Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the September 12, 2001 edition of
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Servion Expands
Customers needing information can call a business to
talk directly to a customer service representative, but — given
the waiting time they might run into — they might choose one of
the less personal systems, such as automated voice response, E-mail,
or even E-mail chats.
One company that works in this field of integrating computers with
telephones, Servion Global Solutions, expanded with a move from the
Office Gallery on Independence Way to 4,000 square feet at Princeton
Commerce Park. “We wanted to acquire space for operations and
labs to do proof of concept for our customers,” says Rangarajan
Madanagopalan, the president.
Servion offers business response solutions for the financial, banking,
insurance, hospitality, and telecommunications industries. Its
Response
Applications Platform (RAP) has 300 customers worldwide, including
Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse First Boston, Franklin
Templeton
Investments, KPMG, HDFC Bank, Zurich Financial, and Avaya, the Lucent
spin off. “Information on the client’s organization is available
at host computers,” says Madanagopalan. “We build the software
solutions that will streamline the interactions, make it more unified,
and more effective for all organizations.”
The son of a postmaster, Madanagopalan graduated in 1985 from the
Regional Engineering College in northern India, and for 15 years he
worked in the IT and telecommunications industries in India,
Singapore,
and Australia. In 1995 he and four partners started Servion in India
and spread out around the world, so the company now has offices in
United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Dubai, India, and on both coasts
in the United States. He and his wife have two sons, a preschooler
and a seven-year-old, and he came to this country on the
entrepreneur’s
L-1 visa less than three years ago.
“We have been able to generate positive cash flow for the
company,”
says Madanagopalan. “In 1999 Citibank took a substantial chunk
of the equity and owns about 35 percent. Another investor is
Templeton.
We are positioned as both IT and telecom, and we integrate both.”
Of 300 people worldwide, about 200 work in India, predominantly in
Chennai, and 15 consultants work from this Emmons Drive office, which
is also the global headquarters. Also here as partners in the firm
are Bala Kavikkal and Bhaskar Subramaniam.
“The key is that we are not a generic software solutions business.
We stay very focused,” says Madanagopalan. “We have a
substantial
business practice knowledge of the customers. We know how the
financial
institutions work from a business perspective, and are able to
translate
that into business software solutions.”
Servion Global Solutions Inc., 29 Emmons Drive,Building G-30, Princeton 08540. Rangarajan Madanagopalan, president.609-987-0044; fax, 609-987-8797. Home page: www.servion.comTop Of PageExpansionsHarding ESE Inc., 14 Washington Park, Building1, Princeton Junction 08550. Deborah A. Barsotti, principal scientist.609-936-0700; fax, 609-936-1020. Home page: www.mactec.comLast spring the environmental engineering firm movedfrom one Washington Park building to another and doubled its space;it now has 5,200 square feet. Under the name Harding Lawson, it wasa public company traded on Nasdaq, but it was acquired by Mactec lastyear.”With the sale, the company increased from 1,200 to over 2,300employees, and went from 40 offices to more than 70 offices,”says Kathy Brazil, business development manager. A geologist fromthe University of North Colorado at Greeley, she has a master’s degreefrom Penn State.”Mactec is one of the leading engineering construction companiesin the country that does decommissioning and decontamination ofradioactivesites,” says Brazil. Major clients for the Colorado-based firminclude the federal departments of energy and defense.This office employs 20 people and, like the other former HardingLawsonbranches, it does environmental engineering arm, site remediation,air permitting, risk assessment, and other general engineeringprojects.Its chief clients are chemical companies in the mid-Atlantic areaand PSE&G.Deborah Barsotti, the principal scientist here, has a bachelor’sdegreefrom Humboldt State University and a PhD from the University ofWisconsinat Madison. She has published widely on risk assessment, PCBs, anddioxin/furan toxicity. She has held positions at Exxon, the federalgovernment, and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.Private Wealth Management Group Inc., 63 MoranAvenue, Suite B, Princeton 08542. William J. Dunn CFP, president.609-921-7002; fax, 609-921-2858. Www.myprivatewealth.comThese fee-based financial planners — a father andson firm — moved from a 600 square-foot sublet at PrincetonProfessionalPark to 1,400 square feet on Moran Avenue, in the rear of the buildingrenovated by architect Steven Cohen. The window view is of St. Paul’sChurch cemetery. The telephone is the same, but the fax number isnew.The father, William J. Dunn, majored in Russian studies at SyracuseUniversity. After nearly four years in Berlin, Germany, as a U.S.Air Force intelligence officer, he opened a retail tire and mechanicbusiness, a 24-hour-a-day operation in Edison, and sold it in 1988.A couple of years later he began working for Prudential and then forHalberstadt Financial Consultants on Tulane Street before foundinghis own practice. “We are one of the few fee-only financialplanningfirms — we work on an hourly basis and on percentage of assetsbasis. What fee-only truly means is that, just like a doctor or lawyeror CPA, we accept no compensation from any third parties.””We follow modern portfolio theory; we develop an investmentpolicystatement to determine a client’s risk tolerance and do a financialplan to determine what the client needs in the way of income —if they are still working, how much they have to be saving — anddesign the portfolio around that,” says William Dunn. No, hedidn’ttry to precipitously switch his clients from equity stocks to bondsbecause of the recent downturn. “We don’t jump from asset classto asset class unless it is because of changes in where they wantto be.”SEI Private Trust Company, an institutional management firm in Oaks,Pennsylvania, does this firm’s transactions.”It’s fantastic, to be closer to town,” says Robert B. Dunn,the son of the founder and a 1994 graduate of the University ofDenver.”What we like about the space is that it’s open, and we have aconference room where we can speak with clients.” ThomasYannarellais the other certified financial planner (CFP) in the business.Top Of PageStock NewsHighlands Insurance Group (HIC), 1000 Lenox Drive,Box 6426, Lawrenceville 08648-6426. 