Management

Smith Yewell, CEO & Founder

As CEO and founder of Connect Global Solutions, which merged with Welocalize in 2005, Eugene McGinty brings over 20 years of business leadership to Welocalize.
Prior to founding Connect, Eugene held senior management positions with Apple's subsidiary Claris, Lotus Development and IBM.
Eugene has created a world-class operational infrastructure at Welocalize built around the company's 4 Pillars: Customer Service, Quality, Innovation and Global Teamwork.
BS degree in Computer Science from the University of Ulster.

Olga Blasco brings over 14 years of experience in the localization industry to Welocalize.
Expert in implementing incremental improvement plans in global companies designed to align business requirements with quality and capacity management, vendor development, translation technology and language asset management.
Prior to joining Welocalize, Olga held the positions of Language Group Manager and Business Unit Manager at Lionbridge Ireland (formerly Bowne Global Solutions and Berlitz GlobalNET).
Her extensive management experience includes leading, recruiting and coaching successful Operations teams of Language Coordinators, Resource Managers and Project Managers through mergers and acquisitions.
BA in Translation and Interpreting (English, German) from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain).

Tim Delbrugge brings over 22 years of accounting and finance experience including 3.5 years as CFO for the Europe, Middle East, Africa region for W.R. Grace & Co., where he was responsible for a $1.3 billion business, over 25 legal entities and 90 financial/accounting professionals.
Prior to his relocation to Germany, Tim served as Vice President Corporate Controller and Vice President Audit at Grace for which he headed the worldwide accounting and reporting functions, led Grace’s successful compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and chaired Grace’s Accounting and Reporting Policy Committee.
Prior to joining Grace, Tim served as Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer for MedStar Health, a $1.8 billion regional healthcare system in Baltimore and Washington. Tim also spent 9.5 years at Price Waterhouse LLP.
BS degrees in Accounting and Finance from Bryant University.

Gavin Grimes brings over 11 years of experience in the localization industry having worked in a number of senior production and management positions.
Gavin first joined Connect Global Solutions in 2001, later acquired by Welocalize in 2006, and has held various management roles in production, project management and enterprise-level client programs.
Prior to Welocalize, Gavin worked at Berlitz and Lotus Development as part of their engineering teams.
Gavin has extensive experience in building and managing engineering and PM teams that are aligned with the needs and expectations of multinational customers.
Gavin currently resides in Beijing, China.

Shinji Yoshitake brings over 6 years of localization production experience to Welocalize.
Shinji joined Welocalize Japan in January 2008, serving as Manager of the project management team, Operations Manager and now General Manager of Welocalize Japan.
Prior to joining Welocalize, he served as Manager of the Project Management division at Toin.
Born and raised in the USA and now a resident of Japan for 10 years, Shinji provides the local expertise and strategic, global knowledge necessary for managing inter-company communications and in-country customer relations.
BA in Japanese and BS in Psychology from the University of Washington.

As a co-founder of Welocalize, Julia Yewell has managed the company's Accounting Department since its inception in 1997.
Julia brings over 15 years of valuable Financial Management experience to Welocalize.
Prior to Welocalize, Julia founded a successful leather accessories manufacturing and retail business in Riga, Latvia.
Her finance background includes various management positions in leading global banking institutions.
Julia holds a BA degree in Economics and Accounting from The University of Latvia.