Who's Who? Recent Changes in Localization's Yellow Pages

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Global Watchtower

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Posted by Donald A. DePalma on September 20, 2006 in the following blogs: Translation and Localization, Web Globalization, Business Globalization, Technology, Interpreting, Market Data, Global Marketing, Best Practices, Supplier Business Issues
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Who's got a new business card in language services and technology? Some are new to the practice, while others have moved from other companies already in the space. What's really interesting is that several of the new and old faces will occupy new offices as their employers expand beyond their current markets.

SDL added Dr. Chris Boorman to its executive management team, naming him the company's first Chief Marketing Officer. Boorman came from VERITAS (now part of Symantec) and Salesforce.com. SDL says that Boorman will "focus on driving the brand awareness of SDL and expanding their global enterprise marketing initiatives." Terry Lawlor, SDL's VP of marketing, told us he will segue into sales, expanding the company's efforts to sell authoring tools into SDL's installed base.

Quebec-based translation memory developer MultiCorpora appointed Jean-Pierre Pesch as its European sales director. Pesch, previously at Telelingua International, will open MultiCorpora International's new offices in Brussels.

Dublin-based LSP VistaTEC announced that Angela Corrigan joined its business development team for Europe. She has a background in the game publishing and development market, media, and recruiting for the localization industry. No doubt that gaming experience will help to keep up the momentum to qualify for a 7th year on the Irish Fast 50.

As part of its expansion into Europe, Asian LSP and testing specialist Symbio hired David Flynn to help it expand into Europe. Flynn was Lionbridge's European Services Director, and managed the company?s operations in Ireland. Before Lionbridge, he worked with Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), a company whose products are in diaspora at HP, Oracle, and various other firms.

Software project and resource management software developer LTC brought in Elham Attarpour as its U.S. Operations Manager and first employee in the States. Previously Attarpour worked at BGS, has been certified as an ISO Auditor, and is also a court translator and interpreter.

Colorado-based Syntes added Matt Harding as a language services manager focused on streamlining internal operations. Along with last month's promotion of Juliana Braunagel to business and HR manager, it demonstrates the efforts of smaller LSPs like Syntes to optimize internal process, technology, and human resources.

Tom Dillon, former Netflix COO, made "a significant investment" in LSP-plus-technology developer Elanex and joined its Board of Directors. Elanex says that Dillon was "instrumental in designing the critical automation technologies that enabled Netflix to continually lower costs, expanding the market for online DVD rental from almost nothing to the mainstream industry it is today." Elanex says that Dillon's software experience will enhance its own internal systems.

Mike Kidd of Trados sales fame is now the top executive at Proz.com, where he will apply his experience in the enterprise market to move the translators' portal to what he terms "the next level." Among his projects is the roll-out of a new Proz version for employers.

Hideo Yanagi, formerly of Lernout & Hauspie and Portus in Japan, joined Sunflare, a Japanese-market provider of patent translation and localization services. As a system rollout consultant, his main responsibility will be to deploy Idiom WorldServer installations in Japan.

Kate Morrissey, formerly of OneRealm and Jonckers, joined Moravia Worldwide as a business development director, increasing its presence in the States. Back in Brno, Arturo Quintero, the face of Moravia for the last 10 years and a constant presence at localization functions all over the world, will put aside his passport for a bit while he enjoys his newborn daughter Klara. Mother Milada is doing well and probably wondering how to deal with peripatetic nov? tat?nek Quintero staying at home.

As always, we're pleased to see the movement of new blood into the industry, the regular shuffle of positions as veterans move to new positions that showcase their talents, the optimization and professionalization of internal operations, and the expansion of successful companies into new geographies. All four phenomena bode well for advancing the localization maturity of their own companies and clients.

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