Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Tuesday, March 19, 2024

AI Career Notes: December 2022 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:


Dina Alnahdy 

mCloud Technologies Corp, a provider of cloud technology solutions, appointed Dina Alnahdy to its board of directors. Alnahdy is a founding board member and chief executive officer of ENTEC Environmental Technology, a consulting and environmental service company based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

“I look forward to working closely with Russ, the mCloud leadership team, and the company’s board of directors,” Alnahdy said. “mCloud is very well-positioned to grow its presence and footprint in the Middle East. The company is set to accelerate and greatly expand the delivery of mCloud’s AssetCare cloud applications across the MENA region. mCloud is uniquely powerful in combining AI on Google Cloud and Google Earth Engine to power sustainability applications that are tackling decarbonization challenges throughout Saudi Arabia and abroad. mCloud is setting the industry standard for all.”

Ana Assis

IBM appointed Ana Paula Assis, general manager of IBM Europe, Middle East & Africa, as its chairman of Europe, Middle East & Africa regions. Under this role, Assis is responsible for leading IBM’s AI and hybrid cloud strategy in the region.

In addition to her current responsibility for IBM’s business operations, client satisfaction and employee engagement in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Assis will also be responsible for IBM’s relationship with the European Union as well as other institutions across the region.

Lakshmikant Bhupathi and Scott Clark

Ayar Labs appointed Lakshmikant Bhupathi as its vice president of products and strategy and ecosystem. Bhupathi joined Ayar Labs following twenty years with Marvell Semiconductor in a variety of design, technical marketing and product roles. Bhupathi also served as the president and marketing chair for the NBASE-T alliance (since merged with the Ethernet Alliance).

In addition, Ayar Labs appointed Scott Clark as its vice president of manufacturing and operations. Clark comes to Ayar Labs with extensive manufacturing, supply chain and operations senior leadership experience, most recently as vice president of supply chain at Corsair Gaming.

Rob Carter

Connectbase appointed Rob Carter as its chief operating officer. Carter comes to Connectbase from Recovery Point Systems, where he served as COO. He’s also served in leadership positions at TierPoint and Windstream.

“I truly believe in Connectbase’s mission and deep value for our industry,” said Carter. “As companies buy and sell network, the Connectbase platform is the ultimate driver of smart decisions for everyone involved. At Connectbase, I will focus on ensuring a frictionless customer experience throughout the company’s continued growth, making certain that our clients see return on their decision to work with Connectbase as quickly as possible and deliver on our brand promise to be a partner to the industry.”

Nicolas Chaillan and Adrian Cockcroft

Harness, developers of the modern software delivery platform, appointed Nicolas Chaillan and Adrian Cockcroft as strategic advisors to the company. Chaillan has served in various IT leadership positions in the U.S. government. He is also a serial entrepreneur, having launched 12 companies and selling more than 180 software products to Fortune 500 companies.

Cockcroft brings over 40 years of experience in edge technology to Harness. He previously led sustainability marketing for Amazon Web Services and invested in the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative, helping launch the Well-Architected Pillar for Sustainability.

Jem Davies

Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) appointed Jem Davies as chair of the board of directors. Davies will help NAG execute on transformative strategy, focus on product and service innovation, and explore new market positions. Davies has held a number of senior roles in industry, including at IP technology firm Arm as vice-president, fellow and general manager with responsibility for the machine learning group.

“I am proud to have been selected to chair this prestigious company that plays such an important role in computing,” said Davies. “Building on NAG’s great reputation for trust and quality, I am looking forward to helping this world leader enter new markets at a transformational time.”

Nora Denzel 

AMD appointed Nora Denzel as the lead independent director of its board of directors. Denzel has served on the AMD board of directors since 2014, most recently as chair of the compensation and leadership resource committee. She brings more than 25 years of experience in technology, data center and software through executive management positions at Intuit, HP, EMC and IBM and as interim CEO of Redbox.

Denzel has served on the boards of eight public companies and currently serves on the board of directors of Ericsson, SUSE Linux and NortonLifeLock. She also serves on the board of the National Association of Corporate Directors in Washington, D.C. and was named an emeritus board member after over a decade of service on the board of AnitaB.org, a nonprofit dedicated to getting more women into computing.

