AI Career Notes: August 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:
Kikelomo Belizaire
Pegasystems Inc., the low-code platform provider, appointed Dr. Kikelomo Belizaire as its first chief medical officer. With a strong clinical background and a passion for improving care outcomes, Dr. Belizaire will bring a clinical lens to Pega’s strategy for serving its healthcare clients.
“I am committed to unlocking the full potential of technology to improve quality and access to care,” said Belizaire. “We have the power to transform every step of the healthcare journey. Pega’s solutions help navigate the many complexities faced by patients, payers, and providers. With technology, we can ultimately deliver better experiences for all parties involved, and I will be able to help our healthcare clients understand the full scope of what Pega can do for them.”
Jennifer Bers
Unbabel, the AI-powered language operations platform that helps businesses deliver multilingual customer experience at scale, appointed Jennifer Bers as its chief revenue officer. Bers brings to Unbabel 25 years of experience working with technology startups and scaleups in both the US and the UK.
“Unbabel has a sophisticated product, talented people, and is solving a major point of friction for enterprises around the world,” Bers said. “Companies need to be able to engage with their customers effectively. Translation, localization, and the full customer experience should be done in a customer’s native language. Unbabel’s end-to-end Language Operations solution is able to do all of this at scale while saving customers money.”
Buddy Brewer and Ajay Khanna
Mezmo, developers of the observability data platform, appointed Buddy Brewer as its chief product officer. As CPO at Mezmo, Brewer will be responsible for product strategy and execution and will support the company's ongoing efforts to build products that enable customers to gain real-time intelligence from their observability data.
In addition, Ajay Khanna joined Mezmo as its chief marketing officer. Khanna will be responsible for the integration of the new brand and messaging across all programs and products, as well as scaling marketing initiatives to correspond with the company's growth.
Kathy Chou
IonQ appointed Kathy Chou to its board of directors. Chou currently serves as the senior vice president of SaaS engineering at Nutanix. As a member of the board, Chou will help support IonQ’s work to build the world’s best quantum computers to solve the world’s most complex problems.
“The opportunity for quantum computing to change the world is limitless, and I believe IonQ is well equipped to lead the charge in this complex and exciting space. Quantum computing may be the key to solving some of society’s greatest issues in the healthcare, transportation, finance, or climate change, and I believe IonQ is at the forefront of this charge. I look forward to joining the Board to help navigate this burgeoning field and am honored to be a part of this team,” said Chou.
Spencer Collins
Arm appointed Spencer Collins as its executive vice president and chief legal officer. Collins will lead Arm’s global legal organization. Collins has served as Arm’s interim general counsel and a member of its executive committee since February 2022. Collins joined Arm from SoftBank Investment Advisers.
“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to lead the talented Arm legal team and to work closely with the rest of the Arm leadership team as we set up the company for its next chapter of success and a future built on Arm,” said Collins.
Amee Desjourdy
Hitachi Vantara, the digital infrastructure, data management and analytics, and digital solutions subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd., appointed Amee Desjourdy as its chief human resources officer. Desjourdy most recently served as chief people officer at Brightcove, Inc. where she was responsible for leading their global HR organization as well as building and driving a business-focused, data-driven HR strategy during a period of growth and rapid change.
Prior to Brightcove, Desjourdy was the CHRO for Global Partners LP for five years where she led a multi-channel effort to build culture, improve the employee experience, and decrease employee attrition. She was also responsible for leading the successful integration of several acquired companies and formalizing a strategic corporate social responsibility program.
Matt Eberhart
Query.AI, the provider of security investigations control plane solutions for modern enterprises, appointed Matt Eberhart as its chief executive officer. Eberhart joined Query.AI from FireMon, where he led initiatives that significantly accelerated subscription revenue growth.
“I am honored to join Query.AI as its next CEO,” said Eberhart. “It is a privilege to be part of an organization that is working to make cybersecurity investigations easier, faster, and more cost effective for security analysts. The ability to search security data across a full security ecosystem - in the cloud, third-party SaaS, or on-prem - is critical and should not be limited by today's concerns about the costs associated with moving and storing data.”
David Freeman
Starburst, the analytics anywhere company, appointed David Freeman as its first chief financial officer. Freeman joined Starburst in 2021 as its vice president of business operations and finance. Before Starburst, he served as senior vice president of operations at ThoughtSpot.
“A CFO means a lot of different things at different companies,” Freeman said in a Q&A blog post. “A lot of times at big public companies, being a CFO is all about budget controls and risk mitigation. But the exciting thing about being a CFO at this stage is being able to be very integrated into the growth and strategy of the company and being a very large part about building something special. That is what is really exciting to me about being a CFO at this stage.”
