Management

Executive management

Stefan KNERR

Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer
Stefan Knerr holds a PhD in Pattern Recognition and has more than 20 years of experience in Handwriting Recognition Technology. He has been working for leading IT companies and international research institutes such as SIEMENS (Germany), CNRS (France) and the International Computer Science Institute (USA). Stefan has also played a key role in building the software company A2iA (France), market leader for bank check recognition, and leading it to success. In 1998 Stefan founded VISION OBJECTS to develop the most advanced handwriting recognition software using innovative recognition technology. Vision Objects has become the worldwide provider of the industry standard in handwriting recognition technology for pen-based user interfaces and data entry automation.

Jean-Marc AÏCHOUN

Vice President Sales and Marketing
Jean-Marc Aïchoun enriches Vision Objects' team with his more than 20 years hands-on Sales and Marketing experience in the international software industry. Jean-Marc previously served in various key positions in marketing and sales for internationally renowned companies such as Philips, Verilog and Telelogic, significantly enhancing profitability and performance. Jean-Marc Aïchoun is an engineering graduate from the Institut National Polytechnique of Grenoble (France), and joined Vision Objects in 2005.

Pierre-Michel LALLICAN

Director, Research and Technology
Pierre-Michel Lallican holds a PhD in handwriting recognition and has been with Vision Objects from the very beginning. Considered as a pioneer in the field of on-line handwriting recognition, he brings his extensive knowledge to Vision Objects in his position of Research and Technology Director. Pierre-Michel's fields of expertise include on-line and off-line handwriting recognition technology, symbol recognition, signature verification, language modelling and document analysis.

Denis MANCEAU

Director, Customer Services
Denis Manceau brings to Vision Objects an in-depth knowledge in software development, quality and support. His credentials include working for Amadeus and Schneider Automation, where he was responsible for setting up methodologies & tests and provided support to international companies. Denis joined Vision Objects in 2003 as Quality and Support Manager and quickly took the lead of the Product Development and Customer Service department. Denis has more than 10 years of experience and holds an MSc in Automation.

Christophe DROULERS

Director, Product Development
Before joining Vision Objects as director Product Development, Christophe Droulers founded Ariolis and acted as its Technical Manager. Previously, he served as Technical Director for Be Europe, an infrastructure and multimedia software vendor and Christophe co-founded their European organization (Be Europe was recently purchased by Palm Inc). His experiences as Marketing Director and Partner Relations Director at NeXT in France and Developer Group Manager at Apple Computer, France, where he was one of the first employees in the early 80’s, bring to Vision Objects a very complete and valuable insight in market development that help Vision Objects better serve their customers' needs. Christophe holds a degree in Electronics Engineering from E.S.M.E. Sudria, Paris.

Board of Directors

Henry DE CHAMPSAVIN

Board Member

With a Masters’ Degree in Applied Economics (Paris Dauphine University), Henry spent five years in a key position at a credit insurance company. Then he joined Delaunay, a French brokerage firm, of which he took the leadership, renaming it as H. de Champsavin S.A. Since 1992, Henry has invested most of his energy in the financing of small business. In 2002 he created Irus Partenaires, a venture capital corporation whose driving mission is to guide innovative start-ups, such as Vision Objects, in their development.

Olivier DAUCHOT

Board Member

Olivier Dauchot holds a PhD in Theoretical Physics. As an internationally renowned expert in complex and out-of-equilibrium systems, Olivier is currently attached to the French Atomic Research Agency. In 1994, Olivier co-founded Internet-Way, one of the first French ISPs, which was sold to UUNET in 1997. Since then Olivier has been bringing his sense of incisive analysis from a unique viewpoint to his role as administrator for various Start-Ups, including Vision Objects. Involved from the very beginning, Olivier has stood by Stefan in the creation of Vision Objects, from drawing up the Business Plan, to managing much of the administration entailed in the implementation of Vision Objects.

Jerôme LECAT

Board Member on behalf of Business Angels After studying Engineering and Artificial Intelligence at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, Jérôme Lecat worked as research director on a stock valuation model for Partech International, a venture capital firm based in San Francisco and Paris. In 1994, Jérôme Lecat founded Internet-Way. As CEO he grew the company from a garage start-up to a profitable 35 employee operation. He led the acquisition by UUNET in October of 1997 bringing a 55% Internal Rate of Return to the investors. CEO and President of the new Board of Directors, he grew the company to be the second Internet Speed Provider for the professional market in France (80 million USD) with 180 employees. Jérôme left UUNET in 2000 and became an active Business Angel with several Board positions, with among them, Vision Objects. He also served as a Chairman or interim manager on behalf of several start-ups. In 2003 Jérôme founded Bizanga, which is today, under his leadership, a leading world supplier of Email Security Appliances to the Service Provider market.

Nicolas ROSE

Board Member on behalf of XAnge Nicolas Rose holds a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Michigan (USA) and an MBA from the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées (France). After starting his career as a software developer and IT consultant, he then developed sector expertise in the financing and valuation of high-tech companies for JP Morgan and as a financial analyst specialised in Information Technology with Hambrecht & Quist Euromarkets. Nicolas is a partner at Venture Capital firm XAnge Private Equity, specializing in Software technology and related services. He currently sits on the board of 5 high-technology companies, one of which Vision Objects.