ROCKLIN, CA — (Marketwired) — 02/10/15 — Purple Communications, Inc., the leading provider of innovative communications for people who are deaf and hard of hearing, has appointed Robert Rae as CEO. Rae previously was Purple–s president and brings decades of experience in leading advanced technology organizations specializing in telecommunications, marketing and education. Rae will succeed former CEO John Ferron, who has been appointed as chairman of the board of directors.
“Since joining Purple, our VRS and ClearCaptions businesses continue to grow exponentially, and this is due to the passion, dedication and drive of our entire team to offer the highest-quality products and services to our customers,” said Rae. “I am honored to serve as CEO and am committed to continuing our mission of providing the highest quality and most innovative communications solutions while we move forward toward our next phase of growth.”
Ferron, who during his tenure as CEO was responsible for the overall company strategic initiatives leading to innovations like SmartVP, P3, P3 Mobile, video remote interpreting (VRI) services and ClearCaptions, as well as call center expansions throughout the United States, said he–s confident of Rae–s ability to continue Purple–s success, as well as take the organization to the next level.
“It–s been a very rewarding seven years for me and I am very proud to leave Bob with a strong, committed team whose main priority has always been to provide the best communications technology available, making it possible for deaf/hard-of-hearing people and hearing people to communicate with each other anytime, anywhere and any place,” said Ferron. “I am confident Bob–s vision will ensure this priority is always number one, while at the same time, continue to facilitate growth in Purple–s diverse service portfolio, including video relay service (VRS), VRI, on-site interpreting and captioning services.”
Prior to Purple, Rae was president and chief operating officer for Academic Partnerships, a global outsourcing provider in higher education. Under his leadership, the organization grew 300 percent by enabling rapid implementation of online degree programs. He has also served as chief information officer for Mosaic Sales Solutions, chief operating officer and executive vice president for Securus Technologies, and vice president of operations for EngineX Networks.
Additionally, Rae has 12 granted patents, as well as several pending.
Purple Communications provides a high-quality video relay service (VRS) available from multiple platforms — TV, desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone. VRS is a free service for deaf and hard-of-hearing customers who use sign language to communicate via video conference and a video interpreter (VI). The VI voices/relays the signed conversation in real-time to both deaf and hearing individuals.
Purple–s portfolio of solutions spans across telephone captioning services, on-site interpreting services and video relay interpreting (VRI) delivering a wide array of options to meet the varied communication needs of businesses and customers, collectively make communicating with both the deaf world and the hearing world accessible to all. For more information, visit
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Julie K. Shepard
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