Martin Fink Appointed Interim CEO
BERKELEY, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — January 28, 2019 — The RISC-V Foundation, a non-profit corporation controlled by its members to drive a new era of processor innovation via the adoption and implementation of the free and open RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA), today announced the RISC-V Foundation Board of Directors has launched a search for a Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. This newly established role is part of the Board of Directors’ 2020 evolution plan for the expansive RISC-V community, and underscored by the overwhelming growth and momentum the RISC-V Foundation has witnessed since its inception in 2015.
Interest in RISC-V has grown tremendously, with more than 100 percent growth in membership this past year alone and over 1,100 attendees at the most recent RISC-V Summit held at the Santa Clara Convention Center this past December. To continue this growth trajectory, the RISC-V Foundation now seeks a CEO to accelerate, prioritize, and activate all the opportunities emerging for RISC-V now and into the coming years. The goal for the new CEO will be to set the long term vision for the Foundation and grow the staff needed to fulfill the Board’s vision.
The current staff of the RISC-V Foundation are Executive Director Rick O'Connor and Community Manager Sue Leininger. O’Connor has been instrumental in helping to grow the community over the past three years and will continue in his current role and report to the CEO.
Martin Fink, who is Executive Vice President and Chief Technology officer at Western Digital, was appointed by the Board as interim CEO. “This is a perfect time for Martin to become RISC-V Foundation’s interim Chief Executive Officer,” said Krste Asanovic, Chairman of the RISC-V Foundation Board of Directors. “Martin is a veteran of the open source community who has tremendous experience bringing open source technology to commercial markets. He will help us to flourish and grow while we continue the search for a permanent CEO.”
“I am honored by the trust that the Board has placed in me and am excited to play a role in pushing RISC-V far beyond its beginnings in academia to new commercial opportunities that we’re already seeing hit the market,” said Fink. “We want the world to develop all types of cores. We want hardware and software providers to be active participants and contributing to the community. I look forward to working with the Foundation and its current and prospective members to make this happen at an accelerated pace.”
Prior to joining Western Digital, Fink spent 30 years at Hewlett-Packard Company and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE). Fink is listed as co-inventor on multiple patents and is the author of The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source.
Candidates interested in the CEO position can send their resume to Sue Leininger at sue@riscv.org.
About RISC-V Foundation
RISC-V (pronounced “risk-five”) is a free and open ISA enabling a new era of processor innovation through open standard collaboration. Founded in 2015, the RISC-V Foundation comprises more than 200 members building the first open, collaborative community of software and hardware innovators powering a new era of processor innovation. Born in academia and research, RISC-V ISA delivers a new level of free, extensible software and hardware freedom on architecture, paving the way for the next 50 years of computing design and innovation.
The RISC-V Foundation, a non-profit corporation controlled by its members, directs the future development and drives the adoption of the RISC-V ISA. With support from the Linux Foundation, members of the RISC-V Foundation have access to and participate in the development of the RISC-V ISA specifications and related HW / SW ecosystem. More information can be found at www.riscv.org.
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