AI Career Notes: January 2021 Edition
In this monthly feature we bring you up to date on the latest career developments in the enterprise AI community -- promotions, new hires and accolades:
Nicole Anasenes (left) and Maria Shields
Nicole Anasenes and Maria Shields
Ansys, an engineering simulation software provider, appointed Nicole Anasenes as its chief financial officer and senior vice president of finance and Maria Shields as its SVP of administration. Anasenes, who is the former chief financial officer and chief operating officer of Squarespace, stepped down from her role as a member of the Ansys board of directors and its audit committee to take the role.
Shields was promoted to SVP of administration from her role as Ansys’ chief financial officer. She will be responsible for leading the company’s human resources, information technology, procurement, and real estate functions.
Tom Bethell and Rod Faul
Tom Bethell and Rod Paul joined Kao Data, a provider of data centers for high performance colocation services. Bethell was appointed as its business development director. He comes from Next Generation Data and brings years of experience in data center, HPC, and telco markets. He also worked at China Telecom, Six Degrees Group, and Pulsant.
Faul joined Kao Data as its senior client director. He comes from data center provider VIRTUS, bringing 30 years of telco and data center experience. He has also held sales roles at Level3 and Telefonica.
Adam Board
Data center service provider CPG appointed Adam Board to the newly created position of national safety director. Board will be responsible for the development and execution of occupational safety procedures to ensure effective safety operations in the company. He comes from JE Dunn Construction, where he managed the mission-critical safety and health program.
“CPG’s end-to-end portfolio offers a unique opportunity to take my passion, expertise, and experience for mission-critical safety and apply it far beyond facility construction,” said Board. “As we continue to help our customers navigate a new normal of data demand with accelerated builds, white space fit-outs, and data center optimizations, it’s more important than ever that safety is at the core of our operations - I look forward to ensuring that this is so.”
Altair, a software and cloud solutions provider, appointed Matthew Brown as its senior vice president. Brown held senior financial leadership positions at cyber safety company NortonLifeLock and Symantec, an enterprise security software provider.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Altair at such an exciting point in the company’s history,” said Brown. “Innovation and envisioning the future are at the core of Altair’s culture. I look forward to continuing that legacy while working alongside some of the industry’s smartest people to drive profitable growth and deliver value to our customers, partners, stockholders, and employees.”
IBM appointed Gary D. Cohn as its vice chairman of IBM and member of the IBM executive leadership team. Cohn will partner with IBM's newly-appointed CEO Arvind Krishna and the rest of the executive team in various business projects and external engagements. Cohn served as at the White House as assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the National Economic Council from January 2017 until April 2018.
"I am honored to be joining IBM, one of the world's most important companies, providing technology that helps organizations be agile and resilient in unpredictable times," said Cohn. "With the company's long history of innovation and transformation for every technology area, and a focused growth strategy that will capitalize on the enormous opportunity in hybrid cloud and AI, this is an exciting time to begin working alongside Arvind, the IBM team and IBM's incredible roster of clients."
Dmitri Daveynis and Manny Triggiano
Aktana, an AI-driven intelligent engagement solutions provider, named Dmitri Daveynis as its chief technology officer and senior vice president of engineering and Manny Triggiano as its of professional services.
With over 20 years of software engineering and IT operations leadership experience, Daveynis will take over the technology strategy, product development, and cloud operations for Aktana. Triggiano will be responsible for ensuring client satisfaction, employee engagement, operational efficiency, and cost effectiveness at the company. Before Aktana, Triggiano was chief operating officer of Theorem.
Massimiliano Di Ventra
Dr. Massimiliano Di Ventra, co-founder of MemComputing, Inc., a developer of high-performance computing technology, received the Foresight Institute’s 2020 Feynman Prize for Theory in Nanotechnology. The award was established in 1993 and named in honor of physicist Richard Feynman. It recognizes researchers who advance Feynman’s goal for nanotechnology, which is to construct atomically-precise products through the use of productive nanosystems
“I am honored to have received this prize, which came as a complete, and very pleasant surprise,” said Di Ventra. “It is not just a recognition of my research, but also the contribution of many students, postdocs, and collaborators I have had the fortune and privilege of working with over the years.”
