Former Apple VP Bertrand Serlet Has Joined the Board of Parallels
Former Apple Senior VP and head of Apple’s Mac OS X development team Bertrand Serlet is joining the board of directors at software virtualization company Parallels, the company announced early Tuesday. Mr. Serlet will take the position of a “non-executive director.”
“Bertrand is the rare combination of a software visionary and master of execution. We’re thrilled to be bringing his world-class experience and expertise to Parallels as the company continues its fast-paced growth and global expansion,” said Parallels CEO Birger Steen in the company’s press release.
Mr. Serlet joined Apple in 1997 as part of Apple’s acquisition of NeXT. During his 14 year career with the Cupertino company he led the development of OS X, gaining the designation of the “Father of OS X” and the “Jony Ive of software design.”
Mr. Serlet left the company in March 2011 to “focus less on products and more on science.” He was replaced by Craig Federighi, then VP of Software Engineering. It was announced late last month that Mr. Serlet and other former Apple employees were in the process of launching new cloud service “Upthere.”
By joining the board of Parallels, Mr. Serlet will officially reconnect with the Mac community. Parallels, in operation since 1999, gained popularity among consumers in 2006 with the launch of its Parallels Desktop for Mac virtualization software that allowed Intel-based Mac users to run Windows and other x86 operating systems from within OS X. The company also offers a host of other software aimed at the enterprise server market.