Industry Leading … Experienced Executives

 

Dean Kotchka
Chief Executive Officer
Dean Kotchka is Chief Executive Officer for Language Logic. He is a successful entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience spanning a range of industries from accounting to manufacturing.  Dean has extensive operational experience with early and expansion stage technology companies.

Dean joined Language Logic in 2001 as a Senior Software Developer. He is a technology innovator with the unique ability to synthesize client requests to create easy to use applications. He is part of the Product Development Team and was a key contributor to creating the Ascribe™ global platform.  Dean is largely responsible for Review Responses, Phrase Analyzer and the back-end reporting tools in the Ascribe™ software.

Dean has a BS degree in Accountancy and is a CPA.  He worked for 8 years with one of the major “Big Eight” accounting firms.  Language Logic represents the fourth early stage company with which Dean has been involved.
dean.kotchka@languagelogic.net

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Rick Kieser
Chief Operating Officer
Rick Kieser is the Chief Operating Officer for Language Logic.  He has 18 years of direct investment, management consulting and corporate finance experience.  Rick has extensive growth equity investment experience within the Midwest.

Prior to joining Language Logic, Rick spent 12 years leading growth equity investments and managing portfolio companies within the Software as a Service (SaaS), Business Intelligence and technology-enabled service industries. He is experienced in assisting early and expansion stage companies develop and execute growth strategies (both organic and acquisition), optimize resource allocation and improve corporate governance. In addition, Rick possesses six years of international management consulting experience specializing in operational improvement initiatives (AT Kearney and Gemini Consulting).

Rick was Chairman and President of the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association and served on UCLA Anderson Alumni Executive Committee and University of Cincinnati Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board. 

Rick has a BA in Economics from the University of California at Los Angeles and an MBA from UCLA Anderson.  He is also a graduate of the Venture Capital Institute and is a Certified Director.
rick.kieser@languagelogic.net

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Charles Baylis
Chief Technology Officer
Charles Baylis is Chief Technical Officer for Language Logic. Charles is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of technology and development experience.    

Charles co-founded Language Logic in 1999 and is the original developer of the Ascribe™ platform.  He is responsible for the design, development, and quality assurance of all Language Logic platform products. Charles continues to improve the Ascribe™ interface and offer new tools based on user feedback and the most current technology. Charles demands world-class programming from his team, which ensures that Language Logic produces only world-class software applications. 

Charles has created software products for over 20 years.  Prior to Language Logic, he worked in the semiconductor manufacturing industry.  He founded, developed, and sold two prior successful software companies.  He has a BA in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College,  an MS in Materials Science from Stanford University, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from University California at Berkeley.
charles.baylis@languagelogic.net

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Kevin Grimmer
VP Sales
Kevin is Vice President of Sales for Language Logic. He is focused on driving sales of the core product and service offerings of the company while at the same time bringing Language Logic's newest text analytics solutions to the market.    

Kevin has over 15 years of sales and strategic business development experience in the business-to-business arena focused on research, data, software and professional service solutions. Most recently he managed the Midwest sales territory for MarketTools CustomerSat, a leading provider of Voice of the Customer survey programs. Kevin has extensive experience in bringing new products to the market, growing territories from the ground floor, and developing key strategic partnerships and alliances. Additionally, he has a strong finance background which allows him to help clients as they analyze the ROI of various solution models. 

Kevin has a BS in Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
kevin.grimmer@languagelogic.net

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Rudy Bublitz
VP Global Business Development
Rudy Bublitz is Vice President of Global Business Development for Language Logic.  Although Rudy is based in Cincinnati, he spends much of his time in Europe focused on new business development, partner acquisition, and customer retention.

Rudy joined Language Logic in 2001 and has worked with virtually every client using the Ascribe™ software. Rudy’s vast experience with data systems gives him the insight to offer customized solutions that streamline processes and increase overall data management productivity. His ability to listen to the customer’s needs and communicate those needs to the development team has helped shape the Ascribe™ software and  helped define  the Language Logic culture of quality customer service and customer care.

Rudy brings over 25 years of Survey Research experience to the Language Logic team. His research history includes more than 10 years managing the design of tabulation programs and computer assisted surveys for CATI, CAPI and the Internet.  He has held sales and business development positions with Quantime, SPSS/MR, DBM Associates, and Knowledge Networks.  Rudy received his BA in Psychology from Michigan State University.
rudy.bublitz@languagelogic.net

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Chrissy Stevens
VP Ascribe™ Solutions
Chrissy Stevens is Vice President of Ascribe™ Solutions for Language Logic. Chrissy provides executive leadership to the Ascribe™ Solutions team

Chrissy joined Language Logic client services in 2000. She quickly worked her way up from Account Manager to General Manager of Ascribe™ Coding to VP of Ascribe™ Solutions. Chrissy works with passion and diligence to provide Ascribe™ Solutions customers with best-in-class services and deliverables. She has built a global network of verbatim management experts that includes employees, contractors, and partners from around the world.

