Leadership Team
John Livingston, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
John has served as Absolute’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1995, growing the company from its infancy to a global organization. Absolute invented the computer theft recovery, tracking and loss control product category with the introduction of "Computrace" in 1994. Absolute now has head offices in Vancouver, Canada and Austin, Texas and employees over 350 people. Absolute has evolved to offer a full range of business solutions encompassing physical, data and network security as well as IT asset management.
Prior to taking the helm of Absolute, John was a faculty member of the School of Business at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He also founded and managed a computerized reservation service and a record production company. John holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Calgary.
Phil Gardner, Chief Technology Officer
Phil Gardner has served as Absolute’s Chief Technology Officer since 1997. He is responsible for creating and establishing the software service delivery method of Absolute's unique client/server architecture.
Before joining Absolute, Phil was a senior software architect at Quarterdeck Corporation where he was responsible for developing its flagship product QEMM, a software application to manage computer memory. He also assisted in the coordination of Quarterdeck’s in-house technical and field support, quality assurance and software development. Phil is a veteran of the United States Navy with a diverse range of PC, satellite communications and radar experience.
Rob Chase, Chief Operating Officer
Rob is responsible for the overall alignment, operational efficiency and business effectiveness of Absolute Software. To this role, Rob brings more than 20 years of finance and operational expertise – including 10 years in executive leadership at Absolute. Before becoming Chief Operating Officer in July 2010, Rob served as Absolute's Chief Financial Officer where he oversaw Absolute’s finance functions and investor market-facing activities. Rob joined Absolute as Director of Finance in 2000.
Prior to joining Absolute, Rob obtained his Chartered Accountant designation while working with Deloitte & Touche, and also worked as an executive compensation consultant with Towers Perrin. Rob holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.
Errol Olsen, Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Errol is responsible for managing Absolute’s finance functions – including the Company’s investor relations effort. To this role, he brings more than 18 years of corporate accounting and finance experience, including over 12 years in the technology industry. Errol has supervised the finances, finance operations and process improvements of rapidly- growing companies, has participated in mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity financings and has managed public company reporting. Errol was most recently Chief Financial Officer at Inetco Systems and previously held the same role at Explorer Software. Errol’s extensive technology industry experience also includes senior finance roles at Pivotal Corporation and Infowave Software. Prior to leaving public practice, Errol was a manager in the audit and advisory services group at KPMG LLP, where he worked with a portfolio of private and public companies.
Errol holds a Chartered Accountant designation and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Simon Fraser University.

Gareth Mason, Senior Vice President — Operations
Gareth joined Absolute as VP Service Delivery in June 2006 and is responsible for customer-facing and operational aspects of the business, including Implementation and Configuration Services, Technical and Customer Support, Program Management, IT and Hosted Operations.
Prior to joining Absolute, Gareth spent 6 years at Pivotal Corporation and was responsible for similar services, support and training departments. He has over 15 years of software and services experience, and has run operations in Europe, North America and Asia.
Martin Bestmann, Vice President — Research and Development (Germany)
Martin is responsible for the ongoing innovation and new feature development of the company’s Absolute Manage product line. Martin joined Absolute through the company’s acquisition of LANrev in December 2009. Martin brings almost 20 years experience in development and executive management in the software arena.
Prior to joining Absolute, he served as Founder and Chief Technical Officer at LANrev where he created the LANrev Client Management Suite, now Absolute Manage. Prior to founding LANrev he served as Director of R&D for Netopia, later acquired by Motorola. Martin joined Netopia through the acquisition of his product netOctopus. netOctopus Enterprise Systems Manager, one of the industry's first cross-platform systems management tools was released in the early nineties. Martin previously held development and management roles at Apple, Datawatch, and Dr. Solomon's.
Leigh Day, Vice President — Services
Leigh heads worldwide Technical and Customer Support at Absolute. An 18-year software industry veteran, Leigh was previously Vice President of Worldwide Support at CDC Software. In his role with CDC Software, he directed support operations in 13 international locations across 7 distinct product lines - generating annual maintenance revenues in excess of $80 million.
Prior to joining CDC Software, Leigh spent 8 years with PeopleSoft where he set up and managed the software vendor’s Canadian Global Support Center.
