Ottawa, ON –
International Datacasting Corporation (TSX:IDC) (“IDC” or the “Company”) announced today the appointment of new executives to key Company functions. The changes include a new Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Products, as well as a restructuring of IDC’s global Sales force. The restructuring will increase IDC’s responsiveness to opportunities in rapidly-growing emerging markets and position the Company for increased success in those markets.
Steven Archambault, IDC’s new CFO, is a seasoned finance executive with over 15 years experience in financial reporting and accounting, internal controls, treasury, corporate income taxes, and financial system implementations. Archambault has served as IDC’s Director of Finance and Treasury since 2012, and is highly knowledgeable regarding the Company’s operations. At IDC, he has led the introduction of new systems for budgeting and financial planning, and has worked with the management team to develop innovative commercial offers for customers. Archambault’s experience includes service at Ernst & Young LLP as an audit manager, and more recently senior finance roles with a NYSE-listed reinsurance company. He is a Chartered Accountant in Canada and a Certified Public Accountant (Illinois) in the United States, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from the University of Ottawa. Archambault will continue to be located in Ottawa and his new role is effective immediately.
IDC’s outgoing CFO, Rick Clements, will continue at IDC until January 31, 2014 in order to support a smooth transition of responsibilities. Clements will also be available to IDC on a consulting basis after his departure to provide support as required.
Graham McBride, Chairman of IDC’s Audit Committee, stated “Steven Archambault is an excellent choice as our new CFO, and the Board of Directors has full confidence that he’ll lead the finance function in an exemplary way. We look forward to working closely with him.”
Steeve Huin, IDC’s new Vice President of Products, joins IDC from Irdeto. Huin has extensive experience in software engineering, architecture, product management, and product marketing. Most recently, he was Irdeto’s Senior Product Director, where he held responsibility for Conditional Access, overseeing a global product line serving industry leading Pay TV Operators and Broadcasters. Huin has led the introduction of innovative new products, including a highly successful software security solution for broadcast networks. He holds a Software Engineering degree from the Ecole
Nationale Supérieure d’Electronique, Informatique et de Radiocommunications in Bordeaux
, France and has lived and worked in France, the Netherlands, the USA, and China.
Walter Capitani, previously IDC’s VP of Product Management, has been named Vice President of Marketing. Capitani’s new responsibilities include strategic marketing, business development, and marketing communications. He recently coordinated a full review of IDC’s strategy and product lines, and will lead the development of industry partnerships and strategic relationships. He will also assist the CEO and IDC’s Board of Directors in evaluating potential opportunities for non-organic growth by IDC.
Commenting on the appointments, Doug Lowther, President and CEO of IDC stated, “I’d like to congratulate Steven Archambault and Steeve Huin on joining IDC’s executive team, as well as Walter Capitani on his new role. I’ve worked closely with each of them, and believe they will contribute substantially to the progress of IDC. The combination of Steven, Walter and Steeve in their respective roles will enable IDC to simultaneously maintain a strong focus on both strategy and execution. At the same time, I’d like to commend Rick Clements on his substantial contributions as IDC’s CFO and to personally thank him for his support throughout the selection and transition process.”
New Sales Organization targets Emerging Market growth
IDC also announces the reorganization of its global Sales force. IDC’s Sales teams will be structured on a regional basis, allowing increased delegation of authority, faster decision making, and more effective interactions with customers, partners, and resellers. The new organization will place more emphasis on fast-growing emerging markets, which offer strong opportunities to IDC.
The executives responsible for each sales region will be as follows:
Peter Neuman, Regional Director, Americas. Neuman recently joined IDC from Hansen Technologies, where he was head of Sales for the Pay TV business segment. He has also served at industry-leading companies such as Irdeto, Liberty Global, DirecTV, and Hughes Communications. Neuman will oversee IDC’s business in the Americas and lead efforts to expand IDC’s presence in Latin America.
Berry Eskes, Regional Director, EMEA North. Eskes joined IDC in 2005 with the Company’s acquisition of PROFLine, where he was Director of Sales, and has led the Company in winning several major network deployments in recent years. In addition to driving IDC’s sales in Northern and Eastern Europe, he will focus on developing markets and acquiring new customers in the Middle East, Russia, and the former CIS countries.
Berend Blokzijl, Regional Director, EMEA South. Blokzijl joined IDC in 2008, and has driven strategic sales of products such as Digital Cinema across Europe. He was previously International Sales Manager at Xantic where he built a distribution network in Southern Europe and Africa, and while based in the UK he also developed channel sales in Western Europe. At Novell Netherlands, he re-built and substantially increased service revenues. He will lead IDC’s sales in Western and Southern Europe, and in addition will focus on acquiring new customers in the rapidly growing African market.
Doug Pierce, Regional Director, Asia-Pacific. Pierce recently joined IDC from httv, a French supplier of Digital TV technology and solutions, where he held sales responsibility for Asia-Pacific. His previous roles included VP and General Manager of Asia-Pacific at Advanced Digital Broadcast, as well as several roles in both Asia and the USA at Texas Instruments. Doug will develop IDC’s direct and distribution sales capabilities across all of Asia-Pacific.
Virginia Lee Williams, previous VP of Global Sales, has decided to pursue opportunities outside of IDC. Doug Lowther will serve as Interim VP of Global Sales in addition to his other responsibilities as President and CEO.
Commenting on the new Sales organization, Doug Lowther stated, “Our new regional structure will help IDC build even closer relationships with our customers, as well as increase focus on rapidly-growing emerging markets. These markets currently represent about 20% of IDC’s sales, and our objective is to increase this substantially. All four regional directors have extensive experience and deep relationships in their territories, and each will play a key role in developing new markets for IDC’s products and solutions. I’d also like to thank Virginia Lee Williams for her service to IDC and wish her well in her future endeavors.”
Upcoming Shareholder Communications
The Board of Directors will be reviewing IDC’s strategy and business plan in December, and the Company plans to update shareholders on the results of that work before the start of the new financial year. The update will focus on plans currently being developed to improve performance in product quality, new product introduction, and closure rate for sales opportunities.
Third Quarter Results
IDC will release its quarterly results for the period ending October 31, 2013 at 5:00 PM ET on Tuesday, December 10, 2013. This release will be followed by a management conference call at 8:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, December 11, 2013, to discuss the results. Doug Lowther invites all interested parties to participate in the conference call.
Conference Call Details:
CONFERENCE DATE: Wednesday, December 11, 2013
CONFERENCE TIME: 8:30 a.m. ET
DIAL-IN NUMBERS: 613-233-1979 / 888-789-9572
PARTICIPANT CODE: 6142941
WEBCAST: A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at the following link:
http://www.gowebcasting.com/5135
. This webcast will be archived here for 365 days. Please connect to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be needed to access the webcast.
About International Datacasting Corporation:
International Datacasting Corporation (TSX: IDC) is a global leader in digital content distribution for the world’s premiere broadcasters in radio, television, data and digital cinema. IDC offers a broad portfolio of advanced solutions including the STAR Pro AudioTM Solution, LASERTM Targeted Ad Insertion Platform, and the Digital TattooTM DTH Over IP Gateway. The Company’s products and solutions are in demand for radio and television networks, targeted ad insertion, digital cinema, 3D live events, satellite newsgathering, sports contribution, VOD, and IPTV. IDC is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with regional offices in Arnhem, the Netherlands and in San Diego, California. The Company has installations in over 100 countries and service offices in Thailand and Singapore, and an international network of value-added partners and resellers. For more information visit:
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