609-896-1921; fax, 609-219-1774.Home page: www.highlandsinsurance.comIn an effort to reduce annual expenses by more than $4 million, thisreinsurance company is cutting 75 jobs or 10 percent of its staff.Formerly known as American Reliance, it is a property and casualtyinsurance company dealing with independent agencies.Last year a company spokesperson said that 300 people were workingat Lenox Drive. The company’s stock dropped 17 percent in one dayafter the announcement was made and, in spite of requests fromreporters(and even the New York Stock Exchange), Highlands officials declinedto comment on the stock price.Top Of PageCrosstown MovesPrinceton Equity Partners, 110 Stanhope Street,Princeton Forrestal Village, Princeton 08540. Michael L. DiGaetano,partner. 609-252-9000; fax, 609-252-9166. Home page:Princeton Equity Partners, a wealth management firmand stock brokerage, expanded from 900 square feet at MontgomeryCommonsto a 2,500-foot retail space at Princeton Forrestal Village.”We are growing at a huge rate and having a lot of walk-incustomers,”says Michael L. DiGaetano. Several years ago, he and his partner,Russ Conrad, bought the firm from Cantella & Company. The firm doesinvestment banking and money mangement, specializing in mutual funds.An East Windsor native, DiGaetano majored in finance and economicsat the University of Buffalo and joined Princeton Securities upongraduation in 1993. Conrad is a ’94 University of Buffalo graduate,a criminal justice major from West Valley, New York.Ninety percent of the full-service investment firm’s business is highnet worth individuals, says DiGaetano, specifically business ownerswith a net worth of over $5 million. “The key with us is thatwe are a company with no proprietary product, and we recommend thebest product for each sector,” says DiGaetano. “It is nightand day between us and the big stock brokers. We can go out and findthe smaller mutual fund companies that are ranked in the top five,and small funds that no one knows about. A lot of brokers don’t getpaid to pick the best product.”Top Of PageManagement MovesThe Peddie School, South Main Street, Box A,Hightstown08520-1010. John F. Green, head of school. 609-490-7500; fax,609-490-0920.Home page: www.peddie.k12.nj.usJohn F. Green will be installed as Peddie’s head ofschool in an outdoor ceremony on Saturday, September 15, at 10 a.m.Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, will be the keynotespeaker.Green succeeds Thomas A. DeGray. Green majored in history at WesleyanUniversity, Class of 1981, studied at Dartmouth, and has a master’sof education from Harvard. He taught in public schools, at WesternReserve Academy in Ohio, at the Fessenden School in Massachusetts,and at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, where he was deanof faculty. He and his wife, Alison Zaeder, have three school-agechildren and are known for their dedication to community service.Established in 1864, Peddie School enrolls 500 boarding and daystudentsin eighth grade classes through a postgraduate year. With a $201millionendowment (most famously from Walter H. Annenberg), it givesscholarshipsto 40 percent of the students — more aid proportionally than anyschool of its kind in this country.Green will be introduced to the school community by his father-in-law,Philip Zaeder, former chaplain at Yale University and now dean offaculty emeritus at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts.Prevent Child Abuse – New Jersey, 103 ChurchStreet,Suite 210, New Brunswick 08901. Janet F. Rosenzweig, executivedirector.732-246-8060. Home page: www.preventchildabusenj.orgJanet Rosenzweig is the new executive director of theNew Jersey chapter of Prevent Child Abuse. Formerly a professor ofhuman services administration at Rider University, she is head ofMercer County’s Commission on Child Abuse and Missing Children.Foundedin 1979, this state chapter collaborates with schools andorganizationsin 134 communities to provide programs to prevent physical, sexual,and emotional child abuse and neglect.Top Of PageNew in TownMartin Personnel Services Inc., 2865 Route 1 South,North Brunswick 08902. Martin Bell, president. 732-940-5700; fax,732-940-5760. Home page: www.martinpersonnel.comAn alumnus of the University of Miami, Class of 1970, Bell workedas an accountant and audit manager for a Fortune 500 company. Hefoundedhis own firm 10 years ago, moving to Route 1 from Edison last year.He does accounting and financial placement.AUL Reinsurance Management Services LLC, 5IndependenceWay, Suite 210, Princeton 08540. Donna Peterson, executive vicepresident.609-919-4380; fax, 609-919-4399.The reinsurance management service of American United Life came toPrinceton in the spring and officially opened its office in August.About 12 people work here; the firm is based in Indianapolis.Top Of PageContracts AwardedCommonwealth Business Media, 50 Millstone Road,Windsor Corporate Park, Cranbury 08512. Alan Glass, chairman,president,CEO. 609-371-7700; fax, 609-371-7879. Home page:www.cbizmedia.comCommonwealth Business Media (formerly Primedia) says it will buy theNewark-based Journal of Commerce Group from the Economist Group,publishersof Economist magazine. The Journal of Commerce Group publishesdatabasesand magazines for the trade and transportation industries, andCommonwealthBusiness Media offers a wide variety of trade publications anddatabases.The deal is expected to close in September.Previous StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
