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!

Richard Gerber 

Richard Gerber has been put in charge of NERSC’s HPC department. For the past year, Gerber served as acting head of the department before being appointed head. Gerber’s career has revolved around HPC for almost 30 years and he’s been with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) since 1996. Prior to joining LBNL, he spent time at the NASA Ames Research Center as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow.

“We work with complex, first-of-a-kind systems that present unique challenges,” said Gerber. “Our staff is constantly providing innovative solutions that make systems more capable and productive for our users. Looking forward, we are evaluating emerging technologies and gathering scientific needs to influence future HPC directions that will best support the science community.”

Stathis Papaefstathiou 

Stathis Papaefstathiou has been named the senior vice president of research and development at Cray. In his new position he will be responsible for leading the hardware and software engineering efforts for all R&D projects. Papaefstathiou has over 30 years of experience in the tech industry and joins Cray from Aerohive Networks where he served as the senior vice president of engineering.

“My admiration and respect for Cray goes back to my days as a university research fellow, and throughout my career I have continued to hold the company’s engineering and R&D capabilities in very high regard,” said Papaefstathiou. “Leading the R&D teams at Cray is both an honor and an exciting opportunity, and I look forward to working with this talented group to expand the boundaries of what can be made possible with a Cray supercomputer.”

Click here to view our recent interview with Stathis.

Jeff Cotten

Rackspace has promoted Jeff Cotten to the position of President. He recently served as the senior vice president and general manager of fanatical support for AWS and has held a variety of different leadership positions within the company since joining in 2008. Prior to joining Rackspace, Cotten worked at EDS, a HP company, for about eight years.

“Jeff is a Racker success story — a veteran who has led at every level in the company,” said Taylor Rhodes, Rackspace CEO. “In every leadership role that we’ve given him, he has delivered expertise and support that customers couldn’t get anywhere else, all the while inspiring industry-leading levels of engagement from the Rackers in his care. Jeff is uniquely qualified to serve as our President.”

Jorge Titinger

Jorge Titinger has joined TransparentBusiness as chief strategy officer. Titinger is well-known in the HPC industry for his former role as the CEO of SGI before the company was acquired by Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Prior to SGI, Titinger was president and CEO at Verigy.

“I’m pleased to join the company which has established itself as a leader in remote work process management and coordination,” said Titinger. “I believe TransparentBusiness can help accelerate the adoption of a distributed workforce; this can result in significant bottom line benefits for the companies that embrace this new direction and bring the work to where the talent is.”

Martin Fink

Western Digital has named Martin Fink CTO. Fink recently served as the CTO and director of HP Labs at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He joined HP in 1985 and stayed with the company until 2015 when he moved over to HPE. In addition to his new position at Western Digital, Fink also serves on the board of the Wild Beer Co. and Hortonworks.

“Martin is a respected technologist who will play an important, strategic role in the ongoing growth and transformation of Western Digital,” said Steve Milligan, CEO, Western Digital. “He has been a leading voice on the value and promise of memory-driven computing and will lead our continued innovation focus areas, including the commercialization of Storage Class Memory solutions.”

Mark Adams

Seagate Technology has appointed Mark Adams to the company’s board of directors. From 2012 to 2016, he served as the president of Micron Technology before resigning for personal health reasons. Prior to joining Micron in 2006, Adams was the chief operating officer at Lexar Media.

“On behalf of the full Board, we are pleased to welcome Mark to Seagate,” said Steve Luczo, Seagate’s CEO. “Mark has extensive semiconductor industry executive and board experience and we look forward to leveraging his strategic guidance and operational insights.”

Michael McQuade

Michael McQuade has been named the first chair of the Industry Council formed by the Exascale Computing Project. (Check out our recently published article for a more in-depth look at the Exascale Computing Project and the Industry Council.) He is the senior vice president of Science & Technology at the United Technologies Corporation (UTC). Prior to joining UTC in 2006, he was the vice president of 3M’s Medical Division. McQuade has also spent time at Imation and Eastman Kodak.

“Exascale-level computing will help industry address ever more complex, competitively important problems, ones that are beyond the reach of today’s leading edge computing systems,” said McQuade. “We compete globally for scientific, technological and engineering innovations. Maintaining our lead at the highest level of computational capability is essential for our continued success.”

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.