Board of Directors

An entrepreneurial software pioneer since 1981, Buys brings unique strengths to drive FrontRange to achieve its long-term goals.

In South Africa, Buys released the first commercial application developed in the C language, and his company, Workgroup Systems, was the first to have a distribution relationship with Microsoft. Workgroup Systems achieved a compound annual growth rate of 120% from 1991 through 1996 at which point he sold the distribution, training and consulting components of the business. Buys was chairman of Frontrange when it listed on the JSE in 1997. He has a strong track record in the successful development of high-growth IT companies.

Julian is responsible for finance, legal and regulatory operations as well as investor relations of FrontRange Limited and its South African operations. Prior to joining FrontRange in October 2000, Julian worked abroad for five years, firstly at KPMG’s London office, and then in London and America for Smiths Group plc, a FTSE-100 listed multinational engineering company. Julian qualified as a chartered accountant after completing his articles at KPMG’s Johannesburg.

A co-founder of FrontRange Limited, Derek formed the group by merging his company, First Financial Group, which sold investment information solutions, with Workgroup Systems, owned by Dana Buys. With Derek as chief executive officer and Dana Buys as chairman, FrontRange Limited listed on the JSE Securities Exchange South Africa in September 1997.

Following the disposal in 2002 by FrontRange Limited of all its interests other than FrontRange Solutions Inc., Derek acquired the inventory planning and optimisation operation of the disposed assets and renamed it JustEnough, whereupon he stepped down as chief executive officer of FrontRange Limited.

John Hillyard is responsible for finance and operations at FrontRange Solutions. His new charter is to maximize efficiencies in these areas and take the company to the next level of productivity and profitability.

John has more than 20 years of experience in the high technology and finance fields. He has significant experience with both public and private companies, and has successfully taken a company through an IPO. John is skilled at mergers and acquisitions, as well as implementing change in complex and high-growth environments. He comes to FrontRange Solutions from daly.commerce, inc., where he served as vice president of finance and administration and chief financial officer.

Michael McCloskey brings a wealth of business experience to FrontRange Solutions. He has served in key upper management roles including CEO/Chairman Kana Communications, President and Director of Genesys Telecom, CFO and VP of Operations for Network Appliance, CFO and VP of Operations for Digital Microwave Corp., CFO for Wavefront Technologies, and Controller for Everex Systems Inc.

McCloskey has helped several technology firms launch initial public stock offerings, including Kana Communications, Genesys Telecom and Network Appliance. Genesys later was sold to Alcatel, a French telecommunications company, for $1.2 billion.

Gary is the founder of The Center For Innovative Leadership in the US and consults to organisations in the public and private sectors on issues relating to leadership, customer loyalty, total quality management and effective organisational change. He also conducts organisational assessments, consults with leaders of development and implements continuous improvement processes. Gary’s clients include Wal-Mart, Disney, Nestle/Perrier, British Petroleum, Universal Studios, Exxon/Mobil, and Sears. Gary has authored and co-authored numerous business books, and has served on the boards of several software or CRM companies, including Knowlix Corporation, Kovair Corporation and Barnhill Corporation.

Edward brings more than 20 years of high tech industry experience to FrontRange, including ten years with Intel, where he held a range of senior management positions. Edward also held senior management positions at LANSystems Network Products Group, Cerisyn Corporation, and Hewlett Packard. Since 2001 he has been the managing director of vSpring Capital. In addition, Edward is on the board of a number of high tech companies including LANDesk.

Edward brings to FrontRange a great deal of experience in the field of software company growth,strategic partnering as well as depth in the very relevant Systems Management segment.