Vincent “Vinny” Smith, longtime chief executive of Irvine-based Quest Software Inc., promoted company insider Douglas Garn to president.
Smith said he wanted to focus more on strategy and less on daily operations by elevating Garn, who has served as global sales vice president.
It’s been a while since Quest has had a president. The last one was David Doyle, who founded Quest and then brought in Smith in 1997.
“In just 10 years, Quest has grown from 25 employees to more than 2,250,” Smith said. “And we continue to see double-digit revenue growth. Doug will work closely with me to help Quest continue this rapid growth, while giving me the ability to focus more aggressively on our vision for the next big thing.”
Smith started his career with Oracle Corp. In 1992, he got to work on his first big payoff by starting San Francisco-based Patrol Software with an Oracle colleague. BMC Software Inc. bought Patrol in 1994.
Smith’s interest in Irvine-based Quest, a maker of database management software, grew through an investment his Insight Capital Partners made in 1995.
Smith took a seat on the company’s board and gradually became more involved, becoming chief executive in 1997 and chairman a year later.
Doyle left the company in 2002.
,Andrew Simons
