Chicago, October 16, 2007-Affinity Express Inc., the leading provider of outsourced graphic and design services for the newspaper, commercial printing, retail/quick printing, embroidery and promotional products industries, announced the appointment of Sunil Garde as president of its wholly-owned subsidiary in Pune, India.  Mr. Garde will be responsible for overseeing teams in graphics, IT, finance, human resources and administration, and strengthening the delivery capabilities of the world-class operation.  He will report to Affinity Express Chief Executive Officer James Daleen.
According to Mr. Daleen, "Our company has grown significantly in the past four years by expanding into new target markets, building high-level client relationships, tripling the size of our employee base and establishing new operations.  As a result, the time was right to bring in an executive of Sunil's caliber to lead the largest Affinity Express production facility in Pune.  His background in business process outsourcing with industry-leading companies and experience in successfully implementing quality initiatives will enable Affinity Express to provide a new level of support to our more than 8,000 clients.  As enhancing our client transition and service development processes is the number one corporate focus for Affinity Express in 2007 and 2008, we are excited about the contributions he will make as part of our senior business team."
Mr. Garde brings more than 23 years of experience to Affinity Express, with the last 12 years in senior positions in the IT-enabled/BPO/KPO industries.  Most recently, he worked at Aptara (formerly TechBooks), where he served since 2005 as senior vice president and head of Pune operations for eLearning and content IT services.  While in this position, he oversaw 500 employees, implemented a Six Sigma-driven culture and launched programs for growth.  Previously, he managed the Professional Publishing Group from 2003 to 2005, overseeing 2,100 employees and handling customer relationships, human resources and quality.
Before joining Aptara, Mr. Garde was deputy general manager with Vetri Software India Ltd., an IT-enabled services provider to companies in the U.S. and Europe and a part of Lason Corporation.  In this role, Mr. Garde managed an operation with over 1,000 employees and was responsible for vendor management, quality management, process management and customer relationships.  He was also head of the electronic media services division.  Significant achievements during his tenure include the ISO 9001 and ISO 9002 certification for delivery of consistent quality of services, the first BPO project with a large U.S. customer and integration of a vendor model, wherein over 4,000 people were stationed at vendor sites for forms processing.
Mr. Garde has earned the following degrees:  B.S. in physics, chemistry and mathematics from Nagpur University; B.S. in technology fromUniversity of Bombay; and M.S. in technology with specialization in technology of oils from University Department of Chemical Technology,University of Bombay, first class with distinction.