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Leading Industry Experts Recruited to Drive Electronic Commerce Initiative
NEW YORK, May 10, 1999 - Kurt Cavano, Chief Executive Officer of TradeCard, today announced the company's aggressive new team of industry experts that will drive towards its goal of simplifying international trade. TradeCard recently received funding commitments of $53M from leading venture capital firm E.M. Warburg Pincus allowing the company to rapidly accelerate its presence in the international trade marketplace.
"TradeCard is now solidly equipped to fundamentally change the way the world does business," said recently appointed CEO, Kurt Cavano. "We have real momentum going here. With the team and the funding, all the elements are now in place to allow TradeCard to become the standard way to conduct international trade, quickly and simply. The team's first step is to complete the pilot testing and fine-tune our business model in order to maximize its value to all members of the international business community."
Guy Rey-Herme, one of the four new members of the management team is the new Chief Operations Officer and Chief Financial Officer of TradeCard. He has extensive experience in managing international banking networks and running global trade operations for BankAmerica. He served as Executive Vice President of BankAmerica's International Trade Bank.
Nestor Zwyhun will lead product development as Chief Technology Officer. His previous experience includes development of mission critical international trade processing systems, as well as e-commerce and Internet solutions for the Corporate Banking practice at American Management Systems, Inc.
"Each member of the team has an impressive track record of pioneering successful projects and of turning around operations," added Kurt Cavano. Coupled with their in-depth expertise in trade finance and technology, this is the right group to build on the successes to date, and create the world's pre-eminent business-to-business electronic commerce model."
The two new members of the nine-person TradeCard board are Michael O. Sanderson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Eclipse Trading, Inc., a broker specializing in after hours equity trading. He was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the global electronic equity trading firm Instinet. With over 30 years in financial services, he has acted as Chairman and CEO of Reuters America Holdings and Chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch Canada.
Tony Terracciano joins the board of TradeCard with over 30 years experience in the banking industry. As Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Fidelity Bancorporation, he was responsible for the turnaround that led to the merger of his bank with First Union Corporation. Prior to that, Mr. Terracciano was President and Chief Operating Officer of Mellon Bank Corporation in Pittsburgh. He joined Mellon after serving 23 years at Chase Manhattan Bank where he was head of the Wholesale Bank.
TradeCard, recently selected as one of the "Top 25 Technology Deals of the Year" by Future Banker magazine, is a patented electronic commerce technology that transforms the way international trade is conducted. Currently, companies wishing to import and export have to struggle with complex financing and extensive documentation which can add from 4% to 7% in costs to the value of goods shipped, with up to 70% of documents found discrepant. TradeCard's patented electronic compliance engine virtually eliminates discrepancies, and estimates an 80% reduction in paperwork.
About TradeCard
TradeCard is creating a new e-commerce business model for international trade. By providing superior, e-commerce driven services, TradeCard enables simple and cost efficient transactions for the international trade community. Through its partnerships with General Electric, Marsh & McLennan, American Management Systems, the World Trade Centers Association and other international trade service partners, TradeCard is establishing a one-stop electronic commerce service for the world's leading importers and exporters. TradeCard is headquartered in New York City and was voted one of the top 25 e-commerce technologies of 1998. TradeCard can be found on the worldwide web at http://www.tradecard.com.
