David Sharpley

Group President

Ottawa, Canada

David Sharpley

David Sharpley is a Group President at Lumine Group, overseeing Incognito Software Systems, Velocix, Flash Networks, TOMIA, and others.  

David has spent his entire career in communications and network software for service providers worldwide. David has had experience on the sell-side with companies such as Bridgewater Systems (Amdocs), MetaSolv Software (Oracle), the buy-side with Oracle (BEA, Netsure), Amdocs (Comverse), MetaSolv (Orchestream), and complex spin-outs from Nortel and Nokia (Velocix).

Q. What does leadership mean to you?

From my perspective, leadership is about empowerment and providing the confidence and comfort of working outside of one’s comfort zone. A good leader does not instruct, but rather partners and mentors one to success.

Q. What is your advice to software leaders looking to be acquired?

Be thorough and examine all the options and most importantly, decide what type of legacy you wish from your hard work and investment. Look hard at the track record and best practices of potential acquirers to determine how you, your team, and your customers would fare post-acquisition. And, listen to whether the potential acquirers understand the nuances of your software, your market and your company, and what the future would look like.

“Since joining Lumine Group in 2017, we have grown both revenue and profitability in all companies through disciplined operational execution, recruiting top talent and focusing on our most important asset – our customers.”