WorldSummit Europe 2006

Event Speakers

Andrew Bredenkamp, CEO, acrolinx GmbH
Dr. Andrew Bredenkamp is co-founder and CEO of acrolinx, the world's leading provider of content quality management software. ndrew has nearly 20 years' experience in multilingual information development. Before starting acrolinx, Andrew was Head of the Technology Transfer Centre at the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) Language Technology Lab. Andrew holds degrees in technical translation and linguistics and a Ph.D. in Computational Linguistics.

Anna Browne, Tools and Process Manager, VistaTEC
Anna Browne's role as Tools and Process Manager utilizes her 20 years of experience in Product Development and Engineering Services at client and vendor sites. Prior to joining VistaTEC, Anna worked as localization Tools manager at Symantec, and her development career includes 8 years as a C developer on the U.S West Coast.

Joseph Deignan, CEO, Opticentre
Joseph Deignan is Founder and CEO at Opticentre, a Globalization Technology and Publishing operation with centers at smart locations throughout Central and Eastern Europe and US. Previously he was Director EMEA Business Solutions at Alchemy CATALYST. Prior to joining Alchemy, Joseph was responsible for new business development (EMEA) at Moravia Worldwide, and his career at this multilanguage vendor spanned a number of operational and educational roles at their headquarters in Brno, Czech Republic. Earlier in his career Joseph held senior business development positions with the telecoms giant BT in the UK, as well as running his own business skills training operation in Central Europe.

Heidi Depraetere, Co-founder, Cross Language n.v.
Heidi Depraetere was the founder and Managing Director of a leading software localization company, which merged with the Localization Division of Sykes Enterprises in 1999. Heidi Depraetere has had twenty years experience in the localization industry.

Miel De Schepper, General Manager, Trisoft NV
Miel De Schepper is General Manager of Trisoft NV, an independent software vendor based in Mechelen, Belgium. With InfoShare, Trisoft provides a solution specifically targeted to the technical communications market. Before founding Trisoft, Miel was Marketing Manager of the Office Printing Group of Agfa Gevaert's Office Systems Division. He was also product specialist of the business computer department of Hewlett-Packard.

Bret Freeman, Principal Consultant, XMetaL
In his role as a Principal Consultant with XMetaL, Bret Freeman consults with existing and prospective clients recommending tool sets and strategies to solve various business problems. He has extensive knowledge in information models, content management strategies, workflow design, and complex multilingual outputs. Bret has more than fifteen years experience in the information management and publishing industry and is a member of CM Pros.

Michael Gavin, VP of Sales, Rubric
Michael Gavin began his career in the Information technology industry in 1973, working on an IBM System/360 Mainframe. In 1985, he co-founded Softrans International, one of the first commercial integrated localization services providers. After the acquisition of Softrans International by Berlitz Translation Services in 1990, Michael became European Sales Director at Berlitz, where he was a key player in the integration of Berlitz and Bowne Global Services in 2002. For the past two years, Michael has been helping Rubric define its sales strategy and implementation tactics.

Fred Hollowood, Director Translation, Shared Engineering Services, Symantec Corporation
For the last 9 years Dr. Fred Hollowood has been with Symantec, working on content localisation. Previously, he spent 4 years with localisation vendors and 5 years with Xerox in various localisation engineering roles, having emerged from a chemistry/Pharmaceutical/software engineering background. Integrating language technologies within the enterprise has been a business objective of Dr. Hollowood's for the last 5 years.

Mike Iacobucci, President and Chief Executive Officer, Idiom
Mike Iacobucci brings more than twenty seven years of leadership experience in the technology industry to his role at Idiom Technologies, Inc. As president and CEO, Iacobucci is primarily responsible for shaping the company's core business goals and overseeing execution of its growth strategies, technology leadership and partnership initiatives.

With a strong mix of strategic, operational and financial experience, Iacobucci has the proven ability to lead Idiom through the complex business issues faced by fast-moving, high-growth technology companies. His successful track record of helping companies turn industry trends and evolving customer needs into competitive advantage and market leadership is a valuable asset to the company.

Prior to joining Idiom, Iacobucci was an executive in residence with Sigma Partners where he held a number of executive level positions for a variety of technology companies. Prior to his role at Sigma, he was a founder of Books24x7.com, a provider of web-based digital, technical and business reference content that was ultimately acquired by SkillSoft. While at Books24x7, he played a key role in the development of innovative electronic publishing WorldSummit Europe 2006 strategies and was a key member of the team that drove the execution of the company's successful sales, customer relationship and partner programs. Iacobucci has also held senior management positions with Phoenix Technologies Ltd. and Cullinet Software.

Barrie Kuza, Technical Support Manager, Idiom
For the past 3 years, Barrie Kuza has been the Technical Support Manager at Idiom Technologies where she works closely with all WorldServer customers to answer questions and resolve issues. Her goal is to make sure that each customer is satisfied with the product. Before joining Idiom, Barrie was the Technical Support team lead and Partner Relationship Manager at Eprise Corporation. She has also worked as a software engineer at both Individual, Inc. and Data General Corporation. Barrie graduated with a B.A. in Computer Science from Brandeis University.

