Ron McKenzie Joins Octopz Inc. As CEO
May 24, 2007
Toronto, Ontario – Octopz Inc. today announced that Ron McKenzie, P.Eng., will join the company as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. He assumes the CEO position from company co-founder Barry Fogarty, who will apply his comprehensive product knowledge in the newly-created role of Chief Evangelist.“We are delighted to welcome Ron as the new head of the Octopz management team,” said Jim Meenan, Octopz chairman, and former chairman and CEO of AT&T Canada. “His outstanding track record for innovative leadership in guiding technology companies will be an enormous asset as we accelerate the development of Octopz and continue to expand this ground-breaking solution.”
McKenzie has extensive experience in leading high growth technology companies in both Canada and the United States. He has held leadership roles in the computing and communications sector with companies such as Hewlett Packard, SGI, FORE Systems and most recently as Executive Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, of MTS/Allstream (formerly AT&T Canada). McKenzie led all product generation, lifecycle management and marketing activities, as well as directing strategic business development and acquisitions. Prior to Allstream, he was Managing Director of Whitecap Venture Partners where, among other responsibilities, he took an active role in building investee companies.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to join an organization with such a unique and differentiated solution,” said McKenzie. “It’s a tremendous testament to the quality and originality of Octopz that they’ve launched to such great reviews from critics and customers. I’m looking forward to using my experience in the computing, software and service provider sectors to help propel the company to even greater levels of success.”
Octopz is an advanced online collaboration software specifically designed for creative professionals working with rich media, that publicly launched at the Web 2.0 Expo 2007 on April 16th. It was named one of the ‘Top Five’ Web 2.0 services at the show by the editors of Webware.com, a CNET site, who selected Octopz from over 115 products and services on display.
Offered on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis, Octopz enables up to 5 people to synchronously view and markup an unprecedented range of document types – including video, animations and other digital media. It’s easy to use, with nothing to download, and virtually no training required. Octopz has simple navigation and tool icons, requires nothing more than a flash-enabled web browser, and uses integrated SSL encryption to ensure security. In addition, Octopz can be integrated (via API, web services and Flash) with existing applications including content and digital asset management systems (CMS and DAM).
“We’ve built a powerful technology that has been enthusiastically received by customers,” said Fogarty. “Ron’s strengths and experience will bring new impetus to the continuing development of our solution and the rapid growth of our business. With Ron leading the team, I am excited to take on the role of Chief Evangelist, allowing me to concentrate on promoting Octopz and working more closely with clients to ensure that future developments continue to not only meet but exceed their needs and expectations.”
-30-
About Octopz Inc.
Octopz Inc. (www.octopz.com) develops next generation on-demand, online collaboration technologies built specifically for today's creative professionals. With fully integrated support for text messaging, VoIP and webcams, Octopz allows colleagues and partners anywhere in the world to work together securely in real-time, or individually at their own convenience, using multiple document types, and then save and archive their work for subsequent retrieval, review and feedback. The result is accelerated decision making and speed-to-market - a significant competitive edge.
For more information, contact:
Ann Christie
VP, Marketing
Octopz Inc.
416.673.8187
email here
