Board of Directors
Philip C. Deck
Chairman of the Board
Philip Deck is Chairman of the Board and Executive Chairman of MKS Inc., the global leader in application lifecycle management (ALM) technology. Philip served as CEO of MKS from 2001-2009, during which time the company became the fastest growing competitor in the ALM market as it transformed from a desktop tools provider into an enterprise software vendor to the Global 1000. MKS's renewed product strategy, growth and profitability has positioned it to become the global leader in the ALM market. Prior to joining MKS, Mr. Deck was Chairman and/or CEO of Certicom Corp from April 1993 to November 1999 establishing it as one of the worldwide leaders in cryptographic technology. Mr. Deck is a director of the Bank of Canada, the C.D. Howe Institute and the Canadian Opera Company. Mr. Deck holds an undergraduate degree in economics and mathematics from Queen's University.
Gerald S. Hurlow
Vice-Chairman
Gerald S. Hurlow is the Chief Executive Officer, a director and the Chairman of the Board of the Directors of Delta Systems, Inc. Mr. Hurlow is managing partner of HSD Partners, Inc., a Toronto-based merchant bank. From 2004 to 2005 he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cygnal Technologies Corporation, a Canadian communications system integration company that is publicly traded on the TSX. Mr. Hurlow is also Chairman and a director of Super Electric Co., a private company based in Markham, Ontario.
J. Ian Giffen J. Ian Giffen re-joined the MKS Board in 2001 after having previously served from 1996-1999. Mr. Giffen serves as an advisor and/or director to technology companies and investment funds. Mr. Giffen is currently Chairman of The Descartes Systems Group Inc., and a director of Absolute Software Inc, RuggedCom Inc. and a number of private companies. From 1992 to 1996, Mr. Giffen was Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer at Alias Research Inc. (until it was sold to Silicon Graphics Inc for approx $500 million). Since 1996, Mr. Giffen has advised several private venture investment funds, and has served on the boards of a number of public and private companies including Macromedia Inc., (from 1997 – 2005 until it was sold to Adobe Systems Inc for $ 4 billion), DPS Inc., MGI Software Inc, Delano Technology Inc. ,Corel Corporation Inc , Certicom Corporation Inc , Financial Models Inc., 724 Solutions Inc., Sierra Systems Inc., Open Text Corporation Inc., DWL Inc, Algorithmics Inc., and Changepoint Inc.. Mr. Giffen is a Chartered Accountant and has a Designation in Corporate Finance He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and worked with KPMG in Glasgow from 1978 - 1982. Mr. Giffen is a Member of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. Howard Gwin After spending 13 years in senior sales, marketing and operations roles in IBM Corporation and Xerox Corporation, Howard joined PeopleSoft Inc. From November 1994 to January 2000, Howard held a variety of executive management positions including; VP and General Manager Canadian Operations, VP and Managing Director European Operations, SVP International Operations and EVP World Wide Operations. During his tenure, the company grew from <$100M in sales to $1.3B. Starting in January 2000, Howard was President and COO of Solect Technology Group, a global provider of billing, customer care and service management software for the telecommunications industry. In April 2000, Howard helped orchestrate the sale of Solect to Amdocs Inc. a world leader in customer management billing systems. The transaction (US$1.1B) was the largest ever for a private Canadian software company. Howard serves on the boards of; Wysdom Inc., Longview Solutions Corp. (Chairman), Mobile Computing Corporation, MaestroCMS Corporation (Chairman), Intelligauge Solutions, MKS Inc., Taleo Corporation, and MEI Group Inc. (Chairman). Howard has previously served on the boards of; Pivotal Corporation, Oasis Technology Ltd. (Chairman), and Changepoint Corporation. Howard has a bachelor of business administration from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.
Board Member
Board Member
Michael W. Harris
Board Member, President & CEO
In addition to board membership, Michael served as Chief Operating Officer and as President of MKS from 2003-2009 and was appointed CEO in November 2009. Michael brings to MKS a long and successful track record of building enterprise software companies, leveraging industry expertise and technology to deliver value to customers, while managing long-term growth and profitability. Prior to joining MKS, Michael was the President of Industry Specific Applications (ISA) as well as the CEO of the Interealty division of Geac Computer Corporation. With his leadership, Interealty became a top supplier of web-based CRM. Michael guided the ISA group to profitability and brought several successful products to market at the same time. Michael previously held executive positions of increasing responsibility at SunGard Data Systems, including Managing Director of North America, where his customers included large global banks looking for enterprise risk management solutions to manage their exposure. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from York University.
Christopher S.L. Hoffmann
Board Member
Christopher S.L. Hoffmann has been a partner with the law firm McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto since 1990. Mr. Hoffmann's practice focuses on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. He appears in the 2003 Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, a guide to the leading law firms and practitioners in Canada, as a leading lawyer in the area of corporate finance. Mr. Hoffmann is also a member of the editorial board of "Corporate Governance". Mr. Hoffmann has been a director of numerous publicly traded and private companies. Currently he is a director of Middlefield Growth Fund Limited, The Northern Trust Company, Delta Systems Inc., and Oasis Technology Ltd. Mr. Hoffmann received his LLB and his BCL from McGill University, as well as a M.Sc. (Operations Research) from the University of California, Berkeley.
Alex White
Board Member, Founder
Alex White is a founder of the company and has served on the company's Board of Directors from May 1994 until September 2000 and from October 2000 to the present. Mr. White is currently Chief Architect of the company and was also Vice President, Product Development from January 1995 until March 2001. From January 1991 until January 1995, Mr. White served as Vice President, Special Projects of the company. Prior to co-founding MKS, Mr. White was employed at Computer Communications Networks Group, University of Waterloo. Alex holds a Masters of Mathematics in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo.
