By CEO Gilles Bouchard and Livescribe Founder Jim Marggraff

Exciting news for Livescribe today with former HP executive Gilles Bouchard joining the company as CEO. Gilles will oversee strategic planning, operations and product management. Company founder Jim Marggraff will remain on the board and serve as an advisor to the company. The official announcement can be found here, but below are a few words from Jim and Gilles as we look back at the journey and what’s next for Livescribe.

As a serial entrepreneur, I love the process of creating something from nothing.  Livescribe is the fifth company I’ve founded or co-founded. During this time, I’ve focused on sparking game-changing ideas that generate significant, positive impact on society.

When we launched Livescribe in January 2007, we were swirling in the final froth of a roiling economy. Our smartpens hit the shelves in one of the worst retail and economic periods in history. In addition, we were an unknown company introducing a totally new category in consumer electronics, with a funky device – a smartpen. And we were in need of growth capital. I remember stepping onto the street in Manhattan, walking to my first meeting for a new round of funding and seeing the words “Lehman Declares Bankruptcy” scroll by overhead.

At a time when consumers were beginning to adopt smartphones and other mobile digital devices with negligible marginal discretionary income, the concept of smartpen and paper didn’t sound revolutionary. The description simply raised eyebrows while invoking frowns.

But then people tried it…and loved it. The concept of capturing written and spoken information and making it readily accessible in a digital format is a simple idea, but one with significant impact for the people who have now tried it. Of the students, educators and professionals using it, roughly 70 percent of our customers say the Livescribe smartpen has “changed their lives”. As our team receives continual praise for the incredible and unique impact that our smartpen has on the lives of students, teachers, writers and journalists for whom note capture, writing, and interviewing are critical to their lives, our inspiration surges. The praise we hear from managers, sales people, lawyers, and doctors about their increased performance, and the adulation we receive from clergy, psychologists, artists and researchers about their improvements in communication, reflection, and expression provides ongoing motivation to improve, innovate and expand.

When I met Gilles, I was impressed with a clear-thinking, driven, seasoned executive who was inspired by our creation and the potential of our business. I know Gilles will carry forward a legacy of impact and innovation, while driving business success in a market about to explode with opportunity around digital writing on all surfaces. Gilles is spectacularly equipped to oversee Livescribe’s expansion as even a broader category leader in digital writing.

Meanwhile, my accumulation of ideas for innovation and businesses that reach beyond Livescribe continue to grow, as does my urge to begin again, kindling a new spark from an idea. I look forward to continuing work with Livescribe’s Board and serving as an advisor to the company, as Livescribe advances and broadens its offerings in the digital writing space. I am energized and humbled by the extraordinary team and community we have created.

-          Jim Marggraff

I’ve spent the past 25 years in the consumer and technology industries as an engineer, manager and senior executive. While I’ve worked at large companies, I have a passion for small companies primed for growth and breakout innovation. Livescribe is a great fit for me personally and professionally and I am excited for this opportunity.

This is an exciting time in consumer electronics with tablet computers, cloud services and apps gaining popularity and mass consumer adoption. With all of these devices and services comes demand for an integrated digital writing solution – an area where Livescribe has a deep understanding and knowledge.

While note-taking applications and styluses are popping up for tablets, they are complimentary – not complete note-taking solutions, especially for those people who prefer to take notes using pen and paper. Livescribe’s unique strength is the ability to capture written and spoken information on paper and make it available through popular services and applications like Evernote, Microsoft OneNote, Google Docs and Google Sites, as well as on a tablet or mobile device. We will continue to build upon these existing partnerships and drive the industry on what’s possible in the digital writing space. If you’re curious what we have in mind, check out this video, which highlights our vision for Livescribe in the coming year.

Livescribe continues to be recognized as an innovative technology. Just a few weeks ago, Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps, wrote about the next five computing form factors beyond tablets. Among which, Livescribe was listed as an example of an embedded device – one of the five form factors which the firm envisions as the “best candidates for what comes next…”

As the leader in digital writing, Livescribe has an extraordinary opportunity to take advantage of our knowledge and consumer demand for a simple, intuitive and integrated solution for digital writing. Our mission has always been to support the capture, access and sharing of written and spoken information. We started with pen and paper and the company will continue to advance the technology to support other devices and surfaces.

I look forward to advancing Livescribe’s technology and providing a simple digital writing solution that makes it easy to capture, access and share written and spoken information anytime, anywhere.

-          Gilles Bouchard