Certiport News
Certiport Names Ray Kelly as New CEO
Certification industry executive brings focus on customers and growth
SALT LAKE CITY – April 16, 2009
Certiport the world's leading provider of computer literacy skills training and credentialing programs for the competitive global workforce and academic markets in over 135 countries, today announced that Ray Kelly joined the company as its president and chief executive officer. Kelly succeeds the company's entrepreneurial and visionary leader, David Saedi, whose work includes the development of Certiport Internet and Computing Core Certification (IC³®) as the de facto standard for digital literacy in the world.
"Ray Kelly's energy, depth of experience and leadership skills will allow Certiport to accelerate its growth and move the company to the next level," said Bruce Hernandez, chairman of the Certiport Board of Directors. "I am excited to work with Ray. We share the vision that Certiport's products of today and tomorrow provide skills that are essential for every citizen, student and worker in the world. Ray will continue to build on the organization's market strength and relationships, helping the business scale to meet the growing demands of the global marketplace."
"Certiport's outstanding global brand, its innovative and leading position in the certification and digital literacy markets combined with its unmatched global partner network gives the company an excellent platform for expansion," said Kelly. "I am thrilled to have been selected to lead such an innovative and impactful company. And my goal is simple: to help orchestrate the continued growth of Certiport while delivering exceptional products and services that deliver true, and relevant, business value."
Before joining Certiport, Kelly was senior vice president of client services and sales at Prometric, which serves 7 million candidates per year on behalf of 450 clients in more than 160 countries as the largest global provider of high-stakes assessment and testing. During his tenure at Prometric, Kelly led the integration of business units accountable for achieving Prometric's global revenue targets—improving client satisfaction, enhancing service levels and increasing revenues and profit margins. Kelly also acted as a key member of the Thomson Prometric strategic team responsible for the sale of Prometric to the global education and research organization, Educational Testing Service (ETS).
Kelly has had a distinguished career in the technology and education industries. Prior to joining Prometric, he held executive positions with several leading companies, including HP, NCR and ExecuTrain.
Certiport also announced the appointment of Bart Boaden as senior vice president of global sales. Boaden is an industry sales veteran with over 25 years of experience. Most recently, Boaden was the vice president of worldwide sales for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), the voice of the world's information technology (IT) industry. The organization is dedicated to advancing industry growth through its educational programs, market research, networking events, professional certifications and public policy advocacy. At CompTIA, Boaden managed a global team and partnerships with HP, Ingram Micro, Avnet, Dell, Lenovo, Ricoh, Cicso, Verizon. He also oversaw a large segment of the consumer marketplace, achieving significant revenue growth via faster sales cycles, stronger partner pull-through and portfolio re-engineering. Prior to his work at CompTIA, Boaden held senior executive sales and management positions with IBM, Ernst & Young and Fujitsu.
"Our search for an SVP entailed finding someone with solid solutions-based sales experience in our industry combined with a knack for understanding global markets," said Hernandez. "With Bart, we are very confident that his track record of successful growth acceleration, combined with his experience in motivating and directing sales teams, will get us where we need to go."
About Certiport
Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, is the leading provider of certification exam development, delivery and program management services delivered through an expansive network of over 12,000 Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide. Certiport manages a sophisticated portfolio of leading certification programs including: the official Microsoft Office Specialist certification program, the Microsoft Technology Associate certification program, the Microsoft Certified Educator program, the Adobe® Certified Associate certification program, the Adobe® Certified Expert program, the HP Accredited Technical Associate, the CompTIA Strata™ IT Fundamentals, the Autodesk Certified User certification program, the Intuit QuickBooks Certified User certification program, and the IC³ Digital Literacy certification. Certiport reliably delivers over three million tests each year throughout the secondary, post-secondary, workforce, and corporate technology markets in more than 148 countries and 27 languages worldwide. For more information, please visit www.certiport.com or follow Certiport on Twitter at www.twitter.com/certiport.
"Certiport" "IC³" and "MeasureUp" are registered trademarks of Certiport, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Press Contact:
Brenda Armstrong
1.801.602.0305
barmstrong@certiport.com