Lavenya Dilip

ATLANTA, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- HUGHES Telematics today announced the appointment of telematics industry veteran Michael Sena as its new Vice President of Business Development, Europe. Sena will direct the company's European market efforts to identify and develop third-party relationships that build on HUGHES Telematics' vision of becoming a global leader in services for the connected car.

Sena, who for the last 11 years has managed the implementation of Volvo's On Call telematics services in 15 European countries, brings more than 20 years' industry experience to HUGHES Telematics. In this newly created position, Sena will leverage HUGHES Telematics' next generation architecture, specifically designed to support the extension of services into international markets, to develop relationships with regional content providers, call centers and carriers, building a European telematics offering that will serve the company's existing and potential European OEM customers.

"Mike's deep understanding of both the European marketplace and OEM needs will help HUGHES Telematics accelerate our European launch," said Erik Goldman, president, HUGHES Telematics. "With the core of our next generation architecture complete, the implementation of local market content and service providers is the next step required for our expansion into the European market."

Sena is an internationally recognized visionary providing strategic consulting services to the automotive and telematics industries. He has collaborated and provided counsel for leading service providers, on- and off-board systems developers and automotive industry interests in North America, Europe and the Far East. As a leading contributor to the development of location-based services standards, he has served as an expert with the International Standards Organization committee on Intelligent Transportation Systems applications of digital map data and as a chair of the European Committee for Digital Mapping and ITS Applications.

About HUGHES Telematics

HUGHES Telematics (www.HUGHEStelematics.com) is a leader in implementing the next generation of connected services for the automobile. Centered on a core platform of safety and security offerings, the company develops and manages vehicle- and driver-centric solutions to enhance the driving and ownership experience. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., HUGHES Telematics offers a portfolio of consumer, manufacturer, fleet and dealer services provided through two-way broadband connectivity to the vehicle. HUGHES Telematics and Polaris Acquisition Corp (Amex: TKP.U) have agreed to an all stock merger which, upon satisfaction of certain closing conditions, will result in HUGHES Telematics stockholders and management becoming the controlling stockholders and management of Polaris.

SOURCE HUGHES Telematics

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