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Meet the Pride: Marc Dresen

Vice President of Community Management in Colorado

Travel to Lafayette, Colorado to meet Marc Dresen, Lionbridge’s Vice President of Community Management. In his role, Marc leverages his deep industry experience to lead our community of translators and interpreters. When he’s not working, you’ll often find Marc spending time with his family—in the soccer field, on the slopes or just about anywhere adventure can be found.

When did you join Lionbridge? Tell us a little about your background and role.

I started at Lionbridge in April 2021. I’ve been in the localization industry for over a decade, but most recently spent just over a year in digital marketing and broadcasting. Throughout my career, I’ve always focused on customer experience, customer success and operations. My goal is to leverage that experience and apply it to our fantastic community of translators and interpreters to make us the best and most easy-to-engage-with Language Service Provider (LSP) on the globe.

What are you looking forward to most about your future at Lionbridge?

I’ve been following Lionbridge since I first started in the industry and I’ve always looked at our company as somewhat of a shining star. To our customers, we’re known as a reliable and trustworthy partner. To our community, we’re known as dependable and cooperative. As an employer, we’re known as caring, accommodating and engaging. I’m really looking forward to experiencing all these things directly and helping cement them even further. Besides that, I already know that Lionbridge is full of incredibly passionate and talented people, so I am really looking forward to collaborating with teams and individuals across the company.

Marc Dresen, Lionbridge's Vice President of Community Management

What excites you about the translation and localization industry?

Our industry is completely unique. I once had a former mentor tell me, “If you can make it in localization, you can make it anywhere.” Based on personal experience, I think that’s 100% true. There isn’t an industry out there that is as demanding, fast paced and challenging. It’s also an industry that’s incredibly collaborative, truly global and hyper-innovative. What excites me most about this crazy little world we work in is the constant evolution, optimization and innovation you have to go through in all aspects. Whether it be processes, technology or customer/partner interactions, we need to constantly push ourselves to do better. I think the future of localization will see more and more of this constant change and optimization, and I am excited to see and be part of what’s next.

Where do you live, and what do you enjoy most about it?

I’m currently based out of a little town called Lafayette, which is just south of Boulder, Colorado. My wife and I happened to land here by chance about eight years ago when I relocated with another LSP from Germany, and we couldn’t be happier here. If you’re a fan of the great outdoors, Colorado is the place for you. Hiking, biking, backpacking, skiing—you name it. It’s all at your doorstep! We have three young and super-active boys, and they need all those outdoor activities at their fingertips. Our town is also a multicultural and diverse place, which I love.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me…

Unsurprisingly, with three young kids, most of my time away from work revolves around them. The great thing is that we enjoy doing things together. I currently coach both of their soccer teams. We also spend a lot of time skiing together in the winter, and we’re an active part of a local ski-racing team. In the summer, we’re out hiking and camping. Whenever possible, we love to travel and experience new cultures (especially through food). We’re a multicultural family (I’m from Germany and my wife is from Chile) and we love passing on our curiosity for new places, cultures and experiences to our kids.

Marc Dresen, Lionbridge's Vice President of Community Management

What is your favorite holiday?

New Year’s Eve. We’re part of a pretty globally dispersed extended family and New Year’s Eve tends to be when we get most of us together in one place. It’s the one night of the year that we tell our kids they can stay up as late as they want. They run around all night with their cousins and it’s really fun to watch them, especially when the fireworks start and their eyes light up. Also, I’m usually not one for New Year’s resolutions, but the turn of the year always has a cleansing “new start” element to it.

How many languages do you speak?

Two: German and English. There was a time when I had a pretty strong accent in both languages. I’ve moved past that and now I think I just sound like an American when I speak German, but my English is pretty accent free.

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

“Be passionate about what you do.” You can’t fake being passionate, and you can’t be passionate about things you don’t enjoy. Also, passion can be contagious.

This doesn’t mean you have to love every single minute, task and activity, but on the whole, you should enjoy it. Work is such an integral part of our daily lives; why waste time if you don’t truly believe it’s worth it? If you can, always go and find your passion.

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