British musician and Greenpeace veteran Dave Wakeling, of The English Beat and General Public, recruited Dan Lang, an American businessman and a twenty year global sourcing pioneer, to promote The Smile Train’s charitable cause within the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry. Lang and Wakeling intend to recruit top executives from leading BPO corporations to join The Smile Train’s efforts and raise funds to perform free surgeries for over 2000 children across India this year.

Over the past eight years, The Smile Train has provided free cleft surgery for over 285,000 children worldwide. Cleft lip and palate is a major problem in developing countries where there are millions of children who suffer with unrepaired clefts. A large number of these children cannot eat or speak properly, are not allowed to attend school and are forced to live a life filled with shame and isolation. The Smile Train charity provides corrective surgery to such children in 72 countries across the world and is the world's largest and most cost-effective cleft charity. Since March 2000 it has provided free cleft surgery for 285,916 children. The free cleft surgeries it helps provide, is a true, modern-day medical miracle: it costs as little as $250 and takes as little as 45 minutes to give a desperate child not just a new smile, but a new life.

"When Dave approached me, I was immediately taken by his passion and agreed to get onboard by having Sutherland Global Services be the first BPO to contribute to his mission and to get the train rolling," explained Lang. “Our goal is to make The Smile Train the one unquestioned and universal cause every global BPO player can feel good about. This is one cause that has needs across all the areas of the world in which BPOs operate, including India, China, Africa and Latin America. Our goal is to fund cleft surgeries that will change the lives of these children and hand them back their future, and give them a second chance at life that they never thought they'd get.” Dave Wakeling further added, “For about the cost of a business lunch in Los Angeles or a night in a decent international hotel, The Smile Train can change a kid’s life in India. It's quite amazing really and I am glad to have Lang and team Sutherland onboard.”

Commenting on the Asia-America BPO Industry Fund, Michele Sinesky, The Smile Train's Donor Relations Manager in NYC, added, “The Smile Train is one of only a few global charities that can prove 100% of a person's donation goes directly to programs. India is one of our top countries of need and we are excited to have Dave Wakeling and Dan Lang lending their creativity and promotional skills for our mission. We hope to add the top executives of the best BPOs in the world this year.”

About Dave Wakeling

Hailing from working-class Birmingham, England, Dave and The English Beat entered the music scene in the 1979. It was a time of social, political and musical upheaval. Into this storm they came with their simple message of love and unity. Despite his huge success, Dave didn't stop singing and acting on the problems caused by the noise in this world. The band donated all the profits from their highly successful single version of "Stand Down Margaret" to the Committee for Nuclear Disarmament. They donated their music to causes including the anti-nuclear benefit album "Life in The European Theatre," "The World of Music and Dance" album focusing on indigenous people's art, and lent their voice to The Special AKA's anthemic song of freedom "Free Nelson Mandela," to name but a few. Whether it's the personal as political in "How Can You Stand There," making politics personal in "Stand Down Margaret," taking a stand against global warming as he did with Greepeace's "Alternative NRG," or helping little kids stand up proudly with "The Smile Train," Dave has always stood for something. Along with contemporaries such as The Specials, The Selecter and Madness, The English Beat became one of the most popular and influential bands of the British Ska movement. Their constant touring with iconic bands such as The Clash and The Police helped to boost their popularity in the States. www.davewakeling.com.

About Dan Lang

Dan has been with Sutherland Global Services since inception in early 1986. He is known within the Business Process Outsourcing industry and around the globe as a creative problem solver and key enabler of strategic objectives. He has served on the advisory board of several business schools, municipal entities, arts and community relations organizations and he is registered to lobby both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate on matters related to globalization and human resources policy. Dan presently manages worldwide custom advocacy and is a key executive sponsor for important global initiatives in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Canada, India, and the Philippines. Sutherland Global Services is a multinational IT Enabled and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, specializing in Integrated BPO solutions across Customer Lifecycle and Back-office Lifecycle Management services. Sutherland employs over 17,500 professionals offering Right Sourced™ seamlessly blended services from its 21 delivery centers around the globe. www.suth.com.

About The Smile Train

Unlike many charities that do many different things, The Smile Train is focused on solving a single problem: cleft lip and palate. Over the past eight years, we have provided free cleft surgery for over 285,000 children. These children were suffering not because they were born with a cleft, but because they were born too poor to ever afford surgery. The ones who are lucky enough to find a Smile Train free cleft surgery program, not only survive, they thrive. After a 45 minute surgery hands them back their future, and a second chance at life that they never thought they'd get. For more information please visit www.smiletrain.org.