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As Chief Operating Officer for Ramius, Philippe steers the technology direction for the company and is responsible for developing and managing Ramius’ technology partnerships.

Philippe joined Ramius in 1999 as Vice President and Director of Marketing overseeing key operational activities and leading the company’s marketing strategy and business development initiatives. A vital contributor to Ramius’ growth, Philippe played an integral role in the design and development of theprototype of Ramius’ first product, CommunityZero.

In his current role, Philippe leads the company’s technology division. In this capacity, Philippe is responsible for product planning and architectural design of the company’s Sixent social networking platform. He also manages the quality assurance and the customer support teams to lead the successful implementation of Sixent and CommunityZero worldwide.

Prior to joining Ramius, Phil was the design director for Magma Communications where he managed the company’s Web development department. Under his guidance, Philippe’s team built database-driven Web sites for e-commerce and Web applications and opened new revenue opportunities for the company.

Philippe is a graduate of the University of Ottawa’s School of Management.

Alfred founded Ramius in January 1998 after recognizing the market potential for social software. As President and CEO, Alfred leads the strategic direction for Ramius, mapping out new opportunities and positioning the company for continued growth and innovation.

Prior to founding Ramius Corporation, Alfred was President of Jayson Corporation, an investment company focused on early-stage financing of private software companies. Alfred began his career in technology as a software developer with Jayson Data Systems Inc., a developer of accounting, administration and evaluation systems for various federal government departments and healthcare institutions.

Alfred sits on the Board of Directors for iLOOKAbout Corp., a public imaging technology company, and is a member of the Board of Advisors for Progeny Group, a Toronto-based investment-banking boutique. An active member of his community, Alfred is a past President of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association (Ottawa Section) and has also served as Chair of the organization’s National IT Committee. One of the co-founders of the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival, Alfred has helped shape one of the region’s largest annual charitable events.

A graduate of the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario, the Ottawa Business Journal named Alfred as one of Ottawa’s Top Forty Under 40 in 2000.

Since joining LaunchSquad in 2001 as the firm’s fourth partner, Brett has helped the agency evolve into one of the leading boutique technology PR agencies in the Bay Area. Brett previously served as a vice president at Schwartz Communications, where he worked for close to five years.

Throughout his career, Brett has provided clients with strategic and tactical counsel, managed account teams, and worked with influential media and analyst firms. Brett’s a talented PR strategist and works hand-in-hand with LaunchSquad clients to craft and direct PR programs.

Brett manages LaunchSquad’s HR and employee issues and plays an integral role in new business activities. He is known for his thoughtful and insightful advice and counsel, both for clients and the firm overall. Brett has taken multiple clients through successful IPOs and acquisitions, delivered dozens of high-profile media placements (including The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Business 2.0, and CNBC) and has received several prominent awards for client work. However, one of Brett’s proudest PR achievements was on his own behalf when his wedding announcement appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Ask him about it.

Prior to joining Schwartz, Brett promoted new technologies for Scitex in conjunction with the 1996 Summer Olympics and worked in marketing with Thomson Financial Services. Brett is also an award-winning playwright. He received a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Emory University in Atlanta.

Laguna, born 1964, was co-founder of Open-Xchange Inc. and chairman of the board until he took over responsibility as CEO in January 2008. In 2001, Laguna initiated the technology partnership between Open-Xchange’s development team and SUSE Linux — today a Novell business. The result of this partnership, SUSE Linux Openexchange Server, became the best selling Linux-based groupware solution. Most recently, Laguna was crucial to the extention of Open-Xchange’s product portfolio and formed the partnership with the world’s largest web host by known servers, 1&1 Internet AG.

Laguna began his career in 1985 at dicomputer. In 1989 he joined Micado, which made software products for object-oriented development, as general manager and associate. Before selling the profitable company to PMSC in 1995, he grew the company from 20 to 100 employees and to € 15m turnover. Later he worked as a business angel and consultant of software technology for several Venture Capital Funds. From 2002 to 2004, Laguna was crucial to the investment and the successful sale of SUSE Linux to Novell. From 2003 to 2006, he managed as chairman the turnaround of bäurer AG until its acquisition by Sage. Laguna acts as board member for asknet AG and comparis.ch.

Sam has 15 years of technology marketing experience ranging from start-ups to Fortune-level hardware, productivity software, communications and media companies.

Prior to Jive Software, Sam was the Senior Vice President in charge of the global Microsoft Office marketing efforts at McCann Erickson–including Microsoft Office, Microsoft Sharepoint Server, Live Meeting and Live Communication Server. Sam has been Vice President of eBusiness & IT for 3Com, Vice President of Marketing for CNET, Vice President of Business Development for EuroRSCG and was Director of Dell Computer Corporation’s consumer and SMB online business.

Sam lives with his wife and two sons in Portland.