In 1989, Iraj Pourian came to Canada for a visit - and wound up getting three job interviews. "I had a chat with my wife (and asked), 'Do you want to go to Canada?' " recalls Pourian, in an interview in his 26th-floor office overlooking Burrard Inlet in downtown Vancouver. "It took us 20 minutes to decide, and we came to Victoria in 1990.

"Sierra Systems was the only company that was willing to take the necessary steps to sort out my immigration," he adds.

And he's been working for them since.

That willingness to take a chance on Pourian, who was born in Iran and completed his post-secondary education in England, continues to pay off for Sierra, which builds and manages computer networks for companies and government-operated organizations across North America.

Bayne Stanley, Business Edge
Sierra Systems' willingness to take a chance on Iraj Pourian has paid off handsomely for the company and its CEO.

Now the firm's president and CEO, Pourian recently oversaw a $93.2-million takeover by San Francisco-based Golden Gate Capital LLC that converted Sierra back to a private company from a public enterprise. His story seems poignant as Canadian companies look to hire immigrants - as well as Aboriginals, the disabled and other groups - to help deal with Canada's chronic skilled-labour shortage.

He's lived on both Canadian coasts and visited all the provinces and territories. He moved to Vancouver from Ottawa in 2005 after he was promoted to president and CEO.

"Love the people. Love the culture," he enthuses. "Love the multiculturalism of Canada. And, I particularly like Vancouver. There's a large Iranian population in Vancouver, so that's good, and I also have a very large Canadian connection as well. So I wouldn't look at myself necessarily as an immigrant."

But he is a good example of how top executives can handle constant, unexpected change.

1. What was it like growing up in Tehran?

"Wonderful. I have nothing but wonderful memories of Iran. A few years after I left, there was a revolution and the whole world changed upside down. It's a wonderful country with great people, and it's a very rich country in terms of its culture and its background."

2. Have you been back?

"Yes. I couldn't go back for many years because of the political situation, but my dad passed away, and a year after he passed away, I went back to visit my family. In the past four or five years, I've managed to get away from my work a couple of times. My mom is getting old and she wants me to go and see her."

3. What did your parents do?

"My father was a chief accountant for (a department) of the army. He was a professional accountant, and he held a number of consulting positions as well while he was working. My mom was a vice-principal of a school for teenage girls between the age of 13-17 for a number of years. She gave her job up, basically, to look after us when we were young.”

Iraj Pourian

(Pourian has two brothers.)

4. What interests did you have when you were there?

"I had one interest that overwhelmed everything else, and that was soccer, or what we called football. I played for my school (during elementary age). I played for my high school. I then took on basketball. My hobbies were all-around sports. I played volleyball, basketball. But soccer was, by far, my passion. I loved it a lot."

5. What was it like going to school in Iran?

"You either go to public or private, or semi-public or (semi-private.) I started at the age of five, I think, going to kindergarten and then taking on Grade 1. I had good schooling. I ended up at the well-established high school. That helped a lot, obviously, in my ambition, my career and my academic background. I enjoyed myself. I have many good memories of those days."

6. How did you end up going to England?

"My father decided that I should go for six months - because I had a scholarship to the U.S - to be able to speak English. So one day, he came home and he had my ticket ready. He had registered me to a school in England and sorted out the whole thing. He came to me and said, 'You're leaving in two weeks. Somebody from the school is going to pick you up from the airport and so on and so forth.' So I ended up going to England. It was at that age that I fell for my wife. She was 17, I was 18, we've been together for about 31 years, and the rest is history. I managed to get (into) computer studies, so I learned programming - the basic skills of computers. That was such a long time ago. The whole world of computers has changed now. But the basics are still there in terms of building systems and what programming is all about. Then the revolution happened. I was going to go back to Iran, but my father encouraged me to carry on with my studies. I did my masters, and the end of masters (studies) I decided to get married. I was still a student. I was still trying to write my thesis for my masters, and my wife was working - but then she got pregnant very quickly after our marriage. So life started changing in its own way, and we just followed it."

7. What did you do for work afterward?

"The real job I had was with Royal Doulton (known for its fine china).

I worked for almost two years in factories that manufactured tanks and toilets, a subsidiary business of Royal Doulton. Then, I worked for Nottingham city council, which I loved because it introduced me to government. Then, I worked for a very big food chain for almost a year. The opportunity to move to Canada came up, and we came to Canada."

8. Why did you decide to come to Canada?

"It really was a childhood dream. I always looked at Victoria on the map, and I thought it was the end of the world and there was nothing else after that before Asia. I always wanted to visit this part of the world and to see the Rockies. Then I found out I actually had a cousin who had been in Victoria for years and years.

