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Frederick Duguay

New Position: Chief financial officer, general counsel, Cerebit Security Applications, Tampa. Previous Position: Managing director, Angel Group Ltd., Tampa

By FRED W. WRIGHT JR.
Published January 31, 2005

Since December, Fred Duguay has been busy holding down two positions at Cerebit Security Applications, an information security software company in Tampa.

In addition to travel that takes up about 20 percent of his time, Duguay said he is responsible for financial planning and analysis, legal matters, corporate accounting and budgeting, as well as strategic merger and acquisitions activity and capital financing at the company of about 50 employees.

That helps explain why Duguay said his hobby is "working weekends." The dual roles, "for a company this size, is pretty typical," he said.

Duguay's appointment comes along with two other management changes at Cerebit: Mark Mercer has been appointed vice president of business development and Art Brady has been named vice president of channel sales. Mercer was a partner with Ernst & Young in its technology and security risk practice. Brady led channel and marketing efforts at CommerceQuest, which he cofounded. Collectively, the three bring roughly 45 years of industry experience to the company, which makes software that lets companies authorize access to patient and customer records.

Duguay, 37, is a native of Acushnet, Mass., near Boston. He earned an associate's degree in finance from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., in 1988, and a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts at Salem in 1990. In 1996, he earned a law degree from the Southern New England School of Law.

From 1986 to 1988, while in college, Duguay worked as an intern at Sen. John Kerry's office in Boston. "Back then, I was a Democrat like every other guy," he said, "but when I (started) to pay taxes, I became a Republican."

Duguay began his professional career in 1990 at Corporate Software and Technology in Boston in financial planning and analysis, and went on to hold similar positions with two other companies in Massachusetts.

In 1997, Duguay cofounded and became chief executive of a startup software development company, Advance Technology Partners, in Providence, R.I. Two years later, the company was sold to Modus Media and, Duguay said, he took six months off.

In 2000, he relocated to Tampa to become general counsel for CommerceQuest, where he remained until 2002 while the company went public. In 2002, Duguay cofounded and became managing director of Angel Group Ltd.

Duguay said he is challenged by the potential that software technology offers. "Software is still in its infancy," he said. "IT solutions are still in their infancy.

"I think all software solutions are still in on the ground floor. Law and finance aren't as cutting edge as IT," he said. "I try to leverage a strong IT background, strong finance background and a strong legal background. That's why I went back to law school."

Duguay isn't a code-writing computer fanatic, however. "My forte is business development," he said. "I'm not a pure techie."

The combination of three areas of expertise, Duguay says, positions him well for this industry. "That's been a real sweet spot," he said. "When you start doing a lot of M&A (mergers and acquisitions), there is an invisible line between what finance guys know and what legal guys know. If you're able to bridge that gap, you can be a real value to the organization. That's what I tried to build my resume around."

Duguay and his wife, Elaine, live in Tampa.

[Last modified January 29, 2005, 01:01:02]