GoAmerica(R) Appoints John Ferron CFO and COO
April 03 2008 - 4:01PM
PR Newswire (US)
HACKENSACK, N.J., April 3, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
GoAmerica, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOAM), a provider of relay, interpreting,
and wireless communications services for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and
speech-impaired persons, today announced the appointment of John
Ferron to the dual positions of CFO and COO. Mr. Ferron will
immediately commence his COO responsibilities on a part-time basis
until June 2, 2008 at which time he will assume both the CFO and
COO responsibilities on a full-time basis. Mr. Ferron was
previously CFO and interim COO of Celerity, Inc, a $350 million
privately held semiconductor manufacturing company. Prior to that
he was CFO of Kinetics Holdings Corporation, a $900 million company
which included the Celerity division until its spin off. "We
interviewed a number of candidates with the skills necessary for
this position, but what distinguished John was his authenticity and
desire to understand our market, our public interest commitments,
and the professional services component of our business," said Dan
Luis, CEO of GoAmerica. "As we implement our business plan and gear
up for sustainable and profitable growth, it is imperative that the
people joining our team understand our purpose and share our
ambitions; John is a great fit on both points and we are excited to
welcome him to the team." "I'm impressed with GoAmerica's vision
and dedication to serving deaf and hard-of-hearing persons, and
with its plans for distinguishing itself in the marketplace," said
John Ferron. "I'm excited to be part of a company that has so much
potential and at the same time, is providing services that changes
the lives of its customers," said John Ferron. In addition to
Celerity and Kinetics, Mr. Ferron also has previous experience as
the VP of Finance and Group Controller at Compaq Computer, prior to
its merger with Hewlett Packard. While at Compaq Mr. Ferron had
financial responsibility for the Commercial Personal Computing
Group totaling $10 billion in annual revenues. Mr. Ferron also has
prior experience in numerous financial and operating roles at
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). "Having
worked with John in the past, we are confident of his cultural fit
with GoAmerica and that John's financial, operating, and capital
market skills will transfer well," said Behdad Eghbali, Director of
GoAmerica, Inc. and Partner at Clearlake Capital Group. "As the
team focuses on integrating the recent three-way strategic
combination of GoAmerica, Verizon's telecommunications relay
services division and Hands On Video Relay Services, John's past
experience will prove invaluable, helping to optimize the business
and achieve the company's product, financial, and
employer-of-choice objectives." Clearlake recently led the
investment of $125 million in GoAmerica enabling a three-way
strategic combination which included the carve out and asset
purchase of Verizon's telecommunications relay services division
and a merger with Hands On Video Relay Services; all of which were
completed on January 10, 2008. About GoAmerica As a result of
recent transactions, GoAmerica is the nation's largest and second
largest provider of text relay and video relay services,
respectively, and provides a wide range of communications services
tailored to the needs of people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or
speech-disabled. The Company's vision is to improve the quality of
life of its customers by being their premier provider of high
quality, innovative communication services that break down
communications barriers. For more information on the Company or its
services, visit http://www.goamerica.com/ or contact GoAmerica
directly at TTY 201-527- 1520, voice 201-996-1717, Internet Relay
by visiting http://www.i711.com/, or video phone by connecting to
hovrs.tv. About Clearlake Capital Group Clearlake Capital Group is
a private investment firm integrating private equity, leveraged
finance, and special situations in both private and public market
opportunities. Clearlake Capital seeks to partner with world-class
management teams to invest in businesses going through change or
expansion with patient long-term capital. The firm has a flexible
mandate to invest across the capital structure in corporate
divestitures, recapitalizations, restructurings, going private
buyouts and minority equity investments. Clearlake Capital's
founding principals, Steven Chang, Behdad Eghbali, and Jose
Feliciano, have led over 40 investments totaling more than $3
billion of capital in sectors including business services,
communications and media, energy and power, healthcare,
manufacturing, retail/consumer and technology. Safe Harbor The
statements contained in this news release that are not based on
historical fact -- including statements regarding the anticipated
results of the transactions described in this press release --
constitute "forward- looking statements" that are made in reliance
upon the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may",
"will", "expect", "estimate", "anticipate", "continue", or similar
terms, variations of such terms or the negative of those terms.
Such forward- looking statements involve risks and uncertainties,
including, but not limited to: (i) our limited operating history;
(ii) our ability to respond to the rapid technological change of
the wireless data industry and offer new services; (iii) our
dependence on wireless carrier networks; (iv) our ability to
respond to increased competition in the wireless data industry; (v)
our ability to integrate the businesses and technologies we have
acquired; (vi) our ability to generate revenue growth; (vii) our
ability to increase or maintain gross margins, profitability,
liquidity and capital resources; and (viii) difficulties inherent
in predicting the outcome of regulatory processes. Such risks and
others are more fully described in the Risk Factors set forth in
our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Our actual
results could differ materially from the results expressed in, or
implied by, such forward-looking statements. GoAmerica is not
obligated to update and does not undertake to update any of its
forward looking statements made in this press release. Each
reference in this news release to "GoAmerica", the "Company" or
"We", or any variation thereof, is a reference to GoAmerica, Inc.
and its subsidiaries. "GoAmerica", the "GoAmerica" logo, "i711",
and the "i711.com" logo, and "Relay and Beyond" are registered
trademarks of GoAmerica. "i711.com" and "i711 Wireless" are
trademarks and service marks of GoAmerica. Other names may be
trademarks of their respective owners. CONTACT: GoAmerica Laura
Kowalcyk Cubitt Jacobs & Prosek 212-279-3115 x209 DATASOURCE:
GoAmerica, Inc. CONTACT: Laura Kowalcyk of Cubitt Jacobs &
Prosek, for GoAmerica, Inc., +1-212-279-3115 Ext. 209, Web site:
http://www.goamerica.com/ http://www.i711.com/
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