BIO-key Adds Senior Executive Manny Alia to the Board of Directors to Help Drive Biometric ID Opportunities Across the African Continent


WALL, N.J., April 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIO-key International, Inc. (Nasdaq: BKYI), an innovative provider of biometric identity, authentication and security solutions, today announced that Manny Alia, President, Exponential Launch Partners Limited; Chief Executive Officer, Technology Transfer Institute of Africa; and former Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase has joined the Board of Directors, with a particular focus on supporting BIO-key’s African subsidiary. In March BIO-key secured two contracts to provide its biometric solutions to customers in Nigeria, with anticipated revenue totaling $75M. 

Mr. Alia holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and has earned an MBA from Cornell University. Manny is an astute leader with deep experience and forward-looking ideas on financial/banking services, security and Africa opportunities. Since leaving JPMorgan Chase, Mr. Alia has served as business development and management consultant in Africa, and played a role in recent BIO-key contract wins through his leadership at the Technology Transfer Institute of Africa (TTIA) and Exponential Launch Partners.

Manny Alia, remarked, “I am very excited to join the BIO-key Board of Directors to help guide the Company’s initiatives to bring their proven, state-of-the-art biometric solutions to Africa. The continent represents an enormous and growing market where the need and business opportunities for biometrics are imminent. This significant opportunity should drive revenue growth and bottom-line performance for BIO-key and its shareholders, and I am pleased to be part of the future of BIO-key.”

At JPMorgan Chase in New York, Mr. Alia was head of wholesale in Receivable Operations in Corporate and Investment banking for the U.S. and Canada. The unit had an annual budget of $100M, over 1,000 employees, processed over 100M items and over $700B in deposits a year for Government, Healthcare, Insurance and other Corporate clients. Manny brings a wealth of knowledge and insight on security issues and enhancing operational efficiency.

Michael DePasquale, BIO-key Chairman and CEO commented, “We are thrilled to augment our Board with a senior executive with a strong financial services and technology background and wide base of relationships, particularly in Africa. Having Manny’s support to drive initiatives within our African subsidiary should allow BIO-key to build on our successes in Africa and expand our leadership position on the continent.”

About BIO-key International, Inc. (www.bio-key.com)
BIO-key is revolutionizing authentication and identity access management with biometric solutions that enable convenient and secure access to information and high-stakes transactions. We offer software-based alternatives to passwords, PINs, tokens, and cards to make it easy for enterprises and consumers to secure their devices as well as information in the cloud. Our premium finger scanning devices offer market-leading quality, performance and price – providing more ways to BIO-key your world!

BIO-key Safe Harbor Statement
All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical facts are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). The words "estimate," "project," "intends," "expects," "anticipates," "believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Act. These statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those included within or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our history of losses and limited revenue; our ability to protect our intellectual property; changes in business conditions; changes in our sales strategy and product development plans; changes in the marketplace; continued services of our executive management team; competition in the biometric technology industry; market acceptance of biometric products generally and our products under development; our ability to expand into Asia, Africa and other foreign markets; delays in the development of products, our ability to conduct the closings under the private placement transactions on the terms described herein, and statements of assumption underlying any of the foregoing as well as other factors set forth under the caption see "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to disclose any revision to these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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