ASHTEAD, UK AND WOBURN, MA – October 27, 2011 – BridgeHead Software today announced the appointment of Jim Beagle as its CEO. BridgeHead also announced a recruitment drive and organisational changes within the company as it responds to strong global demand for its Healthcare Data Management (HDM) platform.
One of the most significant changes is the reorganisation of BridgeHead Software’s executive team. In order to take advantage of increasing opportunities in the US and UK and to drive worldwide company growth, Jim Beagle steps into the role of president and CEO. BridgeHead’s current CEO and founder, Tony Cotterill, will take up a position as Executive Chairman on the Board of Directors, as well as a new role as Executive Vice President and Chief Products Officer.
Beagle was a natural choice for the role having been a non-executive director on the Board of BridgeHead Software for nearly three years, and having worked at UIS back in the 80s and 90s with Cotterill and many of BridgeHead’s current team (as well as being the birthplace of what has now become BridgeHead’s Healthcare Data Management platform). Beagle has a proven track record of driving business growth and brings more than 25 years of experience in director-level positions across technology, distribution and consulting to his new position. Most recently, Beagle was executive vice president of worldwide sales and services at CarbonFlow Corporation. Prior to that he served as CEO of Extraprise International, divisional VP of Object Design, was European Director at UIS (now part of Sprint) and held a number of sales and marketing roles at ICL (now part of Fujitsu).
Commenting on his new appointment, Beagle explained, “I’m excited about taking a much more active role in BridgeHead’s undoubted future success. Our focus over the next fiscal year is to accelerate our plans to further meet, and exceed, the demands of the healthcare market in relation to data management. To bring these plans to fruition, we will be investing heavily in our resources – both people and infrastructure – to ensure we continue to serve our customers to the best of our ability, now and the future.”
While Cotterill’s role as Executive Chairman on the Board of Directors will allow him to maintain a strategic focus on the company’s future development, his role as Chief Products Officer will enable him to apply his longstanding experience of data, storage and healthcare to the end-to-end conception and delivery of BridgeHead’s offerings. Cotterill offered his support for the changes, adding, “This is an important time in BridgeHead Software’s history. We’re extremely proud of the achievements we have made as an organisation to get to this point. But, having worked with Jim over the years, and having discussed this with the Board and the executive team at length, we wholeheartedly agreed that he had the knowledge, credentials and track record to evolve the company to the next phase of its growth. I couldn’t be more delighted with our decision and welcome Jim into the BridgeHead family.”
In addition to reorganising the executive team, BridgeHead Software continues to actively recruit dozens of positions across the organisation, from engineering and product management through to sales and marketing, in both its UK and US offices.
These organisational changes were made following a rigorous strategy review conducted this summer in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in which the BridgeHead Software executive team unanimously agreed that the company’s vision, to focus 100% on data and storage management in healthcare, was indeed the right decision to take 3 years ago. Evidence now shows that the healthcare market in the USA, UK and mainland Europe has become increasingly aware of the BridgeHead brand; and this interest is translating into increased and significant demand for BridgeHead Software’s solutions from both existing and new customers.
As a result of BridgeHead’s building momentum in Europe and North America, the executive team felt strongly that the company was well positioned to use some of its extensive cash reserves to accelerate its long-term expansion plans, both commercially and technically. Consequently, BridgeHead is going to ramp up its investments in new personnel and make a series of organisational changes, such as the new CEO appointment, that will combine to provide a springboard on which the company’s strategic vision can be achieved.
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About BridgeHead
Trusted by more than 1,000 hospitals worldwide, BridgeHead Software solves healthcare organisations’ backup, recovery and archiving challenges. BridgeHead’s solutions are designed to operate with any hospital’s chosen software applications and storage hardware, regardless of vendor. This presents healthcare organisations with more choice, flexibility and control over the way data is secured, accessed, protected and managed. The net effect – better utilisation of hardware resources and, more importantly, the efficient distribution, availability and use of vital healthcare data.
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BridgeHead Software Media Contacts
UK and EMEA
Rose Ross
Omarketing
+44 208 255 5225
rose@omarketing.co.uk
http://www.twitter.com/Rose_at_O
US
Joan Geoghegan
Cavalier Communications
+1 978-371-3921 (office)
joan@cavalier-communications.com
http://www.twitter.com/JoanMGeoghegan
