Gold Magazine December 2013 - January 2014, Issue 33 | Página 63

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technology

Named one of 2013’s fastest growing private companies with 100% growth in revenue over
the last three years, American Internet technology firm Global Reach is certainly on the rise.
Its diverse professional teams provide award-winning services to a client base of more than
1,400 companies in the US and Europe. Despite recent events in Cyprus, Global Reach’s
Nicosia office is expanding. Michael Leontiou, General Manager of the Cyprus office and
Operations Manager of the parent company in Iowa, spoke to Gold about how the firm’s
unique location has become an integral part of its international success.
By Effy Pafitis | Photography by Jo Michaelides

Gold: What services does Global Reach
offer its clients?
Michael Leontiou: Founded in 1995, Global
Reach specializes in the development and hosting of advanced, intuitive web applications
created with spectacular designs. As the company has grown, it has expanded its services to
include Internet marketing, IT support and
graphic design, including corporate identity
and print media.
Gold: Providing such a variety of web-related services to a diverse client base, you must
work with many interesting enterprises.
Who are some of your major clients?
M.L.: Global Reach prides itself on providing
services to more than 1,400 small, medium
and large enterprises representing a wide range
of industries. Some of the more notable clients
in our portfolio include departments of the
United States Federal Government such as
the Department of Homeland Security and
the Department of Justice, as well as State
Government departments such as the Treasurer of the State of Iowa. Century 21 and Re/
MAX are perhaps the largest of our Real Estate
clients, and Iowa State University and Drake
University the largest of our many Educational
Institutions. At the other end of the spectrum,
we have developed content management and
e-commerce solutions for a large number
of small local enterprises and organisations.
In short, nothing is too small or too big for
Global Reach and it is exactly this principle
that has earned us a reputation for providing
a high level of satisfaction and maintaining a
high client retention rate.
Gold: What’s the story behind the firm?
M.L.: The history of Global Reach is integrally
linked with the story of its CEO and main
shareholder, Iacovos Zachariades. Originally
from Famagusta, he obtained his BA in Elementary Education from Luther College,

Iowa, and an M.Sc in Instructional Design
from Iowa State University. This combination
of educational experiences led him to pursue
ways of using technology in order to enrich
the learning environment in schools and
make information more accessible to students,
while enabling them to explore new areas and
methods of learning. Over the last 18 years,
Global Reach has expanded organically as well
as through seven strategic acquisitions of its
competitors. We were recently ranked by Inc.
Magazine as one of America’s fastest-growing
privately-held companies.

they have been given and their success in its execution. Irrespective of the financial conditions
in Cyprus that have given employers the upper
hand in the labour market, we offer our employees in Cyprus an excellent benefits package
that includes flexible working hours, the option to work from home, full health insurance,
performance bonuses, the opportunity to work
on large-scale projects for US companies and
competitive salaries by Cyprus industry standards. We are confident that the combination
of our work culture, the employee benefits we
offer and our approach towards our employees

Gold: How did you feel when you received
this recognition?
M.L.: Global Reach has always taken pride
in being one of the oldest, largest and most
respected web design and software development firms in Iowa. Receiving this award was
obviously a very proud moment for everyone
in the company who has contributed – each
from his/her position and in their own unique
way – to this success and it is definitely something worth striving for to achieve again in the
future.

We can state
with a fair
degree of
objectivity
that Cypriot
professionals
compare very
well to those
in the US

Gol