Be, Inc. names Heidi Roizen to Board of Directors
Menlo Park, CA (September 23, 1997) – Be, Inc. has named Heidi Roizen to
its Board of Directors.
Heidi Roizen is an accomplished executive with fifteen years of senior
management experience in the computer industry. She serves on the Board of
Directors of Great Plains Software (Nasdaq:GPSI), and is a Public Governor
of the Pacific Exchange. Her most recent executive position was as the vice
president of Worldwide Developer Relations for Apple Computer, which she
left in February of this year. She also served for 13 years as CEO of
T/Maker Company, a successful software developer and publisher, and is a
past president and longtime board member of the Software Publishers’
Association.
“I, and the rest of the Be team, are delighted to welcome Heidi to our
Board” said Jean-Louis Gassee, president and CEO of Be, Inc. “Her broad
software industry background will help us chart our future course and her
excellent standing with the ISV community will help us foster and build a
growing number of relationships with BeOS developers.”
“I fundamentally believe that the computer industry is about to experience
rapid proliferation into whole new categories of usage” said Heidi Roizen.
“Be is pioneering the concept that ‘one platform fits all’ is not
necessarily the most effective strategy for new classes of applications. I
think that Be is well positioned to be the OS provider of choice for some
of these categories, and I’m looking forward to helping them identify,
define, and deliver compelling solutions to these markets in concert with a
vibrant, entrepreneurial developer community.”
From 1996 to 1997, as Vice President of World Wide Developer Relations for
Apple Computer (AAPL), Roizen was responsible for building and maintaining
relationships between Apple and its developers worldwide. She and her team
served as the primary contact point for major developers such as Microsoft,
Corel, Lotus, Macromedia and Adobe, as well as 12,000 other companies.
Roizen led the Apple Developer Relations organization, which included
Evangelism, Technology Services, Marketing, Business Development, and
International Developer Relations organizations.
From 1983 to 1996, Roizen was CEO of T/Maker Company, a successful
developer and publisher of personal computer software. T/Maker, backed by
venture firms Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Draper Associates,
shipped a number of innovative products in the areas of word processing,
desktop publishing and multimedia, achieved market leadership in image
content software with its “ClickArt” line, and was ultimately acquired in
1994 by Deluxe Corporation (DLX).
A member of the board of directors of the Software Publishers’ Association
(SPA) from 1987 to 1994, Roizen served as its president from 1988 to 1990.
Roizen is a member of the Stanford University Board of Trustees Nominating
Committee, a Public Governor of the Pacific Stock Exchange, a member of the
Board of Directors of Great Plains Software, and on the advisory board of
the Software Forum.
Roizen has also been recognized as one of the 100 most influential people
in the microcomputer industry by MicroTimes, Personal Computing Magazine,
and Upside Magazine. In 1988 and 1989, the Association of Collegiate
Entrepreneurs named her one of America’s top 100 young entrepreneurs. She
was also listed as one of the 25 top local female executives by the San
Francisco Business Journal. In November 1995, McGraw-Hill Publications
named her one of the top 100 women in computing.
About Be
Be, Inc., founded in 1990 by Jean-Louis Gass=E9e, is a software company
focusing on building new foundations for the next generation of digital
content and media design tools. With a team of industry-leading engineers
and business executives in the United States and Europe, the company is
dedicated to removing the limitations of existing computer architectures
and delivering a new level of price performance. In July 1997, Be published
the first public release of the Be Operating System (BeOS), the core
product of this strategy. Additional information on Be and the BeOS is
available online at http://www.be.com. Be, Inc. is headquartered in Menlo
Park, California.
For more information contact
In the U.S. and Pacific:
Alex Osadzinski , alex@be.com
+1 (415) 462-4126
In Europe:
Jean Calmon, jcalmon@beeurope.com
+33 1 49 06 73 75