Tony Fadell, Paul Jacobs, and Rosemary Schooler

Arm appointed Tony Fadell to its board of directors. Fadell currently serves as principal at the Build Collective, an investment and advisory firm coaching deep tech startups. Fadell has served as senior vice president of Apple’s iPod division and led the team that created the first 18 generations of the iPod and the first three generations of the iPhone.

In addition, Dr. Paul Jacobs, chairman and chief executive officer of XCOM Labs and former CEO and executive chairman of Qualcomm Inc., joined the board of directors at Arm. Jacobs currently serves as director of Dropbox, Inc. and FIRST.

Lastly, Rosemary Schooler, former corporate vice president and general manager of data center and AI sales for Intel, joined the board of directors at Arm. During her 33-year career at Intel, Schooler managed and oversaw sales and corporate strategy for the company’s IoT business.

Casey George

Talend, a global leader in data integration and data management, appointed Casey George as its chief revenue officer. George most recently served as senior vice president and general manager at Verint and spent over 20 years at IBM in multiple executive roles.

“In today’s uncertain and rapidly evolving world, it’s imperative for companies to trust and understand how to use their data to gain a competitive edge,” said George. “Talend’s unique ability to turn data into a multiplier has never been more relevant. I look forward to working with the rest of the leadership team to help our customers thrive in a rapidly changing business environment.”

Jeffrey Giannetti

WekaIO appointed Jeffrey Giannetti as its chief revenue officer. Previously, he served as CRO at Cleversafe and Deep Instinct and has held several sales leadership positions at companies, including Sun Microsystems, Digital Ocean, and Forcepoint.

“WEKA has a remarkable vision to address fundamental issues that have plagued the data management industry for decades, delivering a more customer-centric approach to support the next-generation workloads that will power the future,” Giannetti said. “I believe the WEKA Data Platform is the technology that customers need, now more than ever, and WEKA’s people and culture are second to none. It’s an honor to join the company at this critical point in its trajectory to help build an elite global salesforce that will take this rocket ship to new heights.”

Shelagh Glaser

Synopsys, Inc. appointed Shelagh Glaser as its chief financial officer. Glaser comes to Synopsys from Zendesk where she served as the chief financial officer for the last two years. Before Zendesk, Glaser spent over 29 years at Intel, including serving as CFO and chief operating officer for Intel’s data platform group and client computing group.

“I’m excited to join Synopsys at this pivotal time, as we build on the company’s success over the past 35 years, its strong financial foundation, and industry leadership across the business,” said Glaser. “Synopsys’ position as a catalyst for the electronics industry and the growing importance of silicon and software to an expanding array of verticals, coupled with ambitious business growth plans, drew me to this opportunity. I look forward to leveraging my financial, strategic and operational experience in scaling large businesses as we work together to achieve our ambitions.”

Jen Grant 

Pecan AI, the solutions provider in AI-based predictive analytics for business teams and the BI analysts who support them, appointed Jen Grant to its board of directors. Grant brings 15 years of experience to the role. She is a current board member of Dialpad and Kyndi and advises Appify, Stych, Waitlist.me, and Postal.io.

“I’m honored to be appointed to Pecan’s board of directors,” said Grant. “When I was at Looker, we put analytics and data exploration into the hands of business teams, and now Pecan puts the power of predictive analytics through AI-based modeling into the hands of business teams. With Pecan, companies can literally anticipate the future actions of users, buyers, or customers, and then can put those predictions into immediate action within their product, website, or buying cycle. It’s not just about dashboards anymore. I am thrilled to be working with the talented team at Pecan to bring this incredible capability to every business everywhere.”

Marlo Green and Wendy Lurrie

Sinequa appointed Wendy Lurrie as the company’s chief marketing officer. In this new role, Lurrie will manage Sinequa’s global marketing and brand strategy. Before joining Sinequa, Lurrie served as senior vice president of global marketing at Medidata, a Dassault Systèmes company.

