The UK’s largest distributed supercomputing network has announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer.
High Performance Computing (HPC) Wales has appointed Professor Rick Hillum, an award-winning entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience at CEO-level in global technology firms, to spearhead its operations.
The venture, which provides advanced supercomputing technology, training and support to businesses and academics, wasformerly led by Interim CEO Professor Sian Hope, following the retirement of David Craddock in January 2014.
Prior to joining HPC Wales, new CEO Prof Hillum led seven internationally acclaimed technology firms, developing strategic business plansthat increased sales and secured a number ofprestigious awards.
He previously co-founded and led Smart Antenna Technologies – which designs and developspioneering antenna technology for the next generation of smartphones – the business was shortlisted for the UKSPA UK’s Most Successful Company Award2014. It also won the Enterprise Birmingham Innovation Competition and the internationally acclaimed Cambridge Wireless Discovering Start-Ups award.
Prof Hillum, who was awarded Visiting Professor at Bristol University in 2001 and his second award of Visiting Professor at the University of Bath earlier this year, also has an impressive track record of founding university spin-out businesses, securing funding and growing them into sustainable independent enterprises.
He said: “I’m thrilled to join HPC Wales. This is such an exciting opportunity to come in and build on the successes to date, growing the venture and further developingthe commercial services.
“It has state-of-the-art resources and has been exceptionally well supported by Government, industry and academia, providing an opportunity to set a benchmark in supercomputing in Wales, the UK, Europe and beyond.
“My goal is to harness the capability of this advanced technology to drive inward investment into Wales, creating jobs and opportunities for business and academic collaborations.”
Dr Grahame Guilford, Independent Chairman at HPC Wales, said:
“We are delighted to announce Rick’s appointment as our new CEO. He bringsa wealth of technology and business experience and his expertise will be pivotal as we launch the next chapter in HPC Wales’ exciting history.
“We would also like to thank Professor Sian Hope forhervaluable contribution to the venture, which is supporting businesses across Wales to compete on a global scale, and powering a wealth of innovative academic research. Sian has been fundamental in HPC Wales’ development from its inception and will continue to support the venture going forward.”
HPC Wales has been made possible with support of £24m from the Welsh Government, including support from the European Regional Development Fund, £10m from the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), and £4m matched funding from University partners. The infrastructure and some services have been developed in partnership with Fujitsu.