HITS

Media localisation firm VSI Group has named Mark Howorth, formerly the CEO of SDI Media and president of Iyuno-SDI Group, as its new CEO. VSI founder and current CEO Norman Dawood will become the company’s chairman.

“I am thrilled to be joining VSI,” Howorth said. “I have always admired Norman, his team, and the company they have built. They have long been respected in our industry for their linguistic excellence, customer service and integrity. There is so much growth in our industry today and I hope to contribute to this ongoing success story.”

Dawood added: “I have known Mark for the past six years and I believe his skills and experience in running large international operations will help take us to the next level of growth. The impact he made at SDI was remarkable. More importantly, he fits well with VSI’s ethics and culture of passion and excellence.

“We have a superb, experienced team here that understands how to deliver on what we say we will deliver and does so in full partnership with our external linguists, actors, and directors. We have always had a prudent, organic growth path and as the market has expanded, it is a natural next step to grow our leadership team as well.”

Howorth joined SDI Media in 2016, soon after its acquisition by two Japanese companies.

SDI Media was the largest media localisation company in the industry, and he led there until SDI was sold to Iyuno in 2021. While at SDI, his focus was on creating new momentum, with significant investments in technology and capacity, as well as developing capabilities to handle the new demands of end-to-end customers.

He remained as president in the newly merged Iyuno-SDI from April 2021 until August 2022, helping integrate the two companies. Prior to SDI, he was the COO of Panavision, the CEO of National Mobile Television, and a partner with the consulting firm Bain & Company.

VSI has global capabilities in dubbing, subtitling and other related services, with 27 facilities in 25 countries, and is a vendor to most of the largest content producers and platforms.

VSI was established by Dawood more than 30 years ago and now has more than 650 employees supporting a large network of freelance translators and voice talent.

In recent years, VSI has made significant expansions in Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and Los Angeles.

Growth of capacity, new facilities and new services are being prioritised to match the growth of streaming services and the increased appetite for high quality media localisation.

As the localisation industry continues to consolidate, VSI has maintained its position as a key global vendor with owned and operated studios worldwide by continuing to enlarge existing facilities, entering new territories, and adding additional services to its offering. Historically VSI has been self-funded with no debt and no outside investment.

“One thing I love about this opportunity is that things are not broken at VSI; instead, our focus will be on positioning us to be better in the future,” Howorth said. “People like COO Cornelia Al-Khaled have built a very tight organisation and process. I have met many of the senior leaders at VSI and I am so impressed with their track record and customer commitment. They each have decades in this industry and great individual reputations. I look forward to learning from them and working with them. Hopefully they will find my diverse experiences from larger organisations to be valuable here.”

Howorth will be based in Los Angeles and will travel frequently to VSI’s headquarters in London. He will report directly to Dawood.