On the trail
Bill Lafferty
Three decades in localization
I have worked every side of this industry. I started as a Japanese legal translator, co-founded a localization agency in Tokyo, spent years on the vendor side as a solutions architect at Phrase and Acclaro, and ran localization technology and workflow automation as a senior technical program manager at Toast. I have sat in the buyer's chair, the vendor's chair, and the translator's chair, and I know how each one thinks.
LocNavigator exists because buyers face complex vendor and technology decisions with almost no objectively neutral guidance. LSPs and TMS vendors alike arrive bearing self-interested reports, benchmarks, and pitches, and buyers are left to navigate the jungle alone. When you bring me a problem, you get a direct assessment, a clear recommendation, and the reasoning behind it.
Outside of work I spend time with my family, hit the trails as often as I can, do woodworking, write, travel when I get the chance, and keep my Japanese alive.
“LocNavigator exists because buyers face complex vendor and technology decisions with almost no objectively neutral guidance.”
The linguist's chair
Fourteen years as a Japanese-to-English legal translator, starting at Mori Hamada & Matsumoto, one of the largest law firms in Japan. Co-founded TBSJ, a Tokyo provider specializing in legal and financial translation. I know what quality costs to produce and the pressure the people producing it are under.
The vendor's chair
Solutions architect at Phrase (then Memsource) and senior solutions architect at Acclaro, a global language service provider. I designed TMS implementations and workflows for enterprise buyers. I know how vendors package, price, and pitch, because I did it.
The buyer's chair
Senior technical program manager at Toast, owning localization technology and workflow automation. I know what it means to answer for outcomes, budgets, and vendor performance from the client side.
The advisor's chair
LocNavigator, LLC is the practice all of this feeds into: independent advisory for localization professionals, with no tools to sell and no vendor to answer to.