BrassRing furthers strategic sales and growth plan for Europe

BrassRing, a provider of talent management solutions, drives continued global expansion with the appointment of Gordon Ash as sales director, EMEA. Ash will provide the strategic and operational direction to BrassRingís EMEA sales organization, which to date has experienced strong growth in the region with a four-fold increase in bookings for the first eight months of 2006 compared to the same period last year. Building on the Companyís considerable success in Europe, Ash will also direct and develop re-seller/channel partnerships to support BrassRingís long-range strategic goals to deliver innovative solutions that enable global enterprises to compete through talent and improve their competitive position in the global marketplace.

With global capabilities and a footprint that uniquely positions the Company for continued expansion in the region, the addition of Ash coincides with BrassRingís plans to invest even more in EMEA over the next 12 months. The appointment of Ash to the global leadership team brings a seasoned executive with a track record of global success and the expertise to continue the Companyís strong growth, adding to a growing roster of marquee accounts including IKEA, Novartis and Diageo.

Ash comes to BrassRing with 20 years of experience in sales and the management of sales and marketing teams in the European software market. Most recently, Ash served as western region managing director at NetManage, Inc., a global IT solutions company specializing in systems integration Web enablement, where he managed the full western region with a territory accounting for the highest contributions to the organization consistently over his tenure. Prior to his tenure at NetManage, Inc., Ash was the UK regional sales manager at NetSoft UK, Ltd., a global provider of PC to host connectivity solutions, where he developed direct single and two-tier channel revenues from under 300,000 to 4.8 million USD over a two year period. In these and other roles, Ash enjoyed considerable success building, managing and motivating sales, marketing and technical services teams to deliver top results both at a local level in the UK and internationally throughout Europe.

ìWith a global reputation as a leader and innovator in the talent management industry, I look forward to the opportunity to drive the Companyís continued expansion into EMEA,î said Ash. ìWith business opportunities thriving in this region, there is considerable opportunity for BrassRing to set the standard for global talent management solutions that can directly impact bottom line results for its growing customer base.î

With more companies operating globally than ever before, EMEA and APAC have presented a significant growth opportunity for BrassRing. The Companyís Enterprise talent management technology ñ available in 23 languages ñ is the core of the Companyís Workforce By Designô offering, and is deployed in 79 countries enabling global customers to overcome the challenges to global recruitment including language considerations, data protection concerns, legal issues, cultural differences and scalability.

ìWith locations in over 80 countries, 36 percent of our business being conducted on a global basis, and a goal of having 50 percent of our business coming from global operations, the choice of a recruiting partner was critical,î according to Kathy Ramsey, manager of human resources for Rockwell Automation, a global leader of Power Control and Information Solutions. ìTo date, BrassRing has helped us consolidate our recruiting processes, centralize candidate data, transition to technology-based recruiting, improve our reporting capabilities, and make job opportunities accessible to all employees in 50 countries.î

ìBrassRing is committed to helping our customers compete in the global marketplace, and the reality of business today means that building a workforce by design is crucial to success,î said Deb Besemer, president and CEO, BrassRing. ìWith the addition of Gordon to our global sales organization, BrassRing is in an even stronger position to support the talent management needs of our EMEA customers, ensuring they have the technology, consulting and outsourcing products and services they need to navigate the talent management environment and build a workforce that supports their growth.î

The addition of Ash to BrassRingís global team highlights the Companyís ongoing commitment to global expansion and follows the recent opening of the Companyís Hong Kong office, which provides BrassRing with centralized access to the entire Asia-Pacific region and serves as a base of operations to support its 45 clients currently operating in the region, including, Rockwell Automation, Time Warner, Inc. and Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. BrassRing is partnering with Nissan Motor Company, Ltd. ñ the Companyís first Asia-based client ñ for a Tokyo-directed program to establish global recruiting standards and centralized best practices to provide Nissan with optimized candidate experiences and global recruiting efficiencies for all of its global operations.

As a testament to its commitment to the region, BrassRing held its Annual European Summit September 26th ñ 28th, in Paris, France, where European-, Asia- and US-based companies operating in the region met to discuss global talent management issues. The Summit keynote address, ìFinding and Hiring the Unpredictably Talented: Is This the Future of Talent Acquisition?î was presented by Guy Ellis, internationally-lauded corporate coach, trainer and author of the best-selling book ìTales of Talent: How to Harness Your Peopleís Talent to Achieve Your Organisationís Vision.