Copyright 2006 The Oregonian
All Rights Reserved
By DYLAN RIVERA
The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)
A tiny Portland high-tech company is hoping to get a heck of a job from Brownie.
OnScreen Technologies Inc., a maker of compact displays for emergency first responders, said Tuesday that it has hired Michael D. Brown, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to generate sales to government agencies.
Brown is most known as the leader of the bungled federal response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in August. The Friday after the storm, as thousands of people were stranded and starving in the New Orleans convention center, President Bush defended his appointee, saying, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.”
Within days of Bush’s remarks, Brown was demoted, and he soon resigned.
But for the next two years, at least, he’ll be the inside-the-Beltway face of OnScreen Technologies, possibly bringing the startup a shower of government contracts --or, perhaps, a gale of ill will.
For his part, Brown said in an interview with The Oregonian on Tuesday that he vindicated himself in Congressional hearings in February, when he blamed the White House and federal and state agencies for not responding quickly enough to his urgent pleas for help for New Orleans.
For its part, OnScreen said it has landed a high-profile, well-connected --and, it says, well-respected --leader in the emergency-management field, which makes up its core business.
OnScreen is an 8-year-old startup that relocated to Portland’s Pearl District last fall from near Tampa, Fla., and now employs about 22 people. OnScreen makes RediAlert, a system of portable, computerized signs that first responders can use to instantaneously direct traffic or display messages to the public about safety concerns in remote locations.
“I instantaneously fell in love with it,” Brown said.
The need for such a product was evidenced in the aftermath of Katrina, he said. Police officers had written “road closed” and “do not enter” on plywood scraps, Brown said. With electricity out, there was no power for standard electric signs, such as those commonly used at construction sites and traffic accidents. And such signs are too large for first responders to carry in case of emergencies, he said.
By contrast, OnScreen’s signs are battery-operated and fold up to fit into any patrol car, Brown said.
“I want one of these signs in every state trooper’s trunk, in every emergency manager’s car . . . in every ambulance,” Brown said.
The stakes are high for OnScreen, a company, traded over the counter, that has never made a profit. Its 2005 sales were $133,650. Management hopes its new Portland headquarters location will help it cherry-pick talent from the metro area’s cluster of display technology firms.
But for now, Brown is the company’s most prominent representative. He just signed a two-year contract calling for him to devote 50 percent to 75 percent of his time to OnScreen, helping it strategize about uses for its products and potential customers.
Since a few weeks after he left FEMA last November, Brown said he has been inundated with requests for consulting opportunities, speaking engagements and --in recent months --words of support from emergency responders.
Brown said he sees his work for OnScreen as a way to help the police and fire officials who are first to respond to disasters, manmade and natural.
“I want to help OnScreen open doors,” Brown said.