Mark Spencer

Mark Spencer founded Digium®, Inc., in 1999 as Linux Support Systems while still a computer engineering student at Auburn University. When faced with the high cost of buying a PBX for the company, Spencer simply used his Linux PC and knowledge of C code to develop his own PBX. This was the beginning of the worldwide open source phenomenon known as Asterisk®.

As Asterisk gained in popularity, Spencer shifted his business focus from Linux support to supporting Asterisk and opening up the telecom market. Mark renamed the company Digium and transformed the fledgling upstart into the leading open source telecommunication provider in the world today.

As the Chairman and CTO of Digium, Mark Spencer continues to drive the strategic vision and technology direction of the company as well as focus on the development and growth of the Asterisk Community at large.

Spencer is widely regarded as the pioneer of open source telephony and gives frequent keynote addresses to large technology audiences.