Robert Vandenberg is CEO of Lingotek in Draper, Utah, USA and will chair the final judging committee for the New Product Awards & Product Management categories of The 2011 International Business Awards.
Which innovations do you think will most improve businesses in the next few years?
I’m a huge believer in social media and how it is enabling a more transparent relationship between business and consumer. The successful companies of the next few years will be those that use social media to engage with their customers, not those that resist it.
At the same time, increasing globalization will require all of us to be more aware and engaged with people of different countries, languages, and cultures. Companies will need to be able to understand those markets and communicate with them in order to grow.
What item of news recently caught your eye and why?
The phenomenal success of LinkedIn’s IPO underscores the value of permanent, transparent interconnections in professional relationships. Each of us now has the ability and tools to control our own professional brand.
If you could choose another profession, what would it be?
As someone who spends too much time on planes I would pick something that involved being outdoors. Being a ski bum in the winter and a sailing bum in the summer sounds ideal right now!
What quality or qualities do you most value in your business associates?
My top four are: curiosity, work ethic, maturity, and the ability to be proactive.
What do you think is the worst bad habit to have at work?
Negativity: Everyone’s a critic, but in the workplace you shouldn’t just complain, you should make the effort to offer a solution.
As someone at the top of your profession, what keeps you inspired or makes you hit the ground running in the morning?
I have the good fortune to engage every day with interesting people who develop creative products and solutions for real-world problems. I’m not a techie, but I learn about customers’ issues as they seek to expand into global markets, and I can discuss these with my technology experts. It’s a great feeling when we are able to provide those customers with effective solutions.
About Rob Vandenberg
As CEO of Lingotek, Rob Vandenberg is driving the vision as the company looks to change the future of translation. He has never shied away from asking the tough questions that have led to greater understanding, insight, and a more progressive development of new products and services.
Prior to being named president of Lingotek in 2008, Vandenberg served as the company's vice president of sales and marketing, where he provided guidance and inspiration. Before joining Lingotek, Vandenberg served at the helm of several successful ventures. He cofounded and served as the CEO of LocalVoice.com, which was acquired by HarrisConnect in 2005. Afterwards, he was named as the vice president of sales and marketing for HarrisConnect. Prior to that venture, he started as one of the first 20 U.S. employees at INTERSHOP Communications. As a top-performing sales executive with national account responsibilities he helped build the company’s worldwide business: the INTERSHOP initial public offering was one of the most successful enterprise software company IPOs in US history (a $10 billion market cap).
Vandenberg holds a bachelor's degree in political economics from UC Berkeley.
About Lingotek
Lingotek | The Translation Network gives enterprise business customers new ways to engage their global communities by providing trusted, rapid translations to grow business in a cost effective way. Its exclusive web-based Collaborative Translation Platform™ represents the next step in the evolution of translation through technology and community involvement. Today global organizations, intelligence agencies, and government entities use the platform, saving time and resources on projects ranging from a few pages to several volumes. Lingotek also offers professional translation services for companies. The company is based in Draper, Utah and is funded by Canopy Ventures, In-Q-Tel, and Flywheel Ventures.
The American Business Awards are the only all-encompassing awards program that honors outstanding performances in the American workplace. All organizations operating in the U.S. are eligible to submit nominations -- public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small. The entry deadline is March 31 and late entries will be accepted through April 27 with a late fee. The 2011 awards will honor work since the beginning of 2010, and the awards will be announced on June 20 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. Entry details are available at 
