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Global Safety Management snares new execs, launches new funding round

Margie Manning

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Julia MacGregor-Peralta

Global Safety Management, a Tampa tech company that aims to make the workplace safer, has filled out its C-suite with well-known local executives and is gearing up for rapid growth.

GSM has hired Kevin Armstrong, a former sales leader at Tribridge and at DXC Technology, as its chief revenue officer, and Trish Messina, a finance executive and management consultant, as its chief financial officer.

They’ve joined just as GSM its ramping up sales for the safety data sheets it develops using patent-pending technology. Safety data sheets list each of the dozens or hundreds of chemicals that go into manufactured products, and manufacturers are mandated to include them with their products.

Chemical manufacturing is a $5 trillion industry globally, with just 15 percent of the total business in the United States, and Global Safety Management is poised to capture a good share of that industry’s chemical regulatory compliance business, said Julia MacGregor-Peralta, president and CEO.

GSM’s Software-as-a-Service technology can update the safety sheets in seconds, as opposed to the hours or days other firms require. Quick updates are vital for safety, MacGregor-Peralta said.

“Let’s say a chemical is found to cause cancer. There might be 20 million products out there that are using that chemical,” she said. “Our system can update that instantaneously. Other systems could take weeks or months. If you are working with a product that science knows causes cancer, do you want to know it now or months from now?”

GSM’s target customers are chemical manufacturers and distributors, followed by manufacturers in other sectors. Since the company began demonstrating its products on webinars, it has developed a waiting list of customers that want to buy the products, MacGregor-Peralta said.

“We’re focused on marketing and sales,” she said. “Our biggest challenge right now is demand, and bringing on people to onboard customers.”

GSM doesn’t release its financial information but MacGregor-Peralta said she expects revenue to double next year.

GSM’s potential to play a leading role in the sector hasn’t gone unnoticed by investors. The company is one of a relatively few women-led businesses to attract venture capital. GSM has raised more than $3 million in two rounds of funding, initially receiving a seven-figure investment from Fidelis Capital in Birmingham, Alabama, followed by a second round from Fidelis, Florida Gulfshore Capital, Mosley Ventures, the FAN Fund and other investors.

The company has just finalized a term sheet with additional investors. She can’t disclose their names yet. “These are well-known investors and we’ve got others that want to come in to the same round and it looks like we will be over-subscribed,” MacGregor-Peralta said.

GSM has revamped its website and logo, and has hired four people since September, including Armstrong and Messina. Armstrong previously was vice president of sales, North America, for DXC Technology Co. (NYSE: DXC), the company that bought Tampa software company in 2017 for $152 million. Armstrong held a similar role at Tribridge and was among those responsible for its growth, MacGregor-Peralta said.

She earlier hired Tribridge’s former president, Jeff Lynn, as chief operating officer at GSM. Tony DiBenedetto, co-founder and former CEO of Tribridge, joined the GSM board of directors over the summer.

Messina most recently was director of client development at Resources Global Professionals, a global consulting firm, and previously has worked with all sizes of companies, from startups to global firms, MacGregor-Peralta said.

“I’m humbled by the team that I have,” MacGregor-Peralta said. “One of my board members said, you’re packing a heck of a lot of horsepower on that team. But that’s what it takes. You can have a fantastic product, a fantastic opportunity, but if you don’t have the team to execute on it, you don’t have anything. You can have a mediocre product and a mediocre opportunity, but with the right team you can make it happen.”

Global Safety Management is part of Tampa Bay Wave, and MacGregor-Peralta is a big proponent of the startup community at Wave and throughout the Tampa Bay area.

“That ends up being the true economic engine for Tampa Bay. It’s not that the big companies don’t matter. It’s just that they don’t move the needle as much as people think,” MacGregor-Peralta said. “What moves the needle is these early-stage companies, new business and entrepreneurs, and not just in this area. That’s what drives the economy.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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