SAN FRANCISCO, March 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FRONTEO USA, Inc. (“FRONTEO USA”) (NASDAQ:FTEO) (TSE:2158), a leading provider of global eDiscovery, managed review solutions and big data analysis services utilizing artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology, today announced changes to the U.S. leadership.
After successfully leading Evolve Discovery until its acquisition in July 2015 and through the integration of our US entities, forming FRONTEO USA, Andy Jimenez will be stepping down from his position as CEO of FRONTEO USA.
During his 20 years as CEO of Evolve and since 2015 of FRONTEO USA, Mr. Jimenez oversaw an exciting period of growth and development of FRONTEO. Under his leadership, FRONTEO increased revenue, expanded our legal business footprint and successfully established the FRONTEO brand in the US. Mr. Jimenez fostered a deeply dedicated culture and built a talented team to provide the highest level of service we can give our clients.
FRONTEO has identified Craig Carpenter to succeed Mr. Jimenez as CEO of FRONTEO USA after a transition period. Mr. Carpenter is an industry veteran with strong executive leadership experience. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Carpenter has assisted global clients in managing data intelligently while enabling the efficient resolution of complex legal, compliance and governance matters. Mr. Carpenter joins FRONTEO having held top senior executive level positions at Kroll Ontrack, AccessData and Recommind in the areas of sales, operations, business development and marketing.
Mr. Jimenez said, “It has been a privilege to lead this group. Often, it didn’t feel like leadership at all, but rather an amazing group of people with a common purpose and a common vision. I am so excited that Craig has joined the team. Craig is both humble and confident, visionary and grounded. I believe he exemplifies all that is good in FRONTEO, and I know that he and Morimoto-san will continue to make positive change in the lives of our customers and our employees. I am so proud of what we have done, but more proud of what FRONTEO will do in the future. I will continue to be FRONTEO’s biggest cheerleader! There is truly a bright future ahead.”
“I am humbled and honored to join the FRONTEO team, and thank Andy and Morimoto-san for the tremendous opportunity they are giving me to lead such a stellar group of professionals who have built a global powerhouse,” said Craig Carpenter, CEO of FRONTEO USA. “Much as predictive coding was once the future of eDiscovery, I firmly believe artificial intelligence (AI) and global expertise and capabilities are about to revolutionize legal technology. As FRONTEO is the only company in the world with strong AI technology and a global footprint, I am ecstatic to be joining the company and look forward to helping FRONTEO realize its extremely bright future.”
The company has established an Office of the CEO to facilitate the period throughout the CEO transition. The Office of the CEO will be comprised of Masahiro Morimoto, CEO of FRONTEO, Inc. and Andy Jimenez and Craig Carpenter in the interim-co-CEO position. The Office of the CEO will focus on the transition plan and strategic priorities relative to FRONTEO’s market position, operations and financial plan. After the transition, Mr. Jimenez will continue to be involved with FRONTEO as a strategic advisor to the Office of the CEO.
About Craig Carpenter
Mr. Carpenter is an industry veteran with strong executive leadership experience who will use his deep domain expertise to help advance FRONTEO’s strategic and operational objectives. Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Carpenter has assisted global clients in managing data intelligently while enabling the efficient resolution of complex legal, compliance and governance matters. Mr. Carpenter has repeatedly established himself as a partner to clients, thought leader and innovator in the legal technology and eDiscovery industries. Most recently, Mr. Carpenter was the SVP of Sales for Kroll Ontrack, where the company’s strong revenue and EBITDA growth under his stewardship helped lead to its successful acquisition in 2016 by the Carlyle Group, one of the largest private equity firms in the world. Before joining Kroll Ontrack, Craig served as President, Chief Operating Officer and CMO at AccessData, a leading cyber security, forensics and eDiscovery provider. In these roles, Mr. Carpenter worked with clients to deliver a comprehensive approach to advanced threat defense and cyber intelligence, leading to the cyber security unit’s successful sale in 2015. Prior to AccessData, Mr. Carpenter was the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development and General Counsel at Recommind, spearheading the eDiscovery industry's “predictive coding” movement and helping the company grow from 35 employees to 500 before the company's ultimate acquisition by Open Text in 2016.
About FRONTEO USA, Inc.
FRONTEO USA, Inc. (“FRONTEO USA”) is a wholly-owned direct subsidiary of FRONTEO, Inc. (“FRONTEO”) a publicly traded global technology and services company specializing in big data, artificial intelligence, information governance, managed review, and litigation consulting for the eDiscovery market. FRONTEO USA serves Am Law 200 law firms, Fortune 500 companies and government agencies across all phases of the eDiscovery process including collection, processing, forensic investigation, hosted review, and production. FRONTEO USA provides robust English language services along with advanced specialization in Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages supported by our Lit i View platform. Driven by the unique FRONTEO AI technology KIBIT, companies are able to proactively and predictively assess fraud, data leakage and pre-crime events alongside the eDiscovery lifecycle and gain a deep understanding of their data. FRONTEO USA is a Relativity Best in Service Orange partner as well as a RelativityOne Certified Partner, and maintains review centers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, New York, Washington, DC, London, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei City, and Manila. For more information visit www.fronteo.com/usa.
Safe Harbor Statement
This announcement contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates” and similar statements. Among other things, the amount of data that FRONTEO expects to manage this year and the potential uses for FRONTEO’s new service in intellectual property-related litigation, contain forward-looking statements. FRONTEO may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed with, or furnished to, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual reports to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about FRONTEO’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: FRONTEO’s goals and strategies; FRONTEO’s expansion plans; the expected growth of the data center services market; expectations regarding demand for, and market acceptance of, FRONTEO’s services; FRONTEO’s expectations regarding keeping and strengthening its relationships with customers; FRONTEO’s plans to invest in research and development to enhance its solution and service offerings; and general economic and business conditions in the regions where FRONTEO provides solutions and services. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in FRONTEO’s reports filed with, or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. FRONTEO does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, except as required under applicable law. All information provided in this press release and in the attachments is as of the date of this press release, and FRONTEO undertakes no duty to update such information, except as required under applicable law.