December 8, 1999, Ottawa, Canada -- Reid
Eddison Inc., (http://www.reideddison.com) a business mentoring firm
for young and growing high technology companies, today announced that
John Kelly, until recently the CEO of JetForm Corporation, is joining
the seven other consulting partners, in offering a broad range of
expertise to start-ups.
"John has been the driving force behind
several start-ups and he understands what it takes to grow a successful
company," said Peter Reid, Reid Eddison cofounder. "He,
like all of us at Reid Eddison, is passionate about sharing the
lessons he has learned and contributing to building a great community
in Ottawa."
John Kelly is a well-respected leader in the
Canadian high technology industry. He joined the JetForm board of
directors in 1988, and became company president and chief operating
officer in March 1994. He was appointed chief executive officer
on August 24, 1995. During his tenure as president, company revenues
grew more than tenfold, from $10 million to over $100 million in
1999.
Prior to joining JetForm, he was president and
chief executive officer of Why Interactive Inc. (formerly DVS Communications
Inc.), a multi-media based integrated learning systems company between
1985 and March 1994. Why Interactive Inc. was acquired by JetForm
on March 31, 1994.
Kelly was a founder of and served as president
and chief executive officer at both Computer Innovation Distributors
Inc. and Nabu Network Corporation, a cable-based software and information
distributor. Kelly was also a founder of SHL Systemhouse Ltd., where
he served as senior vice president and chief operating officer from
its inception in 1974 until 1980.
Among his many honours, in 1998, Kelly won the
Ottawa Business Journal's award for Most Respected CEO. In 1999,
he won the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI) Civic
Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He is the chairman of the Canadian
Advanced Technology Alliance (www.cata.ca). He also holds an honorary
doctorate degree from the University of Ottawa. He is chair of Innovators
Alliance, (a representation of Ontario's fastest growth companies)
an advisory council to the Government of Ontario. He is also a member
of the Board of a number of private and public companies.
Kelly holds an honors law degree from the University
of Ottawa and an honors B.B.A. degree (Finance) from Iona College
in New Rochelle, New York.
Kelly joins Reid Eddison founders Peter Eddison,
and Peter Reid, along with Paul Bodnoff, Gillian Brouse, Fiona Hennessy,
Wendy Kennedy and Peter Rhodes. All share the experience of building
rapid growth technology companies. Each has a unique perspective
on managing accelerated growth through global demand for technology
products and services. They have built organizations to manage these
demands and each has participated in the transition from private
to public enterprise.
