This is TalentSeer’s AI News Roundup for the first half of July 2020. You can find the most relevant and recent news about AI talent, aimed specifically at tech leaders, VCs, and members of the AI field. Subscribe here to receive these roundups twice a month via email.
Princeton AI Professor, Sebastian Seung, to Lead Samsung Research
Samsung Electronics promoted Dr. Sebastian Seung as the new head for the company’s research unit to improve the company’s competence in AI. Seung will be responsible to oversee all fifteen global research and development hubs and seven A.I. research centers. Seung, a Princeton University computer scientist who specializes in A.I. and neuroscience, joined the company in 2018 as the chief research scientist for Samsung Research. [Read More]
MongoDB Hires Former Grab Executive, Mark Porter, as New CTO
MongoDB, the database platform company based in New York, announced that Mark Porter will step down from his Board of Directors position to be the current CTO in a recent press release. Porter was previously CTO at Grab, Southeast Asia’s app that delivers everyday services varying from food delivery to ride-hailing to financial services for millions of people. President and CEO of MongoDB states that Porter has an extensive background in cloud computing, distributed systems, and database engineering. [Read More]
UK HealthTech Startup, Healx, Appoints Meri Williams as New Chief Technology Officer
The Cambridge, England-based AI-powered HealthTech startup, Healx, appointed Meri Williams to be the new CTO. Williams will now center her work on Healx’s investment in AI data by using modern product engineering approaches to develop drug discovery tools. Prior to joining Healx, Williams was CTO at UK challenger bank, Monzo, where she helped improve the engineering and data team by 500%. [Read More]
MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan joins Whip Media Group's Board of Directors
Whip Media Group, the leading data-driven content value management platform for the world’s largest entertainment organizations, appointed Michael Kassan to join the company’s board of directors. Kassan is the founder, Chairman, and CEO of MediaLink, a leading strategic advisory firm that was sold to Ascential in 2017. Kassan was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Fame in 2019 and was named on Adweek’s “Power 100” list and on Variety’s index of the 500 most influential business leaders in 2018. [Read More]
COVID-19 Caused 70,000 Tech Startup Employees to Lose Their Jobs Globally
The coronavirus pandemic caused about 70,000 employees from tech startups worldwide to be jobless since March. According to a new report by BuyShares, startups from Silicon Valley such as Uber, Groupon, and Airbnb, were most impacted by the outbreak with more than 25,000 employees laid off. The layoff at tech startups is a challenge for companies exploring innovative digital solutions to compete in the post-pandemic market. [Read More]
Data by LinkedIn Shows Madison, WI to have Greatest Increase in Tech Talent, Tenstorrent Hires Jim Keller as President and CTO, Aktana to have New CTO and VP of Technology, Axon's AI Ethics Board Recruits Former Seattle Police Chief.
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John Giannandrea to Lead Apple's New Project, Kevin Johnson Joins Board for Amperity, Dr. Eric Xing Appointed as President at the World's First University of Artificial Intelligence, Opendoor Employs Kushal Chakrabarti as VP, Brendan McCarthy Becomes CMO at Criteo.
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Python Creator Guido van Rossum Joins Microsoft, CMU Machine Learning Exec. Director Joe Marks to be CTO for Weta Digital, Ex-Microsoft Exec. Angela Hession Joins Twitch, former LinkedIn HR Exec. Hired by Instacart, GM to Hire New Employees for Electric Vehicle Development.
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