Cerence Appoints Jennifer Salinas as New General Counsel

BURLINGTON, Mass., March 21, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cerence Inc. (NASDAQ: CRNC), AI for a world in motion, today announced that it has named Jennifer Salinas as its new Senior Vice President and General Counsel, effective April 4, 2022. She will be based in the Cerence Burlington, Massachusetts headquarters and will report to Stefan Ortmanns, Cerence CEO.

Ms. Salinas, who most recently served as General Counsel of the Infrastructure Solutions Group and Global Head of Litigation at Lenovo, is an experienced and progressive public company legal leader with an ideal combination of top-tier law firm training and senior in-house roles. She brings a stellar track record of advising management and Boards on a diverse range of matters, including commercial and strategic transactions, M&A, litigation, IP, labor and employment, corporate governance, and regulatory and compliance.

“Jennifer is an incredibly talented attorney and a charismatic, dynamic leader who joins Cerence with great experience and achievements, both professionally and personally,” said Stefan Ortmanns, CEO, Cerence. “She is an excellent, key addition to my leadership team as we work hard to scale the business, drive a high-performance culture and achieve greater results for the company and our stakeholders.”

“I am excited and honored at this terrific opportunity and look forward to partnering with Stefan, his leadership team, and the Board during this exciting phase at Cerence,” said Jennifer Salinas. “As a lawyer by training, but as a strategist at heart, I am eager to immerse myself in the company and its products, understand the markets, and ultimately help refine our strategy to grow and to win.”

About Jennifer Salinas
Jennifer Salinas comes to Cerence after a successful tenure as Head of Litigation for Lenovo, a $60 billion public company and the largest PC company worldwide, and General Counsel of the Infrastructure Solutions Group, a $7 billion revenue business unit within the company. At Lenovo, she was responsible for joint ventures, M&A opportunities and due diligence, strategic partnerships, brand protection, contract negotiations, compliance, insurance recoveries, and securities law disclosure documents. Ms. Salinas also has extensive experience in intellectual property portfolio management, litigation and intellectual property licensing agreements. 

In addition to her in-house public company experience at Lenovo, Ms. Salinas brings 20 years of experience, ten years as a Partner, at several prominent law firms. In these roles, she became intimately familiar with public company matters where she regularly advised leadership and Boards of mid-cap clients and regularly presented on material matters such as pre-IPO diligence, SEC disclosures and securities litigation.

Apart from her professional experience, Ms. Salinas is a highly respected and decorated advocate and influencer in both the industry and in her communities. She is the former National President of the Hispanic National Bar Association, an organization with several thousand members, where she led a 70+ member Board. She is also a Board Member for Legal Aid for North Carolina and has received numerous awards and recognitions throughout her career.

Ms. Salinas earned her Juris Doctor degree in Law from Loyola University Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from San Diego State University. Ms. Salinas is bicultural and bilingual, and has global experience across APAC, EMEA and LATAM, including China, Germany, the UK, India, Brazil, Mexico, Dubai, Macau and other important geographies. 

About Cerence Inc.
Cerence (NASDAQ: CRNC) is the global industry leader in creating unique, moving experiences for the mobility world. As an innovation partner to the world’s leading automakers and mobility OEMs, it is helping advance the future of connected mobility through intuitive, powerful interaction between humans and their cars, two-wheelers, and even elevators, connecting consumers’ digital lives to their daily journeys no matter where they are. Cerence’s track record is built on more than 20 years of knowledge and more than 400 million cars shipped with Cerence technology. Whether it’s connected cars, autonomous driving, e-vehicles, or buildings, Cerence is mapping the road ahead.

To learn more about Cerence, visit www.cerence.com, and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements regarding future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements containing the words “believes,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends” or “estimates” or similar expressions should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risk, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results or performance of Cerence to be materially different from any future results or performance expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements including but not limited to: impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our and our customer’s businesses; the highly competitive and rapidly changing market in which we operate; adverse conditions in the automotive industry, the related supply chain, or the global economy more generally; our ability to control and successfully manage our expenses and cash position; our strategy to increase cloud offerings; escalating pricing pressures from our customers; our failure to win, renew or implement service contracts; the loss of business from any of our largest customers; effects of customer defaults; our inability to successfully introduce new products, applications and services; the inability to recruit and retain qualified personnel; cybersecurity and data privacy incidents; fluctuating currency rates; and the other factors discussed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this document.

Contact Information
Investors
Rich Yerganian
Cerence Inc.
Tel: 617-987-4799
Email: richard.yerganian@cerence.com

Media
Kate Hickman
Cerence Inc.
Tel: 339-215-4583
Email: kate.hickman@cerence.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5e5113a2-40b8-4764-84f0-7357232a674a