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!

Diane Bryant

After just seven months as chief operating officer of Google’s cloud business, Diane Bryant has left the company. The news comes as Intel, Bryant’s former employer of 32 years, is searching for a new CEO after the departure of head exec Brian Krzanich last month. Interim CEO Bob Swan has reportedly said that he does not want the top spot. Bryant led Intel’s datacenter business until May 2017 when she took a leave of absence to attend to “family matters.” She subsequently tendered her resignation in December and joined Google Cloud. She was one of Intel’s most visible and highest ranked female executives. Bryant was named among Fortune’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2015 and 2016. She was an HPCwire person to watch for 2013 and 2018.

Rance Cleaveland

The National Science Foundation has appointed Dr. Rance Cleaveland as division director for the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations. Rance was previously a professor of computer science at the University of Maryland and executive and scientific director of the Fraunhofer USA Center for Experimental and Software Engineering.

Rance received his B.S. in mathematics and computer science from Duke University and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from Cornell University. He serves on several journal editorial boards and has published more than 140 papers on a range of computing topics.

Steve Conway

Hyperion Research has announced that its senior vice president of research, Steve Conway, will also serve as COO. Conway will also remain the lead analyst for Hyperion’s high performance data analysis and AI business.

“The promotion recognizes key responsibilities Steve has already taken on, in addition to leading our research activities, such as heavily influencing our view of the fast-evolving HPC market, playing a major role in setting the direction for our business, creating and launching new programs, and managing important areas of the business,” Joseph said.

Ben Cotton

Ben Cotton has joined Red Hat as the new Fedora Program Manager. Previously, Cotton worked as a technical evangelist for Cycle Computing and as a product marketing manager for Microsoft following its acquisition of Cycle. Cotton is an enthusiastic proponent of open source and his Opensource.com profile notes that he has co-founded an open source meetup group, is a member of the Open Source Initiative, and supports the Software Freedom Conservancy.

“I’ve been a Fedora user for over a decade and a contributor in various roles almost that long. I started out on the documentation team as a writer and then led the team for a few releases,” wrote Cotton. “I’m excited to take on this new role within the Fedora community.”

Koen De Bosschere

The Alan D. Berenbaum Distinguished Service Award, which is awarded for outstanding service to the computer architecture community, has been granted to Koen De Bosschere. Koen De Bosschere took over the leadership of the HiPEAC network which is a European-funded research network of computer architects and software tool builders. Under his leadership, the network transformed from a small academic network into the largest such network in Europe.

In response to the news of this award, Koen De Bosschere commented: “Leading the HiPEAC community, contributing to the HiPEAC Vision and observing the its impact has always been a very rewarding experience for me. I feel very honoured to receive the Alan D. Berenbaum Distinguished Service Award and I would like to dedicate it to all our members and the staff, without whom there would be no HiPEAC.”

“I would also like to thank the European Commission for the uninterrupted support to our community for more than a decade,” he added.

Susan Eggers

ACM and IEEE Computer Society have announced that Susan Eggers is the recipient of the 2018 Eckert-Mauchly Award. Eggers, a professor at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, will be the first woman to receive the Eckert-Mauchly Award in its 39-year history.

Eggers is best known for her foundational work in developing and helping to commercialize simultaneous multithreaded (SMT) processors, one of the most important advancements in computer architecture in the past 30 years. Eggers was among those who argued that increasing parallelism, or a computer’s ability to perform many calculations or processes concurrently, was the best way to realize performance gains.

Vicki L. Hanson

ACM has appointed Vicki L. Hanson as executive director and CEO — the first time a woman has ever held ACM’s CEO position. Hanson has a long history of service to the computing community, having served ACM as President (2016 – 2018), Vice President (2014 – 2016), ACM Secretary/Treasurer (2012 – 2014), and ACM SIG Governing Board Chair (2010 – 2012), among other positions.

“I am delighted that Vicki has accepted the role of ACM CEO,” said ACM President-elect Cherri M. Pancake. “Having served ACM for many years in various volunteer capacities, Vicki’s unique insights into the organization and how it serves the profession should serve us well to ensure a sustainable future for ACM. I’m glad that she will be in a position to expand the efforts she initiated as President in outreach to practitioners and young computing professionals. I look forward to collaborating with her on these issues and many more in the coming months.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled to serve as ACM’s CEO,” Hanson said. “I look forward to working with ACM’s incredible volunteers and excellent staff to make progress on the exciting opportunities and challenges facing the organization, including its evolution as a fully international society, one that addresses the needs and workstyles of a new generation of computing professionals, as well as the transformation of its publishing and access models.”

Jamie Lerner

Quantum Corp. has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Jamie Lerner as CEO and president, as well as to the Board of Directors. Lerner has served in top executive roles at a number of global and Fortune 500 companies, including Cisco and Seagate.

“I am excited to join Quantum during this transformative phase,” said Lerner. “At a time when the industry is experiencing disruptive technologies and new, evolving storage requirements, I see much opportunity for Quantum and its ability to drive customer success.  I am truly excited to work with our customers, employees, partners and shareholders to drive the next phase of Quantum’s success.”

John Salmon

The SC Test of Time Award Committee has announced that “A Parallel Hashed Oct-Tree N-Body Algorithm,” co-authored by John Salmon, is the SC18 ToTA winner. The ToTA recognizes an outstanding paper that has deeply influenced the HPC discipline.

John Salmon has degrees in Physics and EECS from MIT and a PhD in Physics from Caltech. He is currently a scientist at D.E. Shaw Research, where he works on special purpose computers, algorithms, software and hardware for biochemical molecular dynamics simulations.

Mike Warren

The SC Test of Time Award Committee has announced that “A Parallel Hashed Oct-Tree N-Body Algorithm,” co-authored by Mike Warren, is the SC18 ToTA winner. The ToTA recognizes an outstanding paper that has deeply influenced the HPC discipline.

Mike Warren has degrees in Physics and Engineering & Applied Science from Caltech, and he received a PhD in Physics from University of California, Santa Barbara. He was a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 25 years, and also worked as a Senior Software Engineer at Sandpiper Networks/Digital Island. Currently, he leads the technical team at Descartes Labs.

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.