our Staff
We recognize that maintaining stability in the makeup of our in-house personnel benefits both our staff and our clients. Since our founding in 2005, we have cultivated a collaborative working environment that is egalitarian and supportive. Each of us brings different specific skills to ION, but we all share equally in project management and customer service. This means that as an ION client, you will enjoy a long-term relationship with a dedicated project manager who is committed to meeting your particular needs.
Blair Sly
principal
Blair is a founding principal of ION and is actively engaged in all aspects of the business, including day-to-day project management. Under his guidance, ION has shown strong and steady growth in revenue and staff without any loss of focus on customer service. He studied Japanese at Middlebury College, lived and worked in Japan, and has passed the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam.
David Gamon, Ph.D.
Senior Project Director
David had a peripatetic Foreign Service upbringing in Martinique, Liberia, Swaziland, South Africa, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. He studied German literature at Reed College and the University of Tübingen and cognitive science at U.C. Berkeley, where he received his Ph.D. in Linguistics in 1997. He has been with ION since 2006, following a career stint as a freelance writer and translator.
Rika Sonoda
Senior Project Manager/
Editor
Rika is from Saitama, Japan, and received a B.A. in English literature from Seijo University in Tokyo, Japan, and an M.A. in linguistics from San Francisco State University. In addition to her project management expertise, Rika brings strong in-house Japanese translation and editing skills to ION. She has been with ION since 2006.
Cathy Guevara
SENIOR Project Manager/
Marketing strategist
Cathy grew up bilingual/bicultural in the U.S. and the Philippines. She received her B.S. from Ateneo De Manila University and worked in publishing for 7 years. Cathy is ION’s resident expert in CAT and DTP tool technologies and she also oversees our marketing strategies. As the primary manager for many of our multilingual projects, she makes sure the artwork is localized just as appropriately as the words are.
Trudy Obi, Ph.D.
SENIOR Project Manager/
EDITOR
As an undergraduate, Trudy studied and worked for a French publisher in Paris. After receiving her B.A. in English from Princeton, she worked on an international public health project, translating communications between U.S. headquarters and field office staff in Haiti and Madagascar. Trudy completed her Ph.D. in English at U.C. Berkeley. She brings editorial experience and French language proficiency to the ION team.
ALMA CHAIDEZ
ACCOUNTING/ADmINISTRATION/
Assistant PROJECT MANAGER
After receiving her B.A. in Business Administration from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Mexico, Alma moved to France to work in the accounting department of an information services company before relocating to California with her family. A native speaker of Spanish with advanced proficiency in English, French and Portuguese, Alma handles bookkeeping and administrative duties, and supports other project managers in translation review and editing tasks.