Board Election 2020

In 2020, three seats are to be renewed: those previously occupied by Hadrien Gardeur (Feedbooks), Rémi Bauzac (TEA) and Bente Franck-Saetervoll (Readium Foundation).

Self-nomination period: May 7th to May 22th 2020.

Voting period: June 15th to June 29th 2020 at noon.

By our bylaws, any member in good standing is eligible to self-nominate a representative. Current or past members of the Board of Directors can re-apply for a new period of two years.

Here are the candidate statements we received for this election:

Arnaud Lecompte (Nord Compo)

Dear EDRLab members,

As a representative of Nord Compo Multimedia, I would like to offer my candidacy as a Readium Board of Directors member. Nord Compo has been one of the initial members of EDRLab, deeply involved with the Readium Foundation from the beginning, and we would like to assist on the board on all matters, especially by promoting the eBook standard across our extensive network of partners and customers across Europe.

Nord Compo joined the Readium Foundation because we are sure that EPUB should and will be the standard for digital publications. We have every intention of continuing to contribute long term to the Foundation in support of the mission to accelerate the adoption of EPUB 3 and open web standards in digital publishing. Readium is an ecosystem centered around the EPUB format, with a variety of standards and open source projects. Readium is also the future of the reading experience. That’s why we would like to leverage the impact of EPUB 3 and promote Readium as the key reference source for digital project implementation in the book publishing industry.

With 48 years’ experience working closely with book publishers, distributors and libraries, we have both deep publishing and technological perspectives on the book/ebook market and reading/digital reading experiences. I can represent these sensibilities and experiences as part of Readium Governance. I humbly ask for your vote, and if elected I will serve you with integrity, energy, and passion.

About Arnaud Lecompte (Nord Compo)

For the past eight years, I have been the Director of Digital Services and of International Business Development at Nord Compo Multimedia, managing the department responsible for the creation of enhanced ebooks and apps, ebook conversion, XML structuration and the development of ebook reading tools. In this capacity, I have been a forceful proponent of open standards and a major contributor to the effort to establish a digital lab in France. My responsibilities extend to overseeing efforts to develop business in North America, working with partners such as Pottermore, Ingram and Kobo. Prior to Nord Compo, I worked as a publishing manager, improving technical publishing houses’ digital strategy (Labor, Tissot).

Created in 1972, Nord Compo is the largest EPUB provider among French language publishers. The company enjoys a leadership role in the XML structuring field, providing its own DTD, which has been approved by the French National Book Center as the reference for French language content. Nord Compo is also developing editorial databases and reading tools using Readium. With 450 collaborators worldwide and € 18 million revenue in 2019, Nord Compo structures more than 15,000 new titles and creates over 9,000 EPUB per year. Its headquarters are in Villeneuve-d’Ascq, in northeastern France.

Best regards
Arnaud Lecompte

Rémi Bauzac (Vivlio)

Dear EDRLab members,

As head of Engineering team at Vivlio (formerly TEA – The Ebook Alternative), I am herewith officially applying to continue serving EDRLab on its board of directors for the upcoming term. Vivlio has been collaborating with EDRLab since its creation, especially on the LCP DRM. Two years ago, we launched our Software-As-A-Service LCP server, distributing several million LCP licenses per year worldwide, and we wish to continue to expand the possibilities of this DRM (formats, authentication, deployments, etc.).

With this application, EDRLab will be able to benefit from Vivlio’s practical experience in the deployment of LCP or mobile applications, in order to quickly build the most open, usable and secure ebook reading solution available.

In addition, I am convinced that my 17+ years of experience in security, software and systems can greatly benefit EDRLab in general.

I will be particularly pleased to enhance the relationship between EDRLab and Vivlio, which will benefit the entire digital book industry.

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En tant que responsable de la R&D chez Vivlio (anciennement TEA – The Ebook Alternative), je présente ma candidature pour continuer à servir l’EDRLab dans son conseil d’administration pour le prochain mandat. Vivlio collabore avec l’ERLab depuis sa création, notamment sur le sujet de la DRM LCP. Nous avons lancé il y a 2 ans notre serveur LCP as-a-service, distribuant plusieurs millions de licences LCP par an à travers le monde, et nous souhaitons continuer à élargir les possibilités de cette DRM (format, authentification, etc.).

Avec cette candidature, l’EDRLab pourra bénéficier de l’expérience pratique de Vivlio dans le déploiement de LCP ou des applications mobiles, afin de construire rapidement la solution de lecture ebook la plus ouverte, utilisable et sécurisée qui soit.

De plus, je suis convaincu que mon expérience de plus de 17 ans dans le domaine de la sécurité, des logiciels et des systèmes peut grandement profiter à EDRLab en général.

Je serai particulièrement heureux de pouvoir renforcer encore un peu plus la relation entre l’EDRLab et Vivlio, qui profitera sans aucun doute à l’ensemble de l’industrie du livre numérique.

Best regards
Rémi Bauzac

Hadrien Gardeur (De Marque)

Dear EDRLab members,

For over 15 years now, I’ve dedicated myself to the creation of an alternative to fully vertical integrated solutions, an ecosystem where:

– users are free to acquire content from anywhere, thanks to OPDS and Readium LCP
– accessibility is treated as a core concern and proprietary renderers/DRMs are no longer blockers
– publications can freely flow between publishers, distributors, retailers and end users, thanks to standard publication formats such as EPUB 3.x, W3C Audiobooks and DiViNa
– reading applications can offer a high quality reading experience without re-inventing the wheel thanks to Readium Mobile/Desktop.

At De Marque, we’re deeply involved in this ever changing ecosystem with among other things:

– millions of publications protected by Readium LCP in our digital warehouse (Cantook Hub) where we operate major distribution channels such as EDEN in France, Libranda in Spain, Edigita in Italy and ENQC in Canada
– hundreds of public libraries in Canada, France, USA, Switzerland and Belgium that lend titles to patrons using Feedbooks Market (marketplace) and Cantook Station (lending platform)
– our Aldiko reading app on iOS and Android, with a brand new version built on Readium-2 coming this summer

For 2020 and beyond, we want to ensure that:

– the industry finally moves towards a unique format for audiobook distribution, with the adoption of the W3C Audiobook specification
– LCP becomes an ISO standard for all major publication formats, not just EPUB
– reading on the Web becomes a friction-less experience thanks to Readium Web
– Thorium becomes the preferred option on any desktop OS to read ebooks, audiobooks and comics
– Readium Mobile continues to improve to become the default SDK for all major publication formats on mobile

We believe that EDRLab is the best place to innovate in our industry, since it’s the only organization equally involved in communication (Digital Publishing Summit), standards (W3C, ISO) and open source (Readium).

As a board member, I’ll continue to dedicate myself to these missions and offer guidance in technology as well as insights regarding all the markets where De Marque operates (which covers all of the Americas as well as Europe).

Best regards,
Hadrien Gardeur
Chief Product Officer at De Marque