Synchronica Announces Changes to its Board of Directors

ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS, UK, April 16, 2012 /CNW/ - Synchronica plc ("Synchronica" or "the Company"), the international provider of next-generation mobile messaging solutions, announces several changes to the Board of Directors.

Following the offer for Synchronica by Myriad Group AG ("Myriad") being declared unconditional in all respects, Simon Wilkinson has been appointed Executive Chairman and James Bodha has been appointed Executive Director with immediate effect.  David Mason and Michael Jackson have resigned from the board with immediate effect. 

Simon John Wilkinson, Executive Chairman (aged 46) 

Simon Wilkinson has been Chief Executive Officer of Myriad since March 2009, following the acquisition of Purple Labs (where he held the same position) by Esmertec, creating Myriad. 

Previously, he was CEO of Purple Labs SA from September 2007 to March 2009 and successfully drove that company's acquisition of the Openwave Systems mobile software business and the Sagem Mobile applications business. He was the Founder of Magic4 Ltd in March 2000 and served as its Chief Executive Officer. Magic4 became the global market leader in mobile messaging software before being sold to Openwave Systems in August 2004. Earlier in his career, he worked for Philips in senior international sales roles from January 1996 to February 2000, and then raised venture funding of USD 21 million from 3i, Philips & Motorola to found Magic4 from Philips.

Simon Wilkinson was personally recognised as an Ernst & Young Emerging Entrepreneur of the year 2002. 

Simon Wilkinson is currently, or has been in the past five years, a director of the following companies: 

Current Directorships	Previous Directorships in last five years
Myriad Group AG (Switzerland) Myriad France SAS (France) Myriad Mobile Software Solutions Private Limited (India)   Myriad Group UK Limited (UK) Mobilaris AB (Sweden)	Myriad Software Limited

James Sanjay Bodha, Executive Director (aged 45) 

James Bodha has served as Chief Financial Officer of Myriad since September 2009. He has over 13 years of senior financial management experience with a successful track record in managing business operations in a variety of publicly listed companies in the engineering, retail and technology sectors. 

Prior to joining Myriad, James was CFO at Aircom International, the market leader in mobile network planning and optimisation, from May 2006 to July 2009. Before Aircom, he was CFO of the Global Mobile Handset Software Division of Openwave Systems, a NASDAQ-listed mobile software and services company based in San Francisco from August 2004 to April 2006. His arrival at Openwave followed its acquisition of Magic4, the global market leader in mobile messaging, where Mr. Bodha had been CFO from September 2003 to August 2004. Prior to joining Magic4, James Bodha was the Finance & Commercial Director at Anite Public Sector Ltd from January 2001 to June 2003, the Trading Finance Director for the UK Retail Division at Airtours Ltd from November 1999 to January 2001, and a Divisional Finance Director at Asda plc from May 1997 to November 1999. 

James Bodha has a Bachelor of Science degree (Hons) in Chemistry from Owens University, Manchester, and is a qualified Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW). 

James Bodha is currently, or has been in the past five years, a director of the following companies:

Current Directorships	Previous Directorships in last five years
Myriad Group AG (Switzerland) Myriad France SAS (France) Myriad Group UK Limited (UK) Myriad Mobile Software Solutions Private Limited (India) MG Mobile Software Mexico S. de R. L. de C. V. (Mexico) Myriad Group Australia Pty Limited (Australia) Myriad Group Mobile Software Inc (USA) Myriad Technology AG (Swiss)

This announcement includes all information required to be disclosed under Rule 17 and Schedule 2 (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies. 

About Synchronica

Synchronica plc is a leading developer of next-generation mobile messaging solutions. Mobile Gateway, Synchronica's flagship product, provides push email, synchronization, instant messaging (IM), and social networking services to any mobile phone currently in use. Synchronica's patented transcoding engine uses advanced streaming to download email attachments and can dramatically reduce the consumption of network bandwidth by as much as 90 per cent.

Mobile operators and device manufacturers from emerging and developed markets rely on Synchronica's white-labelled product for providing mass market messaging services across the entire customer base, diversifying revenues and reducing churn.

Headquartered in England, Synchronica also maintains a development center in Germany and the Philippines in addition to a regional presence in Canada, the USA, Hong Kong, Spain, and Dubai. Synchronica plc is a public company traded on the AIM list of the London Stock Exchange (SYNC) and the Venture Exchange of the Toronto Stock Exchange (SYN). For further information, please visit www.synchronica.com

Cautionary Statements

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

The foregoing information may contain forward-looking statements relating to the future performance of Synchronica. Forward-looking statements, specifically those concerning future performance, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from Synchronica's plans and expectations. These plans, expectations, risks and uncertainties are detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Synchronica with the TSX Venture Exchange and securities regulators. Synchronica does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

 

 

 

 

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