PITTSBURGH, December 7 /PRNewswire/ --
Vocollect, Inc., the world leader in Voice-Directed Work, today announced that it has named co-founder, chairman and chief operating officer Roger Byford as the company's new chief executive officer. Byford assumes the role effective today, succeeding Jack LeVan, who is leaving the company. Byford will remain chairman of Vocollect's board of directors. The company said that it will not seek a replacement for the role of chief operating officer.
Byford's career spans more than 20 years in the industrial application of voice technologies. Since the company's founding in 1987, he has held a variety of roles, including chief technology officer, chief operating officer and the first president of Vocollect Healthcare Systems. He also served as Vocollect CEO from the company's founding in 1987 until 2001. Prior to co-founding Vocollect, he was a member of the senior management team at Westinghouse Voice Systems, which was known for its pioneering work in voice technology operations. He also worked for Westinghouse's corporate Research and Development Center.
"I am excited and honored to assume the role as CEO of Vocollect. Our best years as a company are ahead of us, as we aggressively seek out new applications for voice across multiple industries and new, collaborative opportunities with other device manufacturers," Byford said. "Vocollect is a unique organization with a strong, award-winning product portfolio, a highly bright and dynamic workforce and an unparalleled network of certified resellers and supply chain experts that help us bring the best in voice performance to end customers around the globe. We will continue to work hard to maintain the trust of our customers and investors in the Vocollect brand and to build the future of voice applications at work across the global business arena."
"On behalf of Vocollect's Board of Directors, I want to thank Jack for his vision and unwavering dedication to the growth and expansion of Vocollect over these past years. We wish him every continued success."
Under LeVan's leadership, Vocollect grew from $10 million to $100 million (USD) in annual sales. During his tenure, Vocollect expanded its use of Vocollect Voice offerings to multiple mobile computer devices, established offices in London and Japan, diversified operations to encompass voice offerings for long-term care facilities and greatly expanded its global network of certified resellers and supply chain experts.
"Building on our existing successful enterprise infrastructure as the world's leading supplier of hardware, software and third-party device applications for Voice-Directed Work is a great opportunity. As a company, we already invest more than any other voice supplier in research and development for new capabilities. We will continue to focus on innovating industry-leading applications as we evolve to the next stage of Vocollect's growth," Byford said.
Byford resides in the Pittsburgh area. He holds one United Kingdom and three U.S. patents, and earned his M.A. degree in electrical engineering from Cambridge University.
About Vocollect
Since 1987, Vocollect, Inc. has delivered proven performance improvements in productivity, accuracy, cost reduction and worker satisfaction for mobile employees. Vocollect Voice literally talks people through their daily tasks, replacing cumbersome lists and traditional data capture methods with hands-free, personal voice dialogs. Through a premier global network of certified resellers and supply chain performance experts, hundreds of thousands of people on six continents use Vocollect Voice to improve work every day. Vocollect is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A., and supports its clients and resellers through offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.vocollect.com. Vocollect(R), Voice-Directed Work(R) and Vocollect Voice(R) are registered trademarks of Vocollect, Inc. All rights reserved.
Web Site: http://www.vocollect.com
Susan Muttart of Vocollect, Inc., +1-412-349-2543, scmuttart@vocollect.com; or Media, Danielle Engholm of Padilla Speer Beardsley, +1-612-455-1764, dengholm@psbpr.com, for Vocollect, Inc.
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