GALA Board of Directors

Fabiano is the Managing Director of Ccaps Translation and Localization, a company that has been providing language services in the Latin American region since 1999. With a degree in Liberal Arts (Portuguese Language & Brazilian and Portuguese Literatures) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Fabiano is responsible for the company’s long-term planning and strategic partnerships. He started his career as a translator at Lazoski, Beninatto and Associates in 1996 and later that year moved to London, where he worked as a freelance translator for two years. Returned to his home town of Rio de Janeiro to found Ccaps in 1999 and since then has positioned Ccaps as a market leader in its segment.

For six years Fabiano was the Chairman of the Board of Milengo, when he raised the investment necessary for the company’s restructuring. He is also a very active member of the industry who is frequently invited to speak at conferences and write articles for specialized publications, especially in matters related to Latin America. He is one of the leading organizers of Think Latin America, whose last edition happened in Silicon Valley, with the presence of distinguished players from inside and outside the localization industry.

Serge Gladkoff graduated with honors from a Russian ivy league nuclear physics science college and has been engaged in the localization industry for more than twenty-three years, first as a deputy director for a software distribution company, Dialogue-MEPhI, then as a localization manager of Borland International's Moscow office, and for the past seventeen years, as co-founder and co-owner of the Logrus International Corporation, actively engaged in company management and operations as President and CFO.

Serge is also the founder and administrator of the Localization Professionals group on LinkedIn. He has been a speaker and presenter at many industry conferences and events and is the author of many articles.

Xavier Maza Cid, Membership Advisor

Language Services Manager
iDisc Information Technologies, Spain

Xavier Maza currently supervises operations, purchasing, customer services and quotes at iDisc where he manages a heterogeneous department with project managers and engineers, plus a team of in-house language specialists and pool of distributed translators for extra flexibility. He has extensive knowledge in linguistic testing and QA, as well as a good understanding of DTP and all the localization engineering processes and tools.

Team management and motivation have been some of Xavier's drivers and he still keeps his mind busy with getting a clear vision of the industry, on tools and procedures.  He speaks Catalan, Spanish and English, is good at Danish and has some Russian. He enjoys motorbike wind-in-the-face-touring on a classic bike and has three boys, so he is always having fun when not in the office. He recently discovered scuba diving and the pleasure of new personal challenges.  

Gary Muddyman is Managing Director and CEO of Conversis. Established in 2003, Conversis is a U.K.-based leading provider of Globalization, Internationalization, Localization and Translation (GILT) services. As Managing Director and CEO, Muddyman leads the Conversis’s strategic business development as well as overseeing a variety of other business interests throughout the Group. Prior to joining Conversis, Muddyman served as Director of Operations for K International Plc.  In this position, he was responsible for all the development and implementation of business strategies.

Muddyman previously spent 16 years working for London-based HSBC Asset Finance U.K. Ltd., one of the largest banking and financial services organizations in the world. During his tenure there he led various strategic, product, commercial and business development divisions. He was responsible for running a variety of central divisions as well as operational business units giving him a wide experience in all business disciplines particularly marketing and operational strategy. He helped create Metropolitan Collection Services, the debt management arm of HSBC and now the template for successful debt recovery throughout the world.  Muddyman received his master’s degree in business administration from Warwick University and is also currently actively involved in a number of not for profit organizations.

Shelly Orr Priebe, Events and Programming Advisor

Founder
Priebe & Associates, USA

Shelly’s fascination with cultures and language was cemented while she achieved her MBA in Pau, France. She served as president of McElroy Translation for over a decade until 2009. Now at Priebe & Associates, Shelly uses her experience to provide targeted advice to clients as they grow and “grow up” their businesses. A core part of her expertise and counsel is leadership coaching. She has focused on this practice area and passion by also becoming Executive Partner at SOLIDexecutive, Inc., a boutique senior executive coaching and advisory firm with offices in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, USA.

Shelly is married with four children and resides in Austin, Texas. Coaching youth volleyball, teaching elementary school leadership, serving church youth, and acting in a theatre troupe give her joy. She sits on boards for Center Stage, a youth program for the arts and Capital of Texas Chapter of National Charity League.