CIQ Advisory Board
CIQ’s advisory board is composed of veteran leaders with deep expertise in IT infrastructure, High Performance Computing (HPC), open source software, and business strategy. Its members will help guide CIQ as it builds the next generation of software infrastructure for enterprises running data-intensive workloads atop the Rocky Linux enterprise Linux distribution. These experts not only understand the challenges facing the industry but also know what it takes to bring innovation and worthy visions to fruition.
Rosio Alvarez
CIO, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network
Drawn to CIQ because of its innovative and boundary-pushing approach to HPC, Alvarez joins the advisory board after having worked with CIQ founder and CEO, Gregory Kurtzer, at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab. Alvarez has over 25 years of experience managing technology organizations in research and higher education. Alvarez was CIO at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for 14 years, including serving as CIO advisor to then-secretary of energy Stephen Chu under President Obama. Recently, Alvarez has moved to the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub to help build a national network of bioscience research centers charged with curing or managing all disease by the end of the century. Alvarez was also a member of the faculty at the business schools of the University of Washington and the University of Massachusetts.
Bob Banasik
CTO, Resurgent Capital Services
Banasik’s career in IT infrastructure and IT security spans over 30 years, beginning as a highly certified trainer and engineer for Novell and Microsoft followed by consulting roles with Procter & Gamble, GE Aircraft Engines, GE Capital, and other financial services firms. He has held CTO and CSO roles, and helped one organization grow from a small business to a multinational organization. He now also enjoys providing advisory services for a number of technology-anchored startups.
David Buss
Buss is a retired vice admiral from the U.S. Navy, having served on active duty for more than 36 years. Prior to joining OpenDrives, Buss was president of Cubic Global Defense, Inc., where he led all aspects of Cubic’s nearly $1 billion military training business. Previously, he oversaw an aerospace defense company, spanning 38 countries and employing more than 4,000 teammates. In addition to his current executive responsibilities, Buss serves on the board of GelSight and recently completed board service with TechFlow and West Pak. He is also a senior advisor with Anzu Partners, a capital investment firm focused on breakthrough technologies in material science, engineering, and medical/bio sciences. Additionally, he is a trustee on the US Naval Academy Foundation Board and is chairman of the board for the National Aviation Museum Foundation in Pensacola, Florida.
Brent Gorda
Senior Director for HPC Business, Arm Holdings
Gorda’s career includes roles as a technologist and business leader, driving positive change for HPC. He is currently helping Arm architecture become a viable option for HPC. Past roles include early parallel computing systems work with the U.S. Department of Energy in the transition from vector to parallel computing. Gorda was founder and CEO at Whamcloud, responsible for bringing Lustre back into the community. After selling the company to Intel, he led Intel’s global HPC storage activities.
Travis Grizzel
Principal Advisor to the CTO, Amazon Web Services
Grizzel has spent his 20-year technical career furthering the advancement of new technologies such as virtualization, cloud, AI, and voice technologies. As an entrepreneur and small business advocate, he has a focus on helping companies put into place solid operational models. Beyond his role as principal advisor, he also runs the office of the CTO at Amazon.com. He brings to CIQ both technical and operational experience that will support its rapid growth.
Dirk Hohndel
Head of the Open Source Program Office, Verizon
Hohndel has spent more than 30 years in developer and leadership roles building business models around open source projects. After open source leadership roles at Intel and VMware, he has recently joined Verizon in order to build and lead their Open Source Program Office. He continues to be an active open source developer and is an advisor to several open source-related startups.
Bjorn Hovland
Partner and COO, private investment firm
Hovland is an accomplished operator and product manager with deep knowledge of how to build products and lead product teams that understand what customers need and want across both consumer and enterprise segments. He is presently a partner and COO of a private investment firm based in Los Angeles.
Greg Kroah-Hartman
Fellow, Linux Foundation
Kroah-Hartman joined the CIQ advisory board because he believes CIQ and Rocky Linux meet the need for an enterprise-focused Linux distribution that can provide properly updated and secure kernel releases for their users. Kroah-Hartman is a fellow at the Linux Foundation, where he is the maintainer of the stable kernel releases and a number of different kernel subsystems.