Veteran IT Industry Executive Shifts Focus to Increasing Productivity for DNA Sequencing

Geospiza, a global industry leader delivering DNA sequencing workflow, analysis and data management software for life sciences researchers, has appointed Rob Arnold as its new president and COO. Arnold brings more than 10 years experience founding, growing and successfully running profitable IT companies to Geospiza.

After the recent successful sale of his second technology company, Arnold spent two years studying the biotech marketplace, the needs of researchers, and the flow of data from scientist to core lab to collaborating scientists to discovery. “The sequencing market is finally ready for dramatic productivity improvements from IT” said Arnold.

“Geospiza has hundreds of paying customers around the world, including some of the biggest names in drug discovery, agriculture and core research. With DNA sequencing volume exploding at more than 25% a year, and 13,000 DNA sequencers distributed across approximately 4,000 research teams and core sequencing facilities, information is now being generated faster than computers and people can turn it into results. Now more than at any other point in history, it is critical for scientists to store and manage the data gained from sequencing experiments. Geospiza’s software-based solutions enable researchers to tackle this onslaught of data and accelerate the speed with which they can make meaningful scientific discoveries.”

Todd Smith, Geospiza’s chairman and CEO adds, “Geospiza is in a unique position in that the company is a strong blend of scientists and IT experts. We’ve spent the last six years working in close collaboration with scientists and research teams world-wide to develop the Finch® Sequencing Center system so that it works the way they work, while dramatically improving research productivity and reliability of data. We are now ready to deliver this once highly specialized product as an ’out of the box‘ solution to both large institutions and core labs as well as smaller research teams cost effectively. The momentum in the market calls for the kinds of product quality assurance and business disciplines Mr. Arnold brings to our team. I confidently look forward to working with him during this next phase of business growth.”

Arnold began his executive career as co-founder and CEO of ST Labs, Inc., a software testing and quality assurance firm that grew to employ 250 people. Under Arnold’s leadership, ST Labs grew 13,000% in 5 years and was recognized by Deloitte and Touche’s Fast 50 awards as the 2nd fastest growing company in Washington state from 1992-1997. After selling ST Labs to Data Dimensions, Inc. (now called LionBridge, NASDAQ: LIOX), Arnold served as Executive VP for the Test Center Division and led DDI’s transition to an Internet-centric testing and quality assurance firm.

Subsequent to ST Labs, Arnold served as chairman and CEO of Crossport Systems, a leader in Internet security providing complete security solutions for broadband. In December 2001, Arnold led the sale of Crossport to Lineo (now called Metrowerks, a division of Motorola, NYSE: MOT). Arnold is a long-term member of the WSA (formerly Washington Software Alliance) board of directors, and founded and leads ArrayBio, Seattle’s first bio-IT special interest group (www.arraybio.org). Arnold serves as a steering committee member for Washington state Gov. Gary Locke’s Bio21 initiative.

About Geospiza

Geospiza combines life sciences and IT expertise to deliver low-cost, high-productivity software systems to research teams and core labs worldwide. Geospiza’s system for DNA sequencing laboratory workflow, data management and analysis turns complex scientific processes into reliable, upgradeable and scalable every-day practices scientists and technicians can use to get their work done. Geospiza was founded in 1997 and serves more than 3,000 end-users in emerging biotechnology, academic, government and bio-pharmaceutical companies worldwide. More information is available at www.geospiza.com.