Meet the FLS Team
Drawing from a worldwide network of professional linguists, translators, interpreters, and editors, the FLS team consists of two components: highly qualified professionals and competent in-house project managers.
The Professional Language Service Provider (LSP). Trained and credentialed in their native written and verbal language, FLS' contractual LSPs must prove themselves according to FLS quality standards in the areas of linguistic accuracy, responsiveness to every job, subject matter and technical expertise, and adherence to time constraints.
These self-employed professionals — over 100 of them — invest in continuing education to keep their written and verbal language skills current, and speak and read their native language regularly, making frequent visits to their homeland when possible.
We require that they take nothing for granted in turning "words" into publishable documents, and entreat them to challenge themselves by asking questions, researching meanings, and using translation tools and resources to get an accurate result.
FLS In-house Staff. All committed to our Core Values, the FLS staff builds relationships one by one with both our customers, and with our contracted translators and interpreters.
If you are a current FLS customer, you probably know at least one of us! If you are a potential customer, let us introduce ourselves. We can't wait to get to know you!
Administrative Staff
Caroline Myers, Co-Founder and Director of FLS. 
Caroline has a BA degree in French from Auburn University, and two diplomas from the Université de Bourgogne in Dijon, France, where she studied French intensively for a year.
She and Judy Smith founded FLS in 1979 and the two co-directed all FLS activities until November 2009 when Judy retired. Caroline now bears the title of Chief Operating Officer.
"My work gives me so much pleasure, I am hesitant to call it a 'job'," Caroline says. "Getting to know FLS' customers, and providing them with much needed language services has been a great privilege for me." Of equal importance are the long-term relationships she has developed over the years with translators and interpreters on whom FLS relies. "The team effort demonstrated every day between our in-house project managers and the more than one hundred contract translators and interpreters with whom FLS works, requires a strict adherance to our Core Values. I attribute our success to that team commitment to those Core Values."
Céline Davis, Director of First Impressions. 
A native of Paris, France and educated in Paris and the U.S., Céline is the voice you hear when you call FLS for communication services. A team member since 2008, Céline tracks every Program Manager's work product, making her highly versatile at helping every FLS customer with any request or problem.
Cross-trained in every aspect of FLS' work, Céline takes special pride in the management of both corporate clients and the many FLS "walk-in" or "call-in" clients who often require certified document translations for legal purposes. Céline is assistant to the Director, office manager, and the DHR Emergency Coordinator, assisting in the daily management of the Department of Human Resources contract with the State of Alabama.
Project Managers
Yasuko Burgett, Project Manager Extraordinaire!
Born and educated in Japan, Yasuko moved to the U.S. in the early 1970s where she continued her education and came on-board with Judy and Caroline in the early 1980s. She has worn every "hat" imaginable, providing FLS with unmatched organizational skills, as well as a native Japanese language ability.
Yasuko currently heads up the Patent and Trademark Office contract, having developed a customized process assuring the PTO of daily and on-time deliveries of a multitude of patents. This process includes acquainting herself with the bilingual and technical expertise of over 40 patent translators and four patent editors, so as to assign translation tasks appropriately. Yasuko also manages FLS' Asian projects, heads up our Training Department, and manages many bilingual placement and interpreting requests.
Amy Gerhardt, Assistant PTO Project Manager and Editor.
Joining FLS in 2003, Amy has become FLS' most efficient patent editor and has evolved into a skilled project manager during her 8-year tenure at FLS. Holding a BS degree with a double major in International Business and Spanish from the University of Alabama, which led to an opportunity to study in Spain, Amy has learned the translation industry trade by assuming many roles.
Because of proficient organizational skills, Amy has assumed many roles at FLS: as Director of First Impressions, as a Project Manager, and as an Editor, but most importantly as an expert in all facets of the PTO contract, from assignment to delivery.
Maria Quiñones Boyette, Project Manager, Translator, Interpreter.
All three titles apply! FLS first worked with Maria as a freelance translator in the 1980s, and were delighted when she joined our staff in 2006. Born and educated in Peru, having also studied in the U.S. and in Europe, her translation and interpreting career has spanned over 25 years.
Certified in English-to-Spanish translation by the American Translator's Association (ATA), and with a Kaiser Foundation Health Care interpreter certificate obtained through the Tennessee Association of Professional Interpreters and Translators (TAPIT), Maria delivers translations for FLS corporate and government customers; interprets for FLS clients in medical, legal, and community settings; and teams with other translators or editors to manage contracts and coordinate translation memories that evolve from those jobs.
In addition to Spanish, Maria is fluent in French, and has studied German extensively. With a university-level teaching background, Maria also provides training for FLS contract interpreters to make sure they comply with FLS' ISO Quality Assurance.
Claudia Coker, Project Manager. 
Joining FLS in September 2011 as FLS' newest employee, Claudia is a native Spanish-speaker originally from Guatemala, educated there and in the U.S. In her current position as the Project Manager for FLS' contract with the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR), FLS has capitalized on her logistics and operations management background stemming from her position as Director of Latin American and Asian sales operations in her previous employment.
Currently, Claudia's responsibilities include managing both the foreign language and ASL contracts for DHR and also assisting FLS corporate and government clients who are in need of interpreters on an on-going basis, and networking to augment and refine our local and national interpreter roster.
