Chris Beard

Chris Beard is an accomplished entrepreneur and senior business executive known for his expertise in building and scaling distributed Open Source organizations and ecosystems.

He has a strong background in developing technology, products, and brands aimed at enriching individuals' lives and contributing to a better world.

Chris pursued his higher education by earning an MBA in International Business from The University of Edinburgh, and also studied at ESADE Business School and the University of Ottawa.

Throughout his career, Chris held various influential positions at renowned organizations, including being the Chief Executive Officer & Board Member at Mozilla, Executive-in-Residence at Greylock Partners, Chief Marketing Officer, and Chief Innovation Officer at Mozilla.

He also played a significant role in the development of Firefox as part of the Founding Team at Mozilla, overseeing product, marketing, community, and ecosystem aspects.

Chris's professional journey includes leadership roles such as Vice President, Corporate Development at Cluster File Systems, Inc. (acquired by Sun Microsystems), Linux and Open Source Product Management at Hewlett-Packard Company, and General Manager at Linuxcare, Inc.

Moreover, he co-founded and served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Puffin Group, Inc., a company later acquired by Linuxcare, Inc.

Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Chris gained valuable experience as a Systems Analyst at the Government of Canada and as a Field Service Engineer at Computing Devices Canada (acquired by General Dynamics).