Australian qualitative research software company, QSR International, has appointed Silicon Valley heavyweight Susan Dart to its newly created Business Development Director role.

Reporting to Melbourne-based CEO John Owen, Ms Dart is responsible for developing new markets, growing QSR's channel partner system and negotiating and managing business relationships.

Ms Dart has more than 30 years experience in the IT industry, much of it spent in the United States where she worked with some of the world's most innovative organizations, including Apple Computer, Wal-mart, Tandem, Ericsson, the US Department of Defense, and NASA's Space Station Project. She returned to Australia in 2001 to head up Software Engineering Australia Ltd for the federal Minister for IT and later led the Australian Department of Defence's Project Management Coaching Branch, where she created the country's first team-oriented coaching organization.

CEO John Owen said Ms Dart's appointment was an exciting development for QSR, which recently launched Spanish, Chinese and Japanese language versions of its NVivo software, and intends to dramatically expand its commercial and government client base over the next 12 months.

"Susan is very accomplished. She specializes in the commercialization of software and telecommunication products, services and education, and her experience spans all facets of the business. She's a great addition to the QSR management team," he said.

Ms Dart has been a Government Advisory Board Member to the USA Federal Aviation Authority, a committee member on international standards organizations and conferences, and a reviewer for the USA National Academy of Sciences and for industry journals such as IEEE Computer. She has authored two books on change management, technology and software engineering techniques, and had more than 40 papers published in international journals and at conferences.

Before joining QSR International, Ms Dart was Senior Manager in Consulting at Tier 1 accounting firm, Deloitte. She holds a Masters of Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University USA, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Science from RMIT and holds Master Program Director accreditation from the Australian Institute of Project Management. She can be contacted at s.dart@qsrinternational.com

For interviews or more information contact Kate Bright phone 0427 728 245 or email: kate@saucecommunications.com.au

Media backgrounder: Quick facts about QSR International

* QSR International has offices in Europe, North America, and Australia.

* The company is the world’s largest qualitative data analysis software developer.

* QSR is the only company to supply software specifically developed for commercial qualitative research.

* The company is also the first to deliver qualitative research software programs in Japanese and Simplified Chinese.

* QSR’s flagship products – XSight and NVivo – are sold in more than 90 countries and over 80% of the company’s revenue is export-related.

* More than 400,000 customers use QSR software and more than 500 organizations hold site licenses for its products.

* QSR customers are drawn from the academic, government and commercial sectors and its largest geographic markets are Europe, the United States and Australasia. The company has a 95% customer retention rate.

* QSR International has patents pending on a range of unique technological inventions.

* QSR International is the only developer in its field to earn Microsoft Gold Partner status.

* The company’s NVivo software was used as a reference project at the Microsoft TechEd 2006 conference in the United States.

* An early adopter of emerging technology, QSR was amongst the first software developers in the world to utilize .Net and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express. The company was also the first in its field to develop software using Microsoft XP guidelines and to receive Microsoft’s ‘Works with Vista’ certification.

*QSR won the Information and Communications Technology category at the Governor of Victoria Export Awards in 2008, 2006 and 2001. It was highly commended in the same category in 2004 and 2002. The company was also selected as a finalist in the Applications and Infrastructure Tools category in the 2007 Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) iAwards and its XSight software was selected as a finalist in the 2007 MRS/ASC Technology Effectiveness Awards in the United Kingdom.

* QSR is the most published software developer in the qualitative research field - its software is cited in textbooks, research literature, and journals worldwide.

* While QSR International was formally established in 1995, the company has its origins in 1981 – when the first software product, NUD*IST, was developed.

For more information visit www.qsrinternational.com or contact Kate Bright, phone 0427 728 245 or email: kate@saucecommunications.com.au