LanguageLine Solutions (LLS) announced the appointment of Simon Yoxon-Grant as its new president and CEO, effective September 24, 2024. Yoxon-Grant takes over from Scott W. Klein, who led the company for 12 years, and will now stay as the CEO of Teleperformance Specialized Services, also led by Klein in the past five years.

Klein’s tenure at LanguageLine was marked by considerable growth and changes. Under his leadership, LanguageLine expanded its interpreter network and technological capabilities. Klein also oversaw the USD 1.5bn acquisition of LanguageLine by Teleperformance in 2016.

Yoxon-Grant has extensive experience in the language access industry, having previously held executive roles at LanguageLine in both the UK and the US for a combined 25 years. Immediately before his return to LanguageLine as CEO, Yoxon-Grant served as CEO of TLSContact, a Teleperformance company, for five years.

Expressing enthusiasm for coming back to LanguageLine and what the future might hold under his leadership, Yoxon-Grant told Slator that he feels “immensely privileged to rejoin our team in pursuing a more inclusive world … our intention is for LanguageLine to not just maintain its leadership position, but extend it. The possibilities are endless and I couldn’t be more excited.”

Where LLS Opportunities Lie

Regarding what he considers the main operational, financial, and technological challenges and opportunities for LanguageLine in the next 2-5 years, Yoxon-Grant shared that the company faces a few primary challenges that also present opportunities.

A demographic shift that creates both a challenge and an opportunity for LanguageLine stems from the growing number of people speaking a language other than English at home in North America, according to the CEO. This segment of the population has tripled since 1980, he observed, adding that the trend is expected to accelerate in the next 30 years.

“Meeting that challenge and seizing that opportunity will require significant investment and foresight on our part… Fortunately, we are better positioned than any other company to make these investments and capitalize on more than 40 years of institutional wisdom,” added Yoxon-Grant.

“We can go further, faster with new technologies than we ever could have with humans alone. We wholeheartedly embrace the advancements of AI; at the same time, we know that the true power of human communication lies in nuance that can never be fully replicated by machines.” — Simon Yoxon-Grant, CEO, LanguageLine Solutions

The CEO also listed the integration of new technologies like AI and machine translation (MT) as an opportunity, acknowledging that this requires careful navigation to maintain quality, security, and differentiation while adapting to market changes.

Another challenge that at the same time presents an opportunity in Yoxon-Grant’s view is balancing affordability with quality. He sees the potential challenge in profit margins, particularly with human-powered services, and an opportunity for innovating by integrating AI and machine learning into workflows to lower costs while maintaining human oversight for quality assurance.

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Continuing with the topic of technology and human talent in the era of AI, Yoxon-Grant said that at LanguageLine “we can go further, faster with new technologies than we ever could have with humans alone. We wholeheartedly embrace the advancements of AI; at the same time, we know that the true power of human communication lies in nuance that can never be fully replicated by machines.”

Yoxon-Grant added that the company’s approach combines the efficiency of AI with the skill and sensitivity of human interpreters. He added that “there has been much talk about AI replacing human linguists. We disagree. The future belongs to human linguists working alongside —and empowered by— new technologies to become more efficient and productive.”

LanguageLine’s leadership transition comes at a time of continued growth and industry recognition. The company holds the No. 2 position globally in language services and remains the world’s largest provider of spoken-word interpretation.

Image: Simon Yoxon-Grant (L) and Scott W. Klein (R)