AI Career Notes: April 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:
Rob Bailer and Brian Gracely
Solo.io, the application networking company, appointed Rob Bailer as its chief financial officer and Brian Gracely as its vice president of product strategy. Bailer joined Solo.io from cloud data access control company Immuta, where he led the finance team. Previously, he was vice president of finance at machine learning and predictive analytics software company DataRobot.
Solo.io appointed Brian Gracely as its vice president of product strategy. Gracely joined the company from enterprise open source solutions provider Red Hat, where he served as senior director of product strategy. Gracely led the go-to-market strategy for Red Hat’s Open Hybrid Cloud offerings, working directly with enterprise customers to identify their hybrid cloud strategy and transformation plans.
Mehdi Bozzo-Rey
Multiverse Computing, a provider of quantum computing solutions, appointed Mehdi Bozzo-Rey as its chief revenue officer. Bozzo-Rey also spent 14 years at IBM, where he led sales for IBM Quantum in Canada and was a certified senior offering manager for the high performance computing team. He comes to Multiverse after leading business development for the Quantum Algorithms Institute in Vancouver, B.C.
“I believe quantum computing has the long-term potential to change the way we tackle the challenges that specific industry verticals are facing in finance, energy, logistics, health and more,” said Bozzo-Rey. “I joined Multiverse Computing because of their unique expertise in quantum and quantum-inspired algorithms that allows enterprises to not only benefit from solutions that have an immediate return on investment but prepare them for the transition to future quantum computing-enabled processes.”
James Cuff
GigaIO, creator of next-gen data center rack-scale architecture for artificial intelligence and high performance computing, appointed Dr. James Cuff as its chief of scientific computing and partnerships. Cuff will be responsible for helping design composable architectures that function at scale and provide the foundation for complex and challenging workloads.
“For years, while working at some of the largest and most complex global computational research institutes, I’ve noticed how critical the network is to the computer, but even more so to the modern computational scientist,” said Cuff. “Being able to rapidly and seamlessly create ‘impossible computer’ systems with low latency, highly performant networks and software is inordinately exciting to me, and I truly believe it will be just as exciting to our future customers and partners.”
Diane Galbe, Stéphane Lhopiteau, Philippe Oliva, and Jean-Philippe Poirault
Atos appointed Diane Galbe as its chief strategy and sustainability officer and general secretary. Galbe will be also in charge of the mergers and acquisitions unit at Atos. She joined the company from Suez, where she spent 15 years in leading corporate and business positions, serving most recently as a member of the executive committee and senior executive vice president of the group in charge of strategy, transformation, and the global business unit smart and environmental solutions.
Stéphane Lhopiteau was appointed as Ato’s chief financial officer, effective on May 1. Lhopiteau brings a 30-year track record holding executive positions in corporate finance in tech and large project-driven industries, having notably served as CFO of Naval Group, deputy CFO of Thales and chief financial and legal officer of Areva/Orano.
In addition, Atos appointed Philippe Oliva as its chief commercial officer. Oliva brings a strong international experience in the digital sector, having spent almost 20 years at IBM where he has notably served as vice president for integrated technologies, then cloud services and hybrid services in North America. Philippe joined Atos from Eutelsat, were served as CCO for the past four years.
Lastly, Jean-Philippe Poirault was appointed as the company’s head of big data and security. Poirault is a seasoned executive of the telecom and cloud industries, with extensive experience in leading international management positions at Nokia (Alcatel Lucent), Ericsson and Amazon Web Services. Since March 2020, he has served as executive vice president of global head of telecom, media and technology at Atos.
Michael Hochberg
Luminous Computing appointed Michael Hochberg as its president. Hochberg will be responsible for running the engineering and operations aspects of the company. At the age of 19, he founded his first company (out of four), Simulant (acquired by Luxtera), which offered a purpose-built commercial tool for silicon photonics design.
“The vision for silicon photonics over the past 20 years has been to integrate this technology into computer architecture, and it wasn’t until recently that silicon photonics reached the point of maturity where it’s really possible,” said Hochberg. “We’re building a supercomputer that will bring world-changing capabilities to market, offering as much as a 1,000x step function in value to the end-user, and a dramatically improved user experience. If we are successful, the technology will have a huge commercial impact. We’re also excited about the applications to defense and national security needs. Making sure that the US has asymmetric access to the best technology in the world for AI is one of the key reasons that I joined Luminous.”
