People Moves • By Anna Wyndham On

Smartling Appoints Former eBay Exec, Bryan Murphy, as CEO

Smartling New CEO Bryan Murphy Localization Company

US-based language services and technology provider, Smartling, has appointed Bryan Murphy as CEO, according to an announcement on April 12, 2022.

Murphy takes over from company founder, Jack Welde, who will take on the role of President and focus on product development and strategy. Welde will also continue to serve on the Board of Directors.

“Thematically, what attracted me to the language industry is the huge total addressable market, influenced by globalization, exponential growth of content, and AI”, Murphy told Slator.

Murphy’s appointment comes after Smartling received a USD 160m investment from venture capital and private equity firm, Battery Ventures, in December 2021.

At that time, Welde told Slator that the company intended to “leverage Battery’s long history of backing SaaS and cloud companies to guide us as we expand Smartling’s business.”

The new CEO sees parallels between Smartling’s cloud-based SaaS localization platform, and e-commerce platform eBay, where he served as VP of Vertical Markets. “I see the same potential of unlocking the global economy for our customers,” Murphy said.

Localization as Growth Lever

Are enterprises developing a keener sense of the importance of localization? In Murphy’s view, yes. “Globalization is a big topic today between CEOs, boards, and leadership teams,” he said, pointing out that “it’s one of your main levers of organic growth, especially for Software, E-commerce, and Marketplaces.”

“Globalization is a big topic today between CEOs, boards, and leadership teams” – Bryan Murphy, CEO, Smartling

According to Murphy, companies are more in tune with the importance of getting the fundamentals right: “Website, product literature, and support localization are essential.” In addition, he said that companies are now discovering the importance of “unlocking the value of SEO and social content through localization.”

On Smartling’s roadmap, Murphy told Slator that a major focus will be “making more companies aware of the Smartling solution” and continuing to invest in AI, automation, and connectivity to help companies optimize cost-savings and time to market.