Rightware Appoints New CEO as a Key Step in Next Growth Phase

ESPOO, Finland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rightware®, the leader in user interface (UI) design and implementation software, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jonas Geust as CEO of the company effective January 1, 2013. Founder and current CEO, Mr. Tero Sarkkinen, will take on a new role within the Company as president of US Operations. Mr. Sarkkinen will be focused on leading the North American sales and global business development.

“Jonas’ operational experience, executive leadership and capabilities in bringing new technologies to global markets make him perfectly suited to lead Rightware’s accelerated growth strategies for the future.”

“We are very pleased to see Mr. Geust take on the role of CEO. He knows the company and its business intimately. With the restructuring of the rest of the management team, Mr. Geust can help steer the company to execute its strategic plan and fulfill the enormous promise of this company,” stated Timo Tirkkonen, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Rightware. “We would also like to thank Tero Sarkkinen for his service as CEO from founding until now during a period that has seen the company establish itself and its products in the market place and grow to have operations spanning three continents. We look forward to his continued success in this new role within company.”

Mr. Geust was a member of the Board of Directors of Rightware and has been with the company since 2010. In addition, Mr. Geust was CEO at Havainne Oy. Prior to that, Mr. Geust spent over 15 years at Nokia, where he held a number of different roles, including his last, which was Vice President of Nokia N-Series smartphones. Based at the company’s headquarters in Finland, in his new role, Mr. Geust will focus on scaling the company’s operations and engineering to the next level.

“As a founder of Rightware, it has been my privilege to guide the company through its early years to become one of the leaders in our space. After building the company’s operations in Finland and China, my next mission is to do the same in the US. Meanwhile, our business has grown to a scale that we needed to have more senior executives based in Finland. I have been working to get Jonas on the team for over a year, and I am convinced that he can bring the company to the next level,” said Tero Sarkkinen, Rightware founder. “Jonas’ operational experience, executive leadership and capabilities in bringing new technologies to global markets make him perfectly suited to lead Rightware’s accelerated growth strategies for the future.”

This is the first of a series of management changes and restructuring initiatives designed to strengthen the Company and its position for long-term success. In addition, Rightware also announced:

Jussi Tammi has been appointed as Vice President, Finance. Prior to joining Rightware, Tammi was the CFO at EmblaCom in Finland.
Jari Selin has joined the company as Director, Kanzi Product Development. Prior to joining Rightware, Selin served as Senior Engineering Manager at Nokia. He will oversee all of the Kanzi R&D.

“These changes, to date, bring together an outstanding group of seasoned leaders with a broad range of talents and abilities and a proven history of delivering results and achieving objectives,” said Timo Tirkkonen, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Rightware is currently in its second generation of its award-winning Kanzi UI development platform. Kanzi has played a key role in revolutionizing the in-dash infotainment system in the automotive industry with design wins at Audi and other leading car manufacturers and Tier-1 suppliers as well as several smartphone and tablet manufacturers. The company is looking to expand aggressively into new and emerging markets including, entertainment, mobile tablet, smart TVs and other embedded verticals.

About Rightware

Rightware® is the market leader in advanced User Interface technology, serving mobile, automotive and other embedded industries with its Kanzi® solution for rapid user interface design and deployment. Rightware also develops industry leading system performance analysis tools and its renowned product portfolio includes the Basemark™ product family for various benchmarking purposes, including industry standard benchmarks for OpenGL ES, OpenVG, OpenCL, Android, Linux, and Windows Mobile performance measurement. Rightware is headquartered in Espoo, Finland and has offices in Saratoga, CA, Shanghai and Munich. More information: www.rightware.com

Rightware and Kanzi are trademarks or registered trademarks solely owned and controlled by Rightware Oy and are protected by applicable trademark law, and may not be used to any extent without the express prior written consent of Rightware Oy in each instance. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.