Key Personnel at Language Connections

Leo Galperin
President

A veteran translator and U.S. State Department interpreter with years of experience in international business, Leo founded Language Connections in 1993. His company quickly grew into a multi-service translation and interpreting agency with capacity for handling large contracts involving all major languages of the world. Currently, Language Connections serves clients and their audiences in over 100 languages: it provides interpreters for conferences and high-level meetings in all parts of the globe, translates and localizes marketing and other informational materials to help companies enter international markets, and collaborates with medical and charitable organizations both nationally and worldwide.

Leo’s experience, open attitude and sincerity have earned him a great reputation among the company’s clients and professionals in the field. His multifaceted educational background in engineering, business administration and linguistics allows him to have a particularly good understanding of his clients’ perspectives and requirements. Respected for his integrity, competence, and forthright business practices, Leo demands from his linguists and staff exceptional attention to clients’ specific needs.

Leo has been a member of the American Translators Association since 1996. In his spare time, he enjoys theater, playing tennis, skiing, reading, and traveling.

Mario Sarli
Operations Manager

Mario came to Language Connections in early 2006. He brings over 10 years of experience managing teams and customer experiences in fields as engineering, marketing, and language services. He was born and raised in Brazil, and is a native speaker of Portuguese. He also speaks English fluently and is proficient in Spanish.

While living in South America, Mario ran his own construction company and worked in the Marketing Services industry. In 2001 he moved to the United States to work as a Project Manager at a large localization company.

At Language Connections Mario has been instrumental in developing financial management controls and reporting, and restructuring and fine-tuning the project management systems. Mario’s entrepreneurial mindset and strong drive have produced a vital impact in all areas of company operations, including marketing, administration, and finance.

Mario holds an MBA from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College, and a degree in Civil Engineering from Escola de Engeharia Mauá, in Brazil.

Frédérique Ellis
Senior Project Manager

Frédérique joined Language Connections as a project manager in May 2006. She handles multilingual projects for clients in the pharmaceutical industry and time-sensitive materials for clients in the defense and health industries. Her extensive experience in translation and localization allows her to capably handle complex projects that involve over 20 languages.

Frédérique's experience in Europe and the United States has provided her with a unique understanding of people and cultures.   She studied finance and international trade in France , where she was born and raised. Although originally drawn to the import/export business, Frédérique's career took a different path shortly after she moved to the United States . Driven by her strong passion for languages, she accepted a full-time position with a leading advertising agency, where she was put in charge of localizing their entire suite of software packages and documentation for the French-speaking markets.

Subsequently, she has worked as a French translator, Technical Writer, Software Localization Specialist, Localization Project Coordinator, and Quality Assurance Specialist both on the client and the agency side. Frédérique's strong track record shows her commitment to seeing a project through from beginning to end, making sure it is delivered on time and with the utmost quality.

Frédérique lives in Cambridge , Massachusetts and enjoys spending time with her young son and cooking crêpe dinners for her friends. Her native language is French, she is fluent in English and has basic knowledge of Spanish, German and Italian.

Joshua Maislin
Project Manager

Josh dove into the fast-paced world of the translation industry immediately after graduating at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst, where he studied Theoretical Linguistics and Italian. Working at Language Connections allows Josh to combine a budding interest in business development with his passion for language. He manages marketing and advertising projects, which often present unique and tantalizing challenges because of the complexities and idioms inherent in advertising language.

In 2004, Josh lived and studied in Siena, Italy, where he immersed himself in the intricacies of the Italian culture. He also gained fluency and a thorough theoretical background in syntax, phonology, and semantics of the Italian language. This practical experience further fueled his interest in working in the language industry.

Josh’s enthusiasm, his excellent interpersonal and problem solving skills, and his outstanding handling of a multitude of administrative tasks for the company make him an invaluable team member at Language Connections.

Ricky Brutti
Project Manager

Ricky Brutti joined the Language Connections team in May 2007. A graduate of Boston College, Ricky had degrees in Italian and Linguistics, focusing his studies on the Romance Languages. He has extensive prior experience working at an Italian-speaking company in Boston, “bridging the language gap” as a liaison between Italian speaking vendors and English speaking clients. Ricky is now a Project Manager at Language Connections.

Ricky lived for a year in the gastronomical center of Italy, studying Italian linguistics at the Universitá di Parma, and being made fun of for his last name (which means "ugly" in Italian).

Ricky brings a passion for languages, a can-do attitude, and a customer-centric mindset to the Language Connections team. He speaks fluent Italian, basic Spanish, and enjoys dabbling in Latin, Sanskrit, and Turkish.