Jon “maddog” Hall is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the Linux Professional Institute (LPI). Since 1969, having received his BS in Commerce and Engineering from Drexel University, and his MSCS from RPI in Troy, New York, Mr. Hall has been a programmer, systems designer, systems administrator, product manager, technical marketing manager, author and educator, and an independent consultant.
In addition to being a charter (founding) sponsor of LPI, Mr. Hall helped formulate the concepts and vision of what has become the Linux Professional Institute. Mr. Hall personally donated funds to help create psychometrically sound certifications and deliver the first 200 exams during the intial roll out.
Jon “maddog” Hall has concentrated on Unix systems since 1980 and Linux systems since 1994, when he first met Linus Torvalds and correctly recognized the commercial importance of Linux and Free and open source Software.
Since 1995 Mr. Hall has been the President of Linux International(TM). He has traveled extensively speaking to large groups, consulting with governments, NGOs, and industry leaders around the globe, as well as being a prolific author on the benefits of free and open source software.