Institute of Directors celebrates decade on Island

The Bermuda branch of the Institute of Directors (IoD) is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and in honour of the occasion has organised a dinner at the Fairmont Southampton Princess on May 11.

To complete the celebrations, the guest of honour, the new Governor of Bermuda, Sir John Vereker, is to make one of his first public speeches since being appointed Governor. Bermuda's 120 Institute members will be invited to the event.

IoD's Chairman, Geoffrey Moore said he is looking forward to the event and encourages new and potential members to attend.

He said: "We really are privileged to have Sir John and Lady Vereker attend. We are delighted to welcome them to the Institute of Directors' tenth anniversary celebration as well as to Bermuda. It is fitting to have the new Governor of Bermuda address our membership in celebration of ten years.

"We also want to take this opportunity to welcome newcomers to the event, as apart from giving them an opportunity to hear Sir John speak, it presents them with a very good opportunity to find out about the Institute in an informal and pleasant atmosphere." The Institute of Directors' main focus is to promote sound corporate governance. It also arranges seminars, educational conferences, examinations for director qualifications and produces publications to assist company directors and senior managers.

The Institute's members are from all areas of the business community. The Bermuda branch has a special commitment to the education of young Bermudians who are destined to become future business leaders. In its ten years the Institute has implemented and continues to support two significant programmes designed to encourage young Bermudians to enter the business field.

Paragon teams up with Canadian company

Paragon Bermuda has joined forces with Pictorius Inc., a leading software development and implementation company and pioneer in Internet-based technologies. The Halifax, Canada company has agreed to join forces and offer customers complementary services.

The deal is expected to be completed next week following due diligence and governance procedures. Pictorius will be re-named Paragon North America.

Pictorius has focused its business over the past several years on designing and implementing e-business solutions. In 1995, Pictorius was one of the first companies to develop Internet solutions. Today Pictorius' solutions are used as a case study on Sun Microsystems' official JAVA website (www.java.sun.com).

Collectively the new entity will employ over 60 professionals, with a client base throughout North America and Bermuda, including many leading international companies.

Paragon Bermuda and North American employees will work together on large projects, utilising the best skill sets available from each company.

The collaboration also opens the opportunity for Bermuda-based employees to work on global e-business and technology projects in a variety of industries and, at the same time, receive on-the-job training.

Pictorius is well established in the North American market and has worked with clients in major cities including Boston, New York, Atlanta, Ottawa, Toronto, Cincinatti, Dallas, San Francisco and Seattle and the company said Pictorius has consistently received recognition for creating advanced technology solutions over their ten-year history.

Pictorius' e-solutions have been reviewed by major trade magazines and featured on Microsoft's and Sun's websites. They have also won over 15 developer awards and been mentioned on the Financial Post's list of "IT Companies to Watch". Most recently Pictorius was a finalist in the Branham Group's - one of Canada's leading research and consulting firms focusing on information technology - "Canadian IT Award".

Managing Director of Paragon Bermuda, Glenn Henderson said: "Joining with Pictorius is part of our long-term goal to become a leader in providing world-class technology solutions to the financial services industry and positions us well for future growth.

"Since the launch of our Financial Services Technology Group last year, we have been looking for an opportunity to move into the North American market. The joint venture will enable us to utilise Pictorius' infrastructure and resources and undertake software development and IT consulting work of international scope, particularly in the North American market."

Paragon's President and CEO, Graham Pearson, said: "It is important ...that we continue to add depth and industry excellence to our service offerings Bermuda can truly provide an export of strategic technology talent coupled with strong North American application development skills, a combination that we hope will be attractive to our existing and future client base."

Ron Stewart, President of Pictorius Inc is enthused with the deal: "We believe that the combined strength of Paragon's expertise in financial services and Pictorius' technical skills will enable us to offer a very compelling solution to the financial services market. Each company brings a great deal of qualities.

"We look forward to expanding the business in North America so that together we can become a leading technology solutions company."

Mr. Stewart will manage Paragon North America while working closely with Bermuda-based Business Development Manager Merrilyn Johnson. Mr. Henderson will continue to manage the Bermuda office. The teams at Paragon and Paragon North America have been working together for the past six months.

For further information, log on to http://www.paragon.bm or http://www.pictorius.com.