Trefonas will be based out of the Meridea European headquarters in London and will drive growth across both the Europe and Americas regions. Trefonas comes to Meridea with a long history of building and executing go-to-market strategies that have resulted in rapid growth and long term success.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to add someone of Paul's caliber to our executive team," says Jukka Riivari, CEO of Meridea. "Based on our history of success in both Asia and Europe we need to increase our focus to meet expanding customer demand. Paul is a proven business developer bringing a wealth of experience in building successful Europe-wide operations. His structured approach and business discipline will enable us to capitalize on the buying momentum across Europe and the Americas while injecting valuable industry-specific experience into our organisation."

Trefonas brings more than 15 years experience in the IT industry where he developed an in-depth understanding of the financial services and global telecoms markets. He joins Meridea after driving strategic direction at a hosted CRM provider and for Onyx Software, where he headed Sales & Marketing for their EMEA operation.

He says, "This is an exciting time to join Meridea, who are increasingly acknowledged as one of the most innovative mobile service software providers in the field. Already this year it has awarded seven new licenses for mobile banking and as exemplified by its expansion into new vertical markets such as travel and service providers – the opportunities for growth are very strong. I am looking forward to helping build a strong Europe and Americas presence for Meridea."

Prior to Onyx, Trefonas worked in both the North American and EMEA markets at Siebel Systems, where he was instrumental in driving strategy in several vertical industries, including Financial Services and Mid-Market. While at Accenture, he focused on the technical development, positioning, and sales on Internet-based CRM and ERP systems in both the North American and EMEA markets resulting in a large percentage of their eCommerce sales globally.

As Senior Vice President of Europe and Americas, Trefonas will refocus the Europe sales strategy and expand the company's customer base across the Americas. He will also be focusing on ensuring long-term customer satisfaction of Meridea's Europe and Americas-based customers.