Article from Sarasota Herald Tribune

January 11, 2005

Invisa Hires New CFO, Plans Move

By MICHAEL POLLICK This document is available in .PDF format SOUTH MANATEE -- Invisa, Inc., maker of sensors that will stop a gate when something is in its way, has been clearing obstacles from its own path under Herb Lustig, who has been chief executive for the past 14 months. Lustig's latest move is to hire an experienced chief financial officer, David J. Benedetti, whose history includes a stint as an Ernst & Young auditor and a senior financial management position at The Gallup Organization. Long housed in more leased space than it needs at Northgate industrial park, Invisa plans to move shortly to a new smaller space that the company has had built to suit its own needs at the Airport Business Center in south Manatee County. Because Invisa has outsourced all its manufacturing, the old space was more than it needed and was creating an unnecessary monthly expense, Lustig said. Cash has been important for Invisa, a publicly traded company that has struggled with profitability. Its shares, which changed hands for $1 to $4 during 2003 and 2004, now languish at 30 cents per share. With 20 million shares outstanding and an over-the-counter price of 30 cents, the company's market capitalization is only $6 million. We've got a lot of value locked up in the company right now that I am looking forward to capitalizing on," Lustig said Monday. Invisa had debts exceeding $2 million when Lustig took over in November 2003. His job was to keep the company afloat while advancing the technology from its development stage into profitable production. Lustig pared down Invisa's debts enough to land an underwriter for a $2.2 million convertible preferred stock offering in September. That offering left Invisa with cash in the bank. "I would say we have virtually eliminated our debt," Lustig said. The company was founded by Steve Michael and Sam Duffey. Duffey retired as a director last September. Michael relinquished his role as CEO when Lustig came on board, but remained as a technology advisor. In the fall of 2004, the company came out with its fourth-generation model of its InvisaShield system. "It is an electronic safety sensor system that is 40 percent of the size of the previous model, takes 50 percent less installation time, and is priced significantly lower, priced about 30 percent less," Lustig said Monday. Invisa's patented technology creates an electrical field around an object, whether metal or not. The field senses the presence of objects, including humans and animals and inanimate objects such as trucks, cars or forklifts. The sensing technology can be used either to stop a gate in its tracks before it hits something, or to set off an alarm. The latest version of the company's black box can be used either way by changing its software coding, Lustig said. The gate system is trademarked "SmartGate," and in September, the company signed a deal to supply SmartGate boxes to Magnetic Autocontrol, the largest manufacturer of parking barrier gates in North America. "It is a blank purchase order for 1,000 units. It is the largest purchase order the company ever received," Lustig said. The company also has expanded its potential for getting overseas orders by lining up a new distributor, Zeag Ltd. of Great Britain. Zeag, a parking systems company with more than 3,000 installations under its belt, plans to offer the sensor as a factory-installed option to dealers and end-users throughout the United Kingdom. Benedetti, the new CFO, most recently was chief financial officer of The Commercial Group Inc., which makes specialty display systems. He earned a master's degree in business administration, with emphasis on taxation, at the University of Wisconsin. He is a certified public accountant, licensed in Wisconsin. In Sarasota, Benedetti has become a director of the Sarasota Manatee Manufacturers Association, succeeding Edmund C. King, who has been with Invisa since the start. King continues as a director of Invisa and as corporate secretary. Invisa's shares were selling for 29 cents at the close of regular trading on Monday, up 1 cent.