Edo Ganot
Excelero, provider of software-defined block storage for AI/ML/deep learning and GPU computing, appointed Edo Ganot as its chief business officer. Ganot will be responsible for developing go-to-market initiatives, sales and partnerships that align with the company’s NVMesh Elastic NVMe software-defined storage products for data storage in the U.S., Asia-Pacific and European markets.
“This is a rare inflection point in the enterprise IT market where AI, high-performance computing and large database deployments have created an unmet need for faster and cost-effective storage,” Ganot said. “Excelero’s impressive installed base with global tier 1 players and technology partnerships with industry leaders gives us a tremendous advantage. I look forward to accelerating the partnerships, sales and marketing initiatives that will propel our growth.”
Joydeep Ghosh
Dr. Joydeep Ghosh received the 2020 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Research Contributions Award. Ghosh is the chief scientific officer at enterprise AI software company CognitiveScale and holds the Schlumberger Centennial Chair Professorship at the University of Texas, Austin. He was recognized for his contributions to the field of data mining and analytics.
"Both in academia and the business arena, the field of data mining, artificial intelligence, and machine learning offers the next wave of solutions in the technology continuum, especially important in our pandemically challenged world," said Dr. Ghosh. "I am humbled to receive this award and thank the ICDM Committee for recognizing just how significant a role data mining and machine learning innovation plays in nearly every aspect of business and academia." he added. "It is also a great validation of the collective work being done by CognitiveScale around development of high value and trustworthy intelligent automation applications."
Duncan Jones
Cambridge Quantum Computing, developer of quantum software and quantum algorithms, welcomed Duncan Jones as head of the company’s quantum cybersecurity business. Duncan previously worked for technology companies including Thales and Arm. He will be responsible for developing and commercializing quantum software and technologies in cybersecurity, science, engineering, finance, and gaming for Cambridge Quantum.
“I am excited and honored to join the team at CQC at this time of strong momentum,” Jones said. “There are so many potential applications of CQC’s technology today in finance, science, and in particular cybersecurity. I am attracted by CQC’s approach that is described succinctly as ‘science led; enterprise driven.’”
Cain Hayes
DocuSign appointed Cain Hayes to its board of directors. Hays, president and chief executive officer at Gateway Health Plan President, has held senior executive positions at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Aetna, Nationwide Insurance, and Principal Financial Group.
"I'm pleased and honored to join the DocuSign board of directors," said Hayes. "With its eSignature and broader agreement cloud offerings, the company is well-positioned to be a digital transformation catalyst for customers in all industries—including healthcare and financial services. I look forward to supporting its growth path and to making DocuSign even more ubiquitous in the daily life and work of people around the world."
Charlie Kawwas (from left), Tom Krause, and Kirsten Spears
Charlie Kawwas, Tom Krause, and Kirsten Spears
Broadcom promoted Charlie Kawwas, Tom Krause, and Kirsten Spears to senior leadership positions within the company. Kawwas was promoted from senior vice president and chief sales officer to chief operating officer. He will be responsible for global operations and will continue to lead sales for the semiconductor and Brocade storage networking divisions, as well as corporate marketing for all of Broadcom.
Krause was promoted to president of Broadcom’s new infrastructure software group and will manage six software units in addition to software sales, customer support, and software operations. He previously served as the chief financial officer of the company. Spears succeeds Krause as CFO of Broadcom. She was promoted from her role as vice president, corporate controller, and principal accounting officer.
Jin Kim
Esperanto Technologies, a developer of high-performance, energy-efficient computing solutions, appointed Jin Kim as its chief data scientist and vice president of software. Before joining Esperanto, Kim managed engineering and marketing teams at companies including GraphSQL, Wave Computing, Objectivity, Skytree, Tom Sawyer Software, Vitria Technology, Tactica, and Trimeter Technologies.