Dave Everitt, General Manager — Europe, Middle East & Africa
Dave is responsible for leadership, strategic development and business partner relations pertaining to the company’s business in the EMEA region. He brings over 25 years of experience in developing business in both hardware and software relating to the high-technology international computing and communications market.
Before joining Absolute Software, his tenure at AMD, lasting more than 20 years, spanned many areas including hardware design, software engineering and business and market development in embedded and traditional computing segments. Most recently he led the business development group for mobile, desktop, server, graphics and digital home. He holds a degree in electronics and engineering, a post graduate diploma in management studies and is a chartered engineer and a member of the IEE (The Institute of Engineering and Technology) and FEANI (The European Federation of National Engineering Associations).
Peter Frankl, Vice President – Lifecycle Management
Peter is responsible for leadership and strategic direction of the company’s Absolute Manage product line. Peter joined Absolute through the company’s acquisition of LANrev in December 2009. Peter brings over 15 years experience in sales and executive management.
Prior to joining Absolute, he served as Founder and Chief Operating Officer at LANrev where he guided the company from startup to profitability and acquisition by Absolute Software. Prior to founding LANrev he served as Vice President, Software Sales and Marketing for Netopia, later acquired by Motorola.
Mark Grace, Vice President — Consumer Business
Mark leads the go-to-market strategy for Absolute’s Computrace LoJack for Laptops line of consumer products and is responsible for sales, business development and the partner ecosystem across the product line. A 20-year veteran of the consumer high-tech industry, Mark most recently spent 10 years with Dell where he held executive leadership positions including heading up the Dell Direct Retail division.
Prior to joining Dell, he led several retail initiatives for Tandy Corporation including launching and opening “Incredible Universe” electronics superstores across the U.S. Mark is based in Absolute’s Austin, Texas office.
Abigail Maines, Vice President — Channel Strategy
Abigail is responsible for global channel strategy at Absolute. Abigail brings more than 10 years of channel management and business development experience to her role. Immediately prior to joining Absolute, Abigail was on the executive team at HiWired, a remote services organization, where she established key partnerships in the reseller market. Prior to HiWired, Abigail worked at Dell in their Managed Services division.
Prior to Dell, Abigail was Director of Business Development at Installs, Inc. where she was responsible for initiating, developing and maintaining mutually profitable relationships with PC and consumer electronics clients. Abigail graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo, summa cum laude, with an MBA in Corporate Finance.
Stephen Midgley, Vice President — Global Marketing
Stephen oversees all aspects of marketing at Absolute Software including marketing communications, channel marketing, product marketing and the company’s presence on the Web. Stephen most recently served as Senior Director, Global Web Marketing and Operations at business intelligence vendor Business Objects.
In this role, he led the company’s worldwide online branding effort and developed the Internet as a primary marketing channel. His diverse 15+ year marketing career also includes senior marketing positions with Inovera Solutions and Citizens Bank of Canada.
Tim Parker, Vice President — Research and Development
Tim serves as Vice President of Research and Development, managing the ongoing innovation and new feature development for all Absolute products.
Tim brings over 10 years experience in VP and Chief Technical Officer roles, including VP of Development for Computer Sciences Corporation, First Consulting Group and a number of other Fortune 100 companies. He holds post-graduate degrees from universities in Canada, the US and the UK.
John Sarantakes, Vice President — North American Sales
John joined Absolute Software in April 2008 as Vice President, North American Sales and is responsible for leadership and strategic direction of the company’s North American inside and field-based sales organization. John brings 15 years experience leading sales teams in the high-technology industry to the Absolute go-to-market team.
Most recently, he was Area Sales Director at Dell where he was responsible for a $1.4 billion business. In this role, he drove a number of domestic and international programs, and developed strategic solutions for several industry sectors. He is based in Absolute Software’s Austin, Texas U.S. headquarters.
Lyle Singular, Vice President — Recovery Services
Lyle leads Absolute’s Theft Recovery Team. He has 25 years of investigative experience with the RCMP, specializing in forensics, fraud offences and information technology.
Lyle provided technological leadership to various crime units through out Alberta and the Atlantic region. He has a considerable educational background and has presented to numerous organizations on the topics of Internet crime, infrastructure protection and law enforcement partnerships.
For board of directors, click here.