Sinequa appointed Marlo Green as its global head of human resources. In her role, Green will focus on empowering a global workforce while ensuring the organization is best positioned to support the rapidly expanding demand for intelligent search. Prior to joining Sinequa, she held the role of executive director of talent and resource management at Brown University.

Kelly Gurr and Donna Hacker 

Q-CTRL appointed Kelly Gurr as head of marketing. Gurr will lead Q-CTRL’s marketing efforts across Australia, the U.S. and Europe and work closely across all multidisciplinary global functions.

In addition, Q-CTRL appointed Donna Hacker as head of finance. Hacker will lead, manage and build all facets of Q-CTRL’s accounting and financial endeavors to enable the long-term health and financial stability of the company and achieve strong financial performance.

Russ Hellmann and Max Lipovetsky

Cyara, the provider of the automated customer experience assurance platform, has appointed Max Lipovetsky as its vice of products. Lipovetsky will be responsible for guiding the company through its next stage of product innovation, including the role of AI in testing.

In addition, Cyara appointed Russ Hellmann to the newly created role of VP of growth marketing. Hellmann, who was the head of global demand and digital innovation at Fujitsu, will be responsible for developing a centralized capability for regional teams that will enable customer acquisition and partner activation.

Katariina Korhonen, Amy Krishnamohan, Ian Massingham, Jonah Kowall

Aiven, the open source cloud data platform company, appointed Katariina Korhonen as its vice president of strategy and operations. Prior to her new role, Katariina spent the last six years in various executive roles at Smartly.

Amy Krishnamohan joined Aiven as its VP of product marketing. Krishnamohan will be responsible for Aiven’s product marketing direction and strategy, as well as engaging with key stakeholders.

In addition, Aiven appointed Ian Massingham as the company’s VP of developer relations and community. Prior to joining Aiven, Massingham led the developer relations and community team at MongoDB.

Lastly, Jonah Kowall joined Aiven as its VP of product management. In his role, Kowall will lead and execute the product strategy and head the product team responsible for platform enhancements to support ongoing growth in Aiven’s customer base.

Arvind Krishna 

Northrop Grumman Corp. appointed Arvind Krishna, chairman and chief executive officer of IBM, to its board of directors. Krishna became IBM’s chief executive officer in April 2020 and chairman of the board in January 2021. He is also a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York board of directors.

Prior to becoming CEO, Krishna was senior vice president for cloud and cognitive software and he also headed IBM Research. He has led the building and expansion of new markets for IBM in artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing, and blockchain.

Nandan Nayampally

BrainChip Holdings Ltd, the world's first commercial producer of neuromorphic AI IP, appointed Nandan Nayampally as its chief marketing officer. Nayampally was at Arm for more than 15 years in a variety of product marketing and product management leadership roles, eventually becoming vice president and general manager of Arm's signature CPU group and the Client Line of Business.

"I am excited to join BrainChip. Our unique approach to performant and efficient edge AI at scale is a great enabler for an industry that is looking for innovative and transformative solutions" said Nayampally. "It is a great opportunity to not only advance product intelligence at the sensor and the edge but unleash the full power of AI. BrainChip is positioned to create that positive change and I'm thrilled to be a part of making that happen."

Prineha Narang

Aliro Co-Founder and CTO Dr. Prineha Narang has been named as one of seven distinguished scientists to serve as U.S. Science Envoys for 2023. As a Science Envoy for Quantum Information Science and Technology, Narang will engage internationally with civil society as well as government stakeholders to help inform the Department of State, other U.S. government agencies, and the scientific community about opportunities for science and technology cooperation.  In addition to her role as CTO of Aliro Quantum, Dr. Narang is on faculty in Physical Sciences at UCLA where she holds the Howard Reiss Chair.

Barbara Novick

Intel Corp. appointed Barbara Novick, co-founder and senior advisor at BlackRock Inc., to its board of directors. Novick will serve as an independent director and join the board’s audit & finance and compensation committees.

“With its compelling IDM 2.0 strategy, vision and drive, Intel is in a position to capitalize on a tremendous opportunity as the world becomes ever more digital,” said Novick. “I am excited to join the board of directors and do my part to help the company transform for long-term success and unlock value for all its stockholders.”