Dean Hickman-Smith
Incode, the next-generation identity verification and authentication platform for global enterprises, appointed Dean Hickman-Smith as its chief revenue officer. Hickman-Smith brings 20 years of experience building and scaling identity and information security companies.
“I am excited to join Incode at such a transformative period in the growth of the company ," said Hickman-Smith. "Incode is at the forefront of a clear need to build frictionless and secure experiences; and is well-positioned to be the market leader. I look forward to working together to globally expand our operations, significantly drive growth and help the company realize its full potential.”
Jerry Hug
AiAdvertising, Inc., an advertising technology company offering solutions through the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science, appointed Jerry Hug as its chief executive officer. He also joined the company’s board of directors.
“We have an enormous opportunity in front of us to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop a comprehensive solution that marketers come to rely on,” said Hug. “As I step into this new role, trust that I will be focused on creating value for both our shareholders and our clients.”
Nick Lazaridis
AMD appointed Nick Lazaridis as its senior vice president of AMD sales. Lazaridis will be responsible for managing sales across EMEA, India, and APJ regions. Lazaridis most recently served as president of EMEA for HP Inc. He is returning to AMD after previously leading Asia Pacific regional sales from 2009 to 2012.
“Nick’s industry experience and wealth of knowledge of strategic global engagements will be instrumental in supporting the significant growth opportunities we see over the coming years,” said Darren Grasby, AMD’s executive vice president and chief sales officer.
Cathy McCarthy
Rigetti Computing, Inc., a pioneer in hybrid quantum-classical computing systems, appointed Cathy McCarthy as the chair of the board of directors. McCarthy has served on Rigetti’s board since July 2021. She currently serves as the president and chief executive officer of the strategy consulting firm Cross Tack Consulting.
From 2009 to 2013, McCarthy served on Solta Medical, Inc.’s board of directors, compensation committee, and audit committee, prior to the company’s merger with Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. She currently serves as a board member and the audit committee chairperson for the Middleby Corporation, a publicly traded global leader in the food service industry.
Shane Moore and Andre Stewart
Incode, the next-generation identity verification and authentication platform for global enterprises, appointed Shane Moore as its vice president of North America. Moore brings to Incode more than 20 years of experience driving major account and channel growth. He most recently served as the VP of sales for cybersecurity company Bitglass.
In addition, Incode appointed Andre Stewart as its vice president of Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Stewart will help drive solution adoption across Incode’s fintech, gaming, web services, hospitality, and government sector customers. He most recently worked in various senior roles at cloud security leader NetSkope.
Peter Mullen
Conversational AI company Interactions appointed Peter Mullen as its chief marketing officer. Before he joined Interactions, Mullen served as senior vice president of marketing at Payactiv. He’s also held marketing and communications roles at VXI Global Solutions, Comcast and Netflix.
“I joined Interactions because of its customer-obsessed approach—and because the company has developed an incredibly powerful technology to back up that passion,” said Mullen. “We are changing how the world experiences customer service and delivering real solutions for companies looking for thoughtful ways to retain their customers during these turbulent times.”
Ásdís Ólafsdóttir
atNorth, a Pan-Nordic data center operator, appointed Ásdís Ólafsdóttir as its ESG Manager. Ólafsdóttir will create and execute the vision and direction of atNorth’s ESG policy, including all environment and sustainable working practices. Ásdís will lead on the execution and implementation of all ESG initiatives, collaborating with key stakeholders, management teams and employees across atNorth’s data center locations in Iceland and Sweden, to align activity and ensure the company’s vision continues to progress in the right direction.
“I am very excited about joining the atNorth team,” Ásdís said. “The company is a disruptive force in the data center market and Nordic region, where it is redefining the standard of care for sustainable IT business practices. With sustainability at its core and a part of each team member’s DNA, I feel empowered to help atNorth’s business grow and am looking forward to being part of an innovative and forward-thinking company.”
David Pinn
Brain Corp., an artificial intelligence company creating transformative core technology in robotics, promoted David Pinn to the role of chief executive officer. Since joining Brain Corp in 2017, Pinn has held a variety of executive positions including chief strategy officer, and most recently, chief financial officer.
“I’m honored that Eugene and our Board have given me the opportunity to lead Brain through the next phase of our journey,” said Pinn. “Eugene has built a talented and passionate team focused on improving lives through automation. I’m thankful for our team, our partners, and our customers, who have made Brain the leader in commercial robotics.”
