In this monthly feature, we’ll keep you up-to-date on the latest career developments for individuals in the high performance computing 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!

Eyal Waldman

Eyal Waldman, Founder, President, and CEO of Mellanox Technologies, has been awarded an honorary doctorate by Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He was honored, not only for his vision and determination to establish Mellanox, but also for his worldwide contributions and support for youth science and engineering educational programs. Other honorary doctorate recipients include Albert Einstein and Michael Bloomberg.

“Technion continues to make a difference in the world through education and leadership,” said Waldman. “At Mellanox we strive to do the same – change the world for the better through technology and innovation. At Technion, the leaders of tomorrow are being forged in an environment of creativity and invention where students learn through education that nothing is impossible.”

Chris Brannan

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has selected Chris Brannan as its new chief financial officer. In this role, Brannan will oversee the Lab’s $1.6 billion annual budget. He has spent 17 years with LLNL and most recently served as the financial/business manager for the Weapons and Complex Integration Principal Directorate.

“I am honored and humbled to be selected for this role,” Brannan said. “I look forward to partnering with the CFO staff, the Laboratory as a whole, and our sponsors in our ongoing efforts to provide financial and operational excellence in support of our nation.”

Lara Kisielewska and Kim McMahon

Lara Kisielewska, founder of Xand Marketing, and Kim McMahon, founder of McMahon Consulting, have launched Xand McMahon. Their new joint venture aims to assist companies looking to capture market share in HPC and technical computing by providing a range of marketing services. Both women have been in the HPC field since 1999.

“Lara and I are a good match, we really round each other out,” Kim says. “She’s been in the space forever so partnering with her to service HPC clients made a lot of sense.” For her part, Lara agrees. “I missed having a partner once my partners in Xand Marketing left to pursue non-HPC interests. A partner is a great sounding board, and a terrific way to scale as the business grows. I sought Kim out because of her strong reputation in the industry — I knew that together we could be an unstoppable force as the go-to agency for HPC marketing needs.”

Nathan Thompson

Nathan Thompson, CEO of Spectra Logic, along with colleagues Bob Cone and John Kranz, have published a new book titled, “Society’s Genome: Genetic Diversity’s Role in Digital Preservation.” The book is a guide to understanding greater trends in information storage and data preservation.

“New technologies, devices, population growth and the spread of the digital revolution all support the idea of explosive, exponential data growth,” said Thompson. “We developed this work to inspire a larger conversation on the digital universe, its importance to society and our joint responsibility to enduringly preserve it.”

Chirag Dekate

Gartner has hired Chirag Dekate as its new Research Director of Server, HPC, and Emerging Technologies. He most recently worked at DataDirect Networks as Senior Manager of Products & Vertical Markets. Other past positions include Research Manager of HPC at IDC and HPC Researcher at the LSU Foundation.

James Reinders

James Reinders has accepted an early retirement offer from Intel. During his 27 years with the company, he held a number of different positions including parallel programming model architect and evangelist for Intel’s HPC business, chief evangelist and director of marketing & sales development, director of marketing and business development, computer engineer, system architect, and compiler engineer. Reinders has also authored eight books in the HPC field.

Interesting fact: His last day at Intel (June 24) was exactly 10,000 days after his start date.

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.