Workshare names John Laing to its Board of Directors
Technology Industry Veteran Brings Broad Industry Perspective and Strong Growth Record to Board
London—October 19, 2004—Workshare, the leading provider of document integrity applications, today announced the appointment of John Laing to Workshare’s Board of Directors. More than 650,000 people at premier Global 2,000 companies and professional services firms use Workshare software with Microsoft Office to manage high-value document lifecycles safely and efficiently via email and the Internet.
Mr. Laing has a 32-year history in the technology industry, having held senior management positions with industry leaders in multiple markets: content discovery with Inxight; security with Symantec; desktop operating systems with Apple; and document printing with Xerox. While serving as the executive vice president of worldwide sales for Symantec from 1989 through 1997, he managed revenue growth from $15 million to $600 million and orchestrated several high-profile acquisitions, which helped to advance the company to its current successful position. Most recently, as president and CEO at Inxight, Laing was instrumental in a company turnaround, growing revenue by 65 percent and expanding its worldwide channels. Throughout his career, Laing has raised money from respected venture institutions including Vantage Point Venture Partners, Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital and Reed Elsevier Ventures among others.
Laing will work closely with Workshare’s executive team and Board of Directors to provide strategic input based on his cross-industry know-how and perspective. His experience integrating strategic acquisitions that drive explosive revenue growth will help Workshare augment its current solution set. Additionally, Laing’s acumen in driving volume software delivery through a variety of worldwide channels, including ecommerce, retail, distribution, OEM, VARs and SIs, will help Workshare’s global partners scale their businesses.
“Today’s economy is increasingly driven by the duality of document compliance and security, requiring increasing regulatory automation while preserving a delicate balance between beneficial information sharing and dangerous exposure,” said John Laing. “My job is to help Workshare make the most of its great opportunity to serve the increasing numbers of companies, in corporate industries from manufacturing to finance, professional services from legal to accounting, and government sectors at all levels, that recognize the need to actively manage the integrity of their documents.”
“John Laing’s extensive experience and proven track record in high-growth software businesses are strategic to guiding Workshare,” said Joe Fantuzzi, CEO and president of Workshare. “With today’s complex internal and agency-driven regulations, documents play a critical role in both improving and protecting a company’s bottom line. John’s leadership in the content and security product segments will enable Workshare and its partners to deliver broader solutions to these time-critical issues. His work in shaping companies’ critical steps from mezzanine size to Fortune 500 status will be invaluable for helping Workshare seize its vast market opportunity.”
“John has a keen sense of how to manage and grow businesses across a wide variety of industries,” said Bud Colligan, partner, Accel Partners. “I have witnessed and learned from John’s work from our early days with Apple Computer through my tenure as CEO of Macromedia, where John served as a board member. John’s experience in establishing global sales distribution channels, executing mergers and acquisitions and repositioning companies for growth, will be invaluable to Workshare.”
Laing served as a board member of the Software Publishers Association for six years, two of which he served as chairman. Laing also served on the boards of Inxight, Macromedia and Entercept Technologies among others. Mr. Laing joins Simon Acland, Brian Coultas, Barrie Hadfield, Mark Hadfield and Joe Fantuzzi on Workshare’s current Board of Directors.
About Workshare
Workshare is the industry leader providing document integrity applications for professionals in global enterprises. Its suite of high-value document lifecycle products includes award-winning Workshare 3 for review, Workshare DeltaView for verification, and Workshare Protect for security. Workshare’s customer base spans more than 70 percent of the Fortune 100 companies and 85 percent of the top 250 professional services firms, including Siemens, Caterpillar, Nortel Networks, Sony Music, Hartford Life Insurance, Wells Fargo, Clifford Chance, Baker & McKenzie, PwC and KPMG. In total, more than 4,300 companies and over 650,000 professionals in 60 countries use Workshare’s software. The company has offices in London, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, CapeTown, Hong Kong and Melbourne. Workshare is the sponsor of www.metadatarisk.org, the definitive source for content security. For more information, visit www.workshare.com.
