Mr. Jean-Louis F. Gassée serves as a Venture Partner at Allegis Capital. Gassée had been associated with the firm since 1994. He was an Entrepreneur in Residence at the firm and joined it full-time in October 2002. He was previously named as General Partner at Allegis Capital in April 2003. Mr. Gassée was a Venture Partner at AVI Capital and Benchmark Europe. Prior to that, from October 1990 to December 2001, he co-founded Be Inc. and served as the President, Chief Executive Officer. For nine months in 2002, Gassée served as the Chief Executive Officer of Computer Access Technology, helping with a founder transition from January 2002 to October 2002. He started Apple France in 1991 and previously moved to Cupertino, California in 1985. Gassée spent nine years at Apple Computer.
He served as the President of Apple Products from August 1980 to February 1990, responsible for managing all of Apple's global product functions, including product marketing, worldwide manufacturing and research and development. In February 1981, Gassée started Apple's French subsidiary and in 1982, was also named President of the "Apple Education" foundation. He was transferred to Apple headquarters to lead Apple's Product Development. Prior to this, from 1974 to 1981, Gassée served as the Chief Executive Officer of the French affiliates of Data General and Exxon Office Systems. He also held several general management positions including General Manager for France at Exxon Office Systems., Area Manager for Latin and Middle-East countries and Marketing Director for Europe. Gassée also worked for six years at Hewlett-Packard from 1968 to 1974, where he was responsible for overseeing the launching of the company's first desktop scientific computer and the development of its sales organization in France, before his promotion to Sales Manager of Europe, in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a Board Director of ActiveGrid and QueueCard since August 2, 2005. Gassée has been a Director of PalmSource Inc. since May 2002 and serves on the Board of Be Inc., Purewave and Qsecure. Gassée has served as a Director of Cray Computer Corporation, 3Com, Logitech and Electronics for Imaging. He served as Chairman of the Board of QSecure,Inc.
Gassée was the Chairman of the Board of PalmSource Inc. from November 2004 to late 2005 and served as a Director of Logitech International S.A. since June 1993. From May 1979 to October 2002, Gassée served as a Director of Computer Access Technology Corp. He also served as the chairman of the board at Be Inc. Gassée holds a Master's of Science from the University of Paris and a Bachelor's Degree in mathematics and physics from Orsay University.
