Mark Howorth joins VSI as its new Group CEO

The VSI Group announced that Mark Howorth, formerly the CEO of SDI Media and the President of Iyuno-SDI Group, will join the company as its Group CEO. VSI's Founder and current CEO, Norman Dawood, will change his role to Chairman.

VSI has global capabilities in dubbing, subtitling and other related services, with 27 facilities in 25 countries, and is a vendor to most of the largest content producers and platforms. The company was established by Norman Dawood over 30 years ago and now has over 650 employees supporting a large network of freelance translators and voice talent.

“I am thrilled to be joining VSI. I have always admired Norman, his team, and the company they have built. They have long been respected in our industry for their linguistic excellence, customer service and integrity. There is so much growth in our industry today, and I hope to contribute to this ongoing success story,”  Howorth commented.

Mark Howorth joined SDI Media in 2016, soon after its acquisition by two Japanese companies. SDI Media was the largest media localization company in the industry. He led the until it was sold to Iyuno in 2021. While at SDI, his focus was on creating new momentum, with significant investments in technology and capacity, as well as developing capabilities to handle the new demands of end-to-end customers. He remained as President in the newly merged Iyuno-SDI from April 2021 until August 2022, helping in the integration of the two companies.

“I have known Mark for the past six years and I believe his skills and experience in running large international operations will help take us to the next level of growth. The impact he made at SDI was remarkable. More importantly, he fits well with VSI’s ethics and culture of passion and excellence. We have a superb, experienced team here that understands how to deliver on what we say we will deliver and does so in full partnership with our external linguists, actors, and directors. We have always had a prudent, organic growth path, and as the market has expanded, it is a natural next step to grow our leadership team as well,”  Norman Dawood commented.

Howorth will be based in Los Angeles and will travel frequently to the VSI’s headquarters in London as well as its other worldwide locations. He will report directly to Norman Dawood, who will continue to be active in the business.