AI Career Notes: June 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:
Markus Bauman
Matillion, the enterprise cloud data integration platform provider, appointed Markus Bauman as its general counsel and chief legal officer. Bauman brings to Matillion a background in corporate law and corporate finance that will be instrumental in supporting Matillion’s legal and compliance function and its future growth.
"Matillion’s momentum is exciting, with organizations everywhere seeking cloud-native platforms to drive success and unleash the potential of data analytics," said Bauman. “I’m honored to be joining this global team as the company strives to deliver on its vision for unified data integration, and make the world’s data useful.”
Gregg Carman
Zapata Computing, an enterprise software company for quantum solutions, appointed Gregg Carman as its chief revenue officer. At Zapata, Carman will oversee all aspects of sales and revenue, customer solutions delivery as well as product. He will also be responsible for building the company’s market share across the quantum computing landscape.
“Throughout my career, I’ve been involved with businesses at nearly every stage of growth – from startup to enterprise – and I see a tremendous opportunity ahead with Zapata Computing in its current growth trajectory,” said Carman. “Quantum computing represents the future of technology and Zapata is directly at the intersection of today and tomorrow – setting up enterprises for the next wave of innovation around the corner.”
Geoff Clark, Phillip Cockrell, Joanne Harris, and Derek Yammarino
Striim, Inc. appointed Geoff Clark as its vice president and general manager of the EMEA region. Clark will be responsible for sales, marketing, and operations throughout Europe and the Middle East. Clark joined Striim from Aerospike in 2022 having grown the EMEA business since 2017.
Phillip Cockrell joined Striim as its senior vice president of business development. Cockrell brings Striim over 20 years of industry experience to Striim. He will be responsible for building Striim’s partner ecosystem across customers, partners, and third-party vendors.
Striim appointed Joanne Harris as its chief marketing officer. Harris brings to Striim over 25 years of enterprise IT marketing experience driving growth and transformation. She will be responsible for all Striim’ global marketing.
Lastly, Striim appointed Derek Yammarino as its chief revenue officer. Yammarino will be in charge of worldwide sales, marketing, customer success, and solutions consulting. He has over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the software industry.
Marc Fleischmann
Liqid welcomed VMware Cloud CTO Marc Fleischmann as a member of its board of directors. Fleischmann’s technology career has included roles in IT infrastructure, cloud and data services, machine learning and analytics, and global IT business services. Liqid says Fleischmann will collaborate with the Liqid Board and the company’s leadership team to expand solutions for its customers and partners with its Liqid Matrix composable disaggregated infrastructure software.
At VMware, Fleischmann is the CTO for business franchises within the organization such as VMware Managed Cloud (VMC – on AWS, Azure, and GCP), the VMware Cloud Provider Program (VCPP, a $10B ecosystem), Cloud Foundation (VCF) private clouds, HCI, vSphere, and vSAN.
Mark Hawkins
DataRobot appointed Mark Hawkins as chairman of the DataRobot board of directors. Hawkins has more than 35 years of experience leading finance organizations at global software and technology companies including Salesforce, Autodesk, Logitech, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard.
“DataRobot is a category-defining company that has paved the way for applying AI to deliver business results,” said Hawkins. “I look forward to continuing to partner closely with the DataRobot leadership team and board to drive the transformational impact of AI for customers across industries.”
Marc Hebner and Al Kelley
NEC Corporation of America (NEC), a provider and integrator of advanced IT, communications, networking, and biometric solutions promoted Marc Hebner to senior vice president and head of enterprise business in the Americas. Hebner will be responsible for achieving NEC’s revenue and operating profit targets for Channel, Direct, Cloud, IT, and Smart Workspace lines of business for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America operations
In addition, NEC promoted Al Kelley to VP of channel sales. During Kelley’s 21-year tenure with NEC, he has led U.S. Channel business supporting partners in the SMB, Enterprise and Distribution channels. Kelley’s expanded responsibilities will now include channel sales throughout the U.S., Canada and Latin America.
Steven Laub
Rambus Inc., a chip and silicon IP provider making data faster and safer, appointed Steven Laub to its board of directors. Laub brings to Rambus over 25 years of semiconductor industry leadership experience. Prior to his recent board role at IPV Capital, a semiconductor private equity firm, Laub served approximately ten years as president, chief executive officer and member of the board of directors at Atmel Corp.
“Rambus is pushing the frontier of performance and security for the data center and beyond,” said Laub. “I am excited to join the Rambus board and work with the executive team as they continue to advance the company’s market position in critical technology areas.”
Chris Lauren and Kjell Carlsson
Domino Data Lab, the provider of the enterprise MLOps platform, appointed Chris Lauren as its vice president of product. Lauren comes to Domino Data Lab from Microsoft, where he led the Azure Machine Learning product team. As VP of product at Domino, he will lead the company’s product team to further define and execute on the vision and strategy of the Domino Enterprise MLOps Platform.
