Emphasys is a business with impact - we are innovative and help change people's lives.

Emphasys Spotlight - Dave Badun

Can you share your background?

I started my career as an auditor, working until I completed my CPA. After traveling for a year, I started a role in buy-and-sell side financial due diligence at one of the big five. After that, I moved into a corporate media giant and then a publicly traded micro-cap company as the CFO, where we completely redesigned the finance organization. My true interests lie in the operational leadership side of the business, so I was fortunate to be asked by Aquila to spearhead the Emphasys team as the CEO.?

What about Emphasys caught your attention and made you want to join?

My role as a CFO created a solid foundation for my next move as a CEO. I love working with strategic and operational challenges, interacting with passionate employees and customers, and ensuring the business runs smoothly, accomplishing our mission to deliver quality solutions to public housing authorities. Prior to joining, I had a chance to meet with many employees, getting a fulsome understanding of our technical capabilities as well as understanding the corporate culture. I feel very fortunate to be working alongside so many talented individuals, all while knowing that as a result of our software, millions of Americans are housed every single year. Going to conferences and hearing stories of how our software has helped so many people, with countless positive encounters with our Emphasys employees is a direct level of impact that I get to witness. Working with our employees, some who have come from housing agencies, optimizing how our software can lead to housing for even more Americans is quite remarkable. I'm very grateful that I have landed here and am working with such wonderful people.?

What was your vision coming into the CEO role, and can you share any challenges or quick wins you've had?

I'm a big fan of the saying, "You’ve got two ears and only one mouth." So my first order of business was to come in and listen. I wanted to hear what our employees, customers, and our industry partners had to say about us and then incorporate that into a vision for the organization. Some of the challenges Emphasys has faced is a gap in the investment required to make it great, and that there were a lot of silos in place. Before the pandemic, we had roughly 45 employees spread across 9 states, and now we're about 60 employees across 14 states. Listening to people and interpreting what the needs were for the team, how we could overcome roadblocks and continuous changes in the industry, and forming a more collaborative culture with knowledge sharing and support - that's where I initially put my attention. We've come together to focus on the demands of our customers and the people they serve in a more streamlined and effective way; we aren't solving the same problems repeatedly as we now know what has worked in the past and how to approach different situations for successful results. The commitment from our employees to build great products and serve the public housing community has truly been inspirational.

How does Emphasys stand out above other companies?

I believe our mission is vital. Whether in the US or anywhere in the world, I believe for businesses to succeed, we need the proper framework; on a fundamental human rights level, you need housing to prosper. At Emphasys, we pursue both. I hope that we stand out as an organization, not only for the mission we have, but also the dedicated employees who have built a market-leading set of software products over our 45-year history.

We have two primary offerings, an ERP for our public housing customers that facilitate all things to do with public housing funding and any regulatory issues that need to be navigated. Then we have a front-end facing software that makes it easier for residents to navigate the system if their circumstances change, pay rent, or get on a waiting list if they need to move across the country. Ultimately, the problem that we're trying to solve: How do we make it easier for housing agencies to interact with their residents and do everything they can to house Americans??

Why should someone looking to make an impact join Emphasys?

This is the place if you're looking to work in an environment that operates like a 45-year-old startup with legacy clients and brand new ones. We have the processes, funding, and technology to make your daily work more manageable, with the challenges and opportunities to bring your ideas and see them come to life. We're constantly looking for ways to optimize and scale, and we're at a size where we can pivot responsively to the needs of our market. You will have the balance of working remotely with a ton of autonomy while also being part of a collaborative team that shares solutions and approaches. Furthermore, we're growing, with last year being our most significant rate since our inception. This translates to new departments and roles for our people - we've created three departments over the previous 12 months. We're agile, and if you raise your hand to express an interest in something, we'll give you the chance to try it out. As a company owned by Aquila, we also have a much broader network for you to gain exposure, build new connections and have virtually endless growth opportunities.?

We have three words we hone in on when talking to customers, or internal teams, and when thinking about issues. One of the words chosen this year was "Experiments." If you are a person that wants to join an organization where you can experiment with a pretty sizable budget, work alongside a world class team, while also being able to impact people's lives, this is the incredible business with heart where that can happen.

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