GALA Board

The GALA Board is composed of six volunteer members who are elected by the GALA membership to serve for two-year terms. All Board members are working as unpaid members for the benefit of the industry as a whole.

2008 GALA Board

 
Kim Harris, Chair
Co-owner and Managing Director, text & form GmbH
Germany

Kim studied French and German at the University of Toronto, Canada and moved to Berlin, Germany in 1986 to complete her language studies.  Prior to co-founding text & form GmbH in 1996, Kim worked as a freelance technical and localization translator and co-managed the English translation department of a large German translation company.  As Managing Director of text & form, Kim has performed a number of extracurricular duties within the translation and localization community.  She has published several articles and spoken at a number of events on various topics including trends in the localization industry and the future of SMEs in the industry, quality standards, and industry metrics.  When she’s not working, Kim enjoys swimming, reading short-listed Booker Prize novels, and researching new and exotic travel destinations.
 
María Gabriela Morales, Secretary
Argentina
Gabriela has a degree in both English into Spanish and French into Spanish translation.  She is the founder and director of Rosario Traducciones y Servicios S.A., an innovative translation and localization company based in Rosario, Argentina, specializing in Latin American languages (Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese) offering translation and localization services to translation agencies, localization companies, direct clients and software developers around the globe.
 
In 1995, Gabriela opened the office of Lazoski, Beninatto & Associados — the first translation company in the region. After that, she managed the South American Spanish operations of LMI and Berlitz in Argentina and Chile. She is also one of the founding members of Translated in Argentina, a cluster of individual, Spanish translation bureaus from Argentina.
 
Michael Sank, Treasurer
Vice President of Corporate Strategy, TransPerfect / Translations.com
USA

Michael joined TransPerfect / Translations.com as a salesperson in 1997 when he opened TransPerfect’s Los Angeles office.  He subsequently led the company’s global expansion as Vice President of International Operations, during which time he lived in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, and Hong Kong.  In this role, in addition to managing sales and project management staff, he oversaw fulfillment of legal, accounting, and banking requirements in the respective countries. In his current role as VP of Corporate Strategy, in addition to partnerships and other strategic ventures, he manages M&A activity – including the company’s mergers with Crimson, ArchiText, and iSP.  Working with incoming management, he has contributed to the integration, retention of staff, growth, and overall success of these merger partners within the TransPerfect framework.
 
Arancha Caballero, Membership Liaison
Co-founder and Director of Marketing and Client Services of TSG
Spain

Arancha Caballero is responsible for the overall operations of TSG in both Europe and the United States. Ms. Caballero received her Translation and Interpreting Degree from the University of Granada and her MBA in Strategic Management from the University of Madrid.  She started her career as an in-house Spanish translator for ITP (Bray, Ireland), one of the historic names in the localization industry.  She is recognized as an authority on Spanish within the industry and is frequently asked to submit presentations and articles on the topic of localization.  As TSG continues to grow in size and reach, Ms. Caballero is committed to making sure that all TSG clients continue to receive the personal touch that she is so proud TSG has been able to maintain.  Arancha notes, “As a Mediterranean, I like to enjoy good chats with friends and family over a nice meal, but also enjoy traveling and meeting people from other cultures, something that this industry easily allows!”
 
Matthias Caesar, Spokesperson
Managing Director, Locatech GmbH
Germany

Matthias studied Mathematics and Computer Science at University Dortmund and University College Dublin and joined the localization industry in 1994. In those ten years he has been acting as a tools and process trainer, project manager and since 1999 Managing Director of Locatech GmbH in Germany. Additional mandates include the position as a board member and General Manager of LCJ EEIG, a group of four localization companies in Europe which, according to Common Sense Advisory, ranks as the 12th largest LSP world-wide. Locatech is a founding member of LCJ (founded in 1999). He has also served as a board member of TILP (The Institute of Localisation Professionals, Dublin) and as Deputy President and International Officer of JCI Dortmund (Junior Chamber International) between 2000 and 2004. Matthias likes spending his spare time traveling to nice hideaways with his wife and working out at their local sports club.

The entire GALA Board can be reached by e-mailing

Former Board Members
Stephen Ryan, Moravia Worldwide
Christiane Bernier, Lionbridge Technologies
Aki Ito, TOIN Corporation
Daniel Carter, Medical Communication International
Don DePalma, Common Sense Advisory, Inc.
Hedley Rees-Evans
Hans Fenstermacher, ArchiText Inc., a division of Translations.com
Renèe Sztabelski