October 7, 2019 PHILADELPHIA, PA Magna Legal Services (”Magna”), a legal support services industry leader in jury research, visual communications, trial presentation consulting, depositions, language services , and record retrieval services, announced that the founding partners have unanimously selected Mark Williams as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Founding partners Bob Ackerman, Peter Hecht, Mark Calzaretta and Jon Ackerman will continue in their current executive roles leading Magna and will remain Board members and significant shareholders. Bob Ackerman will serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Mark Williams will serve on Magna’s Board alongside the other Founding Partners.
“We have experienced very successful organic growth throughout the last 12 years. As we continue to support our clients’ needs, we have made the strategic decision to begin an aggressive acquisition program to allow us to scale up our services in support of our clients’ development,” said Bob Ackerman, Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Mark has a thorough understanding of scaling organizations organically and through mergers and acquisitions. He will be laser focused on making sure we execute seamless integrations as we add new firms to our platform and that we continue to deliver for our clients.”
“The philosophy of the founding partners has always been that the customer comes first. The only way that works is by listening. Increasing our bandwidth through acquisitions will enhance our customer responsiveness, strengthen our ability to react quickly to market needs, and enable us to implement innovative new visionary change on a larger scale,” said Peter Hecht, Executive Vice President of Sales.
“I am honored that the Founding Partners chose me to join the team,” said Mark Williams. “And thrilled that I will be working alongside Bob, Mark, Peter and Jon to build on Magna’s extraordinary client service and leadership in the legal support services industry.”
“What impressed me about Mark Williams was that he understood our vision from the first meeting and it was clear to me he would be an asset to our growth strategy,” said Mark Calzaretta, Executive Vice President of Litigation Consulting. “The fastest growing line of business is our Record Collection division and I am looking forward to working with Mark to help us scale up as we continue to expand,” said Jonathan Ackerman, Executive Vice President of Record Services.
Mark Williams was formerly the CEO/President of Kroll Ontrack, a leading legal technology company with over 1200 employees and 35 offices in 20 countries, which was subsequently purchased and became KLDiscovery where Williams was President/COO and served on the Board. Williams previously held senior positions leading businesses at Huron Consulting and Axiom Global, and a 17-year career at the global law firm of DLA Piper as a corporate and M&A attorney (including Managing Partner in Beijing, China) and helped the firm’s international expansion in Asia and the Middle East. Williams holds a JD from Columbia University School of Law, an MBA from the University of Maryland / Beijing University for International Business & Economics, an MSc in International Relations from The London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Illinois.
About Magna Legal Services
Magna is a leading provider of litigation support services to law firms, corporations, insurance carriers, and government agencies, offering a broad array of services that support clients through each phase of the litigation process, including court reporting, translation, videography, records retrieval, jury evaluation and consulting, graphics design, and trial presentation services. For further information about Magna, please visit www.magnals.com.
About CIVC Partners, LP
CIVC Partners is a Chicago-based private equity firm established in 1970 to provide growth capital to entrepreneurs and founders. Since 1989, CIVC has invested over $2.1 billion in 77 platforms, primarily as growth and buyout capital, along with founders and executives in middle-market companies mainly in the business services sector. More information on CIVC Partners and its portfolio companies can be found at www.civc.com.