Xap Corporation Continues Market Leadership in Education and Career Planning With New CEO
Culver City, CA – May 21, 2007 –
Xap Corporation has hired a new CEO, J. Michael Thompson, to build on its education and career planning market leadership.
This is a result of a planned and carefully executed process over the past few months to identify a successor to Liz Dietz who led the company for the last two and a half years.
Leading the company's North American market growth, Liz Dietz provided valuable guidance for Xap.
Over three million students annually use the company's tools for college and career planning, online admissions, electronic transcript exchange, and test preparation - an increase of over 20% from the prior year.
"It has been my privilege to lead Xap's growth, with the addition of Bridges, into a robust organization that meets student needs from elementary school to the workforce," said Liz Dietz.
"While my decision to leave was made in the interest of my own family, I will miss the Xap community.
J. Michael Thompson's experience and understanding of students, schools and technology will be invaluable to this company's future."
Throughout his thirty-plus year career in higher education and the software industry, J. Michael Thompson has been a nationally-recognized innovative leader in the use of technology to support services to students and their families.
In 1993-94, he was instrumental in developing Pathways, first used across the University of California system for the 1995 admission cycle, which was one of the first web-based university application processes implemented.
He developed the UC Gateways Project, which won an IBM Best Practices in Student Services award in 2001.
While serving as the Vice Provost of Enrollment Management and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at the University of Southern California, he led the development and implementation of Preparing for College, a college preparation tool translated into seven different languages and used around the world.
"When I was first approached some months ago, the opportunity to join and lead this organization with a history of providing innovative technology that improves millions of lives one student at a time was extraordinarily appealing," said J. Michael Thompson.
"Over the past few months, as I learned more about Xap, its staff, its board, and its client partners, I found a clear sense of community, where our collective work providing easy-to-use online resources is making a difference and empowering students for higher achievement every day.
Xap is moving forward with the continued integration of Xap and Bridges products, regular product enhancements, and meeting the needs of its community as it has done since its founding."
About Xap
Xap Corporation, the trusted industry choice for one-stop integrated education and career solutions, empowers successful lifelong transitions through market-leading innovations and smart, flexible tools that are reliable, valid and secure.
Xap's products have helped over eleven million students in the past decade and are presently available in over 15,000 North America schools and agencies.
