Interesting development:
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 3, 2001--General Magic,
Inc. (Nasdaq:GMGC), a premier voice application service provider,
today announced that Kathleen M. Layton has joined the company as
chief executive officer and president and will serve on the company's
Board of Directors. Layton will be responsible for focusing the
company on achieving growth and profitability based on aggressive
commercialization of the company's magicTalk(TM) voice platform for
high growth voice market opportunities.
Layton brings a wealth of experience in productizing emerging
technologies and has provided strong market and operational leadership
as CEO and president in various startup operations. With over 20 years
experience in providing solutions to the telecommunications markets,
Layton has focused the last few years on leveraging emerging speech
technologies to provide enhanced telecommunications and Internet
products and services.
Layton replaces Dr. Steve Markman, who led the company's drive
into voice applications and the development of its patented magicTalk
voice technologies. Dr. Markman continues as chairman of General
Magic's Board of Directors and will work closely with Layton to expand
General Magic's leadership position in the growing market for voice
applications.
"I am very excited to be joining the General Magic team. The
magicTalk voice platform and the company's patented approach to voice
user interface design, combined with the successful delivery of the
OnStar Virtual Advisor form a great launching pad for expanding our
business in delivering voice-enabled applications," said Kathie
Layton, new chief executive officer and president of General Magic.
"My immediate objectives are to create and sustain strong revenue
growth and profitability. To do this, we will apply the team's
considerable energy and talent to developing and implementing a high
growth, focused business strategy that capitalizes on the company's
technology and application leadership to create market leadership and
strong financial performance."
"Kathie has broad-based experience in the high technology industry
launching new businesses focused on emerging technologies and markets.
With her leadership, General Magic is well positioned to capitalize on
its investments in technology and seize the market opportunities in
the rapidly expanding market for voice applications," said Susan
Swenson, president and COO of Leap Wireless International and member
of General Magic's Board of Directors. Phil Knell, president and
general manager of WorldCom Conferencing and member of General Magic's
Board added, "With Kathie's experience in forming strategic product
and marketing partnerships, heading an international joint venture,
leading a management buyout, negotiating corporate acquisitions and
raising capital funding, she will be a very strong addition to the
General Magic management team."
Most recently, Layton was chief executive officer of S.A.I.L.
Port, a technology accelerator focused on proliferating the use and
advancement of Speech, Artificial Intelligence and Language (S.A.I.L)
technologies, in San Diego, Calif. There, Layton promoted S.A.I.L.
technologies to universities, venture capitalists, local governments
and entrepreneurs to encourage the launch of companies whose business
leverages these technologies to create new products and services.
Prior to that, Layton was chief executive officer and president of
OmniVoice Technologies, where she commercialized the company's speech
compression technology, enabling the first handheld wireless
voice-messaging platform over existing narrowband networks and
launching the company into revenue generation in the global
marketplace. Subsequently, Lernout and Hauspie Speech Products
acquired the business.
As vice president and general manager of Logica's Network Products
Division, Layton led a management buyout of the division to form
Strata Group, where she was appointed president and chief executive
officer. At Strata Group, Layton and her management team created a
high-performing software company that achieved early market leadership
in operational support systems for the emerging global
telecommunications market.
Additionally, Kathie Layton has held a number of senior leadership
positions in the high tech industry including executive management
roles in business development, sales, customer service and emerging
technology markets for ground-breaking consumer products at Ameritech
Corporation; operational support telecommunications software at
Logica, plc; innovative call center software at Affinitec Corporation;
and telecommunications/biotech software at Control Data Corporation.
Layton holds an executive MBA from Washington University in St.
Louis, Missouri, has completed advanced executive programs at the
Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and
received a B.S. in Mathematics with honors from Southeast Missouri
State University.
About General Magic
General Magic is a voice application service provider dedicated to
delivering customized voice applications, hosting, and professional
services to leading telecommunications, enterprise and Internet
companies. With its award-winning VoiceXML-based magicTalk
communications platform and years of experience, General Magic offers
the premier voice user interface that combines language, personality,
and logic, creating a natural conversation between people and
information. General Magic creates value for its customers by building
voice solutions that strengthen customer relations, deliver
value-added services, and provide access to content anytime, anywhere.
General Magic is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. For additional
information about General Magic, visit the company's web site at
generalmagic.com.
General Magic notes that the forward-looking statements in this
press release involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that may cause industry trends, or actual results, performance
or achievement to be materially different from any future trends,
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these
statements. These include, among others, risks and uncertainties
concerning the adequacy of the Company's financial resources to
execute its business plan; market acceptance of the Company's
technologies and services; the Company's ability to attract, retain
and motivate key technical, marketing and management personnel; the
ability of the Company to establish and maintain relationships with
businesses that have high volume customer interactions, and to
establish alliances with companies that offer technology solutions for
such businesses; the challenges inherent in the development, delivery
and implementation of complex technologies; the ability of the
Company's third party technology partners to timely develop, license
or support technology necessary to the Company's services; and the
Company's ability to respond to competitive developments. These and
other risks and uncertainties are detailed in General Magic's
Registration Statement on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on November 14, 2000.
Note to Editors: General Magic and magicTalk are trademarks of
General Magic, Inc., which may be registered in some jurisdictions. |
