Candidate Statement - Stephen Ferranti

Please accept my application as a candidate for the Readium Foundation Board of Directors. My experience with Learning Ally combined with a strong Financial Services background uniquely positions me to act as an industry partner to drive the adoption of standard technologies and processes across the publishing and digital book production industries. My experience working with for-profit and not-for-profit teams has taught me the value of partnership and collaboration in the process of driving transformational change. I am passionate about the opportunities for our industry to more effectively innovate and serve our customers and leverage the strengths we have while protecting those capabilities that make us each unique.

As a hands-on technology leader and member of the Board, I will bring additional strength and partnership to the Foundation technology team and look for ways to increase adoption and accelerate adoption of EPUB 3 and the Open Web Platform by the global digital publishing industry.

Bio

Stephen Ferranti currently serves as Vice President of Technology for Learning Ally where he is responsible for all technology functions including application development, infrastructure and audio engineering. Learning Ally is a non-profit established in 1948 to make reading accessible for blind and later dyslexic members. Stephen brings over 25 years of proven experience in publishing, education, telecommunications, infrastructure, financial services and application development. Prior to joining Learning Ally, he was a senior consultant helping small and medium sized business leverage technology to provide world class service to their customers and internal employees. Stephen lead Service Technology Teams in the America’s for UBS Financial Services as Director of Application Development. He developed imaging and telephony applications for Pershing LLC as Vice President and architected and implemented customer facing applications for the Healthcare industry.

In addition to his for-profit experience, Stephen has more than 10 years serving as a director on non-profit boards and currently serves as Board Secretary for the Northern New Jersey State Youth Commission and is a founding Director and Secretary for the Hellenic Relief Foundation, a non-profit in New York. Stephen also served on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church where he served as Secretary and Chairman of the Technology Committee.

Statement of Interest

I am aligned intellectually and philosophically with the stated principles and objectives of the Readium Foundation. As a member of the Board I would continue to devote myself to promoting Readium, building consensus with member organizations, strengthening alliances throughout the larger community, and encouraging commitment by existing and future members.