Per Nyberg 

ORCA Computing, the full-stack photonic quantum computing company, appointed Per Nyberg as its chief commercial officer. Nyberg spent 17 years at the supercomputing company Cray, where he became vice president with responsibilities for global commercial strategy in artificial intelligence, cloud, and industry vertical markets.

“ORCA Computing is an incredible company. Its cutting-edge photonic technology and unique quantum memory are already creating traction with customers and the wider industry,” Nyberg said. “The company has huge potential and I’m delighted to be working with Richard and the team to lead our global commercial strategy to drive and accelerate our growth.”

Ian Smith

Optibrium, a developer of software and AI solutions for drug discovery, appointed Ian Smith as its chief technology officer. Smith will lead the software engineering, DevOps and quality assurance teams, driving the scale-up of the company’s infrastructure and managing the expanding portfolio of products and development projects.

Smith joins Optibrium having previously served as head of technology and delivery for an insurance technology start-up, Hx, part of the Howden Group. He has worked at Merck, Sharp and Dohme, holding positions including director of research and development analytics, director of IT productivity, and director of scientific modeling and real-world data.

Ben Taylor

Dataiku, the platform for everyday AI, appointed Ben Taylor as its first chief AI strategist. Taylor joined Dataiku from DataRobot, where he held the role of chief AI evangelist. Before DataRobot, he co-founded deep learning startup Zeff.ai, which was acquired by DataRobot.

“A simple truth we face is that AI will be part of every business, whether you like it or not. The only question is whether you want to be a leader or a laggard,” said Taylor. “However, the technology itself is nothing without people asking the right questions and bringing what makes us intrinsically human to AI. This is what makes Dataiku truly special - the company is not just about the technical aspects of its solid AI platform but is centered around collaboration and the people who create the types of jaw-dropping projects I hope to be a part of. It has soul, but it also has the fundamentals right. That combination is truly something unique in the industry and something I want to invest my lifeforce into.”

Ashlie Wallace

GlobalFoundries appointed Ashlie Wallace as its senior vice president of global supply chain. Wallace will be responsible for GF’s global supply chain operations including logistics, supply planning, sourcing, and procurement to drive operational efficiency that will support the company’s continued growth.

Wallace brings more than 15 years of experience in technology procurement and supply chain management to GF. Most recently, she served as VP of services supply chain and global logistics for Cisco and was responsible for global logistics operations and the service supply chain. Before joining Cisco, Wallace served in various leadership positions at Dell Technologies including VP of global server procurement and vice president of global inventory management.

Jisheng Wang

Traceable, an API security and observability company, appointed Dr. Jisheng Wang as head of artificial intelligence and machine learning and vice president of engineering. Wang most recently served as the senior director of engineering at Juniper Networks. Before that, he was senior director of data science in the CTO Office at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.

“The depths of Traceable’s 360-degree data collection and its world-class team were why I joined the company,” said Wang. “With the fast adoption of cloud-native and microservice-based software development architecture, APIs, which are often referred to as the glue that holds the software, applications and services together, are unsurprisingly becoming the new attack surface of some business-threatening attacks including OWASP threats, abuse and fraud, and data exfiltration. With Traceable’s uniquely designed out-of-band and in-app data collection approaches and the advanced AI/ML technologies, we can build the most comprehensive API security solution enabling customers to monitor, detect, investigate and remediate different kinds of API attacks in a single platform.”

2022-2023 SNIA Board of Directors and Technical Council 

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), a not-for-profit global organization of member companies spanning the storage market,  announced its 2022-2023 board of directors and technical council members as it celebrates 25 years in the storage industry focused on advancing storage and information technology. For more details on the new members, click here.

“The continued evolution of the Board and Technical Council with new members and company representation is a testament to the impacts that SNIA has in the industry,” said Dr. J Metz, Chair, SNIA Board of Directors. “As we look forward to the next era of storage and networking needs, we continue to see SNIA evolve the entire organization to provide ongoing support of the industry.”

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.

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