Management Team

LinMin's management team, led by Laurent Gharda, is comprised of infrastructure and systems management software veterans, with excellent track records in both Fortune 500 and startup companies.

Laurent Gharda
CEO and Founder of LinMin Corp.

Laurent Gharda is a seasoned IT and systems management industry veteran with over 25 years of management experience gained at tech companies ranging in size from startups to Fortune 500 multinationals.

Laurent launched LinMin in 2007, bringing sophisticated IT products (LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning and Imaging) to market in early 2008. LinMin's products are enterprise-grade software solutions that automate server deployment and recovery of Windows®, Linux® and VMware® ESXi systems, packaged for ease of use at affordable prices, essentially disrupting the current systems management software industry in the process. LinMin's products are re-sold by Cisco and are used by companies ranging from PayPal and the Taiwan Stock Exchange to Kodak and Nippon Steel.

Prior to founding LinMin in 2007, he served as COO then CEO of Open Country, a provider of Linux systems management software. Previously, Laurent served as COO of Internet company eCode.com, pioneering the development of Internet toolbars and identity management solutions. Laurent also was vice president of marketing at both Phoenix Technologies, a global provider of core system software for PCs, servers and embedded systems, and at Award Software, a BIOS developer subsequently acquired by Phoenix.

Laurent's other executive posts have included vice president of sales at storage and server management provider Veritas Software (now a part of Symantec Corporation), and as president of QualSoft, a company he founded and then sold. Laurent also spent ten years in a variety of business development and marketing positions at Hewlett-Packard.

Laurent holds a B.A. degree in Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and a French National Baccalaureate in philosophy and modern languages.

Laurent is the sole inventor of US Patent 6,009,520 and co-inventor of US Patents 6,560,702 and 6,564,318, addressing the virtualization of firmware and software in computer systems and embedded devices.

Laurent also serves on the Board of Directors of the open source company CodeWeavers.

Host Review interviews Laurent Gharda

Rick Mansfield
Vice President of Research and Development

Since joining LinMin in 2007, Rick Mansfield has overseen all technical aspects of the Company, including research, product development and customer support. Rick also contributes significantly to the product management process. Rick is a technologist with a successful technical track record in many industries and disciplines.

While working with prestigious organizations such as American Express, AT&T, Dole Foods, First Interstate Banking Services and the State of New Mexico, among others, Rick architected, implemented or managed teams that produced a wide variety of IT solutions including high volume transaction processing systems, real time embedded systems, systems management solutions and more.

From credit card processing and election tabulation systems to Web-based systems management and bare metal provisioning products, Rick has been deeply involved with numerous technologies, operating systems, programming languages and development methodologies.

Allan Tajii
Director of Quality Assurance

Allan Tajii is responsible for Quality Assurance of LinMin Bare Metal Provisioning as well as private-labeled editions of LinMin products including Cisco Server Provisioner, an integral component of the Cisco Intelligent Automation for Cloud suite. In addition, Allan oversees LinMin’s extensive Cisco UCS hardware compatibility lab at Cisco headquarters.

Prior to joining LinMin in 2007, Allan held a variety of technical and business enablement positions including Sr. Applications Engineering Manager, Product Marketing Manager and Staff Software Engineer at Hitachi Semiconductor Inc. and Renesas Technology America, Inc. While at Hitachi and Renesas, Allan contributed to significant business growth in Consumer Electronics and Security product areas. Allan's responsibilities included managing applications engineering teams, overseeing performing acceptance testing of software delivered by various consulting and contracting firms, and managing business relationships with industry-leading companies such as Microsoft and Red Hat.

Allan holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Board of Directors

Laurent Gharda, Chairman
CEO and Founder of LinMin Corp.

Laurent Gharda is a seasoned IT and systems management industry veteran with over 25 years of management experience gained at tech companies ranging in size from startups to Fortune 500 multinationals.