Our company

Roland Valentini

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Valentini was appointed COO in July 2010 after successfully serving as head of North American operations since 2005.

Roland has over ten years’ experience in the PCB industry, including sales, service, and project management at Atotech GmbH, Germany mainly relating to PCB plating equipment.
He has significant sales experience from his tenure at Mack Rides GmbH and headed up worldwide installations for Lurgi Bischoff GmbH.

Mr. Valentini received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mannheim, Germany.

Richard Horsman

Executive Chairman

Prior to Richard joining Gardien in September 2014, he was Chairman/CEO of tool chain vendor Atego Group Systems Limited which was sold to PTC Inc.

Prior to joining Atego, Richard held a number of Executive and Non-Executive roles including Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Plethora Solutions, an AIM listed Pharmaceutical Company and CEO of AIM listed Cybit Holdings plc. where he grew the company from inception to revenues of over 25 million and took the company through multiple acquisitions before managing a sale of the business to Francisco Partners.

Richard previously held a number of senior roles in the Software industry.

Rick Meraw

Group Vice President Quality

Mr. Meraw was appointed Group Vice President of Quality in Jan 2015 after successfully  serving as Senior Vice President of USA operations since 2011.  Prior to being responsible for USA operations Mr Meraw was responsible for Canadian operations since 2001.

Rick has over twenty years’ experience with Gardien Group and has various roles including, service technician, customer liaison, Quality manager, technical support, project management, and software design/ implementation.

In June 1992 he graduated with an Electronic Engineering Technologist degree, with honors from a local community college.

Kevin Syvret

Finance Director, North America

Mr. Syvret joined Gardien Services Canada as Financial Controller in 2001 and assumed the role of Finance Director North America in 2007. Over the past 20 years, Mr. Syvret has held senior finance and accounting roles, including with Canadian Pacific Ltd and Sprint Inc.

Niraj Patel

Vice President, Gardien North America

Mr. Niraj Patel joined the company on a part time basis in 1993 while attending college full time. He worked in various positions until he graduated from the Centennial College Computer Systems Technology program, whereupon he was hired full time. He progressed through several testing and CAM department positions and was appointed North American CAM Manager in 1998. After 18 years with the company, Mr. Patel was promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations, Gardien Services Canada Inc. in 2011. In January, 2015 Mr. Patel became Vice President NA of the newly combined organizational unit North America which includes the Canada and USA.

Todd Kolmodin

Vice President Quality, North America

Mr. Todd Kolmodin, a native to the Pacific Northwest was born in Seattle Washington. At a young age he moved to the Portland Oregon area. In March of 1986 he graduated from ITT Technical Institute with a degree in Electronics Engineering Technology. Todd began his tenure in the Electrical Test field that same year.  Todd spent eight years working in an independent testing facility in Wilsonville Oregon where he built skills in all aspects of Electrical Test and Quality Assurance. Todd then spent a short term with Yamamoto Corporation on their Engineering staff covering PCB drill, finishing and Electrical Test before joining Probe Test Fixtures in 1995. His charge was CAM and Fixuring Manager.  Todd joined the Gardien Group in September 1998 continuing the same roll and taking on the responsibilities of Quality Manager for Oregon operations. In 2008 Mr. Kolmodin was promoted to Vice President Quality USA. In this position Mr. Kolmodin oversees and maintains the Gardien ITAR registration, ISO Multi-Site registration and multiple site Lab Suitability with the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime. Now also maintaining the Gardien QMS system Todd now serves as Vice President Quality North America.

Mr. Kolmodin is also a published columnist and Technical Presenter with multiple appearances at the IPC Apex Expo Conferences in both San Diego and Las Vegas. 

Holger Kern

General Manager, Germany

Mr. Kern has been General Manager of Gardien Europe since May 2013. He has more than 25 Years experience in Sales and Service of Equipment for pcb manufacturers with companies such as FSL, CIMATEC and Mania. 

His sales and service experience covers the whole wet process of pcb production as well as electrical and optical test and drilling.

Additionally, Mr. Kern is a fully trained electronics technician.

Manfred Ludwig

General Manager, China

Manfred was born and raised in a small village in Germany and obviously inherited the technical skills of his father.

After gradutaion from high school and he joined Schoeller Elektronik and was working in several positions related to manufacturing, testing and inspecting PCB’s for more than 10 years. In 1995, he joined Mania Technologie in Germany providing his deep knowledge in the manufacturing process of PCB’s to a world class manufacturer of inspection equipment. During his tenure there, he held several positions in the test outsourcing devision, R&D and customer care and he developed his interest in the Asian culture.After a short engagement as QA manager for a Chinese CNC equipment manufacturer in 2009, he finally joined Gardien China in 2010 as a R&D engineer.

In 2011, Manfred became the Director of Operations China. Since that time his focus has been providing his deep expertise not only to Gardien, but also to a growing number of customers in China

Lili Hou

Director Operations Jiangsu Province

Ms. Lili Hou was born in Shenyang city, Liaoning province which located at northeast of China mainland. She has been the owner of an private factory and she also working there as GM and production manager for about 6 years. Ms. Hou also went to aboard to study further in management and language about two years before she joined in Gardien in 2011 as customer relation manager. And  in 2014, she was promoted to be the operation director in Jiangsu province of Gardien China out of the performance.

Masayuki Komatsu

Operations Director, Japan

Komatsu joined Gardien in May of 1984, as a test equipment operator, and then later as a drill operator. He started Gardien Japan’s first remote-location test center, in Niigata, Japan. Komatsu has ascended the management ranks to become Operations Director, where he leverages his 30 years of experience in the industry toward Gardien’s high standard of quality in electrical testing, fixture manufacture, and operations management.

Mayumi Akisada

Finance Director, Japan

Akisada started her career at Gardien Japan in 1991, as a clerical assistant. Throughout the years, she has developed within that role, and expanded to include assignments in Finance, Accounting, HR, Legal, and General Affairs. She was promoted to Director of Finance and General Affairs in 2011, and she is serving as the CFO of Gardien Japan.

Careers

Gardien are always looking for innovative and motivated people to join our team.
We offer challenging projects, a rewarding work environment and the fast-paced adventure of a dynamic company with a global footprint. Why not join the team that will help assure the quality of the next generation of high-technology products for some of the most innovative companies in the world?

Contact us

Roland Valentini

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Valentini was appointed COO in July 2010 after successfully serving as head of North American operations since 2005.

Roland has over ten years’ experience in the PCB industry, including sales, service, and project management at Atotech GmbH, Germany mainly relating to PCB plating equipment.
He has significant sales experience from his tenure at Mack Rides GmbH and headed up worldwide installations for Lurgi Bischoff GmbH.

Mr. Valentini received a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Mannheim, Germany.

Richard Horsman

Executive Chairman

Prior to Richard joining Gardien in September 2014, he was Chairman/CEO of tool chain vendor Atego Group Systems Limited which was sold to PTC Inc.

Prior to joining Atego, Richard held a number of Executive and Non-Executive roles including Senior Independent Non-Executive Director of Plethora Solutions, an AIM listed Pharmaceutical Company and CEO of AIM listed Cybit Holdings plc. where he grew the company from inception to revenues of over 25 million and took the company through multiple acquisitions before managing a sale of the business to Francisco Partners.

Richard previously held a number of senior roles in the Software industry.