William J. Lansing
Analyst
Thanks, Mark. Good afternoon. I am delighted to become FICO's CEO and to get more involved with a company that I've known and respected for many years. I've served on the Board of Directors for the last 6 years, so I have some knowledge and perspective on FICO, including all the good work that's been done under Mark's leadership over the past 5 years. And so I start with a thank you to Mark for turning over to me a company in such fine shape and with such excellent future prospects. I've also been around long enough to know that I have more to learn, and that's what I aim to do in the weeks ahead, learn as much as I can about our customers, about our partners and about our competitors. We've just reported an impressive start to the fiscal year as you heard earlier. The team feels good about our direction. We have some interesting growth opportunities before us, but those are tempered by a bit of uncertainty, for example, the debt crisis in Europe. You're probably wondering what to expect with this transition. I don't think that you should expect large directional shifts. As a Board member, I have supported the strategy and approach that has taken us to where we are now. Given our current trajectory, I do not anticipate dramatic change. We have a strong confident team here at FICO, and I have worked with this executive team for years. You'll see in my background that I have been involved in deals and M&A. Should you expect more of that at FICO in the future? Well, FICO has had some wonderful acquisitions in the past, for example, our acquisition of HNC. And we have, from time to time, made acquisitions of smaller companies where we thought it would be helpful. I believe that we can complement our organic growth with M&A growth, but I think we have a very high bar. Our own business is highly attractive and our prospects are bright, so any acquisition would have to be at least as attractive as investing in ourselves, and that is truly a high bar. As you know, we've had a successful value creating stock buyback program over the last few years, and I have fully supported that. Buying back FICO stock served us well, and our intention is to continue with the buyback program. I'm about to dive into meetings with our employees, customers and partners all over the world, and certainly plan to meet with investors, too. I look forward to meeting with you. Thanks. Mark?