MANAGEMENT TEAM

Vivian Isaak – President

ParlExperts´s Founder and President, Vivian is fluent in Spanish, English, German and Hebrew. She completed her linguistic training in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was accredited by the American Translators Association in 1990. Over the past thirty years Vivian has translated, edited and managed thousands of pages of text. With her multinational and multilingual background, Vivian has been able to create innovative solutions for clients faced with the challenge of taking their business global. Her primary focus is on the technical aspects of the localization process, including project management and process improvement.

Vivian´s past experience includes working as an abstractor for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as a free-lance Spanish writer for Bristol-Myers Squibb, and as the Spanish-language coach for two New Jersey governors. Vivian has also been hands-on in producing, directing and editing hundreds of dubbed and subtitled programs. She translated and narrated news broadcasts of The Deutsche Welle for Latin American radio stations affiliated with The Voice of Germany. In 1985, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the United Nations, Ms. Isaak was the liaison for foreign television and radio correspondents and broadcasters. She served as the Public Relations Director and Program Director of the Spanish Special Interest Group (SpanSIG) affiliated with the New York Circle of Translators. From 1998 until 2007, she served on the Board of the Delaware Valley Translators Association. Since 2004, she has served on the Board of the German-American Chamber of Commerce, and in 2009, she was nominated Vice-President of Programming.

Vivian has been an invited guest speaker at New York University, Drexel University, Swarthmore College, and the University of Pennsylvania. In 2007, Vivian received the Liberty Bell Award for her contribution to Philadelphia’s Emergency Preparedness Campaign. In 2008, The National Association of Professional and Executive Women named Vivian “Woman of the Year” in the Translation Services category. In 2009, she was nominated for Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award. Under her leadership, Magnum Group, now ParlExperts, was recognized by the US Local Business Association as a four-time consecutive recipient of the 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Best of Philadelphia award in the Translators and Interpreters category.

Hector Baraona – Managing Director

Prior to coming to Magnum, Hector held multiple senior level positions in some of the world’s largest translation and localization firms, as well as senior IT positions for Fiera.com, where he was CIO, and Berlitz International, where he was Director of Worldwide Technology Development. Born in Chile, Hector was Director of Operations for Berlitz GlobalNet in Singapore, Thailand, and Santiago, Chile. He has over 30 years of experience in the translation and localization industry, and a proven record of growing businesses and driving innovation in technology and process. He holds a dual MA in Oceanography and Computer Science from Columbia University and a BS from Farleigh Dickinson University.

Barbara Askinas – Vice President of Client Experience

The richness of cultural diversity and the unique gift of our personal heritage have always resonated with Barbara, from warm memories of grandparents who spoke to her in their native language to post-graduate adventures studying abroad.

Barbara grew up in Fortune 100 companies, followed by stints in entrepreneurial startups and then built her own international consulting business focusing on executive coaching and strategic change. She earned an MBA in organizational behavior from Boston College and BS in English and Education from Southern Connecticut University, with graduate study in organizational dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania. She has held executive assignments ranging from director of employee relations for an academic medical center, global director of organization and people development for a pharmaceutical company, principal for a global performance benchmarking firm identifying metrics that matter and best practices, and VP of HR for a fast-growth British startup entering the US environmental market. Barbara serves as adjunct professor for the departments of Management and Culture & Communication at Drexel University, where she is a Faculty Fellow.

Joseph O’Donnell – Senior Project Manager, Translations

Joseph has been a Senior Project Manager with ParlExperts since 2004, supervising hundreds of translation projects in dozens of languages. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, having studied in China. Later, he lived in Taiwan for almost a decade, improving his Chinese language skills and working in the industrial sector for companies such as Apex Robot Systems and Green Point Manufacturing. His industrial experience included Quality Control, Project Management and Client Services, which served as an ideal training for his current responsibilities. Joseph holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, A+ Certification for computer hardware, and Microsoft Office Certification. In addition, he has an in-depth knowledge of web programming, database management, and computer graphics.

Juan Leon – Senior Strategist, Learning and Communications 

Juan recently joined our team to help to extend our eLearning capabilities. Juan has had a double-track career as both an eLearning producer for Fortune 100 clients and an award-winning educator at Harvard, the University of Michigan, and Kyoto University, Japan. Solutions he has helped to develop have facilitated the education of adult learners across the globe through tailored training and support systems.  Juan also serves as the Director of Online Learning for the Graduate School of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He is also actively involved in the creation of online communities of practice and in the production of web-based learning events such as virtual conferences.  For the past two years he has partnered with Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca to produce a week-long virtual professional-development forum which fosters workplace collaboration through online social-networking technology.  Juan holds a Ph.D. in English from Harvard University.

Eric Aubrey – Principal Consultant

An expert in change management, communications, HR effectiveness, strategic planning, e-learning, and marketing strategies, Eric has been helping organizations to measurably improve performance for over twenty years. Eric founded and was CEO of Red Armadillo Productions, Inc., a highly successful multimedia production company. In 2000, he sold the company to Canon Technology Solutions and joined Canon as Director of Enterprise Corporate Communications. With Canon he implemented a software-development environment for the creation of innovative web and application solutions. Eric was responsible for putting into place a rigorous project-management environment, which became the foundation of Canon’s Client Engagement Model. In 2005, after being named Director of Corporate Marketing for Canon, he was responsible for driving major improvements in internal and external communications, strategic planning, logistics, market research, competitive analysis, strategic solution planning and development, sales and management training, and client development.

