# Jack Welde

> Jack Welde is the New York-based co-founder and former CEO of Smartling, the translation technology and language services company he founded with Andrey Akselrod in 2009. His background combines computer engineering and linguistics at Penn, military aviation, an earlier software company acquired by Apple, and product leadership at eMusic.

- **Role:** Co-founder of Smartling
- **Organizations:** Smartling, Trio Development, United States Air Force, RunTime Technologies, SheSpeaks, eMusic
- **Education:** BS in Computer Engineering; also studied linguistics, University of Pennsylvania, MBA, Cameron University, Germany program
- **Known for:** Co-founded Smartling in 2009., Co-founded Trio Development, acquired by Apple in 1993., Won the 2022 US localization Process Innovation Challenge for automated visual context extraction from video.

## Career timeline

- **1993** — Apple acquired Trio Development, the software company Welde co-founded.
- **Before 2009** — Served roughly a decade as an Air Force pilot and held roles at RunTime Technologies, SheSpeaks, and eMusic.
- **2009** — Co-founded Smartling with Andrey Akselrod.
- **2019** — Smartling celebrated translators through Move the World with Words and opened a larger Dublin office.
- **2021** — Smartling received a $160 million growth investment from Battery Ventures in December.
- **2022** — Bryan Murphy became CEO on April 11; Welde became president focused on product development and strategy, continuing on the board.
- **2022** — Won the US Process Innovation Challenge at LocWorldWide48 on November 2.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Smartling in 2009.
- Co-founded Trio Development, acquired by Apple in 1993.
- Won the 2022 US localization Process Innovation Challenge for automated visual context extraction from video.

## Latest updates

- **2023-02** — Discussed Smartling’s visual context technology and his expectations for AI in a MultiLingual profile.
- **2022-11** — Won the US Process Innovation Challenge at LocWorldWide48 in San Jose.
- **2022-04** — Became Smartling president following Bryan Murphy’s appointment as CEO.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackwelde
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jwelde

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jack-welde
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21