Adam Hughes
Sylabs, a provider of tools and services for performance-intensive container runtime technology, appointed Adam Hughes as its chief technology officer. Hughes will be responsible for Sylab’s technology strategy and relevant roadmaps.
“Turning complex challenges into simple, practically mundane tasks, is something that has always been a motivator,” said Hughes. “The idea of making people’s work and lives easier through the development of sophisticated but elegant systems really strikes at the core of what engineers do – and it’s what we’ve been doing as a community with Singularity. It’s easy to get lost in the code, but it’s important to remember that our work serves as part of the global software ecosystem that is advancing key areas of human life. The researchers and engineers who are using our tools are doing it as they work on some of the most complex challenges in science and technology. I’m proud to be part of Sylabs, the tip of the spear in the development of container science for technical workflows.”
George Joseph
Lumeo, a designer of computer vision solutions, appointed George Joseph as its vice president of engineering. Joseph comes to Lumeo from Innovation & Design Warehouse Technologies LLC, where he was the president and founder. He spent the bulk of his career as an executive director with Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. where he led various multi-functional teams and oversaw multi-million-dollar projects.
“I am excited to join the Lumeo team as its growth has definitely captured the eyes of the industry,” commented George. “I feel that my experience with developing edge management platforms, integrating IoT devices, and developing mobile applications meshes perfectly with Lumeo’s vision to accelerate the development of video and vision AI solutions.”
John Kahan
Domino Data Lab, the provider of the enterprise MLOps platform, appointed Microsoft’s Chief Data Analytics Officer Emeritus John Kahan as its strategic advisor to both its chief executive officer and board of directors. Kahan will advise Domino’s product development and go-to-market efforts.
“Domino Data Lab has led the movement by many of the world’s largest companies to build machine learning models into core business functions with important transparency and collaboration that is needed to succeed in today’s world,” said Kahan. ”I am thrilled to contribute my experience, as well as my passion for advancing the impact of data on health, to Domino and its customers’ success.”
Vishwa Kapadia
Platform9, an open distributed cloud service provider, appointed Vishwa Kapadia as its chief people officer. Vishwa has held executive leadership positions at multiple global technology companies including Intel, Dell, Infineon, and GE John F. Welch Technology Center.
"I am eager to take on the role of Platform9's first Chief People Officer to create an inclusive environment where diverse groups of people can thrive, innovate, and grow," said Vishwa. "Platform9 is poised to lead in a highly competitive cloud-native market environment, and I aim to support the company's rapid growth by shaping strategic practices to unleash the organization's energy and encourage the all-around well-being of employees while building people excellence and best practices."
Pete Morrison, Thierry Guenoun, and Jonathan Moore
BackBox, a provider of network automation, security and management solutions, appointed Pete Morrison as its vice president of sales. Morrison brings over 30 years of industry experience to his role at BackBox. He previously served as regional sales director at Splunk, where he led a team of sellers focused on aerospace and defense companies and held leadership positions at Oracle and CA Technologies.
In addition, Thierry Guenoun joined BackBox as its EMEA regional sales director. Guenoun comes to BackBox from Amdocs, where he designed and implemented integrated revenue and customer management solutions for tier-1 communications service providers and media companies throughout EMEA in his role as solutions architect.
Lastly, Jonathan Moore joined BackBox as its vice president of marketing. Moore has been leading growth marketing initiatives for B2B software companies for 25 years, contributing to five acquisitions and two IPOs, including Webtrends, Tripwire, Jive Software and AWS Elemental. Most recently, Moore served as vice president of marketing for customer experience analytics vendor Topbox.
Preet Michelson
AHEAD, a provider of enterprise cloud solutions, appointed Preet Michelson as its chief people officer. Michelson will be responsible for all aspects of AHEAD’s human resources strategy, including talent management, leadership development, and compensation and benefits.
“AHEAD is highly acquisitive and my number one goal going into this role is to continue to knit the fabric of this impressive company together,” said Michelson. “With so many people, cultures and legacy systems converging, I want to ensure everyone feels like they have a place and a path so that, ultimately, the AHEAD culture speaks for itself.”
