Steve Liddell Named As CEO of Panther Express

Panther Express, a global provider of high performance content delivery services, has named Steve Liddell as its new Chief Executive Officer.
Liddell's appointment follows a number of important milestones for the two-year-old CDN, including the recent announcement of Dennis Morgan as CFO earlier this month, its 300th customer win in April and its acquisition of nearly $16 million in venture funding in November 2007.
Kevin Ryan, Chairman and Cofounder of Panther Express, said: "Steve's extensive background in telecommunications will be very valuable for Panther Express. He has a well-established reputation as a strategic thinker and has successfully scaled a number of early stage businesses.
"His considerable experience building sizeable international businesses will help Panther advance to the next level of its development and galvanise its position as a formidable contender in content delivery."
Steve Liddell said: "Founded by entrepreneurs with direct experience in this sector, Panther Express is rapidly growing. The company is well funded and backed by two of the most reputable Venture Capital firms in the Software and IT industry. Panther has built its own, unique technology platform, which makes it the first choice for companies who want a high performance, reliable CDN service.
"Fueled by the exploding demand for video, HD and other multimedia content delivered over the internet, our goal is to establish Panther Express as an industry leader in this very exciting and high growth market."
Steve Liddell is highly skilled in all aspects of growing and operating international telecommunications businesses. He was most recently an independent consultant advising two of the leading private equity firms, Columbia Capital and MC Venture Partners on their recent acquisition of GTS - an eastern European telecommunications operator. Prior to this, he was COO of Clearwire International, where he was responsible for the international operations of this early stage WIMAX operator.
From 1999-2005, Liddell worked at Level 3 Communications, first as President of Asia based in Hong Kong and later as a Group Vice President in Broomfield, Colorado. There he established successful segmentation and positioning strategies in key growth areas and played an integral role in a number of major strategic customer wins.
Earlier in his career, Liddell served as President of MCI-WorldCom Asia-Pacific also based in Hong Kong. As the division's first employee, he secured a unique set of licenses and built an extensive infrastructure-based business covering 8 countries across the region.
Prior to this, he was responsible for the international voice and data business of MFS, based in Northern Virginia.
Liddell began his telecommunications career at British Telecom where from 1989 to 1994, both in London, England and Atlanta. Georgia, he held a number of business development and strategic roles, mainly focused on international M&A acitivities.
Liddell holds an MBA in Business Administration from Henley Management College, an M.Sc in Semiconductor Electronics and a B.Sc in Physics from Bristol University, in the United Kingdom.
(KMcA/JM)