Paul Leahy, Director of Translation Infrastructure/Engineering, Oracle Corporation
Paul Leahy is Director of Translation Infrastructure/Engineering at Oracle's European Development Centre in Dublin. His team is responsible for delivering the engineering solutions that enable Oracle to simultaneously release their products in 35 languages. Paul was one of the first employees to join Oracle's Worldwide Product Translation Group (WPTG) back in 1996. During this time he has held many different engineering positions. The last 5 years have been focused on a strategy of building an end-to-end automated Translation solution; known in Oracle as Translation Factory. Prior to Oracle, Paul started his career in Symantec as a software engineer, working across both Development and Localisation.

Paul Mangell, International Sales Director, Alpha CRC
With a wealth of experience in International Business and International Professional Services, Paul has dealt with a range of Global 500 clients. Prior to joining Alpha CRC in 1997, he was International Sales Manager in the G's Group, one of the largest and most successful European traders for the multiple sector (Tesco, Sainsburys, Marks & Spencer). A firm believer in relationship building and consultative sales, he has introduced a range of Software Top 500 clients to Alpha CRC over the last nine years. Paul has a Master's degree in English from Exeter University.

Dave Pecorella, Director of Product Marketing, Idiom
Dave Pecorella joined Idiom as the Director of Product Marketing in 2006. With more than 15 years of experience in senior roles in product marketing and product management, Dave is responsible for product strategy and market requirements development. Previously, he was the Director of Marketing at Network Engines, Inc., a provider of network appliance solutions. Prior to that he was Director of Product Mangement at Artel Video Systems. Dave is a graduate of Tufts University with a degree in electrical engineering.

Eric Richard, Vice President, Engineering, Idiom
Eric Richard joined Idiom from Chicago-based SPSS, where he served as Chief Architect. Previously, Richard was co-founder, vice president of engineering, and chief technology officer for NetGenesis (acquired by SPSS), where he directed the company's technology development. Prior to NetGenesis, Richard worked at the IBM Almaden Research Center, where he was involved in developing handwriting recognition software. He was also named a finalist in the 2001 Ernst & Young New England Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. Richard is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Vincent Savard, Business Development Manager for Arbortext Solutions, PTC
Mr. Savard has 15 years of experience in publishing technology. Starting with a career as an aerospace technical writer, he moved from deploying and applying solutions for technical publishing to applying the same standards-based approach to a variety of industries ranging from discrete manufacturing to publishing and life sciences. Since joining PTC (Arbortext) in 1997, Mr. Savard has played a major role in establishing Arbortext's European operations. He holds a diploma in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary Canada.

Reinhard Schäler, Director, Localisation Research Centre (LRC), University of Limerick
Reinhard Schäler has been involved in the localisation industry in a variety of roles since 1987. He is the founder and director of the Localisation Research Centre (LRC) at the University of Limerick. He was a founding member and chairperson of the Software Localisation Interest Group (SLIG), is the founder and editor of Localisation Focus - The International Journal of Localisation, a founding editor of the Journal of Specialised Translation (JosTrans), a member of the editorial board of Multilingual Computing, a founder and CEO of The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP), a member of the OASIS Technical Committee on the XMLbased Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF) and the OASIS Technical

Committee on Translation Web Services. He joined the International Unicode Conference Committee and coordinated a localisation stream for the Unicode Conferences. In 2005, he launched together with Pat Hall the Global Initiative for Local Computing (GILC). He is a lecturer at the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems (CSIS) at the University of Limerick.

Eric Silberstein, Chief Technology Officer, Founder & Chairman, Idiom
Eric Silberstein founded Idiom in 1998 and is the company's visionary, focusing on globalization practices and product direction. He takes personal responsibility for customer relations and for maintaining a company culture that is committed to customer success and team enrichment. While completing his Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science at Harvard University, Silberstein served on the founding team of Chipshot.com as vice president of technology. During summer positions at Microsoft, first in the Redmond office and then in their Beijing office, Silberstein worked on the localization of Microsoft Word. Silberstein has founded and directed several volunteer youth programs, has traveled extensively in Europe and Asia, and speaks Chinese and Russian.

Christian Taube, Co-founder, Matrix Communications AG
Christian Taube has been in the IT industry since 1990, and in localisation since 1997, as project manager, technology lead and consultant. He was a co-founder of Matrix. Taube focuses on Web-based technologies and their applications as well as analysis and optimization of translation processes.

Jaap van der Meer, Co-founder, Cross Language n.v.
Jaap van der Meer established a translation company in The Netherlands in 1979 which after the acquisition by R.R. Donnelley later became Lionbridge. In 1995 Van der Meer became President/CEO of ALPNET, a NASDAQ-listed global localization company. In 2002 ALPNET merged with SDL. Van der Meer is founder and director of the Translation Automation User Society (TAUS) and a regular speaker at industry conferences.

Bill Rabkin, WorldServer Evangelist
Bill Rabkin is a WorldServer(TM) globalization evangelist with Idiom Technologies. In this role, he promotes the widespread use of globalization solutions to organizations throughout the world. Recently, he has been involved in the design of a worldwide publishing system for a major multinational manufacturing company.

Before joining Idiom, Rabkin was a senior technical evangelist with Rational Software (now IBM Rational Software) as well as Sybase, Inc. He completed his Bachelor of Applied Sciences in Computer Sciences at Boston University and graduate studies in Business Administration at Babson College.

He is a frequent speaker at globalization and content management industry conferences and Webinars.

Michael Vos, CEO, Matrix Communications AG
Michael Vos has held managerial positions on both the supply and the demand side of the localization industry. Before founding Matrix, Mr. Vos was Area Director for Central and Eastern Europe at Berlitz GlobalNET and Bowne Global Solutions.