My uncle had left the States and lived in North Vancouver. They sort of helped make my mind up in terms of making the trip. What I wasn't expecting at all was to find a job.

I found a guy in Victoria who was a friend of my cousin, who gave me three names to call - one of whom was the branch manager for Sierra, a guy called Ernie Lohrenz.

"Ernie was just the most wonderful guy. He interviewed me ... Then he worked extremely hard to get me here. By January 1990, I was here."

9. Were you looking at other opportunities?

"Well, I went for three i nterviews ... All three of (the companies) were based in Victoria. All three of them were interested in me. But the only one that was willing to take the steps to get me here was Ernie (Lohrenz.)" 10. What was your first day like at Sierra?

"I lived with my cousin in Victoria for a few weeks, then I rented a house and the family came in a couple of months. I don't remember the first day actually, but the first three months - to say the least - were interesting. A new country. A new people. My first assignment (with Sierra) was to work with the police complaint commission in Victoria, which was interesting. After that, I worked for the Ministry of Forests, then the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Health. I was the project manager responsible for the development of the vital statistics system in B.C. Some opportunities came up with the Ministry of the Attorney-General, and I was a project director for building an integrated Justice department (computer) system. The system went live in 1999-2000, and B.C. now has one court-case tracking system throughout the province. We also built a corrections application for the province, for use by all the jails and institutions. I'm quite proud of that system, actually, because it's unique. After that, an opportunity came up with the RCMP to employ a nation-wide system, which was started in 2000-01. I was there (in Ottawa) right up until 2005, when my job was coming to a close. I'm really proud of our achievement as a company in delivering that. I've worked for Sierra, but I've really had quite a few jobs."

11. When did you move into upper management?

"My career at Sierra grew very rapidly. I was named a principal within the first two or three years. I was part of the management of whatever location I was in. In 2001, I was made a branch manager of the Ottawa location. After that, I was made chief operating officer for a short period of time, and after that I was made president and CEO."

12. What was the company's size around the time you started, compared to what it is now?

"In the early 1990s, I believe we were a company of 300 people. It is still not a huge company, but was much smaller than what it is right now. Our Victoria office, when I started, I believe, was only 13 people. Today, we have close to 180 people, and we use in the neighbourhood of 60-70 sub-contractors. It's one of our largest offices in the company. I've been fortunate to be part of the management team that grew with the offices ... It's been a good ride so far."

13. When did the company go public?

"The company went public in 1998. Grant Gisel, our (now retired) president and CEO, with our (chief financial officer) at the time, Ian Reid, decided to take the company public. It was a good move at the time, because it provided us with a considerable injection of cash that allowed Grant to go out into the market and acquire more companies and grow the company and so on. We've been public ever since - until (mid-December) when we went private again."

14. How did the takeover by Golden Gate Capital begin?

"Golden Gate, in addition to one other company, approached us about a year ago, saying they were interested in buying the company. The board of directors decided - and I was a member of the board - that rather than just look at (the Golden Gate offer), we should probably formalize the process and put the company out to see whether there were other (interested buyers). We hired investment bankers and they went and looked at some 28 companies. Some of them were private equities like Golden Gate. Some were offshore buyers from India. Some were business-outsourcing company giants and some were strategic buyers like IBM, EDS and so on. It was finally decided by the board that we should go exclusively with Golden Gate, because they had the best interest in the company and the price was more attractive than other buyers' (offers.) Given the performance of the company over the past five or six years, which was somewhat volatile, the board decided the shareholders deserved to know what we (could) get for the company in this kind of market. We had our shareholder meeting and we received 97.2 per cent of the votes in favour of the transaction."

15. How were you trying to grow the company while you were dealing with this possible takeover?

"Sierra was operating in a silo manner. We have 14 operating locations in North America. We had 11 branches and each branch had a branch manager. In each of the markets, Toronto or Ottawa, Winnipeg,or L.A., these branches operated, for all intents and purposes, as independent business units because they had their own P&L (profit and loss). So I turned 11 silos into one company. That was my vision when I took over the job and I did that - for the most part - in the last 12 months. Now, we don't have branches anymore, we have practices. We have a health practice that is a company-wide practice, with its own P&L for the first time in the history of Sierra. We have a justice practice, we have a management-consulting practice and we broke the company into three regions - western, central and eastern regions.

"Each region will have its own public and private practice. I'm delighted with the results of how much our people, the employees, have embraced the new ideas - and how much they're working together."