Dave Packer and Mark Johnston
Matillion, providers of the enterprise cloud data integration platform, appointed Dave Packer as its president of worldwide field operations. Packer brings almost 30 years of experience leading field operations for technology organizations. Prior to joining Matillion, he was senior vice president of worldwide field operations at Ping Identity, a provider of cloud identity management solutions.
In addition, Mark Johnston joined Matillion as its chief marketing officer. Most recently, Johnston was interim CMO and vice president of product marketing at Domo, a cloud BI platform. He also spent 14 years at Microsoft, where he contributed to the successes of the company's most notable enterprise products, including Azure and Office 365.
Beatriz Paniagua and Berk Geveci
Kitware, Inc., a leader in developing custom software solutions using open source technology and advanced AI, appointed Beatriz Paniagua to its board of directors. Paniagua, Kitware’s assistant director of medical computing, brings to the board her vast experience in the medical computing industry. She can also contribute her unique perspectives having grown up in Extremadura, Spain, and as a woman in science with a leadership role within the company.
Berk Geveci also joined Kitware’s board of directors. He brings to the board his thorough knowledge of Kitware’s open source technologies and was one of the leading developers of ParaView and the Visualization Toolkit. As the senior director of scientific computing, he has been a long-time leader of Kitware’s scientific visualization efforts.
Greg Peters
Rigetti Computing, Inc., a provider of hybrid quantum-classical computing systems, appointed Greg Peters as its chief revenue officer. Peters will be responsible for leading Rigetti’s global commercialization and growth efforts with the goal of expanding the company’s quantum computing as a service business in the public and private sectors.
“I am thrilled to be part of a world-class quantum computing team and excited about this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work toward further commercializing the technology with the potential to solve the world’s most important and pressing problems,” said Peters.
Amit Phadnis
The former GE officer and chief digital officer of GE Healthcare, Amit Phadnis, joined RapidAI as its chief innovation and technology officer. Phadnis brings to RapidAI 30 years of experience leading global product teams. At RapidAI, he will oversee the research and development, engineering and technology organizations.
“I look forward to working with the talented technologists, engineers, and sales leaders at RapidAI, to advance our artificial intelligence platform and meaningfully improve physician workflow and patient outcomes,” said Phadnis. “I was drawn to RapidAI because of its unique suite of products and incredible leadership in the industry. I am grateful for the opportunity to bring my experience to the team and continue to develop technology that pushes the boundaries of care.”
Erik Pike
ScaleFlux, Inc. appointed Eric Pike as its vice president of business development. Pike will focus on growing ScaleFlux by building relationships extending from key suppliers to the major OEM and hyperscale customers.
Pike brings to ScaleFlux more than 20 years of technical and business development leadership experience having served roles at Intel, Numonyx, FusionIO, and Western Digital.
Sierk Poetting
IQM Quantum Computers appointed Dr. Sierk Poetting as the chairman of the board. Poetting is the chief operating officer at BioNTech SE, a next-generation immunotherapy company pioneering novel therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. He is experienced in the rapid transformation of fast-growing companies and globally expanding businesses.
“Technological advances and the increasing use of big data have disrupted many technologies, including healthcare, supporting the earlier detection of diseases and the development of more efficient treatments,” said Poetting. “IQM is an innovative company from Europe with regards to technological advancements in quantum computing, and I am looking forward to supporting them on their growth trajectory.
Sanjay Poonen and Tony Werner
MinIO Inc., creators of the MinIO multi-cloud object storage suite, appointed Sanjay Poonen as the company’s advisor. Poonen is a technology executive with more than 25 years of experience leading enterprise software companies, such as VMWare, SAP, and Informatica. He will provide counsel on growth and go-to-market strategy.
Tony Werner, a senior advisor to Comcast and former president of technology, product, and Xperience of Comcast Cable also joined MinIO as an advisor and investor. Prior to Comcast, Werner served as senior vice president and chief technology officer for Liberty Global, Inc., where he led the company’s global strategy for video, voice and data services.
Nicole Singer
SiFive, Inc. appointed Nicole Singer as its senior vice president and chief human resources officer. Singer will be responsible for leading the company’s global HR organization. She joined SiFive from Synaptics, where she was SVP of worldwide human resources.
