German language service provider (LSP) Transfline appointed new CEO Maximilian Lachnit effective July 31, 2023. His predecessor, Katja Schabert, had been with Transline since 2015.

Lachnit’s decade-long career has included domestic and international work as a management consultant, plus time in medium-sized German companies. His most recent role was CFO of the Better Taste Group.

“From my point of view, my profound experience in the field of finance tipped the scales,” Lachnit told Slator of his appointment, “The final decision to choose me for the role of CEO was made by Blue Cap AG as shareholder of the group.”

Blue Cap acquired Transline, one of Germany’s largest LSPs, in 2022. A Challenger according to Slator’s Language Service Providers Index, the company posted 2022 revenues of USD 24.9m — up six percent from USD 23.5m in 2021.

Transline self-reported a headcount of 180 in 2022, as well as a focus on the Life Sciences, Media, and Engineering & Manufacturing sectors.

While Lachnit declined to detail plans for Transline at this early stage in his tenure, he shared that a workshop is expected toward the end of August for higher-ups to “define the strategic cornerstones.”

“Let me say this much: We have set ourselves ambitious corporate goals, and any further acquisitions will be based on these goals,” Lachnit said.

Transline’s most recent acquisitions include Cologne-based Micado Innovation in June 2022 and, in 2019, two boutique translation agencies: Italy’s Interlanguage and medical translations company Medax, located in Munich.

Lachnit shed some light on Transline’s future plans in terms of R&D, noting that the company needs to keep up with “ever-evolving” AI.

“There is always something to learn,” he said, adding, “Currently, the interdisciplinary Transline Future Lab team is designing and implementing multilingual language models for conversational AI.”