By Alex Woodie
It’s that time of month again–time for Big Data Career Notes, a monthly feature where we keep you up-to-date on the latest career developments for individuals in the big data community. Whether it’s a promotion, new company hire, or even an accolade, we’ve got the details. Check in each month for an updated list and you may even come across someone you know, or better yet, yourself!
Ruth Suehle
The Apache Software Foundation this month appointed Ruth Suehle as its new president. She will take over for David Nalley at the head of the open source incubator, which organizes 8,500 committers across 300 projects.
Ruth Suehle
Ruth has served as the ASF’s executive vice president since 2020, a role that saw her help produce the Foundation’s flagship event, Community Over Code (formerly ApacheCon). She will continue in her day job as director of open source at SAS, where she is leading the creation of its first open source program office (OSPO).
Her other open source qualifications include: serving on the Open@RIT advisory board, working at Red Hat for 15 years, including in its OSPO, and in positions on the governing board and technical steering committee of Open 3D Foundation (O3DF), editing Red Hat Magazine and opensource.com, and co-authoring “Raspberry Pi Hacks” (O’Reilly, 2013).
“I am honored to serve as the ASF’s new president and am appreciative of David’s service. In the time since the ASF was founded, open source software has gone from being a niche concept to a critical underpinning of nearly all modern software development,” Suehle said. “Due to this success, our industry is undergoing fundamental changes that will have ripple effects on the entire ecosystem from vendors to users. It’s an extremely interesting time in the history of software, and I’m excited to help lead the ASF into that future.”
Louis Landry
Teradata has appointed Louis Landry to be its next CTO. Landry has been with the data warehousing and analytics vendor for more than a decade, most recently as head of the company’s Technology and Innovation Office, where he led advanced research and development for Teradata. Landry replaces Stephen Brobst, who was CTO at Teradata for 25 years and who left the company in January; he now the CTO of Ab Initio Software.
Before joining Teradata, Landry held positions at MicroStrategy, Sears Holdings, and eBay, where he led the development of an analytics platform for top sellers and an internal analytics-as-a-service project focused on making the company more data-driven. Landry has also made significant contributions to the open-source community through his role as a project leader and development coordinator for the Joomla! Project from 2005 to 2011. Landry holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Louisiana Tech University and a Rethink Strategy Certificate from Harvard Business School.
“As AI transforms business, Teradata’s trusted data, performance, and efficiency at scale provide exactly the foundation enterprises need,” Landry said. “I’m thrilled to help drive continued advancements for our open and connected platform, bringing the next generation of AI-driven value to our customers in the environment of their choice.”
Ashley Puls
Observability software vendor New Relic has promoted Ashley Puls to the position of chief architect, where she will oversee the reliability and architecture of the company’s Intelligent Observability Platform.
Ashley Puls
Puls brings over 15 years of engineering experience at tech firms, and recently served as group vice president of engineering at the company, where she take credit for improving New Relic’s reliability by over 50%. She has held various positions in her 12 years at New Relic, including software engineer, staff engineer, architect, and senior director.
“New Relic offers the most powerful platform in the industry,” said Puls, who holds a B.S. in Mathematics from Haverford and a Masters in Computer and Information Technology from the University of Pennsylvania. “Our platform is designed to run 24-7 while scaling with our customers and providing answers in real time. In my new role, I will continue to own reliability across New Relic while also defining the future of our Intelligent Observability Platform. Our architecture is a durable, competitive advantage that drives innovation while accelerating the speed at which we can deliver value to our customers.”
Tom Lantzsch
AI chipmaker Cerebras has appointed Tom Lantzsch to be its newest independent board member. Lantzsch brings 40 years of experience in the tech sector to his position overseeing Cerebras, most recently as senior vice president and general manager of the Internet of Things (IoT) Group at Intel.
Tom Lantzsch
Lantzsch, who holds an M.S. in Finance from the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University, also spent 10 years at ARM, where he reached the position of executive vice president of strategy. He also previously served as CEO at StarCore, as well as stints at Motorola and Texas Instruments.
“I am excited to join the Cerebras team and help guide this visionary company as it revolutionizes AI compute,” Lantzsch said. “Cerebras is uniquely positioned to transform the pace and innovation of AI workloads, and I look forward to contributing to its continued success as it defines the future of computing.”
John Colson
Analytics vendor ThoughtSpot this month appointed John Colson to the role of senior vice president of North American sales. Colson joins ThoughtSpot from Salesforce, where he oversaw CRM Analytics, Tableau, and Einstein Analytics. Under his leadership, the business unit achieved over $600M in annual recurring revenue.
John Colson
Colson was brought in by new CEO Ketan Karkhanis, who took the top job at ThoughtSpot in September following years at Salesforce. Colson and Karkhanis worked together at Salesforce for nearly a decade, and now they’ll be working to help drive ThoughtSpot’s AI-powered analytics business forward.
“I’ve spent decades helping businesses leverage analytics to transform business challenges into success stories,” Colson said. “ThoughtSpot offers a unique and innovative approach in an industry shaped by legacy tools, and I’m thrilled by the opportunity to build and nurture a team that’s committed to driving success for both our customers and our organization. The reputation ThoughtSpot has built in the market, along with recent innovations brought to market with Spotter, makes this an exciting time to join the company.”
Ellen Ochoa
Nvidia has named Ellen Ochoa to its board of directors. Ochoa was the first Latina astronaut to travel to space, and was previously the director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Her appointment expands Nvidia’s board to 13 members.
Ellen Ochoa
“Ellen’s extraordinary experience speaks volumes about her role as a trailblazer and a leader,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia. “We look forward to her joining Nvidia’s board on our continuing journey to build the future of computing and AI.”
Ochoa, 66, holds a B.S. in physics from San Diego State University and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. She also serves on the boards of directors of Service Corporation International, where she is chair of the compensation committee and serves on the investment committee, and of Mutual of America Financial Group, where she is on the nominating committee and product and marketing committee.
Catherine Williams
Candid, a nonprofit organization that provides data and insights into the spending of other nonprofits, announced the appointment of Catherine Williams as its first chief data officer. Williams joins Candid from Qualtrics, where she was vice president of data and artificial intelligence.
Catherine Williams
Williams, who holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Washington and a BA in Mathematics from Grinnell College, will help Candid in its mission to use the latest tools and technology to deliver the best data and insights possible to the social sector.
“Candid is leading the charge across the social sector to encourage data-driven decision making and advocate for transparency,” Williams said. “I’m thrilled to step up to the challenge of leading these talented teams to advance Candid’s data strategy and create a stronger sector for all.”
To read last month’s edition of Career Notes, click here.
The post Big Data Career Notes for November 2024 appeared first on BigDATAwire.
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