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."
Building G-30, Princeton 08540. Rangarajan Madanagopalan, president.
609-987-0044; fax, 609-987-8797.
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Expansions
1, Princeton Junction 08550. Deborah A. Barsotti, principal scientist.
609-936-0700; fax, 609-936-1020.
Last spring the environmental engineering firm moved
from one Washington Park building to another and doubled its space;
it now has 5,200 square feet. Under the name Harding Lawson, it was
a public company traded on Nasdaq, but it was acquired by Mactec last
year.
"With the sale, the company increased from 1,200 to over 2,300
employees, and went from 40 offices to more than 70 offices,"
says Kathy Brazil, business development manager. A geologist from
the University of North Colorado at Greeley, she has a master’s degree
from Penn State.
"Mactec is one of the leading engineering construction companies
in the country that does decommissioning and decontamination of
radioactive
sites," says Brazil. Major clients for the Colorado-based firm
include the federal departments of energy and defense.
This office employs 20 people and, like the other former Harding
Lawson
branches, it does environmental engineering arm, site remediation,
air permitting, risk assessment, and other general engineering
projects.
Its chief clients are chemical companies in the mid-Atlantic area
and PSE&G.
Deborah Barsotti, the principal scientist here, has a bachelor’s
degree
from Humboldt State University and a PhD from the University of
Wisconsin
at Madison. She has published widely on risk assessment, PCBs, and
dioxin/furan toxicity. She has held positions at Exxon, the federal
government, and the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science.
Avenue, Suite B, Princeton 08542. William J. Dunn CFP, president.
609-921-7002; fax, 609-921-2858.
These fee-based financial planners — a father and
son firm — moved from a 600 square-foot sublet at Princeton
Professional
Park to 1,400 square feet on Moran Avenue, in the rear of the building
renovated by architect Steven Cohen. The window view is of St. Paul’s
Church cemetery. The telephone is the same, but the fax number is
new.
The father, William J. Dunn, majored in Russian studies at Syracuse
University. After nearly four years in Berlin, Germany, as a U.S.
Air Force intelligence officer, he opened a retail tire and mechanic
business, 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 for
Halberstadt Financial Consultants on Tulane Street before founding
his own practice. "We are one of the few fee-only financial
planning
firms — we work on an hourly basis and on percentage of assets
basis. What fee-only truly means is that, just like a doctor or lawyer
or CPA, we accept no compensation from any third parties."
"We follow modern portfolio theory; we develop an investment
policy
statement to determine a client’s risk tolerance and do a financial
plan to determine what the client needs in the way of income —
if they are still working, how much they have to be saving — and
design the portfolio around that," says William Dunn. No, he
didn’t
try to precipitously switch his clients from equity stocks to bonds
because of the recent downturn. "We don’t jump from asset class
to asset class unless it is because of changes in where they want
to 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 of
Denver.
"What we like about the space is that it’s open, and we have a
conference room where we can speak with clients." Thomas
Yannarella
is the other certified financial planner (CFP) in the business.
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Stock News
Box 6426, Lawrenceville 08648-6426. 609-896-1921; fax, 609-219-1774.
In an effort to reduce annual expenses by more than $4 million, this
reinsurance company is cutting 75 jobs or 10 percent of its staff.
Formerly known as American Reliance, it is a property and casualty
insurance company dealing with independent agencies.
Last year a company spokesperson said that 300 people were working
at Lenox Drive. The company’s stock dropped 17 percent in one day
after the announcement was made and, in spite of requests from
reporters
(and even the New York Stock Exchange), Highlands officials declined
to comment on the stock price.
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Crosstown Moves
Princeton Forrestal Village, Princeton 08540. Michael L. DiGaetano,
partner. 609-252-9000; fax, 609-252-9166.
Princeton Equity Partners, a wealth management firm
and stock brokerage, expanded from 900 square feet at Montgomery
Commons
to a 2,500-foot retail space at Princeton Forrestal Village.
"We are growing at a huge rate and having a lot of walk-in
customers,"
says Michael L. DiGaetano. Several years ago, he and his partner,
Russ Conrad, bought the firm from Cantella & Company. The firm does
investment banking and money mangement, specializing in mutual funds.
An East Windsor native, DiGaetano majored in finance and economics
at the University of Buffalo and joined Princeton Securities upon
graduation 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 high
net worth individuals, says DiGaetano, specifically business owners
with a net worth of over $5 million. "The key with us is that
we are a company with no proprietary product, and we recommend the
best product for each sector," says DiGaetano. "It is night
and day between us and the big stock brokers. We can go out and find
the 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 get
paid to pick the best product."
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Management Moves
Hightstown
08520-1010. John F. Green, head of school. 609-490-7500; fax,
609-490-0920.
John F. Green will be installed as Peddie’s head of
school in an outdoor ceremony on Saturday, September 15, at 10 a.m.
Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University, will be the keynote
speaker.
Green succeeds Thomas A. DeGray. Green majored in history at Wesleyan
University, Class of 1981, studied at Dartmouth, and has a master’s
of education from Harvard. He taught in public schools, at Western
Reserve Academy in Ohio, at the Fessenden School in Massachusetts,
and at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, where he was dean
of faculty. He and his wife, Alison Zaeder, have three school-age
children and are known for their dedication to community service.
Established in 1864, Peddie School enrolls 500 boarding and day
students
in eighth grade classes through a postgraduate year. With a $201
million
endowment (most famously from Walter H. Annenberg), it gives
scholarships
to 40 percent of the students — more aid proportionally than any
school 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 of
faculty emeritus at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts.
Street,
Suite 210, New Brunswick 08901. Janet F. Rosenzweig, executive
director.
732-246-8060.
Janet Rosenzweig is the new executive director of the
New Jersey chapter of Prevent Child Abuse. Formerly a professor of
human services administration at Rider University, she is head of
Mercer County’s Commission on Child Abuse and Missing Children.
Founded
in 1979, this state chapter collaborates with schools and
organizations
in 134 communities to provide programs to prevent physical, sexual,
and emotional child abuse and neglect.
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New in Town
North Brunswick 08902. Martin Bell, president. 732-940-5700; fax,
732-940-5760.
An alumnus of the University of Miami, Class of 1970, Bell worked
as an accountant and audit manager for a Fortune 500 company. He
founded
his own firm 10 years ago, moving to Route 1 from Edison last year.
He does accounting and financial placement.
Independence
Way, Suite 210, Princeton 08540. Donna Peterson, executive vice
president.
609-919-4380; fax, 609-919-4399.
The reinsurance management service of American United Life came to
Princeton in the spring and officially opened its office in August.
About 12 people work here; the firm is based in Indianapolis.
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Contracts Awarded
Windsor Corporate Park, Cranbury 08512. Alan Glass, chairman,
president,
CEO. 609-371-7700; fax, 609-371-7879.
Commonwealth Business Media (formerly Primedia) says it will buy the
Newark-based Journal of Commerce Group from the Economist Group,
publishers
of Economist magazine. The Journal of Commerce Group publishes
databases
and magazines for the trade and transportation industries, and
Commonwealth
Business Media offers a wide variety of trade publications and
databases.
The deal is expected to close in September.
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