Chrissy brings 20 years of verbatim management experience to the Language Logic team. Her research history includes 10 years at PERT Survey Research where she worked as  a Coding Manager and  Project Director and dabbled in tabulations. Chrissy is working toward a Bachelor’s degree in International Business at Slippery Rock University.
chrissy.stevens@languagelogic.net

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Serge Luyens
Vice President Development
Serge Luyens is Vice President of development at Language Logic. He joined the company in 2005.

His professional background is in the market research area. After getting a degree in computer science from the University of Brussels he worked as a statistician for seven years as the head of department of Data Analysis at Research International Belgium. He left the company in 1995 with two ideas in mind: Start his own data processing company in Belgium and develop a software package completely dedicated to the processing of open-ended questions. There were none at the time which makes him an innovator in the industry. The product was and still is called VerbaStat and received very positive acclaim from the market research world. Serge sold VerbaStat to SPSS at the end of 1999 and worked for that company helping them integrate and improve his product within their suite of products.

Since he joined Language Logic in 2005, Serge's main focus has been on data presentation and visualization. He has developed state of the art displays of coded and un-coded open-ended data in ways that were never done before. These include co-occurrence maps, correlation matrices of codes using color patterns and word clouds.
serge.luyens@languagelogic.net

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Gregg Siegfried
Director, Platform Engineering
Gregg Siegfried is Director of Platform Engineering for Language Logic. He has been designing, implementing and managing the creation of technology products and services for 25 years.

Gregg joined Language Logic in 2008 to support the development of advanced capabilities within the Ascribe™ platform such as ACM and enhanced support for SPSS data.  He is an integral team member enhancing the capabilities of the Ascribe™ platform and technologies to bring value to our customers.

Gregg's career includes technology leadership experience in telecommunications, aviation and healthcare which are industries with critical data management requirements.  He has a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University, and a MS from the University of Washington, both in Computer Science.
gregg.siegfried@languagelogic.net

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Lara Rice
Director, Ascribe™ Training
Lara Rice is Director of Ascribe™ Training for Language Logic. She is also a member of the Ascribe™ Support team and manages the Ascribe™ user group.

Lara joined Language Logic in 2001 where she moved from Account Manager for Ascribe™ Coding to Director of Support to Director of Ascribe™ Training. Lara’s responsibilities include training all new clients, testing new releases of Ascribe™, developing training exercises for new Ascribe™ functionalities, communicating client needs to the developers and making sure clients are successful in the implementation of Ascribe™. 

Lara began her Survey Research career at ACNielsen BASES where she helped test and implement Ascribe™.  Lara received her B.A. in Literature at Northern Kentucky University.
lara.rice@languagelogic.net

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Mark Thatcher
Director of Product Integration and Support
Mark Thatcher is the Director of Product Integration and Support for Language Logic.  He also serves as the Cincinnati Office Manager.

Mark joined Language Logic in 2003 and has helped virtually every new client integrate Ascribe™ into their daily processes. Mark works closely with the Language Logic development, sales, and training teams to offer clients the best possible solutions for data flow into and out of Ascribe™. Mark also heads up the support team to ensure clients receive timely and accurate answers to any issues with Ascribe™. He goes above and beyond to make our support team stand out in the customer care arena.

Mark is a data processing professional with 15 years experience in market research. He came to Language Logic from ACNielsen BASES where his responsibilities included data collection, tabulation and vendor management.  An early adopter of technology, Mark played a significant role in pursuing the Internet as an alternative means of data collection for survey research.  He also vigorously pursued Ascribe™ as an advanced low cost data processing tool for the BASES team.
mark.thatcher@languagelogic.net

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Joe Horn
Support Specialist
Joe Horn is a Support Specialist for Language Logic.

Joe joined Language Logic in 2005, first as an assistant in Support and then advancing to Support Specialist. Most Ascribe™ users who have contacted support through email or phone have spoken to Joe. He is the voice of Ascribe™. Joe not only helps clients succeed by providing them with solutions, but he goes above and beyond to teach the client how to resolve the issue moving forward. Joe cares about the client’s success and is an integral part of Language Logic’s culture of excellent customer care. 

Joe is a 2004 graduate of Xavier University with a degree in Marketing.  At Xavier he was on the Dean’s List and received an Academic Honor Scholarship each of the four years he attended.  He was also Promotions Director of the Student Center Board and a member of the AMA and Marketing Club.
joe.horn@languagelogic.net

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