In addition, Kjell Carlsson, Ph.D., a former Forrester analyst, joined Domino Data Lab as its head of data science strategy and evangelism. Carlsson will advise Domino customers and prospects on their AI transformation strategies; providing strategic counsel on how enterprises can unleash the business value of data science at scale.
Abhi Madhugiri
Dataiku, the platform for everyday AI, appointed Abhi Madhugiri as its vice president of global technology alliances. He brings over 15 years of technology business development experience having served leadership positions at DataRobot, AppDynamics, and Evergent.
“I read the book Ikigai a couple of years ago which sits on my desk every day…” said Madhugiri in a LinkedIn post. “What I didn’t realize when I accepted this role is that I was joining a company where Ikig.ai was a core part of who we are as Dataikers. My belief in the culture, people, and product is further reaffirmed and I’m humbled to have the opportunity to lead a talented team engaged with our Technology Alliance partners. The best is yet to come and we are just getting started!”
Todd McElhatton
Teradata appointed Todd McElhatton to its board of directors. McElhatton brings more than 25 years of corporate finance leadership experience, with specific emphasis on the shift from enterprise software to the cloud. He currently serves as chief financial officer of Zuora, an NYSE-listed cloud-based subscription management software company.
“Teradata has seen tremendous success in its cloud transformation with an exciting roadmap ahead,” McElhatton said. ”Strategic capital investment and discipline are core to Teradata’s execution, and I look forward to working with the Board to help build on Teradata’s progress and momentum.”
Michael Mestrovich
Rubrik appointed Michael Mestrovich as its chief information security officer. Mestrovich will be responsible for leading Rubrik’s internal data security efforts and providing cybersecurity and cyber policy expertise to propel Rubrik’s mission to secure the world’s data. He most recently served as CISO for the CIA, leading the Agency’s cyber defense operations, developing and implementing cybersecurity regulations and standards, and directing the evaluation and engineering of cyber technologies.
“With increased vulnerabilities in existing infrastructure and legacy security solutions, organizations' most critical asset - data - is more vulnerable than ever,” said Mestrovich. “I made the decision to return to the private sector at this critical juncture to work with the company that is pioneering the next frontier in cyber security: data security. I am thrilled to join the world-class team at Rubrik and look forward to working together to secure the world's data."
Brian Murphy
Sigma Computing, the cloud analytics and business intelligence solutions provider, appointed Brian Murphy as its chief revenue officer. Murphy joined Sigma from Okta, where he held the role of senior vice president of enterprise sales of the Americas.
“I joined Sigma because I was immediately attracted to the leadership and talent behind the incredibly innovative solutions that are currently driving the company’s growth,” said Murphy. “The market for cloud analytics and BI is booming, and I believe Sigma with its intuitive, user-friendly technology is uniquely positioned to help cloud-first innovators and established Fortune 500s alike become the data-driven powerhouses that will reshape what business looks like tomorrow.”
Nohyun Myung
Mperativ appointed Nohyun Myung as its vice president of applied data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Myung will be responsible for leading the development of new Mperativ platform capabilities. Before Mperativ he built and scaled high-functioning, multi-disciplinary teams at OmniSci at Kinetica.
“Throughout my career, I’ve become acutely familiar with the immense challenges that go-to-market teams face when trying to get a comprehensive and accurate picture of the customer journey,” said Myung. “As the world sprints towards becoming more prescriptive and predictive, having operational tools and platforms that can augment business without having to build it in-house will become essential across B2B organizations. I look forward to working with the talented team at Mperativ to bring the true value of AI to marketing leaders so they can better execute engagement strategies that produce their desired revenue outcomes.”
Trâm Phi
Databricks, the data and AI company and pioneer of the data lakehouse paradigm, appointed Trâm Phi as its senior vice president and general counsel. Phi will be responsible for the legal functions at Databricks. She joined Databricks from DocuSign, where she most recently served as SVP and general counsel.
“The innovative spirit at Databricks is inspiring and I am thrilled to be joining a pioneering company that’s addressing the challenges and opportunities stemming from the proliferation of data,” said Phi. “Being part of this team as we help our customers harness data in a meaningful way - not only for businesses but for the world around us - is the opportunity of a lifetime and I look forward to what lies ahead.”
Barry Raskin
TickSmith, a financial technology solutions provider that helps organizations organize, distribute and commercialize their data, appointed Barry Raskin as its head of data practice. Raskin will establish and develop TickSmith’s data practice to assist current and future clients in developing and optimizing their data commercialization journey through strategic licensing, pricing, marketing and packaging of their untapped data assets.
“The ways organizations package, sell and buy data has evolved. Firms who are not leveraging data as a valuable asset are missing out on significant opportunities to evolve their brands, organize their data internally and externally and grow new revenue streams,” said Raskin. “Too often companies don’t know where — or how — to begin their data monetization journey. I’m excited to create the practice that can help them realize their goals.”
Julie Richardson
Fivetran appointed Julie Richardson to its board of directors. She will serve as an independent board member and as a member of the company’s audit committee. Richardson brings decades of experience to the role, and she will advise the Fivetran finance, compensation and people operations teams on the company’s next stage of growth.
