Quantum CEO: 'I was reticent to take on this role'

Video storage vendor’s boss opens up on joining the scandal-dogged company and leading it to its first quarter of growth in nearly five years

Quantum CEO Jamie Lerner admitted to CRN that he was "reticent" to take on the chief exec mantle before joining the company just under two years ago.

The video and data storage specialist has been plagued in recent years by an accounting scandal that has made it the subject of an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which it settled last year with a penalty of $1m (£773,000).

The investigation caused the company to de-list from the NYSE and at one point it was facing bankruptcy.

CEO Lerner (pictured) joined the company in June 2018 and has been leading transformation efforts to rectify Quantum's finances, offerings and its reputation.

His endeavours are starting to bear fruit, reporting a return to profit in its recent Q3 - the first time in 18 quarters - and last week it re-listed on the NASDAQ as well as acquiring object storage specialist ActiveScale from Western Digital for an undisclosed sum.

Prior to joining Quantum, he set out two pre-conditions for the company to meet before he would agree to take charge.

"Most people know me as a technologist; I'm not an expert in regulatory filings and regulatory re-listings. I would only take on this major financial restructuring with a partner who really was an expert in that area," he explained.

"To the board's credit, they partnered me with Mike Dodson, who is a very seasoned CFO in matters of SEC re-listings, restatements, resizing and restructuring, and I really felt without someone like that by my side, I don't think I would have taken this on."

His second pre-condition before accepting the job was that there had to be a strong enough reason for him to take on the burdensome task of restructuring a company.

"When you redirect a company like this, you have to have a reason to do it. Just reconstructing Quantum to what it was before wasn't that compelling," he stated.

"I had to have a mission that's big enough, audacious enough and interesting enough to make this very arduous work worth it. I do believe in the predictions that by 2025, 80 per cent of the world's data will be some form of video, photograph or video-like. So to have an opportunity to lead in that segment was pretty compelling."

Despite Quantum's financial and credibility struggles, Lerner saw the potential in its portfolio and believed its specialism in media video is still "unique" in the industry.

"It was fairly unique to find a company that, while in this much trouble, had the core assets and had an 18-year legacy in television, in movie making, in video surveillance and in sports. It really had an incredible headstart in this area," he said.

"A lot of work had to be done to fully realise a vision of leadership in video and I think we still have many years of work in front of us.

"But with the right financial partner, and with a strategy and a vision this expansive, it really tipped the scale for me and made me say that it's going to be a huge amount of work, but the end result is worth it."

Stay tuned for more of CRN's interview with Lerner as he talks about the dynamics of restructuring, Quantum's recent troubles and his plans to keep it on course