RENO, Nev., Jan. 26, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Encompass Holdings, Inc. (Pink Sheets:ECMH), www.encompassholdings.com, announced today the appointment of Kirk Hurford as the Chief Operating Officer of its wholly-owned subsidiary, Quadrant Data Systems, Inc. www.qds-i.com.
As the founder and CEO of Lucas Valley Technologies, Mr. Hurford has guided the technological direction for over 200 companies and government agencies, including Fujitsu of America, Link TV, the U.S. Navy, and the NSA.
Mr. Hurford is a data security specialist and has consulted on the design and implementation of network security systems for several supercomputing facilities. As the CTO for a Motorola start-up, Mr. Hurford became deeply involved in the birth of wireless communications - most notably the specification of over-the-air data transmission protocols in use by all of the major cellular carriers today.
Mr. Hurford brings a wide array of management skills honed as an executive in several public companies. While President of WordStar Japan, he lead this struggling subsidiary out of a steep financial loss into profitability in just 18 months - reporting a 10% net profit on annual sales. Mr. Hurford then returned to the U.S. to take the post of Vice President of Development for WordStar International.
Mr. Hurford's management career extends back to the early days of the PC era, when he served as the Software Product Line Manager for Heath/Zenith Data Systems, a subsidiary of a fortune 500 company, Zenith Radio Corporation.
Mr. Hurford said of his appointment, "Given the current climate of increasing reliance upon the internet, it is even more critical for businesses to protect their data in a facility like Quadrant. I am especially proud to be able to leverage this critical asset into the Bay Area's premier highly-secure data center."
Scott Webber, CEO of Encompass stated, "Kirk brings over 35 years of broad-based technology management experience and a demonstrated leadership track record to make Quadrant a valuable asset for Encompass shareholders. The data center continues to add new clients to its over 450 current customer base and is on track to meet its revenue goals for 2010. We are especially pleased that Quadrant has the potential for providing additional new jobs even in this weak economy."
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Forward-looking statements in this news release are made under the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Certain important factors could cause results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements, including the impact of changed economic or business conditions, competition, the success of existing and new product releases and other risk factors inherent in product development and other factors discussed from time to time in reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission.