by Kent Jennings Brockwell
Staff Writer
Imagine your boss. Now imagine having 10,000 bosses.
That’s what going to work is like for Bert Watson.
Watson is president and CEO of Sunset Financial Resources, a Jacksonville-based publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange.
So how does he deal with all of them?
“A lot of Tums,” said Watson jokingly.
He isn’t really complaining about his more than 10,000 shareholders, however. Watson said he spends about 70 percent of his time meeting with — and listening to — shareholders.
“I really do like meeting the shareholders,” he said. “They are not shy in making sure their input gets to us. Eighty percent of what our shareholders want us to do are the correct things. These guys are pretty astute.”
Watson said he considers the investors to be an extra team of consultants and managers that are interested in the future of the company.
In March, Sunset Financial had its initial public offering where they issued 10 million shares at $13 per share. Even though share prices have never been past the $13 mark since the IPO, Watson said he has been extremely pleased with the company.
Watson said even though Sunset went public at one of the worst times possible, the company has still seen success.
“We have carried the way the rest of the financial markets have,” he said, “but even in the really bad times, we made a profit.”
Sunset reported and paid dividends after its first full quarter, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But the early success of the company hasn’t come easy for Watson or his employees. Watson and the rest of his management team have been working virtually around the clock since the company went public.
“This first 90 days, most all of the management has been in here about 60 to 80 hours (per week), which is a lot,” he said.
But he doesn’t plan on working extremely long hours for long. If the company makes a profit after this quarter, Watson said a slower pace is in order for himself and his employees.
“You can’t operate a company and keep people working 60 or 80 hours a week, Watson said. “We have no intentions of having people keep working those hours.”
With the eyes of 10,000 shareholders constantly on his back and the responsibility of a multi-million dollar company on his shoulders, how does Watson deal with the stress?
“I really wasn’t kidding about the Tums,” he said.
Besides antacids, Watson said he manages his stress though coaching youth athletics and spending time with his family.
“The biggest thing that keeps stress out of my life is my family,” he said. “Having a faith- based family and having a church you can go to . . . are the things that makes those 60 or 80 hours a week worthwhile.”
As a model for good leadership, Watson said he truly admires the life and career of former President Ronald Reagan.
“(Reagan) wasn’t the best president but he put around him the best team to make himself a very coherent leader,” said Watson. “He was liked and admired by Democrats and Republicans and everybody. He was one of the greatest CEO’s of this country.”
Though a native of Maryland, Watson has lived in Jacksonville for 25 years. He said he has enjoyed watching the city grow, including his own neighborhood.
“I moved (to Switzerland) when there was a single lane bridge coming across Arlington Creek and I worked downtown,” he said. “People used to say, ‘Are you crazy? Why would you live so far away?’ Now were are in the center.”
Besides his own neighborhood, Watson said he is glad to have been able to start his company here.
“I am very proud to be part of Jacksonville,” he said. “We don’t have the stress of being in New York City but we can still do all of the same things. With computerization, we can do trades just like if we were on Wall Street.”