“I’m honored to be appointed to the Fivetran board,” said Richardson. “Fivetran is providing a proven solution to data management. Its product offering is one that is essential for companies of all sizes. Given the enormous total addressable market, the company should continue to see rapid growth. I look forward to lending my experience with high-growth technology companies and collaborating with this talented team. I was instantly attracted to the culture and focus on diversity at Fivetran, and was especially impressed to see diversity among the company’s top five critical objectives. That is a topic that is not only important to me personally, but also crucial in building world-class companies.”
Quadric, a processor technology intellectual property licensor, appointed Steve Roddy as its chief marketing officer. Roddy, a former vice president with Arm’s machine learning group, brings more than 30 years of marketing and product management expertise across the machine learning, neural network processor, microprocessor, digital signal processor and semiconductor IP industries.
“Joining Quadric presents a tremendous opportunity to apply my NPU and DSP expertise to what lies ahead for both Quadric and the overall industry,” said Roddy. “Quadric’s architecture—already proven in silicon—is the only new processor that can efficiently run both DSP code and machine learning graph inference on the same core. The massive increase in software developer productivity gained by having only one toolchain and one core to program, manage and debug is the market changing. I am excited to join the highly accomplished and committed Quadric team at a time when on-device AI computing is catapulting the processor market forward.”
Joe Stockunas
SEMI, the global industry association that unites the entire electronics manufacturing and design supply chain, appointed Joe Stockunas as president of its SEMI Americas business unit. Stockunas will lead SEMI Americas and will advocate for the microelectronics industry as part of the SEMI Global Leadership Team.
“SEMI’s work to connect the global semiconductor ecosystem to the broader electronics supply chain is critical in driving digital transformation and addressing the industry’s most pressing challenges,” Stockunas said. “I’m eager to collaborate with the SEMI leadership team, staff and members to help the organization and the industry fulfill their extraordinary potential. I look forward to meeting with members and key industry stakeholders at SEMICON West this July.”
Karen Smith and Tamzyn Furse
Hazelcast, Inc. appointed Karen Smith as its chief revenue officer. Smith joined Hazelcast from Uniphore. While at Uniphore, Smith led the sales organization and helped the company grow more than 700% in size over two years.
In addition, Tamzyn Furse joined Hazelcast as its chief people officer. Furse joined Hazelcast from Emarsys, the largest independent marketing platform globally, before being acquired by SAP in 2020.
James Sortino
Avocado Systems, an application security solutions provider, appointed James Sortino as its chief revenue officer. Sortino will lead Avocado’s global sales operations, using his early-stage experience to scale the company’s enterprise sales, channel and OEM business globally.
“I’m thrilled to join Avocado. Existing application security vendors assume a company’s security team understands how their custom vendor applications work and fan out, which is not the case. We are able to give security teams the observability to determine what legitimate processes should be running within their environment and eliminate architectural drift,” Sortino said. “Avocado’s solutions are the next step in application security by helping DevSecOps illuminate unknown communications, automate app architectural modeling and analysis, and apply zero trust security by ringfencing the application tiers at the lowest app process level—all with no code changes. I believe this will be the new standard in coming years.”
Lip-Bu Tan
SiMa.ai appointed Lip-Bu Tan to its board of directors. Tan is founder and chairman of Walden International, a venture capital firm managing cumulative capital commitments of greater than $4 billion. He is also a founding managing partner of Celesta Capital and Walden Catalyst Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on investing in core technology companies.
“Machine learning has had a profound impact on the cloud and mobile markets over the past decade and the next battleground is the multi-trillion-dollar embedded edge market. SiMa.ai has created a software-centric, purpose-built MLSoC platform that exclusively targets this large market opportunity,” said Tan. “SiMa.ai’s unique architecture, market understanding and world-class team have put them in a leadership position. I’m excited to join them as an investor and a board member and I look forward to partnering with SiMa.ai to drive success.”
Reggie Townsend
EqualAI, a nonprofit organization and leading voice focused on reducing unconscious bias in the development and use of artificial intelligence, appointed Reggie Townsend to its board of directors. Townsend is the current director of data ethics at SAS.
“I'm honored to join the board of EqualAI and work with the team on expanding AI accountability, inclusivity and equity,” said Townsend. "AI comes with promise and peril. As AI proliferates and penetrates so many aspects of our lives, now is a critical time in our history to take action. I am excited to roll up my sleeves and get to the meaningful work of the organization."
Sridhar Venkatesh
Alluxio, the developer of the open source data orchestration platform for data driven workloads such as large-scale analytics and AI/ML, appointed Sridhar Venkatesh as its senior vice president of product. Venkatesh will be responsible for leading the product management and product marketing efforts as demand for scaling distributed AI and machine learning workloads in the cloud accelerates.
“It’s an exciting time to be joining the team and advancing the already extensive use cases of data orchestration,” said Venkatesh. “The solution is especially relevant to data teams challenged by the distributed complexities of modern data infrastructures today.”
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.
