This came out today. News looks positive. Good comments on CEO and company.
Ian
ALPNET Announces New Management
SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- ALPNET, Inc. (Nasdaq:AILP), the international translation and localization
services company, today announced the appointment of Jaap van der Meer as its new President. Thomas F. Seal, former
President and a Director, resigned to pursue other opportunities outside the Company. ALPNET also announced the
appointment of a new ALPNET management board. The management board is a seven-person global management team,
representing all regions of the ALPNET network in strategic operational decisions affecting the future of the Company.
Appointed members of the ALPNET Management Board are:
1) Geraldine Lim (43), responsible for all Asian operations. Joined ALPNET in 1983. Based in Singapore.
2) Dan Vincent (42), country manager, ALPNET Canada. Joined ALPNET in 1987. Based in Montreal.
3) John Wittwer (52), country manager, ALPNET U.S.A. Joined ALPNET in 1980. Based in Salt Lake City.
4) Ray King (40), country manager, ALPNET UK. Joined ALPNET in 1983. Based in London.
5) David Marshall (35), International Finance Director, ALPNET U.K. Joined ALPNET in 1988. Based in Manchester U.K.
6) Francois Massion (42), country manager, ALPNET Germany. Joined ALPNET in 1989. Based in Stuttgart.
7) Jaap van der Meer (43), President. Joined ALPNET in 1995. Based in Amsterdam.
Mr. Van der Meer, a Dutch National, joined ALPNET in September 1995. He is internationally recognized in the localization
services market and renowned for his contributions to the development and growth of this industry. Mr. Van der Meer entered
the localization industry in 1980 when he established his own company in Amsterdam known as the INK Network. For years,
INK (which was sold in 1993) led the way in localization services. Mr. Van der Meer also founded the Localization Industry
Standards Association, known as LISA, which brings together the major players of the localization industry from both the
demand and supply side.
In announcing this new management structure, Jaap van der Meer, ALPNET President, issued the following statement:
``Many companies, in our global industry are making the mistake of running their organizations in a very centralized manner,
often imposing one national culture on their worldwide company. Globalization not only implies localization of product
documentation, but also points to the need companies have to establish a truly global management team. ALPNET's new
management structure ensures that we will accelerate the growth which occurred the past two years while being highly focused
on improving the Company's profit performance.''
Mr. Van der Meer continued by stating, ``Our partnerships with companies such as Compaq, Dell, Cognos, Baan Computer,
Oracle, Lotus, Chrysler, and Mercedes illustrate that ALPNET is fulfilling the needs of the industry. Many of our clients expect
their volumes of localization/translation work to multiply by a factor of ten or more over the next five years. We see a clear shift
from shopping for the lowest cost supplier, towards an investment in long-term partnerships and technology.''
``It is my strong belief that ALPNET is well positioned to emerge as the leader in this new high growth industry. We have
strong, stable and experienced management, a network of offices in thirteen countries covering three continents, state of the art
technology and a clear strategic vision. The translation market is growing rapidly with an annual growth factor of approximately
30% and ALPNET expects to grow proportionally with this industry. Also, with the newly formed ALPNET Management
Board, we will be sharply focused on improving the profitability of our network and at the same time expanding to meet the
requirements of our global clients.''
``In the past six months, we have seen our volumes of work for clients such as Dell, Lotus, and Compaq increase, and
ALPNET has opened new doors with many new global clients, including Baan, Intel, Autodesk, Claris, and Oki. In this
dynamic market, clients search for stability. The ALPNET network was created ten years ago, long before globalization and
localization became hot issues for so many international companies. ALPNET is still the largest dedicated translation network
and the revitalization program we started two years ago was aimed at firmly positioning ALPNET as a stable partner with a
solid vision. It has been successful to the extent that our Company is perceived as one of the leading translation and localization
companies among the most influential buyers in the industry.''
``Given that we will continue to meet the demands of these large globalizing companies, we expect that the volumes of work
will grow rapidly. To better manage global accounts, ALPNET is forming global account teams which will have far reaching
responsibilities and authority to manage and develop our relationships with such valued new clients. Today, the bulk of the
Company's revenues come from several hundred clients. Our new sales strategy will be directed towards a rapid growth of our
business with targeted large global accounts. Our aim is to generate more than 50% of our total sales from a few dozen large
global accounts.''
ALPNET is confident that we will be able to grow our business in line with the projected industry growth. ALPNET's
competitive advantages are the extensiveness of our network -- no other supplier has such a strong presence in Europe, Asia,
and North America -- and our translation technology. Our focus on client demands and our strong position in the market will
help us to maintain and improve these competitive advantages. Our vision is to be the recognized leader in this exciting new
industry.``
ALPNET is the largest publicly-owned dedicated supplier of worldwide translation and product localization services, with
more than 375 employees working in 13 countries throughout Europe, North America, and Asia. ALPNET supplies its clients
with language translation, product localization, language interpreting, language training, and multilingual publishing solutions.
Additional information about ALPNET is available on the World Wide Web at alpnet.com. Additionally, a
copy of ALPNET Review or an Investor Package can be obtained by calling our Investor Relations Department.
SOURCE: ALPNET, Inc. |
