PROCESSORS

CONCORD, Mass. - Hugh Jefferson "Jeff" Ray III, a senior executive with more than 25 years of experience in global technology sales, management, and operations, today joined SolidWorks Corporation as its new chief operating officer. Ray will be responsible for developing and executing the worldwide distribution strategy for SolidWorks(r) 3D mechanical design and analysis software. He is also charged with driving continued growth in revenue, profit, and global market share. His focus will include product definition, third-party relationships, customer support, marketing strategy, and increasing channel sales. Ray has a record of building and transforming international operations. He has experience driving cross-functional, multi-disciplinary teams in multiple geographies to achieve strategic objectives. Before coming to SolidWorks, Ray spent two years as vice president of worldwide field operations at business software vendor Progress Software Corp., where he was responsible for all customer-facing field operations in dozens of countries. He established a growth strategy that included a partner model, product design, and licensing program to help drive $280 million in sales. >From 1996 to 2001, Ray was a vice president of Compuware Corp., an application development software company. As vice president of global solutions, he launched the company's integrated software/services practices and grew their annual sales from zero to $100 million. As vice president of Europe, he expanded the region's professional service and outsourcing business. Prior to Compuware, he was vice president of marketing and sales at SYNTEL Inc., an outsourcing services company in Michigan, where he achieved a 45 percent annual growth rate. He spent the first 17 years of his career at IBM, rising from an account marketing representative in Houston to the executive assistant to the Midwest vice president, helping oversee a $3 billion IBM business with 1,200 employees. "We were looking for a person who could add a new dimension of leadership and vision to SolidWorks but who already shared our core values and embraced our team-oriented culture," said John McEleney, SolidWorks CEO. "We found everything we were looking for in Jeff Ray and eagerly anticipate his contributions to our sales, operations, products, and customer satisfaction." Ray earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1977 from Texas A&M University.