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Effective June 28, Bill Davidson, CTO of SAMSys Technologies Inc., will provide consulting services to the company on an outsourced basis and will no longer directly work for SAMSys. He will continue to assist the company on specific solutions and integration projects. Davidson will retain his seat on the board of directors. Mike Koch, VP of engineering, will take over Davidson’s RFID reader development responsibilities. "Bill joined the company at a time when we were focused on proof of concept, and now we have matured to the point where our efforts are directed at building a robust and expanding product portfolio," SAMSys chair, president and CEO Cliff Horwitz said in a news release. In other SAMSys staffing news, the company has appointed Ron Pinkus VP of marketing. He has more than 25 years experience in the high-tech industry, including the last five years in the RFID space. Known for his expertise in new product innovations, Pinkus held a number of senior marketing and product management programs at ExxonMobil SpeedPass, Transcore, Texas Instruments, and others. Pinkus will be responsible for all of SAMSys’ marketing and product management programs, including new product launches and its go-to-market strategy. He will also play a key role in championing the process of bringing the company’s RFID reader systems to market. Mark Briggs has been appointed VP of marketing for Spectrum Signal Processing Inc. He will also become an officer of the company. Briggs has been with the company since 2001 and most recently was Spectrum Signal’s director of marketing. In that position, he was responsible for the in-bound and out-bound marketing functions for all of the company’s product lines. As VP of marketing, Briggs will lead the marketing activities of the company’s software reconfigurable products as well as drive strategic product direction within the company. Prior to joining Spectrum Signal, he worked in product management as director of switch products for Glenayre R&D Inc.’s wireless messaging group. Ian Mansfield has been appointed to ACD Systems International Inc.’s board of directors. The company also announced that Mark Kalow has resigned from the board. Mansfield is currently president and founder of Ocean Bluff Consulting. In 2000, Mansfield retired as president of TELUS Communications, following 32 years with the western-based telco. At the end of his career at TELUS, he headed business development and acted as chief negotiator in the merger of BC Tel and TELUS. "His years of industry experience will be invaluable to ACD Systems as the company continues to focus on its customers, innovation strategic partnerships," ACD chair, president and CEO Doug Vanderkerkhove said in a news release. Walt Disney Co.’s new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) has tapped 10-year Disney veteran George Grobar to head the company’s new MVNO Disney Mobile. He will have the official title of senior VP and GM. Rod Egdorf has joined as VP and chief marketing officer. He comes to the company from General Motor’s OnStar division. Sunir Kochhar has joined as VP product development and operations and comes to the company from Iris Wireless. Canadian cable TV and wireless telephony boss Ted Rogers has confirmed that he will definitely step down in 2008 as CEO of Rogers Communications Inc. But he said that he will remain with the company in some capacity. Rogers, 72, had previously delayed his retirement after saying he would pack it in when he reached 70. His contract was extended to 2006 and then 2008. Alain Gourd, president of Alain Gourd Communications Inc., has registered as a lobbyist for Bell Canada and BCE Inc. He will be dealing with both telecommunications and broadcasting issues. The government institutions that he expects to lobby are Industry Canada, Canadian Heritage and the CRTC. Gordon Hunter, an associate with Policy Insights Inc., has registered as a lobbyist for Telesat Canada. His areas of concern are telecommunications, broadcasting, industry, regional development, science and technology, and the Canadian Space Agency.

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News | July 15, 2005

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