Vivian Isaak – President

ParlExperts´s Founder and President, Vivian is fluent in Spanish, English, German and Hebrew. She completed her linguistic training in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was accredited by the American Translators Association in 1990. Over the past thirty years Vivian has translated, edited and managed thousands of pages of text. With her multinational and multilingual background, Vivian has been able to create innovative solutions for clients faced with the challenge of taking their business global. Her primary focus is on the technical aspects of the localization process, including project management and process improvement.

Vivian´s past experience includes working as an abstractor for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as a free-lance Spanish writer for Bristol-Myers Squibb, and as the Spanish-language coach for two New Jersey governors. Vivian has also been hands-on in producing, directing and editing hundreds of dubbed and subtitled programs. She translated and narrated news broadcasts of The Deutsche Welle for Latin American radio stations affiliated with The Voice of Germany. In 1985, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the United Nations, Ms. Isaak was the liaison for foreign television and radio correspondents and broadcasters. She served as the Public Relations Director and Program Director of the Spanish Special Interest Group (SpanSIG) affiliated with the New York Circle of Translators. From 1998 until 2007, she served on the Board of the Delaware Valley Translators Association. Since 2004, she has served on the Board of the German-American Chamber of Commerce, and in 2009, she was nominated Vice-President of Programming.

Vivian has been an invited guest speaker at New York University, Drexel University, Swarthmore College, and the University of Pennsylvania. In 2007, Vivian received the Liberty Bell Award for her contribution to Philadelphia’s Emergency Preparedness Campaign. In 2008, The National Association of Professional and Executive Women named Vivian “Woman of the Year” in the Translation Services category. In 2009, she was nominated for Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” Award. Under her leadership, Magnum Group, now ParlExperts, was recognized by the US Local Business Association as a four-time consecutive recipient of the 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Best of Philadelphia award in the Translators and Interpreters category.

Hector Baraona – Managing Director

Prior to coming to Magnum, Hector held multiple senior level positions in some of the world’s largest translation and localization firms, as well as senior IT positions for Fiera.com, where he was CIO, and Berlitz International, where he was Director of Worldwide Technology Development. Born in Chile, Hector was Director of Operations for Berlitz GlobalNet in Singapore, Thailand, and Santiago, Chile. He has over 20 years of experience in the translation and localization industry, and a proven record of growing businesses and driving innovation in technology and process. He holds a dual MA in Oceanography and Computer Science from Columbia University and a BS from Farleigh Dickinson University.

Barbara Askinas – Vice President of Client Experience

The richness of cultural diversity and the unique gift of our personal heritage have always resonated with Barbara, from warm memories of grandparents who spoke to her in their native language to post-graduate adventures studying abroad.

Barbara grew up in Fortune 100 companies, followed by stints in entrepreneurial startups and then built her own international consulting business focusing on executive coaching and strategic change. She earned an MBA in organizational behavior from Boston College and BS in English and Education from Southern Connecticut University, with graduate study in organizational dynamics at the University of Pennsylvania. She has held executive assignments ranging from director of employee relations for an academic medical center, global director of organization and people development for a pharmaceutical company, principal for a global performance benchmarking firm identifying metrics that matter and best practices, and VP of HR for a fast-growth British startup entering the US environmental market. Barbara serves as adjunct professor for the departments of Management and Culture & Communication at Drexel University, where she is a Faculty Fellow.

Joseph O’Donnell – Senior Project Manager, Translations

Joseph has been a Senior Project Manager with ParlExperts since 2004, supervising hundreds of translation projects in dozens of languages. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, having studied in China. Later, he lived in Taiwan for almost a decade, improving his Chinese language skills and working in the industrial sector for companies such as Apex Robot Systems and Green Point Manufacturing. His industrial experience included Quality Control, Project Management and Client Services, which served as an ideal training for his current responsibilities. Joseph holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, A+ Certification for computer hardware, and Microsoft Office Certification. In addition, he has an in-depth knowledge of web programming, database management, and computer graphics.

Juan Leon – Senior Strategist, Learning and Communications 

Juan recently joined our team to help to extend our eLearning capabilities. Juan has had a double-track career as both an eLearning producer for Fortune 100 clients and an award-winning educator at Harvard, the University of Michigan, and Kyoto University, Japan. Solutions he has helped to develop have facilitated the education of adult learners across the globe through tailored training and support systems.  Juan also serves as the Director of Online Learning for the Graduate School of Population Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He is also actively involved in the creation of online communities of practice and in the production of web-based learning events such as virtual conferences.  For the past two years he has partnered with Medical Affairs at AstraZeneca to produce a week-long virtual professional-development forum which fosters workplace collaboration through online social-networking technology.  Juan holds a Ph.D. in English from Harvard University.

Eric Aubrey – Principal Consultant

An expert in change management, communications, HR effectiveness, strategic planning, e-learning, and marketing strategies, Eric has been helping organizations to measurably improve performance for over twenty years. Eric founded and was CEO of Red Armadillo Productions, Inc., a highly successful multimedia production company. In 2000, he sold the company to Canon Technology Solutions and joined Canon as Director of Enterprise Corporate Communications. With Canon he implemented a software-development environment for the creation of innovative web and application solutions. Eric was responsible for putting into place a rigorous project-management environment, which became the foundation of Canon’s Client Engagement Model. In 2005, after being named Director of Corporate Marketing for Canon, he was responsible for driving major improvements in internal and external communications, strategic planning, logistics, market research, competitive analysis, strategic solution planning and development, sales and management training, and client development.