“We are in the midst of a revolution, based on AI/ML/DL, big data, and advanced analytics. This is an exciting time, and I am impressed with the leading-edge technology and high-performance, energy-efficient computing solutions Esperanto offers in these rapidly growing markets,” said Kim. “I am delighted to join the Esperanto team, expanding Esperanto’s strengths in AI and software leadership.”
Arvind Krishna was elected chairman of the board at IBM. Krishna, who started working at IBM in 1990, was appointed as the company’s chief executive officer in January 2020. He is also a member of the board at the company.
Prior to his CEO appointment, Krishna most recently held the role of senior vice president for IBM’s cloud and cognitive software division, where he played an instrumental role in the acquisition of Red Hat, a provider of open source solutions.
Isabella Kusumawati
SUSE, an open source solutions provider, welcomed Isabella Kusumawati as its vice president and managing director for the Southeast Asia region. Kusumawati brings more than 17 years of sales experience and will be responsible for increasing the revenue in the region in the next three years.
“Our customers are looking for choice; they demand open technologies that help them drive their business outcomes,” Kusumawati said. “We are currently hiring aggressively as we look to expand the team to help our customers, communities and partners leverage open source solutions. In today’s business environment, digital transformation is imperative and open source is playing a major role that delivers a robust foundation in the modern IT landscape, as well as cost efficiencies and innovation. The trend of enterprises leveraging open source technology will rise drastically like never before as it allows companies to develop an ecosystem that can advance faster innovation, enabling unprecedented scale, adaptability and additional new features supporting changing trends and customer demands.”
Robin Matlock
Cohesity appointed Robin Matlock to its board of directors. Matlock most recently served as chief marketing officer at VMware and brings more than 30 years of marketing, sales, and business development experience in markets including enterprise software, cloud services, and security.
“I am excited to join the Cohesity Board of Directors at this unique point in the company’s journey,” said Matlock. “The company continues to experience rapid growth and adoption at an impressive pace. At the same time, Cohesity is poised to gain tremendous market share as it rapidly scales its portfolio to include data management innovations in cloud, SaaS, compliance, and security. I’ve been fortunate to help lead other companies through periods of substantial growth and look forward to bringing ideas and experiences to Cohesity.”
Brian Pawlowski
Quantum Corp. welcomed Brian Pawlowski as its chief development officer. Pawlowski brings over 35 years of technical and leadership experience, holding leadership positions at DriveScale, Pure Storage, and NetApp. He currently serves as co-chair of the NFS Working Group at the Internet Engineering Task Force. He has served on the board of trustees for the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and as a board member at the Linux Foundation.
“As Quantum strives to be the leader in video and unstructured data, I’ll be focused on building synergies across our general business units, driving hybrid multi-cloud data management solutions, expanding our software download strategy, and simplifying our products for ease of customer use,” said Pawlowski.
Sudhakar Ramakrishna
IT management software vendor SolarWinds Corp. named Sudhakar Ramakrishna as its president and chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors. Ramakrishna brings over 25 years of experience in cloud, mobility, networking, security and collaboration markets.
“SolarWinds is at the forefront of enabling customers to manage complex IT environments with simple and integrated solutions,” Ramakrishna said. “I am honored to have the opportunity to work with the excellent team at SolarWinds to accelerate our focus on customer success, as we deliver solutions to serve the emerging needs of IT, Application and Security professionals even as they adapt to an increasingly hybrid world.”
Rajiv Ramaswami
Nutanix, provider of private cloud, hybrid, and multicloud computing solutions, appointed Rajiv Ramaswami as its president and chief executive officer. Ramaswami began his technology career at IBM over 30 years ago and has held senior executive roles at VMware, Broadcom, Cisco, and Nortel.
