Open Country COO Offers Substantial Operating, Marketing Expertise in Linux ®-Based Products; Industry Veteran will Advise CodeWeavers in Future Windows®-to-Linux Solutions
ST. PAUL, MN-(July 23, 2002)-CodeWeavers, Inc., a leading Windows ®-to-UNIX® software developer, announced today that Laurent Gharda, Chief Operating Officer of management software company Open Country, has joined the company's board of directors. Gharda, a seasoned tech industry veteran with executive experience gained at such well-known companies as Phoenix Technologies, Veritas, and Hewlett-Packard, will advise CodeWeavers in a number of operational and new product initiatives.
Laurent Gharda brings a unique blend of business and technical skills to the CodeWeavers board of directors. At Open Country (www.opencountry.com), a node and application management software company based in Redwood City, California, Gharda oversees all engineering, marketing, and administrative functions of the company. He also has served as COO of eCode, Vice President of Marketing at Phoenix Technologies, Vice President of Marketing of Award Software, and President and Founder of QualSoft.
Gharda's other executive posts have included Vice President of Sales at Veritas Software, as well as a ten-year stint at Hewlett-Packard in a variety of business development and marketing positions.
"Laurent Gharda has an enormous range of marketing and sales experience that will be invaluable to our company in the months and years ahead," said Jeremy White, Founder and President of CodeWeavers. "CodeWeavers, since its inception as a Linux-based technology and consulting company, has grown into a successful Linux software products provider. Our strong technology base will benefit from Laurent's unique operations and product development guidance as we move forward."
"CodeWeavers has the rare opportunity to significantly impact the corporate information technology world. A large number of businesses are attracted by the ability to run Windows applications® especially Microsoft Office® with the Linux operating system, and CodeWeavers is leading this growing trend," said Gharda. "I'm looking forward to giving a degree of guidance to Jeremy and the CodeWeavers executive team regarding overall corporate strategy, and to helping the company leverage its considerable technical expertise in the Linux environment."
In addition to his new role with CodeWeavers, Gharda also serves on the board of Software Research (www.soft.com), a provider of web site and application software testing tools. Gharda 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. He is the sole inventor of U.S. Patent #6,009,520, covering the management of application and system software in embedded devices.
About CodeWeavers, Inc.:
Founded in 1996, CodeWeavers develops, markets and supports solutions for Linux-based systems. The Company brings
expanded market opportunities for Windows software developers by making it easier, faster, and more cost-effective to port
Windows software to Unix. CodeWeavers is recognized as a leader in open-source Windows porting technology, and maintains
development offices in Minnesota, California, the Netherlands, and Germany. The company is privately held. For more
information about CodeWeavers, visit www.codeweavers.com.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows is a registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
