Joshua Geist

Chief Executive Officer & Founder

As CEO of Geminare, Joshua's focus is to establish leadership in the Cloud Recovery as a Service (RaaS) space by offering a leading-edge, on-demand service that provides the best value for the Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) market. Joshua was previously President and Chief Executive Officer of MindBytes, a professional services organization focused on delivering technology best practices for small to mid-sized organizations that could not afford a full time CTO. Joshua successfully grew MindBytes over 12 years to include a client portfolio that ranges from SMEs to Fortune 500 companies and served as a quoted technology expert in the media. Joshua continues to serve on the board of directors at MindBytes.

During this time, Joshua witnessed a significant rise in the number of innovative SMEs competing successfully against larger competitors for market share. Operating in a 24x7 “on-demand” economy meant that these organizations were dependent on computers for their very survival; yet they lacked the safety net to recover from even a few hours of downtime. Joshua set about developing an affordable solution to protect, secure and quickly recover critical applications in the event of a disaster or unplanned outage. This provided the tools for the SMEs to compete with their larger and better-funded competitors.

In 2005, encouraged by the success of the outsourcing model he developed at MindBytes, Joshua formed Geminare Incorporated. Here, Joshua applied an RaaS model to his original Business Continuity offering, allowing customers to access this solution remotely as a Web-based service, at a cost significantly less than licensed and in-house applications. The result was an affordable enterprise-class Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery solution for the worldwide SME market.

Joshua holds a degree in Applied Physics and Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario and spends whatever free time he has with his wife and three daughters.

Robert Sandie

Vice President of Corporate Development

An executive with a strong track record in building and leading worldwide Sales, OEMs, Channels, Partnerships, Services and Business Development operations for leading high tech Organizations, Robert heads Geminare’s Palo Alto corporate office. He brings to Geminare over nineteen years of software industry experience, most recently with InMage Systems where, as EVP OEM, Channel, APAC Sales, he established numerous successful strategic partnerships.

With a wealth of experience and market insight into building world-class strategic partner alliances and channel sales relationships, and a proven track record in seeking out and developing new business relationships at the executive level, Robert continues to build on Geminare’s already extensive customer and partner presence.

Prior to InMage, Mr. Sandie served as EVP for Worldwide Operations at Solidcore Systems, where he was instrumental in positioning Solidcore as an industry leader in their field. Mr. Sandie has also held the position of VP of Global Alliances at IONA Technologies where he developed business partnerships with industry giants such as IBM, HP and Intel. Prior to IONA, Robert built and managed the business development and alliances team at WebMethods, creating OEM relationships with SAP, i2, Oracle, Ariba and Siebel, and managed system integration partnerships with EDS, Accenture, IBM, PWC, KPMG and others.

Mike Larkin

Vice President of Sales & Marketing

Mike Larkin is an experienced executive whose career spans over 30 years, primarily in the telecommunications and emerging technology fields. Mike's senior leadership roles have included tenure with Bell Canada as VP Sales and Marketing as well as various start-up ventures including iNet America, BCE Emergis and WorldLinx - an early-stage Internet company that grew from zero to $50m in revenue under Mike's direction.

Mike is the co-author of two best-selling business books, entitled ICE and CARE. He is married with twin children, and resides in Oakville, Ontario, near Toronto.

Barrie Laver

Acting Financial Officer

Barrie Laver is a senior business executive with a proven track record of building value and developing management teams. He has experience across a variety of industries and with both public and private companies with over 20 years in private equity, venture capital and asset management industries. Most recently was a 13-year period in a senior capacity with RBC Capital Partners and various predecessor funds, including Royal Bank Capital Corporation. Barrie was also Founder and Managing Partner of CastleHill Ventures, a venture capital fund focusing on start-up and early stage IT investments.

Barrie served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Vintage Hotels in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario from November 2004 until December 2007, serving as a board member for Vintage Hotels from November 2003 to December 2007. Other past positions include President and Chief Executive Officer of ASI Corporation and five years with Price Waterhouse in Canada and Switzerland. He is a C.A. as well as a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors, and has been a director of a number of private and public companies. He is currently a member of the Board of Governors of Havergal College and serves of the Board of the Niagara Wine Festival.