“I’m thrilled to be joining Nutanix at this transformative time for the company and the industry,” said Ramaswami. “I have long admired Nutanix as a formidable competitor, a pioneer in hyperconverged infrastructure solutions and a leader in cloud software. Working closely with the board, the management team, and the more than 6,000 talented Nutanix employees around the world, we will build on Nutanix’s strong foundation of continuous innovation, collaboration and customer delight. Together, we will capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead and deliver on the company’s next phase of growth and value creation.”
Chuck Robel
Enterprise AI platform provider DataRobot appointed Chuck Robel to its board of directors as an independent director and chair of the audit committee. Robel currently serves as chairman of the board at GoDaddy, a domain name registrar and web hosting provider. He has previously served on the boards of Sumo Logic, Informatica, AppDynamics, and Jive Software.
“DataRobot is at the forefront of AI, which is the defining innovation of our time,” said Robel. “I’m impressed with not only the company’s industry-leading platform, but their pool of talent that includes some of the top data scientists and business operators in the world. I’m thrilled to be joining DataRobot’s board at such an exciting time and look forward to being a part of their continued success.”
Ajay Singh
Ajay Singh joined Pure Storage, a multi-cloud storage as-a-service provider, as its chief product officer. Singh brings more than 25 years of experience in software and services with a background managing as-a-service and DevOps teams. Most recently he served as general manager of the cloud management business unit at VMware.
“I have had long-standing admiration for Pure and I could not be more eager to be a part of this world-class team,” said Singh. “Pure is rightfully a disruptor and an innovator, meeting customers where they are and enabling them on a path forward to transform their environments.”
Haiyan Song
Haiyan Song joined F5 Networks, a multi-cloud application security and delivery company, as its executive vice president of security. Song comes from Splunk, where she led the security business unit as its senior vice president and general manager of security markets.
Song brings more than 20 years of experience, including serving as vice president and general manager at HP ArcSight, VP of engineering at ArcSight, and VP of engineering at SenSage. Song currently serves on the board of revenue management and digital payments vendor CSG and has served on the board of LLamasoft, an AI-powered supply chain analytics software company.
Rick Valentine
Quantum Corp. welcomed Rick Valentine as its senior vice president and chief customer officer. Valentine will be responsible for Quantum's customer experience as it transitions to an as-a-service provider for unstructured data management, analytics, and storage. Valentine most recently served as CFO at Silver Peak Systems, an SD-WAN technology solutions provider.
"As Quantum transitions to software-defined architectures, and a subscription and as-a-service business, my priority will be building a services organization that can support the customer experience in this new model," said Valentine.
Charlie Velasquez
Charlie Velasquez joined Centrify, an identity-centric privileged access management solutions provider, as its chief financial officer. Velasquez brings more than 30 years of leadership experience in finance, accounting, operations, sales, and product management. He previously held the role of CFO for Skybox Security, Arxan Technologies, CollabNet/VersionOne, AccelOps, and Tidal Software.
“Centrify is a highly innovative organization with market-leading solutions, a strong partner ecosystem, and a clear vision and strategy,” said Velasquez. “It’s a very exciting time to be joining the business, and my focus will be on supporting our continued organic and inorganic growth worldwide. By meeting the needs of our customers while running a highly efficient operation, we are ideally positioned to deliver on Centrify’s great potential.”
Martin Zahumenksy
Martin Zahumenksy joined Ataccama, a provider of self-driving data management and governance solutions, as its chief growth officer. Zahumensky will be responsible for leading initiatives with the goal to drive company growth. He spent his early career in large-name professional services and consulting companies before he founded and served as chief executive officer of Instarea.
“I’m honored to take on this new role and be part of a company that has not only such ambitious plans to grow but also the means to achieve it,” said Zahumensky. “There is an amazing pool of talent at Ataccama. Coupled with an industry-leading product and dynamic company culture, it’s a recipe for success.”
To read last month's edition of Career Notes, click here.
Do you know someone that should be included in next month's list? If so, send us an email at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you.
