Jim Saunders to lead product strategy and development

WAKEFIELD, MA and MAIDENHEAD, UK – February 14, 2017- SDL (LSE:SDL) announced today that Jim Saunders has been appointed as Chief Product Officer (CPO). This announcement highlights the company’s focus and investment in technology solutions to address the growing content and translation needs in today’s digital world and their role in the company’s strategy.

A veteran of the software industry, Saunders has built and led best-in-class organizations across three continents for more than 20 years. As CPO, he will oversee product strategy, innovation and engineering across SDL’s entire technology portfolio of language and content management solutions for enterprises and translators, helping them along their evolution to the cloud. Saunders will report to Adolfo Hernandez, CEO, SDL.

“Jim is a proven strategic thinker, capable of bridging the gap between product development and business teams. He has an excellent understanding of today’s constantly evolving, technology-driven marketplace and a proven track record in delivering products on time and to the highest standards,” said Hernandez. “With his deep cloud expertise and track record of attracting and leading engineering and product management, Jim is ideally qualified to drive the technical and strategic engines for SDL to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of SDL customers everywhere, helping organizations go global faster.”

Saunders previously served as executive vice president at Xura, a merger combining Comverse and Acision. Prior to Xura, he was vice president of capital markets products at Misys and has also held senior leadership positions at Cartesis SA, America Online, Netscape and Apple.

“In today’s digital world, there are no borders. With more content than ever before and an ever-growing need for audiences in one part of the world to communicate in real-time with others in a different locale, the opportunity for companies to manage their content and translate it for their customers is massive,” said Jim Saunders, CPO, SDL. “SDL’s product and engineering teams are recognized leaders in translation productivity, translation management, content management and Machine Translation. I am excited to drive product strategy and execution during SDL’s next phase of growth and help further product and cloud innovation, market growth and customer success.”