Alain Legrand

Alain established Legrand Software in 2000 after leveraging the experience gained from founding several Australian companies including FinancePlus Software Pty Ltd, an accounting software company he started in 1997.

Born in Antwerp, Belgium, Alain moved to Australia in 1981 when he took up a position within the Microelectronics Research Centre of RMIT University in Melbourne. He then went on to lecture in Digital Electronics and Microelectronics Design at RMIT University until 1985.

In 1986 Alain moved into the private sector when he started the Australian subsidiary of Mentor Graphics Corporation – an Electronics Design Automation software organisation, as country manager and member of the company’s Asia Pacific management team.

In 1991 this provided Alain with the opportunity to found his first company, a software distribution organisation called Mentor Technologies. He then went on to form FinancePlus Software in 1997, and Legrand Software in 2000.

Alain has a MBA from Macquarie University Sydney (1992) and a Masters in Electronic Engineering (1981) from Katholieke University in Leuven, Belgium. Alain is fluent in English, French and Dutch, and conversant in German.

Bob van Leyen

Mr. van Leyen has more than 24 years of experience working in the hi-tech industry with executive positions in Finance, Operations and General Management. Mr. van Leyen was employed for 12 years by Mentor Graphics, ten years with Data General Corporation and two years with Wyle Systems.

He has been in charge of the corporate treasury function for a public company with $400 million of annual revenues and has managed and coordinated an initial public offering of an issuer's securities. Mr. van Leyen attended the Dutch Institute of Chartered Auditors and holds Dutch degrees equivalent to a US Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Business Administration.

Ed Schaffer

Ed Schaffer has nearly two decades of work experience, spread across multiple industries including, professional and business services and high technology. Presently, Ed is an executive at oDesk Corporation, a VC-backed early stage internet services firm specializing as a marketplace for outsourced contracted technical workers. Prior to oDesk, Ed spent 5 plus years at Intuit, the leading maker of personal and small business finance software and led the successful turnaround of the Intuit Developer Network as the General Manager of this $30 million business unit targeting small businesses with software solutions developed by third parties. During his tenure, Ed and the team grew usage of developer solutions by 30% and quadrupled customer traffic to the primary solutions marketplace. While at Intuit, Ed also served as the GM of a set of internet-based services aimed at QuickBooks small business users.

Before Intuit, Ed co-founded a company that outsourced back office functions including accounting, purchasing and payroll for small businesses and startups. Before getting his MBA, Ed served as a consultant with both Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and GlaxoSmithKline. Projects included systems implementations, sales and operations planning, manufacturing and supply chain analyses, business process reengineering and corporate strategy. Additionally, Ed has extensive international experience in both professional and academic settings.

Ed holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an AB in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and presently resides in San Francisco, CA.