Thomas Chaffee, CEO of HomeSeekers.com Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: HMSK), currently undergoing a name change to Realigent Inc., is pleased to announce the completion of the initial 120-day plan to rescue the company and consolidate its operations.

"Everyone in the company has been working non-stop over the past several months to transform Realigent into a thriving business. The task of removing the vestiges of years of poor management has been absolutely Herculean," noted Chaffee.

When the current management team took over, the company was in complete disarray. There was no leadership, no vision and absolutely no capital. The company was, for all intents and purposes, defunct.

"I made a very public commitment to the shareholders at the time to try to save the company, an endeavor that came at tremendous personal and professional risk to those of us involved. It did not take a genius to recognize the value in Realigent -- it offers excellent products and services, as well as significant intellectual capital, that in the past were neither recognized nor monetized," said Chaffee.

Literally hours from bankruptcy, the company engineered the sale of its XMLS Web division in less than one week, which provided enough financial stability for the company to execute the 120-day turnaround plan.

Steve Crane was immediately appointed president and COO because of his experience in corporate turnarounds, his Tatum CFO credentials and his proven track record in "managing by the numbers." In addition, his experience managing publicly traded technology companies offered qualities and discipline sorely needed by the company.

When the turnaround plan was first initiated 120 days ago, Realigent had 150 employees scattered around the country with offices in five separate states. Communication was poor, as were employee morale and productivity. The company was operationally dysfunctional with multiple accounting systems, numerous rogue bank accounts, ineffective human resources and no comprehensive set of internal controls. There were incompatible telecommunication systems, numerous and often conflicting contact points, and a broken sales and order entry process. In general, virtually all of the company's business processes were broken, and operated with no synergy, focus or management.

Customer outreach and contact was horrific, with a highly confused brand identity, no marketing program, sluggish, decreasing sales and intolerable customer-service telephone hold times. Finally, the contingent liabilities were pervasive, with the prospect of numerous lawsuits keeping the remaining managers of the company from focusing on the operations of the company.

What remains from the XMLS Web division sale is a business that produced nearly $12 million in revenue in fiscal 2001, a foundation for the future growth of the firm.

With the 120-day operational rescue plan realized, there are now 82 employees and one corporate office located in Brea, Calif. The company is in the final stages of centralizing its accounting, order entry, billing and customer service processes into one system and has established local relationships with professional legal and accounting service firms and providers.

Employee morale and productivity have increased dramatically, as team members have become believers in their own success. "The feeling of ownership and pride is returning among the employees," said Chaffee.

A great example of the company's renewed sprit was the recent migration of all of Realigent's hosted systems to a new state-of-the-art data center within a Qwest Cybercenter(SM). To grow substantially, Realigent must provide its customers with the absolute best-in-class backbone and Internet services. The move to Qwest has provided the company with the finest data environment available -- allowing Realigent to serve Web sites and applications faster and much more efficiently and reliably than in the past.

Over the past three weeks, Realigent engineers, under CTO John Hensley's inspired leadership, migrated tens of thousands of domains and hundreds of systems to the new Qwest center from the capacity-strapped Brea center. Chaffee noted, "During this migration, the team worked around the clock for nearly two weeks. The entire company stood behind this migration effort as team members from other disciplines inside the company assisted the engineers in any way they could. This is an example of the deep commitment the employees feel toward the company and its growing esprit de corps. It has not gone unnoticed."

Greg Robertson, vice president of sales, has revamped and refined the company's sales process while establishing aggressive sales goals. Sales are trending positively upwards as a result. Amy Tomchak, newly appointed director of customer services, has re-dedicated her department to the goal of providing the best customer support in the industry and noted that hold times are now averaging under five minutes. These are significant improvements directly attributable to these individuals and their respective teams.

"There is now a cohesive vision, clearly articulated operational methodology and stringent financial controls placed throughout the company," commented Chaffee. "We have also implemented the necessary metrics to engage each employee in the process of success at every level of the company."

Chaffee continued, "I feel confident that we have the core of the team necessary to execute the plan on a go-forward basis. The largest impediments we now face are the past sins and baggage left over from the legacy of this company. This is no small task, but we are managing.

If you combine the overwhelming level of confusion and hype with the lack of execution that has historically plagued HomeSeekers, one can easily understand why the company was so close to disappearing. That is why it is especially gratifying to announce that Realigent has achieved a significant corporate milestone: this company is cash-flow positive from ongoing operations for the first time ever."

Published: March 12, 2002

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