Language Line Services Executive Team

A combined 60 years of managing our company

 

Dennis G. Dracup, Chairman and CEO 

Dennis has over 20 years of management experience. Prior to joining Language Line Services, he was the CEO of Gemkey.com and the President of Pitney Bowes Software Solutions. He earned his Executive Management Certificate from Northwestern University, MS in Information Systems from Roosevelt University, MBA from State University of New York at Buffalo and BA in English from Canisius College.

Louis Provenzano, President and COO

As Chief Operating Officer, Louis is responsible for Language Line Services’ world-wide operations. He is the recipient of the “Friend of CHIA” award from the California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) in recognition of the company’s ongoing efforts to create new solutions to improve healthcare for limited-English speakers. Louis also received the 2007 Latin Business Leadership Award for his work with San Francisco’s Hispanic community. He has held Executive Board positions with CHIA, and actively works on behalf of the Monterey Language Capital Advocates Council and Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce. He is a current member of the Board of Directors of United Way Monterey County as well as a member of the Fundraising Committee for the Business Sector. Prior to joining Language Line Services in 2004, Mr. Provenzano served as Vice President of Worldwide Sales within the eFinance division of Metavante, one of the nation’s largest banking and payment technology providers.  In this role, he directed a wide range of sales and account management activities, along with the integration of corporate acquisitions, leading to significant growth during his tenure.  Louis also served as Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Pitney Bowes and Reuters America in their electronic/banking divisions. He is a member of the Board of  Directors of Language Line, Inc.'s holding company, Language Line Holdings, Inc.  Louis received his B.A. from Boston College in Romance Languages and International Business Law.  You can read Louis' comments on our industry, legislation and other topics here www.louisprovenzano.com or on Twitter www.twitter.com/louisprovenzano.

Michael Schmidt, Senior Vice President and CFO

Michael F. Schmidt has served as Language Line Services' Senior Vice President of Finance since July 23, 2007 and Chief Financial Officer since August 15, 2007. Prior to joining the Company and since April 2004, Michael was Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of Autobytel. From April 2002 to April 2004, he was Chief Financial Officer at Telephia Inc., a leading provider of performance information for the mobile telecommunications industry. From December 2000 to August 2001, Michael was Chief Financial Officer of Autoweb.com, Inc., an automotive marketing services company. From May 2000 to October 2000, he was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at MizBiz, an internet startup. From September 1999 to May 2000, Michael was Director of Finance at Pacificare Health Systems, a health care company. From 1988 to March 1999, Mr. Schmidt held various senior level finance and operational positions at IMS Health, a worldwide provider of information services. He began his career as a certified public accountant with Ernst & Whinney. Michael received a Bachelors of Business Administration and Accounting from Cleveland State University.

Karen Gilhooly, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Karen has more than 20 years of extensive sales management experience, serving in senior executive positions at various companies. In her most recent position, she served as the Managing Director of Citibank and Head of North American Cash Product Sales. Prior to this position, she held several executive positions at Citibank, was the recipient of a number of Executive Leadership and Trust Advisor Awards at Citibank, and has been certified in the Motorola Six Sigma Quality Program. Prior to Citibank, she was VP of eFinance Relationship Sales at Metavante Corporation, SVP Sales and Marketing at Intelidata, and Chief Operating Officer – Electronic Billing Systems for Princeton e-Com. She earned a BA in History and Language Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Winnie Heh, Vice President, Global Operations

Winnie has an extensive background in call center management, new market development, and sales management. During the last 20 years, she has served in various capacities at Language Line Services—such as interpreter recruiting, testing, training, product and market development, and sales management. As VP of International Sales and Business Development, she led our entry into the UK market, culminating in securing the market leadership position for Language Line Services in the UK through the acquisition of Language Line, Limited in 2006. Prior to joining Language Line Services, she was a conference interpreter and an Adjunct Professor at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She has an A.A. degree in Accounting and Statistics, a B.A. degree in English Literature and Language, and an M.A. degree in Translation and Interpretation.

James L. Moore, Vice President and CTO

Jim joined Language Line Services in 2000, and has over 30 years of experience in information systems management. He was the CIO of Borland Software Corporation and Director of Information Systems of Softbank Content Services Inc. He earned his MS and BS in Engineering from California State University Northridge.

Vanessa Eke, Vice President and Managing Director

Vanessa joined Language Line Services as Managing Director and Vice President for UK and Europe in 2006. Following her Honours degree in English Literature, she embarked upon her professional career, first training with Peat Marwick in London (now KPMG) and then moving to VNU Business Publications where she enjoyed a successful career spanning sales, marketing and operational management roles. This broad base of experience led to her role of Commercial Director for Financial Times Business where she gained further international and dot com experience. Building upon this base, she was invited to become Commercial Director and, subsequently, Managing Director for Nielsen Media Research UK and AdEx International. Vanessa is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars spanning both the public and commercial sectors.