16. Were you concerned about possibly losing control of the company as a result of the takeover?

"Absolutely. That was very possible. Say a strategic buyer that was already in our business, who was potentially a lot larger than we are - EDS is a multibillion-dollar company, IBM is a multibillion - ended up buying Sierra. We would have been a small potato merging with a mega-big company. The outcome selling to a private equity means that we still keep the name Sierra Systems, which is very important, and we also keep our headquarters in Vancouver, which is also very important. So far, I also keep my job and everybody else's job. The outcome has been very good for the employees, as well as for the management of the company and its future."

17. What do you think it will be like running a private company compared to a public company?

"Less headaches. In terms of running a public company, you always have to satisfy stakeholders on a quarter-by-quarter basis. You spend tremendous amounts of energy, time and effort to deal with analysts, to deal with quarterly reports and the preparatory work that goes behind (those) mechanics of reporting. Not only to the board, but also to the market. For a company that's in a $140 million to $150 million revenue (range), that's a lot of effort. On reflection, I would say, yeah, it was a good experience going public. But it's much easier - and a lot cheaper - to own a private company than a public company."

18. Has anyone from Golden Gate given you an idea of your future?

"We've had this chat, nothing in a formal way. So far, I have not received any indication that they don't want me. When you look at what they bought, they basically bought the management team. This is a people's company. We're not a manufacturing company. We haven't got a plant. They bought the vision, they bought the management, they bought the people."

19. Are you expecting to stay around for a while?

"Yes, that would be my objective. Hopefully, that would also be their objective."

20. If Golden Gate, or someone else, at some point says, 'Iraj, you can't work for this company anymore, and you can't be in this industry anymore,' what would you do instead?

"Well, it depends on my bank balance - partly. I still have a good few years in me, I think. I have enjoyed my career in Canada. I've enjoyed my career with Sierra. I think there are numerous opportunities out there that I could go after, with my background and skillset. Should that happen, I'd have to do a major checkpoint with my life to see what I want to do. I'm getting to a point where my kids are past the age of (having to be) looked after. It would be nice to take some time off. Again, my loyalty is to Sierra, because I think Sierra employees have been extremely loyal to me. While they want me, and they appreciate me - and Golden Gate appreciates my leadership - I shall be around."

Iraj Pourian

* Title: President/CEO, Sierra Systems Group Inc.

* Born/raised/age: Tehran/49.

* Education: After attending elementary and high school in Iran, Pourian earned an undergraduate degree in computing and a master's of science in management systems from Sheffield Polytechnic, which is now a university, in England.

* Family: Wife, Joanna. Three children: Jordana, 23, Alex, 22, and Amelia, 19.

* Career: After completing his studies in 1982, Pourian worked for various private and public organizations in England before emigrating to Canada in 1990 to work for Sierra Systems Group. He started in the Victoria office, was made a partner in the firm in 1994 and was promoted to Ottawa branch manager in 2000. After serving briefly as chief operating officer, he was appointed president and CEO in 2005, and moved to the Vancouver head office.

* Awards: Pourian helped Sierra garner the 2006 Canadian Health Informatics awards for project implementation team of the year and corporate citizenship. The awards, co-hosted by COACH, Canada's Health Informatics Association, and CHITTA, the Canadian Healthcare Information Technology Trade Association, celebrate excellence and achievement in the Canadian healthcare informatics community.

* Passions: Family, Sierra and soccer.

Sierra Systems Group Inc.

* Brass: Iraj Pourian, president and CEO; John Broere, chief operating officer; William Thomson, executive vice-president of growth strategies; Warren Beach, vice-president and chief financial officer; Arthur Stedman, executive vice-president of corporate services; Dan Thomson, vice-president of human capital; Pat Willmott, chief solutions architect.

* Profile: Sierra Systems Group Inc. provides management consulting and builds and manages computer networks on behalf of public organizations and private companies across North America. The 41-year-old firm was founded in 1966 in Vancouver and operates 14 locations, with more than 800 employees, across North America. Sierra began as a private firm and went public in 1998 on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In mid-December 2006, Sierra reverted to a private firm as shareholders voted 97 per cent in favour of a $93.2-million takeover ($9.25 per share) by Golden Gate Capital LLC, a San Francisco-based private-equity firm. The deal, originally announced last October, was slated to close Jan. 5, Sierra will retain its name and management team.

* Stats: Sierra reported gross revenues of $142.3 million in 2006, a decline of 6.4 per cent from 2005. Net earnings fell 34.5 per cent to $5.5 million (58 cents per share) in 2006 from $8.3 million (86 cents per share). Figures are based on a Sept. 30, 2006 yearend.

* Recent Stock Price (TSX:SSG): $9.20 (52-week range, $6.90-$10.25). The company is now private.

* Website: www.sierrasystems.com

* HQ: 1177 W. Hastings St., Suite 2500, Vancouver, V6E 2K3

* Phone/Fax: 604-688-1371/604-688-6482

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)