Antonio M. Perez: CEO of Gemplus
Antonio M. Perez recently became President, CEO, and Director of Gemplus.
Mr. Perez owns 30,743,679 shares of Gemplus (5%).
>> Former HP Executive to Lead Gemplus
Marie Eve Demers
July 24, 2000
When Antonio M. Perez decided it was time to move on in his career, he conscientiously researched for the most interesting and promising new career available.
He eventually was put in touch with Marc Lassus, founder of smart card maker Gemplus, and immediately realized all the potential of that avenue. Perez was recently named president and chief executive officer of Gemplus.
"After 25 years with Hewlett-Packard, I thought it was time to look for a new venture," Perez said. "Marc and I hit it off very well from the beginning. I was looking for promising technology, good chemistry and a nice company culture, and I found all of that with Gemplus"
Perez evidently is very enthusiastic about all the possibilities that lie ahead for smart cards, a technology he describes as portable, personalized and secure.
"In the next years, the biggest challenge will be security. Smart cards contribute to solving security concerns, providing identification like digital signatures."
"Gemplus has a good share of the smart card market," he said. "They also have good development in the smart objects areaachips that are inserted into objects. This also includes all the opportunities that exist in the banking industry. In fact, we will soon be making an announcement about a major agreement to include smart cards into multi-application cards: credit, ATM, loyalty cards that could include digital signatures or even fingerprint reading."
Cards for GPS and third-generation wireless cell phone products will be important elements for the company, especially since the industry is moving to an open system environment, the executive explained. These standards are going to help expand smart card technology and will facilitate Internet downloading capabilities.
One of the challenges that Perez will face at Gemplus isasurprisinglyagrowth.
"Growth is a good thing, but it brings a lot of issues. What used to work when you were smaller is not working anymore. The company's culture and the decision making process has to be different. One person can't make all the decisions anymore."
Market growth is another challenge, since new competitors are likely to be attracted to this booming market. Picking the right partners will be critical, Perez said.
Gemplus' headquarters are in France, but that could change with the arrival of the new CEO. According to Perez, the company needs two headquarters. He favors one in Europeamoving it from France to Genevaaand one in the United States, which is considered a very promising market in terms of mobile commerce and IT security.
At HP, Perez assumed various executive positions, most recently as corporate executive vice president and president of the Consumer Business and Digital Media Solutions Group. He also was head of the company's Corporate Marketing Group, and served on HP's executive council. <<
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