Executive Management Team

Mr Lancaster founded SDL in 1992 having identified the need for a high level service provider for the globalization of software. He was a founder director of LISA, the Localization Industry Standards Association, with which he continues his involvement.

He graduated with an HND in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Mr Lancaster was employed as a design engineer at Satchwell Control Systems. He then progressed his career as a project manager at Lotus Development Corporation and later was the international development director with Ashton-Tate. He is responsible for the strategic development of SDL.

Mr Gordon is a qualified Chartered Accountant and joined SDL in 1998. He spent thirteen years with Arthur Andersen, specializing in corporate finance and venture capital and ten years with Berisford plc, the last three of which he was chief financial officer for the US Operations.

Mr. Kinnon joined SDL in 1997 from Trinity Horne Consultancy where he was a project manager.

As VP Operations and Strategic Accounts Mr Kinnon's responsibilities include providing leadership, support and strategic direction focused on delivery and client management for SDL strategic accounts in North America.

As well as his role as a VP Operations and Strategic Accounts, Mr Kinnon is responsible for the identification and processing of acquisitions.

As Vice President Worldwide Sales and Marketing with Desktop Technology, Mr Laska is responsible for providing world-leading technology solutions and superior customer service to all organizations involved in the localization supply chain.

Mr Laska joined SDL in 2001 as Business Development Manager for the Desktop Technology Division, and took over leadership of the Division in late 2003. Prior to SDL, Mr Laska worked in various companies as a translator, proofreader, Localization Project Manager, Account Manager and Business Development Manager.

He is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA and studied French and Political Science at the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France. He speaks fluent French, is proficient in Italian, and is working towards fluency in Spanish and German.

Ms Lancaster is an experienced software engineer who previously worked as a senior support analyst at Lotus Development before establishing an IT training and consultancy business in 1990.

She joined SDL in 1993 and has responsibility for the process, management and strategic consistency throughout all the Company's divisions and the management of the overseas operations of the Group.

Peter Smith joined SDL in 1997 through the acquisition of Polylang, where he was Projects Director. He has over 10 years experience in the localization industry in roles covering project and program management, sales and operational management.

After starting his career in Accountancy with organizations such as Ernst & Young, in 1990 he founded a document management company providing data storage and retrieval solutions.

As VP Operations and Strategic Accounts Peter's responsibilities include providing leadership, support and strategic direction focused on delivery and client management for SDL strategic accounts in North America.

Mr Thomas is responsible for sales strategy and execution worldwide. He provides the leadership and direction for the global sales operation, including the implementation of customer-focused solution selling processes.

Prior to SDL, he was Chief Operating Officer of OILspace, a pioneer in the delivery of data services and hosted software solutions for the oil and petrochemical industry.

He is a Management Member of the Institute of Professional Sales and has also held sales leadership positions at Ramesys Group and JBA International.

Pieter Varkevisser is the Chief Executive Officer of SDL Tridion. He joined the company 1 April 2004. As CEO, Varkevisser leads the company's strategic direction to increase SDL Tridion's profitability and success. Based in Amsterdam, Varkevisser is building on the organisation’s strong results and good customer relationships, whilst harnessing the local expertise of regional offices at a corporate level.

Prior to joining the company, Varkevisser was CEO of Data Distilleries B.V (which had previously been experiencing many challenging years) and which he now had brought back to being profitability in 2003. Before joining Data Distilleries he worked 18 years in product development and held management positions at several companies including CTO with Exact Holding N.V.