and different marketplaces.
Value Addition Mark Malone Brings to Mikros
I think the value add that I brings is my experience in the capital markets, understanding how to a grow company profitably, providing value to shareholders, and helping them achieve their goals of profitable growth within a business.
Impressions Since Joining Mikros in May 2017
From my familiarity with Mikros, I was always confident in how great the product they had and how strong the staff of engineers they had on board. We do the really a exhaustive due diligence competitive analysis out there. So, we weren’t surprised that there was competition in the commercial space. However, I think one of the surprises was a bit of a pleasant surprise and it’s been confirmed by a number of companies that we’ve talked to out there in a different area, different groups that we don’t think anybody out there with a current product is offering the type of defense grade, cyber security that we’ve been able to offer the military for their commercial products and we really think that that is one of the things that differentiate us from the competition.
Importance of Investor Communication
We’re really happy that we’re doing it. Chuck and Henry, we’ve been out to a few of the Fred Rockwell conferences last year and earlier this year. Henry and I recently did a Leadership Summit Conference where we saw close to 60 investors. Coming from my background, I just think it’s a really important thing for us to be doing getting out in front of people and talking to not just existing investors, but new potential investors out there sharing the Mikros story with them. I’ve been very happy with the investors that we’ve been meeting with, too, incredibly insightful and smart investors and I think Mikros actually brings a different story than a lot of the other micro-cap offerings that are out there.
Update on Elliot Lewis Relationship
It’s going quite well. We recently sent a memo of understanding with Elliot Lewis who is Philadelphia’s premier HVAC and facility manager service companies. They’ve been around over a hundred of years, I believe, and really have a large customer base in the Greater Philly area as well as parts of Florida. It matches up perfectly with us because we’re a Philadelphia based business and we also have four operations. We’re working with them, a partnership with them, developing the product for their customers and it’s really been exciting. We have a couple of pilot programs working with them right now, they’re going quite well and we’re going to hopefully build on that soon.
Why Commercial Opportunities Are Important
That’s a good question. I think it’s something they thought about oftentimes over the years and feel as though the current product offerings that they have really right now can satisfy a lot of the needs in the commercial markets. We feel that they’re transferable and we think it could potentially open up a lot of opportunities for us in several different sectors. So, I think, it’s really been something they thought about for a long time…they feel like it was a perfect time for them to start this initiative.
Mark J. Malone, President Mikros Systems
Mark Malone has been President of Mikros Systems Corporation since November 1, 2017. Mark served as Vice President of Mikros Systems Corporation since May 1, 2017. He joined Mikros following a 20 year career in the investment banking and capital markets field. Most recently, he was managing director in the Institutional Equity Capital Markets division of Guggenheim Partners. Prior to that, he held senior positions at Janney Capital Markets and Lazard Capital Markets. Mark received his BS in Business Administration from the University of Richmond.
See more featured Mikros Executive Casts segments here.