CAMBRIDGE, MA – January 29, 2008 – Sapient (Nasdaq: SAPE) today announced two key executive appointments for Sapient Consulting, its business and IT consulting services group. The Company named Bob Baillie director of business development for its fast-growing Trading and Risk Management Practice and Bill Sykes vice president of business development for its Calgary, Alberta, Canada office.
“As demand for Sapient Consulting services continues to grow across key markets and geographies, these strategic appointments will help us further penetrate two of our promising growth sectors,” said Sapient Chief Executive Officer Alan J. Herrick. “Bob, a seasoned capital markets expert, will help our Trading and Risk Management Practice continue its dynamic growth in the year ahead. And, with Bill re-joining Sapient, we can continue our expansion in western Canada—which will complement our established office in Toronto, where we’ve served leading Canadian brands for the past seven years.”
With deep experience working with large asset management firms, bulge bracket sell-side investment banks, global custody firms and hedge funds, Baillie brings a wealth of financial services expertise to Sapient. Prior to joining Sapient, Baillie was a senior business development executive for Accenture. In this capacity, he served leading financial services clients in the capital markets sector. Before that, Baillie was at Random Walk Computing Inc., a technology consulting firm that specialized in trading, risk management and other capital markets technologies and was acquired by Accenture in June 2006.
Previously, Baillie was vice president of sales for ThinkCentric. Prior to that, he served as regional vice president for Best@IT, a London-based IT consulting firm, and as vice president of business development for Info Technologies, Inc., a New Jersey-based consulting firm.
According to Baillie, Sapient’s unique approach and culture sets it apart from other consulting firms. “After competing with the firm for several years, I began to understand that Sapient’s culture of collaboration with clients resulted in successful projects far more often than with the other consulting companies I have worked with. I believe this environment will enable me to provide my capital markets clients with an unparalleled level of support for their key IT initiatives.”
A seasoned consulting executive with nearly 20 years of experience serving clients throughout Canada, Sykes returns to Sapient after working at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and as a successful independent consultant. In 2005, Sykes opened Sapient’s Calgary office after securing several substantial new business wins, including multiple fixed price offshoring engagements and a multi-million dollar contract with a leading Canadian utility.
Previously, Sykes was the recipient of the American Marketing Association’s Marketer of the Year award for his commercial contributions to the XV Olympic Winter Games in Calgary and has led market expansions, IT acquisitions/divestitures and start-ups for leading organizations such as Meridian Mortgage Corporation, Telvent Canada and Cascadia Projects, Inc. Sykes also served as vice president and partner at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and as director, client services for Andersen Consulting.
About Sapient
Sapient, a global services firm, operates two groups—Sapient Interactive and Sapient Consulting—that help clients compete, evolve and grow in an increasingly complex marketplace. Sapient Interactive provides brand and marketing strategy, award-winning creative work, web design and development and emerging media expertise. Sapient Consulting provides business and IT strategy, process and systems design, package implementation and custom development, as well as outsourcing services such as testing, maintenance and support.
Sapient’s passion for client success—evidenced by its ability to foster collaboration, drive innovation and solve challenging problems—is the subject of case studies on leadership and organizational behavior used by MBA students at both Harvard and Yale. Leading clients, including BP, Essent Energie, Harrah's Entertainment, Hilton International, Janus, Sony Electronics and Verizon, rely on the company’s unique approach to drive growth and market momentum. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sapient operates across North America, Europe and India. For more information, please visit www.sapient.com.
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Sapient is a registered service mark of Sapient Corporation.