Athanasios (Sakis) Kitsopanidis (Ford Motor Company), Dr. Jason Black (NVIDIA) and Sarah Keller (Uber) join industry luminaries promoting Internet diversity and resilience
ASHBURN, VA (October 5, 2021) – The Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee (IEIC), an independent global committee that promotes Internet diversity and resilience through the formation of new global Internet nexus points, today announced that Athanasios (Sakis) Kitsopanidis from Ford Motor Company, Dr. Jason Black from NVIDIA, and Sarah Keller from Uber Technologies, Inc. have joined as Board Members.
“IEIC represents a global voice of the digital infrastructure industry. Today, I am pleased to welcome three industry leaders to IEIC. I look forward to working with them and advancing forward our mission of Internet resilience and diversity,” said Dr. Vint Cerf, Chairman of IEIC and Vice President & Chief Internet Evangelist, Google.
Athanasios (Sakis) Kitsopanidis has worked at Ford for the last 26 years and is currently the acting CIO and is responsible for Ford’s Technology and Software platform. As the head of the Technology & Software platform, Kitsopanidis currently oversees Ford’s Information Technology; Global Data, Insight, and Analytics; and Ford Business Services units. He is also in charge of the Integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) program at Ford. A technology enthusiast, Kitsopanidis is supportive of the resiliency and diversity of the Internet. Kitsopanidis has a double Master’s Degree–MBA from University of Warwick – Warwick Business School and Master Degree in Computer Science from University of Essex; and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from University of Essex.
Dr. Jason Black is the Director of Cloud & Edge Datacenter Engineering at NVIDIA. He leads the teams that are driving the delivery of NVIDIA’s end to end datacenter-related software and infrastructure that power today’s most comprehensive Cloud and Edge Datacenter deployments. Formerly, Dr. Black served as Head of Global Network Infrastructure at Uber Technologies covering Data Center, Backbone, POP, and Cloud for the Production and Advanced Technology Group networks. Prior to his time at Uber Technologies, he was the Sr. Director of Network Engineering and Operations at Yahoo! He is a technology and business visionary with hands-on experience in growing multi-billion-dollar web scale companies as well as previous start-ups.
Sarah Keller is the Head of Global Technology Sourcing and Supply Chain at Uber and is responsible for strategic sourcing and supply chain activities for all Infrastructure, IT and custom Uber ODM products. In this capacity, Keller develops strategies that support Uber’s technology platform which is at the intersection of lifestyle and logistics that is revolutionizing the way people connect with their cities around the world. An industry veteran with more than 15 years of technology leadership experience, Keller has held numerous positions managing global hyperscale infrastructure, supply chain and supplier strategy. Prior to Uber, Keller served in leadership roles in Operations and Engineering teams for companies including Facebook, Workday and Google. Keller participates in several industry initiatives related to Women in Technology, STEM Mentorship and Innovation Forums. Keller is also on the Board of Directors for Kids At Hope, a 501(c) foundation focused on developing educational outreach and successful outcomes for children.
“I am very proud to welcome these elite technology leaders from different segments of the digital infrastructure industry. More than ever before, the pandemic has highlighted the criticality of a comprehensive digitization strategy,” said Clint Heiden, Founder of IEIC. “Resilient digital infrastructure is key for businesses, regardless of the industry. I’m excited about moving forward with this diverse group of IEIC thought leaders to make an even bigger impact on Internet resiliency and diversity for generations to come.”
“Diversity and Inclusion remains a key initiative for IEIC, and I am very glad to welcome our second female Board Member to the industry luminaries as part of the IEIC Board group. Diverse groups are more innovative and create better business outcomes,” said Vinay Nagpal, Executive Director and Founding Member of IEIC. “Sarah Keller joins Dr. Barbara Boyan, as we will develop additional programs around D&I to continue to foster a diverse group of leaders to be the voice of the industry.”
The IEIC has concluded four installments of IEIC Virtual Summit. The fourth webinar on the topic of Lessons Learned from COVID-19 and What Could be Next? included IEIC Founding Members Dr. Vint Cerf/Google, Clint Heiden/QTS, Ivo Ivanov/DE-CIX, Vinay Kanitkar /Akamai and Vinay Nagpal/InterGlobix. The next IEIC webinar will be held in the coming months.
About the Internet Ecosystem Innovation Committee
The IEIC is an independent committee that promotes Internet diversity forming new global Internet nexus points. The mission of IEIC is to partner with communities globally to create new Internet nexus points through public and private partnerships with local municipalities, academia and businesses. The Founding Members of IEIC are industry luminaries from many of the world’s most respected companies and leaders including: Vint Cerf/Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Clint Heiden/QTS, Steve Alexander/Ciena (NYSE: CIEN), Rafael Arranz/Telxius, Jason Black/NVIDIA (NYSE: NVDA), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Mark Boxer/Cigna (NYSE: CI), Barbara Boyan/Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Andrew Dugan/CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), Staffan Göjeryd/Telia Carrier (VSE: TEL1L), Jon Greaves/QTS (NYSE: QTS), Asher Kagan/Blade, Vinay Kanitkar/Akamai (NASDAQ: AKAM), Sarah Keller/Uber (NYSE: UBER), Athanasios (Sakis) Kitsopanidis /Ford (NYSE: F) Michael Leidinger/Hilton (NYSE: HLT), Vinay Nagpal/InterGlobix, Frank Nazzaro/FreddieMac and Anthony Romanello/Henrico Economic Development Authority. For additional information visit: www.ieicco.com
IEIC Media Contact:
Carter B. Cromley (703) 861-7245 | ccromley@cox.net