Bob Leahy Joins SoundBite Communications as Chief Operating Officer
Leahy Brings More than 30 Years of Operational and Financial Expertise to Executive Management Team
BURLINGTON, Mass. – September 26, 2006 – SoundBite Communications Inc., a leading provider of hosted, automated customer contact solutions, today announced that it has named Bob Leahy to the position of chief operating officer. As the former chief financial officer andexecutive vice president of finance and operations for Brooktrout, Inc., (NASDAQ: BRKT), which was acquired by Excel Switching Corporation in October 2005. Mr. Leahy has more than 30years of finance and operations experience in the high technology industry. He will be responsible for SoundBite’s operational efficiency, financing activity and corporate developmentand will report directly to Peter Shields, president and chief executive officer at SoundBite.
"SoundBite continues to achieve record growth. For the last three years, SoundBite has doubled its revenues and employee base year-over-year, tripled its capacity to stay well ahead of customer demands, and continues to execute on its long-term security strategy," said Peter Shields. "The time is right to add this key position to our executive management team and Bob has the breadth of experience to fill this role and bring SoundBite successfully through our next level of growth and beyond.
"During his 18-year tenure at Brooktrout, Leahy held management responsibilities for Brooktrout's finance, legal, information technologies, human resources, technical support, supply chain management and manufacturing operations. He led Brooktrout's corporate development efforts including many successful acquisitions of independent companies as well as divisions of larger corporations. In addition, he secured several technology licensing deals and, in 1999, completed a successful spin off of a wholly owned subsidiary/division into a standalone public company, as well as the sale of an operating division.
Leahy also led the company’s efforts to successfully raise venture capital financing as well as traditional commercial bank financing. As the chief financial officer, he represented the company in its initial public stock offering in 1992. In 1996, he spear-headed the effort for a secondary or follow-on public stock offering which was successfully completed in August. The result of the offering increased the company’s liquidity, expanded its institutional shareholder base andbroadened Wall Street research coverage.
"I'm excited to be joining SoundBite at this critical growth stage in the company's evolution," said Leahy. "SoundBite has a strong business model in a rapidly growing market. As the company continues on its high growth strategy, I'm looking forward to playing a central role in streamlining and optimizing its operational and financial processes."
Prior to joining Brooktrout, Leahy was Vice President and Corporate Controller at Cambridge Robotic Systems, a technology start-up company in the image processing industry. Leahy also worked at Data General Corporation, a general purpose computer manufacturer, in the corporate finance group. In addition, Leahy spent several years at the Foxboro Company working in the operation accounting area. Leahy holds a B.S. in accounting from Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts and an M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from Bentley. He is a frequent speaker at financial investor conferences. He is an active member of the Financial Executives Institute.
About SoundBite Communications
SoundBite Communications is a leading provider of automated customer contact solutions that are fully hosted and available on demand. The company's solutions help organizations grow revenue, improve customer service, and secure payments through an efficient, reliable and cost effectiveapproach. SoundBite turns one-on-one customer contacts into results.
SoundBite's highly personalized calling and messaging solutions, used for sales, marketing, customer care and collections applications, reach customers faster and more effectively than any other customer contact alternative. Over 250 world-class organizations use SoundBite's solutions to deliver messages faster, increase call center productivity, improve results per customer contact and assess campaign results in real-time. Organizations across many industries use SoundBite including collections, financial services, retail, utilities,telecommunications, insurance, healthcare and media.
With over 500 million calls and 200 million messages delivered in 2005, SoundBite has the best practices know-how, virtually unlimited, on demand capacity, and robust campaign applications to deliver the customer communication results demanded in today's competitive business environment.
SoundBite is headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.SoundBite.com.