June 2015 BCBusiness 27 bCbusiness.Ca
lion microwave and satellite technolo y company with
annual losses north of $4 million and mired in debt.
Norsat had been chasing rainbows, often pursuing nine-
•gure U.S. military contracts that would typically go
instead to massive companies like General Dynamics.
It occupied a fancy but impractical third-‡oor oˆce
in Burnaby and had a large U.S.-based executive sta.
Chan's immediate task was to downsize and refocus. "No
more home run attempts," she recalls. "What we needed
were base hits."
Chan had the advantage of having been with the com-
pany for many years: she had started with
MPR Teltech as
a co-op student back in 1989 and joined Norsat when they
acquired the company in 1996. The upside was that, upon
taking over the top job in 2006, Chan was surrounded by
sta who knew and trusted her; the downside was that
when it came time to take aim, the people she was •ring
were people she knew. Chan did not want to prolong the
pain. "It's best to do it once and do it quickly," she says.
"That way hopefully you won't have to do it again."
SLOW AND STEADY
Amiee Chan helped
save Norsat by focusing
on smaller, winnable
contracts as opposed
to "home runs"
