StrongMail opens UK office and hires former Emailvision UK exec

E-mail marketing firm StrongMail Systems Inc. has expanded into the UK market with a new corporate office in Oxford and the appointment of Paul Bates as regional managing director.

The new office comes in response to the recent growth in the e-mail marketplace in the UK over the past year.

"Regardless of where you reside or what language you speak, if you are in an enterprise looking to send e-mail through an ISP then you want to standardize e-mail in a secure platform," said Sam Cece, CEO of StrongMail."

Bates will focus on expanding StrongMail's customer base in the European market, and attend to existing US clients with offices in the UK including financial services firm The Motley Fool and Ticketmaster.

He comes to StrongMail with more than 16 years of experience leading sales teams within the IT and e-mail marketing sectors. Prior to StrongMail, Bates served as country manager for Emailvision, an e-mail service provider based in Paris.

During his tenure there, he ran the company's UK operations and helped streamline its sales and marketing teams. Bates' experience also includes positions as director of new business at Sybase UK and head of EMEA sales for Embarcadero Europe.

Bates will be the only employee in the UK office, while StrongMail assesses the business potential in the area.

"We're trying to address the level of business and make sure that there is a viable business out there," Cece added.