“I’m delighted to be part of the innovative team at SiFive, to help the company move onto the next stage of its journey in building a leading high-performance processor IP business,” said Singer. “SiFive is attracting talent at a fast pace to address the challenges of modern chip design and guiding that growth will be key to our success in executing our roadmap. I’m pleased to be joining at this pivotal time when every employee’s actions will have maximum impact.”
Chris Stansbury
Lumen Technologies appointed Chris Stansbury as its chief financial officer. Stansbury most recently served as senior vice president and CFO of Arrow Electronics, Inc., a provider of technology products, services, and solutions. In his role at Arrow, Stansbury was responsible for leading the company's global finance organization and served as a member of the company's executive committee.
"This is an important time in Lumen's transformation, and I look forward to continue building on the great work the team has underway," said Stansbury. "Lumen has a strong financial foundation and significant opportunities for value creation. I am excited to be joining the company and can't wait to get started."
Shireesh Thota and Yatharth Gupta
SingleStore, the single database for all data-intensive applications, appointed Shireesh Thota as senior vice president of engineering. Thota will lead the company’s engineering efforts and oversee the design and development of the SingleStore DB product. Thota previously ran the engineering efforts for Cosmos DB and Postgres Hyperscale (Citus) services at Microsoft, where he worked in multiple roles for more than 15 years.
Yatharth Gupta joined SingleStore as its vice of product management and design. Before joining SingleStore, Gupta worked for more than 14 years at Microsoft, where he led the product team for Azure Databricks products. As a founding member of the Azure Databricks team, Gupta was responsible for driving the product, and partnerships as well as bringing the service to market and shaping the growth over the past three years. Prior to Azure, he held various leadership roles in Windows at Microsoft.
Adam Towns
Dataiku, the platform for everyday AI, appointed Adam Towns as its chief financial officer. Towns will lead Dataiku’s financial strategy and operations focused on scaling its already thriving business.
Before joining Dataiku, Towns served as the CFO of Sisense, where he led the company’s global finance and business operations team. Before that, he was senior vice president of strategic finance and FP&A at Mimecast, managing the company through a successful IPO in 2015.
Kuntal Vahalia
ThoughtSpot, the modern analytics cloud company, appointed Kuntal Vahalia as its senior vice president of worldwide channels and alliances. Vahalia will be responsible for overseeing ThoughtSpot’s global partner, alliances, and channel programs as part of the go-to-market team.
“Everywhere you look, data is rewriting the rules of what’s possible for businesses, and as the volume of data continues to grow exponentially, so too does its potential impact for businesses. Turning this potential into transformational outcomes, however, requires companies to go beyond traditional analytics and rethink entirely how they leverage data,” said Vahalia. “Luckily, there’s an entire ecosystem of players building solutions to tap into the value of data, but they need a means to put that value in the hands of employees and customers. That’s why I’m so excited to bring ThoughtSpot’s unique platform, one that brings together data, search, AI, and cloud, to companies ready to lead in the years ahead.”
Libby Wolfensperger
Kentik, the network observability company, appointed Libby Wolfensperger as its first vice president of people and places. Wolfensperger will responsible for all aspects of the people operations department, including talent acquisition and retention, team and culture, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I’m excited to join the Kentik team at such a pivotal time for employee growth and global market expansion,” said Wolfensperger. “My focus is now on growing a culture strategy to attract and retain top tech talent, while also positioning Kentik as a fast-growing, inclusive company where everyone on our team can thrive and advance their careers.”
Bobby Yerramilli-Rao
GlobalFoundries Inc. appointed Bobby Yerramilli-Rao as an independent director of the company’s board of directors. Dr. Yerramilli-Rao is currently chief strategy officer and corporate vice president of corporate strategy at Microsoft, where he is responsible for developing and driving growth-oriented strategies.
Prior to joining Microsoft in 2020, Dr. Yerramilli-Rao served as co-founder and managing partner of Fusion Global Capital, which focused on accelerating the growth of emerging software and cloud computing companies. Before that, he served as corporate strategy director of Vodafone Group responsible for strategy globally and acquisitions related to digital services.
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 mariana@taborcommunications.com. We look forward to hearing from you.
