SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report:
April 16, 2003
Avatech Solutions, Inc.
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(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
Delaware
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(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation)
001-31265 84-1035353
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(Commission File Number) IRS Employer Identification No.
1403 Cronhill Drive, Suite A, Owings Mills, Maryland 21117
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Address of Principal Executive Offices (Zip Code)
(410) 902-6900
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(Registrant's telephone number)
Item 5. Other Events.
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Registrant elected a new President and Chief Operating Officer.
Reference is made to the press release issued by the Registrant on April 16,
2003, the text of which is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1
Item 7. Financial Statements, Pro Forma Financial Information and Exhibits
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(c) Exhibits: The following exhibits are filed as part of this Current
Report:
99.1 Press Release dated April 16, 2002.
SIGNATURES
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Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
Date: April 16, 2003 Avatech Solutions, Inc.
By: /s/ A. Gary Rever
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A. Gary Rever
Chief Financial Officer and
Principal Accounting Officer
Exhibit 99.1
Contact: Melody Craigmyle
Tel: (410) 581-8080
MCraigmyle@avatechsolutions.com
Kam Lidder
Cross Border Communications
Tel: (604) 421-5247
11400-A Cronridge Dr. Owings Mills, MD 21117 Kam@crossborderpr.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Avatech Solutions Appoints New President and Chief
Operating Officer
April 16, 2003 -- OWINGS MILLS, MD -- Avatech Solutions (OTCBB: AVSO.OB), a
leading provider of design automation and quality assurance solutions for the
manufacturing, building design and engineering markets, has appointed Eric Pratt
as its new President and Chief Operating Officer. Pratt's appointment is a major
step in the new management's plan to aggressively position the company in the
product lifecycle management (PLM) arena and take advantage of new growth
opportunities ahead.
Pratt's most recent position was Vice President of Business Development at Sonus
Networks, Inc. Prior to the merger between Sonus and Telecom Technologies, Inc.
(TTI), Pratt served as Executive Vice President - Sales, Marketing and
Professional Services Division at TTI and oversaw the $800M merger of the two
companies. Pratt was instrumental in a successful turnaround of the TTI
professional services division, and also increased bookings by 1,500%
($9M-$135M) in one year. Under his leadership, TTI was awarded numerous
marketing industry awards.
"Eric has a keen ability to build solid teams, develop professional services
organizations and leverage momentum within a company to drive it to the next
level," said Scotty Walsh, CEO. "We expect Eric to move us firmly into the PLM
space."
"I look forward to working with the entire Avatech Solutions team to build on
its success," said Pratt. "The company presents outstanding potential based on
its ability to sell solutions, not just boxes of software. My goal is to help
our customers maximize the advantages of PLM along with Avatech's entire set of
product and service offerings."
Avatech Solutions Appoints New President and Chief Operating Officer
Page 2
Prior to TTI, Pratt served as Vice President at InterVoice-Brite. He led the
network services division team to grow revenues by 20% in two years, enabling
the company to successfully compete head-to-head against much larger,
established competitors including Nortel Networks and Lucent.
Formally educated as an industrial engineer, Pratt began his career in the
manufacturing industry with Texas Instruments. Leveraging his combination of
leadership, sales and marketing, and engineering skills, Pratt will work to
establish Avatech as a major provider in the PLM market.
About Avatech Solutions
Avatech Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB: AVSO.OB) is a leading provider of design
automation and quality assurance solutions for the manufacturing, building
design, civil engineering, higher education and GIS markets. Headquartered in
Owings Mills, Maryland, the company specializes in software development,
technical support, training and consulting aimed at improving design and
documentation efficiencies and the seamless integration of workflow processes.
Avatech is one the largest integrators of Autodesk software worldwide and a
leading provider of engineering document management solutions. The company is
the developer of the award-winning PrescientQA(TM) quality assurance software
and cycle time reduction products for the manufacturing supply chain.
Avatech serves 20,000 clients worldwide including the industry leaders from
Fortune 500 and Engineering News Record's Top 500 companies. Visit
www.avatechsolutions.com for more information.
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This press release contains forward-looking statements about the expectations,
beliefs, plans, intentions and strategies of Avatech Solutions, Inc. There are a
number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those anticipated by any forward-looking information. A description of
risks and uncertainties attendant to Avatech and its industry, and other factors
that could affect Avatech's financial results, are included in the Securities
and Exchange Commission filings of PlanetCAD, Inc., which merged with Avatech on
November 19, 2002 including, but not limited to, PlanetCAD's annual report on
Form 10KSB for the year ended December 31, 2001, its quarterly reports on form
10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended March 31, June 30, September 30, and December
31, 2002. Interested persons may obtain a free copy of these documents at the
SEC's web site at www.sec.gov, or by contacting Gary Rever at Tel: (410)
902-6900 or email mcraigmyle@avat.com.