REFERENCE FOR RICK GANSLER


To Whom It May Concern:

I worked with Rick Gansler for several years, at Thomson Financial First
Call. I know him to be a top-rate developer and system architect. My
interaction with him was in localizing into Japanese a large financial
information database, First Call, and its user interface. Rick is expert at
CJKV (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) information processing and
associated issues. We solved many intractable problems together, mostly
involving how to get double-byte Japanese kanji to pass through our entire
system. 

Rick was also an unceasing champion in our company of internationalization
of all products from the ground up. Moreover, he was known as someone who could
explain complex issues in plain language and intermediate between managers
and developers. Finally, Rick had his finger on the pulse of technology and
has a nose for what will be hot next, e.g. he was one of the first people in
our company to sound the bugle on the importance of XML, and became an
expert in this area he was convinced would become strategically important.

Rick is a personable and professional person with whom it is always a
pleasure to work with. I think he would be an asset to any company that
hired him.

I am happy to be contacted by any potential employer of Rick to answer
additional questions.

Sincerely,

Daniel Kieran Carew
Development Manager  
Thomson Financial Solutions
Palaceside Bldg. 5F  
1-1-1, Hitotsubashi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo, Japan
Phone 813-5218-6642  
Fax   813-5218-6555  
dan.carew@tfn.co.jp