brightsolid made two announcements in one this morning. First, it has hired one of the better-known genealogists to play a key role in the company's expansion into the U.S. marketplace. The second announcement is a bit more subtle: the company is moving into the U.S. marketplace. British-owned brightsolid has long been a major player providing online genealogy information to U.K. genealogists and now is expanding into the U.S. The company appears to be well-funded and should be capable of becoming a major competitor to the U.S. providers of genealogy data.
The following announcement was written by brightsolid:
January 30, 2012. SANTA MONICA, CA: brightsolid online publishing, a leading online provider of historical and genealogical content, today announces that top genealogist D. Joshua Taylor has joined its new US operation with immediate effect, as business development manager and media spokesperson.
- He’s helped stars find their roots on TV’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” Now, he’s helping brightsolid’s US launch as business development manager and media spokesperson
- Taylor is one of several new appointments to the new US operation of UK’s major online genealogy business
D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS is one of America’s most prominent genealogists – a prolific genealogical researcher, speaker and author, who has also received numerous awards for his work. Adept at media interviews, he has twice been featured on the NBC series ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, helping both Sarah Jessica Parker and Ashley Judd trace their family trees.
“We’re thrilled to have recruited such a dynamic and talented genealogist to represent us both to the media and the wider genealogical community”, says Neil Curtis, brightsolid’s new Senior Vice-President (SVP) of North America.
Speaking about his appointment, Taylor says: “Having seen what brightsolid has achieved on the UK genealogy scene, I’m excited about helping them fulfill their huge potential in the US.”
British-owned brightsolid has itself been at the forefront of technological innovations in family history for over three decades. It hosts over a billion genealogical records across its family of brands and was this month voted Best Genealogy Organization in the online Gene Awards.
As part of its move into North America, brightsolid is sponsoring RootsTech 2012, the major family history and technology conference, taking place in Salt Lake City from February 2-4 2012, where Taylor himself will be giving three talks. They will cover, respectively, the need for a universal standard in online digital archiving; best practices for using Cloud computing in family history research; and a forecast for future genealogy software developments.
Other new appointments to brightsolid’s new US operation:
- D. Joshua Taylor is just one of several new appointments for brightsolid, following the opening this month of its new US operation, based in Santa Monica, California.
- Neil Curtis moves from his role as brightsolid Corporate Development Manager to focus on the US market as Senior Vice President (SVP) of North America.
- Rachel Denning joins as the General Manager of North America, after 14 years experience in the IT and web industries.
- Brian Speckart joins as Marketing Manager of North America, after a varied 15-year career in marketing and public relations, including teaching New Media Marketing at UCLA Extension.
- Katy Curtis will focus on North America as Finance Manager, after previously working as a director at KPMG.
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