Sanjay Poonen
Cohesity, a leader in next-gen data management, appointed Sanjay Poonen as its chief executive officer and president. Poonen will also join the company’s board of directors. Poonen formerly served as chief operating officer of VMware and president of SAP.
“Cohesity sits at the intersection of three of the highest priority business issues today – cyber security, cloud, and data management – and is poised to become a major powerhouse with industry analyst firms naming the company a leader and one of the fastest growing in its category,” said Poonen. “In my due diligence with customers, I’ve found that Cohesity has the best technology in its category and protects data for many of the biggest brands in the Fortune 500. Above all, Mohit has built an incredible team across the organization that is committed to driving innovation while putting customers first. I look forward to leading this talented organization and driving even further success in strong partnership with Mohit and all Cohesians.”
Nicolas Ramseier
WISeKey International Holding Ltd, a cybersecurity and IoT company, appointed Nicolas Ramseier to its advisory committee. Ramseier began his banking career as an investment specialist at Bank Lombard Odier where he advised on technology and sustainability-based client portfolios.
“I am honored to join WISeKey’s Advisory Committee and assist the Company in addressing the new challenges around sustainability, NFT technology, and DeFi. I believe my skills, network and experience will support WISeKey’s growth in these new sectors”, said Ramseier.
David Rizzo, David Kluzak, and Andrew Hollister
LogRhythm welcomed David Rizzo as its chief technology officer. Most recently, Rizzo led the engineering team for mainframe technologies at BMC. Prior to that, Rizzo led the engineering team at Compuware Corp.
In addition, David Kluzak joined LogRhythm as its chief revenue officer. As CRO, Kluzak will lead the global sales team’s strategy and go-to-market approach with the goal of driving both sales and satisfaction among new and existing customers. Previously, Kluzak led the worldwide strategic alliances at VMware.
Lastly, LogRhythm promoted Andrew Hollister to the role of chief information security officer. Hollister will develop and maintain the company’s security governance model and risk strategies, and will also lead LogRhythm Labs.
Caroline Ruellan
The board of directors of Atos SE appointed Caroline Ruellan as a new independent director. Ruellan currently serves as the chief executive officer and founder of SONJ Conseil, an independent consulting firm.
Ruellan brings to Atos over 25 years of experience in corporate law and corporate governance. She worked at AIG Group, a financial risk insurance provider, from 2007 to 2013, as a regional claims specialist for Europe before being appointed head of innovation and institutional relations.
Anurag Srivastava and Sagar Mahurkar
Findability Sciences, a global provider of enterprise AI solutions, appointed Anurag Srivastava as its senior vice president and head of global deliveries. Before he joined Findability Sciences, Srivastava worked at Deloitte, WNS Global Services, and American Express.
In addition, Sagar Mahurkar joined Findability Sciences as its director of technology. Mahurkar will lead cross-functional teams comprising emerging technology strategy, consumer delivery, and presales projects for multiple Fortune 500 companies.
Ryan Worobel
LogicMonitor, provider of the SaaS-based unified observability platform for enterprises and managed service providers, appointed Ryan Worobel as its chief information officer. Worobel will be responsible for LogicMonitor’s product, network and application infrastructure, working to further simplify and streamline the business to support LogicMonitor’s growth ambitions.
“Boards and CEOs place greater emphasis on ensuring their businesses are both ready and available for anything that gets thrown their way, something that is front and center in the industrial space – a perspective I hope to bring to LogicMonitor and its customers,” said Worobel. “CIOs have a real opportunity to help their companies succeed in today’s digital world by establishing modern technology infrastructures that provide a strong foundation for business success, as a lot of businesses are operating on a combination of legacy architecture and outdated systems combined with modern cloud and SaaS solutions. As such, I’m excited to join LogicMonitor, whose solutions enable CIOs with the ability to deliver true unified observability across customer environments.”
2022 Ethernet Alliance Board of Directors
The Ethernet Alliance, a global consortium dedicated to the continued success and advancement of Ethernet technologies, announced its board of directors and officers for 2022. For the full list of members, click here.
“One of Ethernet’s best traits is its ability to swiftly adapt to changing demands across applications, while resolutely maintaining its hallmark interoperability,” said Ethernet Alliance chair, Peter Jones of Cisco Systems, Inc. “From enterprises to operational technology networks to automotive to edge computing, Ethernet delivers reliable performance up and down the value chain. The Ethernet Alliance is committed to its role as the Voice of Ethernet, and promoting Ethernet’s continued growth and expansion.”
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.
